Free Republic

This turns the clock back to the framing of our Constitution and our first presidents. We are having piracy on other high seas, very much the same as was the largest federal budget item under Washington and Adams. When "piracy" was written into the Constitution this was what it meant, not Disney pirates. This time it did not involve an US flagged or US owned ship, mainly because US government policy has short-sightedly made both rare. It probably doesn't involve US citizen crew as we've also made them rare in the industry. But statistically a lot of the cargo shipped worldwide will be either imported to or exported from US owners so it directly affects those owners. And increased costs to them, direct or mediated via insurance rates, are passed along the supply chains to other americans. And history says we shouldn't assume such islamic endorsed behavior won't more personally affect americans going forward. Moreover IIRC we have treaty obligations to defend some non-"US" flagged shipping.

Many, too many, folks will look to Trump for answers here, expecting Houthis to FUFO via him. Many here prefer Trump to pass the response on to other country's navies, which maybe 'should' be able to handle, but may or may not be alone up to the task. Under Washington and Adams we weren't up to the task, no one helped us until we proved willing and able to fight back under Jefferson. Trump yelling at under-financed, under-performing 'friends' may be indicated. But reading my Constitution identifies other targets deserving yelling. Congress! It gives them, not the president, responsibility for taking action and setting rules against piracy. So if a bunch of sneakers, en route to the Bronx, get sunk by pirates, some one better ask AOC what she's going to do about it! How about Congress sets some lethal rules of engagement and issues letters of marque to cash laden silicon valley.

Alas with this prize committee nomination by Bibi guarantees Trump won’t win it.

If you want start another disputed Island Alcatraz it would be easier to restart one which once had 1000s of prisoners at multiple prison camps. And was arguably on US land; although State punted the argument we’d discovered it: Wrangel Island. Vlad’s team has massive experience on the subject and needs foreign exchange. His old gulags need some work, but likely are fixable on a DC budget. And it’s much closer to US.

>What’s the bar’s address?

2239 Kimberly Rd, Bettendorf, IA. Basically 2 blocks off the interstate to the airport.

IIRC the land it's on used to be a McDonalds. Nearby oldest mall in town was redone, that McD's moved a block to a busier location and this was built in old one's place. Good residual food vibes for Trump there.

>low levels of radioactive elements like thorium

'hard rock' ores containing 'rare' earth elements often also contain thorium, which is currently economically less than worthless. If you dig its natural radioactivity out of the ground you currently become legally responsible for any consequences of that radioactivity, an expensive long term liability. As thorium potentially can be used in nuclear power plants, similar to uranium albeit with different plant designs, the better choice is to profitably extract the thorium and use it for nuclear fuel. Moreover, thorium is three times as common as uranium, it's impossible to make a thorium fission bomb, and thorium reactors can be designed to also burn up more dangerous isotopes ('radioactive waste') which otherwise would have to be sequestered for years.

I’d also think about someone who just gained HRC’s Weinerized galpal as a daughter-in-law. Who Joe McCarthy missed booting back in the day.

Nothing for the future inmates to worry about. Steve Irwin, “The Crocodile Hunter,” referred to American gators as “frogs with teeth.” Although I doubt DeSantis and Trump would approve letting some of Steve’s saltier old friends immigrate to back up the frogs.

Israel should start smuggling non-ferrous pistols inside cutout Persian Korans or perhaps Hadith collections.

Also plenty of of Kurds.

Morale of who’s left, after the anti-Americans are expelled from State, will be much higher!

Also often mentioned in historical or fictional tellings of atomic bomb development. Its the old chem major in me, attracted to the oddity of a ‘naturally’ gaseous (albeit in Death Valley) compound of the heaviest element.

My bad. I’d been reading of it used as a gas so long without much mention of effort to gassify it I presumed it was that way at normal room pressure and temperature. Instead it needs a small push to get it that way. At 1 atm, 134°F will get you gaseous UF6, conditions that are survivable for humans at least short term and at least periodically exist naturally in Death Valley. You can get it as a gas at cooler temps if you lower the air pressure, but the range of permitted pressure/temp combos, although marginally survivable for humans, aren’t comfortable for them.

Dead top layers of the skin will block the alpha-particles from metallic or other solid phase uranium. If it somehow gets past the skin barrier and inside the body then it becomes a cancer risk, and also chemically is a heavy metal poison. UF6 is a gas, hence usefully centrifuged, but also easily inhaled. You want it to be bottled, not blown, ‘up.’

Suck it up Thune. Have your old stooge Cornyn propose overriding the Parliamentarian and explaining how that’s NOT the same as end the Filibuster. He’s losing his primary race bigly and needs big conservative fake to have a chance. The fake won’t save his primary, but it would provide cover for all the other usual suspects to stand behind the ploy.

IIRC the B2’s skin requires special, top secret treatment every few days to maintain full stealth. Only Whitman is fully equipped to provide it. Guam and especially Diego Garcia as launch points could significantly increase operational tempo if not for that. I don’t recall how many, if any, B2 missions launched from there during Iraq war. I do recall B2 raids from Whitman early on, but more may not have been needed. I do recall B52 carpet bombing impressed the sh*t out of the Iraqis. Where they were possible, B2s weren’t needed.

>has that ever happened successfully?

How about in 1979 when France landed one elderly, loud mouthed, ayatoilet and the resistance to the Shah and His feared powerful security service rose up and took over. Hard to compare from a distance of 46 years years and an Iowa vantage point but today's opposition may well be as large as the anti-Shah one was back then. And noone bombed the heck out of the Shah to start that going. Opposition back then clearly was organized. Competence of those organizing the current opposition remains to be seen, but the Iranian diaspora is not poor and the Crown Prince hasn't so far acted like an idiot.

Boeing didn’t make the B2s. Northrup did. A good friend worked on the project. Then shifted to working for Boeing on the C17 (which we since also stopped making.) Northrup is working on their successor, the B21, currently.

The activists seem to have useful knowledge about where many illegals are. Wiretap them, since they just gave probable cause! Vacuum their data and once they use it to block more arrests, use it to arrest them AND their illegals.

6 B2s for deepest site, extra B2 for one of the other 2, along with parcel of Tomahawks for both others. 2MOP from each B2.

Jefferson’s wooden navy would be an advantage vs magnetic mines. Not sure what anti-mine capabilities Biden left for Trump, but we might be wishing for more. Sinking Iran’s collection of subs would be an interesting exercise in ASW.