• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

Second rate reporter says what?

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

No one could have predicted…

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

When do the post office & the dmv weigh in on the wuhan virus?

Bark louder, little dog.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Infrastructure week. at last.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

I didn’t have alien invasion on my 2023 BINGO card.

He really is that stupid.

Mobile Menu

  • Winnable House Races
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • Balloon Juice 2023 Pet Calendar (coming soon)
  • COVID-19 Coronavirus
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • War in Ukraine
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • 2021-22 Fundraising!

This Is Who They Are – Wisconsin Extremists on the Ballot on April 4 (Open Thread)

by WaterGirl|  March 29, 202311:30 am| 47 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

We have talked about the two most important races coming up in the Spring Elections in Wisconsin on April 4.

The Republicans on the ballot are extremists. The Republican extremist who is running for State Senate (SD-8) suggests that he will impeach Judge Janet Protasiewicz if she wins the state-wide race for the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

⭐️

In Wisconsin, please vote for:  Judge Janet Protasiewicz (state-wide race) and Jodi Habush Sinykin (SD-8).

Vote against these Wisconsin extremists:   Dan Kelly (state-wide) and Dan Knodl (SD-8)

Former Attorney General Eric Holder calls this the most important election of 2023.

⭐️

Supreme Court Race:  Electing Janet Protasiewicz would shift the balance of the Wisconsin Supreme Court from Republican to Democrat.

I don’t have to tell you all the great things that could potentially move in the right direction – and all the horrible things that could potentially be stopped – if Judge Janet Protasiewicz is elected on April 4.

State Senate Race (SD-8): Electing Jodi Habush Sinykin will keep Senate Republicans from the 2/3 majority that allow them to remove state officials who are impeached by the State Assembly.

Wisconsin Republicans are defending a two-thirds majority in the state Senate that they achieved in November but quickly lost after the retirement of longtime GOP state Sen. Alberta Darling of River Hills. If Knodl replaces Darling, Senate Republicans will have enough members to be able to remove state officials who are impeached by the state Assembly.

But wait, it’s worse than that!

The republican running against Jodi Habush Sinykin says that if he wins – which would mean that Senate Republicans would have the 2/3 majority – he will consider impeaching Judge Janet Protasiewicz if she is elected on April 4.

And here he is, the day after another school shooting.

I know most of the time it seems like elections don't matter, but if you live in Wisconsin, you can choose not to make this guy the swing vote on the state Supreme Court.
(He posted this at a shooting range fundraiser the day after a mass shooting in WI left 5 people dead). pic.twitter.com/LTmuaodJYX

— Don Moynihan (@donmoyn) March 28, 2023

MADISON – Republican state Senate candidate Dan Knodl says if his election gives Senate Republicans a two-thirds majority, he would “certainly consider” support launching impeachment proceedings against Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Janet Protasiewicz.

Wisconsin Republicans are defending a two-thirds majority in the state Senate that they achieved in November but quickly lost after the retirement of longtime GOP state Sen. Alberta Darling of River Hills. If Knodl replaces Darling, Senate Republicans will have enough members to be able to remove state officials who are impeached by the state Assembly.

The Wisconsin Constitution allows lawmakers to remove state officials “for corrupt conduct in office, or for crimes and misdemeanors,” but Knodl said Sunday he would consider launching impeachment proceedings for criminal justice officials “who have failed” at their jobs.

Republican state Rep. Dan Knodl of Germantown and Democrat Jodi Habush Sinykin of Whitefish Bay will square off in an April 4 special election for the 8th Senate District.

In an appearance on WISN-TV’s political talk show “UpFront,” Knodl said the “Milwaukee County justice system is failing” and said he believes its prosecutors and circuit court judges “need to be looked at” including Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm and Protasiewicz.

“She has failed,” Knodl said. When asked directly if he would support impeaching Protasiewicz, Knodl said “I certainly would consider it.”

Knodl did not immediately say whether his comments meant he would consider voting in favor of impeaching Protasiewicz if she is elected to the state Supreme Court on Tuesday.

I think it’s fair to say at this point that all Republicans are authoritarians now.  Whether they are active authoritarians or just supporting those who are, the Republican party has become the party of authoritarians.  Appalling.

This Is Who They Are – Wisconsin Extremists on the Ballot on April 4 (Open Thread)Post + Comments (47)

Three Eras of the ACA

by David Anderson|  March 29, 20239:58 am| 6 Comments

This post is in: Anderson On Health Insurance

Over the past eighteen months, my role as an academic has changed in a few ways beyond going back for my doctorate.

I’ve been teaching a poli-sci heavy health policy class, I’m advising masters students on a variety of projects, and I’ve taken the senior author role on a couple of papers.  The senior author role is more guidance and direction rather than writing and analysis. I’ve been co-authoring as a senior author with several awesome people on a couple of really cool ACA related questions.

One of the questions that every project generates is how to think about time in the ACA individual markets.  How long should we look back for a particular question and is there a reason to exclude the current years or the early years or 2018 or something else?  There are justifications for including everything, including only recent or excluding the recent years for each of these questions.

As part of this conversation and a lot of walks to get coffee where these decisions marinated in my head… there are three basic eras of the ACA individual market analytically speaking with one fuzzy boundary.

Getting Started with Training Wheels: 2014-2016

The ACA individual market was just getting going.  There were substantial temporary supports with federal reinsurance and risk corridors.  Reinsurance paid a substantial chunk of high cost claims for the first three years with non-premium revenues.  Risk Corridors were intended to correct for actuarial oopsies in either direction where insurers that lost a lot of money were expected to get some of that money back and insurers that made a lot of money were expected to pay some of that money to the federal government.  The 2014 CROMNIBUS mandated that the risk corridors were revenue neutral which effectively meant most of the insurers who had big losses were only getting a sliver of what they thought they were entitled to until they sued and won in the Supreme Court several years later.

During this time period, there were a ton of new insurers, including the Co-Ops, and a lot of insurers jumping into a market that they did not understand well.  Lots of insurers lost a lot of money very quickly from either trying to undercut the market and buy marketshare with the expectations that the enrollees would be sticky over the long run as the risk corridors would pay most of the marketing budget and loss leader pricing.  Conversely, some insurers were just wrong about the market and the winner take all subsidy linked pricing system creamed them.

Politically, there was massive resistance to the ACA.  The law was going to court every week it seemed.  States either quickly expanded Medicaid, mostly liberal states, or dragging their feet.

Wobbly riding without outside assistance: 2017

2017 was a transition year.  All of the temporary supports stopped.  Lots of insurers had left the market either because they had been forced out by state regulators who were freaking out about capital and liquidity concerns (most of the co-ops) or because they were losing too much money.  There were concerns for “bare counties” in summer 2016 (really going to be a big thing in July 2017).  Prices had skyrocketed to cover both the loss of supports such as reinsurance and to accurately price for higher risk.  These decisions were made in the summer of 2016.

Firehose of federal subsidy spending: 2018-present

The biggest common thread from 2018 to present is that the premium subsidies got double buffed.  The first substantial increase is “Silverloading” which started in October 2017 when the Cost Sharing Reduction (CSR) subsidies were no longer directly paid by the federal government to insurers.  Insurers instead put the expected incremental cost of these mandated benefits into only the silver premiums.  This jacked up the benchmark premium which set subsidies which made the non-silver premiums way cheaper for subsidized buyers.  At the same time, states were starting to file for reinsurance waivers which indirectly subsidized upper income individuals who were facing full price of premiums in the individual market.

These subsidies are odd and inefficient and dumb but they benefit from the political value of inertia.  There primary value is for people who don’t buy silver plans.

In 2021, the passage of the American Rescue plan had an across the board subsidy boost that was not restricted by metal level and it removed the income cap for subsidy eligibility.  Affordability for subsidized individuals is much better today than it was in 2017.  More upper income Americans receive a subsidy that kicks in once they spend more then 8.5% of their income on health insurance so we won’t see stories of a family earning low six figures spending $45,000 a year on insurance.  Instead they might spend $10,000 or $15,000 on insurance.

One can always caveat out that 2018 was fundamentally weird and should be its own era or merged with 2017.  It is fundamentally weird because there was incredible political and policy uncertainty.  No one knew if the ACA market would exist in the long run due to repeal and replace.  No one knew what was going to happen with CSR payments.  Insurers either ran like hell or jacked up their rates.  Structurally, I think the actual experience of 2018 aligns nicely with the increased subsidy era, but I can understand an argument that when the decisions were being made for plan offerings in 2017, no one was sure what the hell was going on.

This is how I’m thinking about the ACA individual market in my emerging role as a senior author.

Three Eras of the ACAPost + Comments (6)

Squishable Morning Thread: Free Speech

by Betty Cracker|  March 29, 20239:12 am| 82 Comments

This post is in: Domestic Politics, Open Threads, Politics

Greg Sargent at The Post wrote a column (gift link) about a new bill moving through the Florida statehouse that will supercharge the conservative book-banning spree. As we discussed yesterday, some school district officials (in Pinellas County, for example) are in a defensive crouch and snatch books off school shelves if even a single kook complains. Other district officials take their jobs as educators more seriously and follow a process, leaving books in place until reviews are complete.

As Sargent notes, the bill in question is getting a lot of attention for extending the application of the anti-LGBTQ “don’t say gay” restrictions through 12th grade, but it would also mandate a Pinellas County-style defensive crouch for complaints about books. It would empower random anti-book vigilantes to effect a book’s immediate removal with a complaint and require a review before a title can return to the shelves.

If the new bill passes, it would become statewide policy that this book (Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye) — or others with similarly peripheral “sexual conduct” — must be banned from a given district’s schools immediately upon the objection of one resident of that county, says Kara Gross, legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida.

“It grants enormous power to a single bigoted individual to dictate and control what books other parents’ kids have access to,” Gross told me.

This, in turn, could make it easier for bad-faith actors to nix books while avoiding a process in which baseless objections might initially get dismissed. As (political scientist Jeffrey) Sachs put it, “the automatic removal provision will be abused and lead to widespread censorship.”

Feature, bug, etc.

Here’s my question as a non-lawyer: Is there anything the Department of Justice can do about Florida’s worsening censorship problem? The issue isn’t confined to K-12 schools and minors’ access to books. Government censors are abridging free speech for private businesses and muzzling professors and college students too.

I’m aware of lawsuits in some of these cases, but it seems like at some point, it would be appropriate for the federal government to step in and protect Floridians’ rights as guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. I’m not sure where that line is.

Sargent thinks that if this bill becomes law, it may hurt DeSantis with suburban voters when more randos cause popular titles to be banned and attract backlash. That happened in Martin County when the GOP operatives at Moms for Liberty Censorship got novels by Jodi Picoult removed from high school libraries. Picoult is fighting back, and good for her. But we need help now.

Apologies for being a Debbie Downer so early in the day; please feel free to discuss anything!

Open thread.

PS: This 100-year-old lady who addressed a Martin County schoolboard meeting is awesome! And a quilter!

Squishable Morning Thread: Free SpeechPost + Comments (82)

COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: March 29, 2023

by Anne Laurie|  March 29, 20237:56 am| 17 Comments

This post is in: COVID-19 Coronavirus, Foreign Affairs

(Boston)

The empty city: Photos from a city deserted between March 17 and July 4, 2020 #covid19 https://t.co/js12zhJh1Z pic.twitter.com/wLtRieVftg

— Adam Gaffin (@universalhub) March 18, 2023

We’ve reached the stage where the big tsunami wave has rolled back, and we’re picking through the rubble looking for survivors and whatever we can scavange. Excellent summary of our current moment:

"It’s a really stupid idea to schedule the end of a #pandemic, because viruses don’t have Outlook calendars. Having said that, it is reasonable to suggest that we need to prepare for the next phase."https://t.co/4ZsVwxDLkG

— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) March 24, 2023

show full post on front page

More on USA state-by-state #COVID19 death rates.
"When adjusting the data to acct for age & comorbidities, AZ saw the highest COVID death rate (581 deaths per 100,000 people) in the nation. WaDC (526 /100,000) & NM (521/100,000) were the 2nd & 3rd worst."https://t.co/PPviVQoUfX

— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) March 25, 2023

Another knock-on effect that will haunt us for years:
COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: March 29, 2023

(link)

Before @WHCOVIDResponse is dismantled, important to recover/repurpose unspent #COVID $ to launch Operation Warp Speed 2.0: next gen vaccines w/ broader/long lasting immunity. Improved vaccine platforms prepare us for the next pandemic. @WHOSTP @ASPRgov @BARDA @HHSGov @ashishkjha https://t.co/4ZrcWm0umX

— Rick Bright (@RickABright) March 25, 2023

COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: March 29, 2023 1
(link)

======

COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: March 29, 2023 2

.@WHO's vaccine advisers, the SAGE, recommends countries focus Covid booster efforts on high-risk people. Of medium & low risk people, they are saying to countries: Boost them if you want, but prioritizing other health spending may make more sense. https://t.co/hQ5ArRqocf

— Helen Branswell 🇺🇦 (@HelenBranswell) March 28, 2023

More updates on XBB.1.16 aka #Arcturus
-It has already spread to 20 countries
-Total Sequences: 629
-Apart from India, rapid growth is seen in the US, Japan & NSW
-A new child of it-XBB.1.16 has already emerged & designated:
XBB.1.16.1 = XBB.1.16 + Spike T547I. 1/ pic.twitter.com/KctbHZobw7

— Vipin M. Vashishtha (@vipintukur) March 25, 2023

What a difference a year makes… now China seems to want to totally "disappear" COVID. Neighbor with covid-like systems saying she can't find covid-related medicine in pharmacy, and work won't let her take days off (tho she'll be required to work in isolated room). https://t.co/RxWhm07Aks

— tbCh (@blackChinahand) March 24, 2023

COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: March 29, 2023 3
(link)

India has been witnessing a gradual increase in coronavirus infections in recent days. A new variant could be driving the rise. https://t.co/a1VY7bWLXt

— DW News (@dwnews) March 28, 2023

COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: March 29, 2023 5
(link)

COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: March 29, 2023 4

United Kingdom:

The presenter also said that some people said lockdown saved thousands of lives but others said it was a great infringment of civil liberties & what did I think.

I said both things are true – but some countries with beter public health response managed to avoid lockdown. 2/2 pic.twitter.com/2lAasAY2Yn

— Prof. Christina Pagel 🇺🇦 (@chrischirp) March 26, 2023

COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: March 29, 2023 6

I in 40 for England. pic.twitter.com/EakKX4SG09

— Conor Browne (@brownecfm) March 27, 2023

======

Update: SARS-CoV-2 data from China CDC related to samples collected in Huanan Market in Wuhan, China are available again on @GISAID https://t.co/5UFisyB0aa

— Maria Van Kerkhove (@mvankerkhove) March 28, 2023

COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: March 29, 2023 7
(link)

COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: March 29, 2023 8
(link)

COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: March 29, 2023 9
(link)

Brings this piece to mind and that we need to markedly accelerate and quadruple efforts for effective treatments. Much too little is being done.https://t.co/X4B0k6ubDm#LongCovid https://t.co/Z1R7ztmZTI pic.twitter.com/hTh6hmDwQd

— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) March 27, 2023

LONG COVID 🧵:
Clips from today's @IndependentSage from world leading experts. PLEASE WATCH!

1. @EricTopol We know a LOT MORE now about how Long Covid manifests in people & physiological mechanisms (loads) BUT are FAR BEHIND on finding treatments. Signifcant pandemic legacy 1/9 pic.twitter.com/kqrT2gAg2T

— Prof. Christina Pagel 🇺🇦 (@chrischirp) March 24, 2023

COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: March 29, 2023 10
David Quammen is always worth reading. Here’s a gift (unpaywalled) link:

… We owe it to raccoon dogs, after all they have suffered from humans, not to incriminate them prematurely. Even if they did carry the coronavirus into the market, and spilled it into a person or two, they weren’t there by choice, after all. The vast commerce in wild animals that carried those miserable raccoon dogs to Wuhan goes far beyond China, bringing wild creatures in many countries — and the viruses they carry — increasingly into close contact with humans. And although that traffic might please the palates of some consumers, it’s a recipe for pandemic.

The new international analysis is dramatic, but solving the origin question definitively could take a long time. Forty-one years passed between the first known outbreak of Marburg virus (a cousin of Ebola) in humans and the discovery of its animal host. For SARS-CoV-2, we might never know, given how much precious evidence and opportunity for collaborative research have already been lost.

Whatever happens, raccoon dogs are now a central part of the investigation — as Holmes told me, three years ago, that he suspected they should be. Their presence at covid’s ground zero serves to remind us that spillovers of dangerous viruses from wild animals into people happen often and all over the world, sometimes inconsequentially, sometimes causing catastrophe. And, if our longtime abuse of this suddenly famous creature led to a pandemic, we have only ourselves to blame.

COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: March 29, 2023 11
(link)

=======

Trump's mismanagement of the gov’t response and dismissiveness of the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic cost at least 130,000 American lives—according to his own COVID-19 adviser Dr. Deborah Birx. And the disruptive effects on the education of our young people were devastating. pic.twitter.com/XV2f5Q2T8d

— Rep. Jamie Raskin (@RepRaskin) March 28, 2023

COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: March 29, 2023 12
(link)

COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: March 29, 2023 13
(link)

1/n Interesting bit of revisionist history from NY Times Opinion. Here’s my take: https://t.co/AlugRILXFv

— Prof Peter Hotez MD PhD (@PeterHotez) March 28, 2023

2/n The OG assertion coming from the US Govt had nothing to do with lab leak or anything like that. The claim from the White House West Wing in 2020 was that the Chinese Communist Party was sending infected Chinese citizens abroad to ignite a pandemic for global domination

3/n I was in the (virtual) green room with Chuck Todd about to go on MSNBC when the announcement came. Not only was it ridiculous, but it also ignited a disgusting wave of anti-Asian racism in America

4/n Later they came up with the now discredited hypothesis that the SARS-2 coronavirus was created in a laboratory, because of a furin-cleavage site found in the virus, and that was also discredited https://t.co/wK5E5ZextA

— Prof Peter Hotez MD PhD (@PeterHotez) March 28, 2023

5/n Finally and as a fall-back position a lab leak was alleged, which the biomedical scientific community always said was a possibility including me back in 2021

6/n But no evidence for a lab leak was ever forthcoming, nada, zip, zero. There remains no evidence for a lab leak. And that’s why there’s no published scientific article about this. It doesn’t mean it’s not possible, but one could say this about any emerging virus.

7/n In contrast, we have several published scientific articles that strongly support the emergence of the virus from a wet market in Wuhan for SARS-2, just like for SARS and published in @ScienceMagazine https://t.co/v4uepokx0i and elsewhere

— Prof Peter Hotez MD PhD (@PeterHotez) March 28, 2023

8/n Bottom line: stop blaming the biomedical scientists for the conspiracies generated by those with political/other agendas, or for the Chinese Govt that destroyed or hid wet market evidence. Of course in early days there were uncertainties: that’s a reality of most pandemics.

COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: March 29, 2023 14
(link)

COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: March 29, 2023Post + Comments (17)

On The Road – BillinGlendaleCA – The Winter Sky

by WaterGirl|  March 29, 20235:00 am| 31 Comments

This post is in: On The Road, Photo Blogging

BillinGlendaleCA

As the Milky Way core set into the western horizon here in the northern hemisphere, many landscape astrophotographers hang up their tripods and trackers to await it’s return in March when it is well above the horizon.  I am not one of these photographers, love the “off season”.  There is much to see in the Winter Sky: Orion, the Rosette Nebula and much more.

In late November I purchased at new camera, a Sony A7iv which is a full frame camera(it’s sensor is the same size as a 35mm negative).  The larger sensor enables the collection of much more light than my Samsung’s cropped sensor.

In the last three months, I’ve undertaken a few of my night drives out to some of my favorite dark sites to get some shots.  My work schedule and the weather has prevented me from making more trips than I’d like, but I think I’ve got some pretty good shots.  Though I have a lot of experience with shooting the night sky, in some ways working with the Sony has been like starting anew.

On The Road - BillinGlendaleCA - The Winter Sky 8
Kearsarge, CADecember 19, 2022

Kearsarge is an old station along the railroad that ran though the Owens Valley in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  They have a small section of track, a railroad crossing sign and station sign to memorialize the long gone station.  I shot the Milky Way core here about a year and a half ago and thought this would be a good location for some star trails.  The sky was clear of clouds and there was no wind, however it was quite cold(14℉ when I left).  I shot 3 minute segments for about 2 hours, and planned to light paint the foreground once the star trails were finished.  Just before the last few 3 minute exposures were complete, I noticed a bright light to the north that became brighter and brighter.  It was a guy in a truck driving down the old railbed.  As he passed, he stopped and asked if anything was wrong, I told him that I was taking some picture and he drove on.  His timing was quite fortunate in that I was close to completing my shots.  I had to toss the last 3 minute sub since the headlights were producing a lot of glare in the shot, but I decided to incorporate his headlights into the star trails, giving the effect of a train coming down the tracks.  After he left I took a four minute base shot and a few light painting shots of the foreground.

On The Road – BillinGlendaleCA – The Winter SkyPost + Comments (31)

Late Night Open Thread: Murphy’s Discourse

by Anne Laurie|  March 29, 20232:08 am| 36 Comments

This post is in: Dog Blogging, Open Threads, social media

all the dogs in the neighborhood went crazy barking at a coyote running down the road but it's been gone for 20 minutes and they're stuck in a cycle of barking at one another now

— Michael (@_FleerUltra) March 27, 2023

Aw cute they’ve got discourse too

— Untracable Baklava (@Cpt_J_Yossarian) March 27, 2023

tfw when you hear another dog barking and arent sure whether you should bark back pic.twitter.com/ch8m0sKMN1

— Michael (@_FleerUltra) March 27, 2023

show full post on front page

They’re posting!

— Taylor Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (@Jeffdanherrera) March 27, 2023

Discourse: pic.twitter.com/F0yyStIPy2

— Granarchist (@KtheDilettante) March 27, 2023

Reminiscing about the time they saw the coyote twenty minutes ago

— a real, authentic person 🌯 (@unclecaviar) March 27, 2023

"Another successful defence of the neighborhood, with minimal impact on the community." pic.twitter.com/kfvI9JoJ8S

— Ivan Maas (@IvvyNemo) March 27, 2023

pic.twitter.com/cw8yqsSga6

— WEASELS🏴‍☠️FWA (@stupidweasels) March 27, 2023

Late Night Open Thread: Murphy’s DiscoursePost + Comments (36)

War for Ukraine Day 398: Ukrainian Air Defense!

by Adam L Silverman|  March 28, 20238:41 pm| 63 Comments

This post is in: Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Military, Open Threads, Russia, Silverman on Security, War, War in Ukraine

The Russians are continuing their aerial bombardment campaign of terror against Ukraine. Last night they attacked with 15 Iranian Shaheed drones:

Late at night on March 27, 2023, russian terrorists attacked Ukraine using drones and guided aerial bombs. 14 out of 15 attack UAVs "Shahed-136/131" were shot down.

— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) March 28, 2023

That’s an impressive kill rate, but all it takes is one getting through.

Here is President Zelenskyy’s address from earlier today. Video below, English transcript after the jump:

show full post on front page

I am grateful to everyone who reminds that Russian aggression can end much faster if the world is faster – address by the President of Ukraine

28 March 2023 – 22:12

Good health to you, fellow Ukrainians!

I have returned from our Sumy region. Today I was in Okhtyrka, Trostyanets, Sumy, in the positions of our border guards.

The impressions are special. The region is next to the enemy. The threat is constant. The shelling of our border is constant. But life, our people are obviously stronger than any fears.

Recovery continues, business is gradually returning, and people are rebuilding their lives.

I had the honor to present a special title of the hero city to Okhtyrka. A city that helped save eastern and central Ukraine with its resistance.

I congratulated Trostyanets on the anniversary of liberation from the occupier.

I held a meeting with representatives of local authorities in the Sumy and Chernihiv regions. There are issues that need to be resolved. They will be resolved.

I held a meeting with the commanders directly responsible for the defense of the Sumy and Chernihiv regions. I also had a special conversation with the Head of the Border Guard Service. We talked about the defense of Sumy and our other regions, about strengthening the border guards who, together with all the defense forces, are fighting on the frontline.

By the way, today I would like to celebrate our warriors of the Luhansk, Kramatorsk and Donetsk border guard detachments who are effectively destroying the enemy in the Bakhmut, Lyman and Avdiivka directions. Thank you guys! I would like to express special gratitude to the mortar crews and aerial reconnaissance of our border guard units in the Donetsk sector. Well done, warriors!

Of course, I thank the Sumy border guard detachment. I paid a visit to them today, had the honor to talk to them and support them. Strong positions along the entire border with the terrorist state are a consequence of the strength of our people who are ready to defend the border at any time.

Today we have a decision of the French Parliament, which recognized the Holodomor as genocide of the Ukrainian people. I am grateful for this principled and fair step, for spreading the historical truth to another European country.

And one more thing.

Today I want to thank each and every one who, at the call of heart, in different countries, on different platforms, in different words, but equally honestly and strongly reminds the world that Russian aggression can end much faster than is sometimes said. Faster, if the world is faster, if the world is more determined.

The destroyed Ukrainian cities and villages along the border of the terrorist state, Russia’s constant blackmail and threats to destroy lives in other countries as well, the constant refusal to return to real peace and the mockery of basic international norms are all sufficient reasons to put pressure and fight, to not seek compromise and to care about the values of the world in a real way… In a real way! Achieving the result for freedom every day. Achieving the result for peace every day. Forcing Russia to suffer losses every day.

I thank everyone who helps Ukraine! 

Glory to all who are now in the battle against terror! 

Glory to Ukraine!

Here is the machine translation of the latest operational update from the Ukrainian MOD as posted on their Telegram channel:

Here is former NAVDEVGRU Squadron Leader Chuck Pfarrer’s most recent assessment of the situations in Avdiivka, Zaporizhzhia, and Bakhmut:

AVDIIVKA AXIS /2000 UTC 28 MAR/ RU troops employed CS/tear gas to support attacks on Lastochkyne. These assaults made gains west of Avdiivka. RU losses for the period include 7 IFVs, 6 tanks and 17 artillery units, indicating strong counter-battery fire by UKR artillery. pic.twitter.com/8dvZxkMNHb

— Chuck Pfarrer | Indications & Warnings | (@ChuckPfarrer) March 28, 2023

RUSSIAN ROULETTE: International Atomic Energy Administration (IAEA) monitors report increased combat in the vicinity of the RU-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. RU security forces have taken many scientists, technicians and family members hostage. https://t.co/GqlO65PqCj pic.twitter.com/454UyuS4Ln

— Chuck Pfarrer | Indications & Warnings | (@ChuckPfarrer) March 28, 2023

BAKHMUT CITY /1920 UTC 28 MAR/ Heavy urban fighting continues. UKR conducted 9 aviation strike missions including a Suppression of Enemy Air Defense (SEAD) sortie. Russian losses for the period include 7 Infantry Fighting Vehicles (IFVs), 6 tanks and 17 artillery systems. pic.twitter.com/2tBC5gLxY4

— Chuck Pfarrer | Indications & Warnings | (@ChuckPfarrer) March 28, 2023

Bakhmut:

Update from Bakhmut from the Ukrainian "Bakhmut Demon" on the morning of 28 March. pic.twitter.com/3YoUbsUPfR

— Dmitri (@wartranslated) March 28, 2023

Here’s the translation:

Zaporizhzhia via The Republic World:

Fighting has intensified near a nuclear power plant in Ukraine that is Europe’s largest, further increasing the possibility of a war-related nuclear accident, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said Tuesday.

“There is an increased level of combat, active combat” in the area of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano, Grossi told The Associated Press in an interview. “My teams there report daily about the attacks, the sound of heavy weaponry. This is practically constant.”

Speaking a day before he was to cross the front lines for a second time to visit the plant, Grossi said he felt it was his duty to ramp up talks aimed at safeguarding the facility. He met Monday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and said he would probably head to Russia in the coming days.

Grossi has long called for a protection zone to be set up around the plant, which is very near the front line of the war. But so far, an agreement has been elusive.

“It is a zone of extreme volatility. So the negotiations are, of course, affected by the ongoing military operations,” Grossi said. “I would not characterize the process for the last few months as one that has not led to any progress.”

The U.N.’s atomic energy watchdog, which is based in Vienna, Austria, has a rotating team permanently based at the plant. The power station’s six reactors are in shutdown and the plant has received the electricity it needs to prevent a reactor meltdown through one remaining functioning power line.

Plant personnel have had to switch to emergency diesel generators several times during the 13-month war to power essential cooling systems.

Military analysts expect the fighting between invading Russian troops and Ukrainian forces will further escalate as spring progresses and the ground hardens, allowing heavy military machinery to advance on the battlefield.

“There is talk about offensives, counter-offensives,” Grossi said. “The concentration of troops, concentration of military equipment, heavy weaponry has grown exponentially in the area near to the plant, which of course, makes us believe that the possibility of an accident, of a renewed attack … could grow.”

More at the link!

Vuhledar:

A conversation of Ukrainian soldiers with two prisoners of the 155th Marine Banzai Brigade of the RF Armed Forces, taken prisoner near Vuhledar. No comment.

Source: "I want to live" project. pic.twitter.com/bU6E3WqWBS

— Dmitri (@wartranslated) March 28, 2023

Sloviansk:

2 people killed and 29 injured in Russian attack on Sloviansk. Two S-300 hit the city center.

Sloviansk was the first Ukrainian city captured by Russia in 2014, it was liberated after three months and has been on the radar of Russian assault ever since. pic.twitter.com/uZmVSet2ij

— Maria Avdeeva (@maria_avdv) March 27, 2023

If you’re wondering why so many companies have yet to wind down, close their operations, and leave Russia, The Financial Times has your answer:

Every western company seeking to leave Russia and sell its assets in the country will now be obliged to make a direct donation to the Russian state, a commission on foreign investments in the country has said.

The ruling, published on Monday, raises the pressure on western groups that have yet to make a complete exit from Russia since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine began 13 months ago.

Under the revised rules, any decision to quit would leave companies facing the criticism that they are funding Russia’s war effort by making direct payments to the state budget.

Nataliia Shapoval, chair of the Kyiv School of Economics’ analytics centre, the KSE Institute, said the move had been “looming” since the summer. Foreign companies seeking to sell their Russian businesses have faced a growing number of restrictions.

“It just highlights that companies should be making decisions faster, because it won’t be getting any easier in the future,” Shapoval said.

Previously, companies leaving Russia could choose between making a “voluntary contribution” to Russia’s state budget — set at 10 per cent of the value of the sale — or acquiesce to having the payment from the sale deferred by several years.

“Many companies were eager to exit Russia as fast as they could, so they opted for this 10 per cent tax and cash straight away, instead of the uncertainty of deferred payment,” a person involved in a recent exit transaction said.

The tighter regime will leave executives seeking to exit with no option but to make a direct contribution to Russia’s budget. “The main difference between the new rules and the previous ones is that the companies do not have a choice any more,” said Ilya Rachkov, a partner at Nektorov, Saveliev & Partners. “It is a real property seizure.”

The decision by the commission affects hundreds of western companies that have indicated plans to withdraw from Russia but have not yet completed their exit.

A person involved in one of the ongoing exit negotiations said that about 2,000 applications were waiting for approval.

“The commission meets three times a month and considers not more than seven applications per meeting — so you can do the maths,” the person said. The finance ministry did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

More at the link!

That’s enough for tonight.

Your daily Patron!

A new video from Patron’s official TikTok!

@patron__dsns

Не віддам🙃 #песпатрон

♬ Wii Music – Markian

I’m still unable to highlight anything on the TikTok page, so no machine translation of the caption.

Open thread!

War for Ukraine Day 398: Ukrainian Air Defense!Post + Comments (63)

  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2
  • Go to page 3
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Go to page 10407
  • Go to Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

Recent Comments

  • cain on This Is Who They Are – Wisconsin Extremists on the Ballot on April 4 (Open Thread) (Mar 29, 2023 @ 1:32pm)
  • The Moar You Know on This Is Who They Are – Wisconsin Extremists on the Ballot on April 4 (Open Thread) (Mar 29, 2023 @ 1:29pm)
  • Alison Rose on This Is Who They Are – Wisconsin Extremists on the Ballot on April 4 (Open Thread) (Mar 29, 2023 @ 1:28pm)
  • suzanne on This Is Who They Are – Wisconsin Extremists on the Ballot on April 4 (Open Thread) (Mar 29, 2023 @ 1:25pm)
  • The Moar You Know on This Is Who They Are – Wisconsin Extremists on the Ballot on April 4 (Open Thread) (Mar 29, 2023 @ 1:24pm)

Balloon Juice Meetups!

All Meetups
Seattle Meetup coming up on April 4!

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Fundraising 2023-24

Wis*Dems Supreme Court + SD-8

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
We All Need A Little Kindness
Classified Documents: A Primer
State & Local Elections Discussion

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Mailing List Signup
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)

Twitter / Spoutible

Balloon Juice (Spoutible)
WaterGirl (Spoutible)
TaMara (Spoutible)
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
TaMara
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
ActualCitizensUnited

Join the Fight!

Join the Fight Signup Form
All Join the Fight Posts

Balloon Juice Events

5/14  The Apocalypse
5/20  Home Away from Home
5/29  We’re Back, Baby
7/21  Merging!

Balloon Juice for Ukraine

Donate

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2023 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc