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SL Xpress

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Everything posted by SL Xpress

  1. Both videos are labeled as the Leleka-100, the Ukrainian domestic UAV. It's still a good observation.
  2. Yeah, journalists have a job, they're trying to get out a story, it's compelling to have a battalion commander talk about troops arriving to the front lines with poor training...but how in the world does that serve the best interests of Ukraine? You can tell from some of the video there are troops with no prior military service, limited training, that are being sent to the front in Bakhmut. On one of the videos one of the leaders - seems like an NCO - walks into the command basement and says the 10 guys in one squad won't go. The response is, well, get them to go. Yeah, I've got 7 of the 10. I have to be more motivational with the other 3. Ukraine has no real ability to manufacture the arms they need to prosecute this war. They are almost completely dependent on their allies. Their allies are not going to look favorably on troops being sent to the front lines with poor training, regardless of the necessity. That's not going to be a good look. Right now there are plenty of people in the West who are looking on this thing as an attritional war that will remain so for a long time. They see a lot of dead bodies piling up, and they wonder what the point of it is? Why can't we reach some kind of peace agreement with something similar to the current boundaries? Especially since the lines of conflict aren't going to change much. That's a dangerous mentality for Ukraine. Ukraine has to be able to control the message to make it look as favorable as possible, so that their allies continue to be able to exhibit the political will necessary for Ukraine to have success. If Ukraine can get some kind of breakthrough this spring - it doesn't have to be the dramatic success of Kharkiv, it can be the steady progress of Kherson - then it will embolden the allies to continue to support Ukraine without caving into disastrous and destructive peace talks. Not to mention the whole chain of command thing. It's a big no no to simply go above your immediate superior with a complaint. Militaries depend on people following orders. I realize that's not a defense for every action, but if you don't obey orders there's a good chance there are going to be negative consequences. And there has to be in order for them to function. To go to a journalist with these types of complaints? The journalist is talking about what a great battalion commander he was, and he probably was, but a great battalion commander knows better than to go outside the system to air grievances, particularly in the middle of a fucking war, and PARTICULARLY where the conduct of that war is so dependent on foreign nations providing support. I certainly sympathize with the battalion commander sending poorly trained troops to their death. I cannot even imagine that. Maybe I'd do something similar about talking to a journalist if I felt their deaths were being caused by corruption or incompetence, and I had tried to address it the best ways I knew how within the chain of command. But I sure wouldn't want a pity party on my account afterwards, because I would know good and well what the consequences would be. And should be, frankly. At the very least the guy could have made an off the record comment about it. Not that that's better, but putting his name and face out there pretty much demands he be removed from his position.
  3. I don’t think I was going for insightful there. Just countering the idea that people who weren’t excited about Terry being the head coach will have to come to terms with it. And it’s a good thing. Because you’re right. It wasn’t particularly insightful.
  4. Nebraska has been getting their teeth kicked in for years. Obviously last year wouldn’t be considered a sterling success, but outside of that they’ve been the most consistently successful program in the country since their indoor team started participating in beach. For their coach, John Cook, it’s worth the beat downs to be able to work on overall skills and to get the extra time practicing under coaching supervision. They have a truncated schedule (just like Texas) and then use the rest of the time available for the season working on indoor. My problem with it is if you’re going to field a team, I want my school to aspire to national championships, whereas Nebraska uses it more as a cheat code. I look forward to a permanent head coach being named and a roster full of beach only players brought on. I fully expect with the right person UT quickly vaults to elite status. There aren’t that many beach programs on the country, in all honesty. With UT’s resources and the talent in our backyard it shouldn’t take long to compete for national championships, IMO.
  5. I mean, I’ve had time since December. When he was given the interim tag he inherently became a candidate. If he did well enough he wasn’t going anywhere, and now here we are. That said, if he loses to Penn State, UT is going in a different direction, whether they should or shouldn’t. I’ve made my peace with it. I hope the team wins every game. It would be so much fun to be able to root on this group of guys in Houston. Whatever happens after this tournament - whether Terry is the head coach or not - it is what it is.
  6. I know who you're talking about, but I just want to point out it's not exactly an exclusive club on their team.
  7. They just showed a clip of a Colgate player and I already hate them.
  8. Please basketball gods and Baby Jesus, let me be this excited about a basketball game 48 hours from now. I don't need pretty. Survive and advance.
  9. Maybe you're that friend? You know, if you can't figure out who the dumbest person at the table is sort of thing?
  10. The way Poland is building up their military, they may be making Russia part of their Warsaw Pact at some point.
  11. It's not said in there, but it was an open "secret" that the North Korean MiGs were flown by Russians.
  12. He was the fifth highest paid coach in the country. The chances Mississippi is approaching that is zero. Just like his salary before he took the job.
  13. It's a good thing Ramey won a tournament game last year. I still like Tommy Lloyd, but man that Arizona team could have used a little more sense of urgency out on the floor. Too many loose balls went to Princeton there. March Madness!
  14. I don't see the situation with Beard and Oats as comparable as you. I also don't think I'm looking at the situation at Alabama as just fine. But you're certainly not the only person who thinks Beard should have kept his job. I don't agree with you, but it doesn't matter that much since he doesn't, in fact, still have his job. Mostly I wish he had not put himself in a position to get arrested that night.
  15. Courtney Ramey about to come on.
  16. I don't understand this post. So wait until the dust settled and then fired him? How does that change anything? Are you sure you don't mean to say we shouldn't have fired him until the legal system ran its course, and then once the charges were dropped kept him on at the job?
  17. The tournament format hits me so badly from a fan perspective. March Madness is so fun, but while my team is involved it's full of the colors of the rainbow. Everything is sparkly and shiny. Then when my team loses it's still a great event, but washed in a lot of grays. This team has been so fun to watch this year in different ways. It's going to hit me harder than most of them. Maybe it doesn't have to happen this year? I do know how fulfilling that volleyball championship was in December. Men's basketball would be that times a thousand, and I love our volleyball team.
  18. I'm so happy that didn't happen to my team...yet.
  19. You compared the two. I said they're not a good comparison. You get easily irritated at times, and I happen to be one of the people who easily irritates you. I guess at some point it might matter to me, but I doubt it.
  20. Bennett at Virginia and Calipari at Kentucky are two completely different animals. Bennett catches plenty of flack for his tournament performance, but his job is in no jeopardy whatsoever. Calipari better produce some big time results at some point, or that lifetime contract is going to have a short shelf life on it. And if anyone wants to consider what that title did for Mack Brown, just think how everyone would think of him and his career - including us - if he hadn't won it. It helps to ease a lot of frustrations and shortcomings throughout his tenure.
  21. I didn't know what timeline we were going for. The point is wealthy people face consequences. They just don't face them as often, and it takes a whole lot more to ever bring them down. That's no different today than it's been previously. And as was alluded to previously, it helps a lot if they've fucked over some other wealthy, powerful people. I just think you're wanting a fantasy that has never existed. It's better now than it has been in some ways. It's worse now than it has been in some ways. And the biggest point I'm trying to make in this whole conversation, is that to focus on Beard and Miller as some kind of exemplar for the state of our society in general is missing a considerable amount of context.
  22. Wait, we're including Milken? But we're going to pass right over Madoff, Stanford, or Bankman-Fied? Or Epstein? Al Franken wasn't a a front runner for his party, but he was a powerful Senator who was forced to resign. Tom Delay had to step down. I'd even include Tom Craddick in the state house of representatives, who was kicked out of the speaker of the house position for being a complete and utter dick. I just think we can cherry pick all we want. The fact is the rich and powerful get away with more than the poor. To think that's not going to happen, or to think it didn't happen at some point in some kind of imaginary past, is kidding ourselves. You know when it didn't happen? When the French royalty lost their heads. Or the Tsar and their court were executed. Or all the Cubans had to flee to Florida. So if you're really up in arms about it all, start organizing for a blood bath. Because history shows that's what it takes. Not to mention the idea we're talking about Nixon, Hart, Milken and Genghis Khan in one breath, and then...Beard and Miller? That screams to me a strange equivalence. I'm not saying the sentiment is completely wrong. I'm saying coming to that conclusion based on those two men feels similar to me when I hear the cries of wokeness being the downfall of Silicon Valley Bank.
  23. Bill Self is going to have another heart attack watching from his hospital bed.
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