OpenStars

Hrm, they seem off by a little, maybe... 42 units?

Russia can be smart... in some ways, sometimes (while also simultaneously dumb in others, as aren't we all?:-P). e.g. wasn't it 2025 that Germany was scheduled to eliminate its dependence upon Russian oil (or was it rather all?) for energy. Knowing this does seem likely to have influenced the timeline of events somewhat, seeing how in that regard at least (and some others) it was the perfect time to strike - i.e. if they had waited longer it would have become far more difficult?

And let's be blunt: if they had managed to take over what they wanted in that "three-day" timetable as initially planned, wouldn't Europe have simply let them have it? As we consider that, let us not kid ourselves here b/c this invasion has gone on for a decade at this point - Georgia, Crimea, the area west of Crimea, etc. - each time citing "no, I swear, this was all that I wanted, I won't do this ever again, I promise". So if EU nations are somehow shocked, Shocked I tell you, SHOCKED, that those leopards would not one day turn and eat THEIR faces off, then I don't know what to tell them...

However, I was pleased to note how e.g. Germany quickly turned its economy upside down and started mass-producing weapons. They tend to be a very smart and technically-minded people, so I for one have no problems believing that it at least could have been a strategic move on their part to "not have weapons", when they were not immediately needed, yet also be ready to start producing them at a moment's notice when the need for such became apparent - as you pointed out.

Likewise but with very different factors involved, those nations physically closest to Russia may have wanted weapons yet been afraid of enraging the bear by having them? So what I am trying, probably ineptly, to say is that it may not "purely" be due to willful ignorance on behalf of every EU nation, to lay down those older-style weapons that cost a lot yet haven't been necessary for literally decades. A better cost-to-benefit ratio may have been to invest in something like energy independence, so long as the military factor was covered at some very minimal level.

Plus technology changes so fast... as we are seeing live in Ukraine, "tanks" were not the big thing, especially as Russia heavily misused them at first, compared to drones, right? So EU nations were "not prepared", in the specific sense, but by investing into robotics and batteries and such, the converse does not seem quite true either i.e. we cannot say that those same nations were not entirely "unprepared" either?

That is why it is so amazing that Ukraine is holding off Russia, essentially acting as the shield for the entire fucking world, making Russia expend all of its military might & resources upon it, which could otherwise be put to use elsewhere, into saving up and preparing for the next target, which they ofc according to Russa "we have no plans for, b/c Ukraine is all that we want, we promise"!

Ukraine really does deserve aid then - they've earned that. But... there are >100 Republicans who seem to believe rather that Russia has "earned" the right to take whatever they want. And that should worry us all, around the world.

Maybe DeSantis should spend a billion dollars building a wall, to keep out the immigrants from NYC!? :-P

He already effectively did that to keep out Disney it seems. :-|

When [NYC] sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.

-Donald Trump

There's a lot we could unpack there - e.g. it makes me all the more glad that they passed this, since we've already spent it either way!?

One quick item: Biden has stated that the aid can be there this week. He was prepared to spring on this. As you already said, this package was mostly to replenish already-spent funds, not as much directly to push forward with new ones. Although with that replenished stamina, I would expect to see new pushes happen as well.

Another big item is that Ukraine is not a member of the EU or NATO. As such it is "entitled" to nothing - everything that is being offered is purely voluntary. So, compared to nothing, $60B USD is quite a lot? Hence why he is grateful, and rightly so.

Another is that the USA does not need to be the sole provider of this aid - not that I am glad for the pause, but given that it happened anyway, I was heartened to see other nations rise up and cover the slack. And now for the USA to join the right side of history - well, better late than never, and all the more so with an amount this big!:-)

As you pointed out, the biggest one is that there is a faction within the US government that looks to be wanting Ukraine to fail, or more precisely for Russia to win. If Trump "wins" the next election, one way or another (i.e. legally or... otherwise), the USA may even go so far as to join Russia against Ukraine?! But for now, even delaying that aid may hamper it enough for Russia to finish the job. Maybe. Even so, this particular aid package got passed. Come what may, this one is a success. It is as important to celebrate success as it is to call out failures - failing to do either is biased, and therefore wrong.

Speaking of, the USA may also fail one day, less due to direct Russian military intervention and more from an internal civil war. But not today, b/c again, come what may, this particular aid package got passed, whoo-hoo!:-)

There is a whole entire universe of back-stories there - not just Han Solo as a kid & young adult (but that too!), but Boba Fett, Lando Calrissian & Vuffi Raa, and like you know Darth Vader but there is also Prince Xixor the head of the Black Sun organization that was his top rival for power underneath the Emperor, and all manner of "minor" characters like IG-88 that almost took over the universe:-), oh and we should not forget Anzat the nostril vampires.

Robots, magic, love, intrigue, pirates, death, honestly like any story it's more about the strength of the author to tell it than anything but the universe is there to work within, and that's solid.

You already mentioned some of the top highlights: the Thrawn series - b/c Timothy Zahn is really good - and the rogue series, are both good. I found Michael Stackpole to be a bit distracting to read b/c of all the action terms, but if you can either know or ignore what "pitch" and "yaw" mean, they are great regardless:-). Especially Wedge becoming a pirate - fantastic!:-P

I am guessing that you only think you know about Luke/Leia/Han - e.g. Luke was this old hermit sage in the wilderness in the more recent movies - but at one point he was abandoned by his mentors and had to sort of just figure out the entire Jedi thing all on his own. He went from child/tween to young man to middle-aged long before he pulled back to his role of "retired sage on a mountaintop", which is the journey of a literal lifetime.

I think you are right to avoid the Yuuzhan Vong - not necessarily forever but at least to start with, b/c it was written in a time when all the other stories had already been told, and people were waiting on George Lucas to expand the universe to be able to tell more, so they are just strange, and also meant to be interpreted in the context of flat being "different" than any that came before. Ngl, there are some interesting stories embedded in that arc, but you can come to them later if you want - they are not good to start your jouney with imho.

Basically I am confirming your existing plan: read what you are interested in, those you mentioned are good, and once you read them, you may have a better feel for what you would be more interested in knowing next. e.g. I always thought the whole back-story of the Noghri was somewhat interesting, especially Leia's involvement, but until you read the Thrawn series you may not even know what those are.

I guess I should add that it will be really weird to be shifting universes all the time: the Empire (Thrawn and X-Wing series) is a very different place than the Old Republic, the latter is full of entitled people who barely know the meaning of the word "hardship" (and who all think that their lifestyle will go on & on forever) while the former rarely if ever mentions someone who has a stable source of income & a home, instead everything is slavery, death, and freedom fighting. So I confirm that your plan to read whole entire series at once is a good one, as those transitions especially between pre- and post-TOR will be jarring.

So get in there, and enjoy!:-)

As I understand it, bc printing something on paper with ink has costs associated with it. Hey... wait a minute!? :-P

Trump's "just grab them by the pussy" quote was revealed to the public almost a decade ago, in October of 2016.

Trump's successful assassination attempt was in January of 2020, after his first impeachment but before his second one, and before the "excess deaths" from the pandemic killed more Americans than all wars combined.

Trump's conviction of rape was one year ago.

How long has it been since Trump even traveled to NYC, from Florida - didn't he even move his "home state" status there officially a couple years back?

Other places changed their names to remove the toxic Trump phrase multiple years ago in the past.

Click bait article seems to be dredging up click bait drama, about some rich folks who now (why NOW all of a sudden!?) worry about their property values being affected by the Trump name - as the article states, not bc of anything that he did, but bc he's currently under investigation and so due to the negative stigma attached to that, i.e. rich folks worry that they may be less rich soon. Sorry / not sorry if I don't care in the slightest.

While true that the timing is shit, the amount is nowhere close to "table scraps" - this seems like it will legit be helpful, maybe even enough to turn the tide in Ukraine?

Also, it's not like Congress fed its own and then waited months to feed the dog - rather, dinner for the entire family was delayed from the start of the fiscal year 2024 in October 1 until just a few weeks ago, involving the ousting of one Speaker of the House and almost doing so to the second as well. And now, this aid package for Ukraine may likewise finish the job of getting the Speaker kicked out, bc any time the government is "functional" is considered bad by some elements.

But the timing from passing the federal budget itself to passing this aid package is actually quite short. Yes it's half a year late, but it did eventually happen, and the amount of aid is large, so is a "success" by multiple metrics, and all the more so given the opposition. If we do end up having a civil war as people like MTG are calling for, this may well be the last aid package that the USA ever manages to pass in the final stages of its democracy.

So imho we should take the win and be happy - we may not get to celebrate Congress doing routine activities like "passing budgets" very often in the future, even six months late.

Too late - it is posted to !dankmemes@lemmy.world, so it is a meme now:-P

This meme seems... moist. :-P

Oh wow, I didn't realize it differed on the client side, I presumed it was only server.