summer patriot, winter soldier

republicans win california house district 13, now with 222 seats in the house ..... and, boebert leads in colorado .....

california house district 13 has been declared for duarte (repub) over gray (dem), giving the republicans 222 seats in the house of representatives.  when the smoke clears in colorado, that should be repubs 223 to dems 212.   we'll see.   boebert and green in the same house majority, that should lotsa fun.   both are loud, and unafraid.

john jay @ 12.02.2022

and, just what do the moldavans think about being part of ukraine? ..... has anyone asked them? .....

i am of the persuasion that views the annexation of moldava by the ukraine as "desirable" from a geo-political sense from where i sit in milton freewater, oregon, usa.  i do so for two reasons: 1.)it seems to make sense in terms of geography, and 2.)it would be a very sharp poke in the russian ass, and this in and of itself strikes me as wonderful.

if ukraine manages to "reacquire" the crimea as part and parcel of victory over russia in this war, then most certainly the "aquisition" of moldava just makes getting crimea "back" all the sweeter for the ukraine.   this will not be full reparation to ukraine for the damage done to her by the savagery of the russian military campaign, and will probably do little to quell the russian appetite for conquest, but it should serve as a reminder to the rooskies that you don't always control the outcome of conflict when you go to war.

but, what do the moldavans think of this?  has anyone ever asked the average moldavan citizen what he or she would think about becoming part and parcel of the ukraine?  moreover, has anyone asked any moldavan under what circumstances being subsumed into ukraine would have to take place, in order to make it palatable, and desirable?  

by which i mean to say, that what seems to me in milton freewater, oregon to be a great idea, may not have as much appeal to your average moldavan, should such a person exist.   now, i assume that anyone under the sway of russia would view that about as favorably as i would having my foot and foreleg in the jaws of a nile crocodile.  this is my assumption.   does the average moldavan view the matter the same as me, and how do they look upon the russians, and runty runty poot poot?

it seems a logical place to start.  i assume that a certain subset of moldavans like the russians, especially if their power, wealth and influence is derived from being chummy with the russians.   there is history and real politik involved in this, and i recognize that moldavans may look at the world a bit differently from me.   i am of the mindset that i view much of moldava's historical troubles (as little as i know of them) to have originated from moscow, but, it is quite possible that more might have originated from poland and other countries in the region, so as to lend a certain acceptability to russia's tender ministrations.

so, just what do the modavans think about being part of the ukraine, and upon what terms and conditions?  being entirely subsumed?  as co-equals in federation?  (in fact, and in law, and as part of the culture of the whole.)

let the free for all begin.  (and, yes, i cannot recall ever having met anyone from moldava in my entire life.  i wouldn't know one from a cheshire cat.) 

john jay @ 12.01.2022

alabama does not belong in the college football playoffs ..... period.

alabama played a "patsy" schedule.

if you think i am wrong, look at alabama's schedule, and then look at the records of the teams they beat.   the majority of the teams that lost to alabama lost to most of the other teams they played as well.  in short, save for a couple of good teams, alabama played teams that were decidedly mediocre, for the most part.  (austin peay?   well, it is not even a power in fcs football.  not like north & south dakota  ....  that's a whole different kettle of fish, those clubs.)

alabama does not belong in any listing of the top ten college football programs for 2022.   they simply do not deserve any consideration, at all, for the college football playoffs.  georgia does.  tcu does, as they have not lost.  (although i don't think that they are in the top four, but what are you gonna do.   they have not lost.)  michigan does.   usc, maybe.  one way or the other, i have no beef with what happens to usc.  my favorites, the oregon ducks, simply "played themselves out" of any consideration after choking the game with the beavs.  washington, ... , well, i hate the dawgs, and have for years, but, if the dawgs beat usc in the conference finals, then they deserve a good hard look at the playoffs.   gawd, it makes me shudder to type that, but the pac-12 was a very good conference this year, after years of not being so good.  the best of the pac-12 belongs this year.

i don't think the s.e.c. should have anyone save georgia.   the pac-12 deserves a representative, given the overall strength of the conference.  (you think u.s.c., utah, the oregon ducks, the oregon state beavers, the washington huskies, & ucla no good .....  then, you play any one of them next year and the year after, home on home.  be my guest.)  tcu played its way in.  period.   to, this point, michigan has played its way in, as well.

this is hardly momentous stuff, given the state of the world.   it is, at best, a splendid diversion from the troubles of the world.   just as sport is intended to be.

john jay @ 11.30.2022

 

p.s.   and, alabama doesn't belong with the best in the country, after the patsy schedule they played this year.   i'd not have been surprised to see "the little sisters of the poor" of their schedule this year.   not at all.

just where do you go to buy a moderately powerful nuclear weapon .... you know, just an old fashion fission bomb ....

i am thinking something big enough to take out the krelim, offices and residence, and maybe some additional blocks.  nothing huge, just large enough to give putin a hint of things to come.    and, a couple 3 or 4 to take out the spires in st. petersburg.   and, maybe some drone factories in iran, and some odd residences here and there, built for odd clerics.   (these should be very small "tactical" weapons, nothing calculated to kill very many civilian types  ....   target selection should be very critical, and very disciplined.   the iranians are so damned sensitive to these sorts of things.)

and, it is time for the u.s. to stop dragging its feet on tanks, artillery and anti-missile missile systems.  remember, george bush promised we would protect the ukraine if they agreed to surrender the 3rd largest nuclear missile arsenal on the planet.  time to live up to a commitment.   after all, a deal is a damned deal.

getting this stuff to ukraine is a lot cheaper than fighting the russians ourselves.  kapish?

john jay @ 11.30.2022

p.s.   and, where do you go to buy your odd nuclear weapon, or even a surplus one.   sarco?

again, let us get nukes to the ukrainians ..... about 30 or 40 mid-sized ones should do the trick .....

missiles.  big artillery.   airplane launched/dropped.  capable of being hauled in a tractor/trailer rig.   hauled in a chevy suburban.  one with putin's name on it, one with medvedev's name on it.  and, that big-mouthed woman propagandist, special delivery.  just for her.

it makes no difference.  30 or 40 of them would be sufficient.   and, maybe one great big one for moscovy.  the moscow "special." 

john jay @ 11.30.2022

p.s.  and, just to give the rooskies fits, make it with the special "soviet" mix of chemicals (conventional) and fissile materials (the "nuke" in nukes).  so that the rooskies have no idea where it/they/he/she/them came from.

the rooskies would be out of ukraine in a week.   tops.

david shaw is no longer the head football coach at stanford university .....

that is really too bad, as his departure from stanford university is more about what college football has "become," rather than any reflection upon his ability to coach football.  he was a great coach.  he always acted like the gentleman that he is, and carried himself with great humility when winning, and great dignity when his team lost.  "a class act," in every sense of the word.

he was truly one of the great coaches in the history of the pac-10/12.  he will be missed.

stanford?  well, they will get what they deserve.  and, they will find it exceedingly difficult to "replace" coach shaw.  he was, simply put, a great fit at stanford.

john jay @ 11.29.2022

p.s.  i am an oregon duck's and oregon state beaver's fan.   life long.   when coach shaw coached at stanford, he laid the wood alongside our heads many many times,  so painful to remember the great years stanford "ruined."   either of these schools would benefit hiring coach shaw in some form or another, to "salve" the hurt of those defeats.   athletic director is a position that comes readily to mind, or director of recruitment, or in some capacity as a fund raiser for the athletic department.   something, if he no longer wants to coach.  whatever he does, he will be an asset and a positive influence on everything that goes on in a university setting.

if he does want to coach, he will be snapped up somewhere.  yes, indeed, he was and is a great coach.   make no mistake about it.  and, always, a better person.

it's turkey day, time to sign off ..... two parting notes .....

1.)thank the lord for our bounty, and the freedoms he bestows on all men and women who will stand proud.  it also makes for some irritating people, who are contentious as hell, ... , but, that is good, too, is it not!!   the more, the merrier!!

2.)it would be nice if somehow someone were to plant a stinger missile right in runty runty poot poot's ear.   and, one for medvedev, too, as he is as big an asshole as putin.

with that, have a good thanksgiving, and be kind to others, if you can.  if someone pushes you, push back, hard, ... , but, you don't have to go looking for trouble.  be thankful we live in a country where we still can stand to be civil.   let's hope that it lasts.

john jay @ 11.24.2022

 

slava ukraine!!!

putin is "dead" ..... he "stinks" of death .....

the remnants of the soviet union had their little "joint" defense confab.  they lined up for photos, putin in the middle.

no one would stand by the bastard.  it is because he "stinks."   he has the stink of death about him.   and, he cannot "rid" it from "his own self."

john jay @ 11.24.2022

oregon and washington ..... let's just split 'em, and join 'em .....

just a modest proposal, based on the fact that both portland and seattle are fast becoming shit-holes because of their idiotic politics.

let's divide both states right down the crest of the cascades, east to west.  having done that, why not just join the "western slopes" into a joint entity, forming an economic and political juggernaut.  and, put every idiot progressive in the former states into that.  all together, where they can enjoy each the other to their fullest.

and, having done that, let us join the "eastern slopes" into another state, called "eastern __________" (something or other), where more sensible laid back traditional types can sit on the front porch in the evening, and watch the sun go down over a nice cup of coffee, or a brewski.   whatever.

the "western slope" can have the ocean and puget sound.  the "eastern slope" can have the high desserts and the columbia and the snake rivers, the wide open spaces, and pickup trucks and skinny ladies in blue jeans.  the "western slope" can have the politics where every progressive resides in the hip pockets of each citizen telling them what to do, and the "eastern slope" can have the people that just mind to their own damned business.

we "easterners" will get along just fine.  we'll have spokane, which is "big enough" thank you very much, and bend and redmond for winter sports and the like.  the west slope can have the progressive and "woke" ministers who would be god, and we on the east side can have the ministers who teach to follow god.  (there is a difference, btw, ... , and, it exists.)

i think it is a wonderful idea.  i have thought about it for years.   it is time.***

john jay @ 11.24.2022

*** the "western slope" become increasingly intolerable, as they wish to intrude into every aspect of life.  it is not so much that they are "nosy" bastards, as it is that they want to control everywhere & everything their little noses stick into.  "know it all" bastards is a pretty apt description.

russian war dead, by end of january 2023 ......

my guestimate on the number of "russian" soldiers killed in the ukraine thus far is about 90,000 or so.   that's a little higher than you'll read most places, but i am pretty comfy with it.   lots of ways to get killed in a war zone, given the lethality of modern weapons.

i am also guessing the number of wounded and injured to run about 2 soldiers for every soldier killed, but being very conservative (that's very very conservative) lets make it 1 soldier wounded and injured for every soldier killed.   so, say another 90,000 wounded and injured russians.

that's total casualties of around 180,000 russian troops through the end of november, 2022.  now, back in february the western media figured that russia had amassed an invasion force on ukraine's border of around 130,000 troops or so.  so, all of this is admittedly a bit speculative but it would appear that the entire invasion force has either been killed, wounded or injured in the war being fought on ukraine's soil.

and, it would go a long way in understanding why "runty runty poot poot" is so desperately trying to drum up more trumps to shove into the maelstrom of the ukraine war.   oh, he's got some more soldiers left in russia, but given what has happened so far in the ukraine, if he commits the rest of his "trained" forces into ukraine, they will be killed and/or wounded as well.  "runty runty poot poot" didn't start this war with old fat middle aged conscripts, he started it with his elite troops, and they have just been chewed to pieces .....  he cannot risk that happening to the rest of his "trained" forces.

he has stripped the cupboards bare.   and, he will strip them even barer, to feed them into the war.

my guess is that by the end of january 2023 russia will have sustained somewhere around 250,000 war dead, and a like amount of wounded or injured soldiers.   at this point, putin is deathly afraid that he has lost the war with the ukraine, and he will kill any amount of russian soldiers to try and prevent that.   he will throw them into battle in the donetsk, and he has been doing, and the ukrainians will kill them as they have been doing.   and, he will squander lives in the crimea, in a desperate bid to hold onto that bit of geography.

"runty runty poot poot" has lost crimea already.   the ukrainians have made the cold hard assessment that the crimea is ripe for the taking.   how do i know that?   because the crimea is getting their offensive to take it up and running already, and they would not have done so unless they believed, based on cold hard observation and scheming, that they can do so, and without excessive loss.

the ukrainians understand the calculus of warfare.   the russians understand nothing but dead soldiers.   the ukrainians undertake nothing unless they have figured out a way to hold casualties down to the bare minimum.   they didn't get this far just to abandon that practice, and they will take crimea in pretty quick order.   they will have left the kerch bridge open for the outpouring of russians and russian troops, over the next couple of months. 

once the crimea is emptied of russians, then the ukrainians will patiently and methodically drive the russians out of donetsk and luhansk.    they will push the russians from the west, the north, and they will launch harassing attacks from the south.  everything will be in reach of their weaponry:  there will be no place to hide for the russians.   and, n.a.t.o. will make sure that they have plenty of munitions to do it.

john jay @ 11.23.2022

p.s.   in the meantime, i will be urging ukraine to attack the russians on russian soil.  not attack civilians, not barraging russian civilian populations.   but, attacking every bit of military hardware and assets within their reach.   and, recent explosions in moscow and st. petersburg suggest that the ukrainian reach is pretty considerable.

p.s.s.  i don't expect the ukrainians to be paying me much attention.   laughing.  but, it is intellectually enjoyable to watch them craft a resistance to the russians that is at once brilliant & far reaching, but patient and quite cautious.   their defense of their homeland has been inspired, as you might well imagine, but it has also been a military tour de force.    slava ukraine.