Grumble 🇺🇸 🇺🇦 🇬🇱

Kelly KJ6WUW.
Lefty. Software. Hardware. Music.

Posts delete automatically after a brace of fortnights.

"...with Liberty and Justice for ALL." all means all.

"We have met what's going to save our ass and it is us." - Vinge

#EatTheRich is Ultima Ratio Plebs

Public Key

npub1zjldehldq3cm95k379yzapnflzxlgfk0pgaflpur03twv6avarfqf5xnlx

NIP-05 Address

grumble209@kolektiva-social.mostr.pub

Profile Code

nprofile1qqspf0kumlksgudj6tglzjpwse5l3r05ym8s5w5ls7phc4hxdwkw35spz4mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumt0wd68ytnsw43qz9thwden5te0wfjkccte9ejxjar5duh8qatze20c2r

Publishing to

relay.mostr.pub

relay.ditto.pub

relay.snort.social

Author Public Key

npub1zjldehldq3cm95k379yzapnflzxlgfk0pgaflpur03twv6avarfqf5xnlx

Show more details

Last Notes

2026-08-19 18:36:30 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…l7vu @nprofile…e965 17 days to go on this Kickstarter...
Might want to pick up a shirt / mask before the rioting starts...
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/norecognition/norecognition-ai-adversarial-clothing/description

2026-08-19 08:32:59 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…gfcd Until the most recent Ukrainian drone rampage on oil refineries, 1/3 to 1/2 of Russian air defense installation were located around Putin's fancy lake dacha. You know how these totalitarians are - if one guy gets a new toy, then they all have to have one, too.
Putin's systems, though, are mounted on towers where they can see incoming threats, plus his systems are known to be effective (somewhat) on current drone threats.
Maybe there's a real threat against Trump, and maybe the Army system is effective against it, and maybe it's installed effectively. But this picture looks like some poor Major setting up whatever looks impressive so Trump feels important.
Ukraine is currently smoking Russian Wildberry warehouses, which are a wonderfully non-protected target that burn really well and nicely fucks with the Russian economy - from Wildberry's capital investment, to the inventories of dozens of small businesses in each warehouse. But the really cool part of these cheap-ass drone attacks is that these drone are striking from a couple of hundred miles away. Per unit cost of these drones is likely less than a new Civic.
Imagine what happens to domestic US government facilities once these drones start being built / printed in the US. For example, the Portland ICE motor pool could be attacked simultaneously with drones from Vancouver, Hillsboro, Gresham, and Salem.

2026-08-10 06:41:54 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…5rsp
Trump looks closer to dying every day. And he knows it - it's there in every photograph that he has to edit.
He can change the pixels, but he's still a sick old man, one day closer to a death that will be a huge worldwide celebration.
I need to pick up a decent bottle this week - I want to be prepared.

2026-08-08 07:26:04 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…nrlp
That would make every H-1B visa holder essentially a slave. Piss off your boss, and you're deported immediately.
That's fucking monstrous.

2026-08-07 23:09:55 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…gfcd
"They are capitalism's middle management run rampant and nothing more."
I believe capitalists come in two camps: "we can force the proles to do our bidding" and "we can persuade the proles to our bidding".
Liberalism is the second camp.
Both camps go up against the wall, imho.

2026-08-06 20:21:49 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…gfcd
I'm so old I remember when "war profiteer" was shameful.
Heck, I remember when shame was a thing.

2026-08-04 01:27:00 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…600e
What is really driving this push to reduce student loans?
Are the feds losing money on students getting basket weaving degrees who default on their loans?
Are the feds cutting their support so that banks can charge even higher rates for degrees that will obviously remain in high demand (like nursing)?
Is this to enforce classism in some professions? I.e., if you can't already afford a degree in XYZ, then the government won't cosign your student loan. Thus, the field of XYZ ends up being solely lottery winners and trust-fund kids?
Is this just Project2025/MAGA assholery to appeal to Heritage Foundation donors?
I'm asking because the whole thing seems as random to me as gnomes stealing underpants.

2026-08-03 17:41:02 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…2ujz
Once, I was a manager at a major defense company. I was clicking through a file share full of HR stuff and came across a folder full of regional salary / benefit surveys.
Every year, for every major location, HR bought a survey of pay/compensation for standardized job titles in that area to help them figure out what to pay employees.
The eye opener for me was that the company policy was explicitly to pay about 90% of the market rate for engineers, but offer slightly above average benefits like FSA matching and stock purchase plans.
At that point, it became obvious why I was having such a hard time attracting good engineer candidates.
This sort of assholery is not random - it's carefully planned and was the official policy of the company.
It must have been a coincidence that a different policy was to annually have the corporate anti-union guy fly to our site and train the managers on how to spot union activities.

2026-08-01 17:12:17 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…49jh
Weird how we can develop and build a broad arsenal of tiny (APKWS) to gargantuan (MOAB, B-61 fusion) precision weapons, have air power to deliver these weapons anywhere, anytime, and yet consistently fail to achieve our stated war goals.
And instead of looking in the mirror and realizing our war goals are fucking ridiculous, the administration pivots to "war crimes are ok, actually" in a pointless attempt to salvage a victory from their obvious fuck up.

2026-07-24 16:48:40 UTC

I need something uplifting and groovy today... that obviously means Stevie Wonder.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMTkujnftIs

2026-07-22 15:38:07 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…5fga @nprofile…ugpy
Trump has been arguing strenuously for a post-Trump world for a decade now, but only a handful of people have taken him seriously.

2026-07-20 20:15:14 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…dla5
They aren't scared enough yet.
When they are scared enough, they'll start bargaining.

2026-07-16 23:56:11 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…lstj @nprofile…awd8
Imagine if people would think worldly about the Bible.

2026-06-24 10:39:16 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…yz28
And when voting for socialists doesn't unfuck this place, then what?
Don't misunderstand - I'm happy to try it again. But it's never worked for me in the past :(
I really do hope that we can vote our way our of this shit. The alternative will be maximally unpleasant.

2026-06-23 01:02:22 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…awd8
"overqualified" is HR jargon for "we think we can find someone cheaper".
The only people in our species who don't get excited by "overqualified" people are money-grubbing dickheads and their lackeys.
I like to that everyone is overqualified in something, and I pity those who aren't.

2026-06-18 19:51:33 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…qkvg
I'd just like the feds to investigate a kiddie rape conspiracy.
It's fucking depressing that this is political position in 21st century USA.

2026-06-18 00:37:45 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…qkvg
Secretive political organization with hidden supply of money makes roadshow exhibit of documents from secretive political organization with hidden supply of money.

2026-06-15 09:00:53 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…cjww
It makes an incredulous old bastard like myself suspect that this really isn't about nurturing and protecting children at all.
If I was cynical, I'd say that Zuck and Meta and Microsoft want to know exactly who's clicking so they can charge more for targeted advertising and that local, state, and federal cops want even more specific results to their subpoenas.

2026-05-24 03:49:15 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…gfcd
Once again I'll plug the Sandia Labs documentary on nuclear targeting, because it explains so much of the post WW2 US defense budget and US foreign policy.
If you've got a couple of hours and don't mind cringing and yelling "WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK" repeatedly, it's a good watch. This isn't some PBS pablum - this is the real scary MFs talking about how they planned to destroy the world.
https://youtu.be/Qz0Dg5gIjhw
Here's my synopsis:
From '45 to around '65, we had more targets than bombs, so we allocated bombs to cities because hey, if you can't destroy the perfect military target, you could at least kill a few million people.
After '65 until about '90, we had lots of bombs, so the guys in Omaha figured every building or runway we could identity deserved a bomb on it. Weirdly, this increasing number of targets drove even more bomb production. A self-licking ice cream cone.
Around '90, it was obvious to the administration that Omaha was out of control, and new targeting software, policies, and leadership (StratCom) were enacted. That really helped fuel disarmament talks and saving bucks on bombs we didn't need and couldn't afford.
I worked on the great grandchild of that software around '15, and I fully support having good tools for our military to use to do their jobs. But that was just too depressing for me and I left after a year.

2026-05-24 03:28:00 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…gfcd
Curtis LeMay enters the chat...

2026-05-06 21:42:50 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…gfcd "Braden Eric! You finish your foie gras RIGHT NOW or you're going to bed without any creme brulee!"
"I don't care for you, mummy!"
*stomps off to crank up NWA greatest hits...*

2026-05-02 06:01:23 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…gfcd I'm afraid that we can't bury Miller in the earth - that's too much concentrated poison and would violate EPA guidelines.
We might be able to encase him in glass and store him in underground salt mines like high level radioactive waste, though. You know the places - they have signs on the doors that say:
*This place is not a place of honor... no highly esteemed deed is commemorated here... nothing valued is here.*
*What is here was dangerous and repulsive to us. This message is a warning about danger.*

2026-05-02 05:44:07 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…qkvg The fascists have tried this shit for centuries. At best, it delays the inevitable. 200 years ago it was censoring the US Mail to outlaw pamphlets about freeing slaves.
But trying to make private ISPs regulate speech for the government seems destined to fail in court, even in a draconian fascist hellhole like Texas.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_in_the_United_States#19th_century

2026-04-27 01:54:59 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…8rnp DOJ: "FORTIFIED PREZ COMPOUND ONLY SOLUTION TO VOTER HATRED"

2026-04-22 22:25:31 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…la7y Is confidence in Starmer a thing?

2026-04-18 02:58:39 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…gfcd The joke is on NJ - no one from outside the US is going to attend.

2026-02-05 01:20:19 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…f0v6 So... the Speaker of the House used "we" to complain about the executive branch rounding up people for deportation? He's literally not even involved. If the Judiciary wants to complain about staffing, then Johnson can voice an opinion about funding. Until then, this slimy little worm can STFU.
The pronoun tells you all you need to know about this partisan motherfucker.

2026-02-01 00:23:16 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…49jh I've read about that somewhere else: the Wobblies during their free speech fight in Spokane in the 1910.
Elizabeth Gurley Flynn reported on the jail conditions in the downtown Spokane jail and the old schoolhouse that they turned into a jail: 4 person cages stuffed with 30 people - barely any food. She reported until the cops arrested her and tossed her in the "woman's jail", which was mostly prostitutes who were visited nightly by cops and deputies because it was essentially a brothel for the Sherriff.
What eventually made Spokane let the IWW folks go wasn't mercy or acceptance that the charges were ludicrous - it was the prisoners refusing to work, and the city running out of tax money to feed them. The local business interests refused to pay additional taxes for food.
https://www.historylink.org/File/7357
Spokane and this part of the country are MAGA red today, but a century ago this was a labor rights hotbed for the IWW and WFM. The loggers and miners were being fucked over hard, and they fought back hard.

2026-01-28 22:31:33 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…gfcd Money has to move around, and it's a huge part of the GDP, even though it does fuck all for the rest of us. Here's the classic joke:
*Two economists are walking in a forest when they Come across a pile of shit.*
*The first economist says to the other "Ill pay you $100 to eat that pile of shit." The second economist takes the $100 and eats the pile of shit.*
*They continue walking until they come across a second pile of shit. The second economist turns to the first and says "l pay you $100 to eat that pile of shit." The first economist takes the $100 and eats a pile of shit.*
*Walking a little more, the first economist looks at the second and says, "You know, I gave you $100 to eat shit, then you gave me back the same $100 to eat shit. can't help but feel like we both just ate shit for nothing." "That's not true", responded the second economist. "We increased the GDP by $200!"*

2026-01-25 20:48:11 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…gfcd Nobody wants to believe that the Feds can just murder people on the street now. Hell, if that was true then we'd probably have to fight back, or something.

2026-01-15 22:01:21 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…kyza That's why people who are striking should protest in the streets and close off highways. Then folks can tell their bosses that they tried to get to work but the roads were just impassible.

2026-01-15 15:34:03 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…kyza If you don't want to protest, stay home.
C'mon America - this is the easiest protest ever! Do Nothing!

2026-01-15 04:35:53 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…vqu4 Good to see that, but we *knew *all of that already.
The unanswered questions are why aren't the poor in the streets with barricades, and pitchforks, and guillotines?
Oh, that's too much work to get everyone involved?
Then why aren't there smaller protests and cop cars set on fire?
Oh, even getting *some *people involved is too much work?
Then where's the general strike where we collectively stop working for the rich for a few days? A general strike is literally not working - that can't be too much work.
The hint is the word "collectively". We have been trained to not act collectively.
The rich have been insanely successful and making us hate each other instead of uniting and hating *them*.

2026-01-15 04:22:20 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…glyx @nprofile…meeq Another dinner party with Vlad and Mikey?
https://kolektiva.social/system/media_attachments/files/115/897/199/864/491/381/original/03a6b711310d0e12.png

2026-01-08 12:15:53 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…k5qh But you can #EatTheRich - they are made of meat.
SNAP payments cancelled? #EatTheRich

2025-12-31 05:41:52 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…2ff0 Some US units have a charm about them. Admittedly, not shotgun gauge.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barn_(unit)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoot Doubly charming since Smoot headed ANSI for a time.

2025-12-29 00:26:23 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…35ec I have a strong preference for traditional wooden baseball bats.
But for Nigel Farage's face, I'd make an exception and go with aluminum.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/4giP3vtE0FM

2025-12-07 10:55:42 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…e4ry "Sit down, sit down, sit down, sit down, sit down you're rockin' the boat!"
Stubby Kaye is underrated.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJq7J2uzSlc

2025-12-06 23:18:14 UTC

"FIFA Total Landscaping Peace Prize"
I can't even.

2025-12-06 09:39:08 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…ks6m That makes Rubio's fellatory statement even stupider.
Sadly, I no longer live in California. I miss San Diego on days like today when I shoveled a couple of inches of slush off my driveway.

2025-12-06 09:31:45 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…ks6m Rubio has it backwards.
Speaking as an American Person, I'd like to get me some of that online privacy stuff that the EU is fining companies about. I know it's not perfect, but it's better than what I've got now.

2025-12-06 01:07:54 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…e4ry During Desert Storm, my ship's air wing had lots of night missions. At the 8am ship's news TV show, they'd show raw infrared targeting video highlights before they were sent off for the admirals and CNN and whatnot.
When the Iraqis were retreating down the highway in a long convoy, our A-6s attacked - take out the lead trucks, take out the end-of-the-line trucks, and now all the trucks are stopped and have nowhere to go. On the IR footage, you can watch the grainy little pixels that are people hauling ass from the trucks and taking cover in the ditches along the road.
And then you watched the A-6s targeting aimpoint slew from the trucks to the people, and then the popcorn-flashes of hundreds of cluster munitions going off, killing the people while leaving the trucks. And my shipmates roared and cheered.
[*Lawrence and Ali watch as British cannons fire in the distance*]
Sherif Ali: God help the men that lie under that.
T.E. Lawrence: They are Turks.
Sherif Ali: God help them.

2025-11-30 09:03:01 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…sjn3 We've had a "culture war" for decades and everything has gotten worse for normal people.
So let's try a decade of class war and see how that goes before we make a firm decision.

2025-11-24 23:21:23 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…hpz8 @nprofile…6za3 So DoJ can argue internally about finding someone stupid enough, but not too stupid, to give this loser of a case another try.
If the case was dismissed with prejudice, then the DoJ would be spending their time appealing the unfair judge. Which they might do anyway, but also might not.

2025-11-20 16:33:24 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…rjfp EXPERT SYSTEMS AREN'T GOING AWAY!
PROLOG ISN'T GOING AWAY!
FUZZY LOGIC ISN'T GOING AWAY!
I'm so old I've lived through several AI booms and busts. LLMs are yet another.

2025-11-20 01:22:29 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…59g0 If throwing a sandwich on a cop isn't assault, then I'm willing to argue that throwing up on someone is not assault.
So let's all go vomit on congress.

2025-11-19 21:20:43 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…59g0 It's a fart in the congressional windstorm.
I wrote today because I've been writing this choad for months about releasing the Epstein Files. He wrote back telling me how he's so concerned with the privacy of the victims, and how Rep. Massie's bill failed to protect anyone, and that only the slow, careful, work of his Committee would do the right thing for everyone concerned.
Then, after Trump bellowed, it's "I've always been for releasing the Files". He's not serving his constituents - he's not even lying to us competently. Rather, he's a partisan hack, doing whatever his party tells him to do, and leaving him there to look like the fool. It makes me want to vomit.

2025-11-19 20:28:36 UTC

Today's letter to my congressman.
Dear Congressman,
The point of this message is to urge you to use your seat on the House Judiciary Committee to investigate the partisan hackery that appears to be rampant within the Department of Justice.
As I pointed out in my last email, Kash Patel appears to have lied to your face during his statements regarding Mr. Trump's name being mentioned in the Epstein Files. I hope you will avail yourself to demand Mr. Patel clarify his remarks, and apologize if warranted.
Additionally, I'd like to draw your attention the the testimony by Lindsey Halligan today in the DOJ prosecution of James Comey. Halligan testified that she did not present to the entire grand jury the indictment that she presented to the court itself.
I'm not writing to defend James Comey - he's awful, and remains awful. I'm writing because 1) it seems like the Department of Justice (Comey, Patel) is making a habit of misleading the Congress, and 2) the current crop of DOJ lawyers - specifically Ms. Halligan - are inept at doing their jobs.
Fixing these two problems are exactly what your Committee is tasked with fixing. Please step up your efforts.
Finally, let me thank you for changing your vote to support the release of the Epstein Files. I'd glad that Mr. Trump's fit of pique was able to assuage your valid and thoughtful concerns about the privacy of Epstein's victims.
Regards,

2025-11-11 20:49:59 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…uxms are there unixen that actually make the network device an entry in /dev ?

2025-11-02 19:27:48 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…g7xy @nprofile…wqw3 The solution to pollution is dilution, they say.
Unless it's radioactive pollution, in which case the solution is to encase their bodies in glass and bury the motherfuckers in salt mines for ten thousand years.
But let's try expanding stuff first.

2025-11-02 19:20:28 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…g7xy @nprofile…wqw3 You're exactly right, but it's not just the regime, and it's not just the gun nuts.
We allow handing money to politicians if we call it "lobbying", or if we call it a "Political Action Committee".
We've doubled the size of the US population in the last hundred years, and never bothered to expand Congress. Now merely having a majority of the US population back a policy is no guarantee that the House will pass it (or even allow it to reach the floor). Expand the House to 1500, if not 3000.
We've tripled the size of the US population in the last 150 years, and never bothered to expand the Supreme Court. Barely 5% of cases to SCOTUS are ever heard, meaning that the other 95% are ignored or dispatched without an actual trial. Expand SCOTUS to 27 now, and keep expanding it until all cases get heard and *written up *by a panel if not en banc.
And everyone seems totally OK with this stuff.
We don't have to live like this, but most people can't imagine living any other way.

2025-11-02 19:01:57 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…g7xy @nprofile…wqw3 I don't think the 1st Amendment is going to make these asshole church Nazis give up their political ambitions.
Not because the Constitution is vague, but because the people opposed to that shit seem unlikely to organize and resist in sufficient numbers.

2025-11-01 18:54:12 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…wqw3 The question I've always asked the Christian Nationalists (and the Mormon version, the Deseret Nationalists) is what model of religious law enforcement are you proposing?
Will it be a formal, state-run religion police like the Saudis have?
Or will it be left to individual men and mobs to punish any woman they see violating the religious laws like the Taliban?
I've asked this question to every person pushing to unite Church and State in the USA. I've never gotten an answer, and most of the guys obviously haven't considered the question.

2025-10-20 00:38:52 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…l56c The classic:
Q: How do you make the guitar player turn down?
A: Give him sheet music.
Edit to add: Because I'm a trumpet player, here's one for them...
Q: Why do trumpet players play so high during their warmups?
A: So people will know they can actually hit the notes they miss during the show.

2025-10-18 19:37:47 UTC

No photo, but another fine protest here in Newport, Washington. Slightly younger demographics than the last one, but a larger turnout. We had a call-response chant twice and even sang a couple of songs. Maybe 100 folks total.
Same or more thumbs up from drivers as the last one.
Many fewer thumbs down and middle fingers than the last one.
Three costumes: a frog, a space alien, and an axolotl. So so many homemade signs, including a couple about Epstein and my favorite, #EatTheRich
For a ruby red town of 2500 people, that just fills me with glee. But hell, a century ago the most popular candidate was Eugene Debs, and the Wobblies had unionized many of the surrounding logging camps. This area was radical, once.
Cops only showed up to bitch that protestors needed to move their cars from private lots. I think there was only one fed, with a brand new LGBTQ+ flag and slowly walking up and down the street keeping an eye on things. Yawn.
#noKings #USpol

2025-10-09 00:08:51 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…wuyc Does "plenary authority" mean that Trump can fuck children?
Release the Epstein Files.
We already suspect Trump fucked children; let's find out for sure. Even if Trump didn't fuck children, other men did, and we need to know who they are.

2025-09-30 10:29:08 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…cg79 Vance might inherit the White House, but he will not inherit MAGA, QAnon, Mike Johnson, or the corporate GOP. I don't even think Vance will have any loyalty from Trump's cabinet.
When Trump dies (and may it please God be soon) this GOP will fracture. Personality cults mostly die after the founder dies, because those types are too selfish to ever groom and designate an heir. Even when they don't die, they almost always splinter.

2025-06-17 02:41:08 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…tnvv A big "fuck you for making us waste time on this shit!"
I've heard nothing about the enlisted being punished, nor of their officers being punished - I think that message was sent to the President and SecDef with full endorsement of the entire Army chain of command.

2025-06-03 02:59:46 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…ug6l @indyradio@kafeneio.social DoD is our bipartisan jobs program, too.

2025-05-23 04:24:57 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…nnjv It really is remarkable.
But my constant question is: Cui bono?

2025-05-20 23:59:37 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…ug6l Happy to learn of any other balanced military analysts you might care to mention, or any substantive critiques of what the nice Aussie man said here.
There's a similar not-very-rosy estimate of Ukraine losses and recruitment challenges. His recent vid discussing how NATO might re-arm without buying American was pretty good.
👋 laterz

2025-05-20 21:57:56 UTC

- reply

@yogthos@marxist.network @immibis Material basis? Two things: the ever-increasing enlistment bonuses for enlistees, and the use of foreign mercenaries on the front lines.
Russia can stand another 18 months before their magazines and barracks dwindle. Less if Mr. Putin can't raise hard currency selling oil to buy crappy artillery and unskilled labor from North Korea.
When conscription starts, we'll see how long Mr. Putin can hold on to his job.
https://youtu.be/Ja6-espHVSE?si=Rf6z6euDx4Rkry6e

2025-05-20 20:39:20 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…ug6l @nprofile…taea Because drawn out wars of attrition have never led to political instability in Russia?

2025-05-20 18:24:04 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…ug6l The capability of a weapon shapes tactics as much as the terrain you're fighting on. But ultimately, it's up to the people to adapt to the situation and use what's at hand. "People - Ideas - Hardware - in that order!" to quote John Boyd.
In Ukraine, both sides are scrounging everything they can from anywhere they can find it, and both sides are relying on stuff made decades ago. The logistics lessons from this war are going to shape defense procurement around the world for a century.
I agree that the DoD budget has been the US bipartisan jobs program for decades. It makes me sad. We spent a lot of treasure on weapons, and too many of those weapons are now junk.

2025-05-20 17:54:41 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…ug6l I don't want to prolong anything - I want this shitshow, started by Mr. Putin, to end soonest, on terms favorable to Ukraine.
Then I want US foreign policy to unfuck itself and stop dicking around with internal affairs of other countries like toddlers with a chainsaw.

2025-05-20 17:13:54 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…ug6l A lot of our really fancy tools are highly optimized for one set of tactics in one kind of fight. If your army finds itself in that situation, the weapons can work really well - otherwise, not so much.
But our satellites, cluster munitions, M109s, Patriots, etc. work really well in lots of scenarios.
Abrams and Bradleys aren't perfect, but one thing they do really really well is keep their crews alive even when the vehicle is hit; that's been a real plus in Ukraine.

2025-05-20 16:58:09 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…ug6l My dude, it's a testament to Ukrainian smarts and bravery that Ukraine has stayed in the fight for as long as it has, being grossly outnumbered by Russian material and personnel. There is absolutely no failure on their side.
I'm happy the US has helped Ukraine, and I wish that we'd do more.
Seems stupid that our very sneaky and unseen submarines haven't sent the Russian oil fleet to the bottom. I bet we could get some help with that from Sweden and the UK if we asked nicely.

2025-05-20 16:40:56 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…ug6l I agree - the US has a spotty record of achieving their stated political goals when they unleash their military. But they do a good job of killing their opponents and destroying their stuff.
So calling the US a "paper tiger" might be true if you're a foreign diplomat, but it's not at all true if you're a foreign civilian or soldier.

2025-05-20 05:43:49 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…ug6l How do you figure?
The US military is lethal as hell. My criticisms are:
- the US military has a hard-on for fancy gadgets and appears to prefer to destroy $25K targets with $1M weapons (e.g.: we've spent 3 planes, a navy captain's very expensive career, and roughly $2B dollars to destroy maybe $100M worth of equipment and buildings in Yemen)
- the US military leadership can't make the leap from killing people to accomplishing national security goals (e.g., Houthis are now fucking with ships in Haifa; but the US' goal was not to kill people and make rubble in Yemen - the US' goal is to unfuck shipping)
- the US politicians to whom the US military report are too dumb to realize that their DoD is both way too expensive for what they do, and the strategy skills of the DoD leaders is more focused on spending money than global accomplishments.
In conclusion: the US military spends assloads for a body count, and they are good at it. They are a lot less good at accomplishing strategic US political goals, but if you fuck with them, they will probably kill you if they decide to.

2025-05-19 21:23:45 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…ug6l Remember when Serbs shot down an F-117 in the 90s?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_F-117A_shootdown
"Stealth" means "harder to spot with a certain radar". When the other side stops using that radar, and uses a different one, or picks a strategy where they don't use radar at all, the "stealth" is now defeated, and it's just another airplane.
At that point, the issue is whether the pilots can adapt. If pilots are in the air when this happens, replacing the seat cushion is warranted.

2025-05-14 01:01:27 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…48vs Is "emolument" an old word for "guillotine"?

2025-05-09 01:08:35 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…cgjt @nprofile…92y4 Any ship or plane can sink. Only submarines can surface.

2025-04-29 22:55:31 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…2wkl I don't know why Orchard killed Steunenberg. It's hard to know who, if anyone, paid Orchard for the bombing. Haywood had paid for plenty of dynamite teams in the past. But Pinkerton have used plenty of false flag operations.
But Haywood had no ongoing dispute with Steunenberg - maybe it was an old grudge; and while the Pinkertons were still trying to get Haywood into jail, it seems unusual that they'd intentionally murder a former governor, even one from Idaho. Still, Orchard did the deed.
Based on all of that, and Orchard's autobiography, I attribute Orchard's motive to Haywood. But Orchard's confession at the hand of the Pinkertons certainly casts doubt on it.
🤷

2025-04-29 20:47:39 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…2wkl North Idaho, folks. A few years after this unpleasantness, the WFM assassinated the former governor with a bomb in his mailbox.
A decade later, even norther Idaho and a lot of Washington was joining the IWW because of awful living conditions and pay fuckery in the logging camps. This led to the various free speech fights in Spokane and Butte. In the 1912 presidential election, Bonner County Idaho went for Eugene Debs.
By the time the mines were closed in the 1970s, the nation's largest Superfund site was the silver valley and the Coeur d'Alene lake from all of the lead and other heavy metal runoff from the mines and smelters. My mom told me that in the 1950s, Silver Valley folks were told not to eat anything from their gardens.
Don't forget our history! Learn it, share it! I can tell you that none of this was ever mentioned in schools up here.

2025-04-21 09:32:33 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…fecl As an enlisted sailor in the Navy, if I'd have disclosed that information, my ass would be in a brig awaiting a Court Martial that would send my ass to Fort Leavenworth for a decade to make gravel from boulders with a hammer, followed by a Big Chicken Dinner (Bad Conduct Discharge) and life on the streets because no employer would ever hire me.
It astounds me that not only is Hegseth unable or unwilling to follow the most basic rules that apply to the lowliest soldier or sailor under his command, but neither Hegseth's boss who nominated him nor the Senate that confirmed him appear troubled by his gross incompetence.

2025-04-04 20:05:24 UTC

In @nprofile…qz4x novel Walkaway, when shit gets bad in society, some people literally walk away from it and form new groups in the countryside. This is schismogenesis, and it's how humans have behaved for as long as we have records.
Something similar happens in software projects - it's called forking. When some folks no longer want to develop code a certain way, they walk away and take a copy of the code with them, to develop a different way. One of the classic examples is late 1980s GNU Emacs and XEmacs, when @nprofile…t9ta decided @nprofile…6waf was too much of a PITA to work with and went his own way.
Forking a project doesn't make problems magically go away. But it can reduce interpersonal friction and let both sides get on with whatever they want.
It might be time for NATO to fork away from the US. Let them go in parallel and see which one dies first.
It might be time for news organizations to fork away from the White House press pool. The benefit of being able to ask Trump and Leavitt questions seems slight if the answers are just going to be lies, or if they refuse to answer at all.
Fork it. Walk away.

2025-03-23 03:32:55 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…3sh4 That's pretty much my definition of meaningful: competitive and not pre-determined.
The GOP frothed up their donors and voters to finally buy all three branches of federal government - they aren't about something as meaningless as popular opinion ruin their business model.

2025-03-23 03:17:36 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…3sh4 You think we're going to have any meaningful federal elections in the future?

2025-03-21 20:46:52 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…etf0 This. This is the folly of workplace reviews.

2025-03-20 19:47:44 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…3w02 I have no idea what exact new weapons the Poles have in mind - they naturally aren't sharing.
If it's hand-placed mines, or artillery-delivered mines, you're exactly right that Russia is over-reacting.
If it's mine delivery from helicopters, fixed-wing, or cruise missiles, then I can see how Russia might be a little concerned.

2025-03-20 18:20:33 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…3w02 Land mines are not a 100% defensive weapon - they can, and are, deployed by air and artillery into enemy and contested territory. The US deployed the BLU-43 in Vietnam, and the Soviet PFM-1 copy is used in a lot of conflicts.
There's a reason the US and Russia haven't signed the Ottawa Convention.
I'm not defending this - it's fucking heinous. I'm just letting you know that the WW2 idea of mines being manually implanted solely for defense is long gone from the current battlefield. Now attackers and defenders will quietly and dynamically sow the nasty things everywhere to funnel enemies into/out of certain areas.

2025-03-19 00:48:07 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…p703 DOGE cards! OMG that's a fantastic idea! List their schools, their addresses, their private jets tail numbers, etc.

2025-03-18 13:59:57 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…48vs If poor people want government handouts, they can hire lobbyists like anyone else.

2025-03-18 13:58:37 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…48vs There's more than enough housing to satisfy the needs of our society.
But there's never enough money to satisfy the landlords of our society.

2025-03-15 04:55:37 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…48vs If Donald Trump approves what you do, you need to stop immediately and re-evaluate your life choices.

2025-03-13 05:02:44 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…c29r "go through hell"?
Like being locked inside a car and burning to death?
That kind of hell?
Weird that the Secret Service would allow Trump to get into that death trap.
Mr. Musk has decided to place himself in the limelight, and now that the public better understands Mr. Musk's position in the free marketplace of idea, the public is responding.
I'm sure that the public would, if they could, buy full-page newspaper ads, or pen poignant letters to the editor to express their rebuttal to Mr. Musk. Sadly, Mr. Bezos has precluded those avenues of feedback.
So Mr. Musk gets to hire security guards for his swasticars.
Don't cry for Elon - he can afford it!

2025-02-25 04:36:23 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…48vs But at least the Private Equity vultures made good money...
Oh, wait...
https://hedgefollow.com/funds/Leonard+Green+-And-+Partners+LP/Performance-History

2025-02-24 22:20:52 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…wjfe Mr. Putin has really twisted Mr. Trump's testes.
Mr. Trump is flailing wildly to do everything he can think of to make Mr. Putin let go.
This is stunning to watch. Whatever leverage Mr. Putin has on Mr. Trump, it's incredibly powerful - strong enough to destroy NATO.

2025-02-19 22:27:20 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…ug6l Umm, have you seen Shanghai? Shenzhen?
In what way is China *not *"developing the same way capitalist countries develop"?

2025-02-18 05:44:31 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…c29r Painted lines on the highways are a shared fiction to promote traffic safety. It works well if enough people believe in it, but it's meaningless if not. You can drive down the middle of the road, on the wrong side, etc. Your car still works fine and most other drivers will get the hell out of your way.
If one chooses not to be bound by such things, society must resort to "kinetic" solutions to the problem: speed bumps, road blocks, puncture strips, PIT maneuvers. Putting down EVEN MORE PAINT beyond a minimal amount to be visible just isn't going to work.
Legal architectures are painted traffic lines in our government. If enough people believe, they make things safer.
So unless/until someone makes Musk go home (and he's got expensive men with expensive guns near him 24/7), Musk will continue doing whatever the hell he feels like.

2025-02-14 05:03:27 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…ug6l Mr. Trump treats the Ukrainians as fairly as he treated the Afghans.
I'm pretty sure that China is going to learn lessons from this, even if the US does not.

2025-02-12 12:21:06 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…83c6 @nprofile…gfyr We should each send Mr. Hegseth a nice bottle of expensive Scotch.

2025-02-04 07:24:03 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…j2jh carceral colonization con capitalism.
Such a shame - for-profit domestic prisons were one of America's growth industries. Sounds like Wackenhut still hasn't ponied up enough money for Mr. Trump - now they'll offsource for-profit prison jobs.

2025-02-03 21:29:21 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…6yg2 It's not about Trump being played by Mexico. It's about the US population being played by Trump.
As for the statement, it's *supposed *to be vague. That way both "leaders" can claim they won.

2025-01-31 01:28:05 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…qrdp When I lived in San Diego, my neighborhood was built around a golf course. And then the course went out of business in 2018. Water in the desert costs a lot of money, and water is scare. Who knew?
I moved out in 2021, and it was still derelict.
The first article says the city wanted 1200 affordable homes. That would be something in that area - I was splurging to afford a one-bedroom apartment close to work.
https://thebrassie.com/carmel-mountain-ranch-golf-course/
The second link is apparently from the developer who got the job, and they claim 826 "units", which I assume is a mix of market-rate (~$750K) houses and some apartments / condos.
https://www.newurbanwest.com/cmroverview
When the golf course was functioning, we had a fun wildlife like skunks and racoons and ducks. Once they shut off the water, they went elsewhere. Still had coyotes, though.

2025-01-26 00:17:50 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…48vs I don't think the US has meaningfully tried to use mass protests to effect change.
Let's have a 3 day general strike and see how that works out compared to wearing provocative hats and marching on our days off.

2025-01-10 21:31:13 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…qz4x God. Damn. Right.
Sabotabby says hello.
https://kolektiva.social/system/media_attachments/files/113/806/189/801/165/606/original/416a6f3e294ee32e.png

2025-01-07 21:54:51 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…s2gh As long as the US has had a foreign policy, that's been our foreign policy.

2025-01-06 11:31:13 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…qc9u Meddling in elections? Musk meddled with military communications in an active war during *operations*.
If/when Ukraine gets some free time, I expect the survivors and/or next-of-kin of a certain raid might want a word or two with Mr. Musk.

2025-01-06 03:48:34 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…c29r If "America needs to frighten its enemies" is good policy, then so is "the 99.9% need to frighten the 0.1%."
#EatTheRich