Up first:
U.S. Poised to Provide Abrams Tanks to Ukraine
Of note here is that this will, theoretically, spur the Germans to send their Leopard 2 tanks. The Leopard 2’s would likely be more advanced than the M-1s; and while there are more M-1’s in the world, the Leopards are closer to Ukraine and there are a number of countries willing to send Leopards. This is of course not pure altruism; they’ll likely be sending the older tanks that were about to be mothballed or scrapped; and if not, these donations will leave tank-shaped holes that will need to be filled with the latest and greatest. “You don;t need new tanks, we’ve got enough at home” no longer works as an excuse if you don’t actually have enough at home.
Additionally: the Russians might finally, rather overdue, be getting their crap in gear. So if they are faced with modern western MBTs, they’ll almost certainly launch their best anti-tank weapons at them. And sad though it may be for Ukrainians to hear, I’d rather modern NATO tanks get battlefield tested now, with Ukrainian crews, than later with NATO crews, on NATO territory. Losing these tanks to Russian weapons now will allow western designers to produce counter systems for when we need to fight Russian forces in Poland or Finland or Estonia or Wales.
Also:
McCarthy formally blocks Schiff, Swalwell from Intel panel
Never forget: Swalwell was the one who banged a Chinese spy and threatened to nuke American cities. He should *really* be the center of FBI attention, not sitting on the House Intelligence Committee. As for Schiff, he tried and failed to tie Trump to Russian collusion. Lots of people tried that, including some who should have known better at the FBI. Speaking of which…
Retired FBI counterintel agent reportedly involved in Trump-Russia probe arrested for ties to Russian oligarch
Also also: In recent years the NRA has become pretty much worthless in the fight to maintain Constitutional rights, even as they remain one of the Democrats primary boogeymen in *their* never-ending quest to render the citizens of the US into helpless subjects. But they’re finally stepping up a bit: