While all good, we still have the issue of those in power not willing to use the tools available. That is something institutional design cannot fix.

If Iran keeps managing to sneak drones through to hit gulf refineries, closing the Strait of Hormuz will be moot.

The Iran problem was always their strategic position and ability to fuck the world economy. So, your military options were relatively small punitive actions that didn't change the status quo much. Anything more than that would involve prohibitive costs. Now these idiots are demonstrating that.

The American car companies went all in on the huge trucks as well. To the point you almost can't find just a normal ass pickup(new) anymore. They quickly forget what happened during 2007/2008 where they did the same thing than demand collapsed and left them all in a deep hole.

Did you know that in the lore of Mad Max, the trigger for the collapse was....war in the middle east destroying large amounts of oil infrastructure.

His primary qualification was "Not going to launch a coup"

"Who's the fucking superpower"

Google, what is a "circuit breaker"

What I wouldn't give for some part of the national elites to understand that military action can't solve every or even most problems.

Failure of elites to adsorb the lesson that military action can only accomplish a very limited list of outcomes and is not a general "we have a problem" tool.

Ehhh....Trump's approval was already pretty low, so I wouldn't say the public was mostly just shrugging. Now if talking about the campaign, there is something to that, but I think it was more the elite signaling (oh he is just kidding) that led to a lot of that.

I liked it, for what it was. The sequels, especially 2, kept tripping up over trying to logically explain the mystical underpinnings that were best left to being....mystical.

One factor that the media appears to be eliding. Is the US and Isreal coordinating their target lists? I am not sure they are, which is making who did what a pain in the ass.

I still have a drive somewhere in a box.

Truck bed filled with beverages.

Amateur.

That's why I have decided to stop buying "TV's" and strictly look for dedicated monitors.

There is a reason that despite being relatively close that the Han did not start settling Taiwan till pretty late. I have seen an argument that the Portuguese actually beat them to it. And the native population did not acquiesce quietly either.

Am I just old in remembering we mistakenly bombed the Chinese Embassy in Serbia in a very similar seeming incident? Very bad, but not an intentional targeting of an "illegal" target.

You can shoot. You are defending your position and combat armed troops are parachuting onto your position, for whatever reason. The paratroopers remain a real military threat. You can't as a practical matter distinguish aircrew from the paratroopers in this case. Intention plays a BIG part.

Again, depends on where exactly this happens. Just off the targeted beach and those marines are swimming toward the beach?. Both situations have already happened and been adjudicated. D-Day involved both.

Air crew and paratroopers are different and likely treated differently. While a paratrooper jumping from a fatally damaged aircraft may have been forced to jump out sooner than intended, they are still active combatants as far as the law is considered.

....Diving into where I should not, but I would say in that case, still legal targets. They would be fully equipped and armed still and likely within the vicinity of their target.

Confusing what the law is for what you wish the law was, is a widespread phenomenon among a number of areas.

No way he didn't show it off to more than a few people either. Unless he KNEW what it was and knew that someone would not have reacted well.

There IS a long tradition of soldiers adapting/appropriating the symbols of defeated enemies. This is documented back to ancient times. I can see a dumb 20 year old falling into that trap with the Nazi shit. But it ISN"T just a symbol of a defeated enemy to be appropriated.

Friday and the world is ending :p

I mean, other than practical reasons, there is a reason we did not put every Wehrmacht soldier on trial.

TX is an oil state, but that doesn't make it immune to other economic factors if the bottom falls out. And there will be a significant lag as well. Having been burnt hard before, there will be a reluctance to jump into new projects unless there is a belief the higher prices are persistent.

In the 90's I re-enlisted after a 4 year break as a civilian. I had to do paperwork at MEPS but almost nothing else and that was going back to active duty. Had to retake the ASVAB but little else. I was literally taking a college final on Thursday and was at a unit on Monday.

Only issue I will mention is some of those medical military members DO end up in command positions of medical units. (Same with JAG officers) where being a commissioned officer would be required.