Lord_James

Ooof.  This may be one of those jobs where it's better to just divert a river through the damn thing.
 
Another scary thought; supposing Word Fence's analysis is correct and the electronic forensic data so far collected gives no indication that the Russians were behind the hacking of the DNC computer systems, and that President Obama is in possession of no additional information to which the public is not privy, then did the president of the USA just expel all of Russia's diplomats and levy sanctions for no real reason?

Here's How Bernie Sanders Can Still Win

That's racist.
I think.
I'll have to double check with CNN.

Every time I think about this election, I just keep quoting Shortround in my head.  "Hang on Lady, we going for a ride."
 

Germans talking about someone else destroying the world 

A burning hatred for all things ANIMEA and Wehraboo coupled with an affection for the M4 Sherman goes a long way towards smoothing over petty political disagreements.

I like the implication that Trump's presidency will be the best.

Donward and I probably disagree on just about everything in regards to politics.  However, I think we both would be on board a Kirk for President campaign.  Just as long as it was Shatner Kirk and not that new guy.  

So we should have cheated and elected William Shatner?

The governments the US foolishly tries to build aren't necessarily exact clones.  Iraq was built as a parliamentary democracy, for instance.
 
Also, the governments the US foolishly tries to build generally explode and get radioactive acid everywhere.

Oh good, I always wanted a valid excuse to burn SF and LA to the ground.

Nice thread, would be a shame if someone deleted it

Algerian-made Kornet ATGM launcher for BTR-80
 
 

I agree that the majority of the US population won't rise up in anger against this latest outrage, and that in a surprisingly short span it will be only vaguely remembered.  I disagree that this is due to American politics being filled with latter-day Julio-Claudians, although if you are correct I eagerly anticipate full political representation for horses.
 
Here's the deal; the US/Mexico border is fucked up.  It's not just fucked up, it's completely fucked up.  Trump is offering a solution, albeit a... somewhat harsh one.  His opponents are offering... nothing.  The Democrats haven't even cynically put forward an alternative bill that they don't really plan to pass.  They learned their lesson when Trump ended DACA.  Trump likes to highlight issues that are divisive for the Democrats.  If they say anything substantive they will be beaten black and bloody by their own base.  If they say nothing at all, they will be beaten by their own base, but less severely.
 
The emptiness, the lack of long-term memory that you identify is part and parcel of being an anti-Trump politician today.  Those poor bastards sure do talk a lot, but they don't really do anything.  Trump has successfully traumatized all politicians who are not part of his agenda into metaphorically assuming the fetal position and drinking the pain away.  Or perhaps they do that literally.  They do complain a lot, but nobody cares about the complaints of politicians because politicians aren't people and when their feelings get hurt it's funny.  Seriously, supposed anti-Trump leaders are really that feckless.  Their latest master plan is to harass Trump Administration employees in restaurants.  That'll teach 'em!  Trump is surely finished this time!

On the order of tens of millions of migrants cross the US/Mexico border every year.  I say "on the order of" because the thing about undocumented immigration is that it's undocumented, so the error bars here are pretty big and nobody has a crystal-clear view of what's going on.  Remember when your country was having all those refugees from Zimbabwe, who largely ended up stuck in camps because there wasn't much else to do with them?  Now, imagine that half of the population of Zimbabwe crosses your border every year.  Some of them stay, some of them go back.  Some come in seasonally.  The situation is largely driven by economics.

As you might imagine, a completely unregulated, mass-scale enterprise like this leads to a free-market, Libertarian paradise.  It includes all the traditional paradisaical elements of gangsters who prey on immigrants, mysterious mass graves, child prostitution, and weapons smuggling networks that somehow extend to Islamist groups in Europe.  I'm not usually one to say that a situation is so morally outrageous that something must be done, but holy shit, they should probably do something about all this.

Note that the article on the mysterious graves also notes that children were put in detention camps.  Trump is sorta-kinda telling the truth when he says that putting children in cages was the previous administration's policy.  It's just that whenever there was a large pulse of migrants, previous administrations would blink because they feared the bad optics of putting children in cages.  Trump doesn't give a fuck, and ordered full steam ahead.  Or, more likely, immigration hardliner Stephen Miller told them to go full steam ahead.  You may wish to imagine that he swirled a twelve year old Grand Vin de Chateau Latour around a gilt human skull while he did this, but like I said before, I think the Trump Administration folks largely see themselves as men of the people, so it was more likely a mid-grade California prosecco.

Trump's gamble has largely paid off.  Americans are angry about children being separated from their families at the border, but more of them blame the parents than blame the Federal government.  Again, we see that Trump's divide and conquer strategy succeeding generally.

Can i jump in? Just so if they actually start to fight they all can blame Russian hackers.
 

 
 

Landsverk type L181 (M36) armoured cars from the 1st Squadron Armoured Cars

So the good guy with a gun who shot the bad guy with a gun who was shooting and carjacking people in a Walmart parking lot...
 
Is a pastor.
 
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/crime/pastor-who-shot-suspect-in-tumwater-carjacking-spree-tells-his-story/
 
Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition!
 
George isn’t just the pastor of the Oakville Assembly of God Church. He describes himself as a trained EMT with the town’s fire department, a certified gun-range safety officer and a licensed concealed-carry holder who has trained for active shooter situations.
 
...
 
 
They followed Day outside, watching as he tried to take more vehicles. At some point, George drew his own firearm. He watched Day shoot twice into the driver’s side of a vehicle, critically injuring a man, and start to move toward where George thought his family might be.
George got into a position “to have a safe shot” at Day.
 
Day tried to take another car. George shot him. Day fell to the ground.
George told Zamora to stay with Day while he retrieved a medical kit from his own vehicle, and administered aid to the injured man in the car.
 
The pastor's account of the event is here.
 
https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/4546436/Pastor-Release-Tumwater-Shooting.pdf
 
It's gratifying to see folks not only preparing by legally carrying a concealed handgun but also having a medical kit on hand which is every bit as valuable.
 

IS-1 much balanced. It truly is the best medium tank at 5.3
 



 
 

Clearly New Jersey needs stronger gun laws, even though they have some of the strongest in the nation. Hey everyone, let's all blame inanimate objects and make up excuses to take away things from people who have not and would never do anything wrong with said objects!

Good guys with a gun stop bad guy with a gun in a Walmart parking lot in Tumwater, WA.
 
http://www.ci.tumwater.wa.us/Home/Components/News/News/5850/529
 
On Sunday, June 17, 2018, at approximately 5:00 p.m., Tumwater Police Department responded to a report a possible DUI (a car driving in the wrong direction). While enroute to the alleged DUI, officers were dispatched to reports of a nearby carjacking with shots fired. Upon arrival at that location near Israel Road and Tyee Drive, officers contacted a 16-year old female victim who received non-life threatening injuries during the carjacking incident. The victim was treated at the scene by Tumwater Fire Department.
Police officers located the stolen car in a parking lot in the 5900 block of Littlerock Road. Just after 5:30 p.m., Thurston County 911 received multiple calls of shots fired in or around the Tumwater Walmart store and parking lot.
Tumwater Police Department has confirmed the suspect (from the earlier carjacking) entered the Walmart store, and fired shots at a display case, as reported by witnesses. There were no injuries to customers or employees at the store.
The suspect exited the store and attempted to carjack a vehicle in the parking lot, and shot the adult male occupant. The victim was treated for gunshot wounds by Tumwater Fire Department paramedics, and airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, WA. His condition is unknown at this time.
The suspect then attempted a second carjacking at Walmart, and was approached by two armed civilians. The male suspect was fatally shot by one of the armed civilians. There are no other suspects in the carjacking incidents or reported shootings.
This is an ongoing investigation. Detectives are working at multiple crime scene locations, and interviewing witnesses.

The Puma is a joint venture, because back then the market looked very different and both companies lacked the available systems to create an own solution. The decision was also supported by politics. Back when the Puma's predecessor project was under way, there were four teams bidding, each consisting of multiple companies. KUKA, Henschel, Wegmann, etc. were all still their own companies, rather than being purchased or merged into KMW and Rheinmetall. KMW is also not involved in the Lynx.
 
This situation with the EMBT is  very different for KMW: they already have a product for the market and have zero competition (for example the Czech Republic has the choice between the M60 Sabra upgrade or Leopard 2 tanks... not really a hard choice). You can read the interviews of the German newspapers with the KMW managers - they do not want to keep developing the EMBT into a proper product, but see it as a gesture towards politics: KMW wants to become prime contractor for the MGCS, where Rheinmetall is currently in a better position. The governments of France and Germany have revealed that a German company will be in charge of the MGCS, while a French company will serve as prime contractor for the next-generation aircraft system of both countries. Given that Rheinmetall has more technology and is about 10 times larger than KMW, KMW feels the need to appease politicians by creating the EMBT.
 
 
Yes, that is the only problem of the EMBT compared to a  Leopard 2A7...