Marty goes nuts and imagines virtually the entirety of the “Back To The Future” franchise:
A Quinnipaic poll covered a lot of turf, but one question in particular had interesting results.
Vast Majority Of Americans Say Ban Russian Oil, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; Nearly 8 In 10 Support U.S. Military Response If Putin Attacks A NATO Country
8. If you were in the same position as Ukrainians are now, do you think that you would stay and fight or leave the country?
ADULTS | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
WHITE | ||||||||
4 YR COLL DEG | ||||||||
Tot | Rep | Dem | Ind | Men | Wom | Yes | No | |
Stay and fight | 55% | 68% | 40% | 57% | 70% | 40% | 55% | 58% |
Leave the country | 38 | 25 | 52 | 36 | 24 | 52 | 35 | 35 |
DK/NA | 7 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 7 |
AGE IN YRS | WHITE | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
18-34 | 35-49 | 50-64 | 65+ | Men | Wom | Wht | Blk | Hsp | |
Stay and fight | 45% | 57% | 66% | 52% | 75% | 43% | 57% | 38% | 61% |
Leave the country | 48 | 37 | 28 | 37 | 19 | 47 | 35 | 59 | 33 |
DK/NA | 6 | 6 | 6 | 12 | 6 | 10 | 8 | 2 | 5 |
Polling is, of course, not the same as demonstrated reality. Many who claim they’d stay and fight would doubtless runs screaming for the hills if the day actually came. But how many who *already* profess to cowardice would find courage in the moment of crisis?
Whites and hispanics say at roughly equal levels they’d stay and fight (though hispanics, interestingly, are a few percentage points more patriotic than whites), while blacks are far more likely to flee. Similarly, Republicans say to a statistically far higher degree that they’d stay and fight compared to Democrats; men would stay and fight far more often than women (so much for equality, huh).
From the Russian propaganda outlet Tass:
Nationalists cook up provocations with toxic agents in Ukraine – Russian Defense Ministry
MOSCOW, March 9. /TASS/. Nationalists are plotting provocations in Ukraine involving toxic substances in order to pin the blame for the alleged use of chemical weapons on Russia; for this purpose, about 80 tonnes of ammonia have been delivered to the settlement of Zolochev, northwest of Kharkov, Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Wednesday.
The implication here is obvious: they’re preparing to drop chemical weapons on Ukrainians, probably Ukrainian civilians, and they’re planting a story in advance to blame the Ukrainians themselves for the forthcoming atrocities. Also from the same page:
Russia notifies OPCW of Ukraine’s plans to stage provocation at Kharkov’s nuclear reactor
Oh, goody.
One of the best preserved sunken wooden vessel, the Endurance sank off the coast of Antarctica in November, 1915. It was finally discovered just a few days ago, more than three kilometers deep. The cold and low oxygen has preserved the wood; it just doesn’t look like a wood vessel that sank more than a century ago.
No sign of shoggoths. Of course, if there were, it’s not like they would have told you…
Disney has released the first real trailer for the “Obi Wan Kenobi” series.
Florida teacher hospitalized after attack by 5-year-old needs surgery; union says it’s child’s 3rd attack
This is apparently not just the 3rd time this five year old has attacked his teacher, it’s the third time she has required hospitalization as a result. One wonders why he was given an opportunity for the *second* attack. Seems like the lil’ dickens needs to be institutionalized. Or just yeeted across the border, dunno. Given the violence involved, I *really* want to get a look at this kid; one doesn’t normally expect a five year old to be capable of causing grievous bodily harm to an adult. This was a “special needs” class, so it might one of those cases where an intellectual defect was offset with a whole lot of physical strength. If he’s such a danger at five, I shudder to imagine what he’ll be like as an adult member of Antifa.
Well, well.
Leaders of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates declined requests to speak to President Biden during the Ukraine crisis, officials say. They both took calls from Putin. https://t.co/McsybyBKw8
— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) March 8, 2022
Granted, there are lots of reasons to avoid Gropey Joe. But honestly, there are more reasons to avoid contact with Putin.
Boy, I sure am glad that the USA managed to achieve a fair bit of energy independence a few years ago. It’d be a damn shame if that had been squandered away, huh.
The way to deal with Russian oil is not to promise not to buy it… but to not to *need* it in the first place. Electric vehicles would be a handy way to go about that… and the way to make electric vehicles on a large scale make any sort of sense would be to have a boatload of shiny new gigawatt nuclear powerplants coming online every year. Any day now, right?
Right?
Some years ago, Obama’s chief of staff pointed out that you never want to let a crisis go to waste, because it presents an opportunity to make changes that you otherwise could not get accomplished. The Russian war presents the United States with several *spectacular* opportunities:
1) Energy independence. Nuclear, fracking, oil exploration on out own turf should be ramped up and made national security priorities.
2) The DoD has fallen *way* behind on weapons development. The M-1 Abrams and the AH-64 Apache date from the 70’s, the Javelin and Stinger from the 80’s, the F-35 from the 90’s. We haven’t developed a new nuke in generations. Time for some new stuff… and fast.
3) Russia has threatened the ISS. Time to either abandon that orbital money pit, or boot the Russians from it and Americanize all aspects of operations and maintenance until such time as sanity prevails in Russia.
4) SpaceX should (and hopefully already is) be recognized as vital to America’s national interests, and thus should have the very best security. Physical protection against sabotage and outright strikes along with protection against theft of secrets should be priority #1 at the CIA and FBI. If recent Russian hijinks lead to this concept being more generally accepted not just at SpaceX but elsewhere, then the Chinese efforts to steal every damn thing will also be hindered. Additionally, SpaceX should spread out: manufacturing and launch sites in Texas, Florida, Vandenberg, Alaska, Colorado, Montana, Oklahoma, Hawaii, Guantanamo as a start, with point-to-point rocket transport sites built near *all* major cities over time. Does using Starship for ballistic cargo/passenger transport make sense? Probably not. Screw it, let’s do it anyway. As government boondoggles go, it would be a very minor one… and one that would *necessarily* lead to major improvements in many technologies.
5) All of the major launch systems that are now in a precarious state due to Russia cutting of the supply of rocket engines? yeah, THAT turned out stupid, huh. Globalization is fine when it comes to cheap toilet paper or Pokemon cards. Rockets? Computer chips? Drugs? No. Shoulda figured this out when the Commie Cough crapped on the planetary logistics system. Long past time to realize that some things need to be done in-house.
6) Democrats are discovering the sanctity of national sovereignty and of arming the Ukrainian populace with fully automatic weapons. These discoveries should be applied here as well: strengthen border security, deport illegals (both those sneaking across the border and those who overstay their visas), and at the very least institute universal reciprocity for concealed carry… and get rid of the NFA and all the gun-grabbery that followed. Defund the ATF; transfer the funds and staff to the INS.
Anyone who disagrees with these policy proposals is clearly a paid Putin shill.
Huh.
FM #Lavrov: The goal of Russia’s special military operation is to stop any war that could take place on Ukrainian territory or that could start from there. pic.twitter.com/tLf7798DIh
— Russian Embassy, UK (@RussianEmbassy) March 7, 2022
In case it gets nuked, this tweet is from the Russian Embassy in London, and claims:
“The goal of Russia’s special military operation is to stop any war that could take place on Ukrainian territory or that could start from there.”
For some reason I’m reminded of the SJWs and “racial justice” rioters who believe that they are going to save civilization by burning it to the ground.
The Ukraine UN Ambassador is something pic.twitter.com/HWhpTtuprf
— ALT-immigration Puck Futin 🤌🏽🤌🏽🖕🏾🖕🏾 (@ALT_uscis) March 8, 2022
There is a subtle message here:
I watched this entire trilogy twice and still have no fucking idea what’s going on pic.twitter.com/8wXYl9Ao2K
— Adam (@adamthealright) March 5, 2021