Day 212

Butter and guns

c/o US Department of Defense

I watched General Pat’s 38-minute briefing at the Pentagon, so you don’t have to. The first five minutes are about what the US Defense Department is doing to fulfill its sacred obligation make life more affordable for underpaid American soldiers, e.g. reforming the commissary funding model.

(Disclaimer: From 1981 to 1984, I paid rent with cartons of cigarettes and booze purchased at the Truman Plaza PX in Berlin).

On the Ukraine jacket, Pat said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been a gigantic failure that’s expected to get worse. He talked a lot about PDAs (Presidential Drawdown Authority for Ukraine). What I found most interesting about his presentation were the weird medals on his chest. They look very heavy.

Two days before Russia launched its all-out invasion in, Putin demanded

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1. Ukraine’s de-nazification

2. Ukraine’s demilitarization

3. Ukraine’s refusal to join NATO

4. Ukraine’s rejection of any military alliances in general

5. Ukraine’s recognition of the de facto independence of the self-proclaimed Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics

Ukraine, of course, met none of these demands, and Russia launched an all-out invasion on February 24, 2022, when Fred and his gang informed us of our probable demise.

We, of course, ignored and disparaged Fred, depending on our mood, ragged a bit on foreign legionairre TikTokers, except our Sheik Mansur Battalion buddies, and disgregarded bullshit UK intelligence reports.

Next came the 2022 running season, which kicked off in mid May.

Five months later, the route is basically the same, along Naberezhne Highway and the mighty Dnipro, but longer now, with regimented mile-long intervals (five of them) staged for maximum anandamide releases. We started trying to run at least one 6-minute mile, and now three. The longer runs are on Saturday or Sunday, usually during the day.

Our slutty gender-neutral playlist that includes no Imagine Dragons songs has been a great help.

Oh, and this caught my eye this morning:

This is a quote from Chip Roy, a Republican Party member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas, the state that most reminds me of Donbas.

Chip is a real character, almost as bizarre as Victoria

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1. A Separate Reality. Swing for a Ruble, blow for a penny (February 22, 2022)

2. Take Me to the Fire. Throw me in (July 21, 2022)