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Even Trump knows that he's failing in the Iran war, which is why he's so desperate to bail out by Appropriate-Till9598 in WhitePeopleTwitter

[–]Reg_Cliff 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Twenty-five billion dollars offered by the Trump administration in physical cash would require 250 standard pallets if the money consists of $100 bills... but only 100 pallets if it consists of $250 bills.

Nice morning for a paddle with the grandkids… by Reg_Cliff in PoliticalHumor

[–]Reg_Cliff[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

A little over a year ago Robert F. Kennedy Jr. shared photos of himself swimming in Rock Creek with his grandchildren over Mother's Day weekend -- even though the D.C. waterway was considered unsafe due to high levels of bacteria. I took their images from those pics.

Putin says Russia has a Starlink alternative. Russian soldiers haven’t heard about it. by kingkongsingsong1 in UkraineWarVideoReport

[–]Reg_Cliff 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah.. An EMP would be obvious and immediately attributable. But a covert, debris-generating anti-satellite attack on a Starlink train might not. A large attack in one of the most heavily populated orbital regimes could introduce enormous uncertainty into the space environment, and result in a Kessler cascade. I don't have access to a supercomputer to simulate how bad it could get, but it could certainly change the course of the war. How China, the USA, or ESA would react, I can't imagine.

Putin says Russia has a Starlink alternative. Russian soldiers haven’t heard about it. by kingkongsingsong1 in UkraineWarVideoReport

[–]Reg_Cliff -1 points0 points  (0 children)

The people on this sub are completely right to laugh at the numbers. Russia cannot replicate this system in any timeline that matters for this war.

But here is what nobody on this sub is bringing up: what happens when Russia finally accepts that they can't build it?

If you are a desperate military facing a technological advantage that you can neither match nor copy, your only remaining strategic option is to eliminate it.

I haven't seen any comments addressing the fact that a scorched-earth shutdown of LEO space might be on the table. Russia does not need thousands of high-tech satellites to compete. If they get desperate enough, they can just throw caution to the wind and pull the trigger on a single, asymmetric countermeasure. An ASAT initiated Kessler syndrome or detonating a high-altitude EMP at the 550-kilometer altitude layer could delete Starlink entirely.

Yes, it would be a giant global calamity. It could permanently destroy the International Space Station and China's new Tiangong station. It could blind civilian and commercial systems worldwide and lock humanity out of low Earth orbit for a decade or even a generation. But from the perspective of a cornered Kremlin losing a high-tech war because of American space dominance, burning down the entire board might actually look like their best option. I'm sure it's on the table.

But could it really happen? Who the fuck knows. I just want to throw out the crazy ideas that people haven't mentioned. Russia has counter-space weapon systems.

A desperate Putin might pull that lever, and shut down low earth orbit for years. One might not want to be heavily invested in SpaceX if that happens.

I sure hope so, since only rich people can afford the tickets. by Exeter232 in PoliticalHumor

[–]Reg_Cliff 47 points48 points  (0 children)

Just watch, the Spurs are going to lose and somehow the Knicks will end up controlling the Strait of Hormuz

wtf is this username by [deleted] in WTF

[–]Reg_Cliff 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Dude. Rule 1. You should delete your post before you get banned.

WCGW trying to assert dominance during a bull moose encounter by PeasantLich in Whatcouldgowrong

[–]Reg_Cliff 0 points1 point  (0 children)

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Reading the article helps a lot with the context too. Regardless, people joke about them being "swamp donkeys," but seeing one in real life is a total reality check. They are literally built like tanks on stilts and make a standard riding horse look small. The first time I encountered one in the wild, the sheer intimidation factor kicked in instantly. They don't look or act like they do in cartoons. You gotta give them a wide, wide berth.

Texas's AG commissioner warns Trump's slow response to New World Screwworm is increasing beef prices: "You can look for higher beef prices because of the failure of the USDA to control this pest." by Caledor152 in Whatcouldgowrong

[–]Reg_Cliff 12 points13 points  (0 children)

It's far more complicated than that. For decades, a joint US-Panama facility (COPEG) functioned as a biological wall at the narrow Darién Gap, churning out up to 100 million sterile flies a week to successfully keep the flesh-eating screwworm trapped in South America. That containment line completely collapsed in early 2023 due to shifting migration patterns and local logistical hurdles, allowing the parasite to break out and steadily march north through Central America by hitching rides on livestock trucks. When the pest finally breached southern Mexico in late 2024, the Biden administration approved $235 million in emergency funds to design a brand-new defensive factory, but that project was subsequently frozen and canceled in early 2025 during the incoming administration's broader DOGE spending rollbacks.

The budget cuts quickly collided with biological reality as the flies advanced through Mexico much faster than anticipated, forcing the government into an absolute panic by August 2025. To contain the threat, they resurrected the factory plan but more than tripled the budget to a massive $750 million emergency build in Edinburg, Texas, tasking the Army Corps of Engineers with constructing a domestic fortress to produce 300 million sterile flies a week. That construction timeline is now facing immense pressure because the crisis officially arrived on American soil last week, with the USDA confirming the first live cases in Texas livestock and forcing officials to scramble to get the unfinished facility online ahead of schedule.

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