Kosh's Shadow 2/27/2022 8:49:17 AM

1

Putin's nuclear option

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his military command to put Russia's deterrence forces - a reference to units which include nuclear arms - on high alert, citing aggressive statements by NATO leaders and economic sanctions against Moscow.

Has he gone completely nuts?

buzzsawmonkey 2/27/2022 9:04:34 AM

2

Reply to Kosh's Shadow in 1:

No, he hasn't---far from it.  He knows that the very whisper of nukes will cause all the folks on the Left in the West who are condemning his incursion to immediately back down, soiling themselves the while.

Meanwhile, the West is aggressively deploying Operation Ruth Buzzi, i.e., "hit the nasty man with your purse," aka "sanctions."

JCM 2/27/2022 10:03:18 AM

3

Remember Trump warning Europe to get off Russian energy back in 2017?

Yeah, we remember the media sure doesn't.

buzzsawmonkey 2/27/2022 10:16:47 AM

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Reply to JCM in 3:

Neither does the malarkey mal-archy currently in power.

Occasional Reader 2/27/2022 11:33:06 AM

5

JCM 2/27/2022 11:53:03 AM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in 5:

Exactly, Putin's move to the equivalent of DEFCON 2 is strong indicator things are not going well for Russia.

Kosh's Shadow 2/27/2022 12:41:48 PM

7

Reply to Occasional Reader in 5:

Multiple stories in JPost about how the invasion is not going smoothly.

This one is a few days old

More recently

"We know that (Russian forces) have not made the progress that they wanted to make, particularly in the north. They have been frustrated by what they have seen is a very determined resistance," a US official said, without providing evidence.

buzzsawmonkey 2/27/2022 12:51:07 PM

8

In #7 Kosh's Shadow said: We know that (Russian forces) have not made the progress that they wanted to make

That's what comes from Russian into things...

doppelganglander 2/27/2022 1:49:05 PM

9

So proud of my daughter-in-law. She attended a rally near her home in the UK and with no preparation spoke passionately about the need to support Ukraine. She was the only person who wasn't a public official who spoke.

doppelganglander 2/27/2022 1:49:43 PM

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Reply to doppelganglander in 9:

Sorry to shout. I have no idea where the giant font came from.

buzzsawmonkey 2/27/2022 2:35:32 PM

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In #10 doppelganglander said: I have no idea where the giant font came from.

Be glad that the site's radiation leak only resulted in a little font gigantism.  We could be under attack by giant ants.

Kosh's Shadow 2/27/2022 2:47:03 PM

12

In #11 buzzsawmonkey said: Be glad that the site's radiation leak only resulted in a little font gigantism.  We could be under attack by giant ants.

Or Putin could be bitten by a radioactive spider, and we'd have SpiderKGBMan

buzzsawmonkey 2/27/2022 2:56:25 PM

13

I've been re-reading Evelyn Waugh's novel "Scoop."  I recommend it for anyone looking for some timely light reading. 

It is a viciously funny evisceration of the press and of international politics; a case of mistaken identity causes a dotty British press lord to send a wholly unqualified novice to East Africa to cover the unrest in a country called "Ishmaelia," which is an amalgam of Liberia, Ethiopia being attacked by Mussolini's Italy, and both Waugh's imaginary African nation in his novel "Black Mischief" and his travel experiences when he went to Ethiopia to attend/observe the coronation of Ras Tafari, aka Haile Selassie.

The press is savaged, and there is a Soros-like deus ex machina figure.  There is also a surfeit of sometimes-cringe-inducing racial stereotyping that would never see publication in a novel written today.  But it is enough of a plague-on-everyone's-house to be enjoyable reading in these turbulent times.

Kosh's Shadow 2/27/2022 3:11:07 PM

14

Reply to buzzsawmonkey in 8:

I had a high school Latin teacher who told puns like that.

"Why are people in Moscow always on the go-go-go? Because they're Russian"

"Why is Ireland the richest country? Because its capital is always Dublin"

He also said that the problem with teaching high school students Shakespeare is that the plays only come alive when performed.

And he drove a Studebaker.

buzzsawmonkey 2/27/2022 3:19:14 PM

15

In #14 Kosh's Shadow said: He also said that the problem with teaching high school students Shakespeare is that the plays only come alive when performed.

Actually, the problem with teaching high school students Shakespeare---at least in my day---was that the teachers were very uncomfortable with discussing the naughty bits, of which there were many.  As archy the cockroach observed, 

coarse jocosity catches the crowd

shakespeare and i are often low browed

Kosh's Shadow 2/27/2022 3:32:00 PM

16

Reply to buzzsawmonkey in 15:

When we studied Romeo and Juliet, the teacher was clear about what "Get thee to a nunnery" meant, but did not discuss incest.

Kosh's Shadow 2/27/2022 3:37:22 PM

17

Spent much of the day getting data for taxes together. Wife self-employed and uses house for business. Have to figure out what was bought for her business (a lot given the price of toner cartridges), and other expenses.

Accountant sends out a paper "Organizer" to fill in. Scanned it. Gradually going through it using PDF software to fill it in.

lucius septimius 2/27/2022 3:41:02 PM

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Reply to buzzsawmonkey in 15:

archy never leans.

buzzsawmonkey 2/27/2022 3:46:57 PM

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Reply to Kosh's Shadow in 16:

"Get thee to a nunnery" is from Hamlet, not Romeo and Juliet. 

The line is a play on the fact that nunneries were then the homes for unwed mothers, and that "nunnery" was also ribald Elizabethan slang for "whorehouse"---just as "fishmonger," which is what Hamlet calls Polonius, was then slang for a pimp.

Kosh's Shadow 2/27/2022 4:30:47 PM

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Reply to buzzsawmonkey in 19:

That's what I get for having my mind on taxes. I'm sure there is some Shakespeare quote for taxes

Occasional Reader 2/27/2022 4:51:24 PM

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Get thee to a punnery.

Meanwhile, at Instapundit, this Ukraine business is producing quite an interesting 3-way split among the regular posters. You’ve got the “go Ukraine!” People; the “I don’t care, it’s none of our business” people; &, while fewer in number,  the “go Russia!” People.

Occasional Reader 2/27/2022 4:54:20 PM

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And via Insty:

actual US government advice: in case of nuclear explosion, get to a shelter, but keep social distance and wear your Covid mask. No, this is not a joke.

https://www.ready.gov/nuclear-explosion

Occasional Reader 2/27/2022 5:01:24 PM

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Elon Musk.

He’s the man.

https://notthebee.com/article/elon-musk-urged-by-ukraine-to-provide-his-broadband-starlink-service-to-the-embattled-country-responds-later-in-the-day-by-doing-exactly-that