Marshall Dixon

@getboofd @BrianEastwoodx Polonium-210 would have to be removed from the case and put up to the eye. Inside the thing would be same as the skin You get more radiation exposure from the windows in a commercial aircraft at altitude

@60_healey @BrianEastwoodx what about your eye that kids were putting this thing right up to?

This Lone Ranger Atomic Bomb ring was distributed by Kix cereal in the late 40's, for 15 cents and a mail-in box top. It was actually a spinthariscope containing radioactive Polonium-210 (one of the most toxic substances out there). A child would take the toy into a pitch-black room, remove the tail cap from the 'bomb', and look through a tiny lens to see flashes of light from the Polonium-210 atoms decaying into Lead-206.

@weejoy @BrianEastwoodx There’s little external danger. It put out alpha radiation which can’t penetrate the skin The half life is something like 6 months If swallowed that’s another story

@BrianEastwoodx What was the death toll from this toy?

@gregmcantwell @NoahCRothman What exactly was the mission of an aircraft carrier, that as I recall had made a record long deployment, in the occupation of Iraq? Nice use of a cliche though

@NoahCRothman The Iraq War looked like it was going well after four weeks. Some people never learn…

The verdict from some quarters is in: The war is “quickly becoming a disaster.” The sooner Washington acknowledges its defeat, the better... That dour outlook seems wholly divorced from an objective appraisal of the war in its fourth week.

@BrynApollo @JTAlexander_ @DrewPavlou Sarmatian from the Pontic Steppe moved into the Carpathian Basin during the 2nd C AD and thus the Macomannic were moving into an area bordering Roman and were the Sarmatians Much of the fall of western fall was being Germanic tribes were being pushed west by the Hun from steppe

@BrynApollo @JTAlexander_ @DrewPavlou Just as an example in the later part of that period the Germanic tribe Marcomanni was moving south into the Roman adjacent area. They were being pushed out of their traditional lands. This resulted in the Marcomannic Wars under Marcus Aurelius. Marcomanni were not peacefully…

@MikeWCrichton @SandyofCthulhu Oh I don’t it not just that I’ve seen TV shows and News where jackets have US Marshall on them

@60_healey @SandyofCthulhu Can't blame it on bots, alas. Excessive reliance on auto-correct has been a problem for decades now. Spall chick so on replete mint froe proffer eating (Spellcheck is no replacement for proof reading).

One of the less-appreciated reasons for American success in WW2 is that our army and army-group commanders were really good. Hitler, Tojo, and Churchill focused on loyalty and thus often kept men in charge (or removed men) who really didn't deserve it. Stalin didn't care about loyalty, but he DID worry about disloyalty, so while his army commanders were generally good, he blocked (or murdered) qualified men. Naturally these regimes managed to get some talented generals and admirals at times anyway. But the USA followed different methods. If a commander failed, he was almost always removed and assigned to a new job in which he was likely to succeed. For example, General Fredendall (probably the worst commander we had) and General Lucas were both yanked after battlefield disasters and sent home to manage training armies, for which they appear to have been competent. We'd relieve division commanders, corps commanders, and even army commanders. In one case - Eichelberger - he managed to redeem himself and keep his command. That was unusual for the American system. We always figured the guy on top was the easiest one to replace. It's scandalous that our high commanders aren't better-known. Sure Patton and MacArthur were flamboyant, outspoken, and excellent, but Hodges, Devers, Patch, and Buckner were terrific leaders. Our worst army group commander was Mark Clark, and he wasn't even that bad - his main problem was that Italy was a bad fit for him. MacArthur gets a lot of hostility, and he was personally an egomaniac jerk but he was in fact a good commander, and took care of the lives of his men. The New Guinea campaign, with almost impossible terrain, and a dug-in enemy, cost us about 35,000 American & Australian casualties. But it inflicted over 200,000 Japanese deaths and destroyed the Japanese 18th army. It's one of the great one-sided campaign victories of all time and it's rarely talked about. General Patch, whom few have heard of, led the final offensive on Guadalcanal and drove off the Japanese. Eventually he went to Europe and defeated the Germans in the Vosges and stopped the Nordwind offensive, while his reserves were sent off to fight in the Battle of the Bulge. He led the only contested offensive in the Vosges that has ever succeeded, and he did it without air support. My father-in-law fought in that campaign. I'd put Hodges or Devers up against Rommel, Rundstedt, or maybe even Manstein any day. We had such good leaders. One of the reasons they were so fantastic was that they were all required to attend the Army Industrial College, so they all had a keen understanding of logistics. They knew how hard it was to ship a Sherman tank overseas, and that for every gallon of gas that reached the front line, 2-3 gallons were spent getting it there. The only high ranking American general who DIDN'T go to the Industrial College was Patton (due to age), and in fact he was the guy who famously outran his supplies several times!

@BrynApollo @JTAlexander_ @DrewPavlou You actually think the late Republic, Sula et al, was worth preserving or even .. Caesar’s led to Augustus who took Rome from bricks to marble and bringing about two centuries of the Roman peace until the death of Marcus Aurelius This has to have been posted by a parody

@JTAlexander_ @DrewPavlou Ok, I get the point you’re trying to make, but Caesar’s war in Gaul actually was bad for Rome. It led to the final destruction of the Roman Republic and therefore the gradual fall of Rome as it slipped into ever more tyrannical and barbaric monarchy, and then came the Dark Ages

@jogo_bonito00 @JTAlexander_ Well, Rome lasted over 500 years after Caesar’s murder The eastern Roman Empire lasted and additional thousands years

@JTAlexander_ Ah so we are the new Rome. Nice. I am sure you know how that ends.

@CynicalPublius Remember the so called moderate democrat Shapiro as PA AG during covid led the opposition to the legislatures multiple attempts to remove the D Governor’s temp emergency powers Why would emergency powers need to be still in effect when the legislature was functioning

America was nearly lost to a cabal of NGOs, think tanks, foundations, specialty media organizations, compromised mainstream media organizations, quasi-governmental organizations and all other manner of other well-funded (often with taxpayer dollars) players dedicated to preserving extra-governmental controls over the average American, all outside the scope of what Americans vote for. The men and women behind these organizations claim to want to benevolently advance public policy, when in reality their singular purpose is to maintain and grow the nefarious personal power they have achieved. Above all else they must defend their fiefdoms, the good of the nation be damned. When reformers try to undo any part of this cabal, those reformers are inevitably smeared, libeled, slandered and threatened. The goal is to prevent them from engaging in that necessary reform by intimidating them into silence. Food for thought.

@jakejakeny Back during covid the PA legislature repeatedly tried to remove the governor emergency powers, Wolf Shapiro’s D predecessor Shapiro as PA AG was the lead all the measures to block the legislatures action why would there be emergency powers if the legislature is functioning?

PA Gov. Josh Shapiro won’t remove Larry Krasner as Philadelphia’s. D.A. … which is why everyone who thinks Shapiro is a reasonable moderate Democrat is misinformed.

@Mouse_McCoy @ArielGonzalez_1 @RKelanic @academic_la That’s what I’ve been saying. One of iran shills was going on and on about USPS base delivery being suspended in the area. Oblivious that non-essential personnel had been moved out

@60_healey @ArielGonzalez_1 @RKelanic @academic_la The bases were evacuated before military operations started. Planes were moved as well. This was widely reported at the end of February

This WaPo story takes on new meaning now that we know 13 U.S. bases “uninhabitable” per NYT. Satellite imaging firms Planet and Vantor delayed imagery access about 2 weeks ago, so Iran couldn’t do BDAs to improve targeting. But it also meant U.S. public couldn’t see damage to U.S. bases, either. washingtonpost.com/national-secur…

@nikita_helene Those easy going regimes that deal with dissenting opinions gently are so famous for easily replacing competent leaders repeatedly It’s just something a government like Iran’s are so famous for

this is all part of the genius plan. you people just don't understand mosaic military tactics it's where you use your highest placed commanders to make Israel waste missiles. because you can manufacture cheap commanders faster than Israel can manufacture missiles

@EliLake Oh yes there such a historical record of authoritarian regimes that as policy pursue the harshest for restrictions on dissenting opinions have such a rich history in replacing leadership repeatedly

Iran still retains the idea of a navy, a nuclear program, a defense industrial base, and an Air Force. So what has it really lost other than its political and military leadership and the actual weapons needed to terrorize its neighbors?

@briebriejoy Cuban system and post Hugo Chavez Venezuela system was based entirely on favoritism more than even French King Louis XIV This is why Venezuela which had a huge and productive oil industry turn it to.. Cuba who has some of the most productive land has to import basic food stuffs

America imposes 60 year embargo on Cuba: “Why is Cuba poor?” America imposes sanctions on Venezuela and does a coup: “Why doesn’t communism work?” Israel blows up Gazan infrastructure including airport & blocks development: “Why isn’t Gaza Dubai?” CIA imports drugs & GOP opposes gun regs: “why is there urban crime?” Bipartisan duopoly criminalizes protests: “Where have all the protestors gone?”

@mehadgouda @SpartanEliteAD @MarioNawfal Oh yes authoritarian regimes that have the harshest penalties for differences in opinion are historical so famous for being able to replace leadership repeatedly And they really don’t need to replace any significant above ground infrastructure to control the population

You really thinks Iran is using USA internet for military purposes ?? 😂😂😂 They are using Chinese local sources for that, USA is the main beneficiary of having the internet working inside Iran to get in touch with their assets and collect intelligence.. Electricity and water is a very bad idea for USA, because Iran will take out Israel and GCC power plants and water desalinations as well, that alone will create a HUGE problem in oil markets that US can’t afford to repair . If you count victory by numbers of death, then you might see what Hezbullah is doing in northern Israeli borders right now after taking out 100s of its leadership .. it’s still fighting even stronger than ever.. that alone teach you that taking out leaders leaves a vacuum for way more aggressive leaderships full of revenge and hatred .. and believe me this is not a good strategy at all.

Anyone who follows me knows I tell it as it is. Iran is currently winning this war, strategically (not militarily) BUT ....that may be about to change

@peoplesposting @AngelicaOung @gCaptain Carriers cost $8 million/day to operate, DDGs a bit under a $1 million/day Carrier aircraft cost about $50k/hour to operate and are used to deploy weapons that don’t cost much less than what’s fired from a VLS The BBG would just give a less expensive way to have capacity

@peoplesposting @AngelicaOung @gCaptain So surface war ships are looking like just super carriers and Burke class DDGs The proposal basically a ship that has the ability to carry more standoff weapons, VLS basically, than currently surface ship because that’s what’s primarily used and DDGs have limited space for more

Read this: it’s from the founder of @gCaptain THE marine industry news site. Basically, the US have not been pre-positioning their tanks and it would take months to load and ship them where they are needed. Without tanks as backup, airdropping more Marines is just feeding them to the IRGC. Something doesn’t make sense here.