Agiel

Newest Harlequin model: In her right hand is a Fusion Pistol, basically a handgun-sized version of the standard Melta-gun, and no less capable of, well, melting the armour of a Land Raider. Equipped in her right hand is the Harlequin's Caress, which enables her to phase-shift her hand, reach into the chest of her hapless victim, and pluck out his heart (or both, as is the case for Space Marines).

Or, Occam's Razor, such a set-up was the only viable arrangement given Bolton's desire to prove that US involvement in the treaty was dead on short notice since the only other launch platform for a Tomahawk are from Mk67 533mm torpedo tubes and vertical launch tubes from submarines, which are for obvious reasons rather difficult to test on land. The Mk41 launcher by itself is not evidence that it easily launch Tomahawk missiles because the whole system is so much more than the launch cells themselves. Look at a cross-section diagram and one realises that it is in fact simply a series of steel scaffolds to hold a launch canister; without the requisite electronics to put a Tomahawk canister in the Mk41 cells of the Aegis Ashore system one may as well have put in a giant bottle rocket for all the good that does it. The following diagram is essential because it establishes that the Tomahawk Weapon Control System is wholly separate from the Aegis Weapons system that is at the core of Aegis Ashore. Evidence: Here is a Mk41 VLS module on a warship. This is not an American vessel, It's Norwegian Fridtjof Nansen-class frigate. Absolutely no-one thinks these are capable of launching Tomahawk missiles because the fire control system aboard does not support it. Here are the Mk41 cells again. Is it on an American destroyer? One would be forgiven for thinking that it is, but that answer is wrong again. It's a Japanese Kongo-class destroyer. Very few serious people argue that the JMSDF is in breach of Japan's Post-War Constitution because of those cells, and curiously the Kremlin doesn't need much convincing that Japan hasn't abrogated on Article 9 either. Which brings us back to my original assessment as to the chances that the US withdrawal and the recent test would ever lead to a deployed weapon, which remains "Extremely Low," which made Trump and Bolton's decision to leave the treaty doubly stupid in my own opinion, most US Air Force and Navy brass, and that of many experts in the field. As demonstrated by the April 2017 Tomahawk strikes, USS Ross and USS Porter had launched two and a half times the number of missiles than an Aegis Ashore facility has VLS cells (assuming that every one of them notionally contained Tomahawk canisters, which of course makes it virtually useless in its intended role). If the Trump administration tries to make its case for the necessary funding for why I'll presume they'll call Gryphon II, the GAO is going to look at the Tomahawk strike in 2018 and likely conclude that such is totally redundant (particularly as the Pacific theater is an almost entirely air and maritime domain), especially so as it would eat into funds from other projects that they will deem critical (hypersonic TBG and HCSW, B-21 Raider, LRSO, etc.)

People are wondering how Trinity and Neo play into a direct sequel to the original trilogy and here I am hung up on how the Resistance gets out of the Matrix now that pay phones aren't a thing anymore.

Or Black Metal, of which Deathspell Omega's <<The Furnaces of Palingenesia>>, which is virtually a musical adaptation of 1984, to be the most important metal album of the decade: They seemed to have also been on to something in regards to the current political zeitgeist with one of their previous EPs <<Mass Grave Aesthetics>>: The dimension of ethereal totalitarianism discloses itself And takes possession of the quintessential human soul Like a nail hammered through most tender flesh Aeons separate the one whose eyes have seen through the night of the spirit The king, the Lord of hosts, draped in terrifying magnificence From the gleaming clot of trembling vermin If a faith and a belief aren’t nurtured by the moist of blood They do not grow, nor do they live It is at the magnitude of daily murders, massacres and mass graves That we do measure the propagation of our faith Hearken and recognize, that hideous carrion Legs in the air, like a whore displayed, indifferent to the last A belly slick with lethal sweat and swollen with foul gas...

New Mgla joint coming up:

Once again I'm astounded at how actual politicians are getting worked up about the football hooliganism of Portland "antifas" while there's a whole heap of Timothy McVeys out there ready to take out their frustrations on larger society.

@majestic While a secret facility built hundreds of meters under Hawkins is rather improbable, the idea that it was built with the aide of laundered funds and property rights finagling has some weird echoes in reality. Craig Unger had written on capital flight from the former Soviet Union being laundered into the US by buying real estate (by the admission of Oleg Kalugin, a former KGB general, when called for the Russian Mafia effectively operates as a branch of the intelligence services).

I have a feeling that Funko Pops of Alexei, complete with tiny cherry-flavoured slushie, aren't long in coming.

As a reminder that there was a time in the 70's that bombings carried out by fifth columnists in the United States were nearly daily occurrences, to the point that they hardly warranted coverage in national news, the Baader-Meinhoff gang was carrying out routine bank robberies, kidnappings, plane hijackings, and their own bombing attacks (including on NATO bases), and Italy underwent its own wave of political violence between the far left and right that eventually earned the moniker <<Anni di piombo>>, culminating when Italy's own Prime Minister was kidnapped and subsequently executed by the Red Brigade. Personally I think we do a great disservice with talk of the current generation of so-called "antifas" being even a tenth as bad as far-left extremists were in days of yore.

I probably fit all but two of those criteria.

Trump presses Lockheed to keep open a Pennsylvania plant slated for closure I've banged on about this before, but for as much as the GOP claims to have been the party of the "Cold Warriors" Trump seems to find a lot to love about Soviet industrial policy (i.e. "Nothing wrong with epicly wasteful spending as long as there's jobs in it").

As if the IRGC has never needlessly landed Iran in diplomatic hot water before, or that it's categorically impossible for the Iranian leadership's right hand to not know what its left hand is doing:

https://poll.qu.edu/texas/release-detail?ReleaseID=2625 I was of the opinion over the past few years that Texas is in danger of becoming a purple state inside of two decades, not because of "more brown people" but because of an influx of college-educated people seeking lower costs of living in the state (anecdotally I have a cousin who works for Blizzard who has dreams of transferring to the Austin office for that very reason). Perhaps losing Texas might be the wake-up call the GOP needs to stop shooting itself in the stump where its foot once was.

A theory that's been forming in my head from that Cyberpunk 2077 reveal is that in the gameplay demo it is shown that as part of character creation you can choose who your PC's childhood hero is, among those choices being Johnny Silverhand. My wild guess is that that whoever projects himself to you changes based on what you choose, meaning that there might yet be some celebrity reveals in store (Dave Bautista for Morgan Blackhand and George Takei for Saburo Arasaka for instance).

I still won't be surprised if it still gets delayed into late Summer, and CDPR chooses not to have it as a centerpiece at E3 2020 since independent marketing will already be ready to ramp up soon after.

At the very minimum Rick and Morty gets those of us who are in the hobby.

Word of mouth post-launch has really gotten the ball rolling for this game's fortunes, so you may be waiting some time yet.