ADM:

Quote “ Raider; The counter argument being that setting qualifications for appointees,”

Sadly for you, you neglected to address the “setting of qualifications for appointees” stipulation.

Yes, the Senate has the duty to”advise and consent “, the Constitution does not allow the senate to actually set.any conditions as to the persons nominated.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Friday, June 12, 2026 - 06:53 pm: Edit

None of us are constitutional scholars, and you guys have ranged far into the "in my opinion, it obviously means X" which someone else for equally political reasons does not agree that "X" is "X". Just let the DNI thing go, all of you. Get back to technology/tactics and stay out of politics. Jessica, I let you have some rope on that one, don't ask for more rope or you'll get duct tape.

By Alan Trevor (Thyrm) on Friday, June 12, 2026 - 07:11 pm: Edit

I had been trying to stay out of this argument, but just failed my saving throw...


Article I, Section 8: Powers of Congress of the Constitution of the Unite States lists among those powers:

To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.

Note that this does not limit Congress's power regarding "... any Department or Officer thereof... to the Legislative Branch. Rather, it applies to the entire Federal Government. I suggest this provides ample Constitutional warrant for Congress to make laws regarding qualifications for "Departments or Officers" within the Executive, so long as those qualifications are not contrary to qualifications explicitly stated in the Constitution itself.

By Alan Trevor (Thyrm) on Friday, June 12, 2026 - 07:13 pm: Edit

SVC:

I posted my previous comment about Article I, Section 8: Powers of Congress before seeing your 6:53 PM post. I believe it to be valid but, as you say, I am not a Constitutional scholar. Do you wish me to delete my post?

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Friday, June 12, 2026 - 08:18 pm: Edit

Leave it but no more about DNI.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Saturday, June 13, 2026 - 10:06 am: Edit

Ukraine is instituting military reforms to make the force more effective.

Infantry pay increases to $6500 a month. Some as much as $10,000.

Officer pay will double over time.

Infantry enlistment will be 12 months, other branches 24 months.

Those who finish their contracts will get six to 24 months before being called back to service.

Implement a new digital system to keep track of where soldiers are to avoid friendly fire or lost battalions.wounded soldiers will be found and evacuated more easily.

Better organization of foreign volunteers. Thousands from Latin America and Asia serve now. Foreigners can earn citizenship.

Opportunities to transfer to other units or branches once a year. Up to ten can transfer from any one battalion each month. Lots of people wanting out of a given unit will trigger an investigation.

A digital system will continually evaluate each brigade on 160 indicators and share best practices.

Deserters can return to service with amnesty, and even change to a new unit.

Further reforms will be announced later.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Saturday, June 13, 2026 - 11:51 am: Edit

Ukraine is using weather balloons to carry drones hundreds of miles into Russia where they release and attack targets within 100 miles.

By William Jockusch (Verybadcat) on Saturday, June 13, 2026 - 12:04 pm: Edit

I've been wondering for years if that would work. Apparently yes, at least given the current state of Russian air defense.

It's also another potential scenario for a surprise attack on the US.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Saturday, June 13, 2026 - 03:01 pm: Edit

The Ukrainians just started with the drone-drop balloons, but they have used them for years for recon, signal intelligence, and radio relay. The Russians have been hiding in deep valleys were FM radio control drones don't work, but the high altitude balloon relay stations can each down into the valleys to keep the drone operators on target.

The balloons fly too high for any ground-based air defense except the expensive ones, and while fighters could maybe reach them (over Russian territory) their cannon shells don't work much as the low air pressure means the holey balloons don't leak very fast. We killed that Chinese balloon using a sidewinder with an inert warhead.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Sunday, June 14, 2026 - 07:26 pm: Edit

Ukraine is now using drones to drop mines on Russian highways. Even toe-popper mines can blow the wheels off of heavy trucks. POV drones then attack the trucks that are disabled or stopped behind disabled drones. Groups of stalled trucks are delicious targets. When truck drivers abandon their trucks, just one of then losing a foot or leg to a mine means all the drivers refuse to drive at all.
YouTube THE MILITARY SHOW.

By Jessica Orsini (Jessica_Orsini) on Monday, June 15, 2026 - 08:33 am: Edit

It appears that there is an agreement, to be signed this coming Friday, to extend the tenuous US/Iranian ceasefire by sixty days. As of this morning, there are differing claims regarding the terms and conditions of the extended ceasefire.

By Paul Howard (Raven) on Monday, June 15, 2026 - 12:30 pm: Edit

To add to what Jessica has said and hopefully more good news.... the actutal 'Formal' agreement has been digitially signed by both the US and Iran - and Ink signatures will follow in Geneva on Friday.

Details to be released soon - but both sides seem to have stated 'it does include Lebanon' - and the Isreali's will stay where they are for the moment.

Ships are moving through the Strait of Hormuz.

Fingers crossed time.

I would guess with so many ships out of posiition it will take probably 2 to 3 weeks go get shippibg back to normal?

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, June 15, 2026 - 02:32 pm: Edit

There is an agreement to spend 60 days listening to Iran stall the peace talks.

In theory the strait opens but who knows how long.

There are intel reports that Iran dug into the wrecked tunnels and salvaged the enriched Uranium and could finish a bomb by the end of July.

By Paul Howard (Raven) on Monday, June 15, 2026 - 02:57 pm: Edit

Well two things seem to have been confirmed.

US Blockade is still in force - it will only be removed after the full signing on the 19th June.

Lebanon is NOT currently part of the Deal (US statement) - but it is hoped it will be.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, June 15, 2026 - 02:58 pm: Edit

I came upon an interesting report of the "bomber drones used to drop mines on the highway" situation.

A bomber drone with a load of toe-popper anti-personnel mines was approaching the highway when the pilot spotted a "convoy" of one wheeled armored vehicle and three "humvee equivalents" speeding along. He followed them to a warehouse where there were a dozen random vehicles parked. Reasoning that this might be a headquarters, or perhaps an interesting logistics node or even a truck repair facility, he scattered his mines on the parking area and summoned other drones to the area. One with a 40-pound warhead hit the building, causing a stampede onto the parking lot with the result of various minor explosions. Then a really big artillery missile hit the warehouse.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, June 15, 2026 - 03:02 pm: Edit

FYEO POSTS START HERE

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, June 15, 2026 - 03:02 pm: Edit

Naval Air: USN MQ-25A Drone Production
June 15, 2026: The navy’s MQ-25A aircraft refueling drone has entered production. These drones cost $209 million each and 76 will be produced. The MQ-25A won’t operate on aircraft carriers until 2029, three years later than earlier plans. The MQ-25A is the first step down the road to a totally drone carrier aircraft complement.
These plans have been underway for decades. Eight years ago the U.S. Navy enthusiastically accepted the concept of drones. There had long been some resistance to drones from the aviation community. But what won everyone over was the same thing that made drones so popular with the army and marines; persistence. With a few Predators, you can maintain 24/7 observation over a lot of territory. That's a persistent observation, and it is a big advantage in combat. The submarine and surface warfare communities in the navy were eager to get that. The marines were already seeing persistence in action when they served in Iraq and Afghanistan. The submariners liked the idea of long range, persistent, drones scouting way ahead for them. Then there is the prospect of one-way drones that could be launched from a torpedo tube. Suddenly, with drones, there are all manner of new possibilities. But it was the carrier community that finally saw the future. The persistent, much longer ranged, drones kept carriers safer, and enabled carrier aviation to strike targets much farther away.
Then the Navy rolled out its first combat drone. This was part of a six year long, $636 million contract to build and test two X-47B aircraft. The test program called for the first flight within a year and first carrier landing in three years. The 15 ton X-47B has a wingspan of 28 meters, whose outer portions fold up to save space on the carrier. It carries a two ton payload and is able to stay in the air for twelve hours.
Subsequently, the X-47A drone made its first flight. Development of this aircraft began in 2001. The Air Force was also testing the X-45 drone, which also had a naval version/the X-46. The X-45 program began in 1999, and the eight ton, with a two ton payload, aircraft was ready for operational tests in 2006. The X-46 has a different wing layout, and a range of 1,100 kilometers, carrying a payload of two tons. The X-47A also has a two ton payload and a range of 1,600 kilometers. Unlike the X-45, which is built to be stored for long periods, the X-47A was built for sustained use aboard a carrier. All of these aircraft were very stealthy and could operate completely on their own, including landing and takeoff under software control. The drones would be used for dangerous missions, like destroying enemy air defenses, and reconnaissance.
The American Department of Defense decided to make the next generation heavy bomber an unmanned aircraft. The Department of Defense also wants the new aircraft in service by the end of the next decade, some twenty years ahead of schedule. It was also decided that the X-45 project be split up, with the air force and navy allowed to develop combat drones to suit their particular needs. The X-45 was meant mainly for those really dangerous bombing missions, early on, when enemy air defenses had to be destroyed. But the military finally realized that the drone developers were coming up with an aircraft that could replace all current fighter-bombers. This was partly because of the success of the X45 in reaching its development goals, and the real-world success of the Predator in finding, and attacking, targets and Global Hawk in finding potential targets after flying halfway around the world by itself.
The X-45A passed tests with formation flying, and dropping a 129 kg SDB/Small Diameter Bomb. An X-45C could carry eight SDBs, or up to two tons of other guided bombs. The X-45A has already shown it can fly in formation. The planned X-45C would weigh in at about 19 tons, have a 2.2 ton payload and be 39 feet long (with a 49 foot wingspan.) The X-45A, built for development, only has a payload of 1.2 tons. The X-45C was designed to hit targets 2,300 kilometers away and be used for bombing and reconnaissance missions. Each X-45C was to cost about $30 million, depending on how extensive, and expensive, its electronic equipment is. Believing they could do better, the U.S. Air Force cancelled its X-45 program and went looking into different drone designs.
The one topic no one wants to touch at the moment is air-to-air. This appears to be the last job left for pilots of combat aircraft. The computer specialists believe they have this one solved, and are challenging the pilot generals t0 bring it on. The generals are not keen to test their manned aircraft against a drone, but this will change the minute another country, like China or Russia, demonstrates that they are seriously moving in that direction.
Meanwhile, many drone designers want to equip the drones with sensors to give the aircraft the same kind of situational awareness that piloted aircraft have. But for this to work, the drone would need software that would enable it to think like a fighter pilot. The techies say this can be done. But the fighter pilots that run the air force and naval aviation are not so sure. There are also some worries about job security and pilots being replaced by robotic aircraft. All this is headed for some mock combat exercise between manned and unmanned fighters. Such tests will be a competition between pilots and programmers. But the programmer community contains fighter pilots as well, and the smart money is on the software experts to outsmart, or at least outfly, the human pilots. No one thinks it will be a lopsided battle, but the robotic aircraft are so much cheaper over their useable lifetime, including pilot training expenses, that even a dead even finish favors the pilotless aircraft.
The American Navy has invested several billion dollars so far in developing combat drones that can operate from aircraft carriers, and replace some of the manned aircraft on carriers. There are other problems with the combat drones, and these concern just how they will be used. Currently, the thinking is that they will be sort of like cruise missiles that return, and will be most useful for reconnaissance and dangerous missions like taking out enemy air defenses. But many drone engineers, and some fighter pilots, believe that combat drones could revolutionize air warfare. Combat drones can perform maneuvers that a manned aircraft cannot because there are limits to the g-forces a human body can tolerate. In theory, software and sensors would make a combat drone much quicker to sort out a combat situation, and make the right move. For the moment, this aspect of drone development is officially off the table. But once combat drones start operating, and that will be eventually, there will be much pressure to let combat drones rule the skies, in addition to scouting and bombing.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, June 15, 2026 - 03:03 pm: Edit

Korea: AI And Drones On The Korean DMZ
June 15, 2026: South Korea’s heavily fortified border with North Korea has long depended on infantry watching the DMZ/Demilitarized Zone. Technology has been continuously upgrading security. Sixteen years ago South Korea installed unmanned guard towers, equipped with sensors and machine-guns, along the DMZ. On the other side of the four kilometers wide DMZ is North Korea. Since the Korean war ended in 1953, the North Koreans have frequently sent commandos across the DMZ to do some damage, or just to show that they could do it. The last two incursions were four years ago. In both cases, South Korea troops fired on the northern soldiers, who then retreated. Subsequently, in a rare event, a South Korean criminal sought to escape arrest by crossing the DMZ into North Korea, where he sought asylum.
The new, unmanned guard towers on the DMZ are there to spare South Korean troops the tedium of manning such positions, and the risks that the North Korean might shoot at them for no reason. That happens fairly frequently. For these towers, the South Koreans are using ideas and concepts already developed and implemented in Israel.
Back in 2012 South Korea installed long-range thermal\heat-imaging sights at 53 front line positions along the 253 kilometers long North Korean border. South Korean firms already build thermal sights for armored vehicles and rifles. These have ranges from one kilometer for the rifle sight, to several kilometers for the larger-vehicle mounted sights. The new thermal sight for DMZ outposts is apparently more like the sight built for tanks, meaning that it can see to the other side of the four kilometer wide DMZ and have a clear view even at night, or with fog, of anyone crossing the middle of the DMZ. South Korean military commanders are particularly eager to avoid any more embarrassing situations where North Korean defectors simply walk across the DMZ at night with no one on the south side noticing.
Faced with a shortage of young soldiers due to declining birth rates, the South Korean military turned to AI/Artificial Intelligence. AI-enabled systems can overcome enemy defenses with cheap drones. This eliminates risks for pilots of manned aircraft and improves surveillance and target detection.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, June 15, 2026 - 03:04 pm: Edit

Chinese Oil Reserves Corruption
June 14, 2026: In late May Chinese leaders travelled to the Zhoushan National Oil Reserve and discovered the nation’s strategic oil reserves weren’t there. For over a year, the disruption of oil supplies from Venezuela and Iran had left Chinese oil reserves reduced. Despite that, government documents indicated that China still had 1.2 billion tons of oil reserves. That’s equivalent to 8,756,117,022 barrels.
China’s strategic oil reserve, to the surprise of the government officials who went to verify the reserves in May, was instead composed of water, sludge, various debris and overflow from nearby sewer lines.
Because the Americans dominated global energy supplies, the Chinese oil reserve served as a major cushion to any disruptions to Chinese oil imports from the Persian Gulf, especially Iran whose main customer was China. Under America's global energy stranglehold, Chinese crude oil stockpiles have reached the verge of collapse at the slightest exposure.
The current Chinese vulnerability stems from the American disruption of Venezuelan oil exports to China and more recently a similar situation with Iranian oil exports to China.
China’s strategic oil reserve was insurance against disruptions in Venezuelan and Iranian imports. With its oil reserves revealed as a sham, China finds itself in a desperate situation. What happened to Chinese oil? It was soon discovered that corrupt government officials and oil reserve personnel had sold the oil and pocketed the proceeds. The local buyers were often operators of small, locally owned refineries that turned the oil into commercial products that were sold throughout China. Most of these oil criminals then fled, often leaving China for sanctuary states that would welcome any affluent Chinese and their new wealth. The only winners were a few conniving Chinese and the Americans, who continued to dominate the global energy system.
In China corruption is not just an economic issue. For thousands of years there was corruption in the military as well. China has had a corruption problem in its military for a long time. Think thousands of years. One reason the communists won the civil war against the Nationalists in the 1940s was because the Nationalists were much more corrupt. For about a generation, the communists kept corruption under control. But for the last four decades, corruption has been a growing problem. This despite several major efforts to stop it.
The theft of China’s strategic oil reserves is only the latest of several recent awful discoveries of massive corruption impeding the ambition of its leader, President Xi, to conquer Taiwan. The last one concerned military corruption in building equipment to invade Taiwan, and was discovered in 2023. Missile fuel tanks were found to be filled with water, missile silo lids could not be opened, and the protective concrete missile silos themselves were so defective they might as well have been made of wood. The air force and navy lacked sufficient spare parts for even a week of operations against Taiwan and many aircraft and naval vessels were outright inoperable. This postponed the earliest possible date for the invasion of Taiwan from 2025 to 2027.
The non-existence of China’s strategic oil reserve will probably have the same effect. The on-going closure of the Strait of Hormuz due to the war with Iran means China cannot begin to refill its oil reserve until several months after that war ends, due to the need to clear the Strait of anti-ship mines. Then it will take at least another 18 months for China to rebuild, at exorbitant expense to its hard currency reserves, the 1.2 billion ton oil reserve it thought it had. China’s natural gas reserves, to the extent those were believed to exist, were quite inadequate to its needs in the event of a US blockade in a war with Taiwan. Closure of the Strait of Hormuz has made that clear. It will take still longer and cost more to build a strategic natural gas reserve.
There are at least major possibilities that a Chinese invasion of Taiwan has been postponed for another two years, to 2029, and perhaps indefinitely due to further discoveries of calamitous-scale corruption.
So now the Chinese are really getting serious. They are installing cost control systems, with regular audits, to monitor their military spending. In the past, budgeting was pretty primitive, mainly because cost accounting was expensive to implement. In the past, detailed spending data was collected after the fact, if at all. This made it easier for corrupt officers to steal. Noting how effectively Western, Japanese and Taiwanese companies dealt with corruption using detailed budgets and frequent audits, China installed similar systems throughout its armed forces. This caused some morale problems among senior officers, but this was not believed to be serious. Meanwhile, the program cut costs an average of ten percent in units where it had been installed.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, June 15, 2026 - 03:05 pm: Edit

Russia: All Russian Army Units in Ukraine
June 14, 2026: Since 2022 Russia has sent in numerous brigades, regiments, detachments and units of the Spetsnaz as well as elements from the FSB and GRU/military intelligence to Ukraine. There were also some irregular units, including the Wagner Group, Africa Corps, and several militia units, including some from Chechnya.
All these forces were subordinated, at one time or another, to the units of Russia’s army:
2nd Guards Combined Arms Army
25th Combined Arms Army
41st Guards Combined Arms Army
36th Combined Arms Army
29th Combined Arms Army
35th Combined Arms Army
6th Combined Arms Army
20th Guards Combined Arms Army
8th Guards Combined Arms Army
49th Combined Arms Army
58th Guards Combined Arms Army
18th Combined Arms Army
4th Air and Air Defense Forces Army
6th Air and Air Defense Forces Army
11th Air and Air Defense Forces Army
Each of these armies controlled dozens of brigades, regiments and miscellaneous units during the time the army was in Ukraine. Each new army showing up brought with it some of its own brigades while also taking command of units belonging to army it was replacing, many units took heavy losses, leaving some brigades and regiments so depleted that they were withdrawn to Russia for reconstitution and, in a few cases, redeployment to Ukraine.
So far Russia has sent thousands of brigades, regiments and smaller units to Ukraine. At any one time Russia has had 700,000- 800,000 troops in Ukraine facing about the same number of Ukrainian soldiers. One difference has been casualties, with Russia having lost 1.4 million, dead, disabled, captured, deserters and missing so far. Ukrainian casualties have been about half that, plus thousands of civilian casualties and eight million civilians forced from their homes; another seven million have fled the country. The number of war refugees is the highest seen in Europe since World War II. The Ukraine War is the largest European conflict since World War II. Ukrainian partisans continued to fight Soviet troops after 1945 and this lasted until the early 1950s. At that point Russia considered Ukraine part of the Soviet Union. The Ukrainians disagreed then and continued to resist Russian domination.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, June 15, 2026 - 03:06 pm: Edit

: Russian Weapons For Africa
June 13, 2026: The RWEA/Russian Weapons Export agency ROSOBORONEXPORT solicits nations interested in purchasing Russian weapons and then supervises the movement of the weapons to foreign customers while also offering training and maintenance services. REWA personnel seek out Africans attending international trade fairs while also meeting with African purchasing agents at REWA offices in major African countries.
Russia currently exports about $5.7 billion worth of weapons annually and 30 percent of that goes to African countries. Russia’s relationships with African countries are based on decades of trading, usually African raw materials for Russian manufactured goods, including weapons. Russia has a history of generously assisting nations that support Russian political and military objectives. This was particularly true during the 1948-1991 Cold War. Most current African nations were European colonies during the 20th century, but during the 1960s these colonies achieved independence. That led to a competition between western nations, particularly America and Russia over who would be the major supplier of weapons and other technologies to these new countries. While the goal was to help everyone in these countries, the leaders of African countries kept most of the wealth for themselves. As a result, high-tech weapons like tanks, warplanes and combat ships were not properly maintained and after a decade were worthless. This was not a total loss because the nations receiving these weapons also allowed the donor countries to invest in and operate mines, oil fields and other natural resource extraction operations. The foreigners got rich as did the African leaders.
After the Cold War ended in 1991, the African nations could no longer profit from Communist and western competition to offer the best economic deals to African countries. Another change was that China was becoming a major investor and exploiter of African raw materials. The collapse of the Communist Soviet Union in 1991 meant the bankrupt Russians were no longer able to offer anything to African states except mercenaries. First there was the independent Wagner Group, which by 2923 evolved into the 4,000 government controlled Africa Corps mercenaries. So far, this organization has been operating in Mali, the Central African Republic, Libya, Burkina Faso and Equatorial Guinea. The Africa Corps sometimes handles distribution of Russian weapons and trains local personnel.
Recently about a dozen members of the Africa Corps operating in Mali and local soldiers were killed and injured while guarding a convoy. Russian and local soldiers inflict far more casualties on local civilians. This usually occurs during efforts to deal with Islamic terrorists, who remain a major threat to the economy and national government.
Meanwhile, Russian arms manufacturers and exporters have spent over $20 billion for licensed and joint production, development of advanced weapons and military equipment, as well as their modernization, post-sale service and maintenance. REWA undertakes providing African governments with defense solutions designed to improve security and coastline protection, as well as direct military equipment shipments. Other areas of focus include infrastructure support, potential for licensed and joint manufacturing, collaboration in R&D/Research and Development, modernization, servicing, and maintenance of current defense equipment.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, June 15, 2026 - 03:07 pm: Edit

Procurement: Missile Replenishment Problem
June 12, 2026: The current Iran war began at the end of February and continues into June. America has spent over $12 billion since the war began, most of that went for missiles, drones and other munitions. This conflict was noted for the massive use of missiles and drones by both sides. Patriot and THAAD/Terminal High Altitude Aerial Defense are used to intercept Iranian missiles and drones. During the first two weeks, the Americans used more than 6.000 offensive and air defense missiles. This involved nearly half of the ATACMS and its successor PrSM/Precision Strike Missiles. Some 40 percent of the supply of THAAD missiles were used. The major offensive weapon, the Tomahawk cruise missile, saw a fifth of the American stockpile fired in a missile barrage that cost nearly $2 billion. The air force used some 1,100 of their JASSM air to ground missiles in the Iran war. Each of these missiles costs $750,000 and it will take two years to replace those expended against Iran. Overall America used about half its missile and drone stockpile on these attacks and it will take two or three years to replenish the stockpile.
In response to Israeli and American March air strikes, Iran retaliated against the Arab Persian Gulf countries. The attacks began during the first week of March. The UAE/United Arab Emirates were hit by 1,688 systems, including 1,422 drones and 246 missiles during March 1- 8, which was the largest Iranian attack launched on any one Persian Gulf neighbor. Bahrain and Kuwait also received heavy attacks because of their proximity to Iran and the presence of American military facilities.
Iran extended its drone attacks to port facilities in Oman and commercial shipping using the Strait of Hormuz, the vital passage in and out of the Persian Gulf. This was a deliberate effort to halt oil exports and commercial ships delivering cargoes to the Gulf States. After March 1st, daily drone strikes averaged about 250 a day. Drones used were Shahed-136, Shahed-107, and Shahed-238 models. Only one Gulf Arab state, the United Arab Emirates, retaliated because of the Iranian attacks.
Until President Trump announced a cease-fire, aircraft from Israel and the United States continued to attack Iranian drone launching sites. Most of the Iranian weapons are $50,000 Shahed drones. These drones are downed by warplanes using autocannon, or ground forces firing million dollar Patriot missiles. Not only are the Iranian designed Shaheds cheap, but Iranian ally Russia has built a factory to build their version of Shahed called Geran. Even the Americans built a Shahed clone called Lucas and used it against Iran in the recent Persian Gulf fighting.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, June 15, 2026 - 03:17 pm: Edit

END OF FYEO POSTS

By Jessica Orsini (Jessica_Orsini) on Monday, June 15, 2026 - 08:58 pm: Edit

A B-52 crashed shortly after takeoff from Edwards AFB today; all eight crew members were lost.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, June 15, 2026 - 10:25 pm: Edit

Supposedly the text of the deal won't be released until it is signed Saturday. Some claim it is no better than the JCPOA but that cannot be true. Some claim the US is paying Iran $300 million and that has been denounced by the White House.

I am going to declare right now that we're not going to discuss what the deal means. When I get a copy of it I will post it. But we're not going into the politics of what this means inside the US.