Jace, Extat

Cost-effective concerns are for non-superpowers. I ain't saying Ukraine should be using less artillery, I'm saying the U.S. should be moving away from it. AI-driven swarms of drones that do everything you've described are within our capability to produce and make central to our warfighting strategies. Yes, it's expensive. But it will be far more effective at scale than any number of big guns. We could, today, before the sun sets in California destroy every single Russian and/or Ukrainian artillery piece without a single soldier setting foot in either country. All from the air, all without an American casualty. Robots and automated weapons systems are the future of war. Artillery had its day, and is still useful to some for some purposes. But America is at its best as a strategic actor and artillery is a tactical weapon, we no longer need it. Why put a gun and shells and troops and their supplies in the field when you can achieve everything they might accomplish with sufficient quantities of automated weapons delivery systems that fly by the thousands over the terrain that artillery presumes to defilade?

Artillery is for second-rate militaries at this point. Drones, drones, drones, drones, drones and more drones is what a real army requires. Fixed guns, fixed anything, will not survive real 21st century warfare. I would prefer to see the U.S. maintain shell production because we can afford it, but if you're abandoning Ukraine it's actually not that bad an idea to wind down production of obsolete munitions.

I imagine it would be reluctantly efficient. You might get a few top generals resigning their posts. A few. And maybe a couple-hundred across the entire military who refuse to contribute to this mission. But not enough to stop it. Most of the military is MAGA, and the ones who aren't have their lives and freedom at stake when considering calling an order unlawful. There would be chaos for a few days, long enough for congress to act, but they won't. And when no other branch of government steps up, the soldiers will largely do as they are told.

I know you're teasing, but I'm not being silly. Do you really believe that, what, half of the military would disobey orders coming from the president? Like, do you really think that? Because that seems silly to me. Some, yes. But not enough to stop the madness from being carried out. Yeah, the shit half who would do nothing except wear pussy hats and post maple leaves on their Bluesky account. The half that isn't armed. America never does anything in my HoI IV campaigns, because I set them to historical focus and then overthrow Hitler in favor of the Kaiser. Japan never attacks Pearl Harbor if they're not allied with the Germans, I find. What makes you think that? You know there are MAGA officers and MAGA generals right? Men and... well, mostly men, who would love nothing more than to fulfill the Dear Leader's wishes. The U.S. military is not culturally equipped to refuse orders from the president. They're just not. Yes. They will. If liberals take to the streets in solidarity with Canada and violence breaks out the National Guard will be deployed and will sweep them off the streets. Rather gleefully. The military is not going to save us from the branch of government that directs their actions. It was for the courts or congress to hold Trump to account for his lawlessness and they have not. Tacit endorsement of his insanity that only makes it more likely that the military follows his deranged whims.

Never stopped 'em before, has it?

That's 'cause it's a Jace Original, baby. I'm an artist.

A few people would resign, but you don't go far down the chain to find people who will follow this president's orders. And the people below them can't resign, they follow orders or they get sent to military prison. There might be a few hundred people, some of them senior officers, who outright refuse to invade Canada but they will not fight against their comrades. There will be no military coup in this country over anything Trump does. Now, I don't think Trump is going to order the invasion of Canada. But if he did, and congress declared war, the vast, vast, majority of the military would follow orders.

That's hilarious that you think there will still be careers in fifteen years. There will be those with money and assets and there will be the others. Careers will last until precisely the moment that a robot can design a robot to manufacture a robot that manufactures and designs robots.

Yes.

Oh, Ompog... you have been hurt. Who hurt you? The only thing worth writing about, baby. Much more interesting than a heist for the sake of some cheap thrills.

We've seen heists in Star Wars. I think y'all aren't being imaginative enough when saying a Nolan Star Wars would look like Andor or be about time travel. At its core Star Wars is a story about the choices people make; joining the rebellion, trusting the force, confronting your destiny... That's why Andor is so good, and I can see why you'd assume Nolan's movie would look like that. It's about Andor choosing to fight the empire for various reasons until he lands on the right reason. I imagine a Nolan Star Wars movie being about a protagonist who is quite passive or reactive who gradually asserts their own agency until the end when they make a climactic decision of great magnitude. And yeah, that's like Andor. But only in the sense that choice would be the narrative engine.

See, I imagine Nolan doing something like KoTOR 2 and I have to put a pillow in my lap. Something about the importance of the choices you make when in possession of great powers or unique agency, and how those choices affect the lives of the rest of the people in the galaxy.

Well the best part is the Lady Jessica, easy.

I recently saw a thing on Youtube of Christopher Nolan rapid-fire answering some questions and when he was asked if he wants to make a Star Wars movie he said "pass". I'd saw off my leg to see a Christopher Nolan Star Wars movie.

Are you suggesting that Chamelete didn't kill it as Paul Atreides? 'Cause I'll stab a motherfucker. Those movies are perfect and Chemalate was born for that role.

We're watching Kong x Gozilla: The Final Empire in my house right now. It's exactly what you think it is.

That's good! Did you draw that and scan it or create it digitally?

Season 5 was alright, but when House went crazy is when the show definitively stopped being good. Damn shame. I stopped watching when he drove his car into Cuddy's house, which I wanna say was the finale to season 7.

I loved House. Loved it. I used to spurge on a Dr. Pepper and Reeses Pieces for new episodes as I watched in my gamer chair in my room. Only other doctor show I've seen is Scrubs, which was great fun after I'd been in the medical field. My sister watched Grey's Anatomy but I never got into it.

What did you have for dessert? 'Cause I hear ol' Elon was having a big serving of Humble Pie.

Hang in there, buddy. You'll be alright. You're a fella who takes swings, and can recognize when they're a miss. You'll be alright.

Did he do that? I can't remember if I finished the first season or not. But seriously, they gave Perrin a wife. And then he killed her. In a series where the good guys actually had plot-impeding story moments where they're like, "well I can't hit a girl!" I remember Perrin having a detached, haunted, character. As one might, after murdering one's wife. Is he like that in season 2?

Oooh, I tuned in just in time to see them lose control of the ship.

How's Perrin holding up after murdering his own wife?

Oooh, Blomkamp would be cool. I haven't seen District 9 in forever.