• Re: ?Hegseth Hails First Test of America?s ?Golden Dome? Missile Defens

    From Paul S Person@3:633/10 to All on Monday, June 29, 2026 08:32:16
    Subject: Re: ?Hegseth Hails First Test of America?s ?Golden Dome? Missile Defense Shield?

    On Sun, 28 Jun 2026 13:58:57 -0400, Cryptoengineer
    <petertrei@gmail.com> wrote:

    <snippo interesting stuff>

    On 6/27/2026 7:12 PM, Lawrence D?Oliveiro wrote:
    The word 'drone' covers a wide variety of UAVs, from stuff you
    can launch from your hand, to something that's more like a cruise
    missile, with a range over 1000 miles.

    One of the more interesting factoids encountered (possible in a column
    in a military history magazine -- the columnist has moved from "Russia
    will win in 2 days" at the start to "we must surrender at once or
    Russia will use its nukes" to "old equipment seems to be working well
    on both sides" as he tries to fit his political positions around the
    rock known as "reality" [1]) was that, quite some time ago, the
    Ukrainians bought drones made from paper (ok, presumably treated
    cardboard of some sort) which they had to assemble from kits and which
    were intended to be used to resupply the troops. So they had a large
    cargo section. The Ukranians put explosive devices in the cargo
    sections and the Russians that received them got a Big Surprise!

    But, of course, things have developed further since then.

    I think we can take it that all of NATO has analysts studying what the Ukrainians (and Russians) are doing with drones. I would not be
    surprised if some Ukrainian officers have been imported to various
    Officer training facilities to give lectures to future staff officers
    and combat-unit commanders, as these are clearly going to have to
    understand the uses of drones.

    [1] The column is in a bimonthly magazine so, for example a column in
    a July/August issue will have to be printed in June (experience shows
    that a cover date in the past suppresses retail sales) which means it
    would have to finalized (along with the rest of the magazine in May at
    the latest, which means would have to be written in March at the
    latest -- which sometimes makes reading the column especially funny
    because a lot can happen in war in a six months.
    --
    "Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
    Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
    Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Paul S Person@3:633/10 to All on Monday, June 29, 2026 08:35:01
    Subject: Re: ?Hegseth Hails First Test of America?s ?Golden Dome? Missile Defense Shield?

    On Mon, 29 Jun 2026 02:37:34 -0500, Lynn McGuire
    <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> wrote:

    On 6/28/2026 11:16 AM, Paul S Person wrote:
    On Fri, 26 Jun 2026 23:31:20 -0500, Lynn McGuire
    <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> wrote:

    On 6/26/2026 9:27 AM, Scott Lurndal wrote:
    Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?= <ldo@nz.invalid>
    writes:
    On Wed, 24 Jun 2026 17:54:47 -0500, Lynn McGuire wrote:

    ?Hegseth Hails First Test of America?s ?Golden Dome?
    Missile Defense
    Shield?

    How much per missile? With ?Iron Dome? it?s something like
    $100,000
    per shot, as I recall. This to defend against barrages of cheap
    attacking missiles that can be made for something like a thousand
    dollars each.

    The biggest problem with Hegseth's/Trump's fantasy golden dome is
    that
    it will never work for a mass attack. The orbital intercepters,
    orbiting at low-earth altitudes, will need to blanket the globe. Handling
    a single incoming warhead is possible. Handling a swarm,
    forgetaboutit.


    And then there are the drones, which are even cheaper and cannot be
    stopped with missile defence systems.

    As shown in Ukraine.

    So we are back to many multiple gigawatt lasers on the ground and in orbit.

    Or to no affordable defense at all.

    The most expensive defense is that of the loser in war because they lost

    it all.

    A single ICBM getting through to the USA would cost in the trillions in >damages and require a blistering response.

    We don't need a multi-quadrillion (if not quintillion) defense system
    for that. /That/ we can get with no defense system at all.

    And, as you have noted, so long as "they" believe there will be a
    blistering response, our time-tested but boring defense system ("MAD")
    will work just fine.
    --
    "Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
    Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
    Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Scott Lurndal@3:633/10 to All on Monday, June 29, 2026 17:01:13
    Subject: Re: Re: ?Hegseth Hails First Test of America?s ?Golden Dome? Missile Defense Shield?

    Cryptoengineer <petertrei@gmail.com> writes:
    On 6/27/2026 7:12 PM, Lawrence D?Oliveiro wrote:
    On Sat, 27 Jun 2026 14:35:19 -0400, Cryptoengineer wrote:

    On 6/26/2026 8:51 PM, Lawrence D?Oliveiro wrote:

    On Thu, 25 Jun 2026 18:45:03 -0500, Lynn McGuire wrote:

    The F-18s are taking out drones routinely in Hormuz Straits.

    Further thought about that: how much does it cost to operate an
    F-18? $1000/hour? (I suspect more.)

    You're not even close. The Official DoD Reimbursement Rate for a
    single seat, F/A-18E Super Hornet is $17,584/hour.

    That includes ground maintenance, fuel, crew compensation, and
    some other operational costs. It does not include weapons.

    I figured I was off, but not by that much ...

    Clarke?s ?Superiority? story *definitely* did not take this sort of
    thing into account.

    So every time they fire a missile, that?ll be another few grand being
    totted up on the till, I suppose ...

    How much does it cost to make and launch one of those drones?
    $1000?

    I suspect this figure of mine is not so far off.

    So each F-18 should be taking out about one drone per hour to make it
    a fair fight, economically speaking. Are they really doing that much?

    So that would have to be 10-20 drones per hour. I doubt they are
    anywhere close to that.

    And if their anti-drone missiles cost more than the drones they are
    shooting down (which seems very likely), then there is no way to make
    this an economically fair fight: the more missiles the ?? fighters
    shoot down, the deeper in the red the whole account becomes.

    The word 'drone' covers a wide variety of UAVs, from stuff you
    can launch from your hand, to something that's more like a cruise
    missile, with a range over 1000 miles. Ukraine is sending drones to
    Moscow and St. Petersburg, and taking out oil refineries.

    And one must not forget the speedy but short-lived mach-3 D-21 drone.

    <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_D-21>


    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Cryptoengineer@3:633/10 to All on Monday, June 29, 2026 15:51:40
    Subject: Re: ?Hegseth Hails First Test of America?s ?Golden Dome? Missile Defense Shield?

    On 6/29/2026 11:32 AM, Paul S Person wrote:
    On Sun, 28 Jun 2026 13:58:57 -0400, Cryptoengineer
    <petertrei@gmail.com> wrote:

    <snippo interesting stuff>

    On 6/27/2026 7:12 PM, Lawrence D?Oliveiro wrote:
    The word 'drone' covers a wide variety of UAVs, from stuff you
    can launch from your hand, to something that's more like a cruise
    missile, with a range over 1000 miles.

    [snip]

    I think we can take it that all of NATO has analysts studying what the Ukrainians (and Russians) are doing with drones. I would not be
    surprised if some Ukrainian officers have been imported to various
    Officer training facilities to give lectures to future staff officers
    and combat-unit commanders, as these are clearly going to have to
    understand the uses of drones.

    [snip]

    NATO powers are absolutely learning from Ukrainian experts right now.

    Drones have fundamentaly changed the way this kind of war works, as
    much as the machine gun did in WW1.

    30 km either side of the line of contact is now a 'kill zone', where
    any visible movement brings a quick and lethal response. Just getting
    food, water, and ammo to the front is now mostly a drone operation.

    One particular issue is that rapidly evacuating wounded to the rear
    is often impossible - it must be done under cover of darkness, or
    in bad weather.

    This also makes troop rotation a luxury - individual soldiers are
    staying at the front far longer than even in WW1.

    pt

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Lynn McGuire@3:633/10 to All on Monday, June 29, 2026 15:17:08
    Subject: Re: ?Hegseth Hails First Test of America?s ?Golden Dome? Missile Defense Shield?

    On 6/29/2026 5:52 AM, Scott Dorsey wrote:
    Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> wrote:
    Do you have better information? If so, please enlighten me.

    1. The Pakistanis have some nukes, likely more than a hundred, and they are based on both the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs. Yes, they are heavy, but they are not hundreds of tons heavy. Watch the videos of the setup for the Trinity Test.

    Most importantly, they have actually tested some of them so we can be assured they will work.

    2. Israel has some bombs. As many as 100? Probably not, but close. They are likely plutonium bombs and so a bit more convenient. Israel has probably never tested any of them, so there's no assurance they will work when needed. It's possible they did a shared test in '79 but nobody is sure.

    3. Iran doesn't have any bombs. Before this war, they had some uranium enriched to 60% and at one point they had facilities to enrich farther.
    They don't have any source of plutonium although they are wanting to build some power reactors which will produce plutonium as a byproduct. What has been lost in the war is still not very well known.

    The nice thing about plutonium is that it can just be separated chemically and there isn't the difficulty of separating isotopes.

    At this point delivery systems are a non-issue. You put a bomb into a box and have fedex ship it to your enemy. Just like horsehoes, you only need to get close, you don't need to be right on the target.
    --scott

    Who said the Pakstani nukes are hundreds of tons each? I said ten tons
    each like the Fat Man nuke. However, this disagrees with me.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakistan_and_weapons_of_mass_destruction

    Trump has stated that Iran has five nuclear weapons and then he shut up.
    The size and type have not been stated, nor any other details. I
    cannot find where I read this a couple of weeks ago.

    It also rumored that South Africa bought several nukes from the
    Pakistanis a couple of decades ago and that Taiwan bought several nukes
    from the Pakistanis.

    Lynn


    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Lynn McGuire@3:633/10 to All on Monday, June 29, 2026 15:41:52
    Subject: Re: ?Hegseth Hails First Test of America?s ?Golden Dome? Missile Defense Shield?

    On 6/29/2026 10:35 AM, Paul S Person wrote:
    ...
    The most expensive defense is that of the loser in war because they lost
    it all.

    A single ICBM getting through to the USA would cost in the trillions in
    damages and require a blistering response.

    We don't need a multi-quadrillion (if not quintillion) defense system
    for that. /That/ we can get with no defense system at all.

    And, as you have noted, so long as "they" believe there will be a
    blistering response, our time-tested but boring defense system ("MAD")
    will work just fine.

    MAD does not work with crazies such as Iran.

    Lynn


    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Lawrence D?Oliveiro@3:633/10 to All on Monday, June 29, 2026 22:31:06
    Subject: Re: ?Hegseth Hails First Test of America?s ?Golden Dome? Missile Defense Shield?

    On Mon, 29 Jun 2026 15:51:40 -0400, Cryptoengineer wrote:

    One particular issue is that rapidly evacuating wounded to the rear
    is often impossible - it must be done under cover of darkness, or in
    bad weather.

    Are they shooting at ambulances as well?

    I thought certain of the Geneva Conventions had something to say about
    that ...

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Lawrence D?Oliveiro@3:633/10 to All on Monday, June 29, 2026 22:33:12
    Subject: Re: ?Hegseth Hails First Test of America?s ?Golden Dome? Missile Defense Shield?

    On Mon, 29 Jun 2026 06:40:12 -0400 (EDT), Scott Dorsey wrote:

    It worked in the eighties. We outspent the Soviets on the cold war
    until they couldn't make their economy function. Few shots were
    fired.

    It worked because both sides were thinking along the same lines in
    terms of weapons doctrine: ICBMs, jet fighters, jet bombers, tanks,
    aircraft carriers, submarines, all that kind of thing.

    In other words, ?symmetric warfare?.

    Nowadays, ?asymmetric warfare? is a whole new ball game.

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From danny burstein@3:633/10 to All on Monday, June 29, 2026 22:43:43
    In <111urr7$ltvk$5@dont-email.me> Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?= <ldo@nz.invalid> writes:

    On Mon, 29 Jun 2026 06:40:12 -0400 (EDT), Scott Dorsey wrote:

    It worked in the eighties. We outspent the Soviets on the cold war
    until they couldn't make their economy function. Few shots were
    fired.

    It worked because both sides were thinking along the same lines in
    terms of weapons doctrine: ICBMs, jet fighters, jet bombers, tanks,
    aircraft carriers, submarines, all that kind of thing.

    ob RASF: The late Isaac Asimov wrote about one key
    program the West used which I pretty much agree with.

    One of the smartest and most cost effective (financially
    and politically) actions was the IMMENSE amount of money
    and resources pumped into West Berlin.

    The East Germans were (aside from the privileged few)
    living in pisspoor conditions, cold, little to eat,
    broken down buildings, etc.

    They'd look across the Wall to West Berlin and see
    working streetlights, private cars, people walking
    around at all hours, restuarants open overnight, and
    even people dropping spare food on the sidewalks.


    --
    _____________________________________________________
    Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key
    dannyb@panix.com
    [to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Scott Lurndal@3:633/10 to All on Tuesday, June 30, 2026 01:20:55
    Subject: Re: Re: ?Hegseth Hails First Test of America?s ?Golden Dome? Missile Defense Shield?

    Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> writes:
    On 6/29/2026 5:52 AM, Scott Dorsey wrote:

    Trump has stated that Iran has five nuclear weapons and then he shut up.
    The size and type have not been stated, nor any other details. I
    cannot find where I read this a couple of weeks ago.

    You probably read it on the gateway dumbshit site, or perhaps whats
    not up with that or the falun gong mountpiece. All of which you've
    quoted repeatedly, none of which are known for accurate reporting.

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Scott Lurndal@3:633/10 to All on Tuesday, June 30, 2026 01:21:33
    Subject: Re: Re: ?Hegseth Hails First Test of America?s ?Golden Dome? Missile Defense Shield?

    Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> writes:
    On 6/29/2026 10:35 AM, Paul S Person wrote:
    ...
    The most expensive defense is that of the loser in war because they lost >>> it all.

    A single ICBM getting through to the USA would cost in the trillions in
    damages and require a blistering response.

    We don't need a multi-quadrillion (if not quintillion) defense system
    for that. /That/ we can get with no defense system at all.

    And, as you have noted, so long as "they" believe there will be a
    blistering response, our time-tested but boring defense system ("MAD")
    will work just fine.

    MAD does not work with crazies such as Iran.

    What is your definition of 'crazy'?

    How does it differ from Trump, Putin or Kim?

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Lawrence D?Oliveiro@3:633/10 to All on Tuesday, June 30, 2026 02:51:53
    Subject: Re: ?Hegseth Hails First Test of America?s ?Golden Dome? Missile Defense Shield?

    On Mon, 29 Jun 2026 15:17:08 -0500, Lynn McGuire wrote:

    Trump has stated that Iran has five nuclear weapons and then he shut
    up.

    None of his intelligence advisors have indicated that Iran is anywhere
    close to having nuclear weapon capability.

    Netanyahu, on the other hand, has been claiming that Iran is close,
    perhaps even months, away from developing just such a capability ...
    for about the last 20 years.

    You can tell where Trump is getting his information from.

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Lawrence D?Oliveiro@3:633/10 to All on Tuesday, June 30, 2026 02:55:29
    On Mon, 29 Jun 2026 22:43:43 -0000 (UTC), danny burstein wrote:

    One of the smartest and most cost effective (financially and
    politically) actions was the IMMENSE amount of money and resources
    pumped into West Berlin.

    The East Germans were (aside from the privileged few) living in
    pisspoor conditions, cold, little to eat, broken down buildings,
    etc.

    They'd look across the Wall to West Berlin and see working
    streetlights, private cars, people walking around at all hours,
    restuarants open overnight, and even people dropping spare food on
    the sidewalks.

    The basic Triumph of Capitalism, certainly.

    One area where that doesn?t work: healthcare. The world?s number-one
    promoter of Capitalism, the USA, does a lousy job of looking after the
    health of its citizens, compared to many other countries with more ?socialist?-style, shall we say, healthcare systems.

    ?Soft power? can work both ways ...

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Lawrence D?Oliveiro@3:633/10 to All on Tuesday, June 30, 2026 02:57:48
    Subject: Re: ?Hegseth Hails First Test of America?s ?Golden Dome? Missile Defense Shield?

    On Mon, 29 Jun 2026 15:41:52 -0500, Lynn McGuire wrote:

    MAD does not work with crazies such as Iran.

    Question: do you think the religious leadership that the US and Israel succeeded in obliterating was more, or less, crazy than the IRGC folks
    who seem to be in charge now?

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From danny burstein@3:633/10 to All on Tuesday, June 30, 2026 03:09:17
    In <111vb71$phcs$4@dont-email.me> Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?= <ldo@nz.invalid> writes:

    [snip]

    The basic Triumph of Capitalism, certainly.

    One area where that doesn?t work: healthcare. The world?s number-one
    promoter of Capitalism, the USA, does a lousy job of looking after the
    health of its citizens, compared to many other countries with more >?socialist?-style, shall we say, healthcare systems.

    ?Soft power? can work both ways ...

    While there's certaiknly a lot of (arguable) validity to preferring,
    maybe... the healthcare systems in Canada, a big chunk of Europe, and
    lots of other places to the US, the only one who says Cuba is better
    is... Micheal Moore...
    --
    _____________________________________________________
    Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key
    dannyb@panix.com
    [to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Lynn McGuire@3:633/10 to All on Monday, June 29, 2026 22:10:46
    Subject: Re: ?Hegseth Hails First Test of America?s ?Golden Dome? Missile Defense Shield?

    On 6/29/2026 9:57 PM, Lawrence D?Oliveiro wrote:
    On Mon, 29 Jun 2026 15:41:52 -0500, Lynn McGuire wrote:

    MAD does not work with crazies such as Iran.

    Question: do you think the religious leadership that the US and Israel succeeded in obliterating was more, or less, crazy than the IRGC folks
    who seem to be in charge now?

    All five of the leaderships in Iran were and are crazy. The USA and
    Israel have killed off four sets of leaders in Iran now. I suspect that
    the fifth set is marked for destruction now.

    Lynn


    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Chris Thompson@3:633/10 to All on Monday, June 29, 2026 23:50:08
    Subject: Re: ?Hegseth Hails First Test of America?s ?Golden Dome? Missile Defense Shield?

    Lynn McGuire wrote:
    On 6/28/2026 12:10 AM, Chris Thompson wrote:
    Lynn McGuire wrote:
    On 6/26/2026 9:39 PM, Chris Thompson wrote:
    Lawrence D?Oliveiro wrote:
    On Thu, 25 Jun 2026 21:51:30 -0500, Lynn McGuire wrote:

    I think that Israel will end up saying screw it and nuking Iran.

    That would make them even less popular than they are already. JD Vance >>>>> already said the quiet part out loud:

    ÿÿÿÿ ?Donald J. Trump is the only head of state in the entire world >>>>> who
    ÿÿÿÿ is sympathetic to the nation of Israel at this moment in time. >>>>> And
    ÿÿÿÿ he happens to be the head of state of the world's superpower.
    If I
    ÿÿÿÿ was in the cabinet of the Israeli government, I might not be
    ÿÿÿÿ attacking the only powerful ally I have left.?

    Any use of nukes would bring the Security Council down hard. The US
    would find it very hard to resist the pressure not to veto any
    resolution on action against Israel.

    Particularly since the whole Iran affair is already reaching the
    limits of the ??President?s somewhat short attention span ...


    Forget the security council. If Israel nukes Iran- and especially if
    they target any of the holy cities- I am betting there would be a
    response in kind from Pakistan- who has a lot more nukes than Israel.

    Chris

    How do you know this?

    And does Pakistan have delivery systems for their antiquated ultra
    heavy nuclear weapons that weigh around ten tons each?

    The Israelis have several cruise missile 200 kt nuclear weapons on
    each of their submarines.
    ÿÿÿ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolphin-class_submarine

    Lynn


    Ten tons.

    You've been sucking petro fumes too long.

    Chris

    Do you have better information?ÿ If so, please enlighten me.

    Lynn


    Google "Pakistan nuclear weapons"
    You'll see that their warheads are mounted on short, medium and
    intermediate range ballistic missiles.

    A typical missile is the Ababeel which carries 3 MIRVs of 500kg each.

    Other warheads are mounted on cruise missiles launched from Mirage
    fighters- which absolutely do not have a payload of 10 tons.

    Now, why don't you tell us where you got such a preposterous number of
    10 tons?

    CT


    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Lawrence D?Oliveiro@3:633/10 to All on Tuesday, June 30, 2026 04:51:48
    On Tue, 30 Jun 2026 03:09:17 -0000 (UTC), danny burstein wrote:

    While there's certaiknly a lot of (arguable) validity to preferring,
    maybe... the healthcare systems in Canada, a big chunk of Europe,
    and lots of other places to the US ...

    <https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/05/us-healthcare-still-stupidly-expensive-with-pathetic-outcomes-study-finds/>

    the only one who says Cuba is better is... Micheal Moore...

    They have improved more than the US has: <https://www.worldometers.info/demographics/cuba-demographics/#life-exp> <https://www.worldometers.info/demographics/us-demographics/#life-exp>

    What?s mainly holding them back isn?t their internal system, but US
    sanctions.

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Lawrence D?Oliveiro@3:633/10 to All on Tuesday, June 30, 2026 04:54:50
    Subject: Re: ?Hegseth Hails First Test of America?s ?Golden Dome? Missile Defense Shield?

    On Mon, 29 Jun 2026 22:10:46 -0500, Lynn McGuire wrote:

    On 6/29/2026 9:57 PM, Lawrence D?Oliveiro wrote:

    On Mon, 29 Jun 2026 15:41:52 -0500, Lynn McGuire wrote:

    MAD does not work with crazies such as Iran.

    Question: do you think the religious leadership that the US and
    Israel succeeded in obliterating was more, or less, crazy than the
    IRGC folks who seem to be in charge now?

    All five of the leaderships in Iran were and are crazy. The USA and
    Israel have killed off four sets of leaders in Iran now. I suspect
    that the fifth set is marked for destruction now.

    You haven?t said whether you think things are getting better or worse.

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Lynn McGuire@3:633/10 to All on Tuesday, June 30, 2026 00:13:48
    Subject: Re: ?Hegseth Hails First Test of America?s ?Golden Dome? Missile Defense Shield?

    On 6/29/2026 11:54 PM, Lawrence D?Oliveiro wrote:
    On Mon, 29 Jun 2026 22:10:46 -0500, Lynn McGuire wrote:

    On 6/29/2026 9:57 PM, Lawrence D?Oliveiro wrote:

    On Mon, 29 Jun 2026 15:41:52 -0500, Lynn McGuire wrote:

    MAD does not work with crazies such as Iran.

    Question: do you think the religious leadership that the US and
    Israel succeeded in obliterating was more, or less, crazy than the
    IRGC folks who seem to be in charge now?

    All five of the leaderships in Iran were and are crazy. The USA and
    Israel have killed off four sets of leaders in Iran now. I suspect
    that the fifth set is marked for destruction now.

    You haven?t said whether you think things are getting better or worse.

    Crazy is a level all of its own. There is only one level.

    Lynn


    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Lawrence D?Oliveiro@3:633/10 to All on Tuesday, June 30, 2026 07:36:48
    Subject: Re: ?Hegseth Hails First Test of America?s ?Golden Dome? Missile Defense Shield?

    On Tue, 30 Jun 2026 00:13:48 -0500, Lynn McGuire wrote:

    On 6/29/2026 11:54 PM, Lawrence D?Oliveiro wrote:

    On Mon, 29 Jun 2026 22:10:46 -0500, Lynn McGuire wrote:

    On 6/29/2026 9:57 PM, Lawrence D?Oliveiro wrote:

    On Mon, 29 Jun 2026 15:41:52 -0500, Lynn McGuire wrote:

    MAD does not work with crazies such as Iran.

    Question: do you think the religious leadership that the US and
    Israel succeeded in obliterating was more, or less, crazy than
    the IRGC folks who seem to be in charge now?

    All five of the leaderships in Iran were and are crazy. The USA
    and Israel have killed off four sets of leaders in Iran now. I
    suspect that the fifth set is marked for destruction now.

    You haven?t said whether you think things are getting better or
    worse.

    Crazy is a level all of its own. There is only one level.

    Einstein?s definition of insanity: trying the same thing over and
    over, hoping for a different outcome each time.

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From oldernow@3:633/10 to All on Tuesday, June 30, 2026 11:28:59
    Subject: Re: ?Hegseth Hails First Test of America?s ?Golden Dome? Missile Defense Shield?

    On 2026-06-30, Scott Lurndal <scott@slp53.sl.home> wrote:
    Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> writes:
    On 6/29/2026 5:52 AM, Scott Dorsey wrote:

    Trump has stated that Iran has five nuclear
    weapons and then he shut up. The size and
    type have not been stated, nor any other
    details. I cannot find where I read this a
    couple of weeks ago.

    You probably read it on the gateway dumbshit
    site, or perhaps whats not up with that or
    the falun gong mountpiece. All of which you've
    quoted repeatedly, none of which are known for
    accurate reporting.

    You sound surprised, despite the fact that's
    exactly what everyone does.

    --
    v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v
    | alt.troll.adam-h-kerman: proof that the |
    | internet sometimes gets something right | ^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From oldernow@3:633/10 to All on Tuesday, June 30, 2026 11:29:51
    Subject: Re: ?Hegseth Hails First Test of America?s ?Golden Dome? Missile Defense Shield?

    On 2026-06-30, Scott Lurndal <scott@slp53.sl.home> wrote:
    Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> writes:
    On 6/29/2026 10:35 AM, Paul S Person wrote:

    MAD does not work with crazies such as Iran.

    What is your definition of 'crazy'?

    How does it differ from Trump, Putin or Kim?

    You forgot Lurndal.

    --
    v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v
    | alt.troll.adam-h-kerman: proof that the |
    | internet sometimes gets something right | ^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Scott Dorsey@3:633/10 to All on Tuesday, June 30, 2026 08:55:07
    Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?= <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
    The basic Triumph of Capitalism, certainly.

    One area where that doesn't work: healthcare. The world's number-one
    promoter of Capitalism, the USA, does a lousy job of looking after the
    health of its citizens, compared to many other countries with more >'socialists;-style, shall we say, healthcare systems.

    Capitalism works because of competition. When there is no competition, because the industry is dominated by a small number of companies that are
    all run by friends of one another, it all falls apart.

    Reagan talked to the Soviets about the benefits of capitalism and they
    listened to him, which is good. But he didn't explain to them about
    the danger of oligarchies, which turned out to be very bad.

    In many industries in this country we have developed similar oligarchies,
    made even worse by having companies which are too large for one national government to control.

    Back in the 1890s we had similar problems as companies were getting too large for one state to control, and we wound up needing Federal laws to deal with
    the railroads and the interstate commerce that resulted from them. Now we
    are getting companies too large for one country to control at the same time
    we are becoming more isolationist.
    --scott
    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Scott Dorsey@3:633/10 to All on Tuesday, June 30, 2026 09:01:02
    Subject: Re: ?Hegseth Hails First Test of America?s ?Golden Dome? Missile Defense Shield?

    Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?= <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
    On Mon, 29 Jun 2026 15:41:52 -0500, Lynn McGuire wrote:

    MAD does not work with crazies such as Iran.

    Question: do you think the religious leadership that the US and Israel >succeeded in obliterating was more, or less, crazy than the IRGC folks
    who seem to be in charge now?

    Religious leaderships are by definition crazy, in that they are all
    convinced of their righteousness and that what happens in this world is
    less important than what happens to them in the afterlife. This leads
    to decisions that are not beneficial to what is happening in this world. Whether or not they are beneficial to leaders in the afterlife is not a question I care to answer.

    That goes for the IGRC, the revolutionary government of the first Khomeni,
    and the administration in Israel. It may or may not apply to the US
    government on any given day.

    Because inherently irrational governments are so common, MAD is quite frequently going to be ineffective. MAD depends on people being completely rational in ways that only Henry Kissinger could ever believe.
    --scott

    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Scott Dorsey@3:633/10 to All on Tuesday, June 30, 2026 09:04:00
    danny burstein <dannyb@panix.com> wrote:
    While there's certaiknly a lot of (arguable) validity to preferring,
    maybe... the healthcare systems in Canada, a big chunk of Europe, and
    lots of other places to the US, the only one who says Cuba is better
    is... Micheal Moore...

    Cuba's healthcare system was probably the best in the Americas at one point, and they had a huge number of highly trained doctors and a lot of medical research going on.

    It's certainly not anymore. As the economy has collapsed, Cuba has exported more and more of their medical people to other Spanish-speaking countries in exchange for remittences. But Cuban doctors are all over the place and they are generally very good... they just aren't in Cuba anymore because Cuba
    can't afford them.
    --scott
    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Scott Dorsey@3:633/10 to All on Tuesday, June 30, 2026 09:10:33
    Subject: Re: ?Hegseth Hails First Test of America?s ?Golden Dome? Missile Defense Shield?

    On 2026-06-30, Scott Lurndal <scott@slp53.sl.home> wrote:
    Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> writes:
    On 6/29/2026 10:35 AM, Paul S Person wrote:

    MAD does not work with crazies such as Iran.

    What is your definition of 'crazy'?

    How does it differ from Trump, Putin or Kim?

    Putin and Kim are not crazy. They are in crazy situations not entirely of their own making: snails crawing on the edge of a straight razor.

    They seem crazy because they are so poorly-informed and they have no idea
    what is going on outside their own office. So they make some decisions that they think involve self-preservation but don't actually. They are both typical dictators whose only goal is to keep themselves in power. They will do anything, absolutely anything, to stay in power.

    Trump? I think Trump wants to be just like them, but he doesn't really understand how things work. I don't think we'll know what is really going
    on inside the White House for a few more years yet.
    --scott

    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Scott Lurndal@3:633/10 to All on Tuesday, June 30, 2026 14:08:13
    kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) writes:
    Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?= <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
    The basic Triumph of Capitalism, certainly.

    One area where that doesn't work: healthcare. The world's number-one >>promoter of Capitalism, the USA, does a lousy job of looking after the >>health of its citizens, compared to many other countries with more >>'socialists;-style, shall we say, healthcare systems.

    Capitalism works because of competition. When there is no competition, >because the industry is dominated by a small number of companies that are
    all run by friends of one another, it all falls apart.

    Which we learned a century ago, which resulted in busting all
    the trusts. Which seem to have returned, sadly.

    Along with the gambling market (used to be called the stock market).

    Oh for the days when a stock simply paid a regular dividend and wasn't
    subject to manipulation on the secondary market[*]. One might wonder
    if total capitalization, as measured by the stock price is even a
    meaningful metric.

    [*] derivative of derivatives of derivatives.....

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Scott Lurndal@3:633/10 to All on Tuesday, June 30, 2026 14:12:58
    Subject: Re: Re: ?Hegseth Hails First Test of America?s ?Golden Dome? Missile Defense Shield?

    Chris Thompson <the_thompsons@earthlink.net> writes:
    Lynn McGuire wrote:
    On 6/28/2026 12:10 AM, Chris Thompson wrote:
    Lynn McGuire wrote:
    On 6/26/2026 9:39 PM, Chris Thompson wrote:
    Lawrence D?Oliveiro wrote:
    On Thu, 25 Jun 2026 21:51:30 -0500, Lynn McGuire wrote:

    I think that Israel will end up saying screw it and nuking Iran.

    That would make them even less popular than they are already. JD Vance >>>>>> already said the quiet part out loud:

    ÿÿÿÿ ?Donald J. Trump is the only head of state in the entire world >>>>>> who
    ÿÿÿÿ is sympathetic to the nation of Israel at this moment in time. >>>>>> And
    ÿÿÿÿ he happens to be the head of state of the world's superpower. >>>>>> If I
    ÿÿÿÿ was in the cabinet of the Israeli government, I might not be
    ÿÿÿÿ attacking the only powerful ally I have left.?

    Any use of nukes would bring the Security Council down hard. The US >>>>>> would find it very hard to resist the pressure not to veto any
    resolution on action against Israel.

    Particularly since the whole Iran affair is already reaching the
    limits of the ??President?s somewhat short attention span ...


    Forget the security council. If Israel nukes Iran- and especially if >>>>> they target any of the holy cities- I am betting there would be a
    response in kind from Pakistan- who has a lot more nukes than Israel. >>>>>
    Chris

    How do you know this?

    And does Pakistan have delivery systems for their antiquated ultra
    heavy nuclear weapons that weigh around ten tons each?

    The Israelis have several cruise missile 200 kt nuclear weapons on
    each of their submarines.
    ÿÿÿ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolphin-class_submarine

    Lynn


    Ten tons.

    You've been sucking petro fumes too long.

    Chris

    Do you have better information?ÿ If so, please enlighten me.

    Lynn


    Google "Pakistan nuclear weapons"
    You'll see that their warheads are mounted on short, medium and
    intermediate range ballistic missiles.

    A typical missile is the Ababeel which carries 3 MIRVs of 500kg each.

    Other warheads are mounted on cruise missiles launched from Mirage
    fighters- which absolutely do not have a payload of 10 tons.

    Now, why don't you tell us where you got such a preposterous number of
    10 tons?

    Indeed, even Fat Man and little boy were only 10,000 pounds each.

    Perhaps Lynn confused yield with weight?

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From oldernow@3:633/10 to All on Tuesday, June 30, 2026 14:16:44
    Subject: Re: ?Hegseth Hails First Test of America?s ?Golden Dome? Missile Defense Shield?

    On 2026-06-30, Scott Dorsey <kludge@panix.com> wrote:

    They seem crazy because they are so
    poorly-informed and they have no idea what is
    going on outside their own office.

    Replace 'office' with 'newsreader' and you've
    got the typical USENET participant.

    --
    v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v
    | alt.troll.adam-h-kerman: proof that the |
    | internet sometimes gets something right | ^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Paul S Person@3:633/10 to All on Tuesday, June 30, 2026 08:11:34
    Subject: Re: ?Hegseth Hails First Test of America?s ?Golden Dome? Missile Defense Shield?

    On Tue, 30 Jun 2026 14:12:58 GMT, scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal)
    wrote:

    Chris Thompson <the_thompsons@earthlink.net> writes:
    Lynn McGuire wrote:
    On 6/28/2026 12:10 AM, Chris Thompson wrote:
    Lynn McGuire wrote:
    On 6/26/2026 9:39 PM, Chris Thompson wrote:
    Lawrence D?Oliveiro wrote:
    On Thu, 25 Jun 2026 21:51:30 -0500, Lynn McGuire wrote:

    I think that Israel will end up saying screw it and nuking Iran. >>>>>>>
    That would make them even less popular than they are already. JD
    Vance
    already said the quiet part out loud:

    ÿÿÿÿ ?Donald J. Trump is the only
    head of state in the entire world
    who
    ÿÿÿÿ is sympathetic to the nation of Israel
    at this moment in time.
    And
    ÿÿÿÿ he happens to be the head of state of
    the world's superpower.
    If I
    ÿÿÿÿ was in the cabinet of the Israeli
    government, I might not be
    ÿÿÿÿ attacking the only powerful ally I have
    left.??

    Any use of nukes would bring the Security Council down hard. The
    US
    would find it very hard to resist the pressure not to veto any
    resolution on action against Israel.

    Particularly since the whole Iran affair is already reaching the >>>>>>> limits of the ??President?s
    somewhat short attention span ...


    Forget the security council. If Israel nukes Iran- and especially
    if
    they target any of the holy cities- I am betting there would be a >>>>>> response in kind from Pakistan- who has a lot more nukes than
    Israel.

    Chris

    How do you know this?

    And does Pakistan have delivery systems for their antiquated ultra
    heavy nuclear weapons that weigh around ten tons each?

    The Israelis have several cruise missile 200 kt nuclear weapons on
    each of their submarines.
    ÿÿÿ
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolphin-class_submarine

    Lynn


    Ten tons.

    You've been sucking petro fumes too long.

    Chris

    Do you have better information?ÿ If so, please enlighten me.

    Lynn


    Google "Pakistan nuclear weapons"
    You'll see that their warheads are mounted on short, medium and >>intermediate range ballistic missiles.

    A typical missile is the Ababeel which carries 3 MIRVs of 500kg each.

    Other warheads are mounted on cruise missiles launched from Mirage >>fighters- which absolutely do not have a payload of 10 tons.

    Now, why don't you tell us where you got such a preposterous number of
    10 tons?

    Indeed, even Fat Man and little boy were only 10,000 pounds each.

    Perhaps Lynn confused yield with weight?

    Or perhaps he meant weight all along?
    --
    "Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
    Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
    Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Paul S Person@3:633/10 to All on Tuesday, June 30, 2026 08:22:08
    Subject: Re: ?Hegseth Hails First Test of America?s ?Golden Dome? Missile Defense Shield?

    On Mon, 29 Jun 2026 15:41:52 -0500, Lynn McGuire
    <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> wrote:

    On 6/29/2026 10:35 AM, Paul S Person wrote:
    ...
    The most expensive defense is that of the loser in war because they
    lost
    it all.

    A single ICBM getting through to the USA would cost in the trillions
    in
    damages and require a blistering response.

    We don't need a multi-quadrillion (if not quintillion) defense system
    for that. /That/ we can get with no defense system at all.

    And, as you have noted, so long as "they" believe there will be a
    blistering response, our time-tested but boring defense system ("MAD")
    will work just fine.

    MAD does not work with crazies such as Iran.

    Iran isn't a problem at present.

    And it wouldn't /be/ a problem at all had the TACO had the good sense
    not to meddle with it. But "stupid is as stupid does".

    BTW, a point defense of the important targets would probably be better
    than an area defense of the continental USA. Of course, which targets
    are "important" would be up for grabs. Minneapolis might have problems qualifying, at least while DT is in office.
    --
    "Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
    Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
    Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Paul S Person@3:633/10 to All on Tuesday, June 30, 2026 08:25:48
    Subject: Re: ?Hegseth Hails First Test of America?s ?Golden Dome? Missile Defense Shield?

    On Tue, 30 Jun 2026 09:01:02 -0400 (EDT), kludge@panix.com (Scott
    Dorsey) wrote:

    Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?= <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
    On Mon, 29 Jun 2026 15:41:52 -0500, Lynn McGuire wrote:

    MAD does not work with crazies such as Iran.

    Question: do you think the religious leadership that the US and Israel >>succeeded in obliterating was more, or less, crazy than the IRGC folks
    who seem to be in charge now?

    Religious leaderships are by definition crazy, in that they are all >convinced of their righteousness and that what happens in this world is
    less important than what happens to them in the afterlife. This leads
    to decisions that are not beneficial to what is happening in this world. >Whether or not they are beneficial to leaders in the afterlife is not a >question I care to answer.

    That goes for the IGRC, the revolutionary government of the first
    Khomeni,
    and the administration in Israel. It may or may not apply to the US >government on any given day.

    Because inherently irrational governments are so common, MAD is quite >frequently going to be ineffective. MAD depends on people being
    completely
    rational in ways that only Henry Kissinger could ever believe.

    And yet, MAD has worked for a long long time. That's pretty effective.
    --
    "Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
    Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
    Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Paul S Person@3:633/10 to All on Tuesday, June 30, 2026 08:34:23
    On Tue, 30 Jun 2026 14:08:13 GMT, scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal)
    wrote:

    kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) writes:
    Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?= <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
    The basic Triumph of Capitalism, certainly.

    One area where that doesn't work: healthcare. The world's number-one >>>promoter of Capitalism, the USA, does a lousy job of looking after the >>>health of its citizens, compared to many other countries with more >>>'socialists;-style, shall we say, healthcare systems.

    Capitalism works because of competition. When there is no competition,

    because the industry is dominated by a small number of companies that
    are
    all run by friends of one another, it all falls apart.

    Which we learned a century ago, which resulted in busting all
    the trusts. Which seem to have returned, sadly.

    Along with the gambling market (used to be called the stock market).

    Oh for the days when a stock simply paid a regular dividend and wasn't >subject to manipulation on the secondary market[*]. One might wonder
    if total capitalization, as measured by the stock price is even a
    meaningful metric.

    I view the entire thing as a fantasy world driven by funny-money with
    no connection to reality.

    But that's just me. Feel free to differ.
    --
    "Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
    Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
    Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Cryptoengineer@3:633/10 to All on Tuesday, June 30, 2026 12:13:56
    Subject: Re: ?Hegseth Hails First Test of America?s ?Golden Dome? Missile Defense Shield?

    On 6/29/2026 6:31 PM, Lawrence D?Oliveiro wrote:
    On Mon, 29 Jun 2026 15:51:40 -0400, Cryptoengineer wrote:

    One particular issue is that rapidly evacuating wounded to the rear
    is often impossible - it must be done under cover of darkness, or in
    bad weather.

    Are they shooting at ambulances as well?

    I thought certain of the Geneva Conventions had something to say about
    that ...

    These are Russians we're talking about.

    Yes, they do.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zfz3-mPaL5w&t=12s

    pt


    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Scott Dorsey@3:633/10 to All on Tuesday, June 30, 2026 15:01:40
    Subject: Re: Re: ?Hegseth Hails First Test of America?s ?Golden Dome? Missile Defense Shield?

    In article <XRE0S.376797$ipI1.15801@fx15.iad>,
    Scott Lurndal <slp53@pacbell.net> wrote:
    Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> writes:
    On 6/29/2026 5:52 AM, Scott Dorsey wrote:

    Trump has stated that Iran has five nuclear weapons and then he shut up.
    The size and type have not been stated, nor any other details. I
    cannot find where I read this a couple of weeks ago.

    You probably read it on the gateway dumbshit site, or perhaps whats
    not up with that or the falun gong mountpiece. All of which you've
    quoted repeatedly, none of which are known for accurate reporting.

    I am being misquoted here. I did not say any of this.
    --scott
    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Cryptoengineer@3:633/10 to All on Tuesday, June 30, 2026 15:20:07
    Subject: Re: ?Hegseth Hails First Test of America?s ?Golden Dome? Missile Defense Shield?

    On 6/30/2026 3:01 PM, Scott Dorsey wrote:
    In article <XRE0S.376797$ipI1.15801@fx15.iad>,
    Scott Lurndal <slp53@pacbell.net> wrote:
    Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> writes:
    On 6/29/2026 5:52 AM, Scott Dorsey wrote:

    Trump has stated that Iran has five nuclear weapons and then he shut up. >>> The size and type have not been stated, nor any other details. I
    cannot find where I read this a couple of weeks ago.

    You probably read it on the gateway dumbshit site, or perhaps whats
    not up with that or the falun gong mountpiece. All of which you've
    quoted repeatedly, none of which are known for accurate reporting.

    I am being misquoted here. I did not say any of this.
    --scott

    If you count the '>' signs, its clear that Scott is attributing this
    to Lynn.


    pt

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From William Hyde@3:633/10 to All on Tuesday, June 30, 2026 15:23:12
    Scott Lurndal wrote:
    kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) writes:
    Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?= <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
    The basic Triumph of Capitalism, certainly.

    One area where that doesn't work: healthcare. The world's number-one
    promoter of Capitalism, the USA, does a lousy job of looking after the
    health of its citizens, compared to many other countries with more
    'socialists;-style, shall we say, healthcare systems.

    Capitalism works because of competition. When there is no competition,
    because the industry is dominated by a small number of companies that are
    all run by friends of one another, it all falls apart.

    Which we learned a century ago, which resulted in busting all
    the trusts. Which seem to have returned, sadly.

    Along with the gambling market (used to be called the stock market).

    Oh for the days when a stock simply paid a regular dividend and wasn't subject to manipulation on the secondary market[*].

    It took me a while to realize that I should stick to stocks that paid a dividend, because the dividend was a sign that they were making real
    money (of course this means missing Amazon et al, but also Yahoo at $400).

    It took me a while longer to realize that some companies would support
    their stock price (so essential to the value of executive stock
    options!(1)) by paying dividends with money they didn't have.
    Especially when companies cited "cash flow"(2) or the absurd "EBITDA"(3)
    as more than covering the dividend, it was time to get out.

    It took me yet longer to understand that companies that regularly raised
    their dividend saw good prospects ahead.

    It took me even longer than that to realize that some companies (hello Washington Mutual) would ape even this behavior, disastrously for
    shareholders who hung on.

    About the only real thing I was able to discover was the holdings of executives and board members. Even these can be spoofed with stock
    options and deferred share units, but if they own a substantial number
    of real shares. and are buying more, that's still a good sign. Though
    of course they may be wrong.


    One might wonder
    if total capitalization, as measured by the stock price is even a
    meaningful metric.

    Not very.

    [*] derivative of derivatives of derivatives.....

    I strongly recommend Michael Lewis' "The Big Short". His description
    of how they fooled the rating agencies is astounding. These people
    would have bought the Brooklyn bridge.

    (1) In come circumstances. Most of the time execs with share options
    oppose dividends as they feel that their options will be more valuable
    if the company retains its cash.

    (2) Cash flow is a valid metric for companies with excessive
    depreciation, such as oil producers and mall owners.

    (3) Just a way of lying to shareholders.

    William Hyde

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Lynn McGuire@3:633/10 to All on Tuesday, June 30, 2026 15:31:57
    Subject: Re: ?Hegseth Hails First Test of America?s ?Golden Dome? Missile Defense Shield?

    On 6/30/2026 9:12 AM, Scott Lurndal wrote:
    Chris Thompson <the_thompsons@earthlink.net> writes:
    Lynn McGuire wrote:
    On 6/28/2026 12:10 AM, Chris Thompson wrote:
    Lynn McGuire wrote:
    On 6/26/2026 9:39 PM, Chris Thompson wrote:
    Lawrence D?Oliveiro wrote:
    On Thu, 25 Jun 2026 21:51:30 -0500, Lynn McGuire wrote:

    I think that Israel will end up saying screw it and nuking Iran. >>>>>>>
    That would make them even less popular than they are already. JD Vance >>>>>>> already said the quiet part out loud:

    ÿÿÿÿ ?Donald J. Trump is the only head of state in the entire world >>>>>>> who
    ÿÿÿÿ is sympathetic to the nation of Israel at this moment in time. >>>>>>> And
    ÿÿÿÿ he happens to be the head of state of the world's superpower. >>>>>>> If I
    ÿÿÿÿ was in the cabinet of the Israeli government, I might not be >>>>>>> ÿÿÿÿ attacking the only powerful ally I have left.?

    Any use of nukes would bring the Security Council down hard. The US >>>>>>> would find it very hard to resist the pressure not to veto any
    resolution on action against Israel.

    Particularly since the whole Iran affair is already reaching the >>>>>>> limits of the ??President?s somewhat short attention span ...


    Forget the security council. If Israel nukes Iran- and especially if >>>>>> they target any of the holy cities- I am betting there would be a
    response in kind from Pakistan- who has a lot more nukes than Israel. >>>>>>
    Chris

    How do you know this?

    And does Pakistan have delivery systems for their antiquated ultra
    heavy nuclear weapons that weigh around ten tons each?

    The Israelis have several cruise missile 200 kt nuclear weapons on
    each of their submarines.
    ÿÿÿ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolphin-class_submarine

    Lynn


    Ten tons.

    You've been sucking petro fumes too long.

    Chris

    Do you have better information?ÿ If so, please enlighten me.

    Lynn


    Google "Pakistan nuclear weapons"
    You'll see that their warheads are mounted on short, medium and
    intermediate range ballistic missiles.

    A typical missile is the Ababeel which carries 3 MIRVs of 500kg each.

    Other warheads are mounted on cruise missiles launched from Mirage
    fighters- which absolutely do not have a payload of 10 tons.

    Now, why don't you tell us where you got such a preposterous number of
    10 tons?

    Indeed, even Fat Man and little boy were only 10,000 pounds each.

    Perhaps Lynn confused yield with weight?

    You are correct about the 5 ton weight according to Wikipedia.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fat_Man

    Lynn


    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Scott Lurndal@3:633/10 to All on Tuesday, June 30, 2026 20:51:34
    Subject: Re: Re: ?Hegseth Hails First Test of America?s ?Golden Dome? Missile Defense Shield?

    Cryptoengineer <petertrei@gmail.com> writes:
    On 6/30/2026 3:01 PM, Scott Dorsey wrote:
    In article <XRE0S.376797$ipI1.15801@fx15.iad>,
    Scott Lurndal <slp53@pacbell.net> wrote:
    Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> writes:
    On 6/29/2026 5:52 AM, Scott Dorsey wrote:

    Trump has stated that Iran has five nuclear weapons and then he shut up. >>>> The size and type have not been stated, nor any other details. I
    cannot find where I read this a couple of weeks ago.

    You probably read it on the gateway dumbshit site, or perhaps whats
    not up with that or the falun gong mountpiece. All of which you've
    quoted repeatedly, none of which are known for accurate reporting.

    I am being misquoted here. I did not say any of this.
    --scott

    If you count the '>' signs, its clear that Scott is attributing this
    to Lynn.

    Yes. Granted, I should have snipped the attribution line for the text
    that had been snipped.

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Lawrence D?Oliveiro@3:633/10 to All on Tuesday, June 30, 2026 21:38:51
    On Tue, 30 Jun 2026 15:23:12 -0400, William Hyde wrote:

    It took me a while to realize that I should stick to stocks that
    paid a dividend, because the dividend was a sign that they were
    making real money (of course this means missing Amazon et al, but
    also Yahoo at $400).

    Which immediately reminded me of this interview with Cory Doctorow --
    you know, the guy who invented the term ?enshittification? (and wrote
    a book about it)?

    He has a new book out, about the highs and lows of AI. And he has this
    to say about ?growth? stocks (the ones that don?t need to pay a
    dividend because their prices keeps going up -- which describes most
    AI stocks at the moment) versus the rest <https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/06/how-to-burst-the-ai-bubble-strike-at-its-roots/>:

    There?s an enormous amount of liquidity in growth stocks, which
    means that you can use growth stocks to grow. You can buy other
    companies with shares, and shares are an endogenous substance that
    you make on the premises by typing zeros into a spreadsheet. Firms
    with growth stocks can grow by typing zeros, whereas firms that
    are mature, they have to use money if they want to grow, and
    you?re not allowed to make money on the premises. If you do, the
    Treasury Department shows up and takes you away in handcuffs. So
    you can see why firms would be very anxious to maintain the
    perception that they have room for growth even after they have 90
    percent market shares.

    That?s why those firms started promoting stories about how they
    were going to conquer imaginary markets. Imaginary markets have no
    agreed-upon valuation because you just made them up. Unless you
    can turn an imaginary market into a real market pretty quickly,
    you need to come up with another imaginary market and announce
    that this is the new imaginary market you?re going to conquer.
    It?s easier than you?d think because the capital markets have the
    object permanence of a toddler, and they would lose a game of
    peekaboo if they were drafted to play in the league. So you can
    say, ?Oh, actually, it?s not metaverse. It?s crypto. It?s not
    crypto. It?s Web3. It?s not Web3. It?s something else.? And the
    markets will forgive you, provided you do it quickly enough.

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Lawrence D?Oliveiro@3:633/10 to All on Tuesday, June 30, 2026 21:47:17
    On Tue, 30 Jun 2026 08:55:07 -0400 (EDT), Scott Dorsey wrote:

    Capitalism works because of competition. When there is no
    competition, because the industry is dominated by a small number of
    companies that are all run by friends of one another, it all falls
    apart.

    Free-market competition is an inherently unstable state. Without
    careful Government regulation, it can all too easily fall victim to
    all kinds of anticompetitive practices -- predatory pricing, deceptive advertising, buyouts of competitors to create monopolies, and even
    just plain fraud.

    But all this seems impossible to arrange with healthcare. Various
    countries, from the ?Reagonomics? era onward (naturally) experimented
    with free-market models for delivering healthcare, but none of them
    worked very well. Here in NZ at one point we had the district
    hospitals organized into ?Crown Health Entities? which were supposed
    to be run sort of like businesses, but all that is mercifully gone
    now.

    Right now, it looks like only the USA is left, still stubbornly
    clinging to the idea that the market can be made to work for keeping
    people healthy at a reasonable cost. And so you have that guy on trial
    right now for murdering a health-insurance executive in cold blood,
    and a massive amount of sympathy is going out to him, not his victim.

    What is truly horrifying is not that so many people in the USA feel
    this way about health insurance company executives, but that they have
    a point.

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Paul S Person@3:633/10 to All on Wednesday, July 01, 2026 08:17:15
    On Tue, 30 Jun 2026 21:47:17 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D?Oliveiro
    <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

    On Tue, 30 Jun 2026 08:55:07 -0400 (EDT), Scott Dorsey wrote:

    Capitalism works because of competition. When there is no
    competition, because the industry is dominated by a small number of
    companies that are all run by friends of one another, it all falls
    apart.

    Free-market competition is an inherently unstable state. Without
    careful Government regulation, it can all too easily fall victim to
    all kinds of anticompetitive practices -- predatory pricing, deceptive >advertising, buyouts of competitors to create monopolies, and even
    just plain fraud.

    But all this seems impossible to arrange with healthcare. Various
    countries, from the ?Reagonomics? era onward (naturally)
    experimented
    with free-market models for delivering healthcare, but none of them
    worked very well. Here in NZ at one point we had the district
    hospitals organized into ?Crown Health Entities? which were supposed
    to be run sort of like businesses, but all that is mercifully gone
    now.

    You don't understand.

    In America, the function of healthcare is to transfer money from The
    Rest of Us to the 1%-ers.

    Just like everything else.

    Right now, it looks like only the USA is left, still stubbornly
    clinging to the idea that the market can be made to work for keeping
    people healthy at a reasonable cost. And so you have that guy on trial
    right now for murdering a health-insurance executive in cold blood,
    and a massive amount of sympathy is going out to him, not his victim.

    I suggest studying the French Revolution. Particularly the bloodier
    bits.

    If the 1%-ers don't learn from the past, this guy is a harbinger of
    their future.

    What is truly horrifying is not that so many people in the USA feel
    this way about health insurance company executives, but that they have
    a point.
    --
    "Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
    Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
    Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Scott Dorsey@3:633/10 to All on Wednesday, July 01, 2026 12:28:10
    Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?= <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
    On Tue, 30 Jun 2026 08:55:07 -0400 (EDT), Scott Dorsey wrote:

    Capitalism works because of competition. When there is no
    competition, because the industry is dominated by a small number of
    companies that are all run by friends of one another, it all falls
    apart.

    Free-market competition is an inherently unstable state. Without
    careful Government regulation, it can all too easily fall victim to
    all kinds of anticompetitive practices -- predatory pricing, deceptive >advertising, buyouts of competitors to create monopolies, and even
    just plain fraud.

    Yes, but it doesn't take that much regulation! It just takes small amounts
    of impartial regulation. That impartial part becomes difficult.

    But all this seems impossible to arrange with healthcare. Various
    countries, from the 'Reagonomics' era onward (naturally) experimented
    with free-market models for delivering healthcare, but none of them
    worked very well. Here in NZ at one point we had the district
    hospitals organized into 'Crown Health Entities' which were supposed
    to be run sort of like businesses, but all that is mercifully gone
    now.

    In the US we have employer-tied healthcare and this was wonderful and very innovative when it was created in the 19th century. But times have changed, and it's not enough. If you go to many countries you will find an active informal economy or "gig economy" and a lot of small businesses. You don't see that in the US because people don't want to leave their big employer and lose their healthcare.

    Right now, it looks like only the USA is left, still stubbornly
    clinging to the idea that the market can be made to work for keeping
    people healthy at a reasonable cost. And so you have that guy on trial
    right now for murdering a health-insurance executive in cold blood,
    and a massive amount of sympathy is going out to him, not his victim.

    There are multiple problems with the American healthcare system, and the
    greed of insurance companies is only one of them. The very idea of tying healthcare to employment is dysfunctional today.

    What is truly horrifying is not that so many people in the USA feel
    this way about health insurance company executives, but that they have
    a point.

    All I want to know is how we can donate to his defense fund.
    --scott
    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Mike Spencer@3:633/10 to All on Wednesday, July 01, 2026 18:44:18

    Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?= <ldo@nz.invalid> writes:

    In the current conflict of US-plus-Israel-versus-Iran, cost is playing
    a big factor. Both the US and Israel have used up large portions of
    their stocks of very complicated and expensive missiles and other
    consumable weaponry. Whereas Iran...

    Patriot missles? What's the big deal? A mere million bucks per shot,
    pocket change, eh? Four million each, you say? Well, still...

    I didn't know anything about patriot missles, hadda look it up. In
    order to *use* them, you need a fleet -- half a dozen or so -- of
    5-ton trucks, each sagging under a load of diesel, electronic and
    hydraulic gear in addition to the actual launcher. Basic kit to
    launch your first Patriot is a billion bucks, more if you're a non-US
    entity buying the whole shebang from the US mfgrs.

    Personel? Well, three people can run the rig from the armored back of
    one of those 5-T trucks but you need a trained crew to maintain and
    operate all that high-tech gear.

    Ho hum.

    --
    Mike Spencer Nova Scotia, Canada

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Scott Dorsey@3:633/10 to All on Wednesday, July 01, 2026 18:46:21
    Mike Spencer <mds@bogus.nodomain.nowhere> wrote:
    Patriot missles? What's the big deal? A mere million bucks per shot,
    pocket change, eh? Four million each, you say? Well, still...

    I didn't know anything about patriot missles, hadda look it up. In
    order to *use* them, you need a fleet -- half a dozen or so -- of
    5-ton trucks, each sagging under a load of diesel, electronic and
    hydraulic gear in addition to the actual launcher. Basic kit to
    launch your first Patriot is a billion bucks, more if you're a non-US
    entity buying the whole shebang from the US mfgrs.

    How does it compare with the SA-2 in price? The SA-2 design is pretty
    old but the Russians keep upgrading the tracking radars. I saw one of
    the recent ones in Warsaw a couple years ago and it bears no resemblance
    to the ones in Vietnam which killed so many American pilots.
    --scott

    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Lynn McGuire@3:633/10 to All on Wednesday, July 01, 2026 18:23:52
    On 7/1/2026 5:46 PM, Scott Dorsey wrote:
    Mike Spencer <mds@bogus.nodomain.nowhere> wrote:
    Patriot missles? What's the big deal? A mere million bucks per shot,
    pocket change, eh? Four million each, you say? Well, still...

    I didn't know anything about patriot missles, hadda look it up. In
    order to *use* them, you need a fleet -- half a dozen or so -- of
    5-ton trucks, each sagging under a load of diesel, electronic and
    hydraulic gear in addition to the actual launcher. Basic kit to
    launch your first Patriot is a billion bucks, more if you're a non-US
    entity buying the whole shebang from the US mfgrs.

    How does it compare with the SA-2 in price? The SA-2 design is pretty
    old but the Russians keep upgrading the tracking radars. I saw one of
    the recent ones in Warsaw a couple years ago and it bears no resemblance
    to the ones in Vietnam which killed so many American pilots.
    --scott

    My uncle's wingman was shot down with an SA-2 in 1965 over Hanoi. My
    uncle circled over him in the bay until the sun went down and flew back
    to the carrier Independence. Every time they sent a boat out, my uncle
    fired one 20 mm round as he only started with 200 rounds in his A-4.
    The other A-4s refueled him six times in the air. My uncle never saw
    his wingman again and wore a POW-KIA bracelet for the rest of his life.

    My uncle came back the next day with a full load of 500 lb bombs and
    Stuka dived from 40,000 feet to the mountain top where the SA-2 missile
    base was. The SA-2 base could not fire the missiles straight up. My
    uncle thought that he took off the top ten feet of the mountain top
    along with the missile base.

    Lynn


    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Lawrence D?Oliveiro@3:633/10 to All on Wednesday, July 01, 2026 23:54:09
    On Wed, 1 Jul 2026 18:23:52 -0500, Lynn McGuire wrote:

    My uncle's wingman was shot down with an SA-2 in 1965 over Hanoi.

    Who started *that* war, I wonder?

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Scott Dorsey@3:633/10 to All on Wednesday, July 01, 2026 20:16:32
    Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?= <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
    On Wed, 1 Jul 2026 18:23:52 -0500, Lynn McGuire wrote:

    My uncle's wingman was shot down with an SA-2 in 1965 over Hanoi.

    Who started *that* war, I wonder?

    The French, to be honest.
    --scott
    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Lawrence D?Oliveiro@3:633/10 to All on Thursday, July 02, 2026 00:24:10
    On Wed, 1 Jul 2026 20:16:32 -0400 (EDT), Scott Dorsey wrote:

    On Wed, 1 Jul 2026 23:54:09 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D?Oliveiro wrote:

    On Wed, 1 Jul 2026 18:23:52 -0500, Lynn McGuire wrote:

    My uncle's wingman was shot down with an SA-2 in 1965 over Hanoi.

    Who started *that* war, I wonder?

    The French, to be honest.

    It?s a complicated history, isn?t it: as I recall, De Gaulle was
    promised by the Allies at the start of World War II that France would
    get all its colonies back after the war was over. In return for that,
    he agreed to throw in his lot with them.

    The colonies, of course, had other ideas.

    But then, why did the USA have to get involved? Only somehow it saw
    Vietnam?s struggle for independence as some kind of proxy war against Communism. And so a pretext was manufactured for getting involved in
    the fight. (Not the last time the US has done that kind of thing ...)

    Oh, and the ?Domino Theory? business. Hey, I was born and grew up in
    one of the ?dominoes?.

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From oldernow@3:633/10 to All on Thursday, July 02, 2026 14:36:23
    On 2026-07-01, Paul S Person <psperson@old.netcom.invalid> wrote:

    You don't understand.

    In America, the function of healthcare is
    to transfer money from The Rest of Us to
    the 1%-ers.

    Just like everything else.

    You don't understand.

    In the self-centered human species, the
    dysfunction of ego is to transfer everything
    from all others unto itself.

    In the self-centered human species, every last
    one of the 99% would/will do *exactly* what the
    current 1% would do were they magically swapped
    in to be the 1%: they would do whatever is best
    for themselves, and fuck everyone else.

    Until you become interested in looking at and
    solving that actual problem, your 1%/99% analysis
    is utterly useless. Being in an artificially
    designated economic bracket has *nothing* to
    do with the personal character that drives
    behavior. Those in the 1% are neither more nor
    less self-centrically despicable than those in
    the 99%.

    Wake. The Fuck. Up.

    Oh... wait... I temporarily forgot that you
    *can't* because of how bull-headedly "clever"
    The Dysfunction is about avoiding its undoing....

    --
    v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v
    | alt.troll.adam-h-kerman: proof that the |
    | internet sometimes gets something right | ^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Scott Lurndal@3:633/10 to All on Thursday, July 02, 2026 14:54:38
    Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?= <ldo@nz.invalid> writes:
    On Wed, 1 Jul 2026 18:23:52 -0500, Lynn McGuire wrote:

    My uncle's wingman was shot down with an SA-2 in 1965 over Hanoi.

    Who started *that* war, I wonder?

    The french.

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From John Savard@3:633/10 to All on Thursday, July 02, 2026 15:25:51
    On Wed, 1 Jul 2026 23:54:09 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?= <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
    On Wed, 1 Jul 2026 18:23:52 -0500, Lynn McGuire wrote:

    My uncle's wingman was shot down with an SA-2 in 1965 over Hanoi.

    Who started *that* war, I wonder?

    The North Vietnam of Ho Chi Minh. North Vietnam supported Viet Cong
    insurgents who were seeking to overthrow the government of South
    Vietnam, led by Ngo Dinh Diem, and in 1958 North Vietnam invaded Laos
    to create the Ho Chi Minh trail.

    Sadly, on June 29, 1973, the U. S. Congress betrayed the people of
    South Vietnam, passing a law which barred the United States from
    responding to further North Vietnamese aggression against their
    country.

    John Savard

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From John Savard@3:633/10 to All on Thursday, July 02, 2026 15:29:47
    On Tue, 30 Jun 2026 02:55:29 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?= <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

    One area where that doesn?t work: healthcare. The world?s number-one
    promoter of Capitalism, the USA, does a lousy job of looking after the
    health of its citizens, compared to many other countries with more >?socialist?-style, shall we say, healthcare systems.

    But the German Federal Republic had universal health care long before
    the Berlin Wall fell.
    The free enterprise system is not inherently incompetent at what only
    the United States is incompetent at.

    John Savard

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Paul S Person@3:633/10 to All on Thursday, July 02, 2026 08:29:08
    On Thu, 02 Jul 2026 14:54:38 GMT, scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal)
    wrote:

    Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?= <ldo@nz.invalid> writes:
    On Wed, 1 Jul 2026 18:23:52 -0500, Lynn McGuire wrote:

    My uncle's wingman was shot down with an SA-2 in 1965 over Hanoi.

    Who started *that* war, I wonder?

    The french.

    In some sense, yes.

    But my memory suggests that we started it in the 1950s out of fear
    that the Vietnamese would vote the Viet Minh into power by preventing
    the election.

    What goes around, comes around.
    --
    "Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
    Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
    Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From John Savard@3:633/10 to All on Thursday, July 02, 2026 15:38:44
    On Thu, 2 Jul 2026 14:36:23 -0000 (UTC), oldernow <oldernow@dev.null>
    wrote:

    Those in the 1% are neither more nor
    less self-centrically despicable than those in
    the 99%.

    This is true enough. And from Oliver Cromwell to the French Revolution
    to the Soviet Union, we certainly have seen how toppling a system that exploited the poor failed to improve their lot.

    However, this fundamental problem is inherently difficult to solve.
    Some people who have noted this problem have used it to promote the
    following solution: we need to find Jesus!

    From the Inquisition to Iran, one can find examples of theocracies
    that are dystopic as well.

    Having a democracy, in which the 99% can run the country for the
    benefit of the 99%, instead of 1.01% of them becoming the new 1%, is
    an improvement - so all one has to do is keep the Republic that one
    had to be on the right track. Somehow, Franklin Delano Roosevelt
    managed to re-align the country's priorities without becoming a
    demagogic dictator, so don't tell me it can't be done - it has been
    done.

    John Savard

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From oldernow@3:633/10 to All on Thursday, July 02, 2026 16:55:38
    On 2026-07-02, John Savard <quadibloc@invalid.com> wrote:
    On Thu, 2 Jul 2026 14:36:23 -0000 (UTC), oldernow <oldernow@dev.null>
    wrote:

    Those in the 1% are neither more nor
    less self-centrically despicable than those in
    the 99%.

    This is true enough. And from Oliver Cromwell to
    the French Revolution to the Soviet Union, we
    certainly have seen how toppling a system that
    exploited the poor failed to improve their lot.

    However, this fundamental problem is inherently
    difficult to solve. Some people who have
    noted this problem have used it to promote the
    following solution: we need to find Jesus!

    There are other ways to describe it, but yes.

    It's a - if not the - primary problem worth
    solving for being the basis of properties
    emergent from it, like "society" and
    "republic". Not solving it guarantees
    societal/nation roller-coaster riding,
    i.e. rising and falling, because such
    is actually reflection of the rising
    and falling of collective character.

    The "republic" is not a thing, but an emergent
    property of the mathematical integral of the
    behaviors of those said to comprise it, which
    behaviors reflect their character. Not actually
    being a thing, it cannot be fixed any more than
    a reflection can be fixed directly.

    --
    v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v
    | alt.troll.adam-h-kerman: proof that the |
    | internet sometimes gets something right | ^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Scott Dorsey@3:633/10 to All on Thursday, July 02, 2026 17:16:59
    Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> wrote:
    My uncle came back the next day with a full load of 500 lb bombs and
    Stuka dived from 40,000 feet to the mountain top where the SA-2 missile
    base was. The SA-2 base could not fire the missiles straight up. My
    uncle thought that he took off the top ten feet of the mountain top
    along with the missile base.

    That's one of the things that has been improved in the newer tracking
    radar systems. They still are dependent on the C&C link to the ground
    radar but now it's a 21st century radar.

    I got to see one of the newer models at the 75th anniversary VE day
    parade in Warsaw. The lieutenant in charge spoke some English and
    thought it was hilarious that I used the NATO designators for everything.
    He didn't laugh when I looked at the back and said "I never thought I'd
    see THIS end of one of these" though.
    --scott

    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Lawrence D?Oliveiro@3:633/10 to All on Friday, July 03, 2026 00:22:16
    On Thu, 02 Jul 2026 15:25:51 GMT, John Savard wrote:

    The North Vietnam of Ho Chi Minh. North Vietnam supported Viet Cong insurgents who were seeking to overthrow the government of South
    Vietnam, led by Ngo Dinh Diem, and in 1958 North Vietnam invaded
    Laos to create the Ho Chi Minh trail.

    Sadly, on June 29, 1973, the U. S. Congress betrayed the people of
    South Vietnam, passing a law which barred the United States from
    responding to further North Vietnamese aggression against their
    country.

    A ?country? which was so weak and corrupt, it collapsed in just a
    couple of years after that.

    Think about that: why was the South not able to set up a corresponding
    network of insurgents in the North? Because they couldn?t find enough
    people loyal to their cause.

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Lawrence D?Oliveiro@3:633/10 to All on Friday, July 03, 2026 00:25:06
    On Thu, 02 Jul 2026 15:29:47 GMT, John Savard wrote:

    But the German Federal Republic had universal health care long
    before the Berlin Wall fell.

    Of course. Much of Europe is able to do a similarly good job. And some elsewhere, too.

    But remember, in the eyes of many in the US, these are ?Socialist?
    nations.

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Paul S Person@3:633/10 to All on Friday, July 03, 2026 08:35:41
    On Fri, 3 Jul 2026 00:22:16 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D?Oliveiro
    <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

    On Thu, 02 Jul 2026 15:25:51 GMT, John Savard wrote:

    The North Vietnam of Ho Chi Minh. North Vietnam supported Viet Cong
    insurgents who were seeking to overthrow the government of South
    Vietnam, led by Ngo Dinh Diem, and in 1958 North Vietnam invaded
    Laos to create the Ho Chi Minh trail.

    Sadly, on June 29, 1973, the U. S. Congress betrayed the people of
    South Vietnam, passing a law which barred the United States from
    responding to further North Vietnamese aggression against their
    country.

    A ?country? which was so weak and corrupt, it collapsed in just a
    couple of years after that.

    Think about that: why was the South not able to set up a corresponding >network of insurgents in the North? Because they couldn?t find enough
    people loyal to their cause.

    Because, with our usual proclivity for Strong Men and dictators, we
    set up a South Vietnamese government of French-speaking Roman Catholic Northerners and never really understood why they were unable to govern
    a country composed of Southern peasants who were Vietnamese-speaking
    Buddhists. And credited the Viet Minh with getting the French out.

    But then, to us they /all/ were "gooks".
    --
    "Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
    Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
    Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From oldernow@3:633/10 to All on Friday, July 03, 2026 15:53:44
    On 2026-07-03, Paul S Person <psperson@old.netcom.invalid> wrote:

    Because, with our usual proclivity for Strong Men and dictators, we
    set up a South Vietnamese government of French-speaking Roman Catholic Northerners and never really understood why they were unable to govern
    a country composed of Southern peasants who were Vietnamese-speaking Buddhists. And credited the Viet Minh with getting the French out.

    But then, to us they /all/ were "gooks".

    Why the obsession with roping everyone
    else ('our', 'we', 'us') into your slanted
    re-presentations of reality? I had nothing to
    do with *any* of that, and yet you go on and on
    as though I did. How do you imagine you can speak
    for so many others?

    <rolls eyes yet again>

    --
    v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v
    | alt.troll.adam-h-kerman: proof that the |
    | internet sometimes gets something right | ^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Scott Dorsey@3:633/10 to All on Friday, July 03, 2026 12:28:47
    Paul S Person <psperson@old.netcom.invalid> wrote:

    But then, to us they /all/ were "gooks".

    This was what lost the war for us, and it was what was wrong with our
    response to 9-11 as well.

    Winning a war seems easy. All you have to do is identify the enemy and
    kill them. In far too many cases we have failed to do the first.

    You can see this happening just as much in our current war in the mideast, sadly.
    --scott

    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Robert Woodward@3:633/10 to All on Friday, July 03, 2026 09:52:19
    In article <9hlf4lphvogpq41003vm1r98b8vjkdd4ha@4ax.com>,
    Paul S Person <psperson@old.netcom.invalid> wrote:

    On Fri, 3 Jul 2026 00:22:16 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D?Oliveiro
    <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

    On Thu, 02 Jul 2026 15:25:51 GMT, John Savard wrote:

    The North Vietnam of Ho Chi Minh. North Vietnam supported Viet Cong
    insurgents who were seeking to overthrow the government of South
    Vietnam, led by Ngo Dinh Diem, and in 1958 North Vietnam invaded
    Laos to create the Ho Chi Minh trail.

    Sadly, on June 29, 1973, the U. S. Congress betrayed the people of
    South Vietnam, passing a law which barred the United States from
    responding to further North Vietnamese aggression against their
    country.

    A ?country? which was so weak and corrupt, it collapsed in just a
    couple of years after that.

    Think about that: why was the South not able to set up a corresponding >network of insurgents in the North? Because they couldn?t find enough >people loyal to their cause.

    Because, with our usual proclivity for Strong Men and dictators, we
    set up a South Vietnamese government of French-speaking Roman Catholic Northerners and never really understood why they were unable to govern
    a country composed of Southern peasants who were Vietnamese-speaking Buddhists. And credited the Viet Minh with getting the French out.

    Actually, most of them were French-speaking Roman Catholic Southerners.
    They still had the problem governing a population of mostly Buddhists.

    --
    "We have advanced to new and surprising levels of bafflement."
    Imperial Auditor Miles Vorkosigan describes progress in _Komarr_. ?-----------------------------------------------------
    Robert Woodward robertaw@drizzle.com

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Paul S Person@3:633/10 to All on Saturday, July 04, 2026 08:37:23
    On Fri, 3 Jul 2026 12:28:47 -0400 (EDT), kludge@panix.com (Scott
    Dorsey) wrote:

    Paul S Person <psperson@old.netcom.invalid> wrote:

    But then, to us they /all/ were "gooks".

    This was what lost the war for us, and it was what was wrong with our >response to 9-11 as well.

    Winning a war seems easy. All you have to do is identify the enemy and
    kill them. In far too many cases we have failed to do the first.

    You can see this happening just as much in our current war in the
    mideast,
    sadly.

    This is because, except in Aghanistan where the Taliban painted a
    target on their back by shielding Bin Laden, and in liberating Kuwait
    from the jaws of Saddam, there was no enemy.

    In fact, so far, Trump hasn't actually found /any/ enemy of the USA to
    attack. Enemies of himself, certainly, but those are all domestic.
    --
    "Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
    Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
    Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Don@3:633/10 to All on Tuesday, July 07, 2026 15:26:26
    Paul S Person <psperson@old.netcom.invalid> wrote:

    <snip>

    Because, with our usual proclivity for Strong Men and dictators, we
    set up a South Vietnamese government of French-speaking Roman Catholic Northerners and never really understood why they were unable to govern
    a country composed of Southern peasants who were Vietnamese-speaking Buddhists. And credited the Viet Minh with getting the French out.

    But then, to us they /all/ were "gooks".

    Your suggested scenario seems fit for a low budget B-movie about the
    "Nam" war. You share the typical self-serving anti-Catholicism of crony capitalists who profit from colonialism:

    French officials built several pagodas for Vietnamese
    Buddhists to worship. What colonial officials saw as a
    simple and obvious act of accommodation to Vietnam?s
    majority religion, missionaries saw as an active effort
    to turn Vietnamese Catholics away from the Church.

    <https://web.archive.org/web/20220819050955/https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/religious_missionaries_and_the_colonial_state_indochina>

    The French state's anti-Catholicism ultimately failed. The thriving
    Vietnamese community at my parish is served by two itinerant Vietnamese priests, one of whom shuttles between my church and Vietnam. A monthly
    mass is celebrated in Vietnamese. The slim, silken haired, impeccably
    dressed women who attend are a Catholic's Catholic.

    --
    Don.......My cat's )\._.,--....,'``. veritas _|_ telltale tall tail /, _.. \ _\ (`._ ,. liberabit |
    tells tall tales.. `._.-(,_..'--(,_..'`-.;.' vos |


    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From John Savard@3:633/10 to All on Monday, July 13, 2026 07:53:46
    On Fri, 3 Jul 2026 00:25:06 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?= <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
    On Thu, 02 Jul 2026 15:29:47 GMT, John Savard wrote:
    But the German Federal Republic had universal health care long
    before the Berlin Wall fell.

    Of course. Much of Europe is able to do a similarly good job. And some >elsewhere, too.

    But remember, in the eyes of many in the US, these are ?Socialist?
    nations.

    The most obvious response, of course, is to disclaim responsibility
    for the inability of some Americans to use a dictionary. Socialism is
    when the State owns the means of production. Neither a mixed economy
    nor a welfare state is an example of that.

    However, it is somewhat unreasonable to expect ordinary people to use technically precise terminology at all times in ordinary conversation.

    And, not only that, but as the United States Constitution specifically
    limits the Federal spending power to national defense and the general
    welfare, it is not altogether illegitimate to claim that, barring a Constitutional amendment, programs such as the Affordable Care Act are
    beyond the legitimate powers of the Federal government in the United
    States.

    Remember, when the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and its predecessors were introduced, the legislation authorizing them noted
    their role in ensuring the general welfare, by providing supports to
    American farmers, in addition to the insufficient to make the program Constitutionally legitimate role of aiding the particular welfare of
    program recipients.

    So if one defines 'socialism' as any government expenditure on social
    welfare programs by a national government which exceeds what the U. S. Constitution, by a strict interpretation, authorizes for the U. S.
    Federal Government, then, yes, universal health care as other
    countries do it is 'socialist'. And, of course, some Americans may use
    the universal moral law, as revealed in the writings of Ayn Rand, as
    their authority rather than the U. S. Constitution.

    Of course, many Americans use another set of texts as an authority on
    universal moral law which is even more authoritative than the
    Constitution. Although that set of texts has stuff about "widows and
    orphans" in it that would seem to make it irrelevant to our present
    discussion - although elsewhere it does say "He who would not work,
    neither shall he eat" or something like that.

    John Savard

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Scott Dorsey@3:633/10 to All on Monday, July 13, 2026 14:11:58
    John Savard <quadibloc@invalid.com> wrote:
    nations.

    The most obvious response, of course, is to disclaim responsibility
    for the inability of some Americans to use a dictionary. Socialism is
    when the State owns the means of production. Neither a mixed economy
    nor a welfare state is an example of that.

    What about when the government buys a 10% stake in Intel to become the company's largest shareholder?
    --scott


    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)