Happy birthday Attack of the Crab Monsters star Pamela Duncan! (1924 - 2005)

Tuesday, January 31, 2023

California Has More Than 100 Gun Laws. Why Don’t They Stop More Mass Shootings? (NYT) California bans guns for domestic violence offenders. It bans them for people deemed a danger to others or themselves. There is a ban on large-capacity magazines, and a ban on noise-muffling silencers. Semiautomatic guns of the sort colloquially known as “assault weapons” are, famously, banned. More than 100 gun laws—the most of any state—are on the books in California. They have saved lives, policymakers say: Californians have among the lowest rates of gun death in the United States. Yet this month, those laws failed to stop the massacres of at least 19 people in back-to-back mass shootings. The tragedies in Monterey Park and Half Moon Bay have confounded Americans who regard California as a best-case bastion of gun safety in a nation awash with firearms. Inside the state, gun rights proponents say the shootings show that California’s strategy is a failure. Gun safety groups, meanwhile, have already begun mobilizing for more laws and better enforcement.

Peru’s protest ‘deactivators’ run toward tear gas to stop it (AP) When police fire tear gas at protesters demanding the resignation of Peruvian President Dina Boluarte, most run away. A few, though, run toward the gas canisters as quickly as possible—to neutralize them. These are the “deactivators.” Donning gas masks, safety goggles and thick gloves, these volunteers grab the hot canisters and toss them inside large plastic bottles filled with a mixture of water, baking soda and vinegar. The deactivators made their debut in Peru street protests in 2020, inspired by protesters in Hong Kong who in 2019 unveiled new strategies to counteract the eye-stinging, breath-stealing effects of tear gas. With protesters in Lima facing a nearly daily fusillade of tear gas, more people have joined the ranks of deactivators trying to shield them and keep the demonstrations going.

France braces for major transport woes from pension strikes (AP) France’s national rail operator is recommending that passengers stay home Tuesday to avoid strikes over pensions that are expected to cause major transport woes but largely spare high-speed links to Britain, Belgium and the Netherlands. Labor unions that mobilized massive street protests in an initial salvo of nationwide strikes earlier this month are hoping for similar success Tuesday to maintain pressure on government plans to raise France’s retirement age. Positions are hardening on both sides as lawmakers begin debating the planned change. France’s prime minister, Elisabeth Borne, insisted this weekend that her government’s intention to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 is “no longer negotiable.” Opponents in parliament and labor leaders are determined to prove her wrong.

Russia’s Convict Fighters Are Heading Home (NYT) He was released from a Russian prison and thrown into battle in Ukraine with a promise of freedom, redemption and money. Now, Andrei Yastrebov, who was among tens of thousands of convict soldiers, is part of a return from the battlefield with potentially serious implications for Russian society. Mr. Yastrebov, 22, who had been serving time for theft, returned home a changed man. “We all feel like he is in some sort of hypnosis, like he is a different person,” said a relative of his, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. “He is without any emotions.” President Vladimir V. Putin’s decision to allow a mercenary group to recruit Russian convicts in support of his flagging war effort marks a watershed in his 23-year rule, say human rights activists and legal experts. The policy circumvents Russian legal precedent and, by returning some brutalized criminals to their homes with pardons, risks triggering greater violence throughout society. Since July, around 40,000 inmates have joined the Russian forces, according to Western intelligence agencies, the Ukrainian government and a prisoners’ rights association, Russia Behind Bars, which combines reports from informers across Russian jails. Ukraine claims that nearly 30,000 have deserted or been killed or wounded, although that number could not be independently verified.

Biden says no F-16s for Ukraine as Russia claims gains (Reuters) The United States will not provide the F-16 fighter jets that Ukraine has sought in its fight against Russia, President Joe Biden said on Monday, as Russian forces claimed a series of incremental gains in the country's east. Ukraine planned to push for Western fourth-generation fighter jets such as the F-16 after securing supplies of main battle tanks last week, an adviser to Ukraine's defence minister said on Friday. Asked if the United States would provide the jets, Biden told reporters at the White House, "No." The hundreds of modern tanks and armoured vehicles pledged to Ukraine by Western countries in recent weeks for a counteroffensive to recapture territory are months away from delivery. This leaves Kyiv to fight through the winter in what both sides have described as a meat grinder of relentless attritional warfare.

Winter has come for Afghanistan (Washington Post) For much of the past year, the West’s policymakers and analysts were possessed by one haunting question: How bad will Europe’s winter be? The prospect of a deep cold spell as European governments rationed gas supplies conjured images of a bleak winter from Lviv to London, with industry going dark and pensioners scavenging for firewood. The worst did not come to pass. But consider another part of the world that has receded from the West’s attention over the course of the Ukraine conflict. Afghanistan is currently in the grips of its worst winter in more than a decade. Temperatures recently plunged to below minus-34 degrees Celsius (minus-29.2 degrees Fahrenheit). Officials in the local Taliban government said the cold has been lethal, leading to more than 160 deaths over the span of about two weeks, and killing more than 70,000 livestock. The dismal conditions have struck a society ill-equipped to cope.

Suicide bomber kills 88, wounds over 150 at mosque in NW Pakistan (AP) A suicide bomber struck Monday inside a mosque in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar, killing at least 88 people and wounding more than 150 worshippers, officials said. Most of the casualties were policemen and police officers as the targeted mosque is located within a sprawling compound, which also serves as the city’s police headquarters. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing, said Saddique Khan, a senior police official in Peshawar, but the Pakistani Taliban have been blamed in similar suicide attacks in the past.

Iran says drone strike targeted military complex amid ongoing shadow war (Washington Post) Iran said a drone strike lightly damaged a defense ministry complex in the central city of Isfahan on Saturday, an attack that reverberated across capitals as tensions with the West and Israel mount over Tehran’s advancing nuclear program, arms supply for Russia’s war in Ukraine and lethal crackdown on months-long anti-government protests. Iran’s Ministry of Defense said that three drones struck around 11:30 p.m. local time Saturday, according to a statement carried by the IRNA state news agency, in an attack that caused “minor damage to the roof of a workshop.” There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the Saturday strike. But Israel has a history of conducting attacks on Iranian nuclear program facilities as part of an ongoing shadow war between the two regional rivals, a campaign that appears to have escalated following the U.S. withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018, three years into the landmark agreement. One U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity said the strike appeared to be the work of the Israeli military.

Russian embassy says North Korea lifted lockdown in capital (AP) Russia’s embassy in North Korea says the country has eased stringent epidemic controls in capital Pyongyang that were placed during the past five days to slow the spread of respiratory illnesses. North Korea has not officially acknowledged a lockdown in Pyongyang or a re-emergence of COVID-19 after leader Kim Jong Un declared a widely disputed victory over the coronavirus in August, but the Russian embassy’s Facebook posts have provided rare glimpses into the secretive country’s infectious disease controls. Last week, the embassy said that North Korean health authorities required diplomatic missions to keep their employees indoors and also measure their temperatures four times a day and report the results to a hospital in Pyongyang. It said the North Korean measures were in response to an increase in “flu and other respiratory diseases,” but it didn’t mention the spread of COVID-19 or restrictions imposed on regular citizens.

Radioactive needle in a haystack: Tiny capsule lost in rural Australia (Washington Post) Emergency officials in Western Australia warned that a tiny radioactive capsule was on the loose, with a harried hunt underway along a lengthy stretch of highway for what was essentially a toxic needle in a haystack. The Department of Fire and Emergency Services in Western Australia, a largely rural state that makes up the western third of the country, issued a hazardous materials warning Saturday evening, cautioning that the radioactive capsule had been lost while it was being transported from a mine near the town of Newman to a suburb near Perth, the state’s most populous city. The capsule—which is less than a third of an inch long—went missing somewhere along the more than 800-mile stretch of road between Newman and Perth, the department said. It contains cesium-137, a radioactive material used in gauges for mining, one of the main industries in resource-rich Western Australia. Despite its size, the capsule is dangerous, the department warned. “Exposure to this substance could cause radiation burns or radiation sickness,” it said, cautioning people not to touch it or move it if they come across it. Anyone who sees the capsule should stay at least five meters (16 feet) away from it and report it, the department said.

Palestinian Man Fatally Shot as Violence Continues in Israel (NYT) A Palestinian man was fatally shot outside an Israeli settlement in the West Bank and Israeli settlers carried out nearly 150 attacks against Palestinians and their properties across the region, according to reports on Sunday by Palestinian state media and the Israeli Army. Sunday’s violence was the latest to grip the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Jerusalem since Thursday, in a series of raids and attacks that have left more than 20 people dead. Palestinian officials said that across the West Bank on Saturday night and into early Sunday, Israeli settlers had carried out 144 attacks against Palestinian civilians or their properties. One official, Ghassan Daghlas, told Wafa that settlers had hurled stones at more than 100 motorists and vehicles and had set fire to six vehicles in a wave of violence. At least 22 Palestinian-owned shops were attacked and at least one Palestinian home near the city of Ramallah was set on fire by settlers, Palestinian media reported.

Sterling Hayden-Pamela Duncan "Gun battle at Monterey" 1957, de Sidney Franklin Jr., Carl K. Hittleman.

Counting Down My Top Ten Tv Shows Of The Decade

My last Tv decade list is finally here y’all. Is it weird that I’m very emotional posting this!? Before I start I have 3 movie decade lists coming up and the first list will be posted on December 6th so stay tuned! If you want to know exactly when they’ll be posted I have an instagram you can follow there >>> @sammysreelreviews. Ok back to business. I thought that listing shows that were still airing in the 2010’s would be insanely hard so I decided to only list shows that started in 2010 or later on I did this with my two previous lists also and will do this for the three upcoming movie decade lists. This list took me WEEKS so y’all better enjoy the fuck out of this. I know Pretty Little Liars was out in 2010 but it did not make the cut quality wise I hope y’all understand. Okay I’m done but I’d love y’all to comment your favorite shows of the last decade! Enjoy and as always, there will be ***SPOILERS!!!***

10. Atypical (2017 - ) Netflix

I’ve spoken about this like way too much but someone has to give it the respect it deserves! This show about a boy facing everyday problems while having autism is so wholesome and in a way motivating because Sam (Keir Gilchrist) never gives up. This show shows real family issues, someone battling with their sexuality, and real insight into the autism community which helps ends the stigma. This last season made me cry at the end because of Sam and Zahid’s (Nik Dodani) friendship and I’m so ready for the next season. Also Izzie (Fivel Stewart) fucking SUCKS I’m team Evan (Graham Rogers) all the way. Do what you want with that information.

9. Jane the Virgin (2014 - 2019) The CW

Gina Rodriguez may be dumb but Jane the Virgin is not. The premise of the show sounds batshit but it ended up being one of the most well written shows I’ve ever fucking seen. What’s starts as an artificial insemination ends in being one of the most heartfelt shows I’ve ever seen in my entire life. Ugh, the amount of tears that Jane the Virgin has caused me they should pay my therapy copay. While we’re here, Jane and Michael ( Brett Dier) deserved to be together and when they “killed” him off I literally stopped watching the show for a few months. I’ll miss Jane the Virgin a ton and I hope the CW puts out more content like this.

8. Big Little Lies (2017 - ) HBO

To say Big Little Lies was a pop culture phenomenon would be an understatement. In seven short episodes the ladies of Monterey made one of the biggest impacts HBO has ever seen. The cast is just amazing like Nicole Kidman is always incredible but extra incredible as Celeste and don’t even get me started about Meryl Streep’s performance in season 2. Wow. Big Little Lies is one of the best written and honestly one of the best acted shows ever. That scene in the season one finale where they realize Perry (Eric Northman Alexander Skarsgård) is the father of Jane’s (Shailene Woodley) child by only giving each other intuitive LOOKS!!! CHILLS. Should forever be taught in acting classes! I hope it’s over cause season 2 felt like a good place to end the stories but I wouldn’t mind seeing more Renata the fucking boss Klein (Laura Dern).

7. Peaky Blinders (2013 - ) BBC/Netflix

I’ve mentioned this too many times so I’ll keep this brief. Peaky Blinders is non stop drama and it’s actually addicting. I haven’t even watched the last season because I don’t want to wait for the next one. The Shelby family is one of the best on Tv and Peaky Blinders is one of the best gangster shows around. Also doesn’t hurt that Tom Hardy and Sam Claflin are on it.

6. On My Block (2018 - ) Netflix

Ugh I literally have put On My Block on at least 5 lists so can you please fucking watch this diverse funny dramatic show!?!?! It deals with the trials and tribulations of high school while also tackling gun violence and the repercussions of it. Also, Jamal (Brett Gray) and Abuela (Peggy Blow) are the best unlikely duo ever created.

5. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (2015 - 2019) Netflix

The love I have for Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt is indescribable. It’s one of the funniest shows I’ve ever seen and I have rewatched it at least 5 times. Everyone who knows me says I’m exactly like Titus (Tituss Burgess) and they’re completely right. If you want more info on it I wrote about it here.

4. Narcos (2015 - 2017) Netflix

Narcos Narcos Narcos. If you read this blog you’d know it’s one of my favorite shows ever so I’m not even gonna bother to talk about it cause you can see me explain it here. Watch the fucking show.

3. Love/Hate (2010 - 2014) RTÉ One

I’m not going to lie I only started watching this show cause I had an insane Robert Sheehan phase because of Misfits. I mean the phase isn’t over but it’s just not as INSANE as it was back then. This show is like the Irish Sopranos but BETTER. YEAH I FUCKING SAID IT. Not only is Robert Sheehan on it but there’s romance, betrayal, and hella violence. Sadly we never got the final season like we were promised and it sucks because the season 5 finale ended with someone huge DYING. If you love top tier television Love/Hate is the show for you. You will NOT be disappointed. Also did I mention Robert Sheehan was in it?

2. Broad City (2014 - 2019) Comedy Central

It’s kind of bizarre that I’ve never put one of my favorite shows of all time on any list here. If you didn’t know I was a huge Broad City fan well, now you do! Ugh what can I say about the wild NYC shenanigans of these two kweens!? Abbi (Abbi Jacobson) and Ilana (Ilana Glazer) are my favorite best friends on television because they just get each other and they’re also weird as actual fuck. The thing about Broad City is that it’s relatable to my age group. It discusses LGBTQ matters, talks about how taking medicine for your mental illness isn’t a weakness, and they’re constantly showing how expensive the real world actually is. There are so many things about this show I could say like how Melanie was never physically seen, Illana’s mother (Susie Essman), the gift that is Val, and how Shania Twain actually made a fucking cameo after all those lies Abbi told. Broad City will be greatly missed but remember kids; Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rihanna!

1. Dark (2017 - ) Netflix

Ok I don’t know how many times I’ve mentioned this on my blog but for god fucking sake PLEASE WATCH THIS DAMN SHOW!!! It’s the best show Netflix has ever made and it’s a total mindfuck! It’s also the most cohesive show ever written. If you like your shows with excellent writing, acting, and small dashes of sci-fi this is the criminally underrated show for you! If you grow a brain and watch the first two seasons the third season will be out in 2020 but I’m going to predict that it’ll be out on June 27th, 2020. Netflix makes the best international shows and they’re the best they have to offer. Dark is a show where I’ve never guessed what was going to happen next and that’s why it’s my number one show of the decade.

Events 7.14

982 – King Otto II and his Frankish army were defeated by the Muslim army of al-Qasim at Cape Colonna, Southern Italy. 1223 – Louis VIII becomes King of France upon the death of his father, Philip II. 1420 – Battle of Vítkov Hill, decisive victory of Czech Hussite forces commanded by Jan Žižka against Crusade army led by Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor. 1430 – Joan of Arc, taken by the Burgundians in May, is handed over to Pierre Cauchon, the bishop of Beauvais. 1601–1900 1769 – An expedition led by Gaspar de Portolá leaves its base in California and sets out to find the Port of Monterey (now Monterey, California). 1771 – Foundation of the Mission San Antonio de Padua in modern California by the Franciscan friar Junípero Serra. 1789 – Storming of the Bastille in Paris. This event escalates the widespread discontent into the French Revolution. Bastille Day is still celebrated annually in France. 1790 – Inaugural Fête de la Fédération is held to celebrate the unity of the French people and the national reconciliation. 1791 – Beginning of Priestley Riots (to 17 July) in Birmingham targeting Joseph Priestley as a supporter of the French Revolution. 1798 – The Sedition Act of 1798 becomes law in the United States making it a federal crime to write, publish, or utter false or malicious statements about the United States government. 1808 – The Finnish War: the Battle of Lapua was fought. 1853 – Opening of the first major US world's fair, the Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations in New York City. 1865 – The first ascent of the Matterhorn is completed by Edward Whymper and his party, four of whom die on the descent. 1874 – The Chicago Fire of 1874 burns down 47 acres of the city, destroying 812 buildings, killing 20, and resulting in the fire insurance industry demanding municipal reforms from Chicago's city council. 1881 – American outlaw Billy the Kid is shot and killed by Sheriff Pat Garrett in the Maxwell House at Fort Sumner, New Mexico. 1900 – Armies of the Eight-Nation Alliance capture Tientsin during the Boxer Rebellion. 1902 – The Campanile in St Mark's Square, Venice collapses, also demolishing the loggetta. 1911 – Harry Atwood, an exhibition pilot for the Wright brothers, is greeted by President Taft after he lands his aeroplane on the South Lawn of the White House, having flown from Boston. 1915 – Beginning of the McMahon–Hussein Correspondence between Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca and the British official Henry McMahon concerning the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire. 1916 – Battle of Delville Wood begins as an action within the Battle of the Somme, lasting until 3 September 1916. 1933 – In a decree called the Gleichschaltung, Adolf Hitler abolishes all German political parties except the Nazis. 1933 – Nazi eugenics programme begins with the proclamation of the Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring requiring the compulsory sterilization of any citizen who suffers from alleged genetic disorders. 1943 – In Diamond, Missouri, the George Washington Carver National Monument becomes the first United States National Monument in honor of an African American. 1948 – Palmiro Togliatti, leader of the Italian Communist Party, is shot and wounded near the Italian Parliament. 1950 – Korean War: beginning of the Battle of Taejon. 1951 – Ferrari take their first Formula One grand prix victory at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. 1957 – Rawya Ateya takes her seat in the National Assembly of Egypt, thereby becoming the first female parliamentarian in the Arab world. 1958 – In the 14 July Revolution in Iraq, the monarchy is overthrown by popular forces led by Abd al-Karim Qasim, who becomes the nation's new leader. 1960 – Jane Goodall arrives at the Gombe Stream Reserve in present-day Tanzania to begin her study of chimpanzees in the wild. 1965 – Mariner 4 flyby of Mars takes the first close-up photos of another planet. The photographs take approximately six hours to be transmitted back to Earth. 1983 – Mario Bros. is released in Japan, beginning the popular Super Mario Bros franchise. 2002 – French president Jacques Chirac escapes an assassination attempt from Maxime Brunerie during a Bastille Day parade at Champs-Élysées. 2013 – Dedication of statue of Rachel Carson, a sculpture named for the environmentalist, in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. 2015 – NASA's New Horizons probe performs the first flyby of Pluto, and thus completes the initial survey of the Solar System. 2016 – A man ploughs a truck into a Bastille Day celebration in Nice, France, killing 86 and injuring 434 before he was gunned down by police.

A U.S. P-8A reconnaissance plane was soaring above the Mediterranean Sea on Wednesday when a Russian SU-35 fighter jet appeared on its tail. For 42 minutes, U.S. Navy officials say, the Russian pilot flew in an “unsafe” manner—at one-point flying upside down and sweeping within 25 feet of the plane’s nose.

The high-stakes intercept, which U.S. officials say put the American aircrew at risk, was just one in a string of incidents that took place over a 24-hour period in which American military resolve was tested across the globe. No Americans killed or injured during any of these events, but the timing was no coincidence. With novel coronavirus cases among U.S. service members now at 2,486 and climbing, America’s adversaries are emboldened to test U.S. military dominance, current and former Defense Department officials tell TIME.

Earlier in the day, U.S. Space Command reported the Russian military had tested a missile capable of “destroying” U.S. satellites in low Earth orbit. Not long afterward, 11 Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) gun boats “conducted dangerous and harassing” actions against six American warships operating in the Persian Gulf, the U.S. Navy said. The motorboats repeatedly ran alongside and crisscrossed in front of the much larger American ships at high speeds and close range – at one point buzzing within 10 yards of a cutter’s bow. All three incidents came after North Korea launched a barrage of short-range missiles from ground batteries and fighter jets off their east coast.

The cluster of adversary action poses no existential threat to the U.S. military. But the crosswinds produced by COVID-19 are strong. As Washington is preoccupied with its fight against the world’s largest number of coronavirus cases, restrictions have been slapped on U.S. military operations and movements out of health concerns in almost every part of the world. Routine troop rotations and military family relocations have been paused due to a “stop movement” order that restricts all military travel. U.S. aircraft carriers, floating symbols of American might, are sidelined. While it remains unclear how long the pandemic will loom over missions abroad, U.S. rivals are seeking to exploit the gaps COVID has created.

“When the world and America are off-balance, it presents opportunities for our adversaries,” said Chuck Hagel, a former U.S. Defense Secretary and Republican Senator from Nebraska. “They will continue to make every effort to assert themselves in this time. I don’t believe we are ever adequately prepared for events like we are living through now, especially a global health pandemic.”

Keep up to date on the growing threat to global health by signing up for our daily coronavirus newsletter.

The U.S. military’s playbook for deterring adversaries since World War II is to project power by promptly deploying thousands of troops, flying in nuclear-capable bombers, or dispatching aircraft carrier battle groups to problematic regions. It’s a practice that’s taken on increased importance under President Donald Trump, who relishes the military hardware paid for by his Administration’s $700 billion Pentagon budget.

Amid today’s COVID pandemic, the options to demonstrate a show of force are severely limited. The Pentagon has thus far responded to the spate of threats rhetorically, repeatedly publicly warning enemies not to confuse the current moment of national crisis as a weakness. “We will continue to carry out our mission assignments around the world in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, et cetera,” Joint Chiefs Chairman General Mark Milley told reporters Tuesday at the Pentagon. “Our readiness is still high. Our readiness is still strong. We are able to deter and defeat any challenges that may seek to take advantage of these opportunities at this point of crisis.”

The aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, the anchor of a deterrent force against China’s advances in the South China Sea, has been docked in Guam indefinitely. A COVID outbreak swept through the ship’s 4,865-person crew last month, and has since infected at least 615 sailors, killed one and sent five others into a Guam hospital. The only other American carrier deployed in the Pacific, the USS Ronald Reagan, is receiving maintenance for four months in Yokosuka, Japan, available only for “Selected Restricted Availability,” and in Bremerton, Washington, the Navy has quarantined the crew of the next carrier strike group scheduled for duty in the Pacific, led by the USS Nimitz.

With these ships sidelined, China now has the sole carrier operating in the region. Over the weekend, China sent a Liaoning-class aircraft carrier and a five-ship battle group near the territorial waters of U.S. allies Japan and Taiwan. It was China’s latest attempt to flex its muscles in the region after sinking a Vietnamese fishing boat in the contested waters of the South China Sea; announcing new “research stations” at military bases in the area; and landing “special military aircraft” on one them, Fiery Cross Reef, according to an April 6 statement by State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus.

Ortagus warned China “to stop exploiting the distraction or vulnerability of other states to expand its unlawful claims in the South China Sea.” The Air Force, for its part, attempted to project power this week by parading 14 aircraft on a runway in Guam. The military publicized the so-called “elephant walk,” which included B-52 bombers and KC-135 refueling tankers more than a half-century old.

Meanwhile, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il, China’s ally, has been carrying out his own military exercises. After voluntarily pausing missile launches last year, Pyongyang has blasted off a wide range of missiles in recent weeks. The launches are seen as “an attempt to demonstrate strength and deterrence, both internally and externally,” amid the COVID pandemic, according to analysts with the United States Institute of Peace.

In many ways, that’s nothing new. The Chinese and North Korean actions are “business as usual” by America’s two adversaries in the region, says Zack Cooper, an Asia expert at the American Enterprise Institute. The sentiment is shared by Jeffrey Lewis, a nuclear weapons analyst with the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies in Monterey, California, who says North Korea is pursuing a backlog of tests now that diplomacy with the U.S. has floundered. “We’re in the post-diplomacy period now,” he said. “We’re just waiting for them to test what’s next. The big stuff is yet to come.”

Iran, another longtime adversary, has also been ramping up its efforts to strengthen its influence in the region and attempt to drive U.S. troops out. Despite fighting a widespread COVID outbreak at home, Iran has not relented on backing armed attacks on American forces on Iraqi bases through its proxy militias. “The Iranians are keen on demonstrating to the U.S. that the COVID crisis has neither debilitated them nor has altered their strategic calculus,” says Ali Vaez, the Iran project director at the International Crisis Group. “In fact, the less the Iranians have to lose, the less risk-averse they are likely to become.”

Russia, America’s longest running adversary, has pursued bold military moves that have crept beyond the continent of Europe. The aerobatic intercept over the Mediterranean and satellite-killing missile follows a flight off the Alaskan coast. On April 8, the U.S. Air Force scrambled F-22 fighter jets to intercept two Russian IL-38 submarine-hunting above the Bering Sea just 50 miles off Alaska. North American Aerospace Defense Command General Terrence O’Shaughnessy said: “COVID-19 or not, NORAD continues actively watching for threats and defending the homelands 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.”

The Pentagon also has its own personnel health to worry about. To guard against outbreaks, the Pentagon is developing “safety bubbles” by ramping up its internal COVID testing and isolating healthy troops. After a negative test, service members have to do a 14-day quarantine before going back to the business of being a soldier, sailor or Marine. Military laboratories are now processing about 9,000 tests a day. “Our desire, our aspiration, is to expand testing, especially for groups that are going to be in tighter quarters, such as sub crews, bomber crews, basic trainees and things like that,” Milley said. “We’ve got an objective here of ramping that up to about 60,000 tests here in about 45 days or so.”

Even when the military’s battle against COVID is physically over, there will be a lingering battle ahead, says AEI’s Cooper. “COVID will have a short-term impact on the U.S. military’s readiness, but the longer-term impact will be greater: defense cuts,” he says. “Having just spent $2 trillion to address the economic damage done by COVID, U.S. officials and taxpayers will be looking for cost savings. And they will look to the Defense Department, particularly after November.”

Please send tips, leads, and stories from the frontlines to [email protected].

A U.S. P-8A reconnaissance plane was soaring above the Mediterranean Sea on Wednesday when a Russian SU-35 fighter jet appeared on its tail. For 42 minutes, U.S. Navy officials say, the Russian pilot flew in an “unsafe” manner—at one-point flying upside down and sweeping within 25 feet of the plane’s nose.

The high-stakes intercept, which U.S. officials say put the American aircrew at risk, was just one in a string of incidents that took place over a 24-hour period in which American military resolve was tested across the globe. No Americans killed or injured during any of these events, but the timing was no coincidence. With novel coronavirus cases among U.S. service members now at 2,486 and climbing, America’s adversaries are emboldened to test U.S. military dominance, current and former Defense Department officials tell TIME.

Earlier in the day, U.S. Space Command reported the Russian military had tested a missile capable of “destroying” U.S. satellites in low Earth orbit. Not long afterward, 11 Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) gun boats “conducted dangerous and harassing” actions against six American warships operating in the Persian Gulf, the U.S. Navy said. The motorboats repeatedly ran alongside and crisscrossed in front of the much larger American ships at high speeds and close range – at one point buzzing within 10 yards of a cutter’s bow. All three incidents came after North Korea launched a barrage of short-range missiles from ground batteries and fighter jets off their east coast.

The cluster of adversary action poses no existential threat to the U.S. military. But the crosswinds produced by COVID-19 are strong. As Washington is preoccupied with its fight against the world’s largest number of coronavirus cases, restrictions have been slapped on U.S. military operations and movements out of health concerns in almost every part of the world. Routine troop rotations and military family relocations have been paused due to a “stop movement” order that restricts all military travel. U.S. aircraft carriers, floating symbols of American might, are sidelined. While it remains unclear how long the pandemic will loom over missions abroad, U.S. rivals are seeking to exploit the gaps COVID has created.

“When the world and America are off-balance, it presents opportunities for our adversaries,” said Chuck Hagel, a former U.S. Defense Secretary and Republican Senator from Nebraska. “They will continue to make every effort to assert themselves in this time. I don’t believe we are ever adequately prepared for events like we are living through now, especially a global health pandemic.”

Keep up to date on the growing threat to global health by signing up for our daily coronavirus newsletter.

The U.S. military’s playbook for deterring adversaries since World War II is to project power by promptly deploying thousands of troops, flying in nuclear-capable bombers, or dispatching aircraft carrier battle groups to problematic regions. It’s a practice that’s taken on increased importance under President Donald Trump, who relishes the military hardware paid for by his Administration’s $700 billion Pentagon budget.

Amid today’s COVID pandemic, the options to demonstrate a show of force are severely limited. The Pentagon has thus far responded to the spate of threats rhetorically, repeatedly publicly warning enemies not to confuse the current moment of national crisis as a weakness. “We will continue to carry out our mission assignments around the world in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, et cetera,” Joint Chiefs Chairman General Mark Milley told reporters Tuesday at the Pentagon. “Our readiness is still high. Our readiness is still strong. We are able to deter and defeat any challenges that may seek to take advantage of these opportunities at this point of crisis.”

The aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, the anchor of a deterrent force against China’s advances in the South China Sea, has been docked in Guam indefinitely. A COVID outbreak swept through the ship’s 4,865-person crew last month, and has since infected at least 615 sailors, killed one and sent five others into a Guam hospital. The only other American carrier deployed in the Pacific, the USS Ronald Reagan, is receiving maintenance for four months in Yokosuka, Japan, available only for “Selected Restricted Availability,” and in Bremerton, Washington, the Navy has quarantined the crew of the next carrier strike group scheduled for duty in the Pacific, led by the USS Nimitz.

With these ships sidelined, China now has the sole carrier operating in the region. Over the weekend, China sent a Liaoning-class aircraft carrier and a five-ship battle group near the territorial waters of U.S. allies Japan and Taiwan. It was China’s latest attempt to flex its muscles in the region after sinking a Vietnamese fishing boat in the contested waters of the South China Sea; announcing new “research stations” at military bases in the area; and landing “special military aircraft” on one them, Fiery Cross Reef, according to an April 6 statement by State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus.

Ortagus warned China “to stop exploiting the distraction or vulnerability of other states to expand its unlawful claims in the South China Sea.” The Air Force, for its part, attempted to project power this week by parading 14 aircraft on a runway in Guam. The military publicized the so-called “elephant walk,” which included B-52 bombers and KC-135 refueling tankers more than a half-century old.

Meanwhile, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il, China’s ally, has been carrying out his own military exercises. After voluntarily pausing missile launches last year, Pyongyang has blasted off a wide range of missiles in recent weeks. The launches are seen as “an attempt to demonstrate strength and deterrence, both internally and externally,” amid the COVID pandemic, according to analysts with the United States Institute of Peace.

In many ways, that’s nothing new. The Chinese and North Korean actions are “business as usual” by America’s two adversaries in the region, says Zack Cooper, an Asia expert at the American Enterprise Institute. The sentiment is shared by Jeffrey Lewis, a nuclear weapons analyst with the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies in Monterey, California, who says North Korea is pursuing a backlog of tests now that diplomacy with the U.S. has floundered. “We’re in the post-diplomacy period now,” he said. “We’re just waiting for them to test what’s next. The big stuff is yet to come.”

Iran, another longtime adversary, has also been ramping up its efforts to strengthen its influence in the region and attempt to drive U.S. troops out. Despite fighting a widespread COVID outbreak at home, Iran has not relented on backing armed attacks on American forces on Iraqi bases through its proxy militias. “The Iranians are keen on demonstrating to the U.S. that the COVID crisis has neither debilitated them nor has altered their strategic calculus,” says Ali Vaez, the Iran project director at the International Crisis Group. “In fact, the less the Iranians have to lose, the less risk-averse they are likely to become.”

Russia, America’s longest running adversary, has pursued bold military moves that have crept beyond the continent of Europe. The aerobatic intercept over the Mediterranean and satellite-killing missile follows a flight off the Alaskan coast. On April 8, the U.S. Air Force scrambled F-22 fighter jets to intercept two Russian IL-38 submarine-hunting above the Bering Sea just 50 miles off Alaska. North American Aerospace Defense Command General Terrence O’Shaughnessy said: “COVID-19 or not, NORAD continues actively watching for threats and defending the homelands 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.”

The Pentagon also has its own personnel health to worry about. To guard against outbreaks, the Pentagon is developing “safety bubbles” by ramping up its internal COVID testing and isolating healthy troops. After a negative test, service members have to do a 14-day quarantine before going back to the business of being a soldier, sailor or Marine. Military laboratories are now processing about 9,000 tests a day. “Our desire, our aspiration, is to expand testing, especially for groups that are going to be in tighter quarters, such as sub crews, bomber crews, basic trainees and things like that,” Milley said. “We’ve got an objective here of ramping that up to about 60,000 tests here in about 45 days or so.”

Even when the military’s battle against COVID is physically over, there will be a lingering battle ahead, says AEI’s Cooper. “COVID will have a short-term impact on the U.S. military’s readiness, but the longer-term impact will be greater: defense cuts,” he says. “Having just spent $2 trillion to address the economic damage done by COVID, U.S. officials and taxpayers will be looking for cost savings. And they will look to the Defense Department, particularly after November.”

Please send tips, leads, and stories from the frontlines to [email protected].

Automobile’s Motorsports Gift Guide for 2019

Buying gifts for avid motorsports fans can be tricky—but we’re here to help. Whether they race themselves or just veg out in front of the TV on race day, here are some of the best track-day toys, desk decorations, and post-race distractions for the racing aficionados in your life. And who knows? You might find something that revs your own engine.

MotorTrend OnDemand Premium | $4.99/month | MotorTrendOnDemand.com

You’ve no doubt seen the advertisements in Automobile magazine and on our site, but have you tried our company’s video-on-demand service yet? It includes hit original programs like “Roadkill,” “Hot Rod Garage,” and “Head 2 Head”—but it’s also a great resource for motorsports junkies, with streams of racing action from Le Mans, the Nürburgring, the Isle of Man, various GT series, rallying, Australian V8 Supercars, even karting and powerboats—plus more. It’s a must-have service for gearheads and racing enthusiasts alike.

Model Cars | pasteiners.com

If you need something a little more substantial than a Hot Wheels, check out some of the latest realistic scale models from some of the biggest brands. GT Spirit has released a $159.95 resin 1/18-scale Ford GT Heritage Edition to get you in the Le Mans mood. While we’re speaking of the world’s most famous endurance race, Greenlight Collectibles offers this excellent 1/43-scale 1970 Porsche 917K in Gulf livery complete with a scale figure of Steve McQueen, who drove the car in the 1971 film Le Mans, for $28.50. For F1 fans, Bburago has a 1/18-scale version of the Ferrari SF71H, Sebastian Vettel’s latest car from Maranello ($79.95).

The History of Motorsport: From the Beginnings Until Today | $45 | amazon.com

Don’t let the monochromatic green cover fool you; this is one of the better and most complete racing history books out there. From Formula 1 to rallying, this covers it all in impressive detail, pairing well-researched reports with stunning photography from each respective era. This book is worth checking out even by hard-core motorsports followers who think they already know it all.

IMSA: Celebrating 50 Years | $170 | imsa.com/50

You may have seen our coverage of IMSA’s 50th anniversary, and if you want to dig deeper and relive the sanctioning body’s racing history, this is your book. Revealed during the 2018 Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion and limited to 2,000 copies, it profiles the people, places, manufacturers, cars, and teams that have battled wheel to wheel for 50 years in one of America’s premier road-racing categories.

Alpinestars Suit and Shoes | alpinestars.com

Whether you participate in motorsports or simply watch as a fan, Alpinestars needs no introduction. Its line of motorcycle and automotive products features prominently on riders and drivers around the world. Two of its most popular auto-racing products are now even more appealing for 2019. The GP Pro Comp suit is a lightweight, three-layer, fire-resistant construction perfect for all level of drivers, and it’s now available in a new range of colors for $849.95, $150 less than before. The Tech 1-T shoe, meanwhile, is the same one used by top professionals and features a complete redesign incorporating upgraded materials and improved comfort, all for the same $269.95 as the previous version.

Bell RS7C LTWT | from $1699.95 | bellracing.com

We’re always on the lookout for the latest in head protection; the closer we can get to what the pros wear—without entirely decimating our budget—the better. So we’re excited about Bell Racing’s new RS7 Carbon Lightweight helmet. Bell developed it in collaboration with Team Penske’s NASCAR operation, and extensive re-engineering of the already excellent, standard RS7 Carbon (an Automobile favorite) led the company to build a helmet that weighs less than 2.75 pounds—almost a full pound lighter than the regular version—without compromising impact performance. That’s significant and results in less driver fatigue and improved comfort. Almost as cool, Bell will for the first time across its HP Series range of lids offer various interior liner colors (a $200 upgrade) beyond the drab gray or black of most helmets. The RS7C LTWT is available with a host of additional options as well.

Game TimeB | amazon.com

No, video games and even top-flight simulators still aren’t a one-to-one substitute for the excitement, thrill, and fear that real-life racing provides, but they certainly have gotten more immersive and more fun by the year, and many of them start at just $25. The latest crop ranges from the PC-only simulation-style “Assetto Corsa Competizione” (a real challenge and the official game of the Blancpain GT Series) to the down-and-dirty fun of “NASCAR Heat 3.” In between are always-improving titles such as Codemasters’ “F1 2018,” which is popular with the Grand Prix nerds on our staff, and “Forza Horizon 4,” the latest installment of the open-world racing franchise that seems popular with, well, just about everybody. There’s no better way to pass frigid winter days than working up a sweat gunning for another lap record from the comfort—and safety—of your game room.

The post Automobile’s Motorsports Gift Guide for 2019 appeared first on Automobile Magazine.

from Performance Junk Blogger 6 http://bit.ly/2R6d8XC via IFTTT

Automobile’s Motorsports Gift Guide for 2019

Buying gifts for avid motorsports fans can be tricky—but we’re here to help. Whether they race themselves or just veg out in front of the TV on race day, here are some of the best track-day toys, desk decorations, and post-race distractions for the racing aficionados in your life. And who knows? You might find something that revs your own engine.

MotorTrend OnDemand Premium | $4.99/month | MotorTrendOnDemand.com

You’ve no doubt seen the advertisements in Automobile magazine and on our site, but have you tried our company’s video-on-demand service yet? It includes hit original programs like “Roadkill,” “Hot Rod Garage,” and “Head 2 Head”—but it’s also a great resource for motorsports junkies, with streams of racing action from Le Mans, the Nürburgring, the Isle of Man, various GT series, rallying, Australian V8 Supercars, even karting and powerboats—plus more. It’s a must-have service for gearheads and racing enthusiasts alike.

Model Cars | pasteiners.com

If you need something a little more substantial than a Hot Wheels, check out some of the latest realistic scale models from some of the biggest brands. GT Spirit has released a $159.95 resin 1/18-scale Ford GT Heritage Edition to get you in the Le Mans mood. While we’re speaking of the world’s most famous endurance race, Greenlight Collectibles offers this excellent 1/43-scale 1970 Porsche 917K in Gulf livery complete with a scale figure of Steve McQueen, who drove the car in the 1971 film Le Mans, for $28.50. For F1 fans, Bburago has a 1/18-scale version of the Ferrari SF71H, Sebastian Vettel’s latest car from Maranello ($79.95).

The History of Motorsport: From the Beginnings Until Today | $45 | amazon.com

Don’t let the monochromatic green cover fool you; this is one of the better and most complete racing history books out there. From Formula 1 to rallying, this covers it all in impressive detail, pairing well-researched reports with stunning photography from each respective era. This book is worth checking out even by hard-core motorsports followers who think they already know it all.

IMSA: Celebrating 50 Years | $170 | imsa.com/50

You may have seen our coverage of IMSA’s 50th anniversary, and if you want to dig deeper and relive the sanctioning body’s racing history, this is your book. Revealed during the 2018 Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion and limited to 2,000 copies, it profiles the people, places, manufacturers, cars, and teams that have battled wheel to wheel for 50 years in one of America’s premier road-racing categories.

Alpinestars Suit and Shoes | alpinestars.com

Whether you participate in motorsports or simply watch as a fan, Alpinestars needs no introduction. Its line of motorcycle and automotive products features prominently on riders and drivers around the world. Two of its most popular auto-racing products are now even more appealing for 2019. The GP Pro Comp suit is a lightweight, three-layer, fire-resistant construction perfect for all level of drivers, and it’s now available in a new range of colors for $849.95, $150 less than before. The Tech 1-T shoe, meanwhile, is the same one used by top professionals and features a complete redesign incorporating upgraded materials and improved comfort, all for the same $269.95 as the previous version.

Bell RS7C LTWT | from $1699.95 | bellracing.com

We’re always on the lookout for the latest in head protection; the closer we can get to what the pros wear—without entirely decimating our budget—the better. So we’re excited about Bell Racing’s new RS7 Carbon Lightweight helmet. Bell developed it in collaboration with Team Penske’s NASCAR operation, and extensive re-engineering of the already excellent, standard RS7 Carbon (an Automobile favorite) led the company to build a helmet that weighs less than 2.75 pounds—almost a full pound lighter than the regular version—without compromising impact performance. That’s significant and results in less driver fatigue and improved comfort. Almost as cool, Bell will for the first time across its HP Series range of lids offer various interior liner colors (a $200 upgrade) beyond the drab gray or black of most helmets. The RS7C LTWT is available with a host of additional options as well.

Game TimeB | amazon.com

No, video games and even top-flight simulators still aren’t a one-to-one substitute for the excitement, thrill, and fear that real-life racing provides, but they certainly have gotten more immersive and more fun by the year, and many of them start at just $25. The latest crop ranges from the PC-only simulation-style “Assetto Corsa Competizione” (a real challenge and the official game of the Blancpain GT Series) to the down-and-dirty fun of “NASCAR Heat 3.” In between are always-improving titles such as Codemasters’ “F1 2018,” which is popular with the Grand Prix nerds on our staff, and “Forza Horizon 4,” the latest installment of the open-world racing franchise that seems popular with, well, just about everybody. There’s no better way to pass frigid winter days than working up a sweat gunning for another lap record from the comfort—and safety—of your game room.

The post Automobile’s Motorsports Gift Guide for 2019 appeared first on Automobile Magazine.

from Performance Junk Blogger Feed 4 http://bit.ly/2R6d8XC via IFTTT

Automobile’s Motorsports Gift Guide for 2019

Buying gifts for avid motorsports fans can be tricky—but we’re here to help. Whether they race themselves or just veg out in front of the TV on race day, here are some of the best track-day toys, desk decorations, and post-race distractions for the racing aficionados in your life. And who knows? You might find something that revs your own engine.

MotorTrend OnDemand Premium | $4.99/month | MotorTrendOnDemand.com

You’ve no doubt seen the advertisements in Automobile magazine and on our site, but have you tried our company’s video-on-demand service yet? It includes hit original programs like “Roadkill,” “Hot Rod Garage,” and “Head 2 Head”—but it’s also a great resource for motorsports junkies, with streams of racing action from Le Mans, the Nürburgring, the Isle of Man, various GT series, rallying, Australian V8 Supercars, even karting and powerboats—plus more. It’s a must-have service for gearheads and racing enthusiasts alike.

Model Cars | pasteiners.com

If you need something a little more substantial than a Hot Wheels, check out some of the latest realistic scale models from some of the biggest brands. GT Spirit has released a $159.95 resin 1/18-scale Ford GT Heritage Edition to get you in the Le Mans mood. While we’re speaking of the world’s most famous endurance race, Greenlight Collectibles offers this excellent 1/43-scale 1970 Porsche 917K in Gulf livery complete with a scale figure of Steve McQueen, who drove the car in the 1971 film Le Mans, for $28.50. For F1 fans, Bburago has a 1/18-scale version of the Ferrari SF71H, Sebastian Vettel’s latest car from Maranello ($79.95).

The History of Motorsport: From the Beginnings Until Today | $45 | amazon.com

Don’t let the monochromatic green cover fool you; this is one of the better and most complete racing history books out there. From Formula 1 to rallying, this covers it all in impressive detail, pairing well-researched reports with stunning photography from each respective era. This book is worth checking out even by hard-core motorsports followers who think they already know it all.

IMSA: Celebrating 50 Years | $170 | imsa.com/50

You may have seen our coverage of IMSA’s 50th anniversary, and if you want to dig deeper and relive the sanctioning body’s racing history, this is your book. Revealed during the 2018 Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion and limited to 2,000 copies, it profiles the people, places, manufacturers, cars, and teams that have battled wheel to wheel for 50 years in one of America’s premier road-racing categories.

Alpinestars Suit and Shoes | alpinestars.com

Whether you participate in motorsports or simply watch as a fan, Alpinestars needs no introduction. Its line of motorcycle and automotive products features prominently on riders and drivers around the world. Two of its most popular auto-racing products are now even more appealing for 2019. The GP Pro Comp suit is a lightweight, three-layer, fire-resistant construction perfect for all level of drivers, and it’s now available in a new range of colors for $849.95, $150 less than before. The Tech 1-T shoe, meanwhile, is the same one used by top professionals and features a complete redesign incorporating upgraded materials and improved comfort, all for the same $269.95 as the previous version.

Bell RS7C LTWT | from $1699.95 | bellracing.com

We’re always on the lookout for the latest in head protection; the closer we can get to what the pros wear—without entirely decimating our budget—the better. So we’re excited about Bell Racing’s new RS7 Carbon Lightweight helmet. Bell developed it in collaboration with Team Penske’s NASCAR operation, and extensive re-engineering of the already excellent, standard RS7 Carbon (an Automobile favorite) led the company to build a helmet that weighs less than 2.75 pounds—almost a full pound lighter than the regular version—without compromising impact performance. That’s significant and results in less driver fatigue and improved comfort. Almost as cool, Bell will for the first time across its HP Series range of lids offer various interior liner colors (a $200 upgrade) beyond the drab gray or black of most helmets. The RS7C LTWT is available with a host of additional options as well.

Game TimeB | amazon.com

No, video games and even top-flight simulators still aren’t a one-to-one substitute for the excitement, thrill, and fear that real-life racing provides, but they certainly have gotten more immersive and more fun by the year, and many of them start at just $25. The latest crop ranges from the PC-only simulation-style “Assetto Corsa Competizione” (a real challenge and the official game of the Blancpain GT Series) to the down-and-dirty fun of “NASCAR Heat 3.” In between are always-improving titles such as Codemasters’ “F1 2018,” which is popular with the Grand Prix nerds on our staff, and “Forza Horizon 4,” the latest installment of the open-world racing franchise that seems popular with, well, just about everybody. There’s no better way to pass frigid winter days than working up a sweat gunning for another lap record from the comfort—and safety—of your game room.

The post Automobile’s Motorsports Gift Guide for 2019 appeared first on Automobile Magazine.

from Performance Junk WP Feed 4 http://bit.ly/2R6d8XC via IFTTT

War of the Worlds: Tesla Model 3 Dual Motor Performance vs Jaguar I-Pace EV400 HSE vs Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio

“Randy’s just gone off Turn 2,” the walkie-talkie barks. I look up from my laptop. What happened? Our Jaguar I-Pace is most definitely in the wrong place and has come to a stop amid drifting dust.

Today is just getting weirder and weirder—Randy Franklin Pobst never goes off a racetrack. For all the tire marks that spaghetti away from the Streets of Willow’s racing line and loopily disappear at its broken edges, they’re never the graffiti of our resident championship racing driver. Randy is a model of consistency.

A walkie-talkie hisses for a moment, and then … “The Jag suddenly put on its emergency brakes and sent me off the track.” Wait, what? The Motor Trend testing staffers eyeball each other. For the past two hours, Randy had been chasing software curveballs. Even through the metallic fidelity of our Motorolas, the terseness in his voice says he’s getting a little weary of it.

“At least it wasn’t just us,” mutters a Tesla-hatted voice behind me. Earlier, the Tesla Model 3 Performance with Track mode didn’t exactly stop as planned approaching Turn 10, going straight off at 90 mph, then bouncing through the bumpy desert terrain and sagebrush before re-entering the front straight and rolling into the pits, with a blown left rear tire courtesy of its off-road excursion.

We expected some surprises today. Bringing together two trackable battery-electric vehicles to challenge the best classical internal combustion sport sedan in the world right now—the Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio—would be the beginning of a battle for the ages. Who knew it would also wind up a battle in the sages?

Let’s rewind the clouds of dust to earlier this morning.

It’s 8 a.m. in the California high desert, and already the sun has our asphalt stage brightly lit. To our left is “Big Willow” with its white-knuckle turns and village of backstage garages and paddocks needed for Willow Springs International Raceway’s blockbuster, high-speed productions. This, though, is “Streets,”  its more intimate second stage. A more technical setting for our trio of performers.

Amid the hiss of tire pressures being adjusted by co-evaluators Alan Lau and Derek Powell—and the rattle-grrrrrrrrr of photo czar Brian Vance’s incessant coffee bean grinding—I’m staring at the cars and unable to piece together a good argument for why the Alfa beats the Tesla around the track or the other way around.

It’s easy to pencil out why the Jag is going to lag behind: Compared to the Alfa, its motors’ combined 394 horsepower falls 22 percent shy of the Giulia’s output, while its 4,946-pound mass renders it 31 percent porkier. Those SEMA-ready 255/40R22 Pirelli P Zeros the Jag is wearing won’t erase the high-heeled physics of its crossover height. The Jag seems a preordained but not dishonorable third place around Streets. But the tea leaves from our real-world testing of the Giulia and Model 3 point in contradictory directions.

Leaf One tilts toward Tesla: The 505-hp Alfa’s 0–60 time is 3.8 seconds; the 450-hp Model 3 clocks at 3.3—its dual-motor AWD launches it like a rail gun. Leaf Two, to Alfa: The Giulia clings to corners like sweaty underwear, pulling a 0.98 g skidpad compared to the Model 3’s 0.95. Leaf Three, pick ’em: The Tesla stops shorter—but fractionally so. Leaf Four, mox nix: Their figure-eight lap times are identical at 24.2 seconds. Time to ditch the tea and grab some of Vance’s coffee.

The cars are prepped, and Randy is good to go. The Model 3’s cooling system is screaming as it pre-chills the battery and dual motors. Belted in, attired in his black helmet, black racing suit, and ever-bright mood, Randy asks the Tesla engineer leaning into the cockpit, “What do I do to set the handling?” The guy taps the do-everything center screen’s icon with the words “Track Mode.” That’s it. Randy raises his eyebrows. The guy climbs out; I lean in to check that our Vboxes are powered up and SD cards clicked in, then give the passenger door a good slam.

The Model 3 whirs away. A minute later it reappears, slaloming past the apexes of the last four corners of Streets. Its tail is drifting dramatically, left, right, left, then it pitchy-hops midway around the last “skidpad” corner and tail-wags onto the straight. Everybody is watching—nobody has ever seen a Tesla handle like this.

Five minutes later, Randy climbs out, I grab the data cards, and Angus MacKenzie starts readying to try it himself.

The fastest EV ever at Streets was the Randy-driven Mitsubishi MiEV at a 1:10.90 … no, not the goofy Google-car you’re picturing but a sleek slicks-and-wings, Pikes Peak racing car we tested in 2014. The Model 3’s time appears on my screen—1:23.90. A production-car EV record. A blink quicker (0.07 second) than the Mustang GT Performance Pack 2. Process that. The Mustang GT PP2.

However, Randy needs to chime in: “It’s very easy to get understeer, the car’s handling is sometimes inconsistent, and there’s something weird happening when I lift off the brake.”

What Randy is feeling is a lingering deceleration after he releases the brake (before he’s moved his foot to the accelerator)—it’s the undepressed accelerator pedal’s heavy regenerative braking setting that’s confusing him during the transition. Compared to the car’s normal “heavy” rate of 0.2 g (matching that of the Jag), Track mode applies a more noticeable 0.3 g’s.

Angus rolls in from his hot laps: “It turns in quickly, especially with throttle lift, but there’s not a ton of feel from the front end. Get to the power too early, and the handling just devolves into massive understeer. The good news is a big lift off the accelerator will get the car to rotate. Roll on the power, and the Model 3 nicely drifts out of the corner. There’s never any sense it’s going to spin. Drive it like a rally car, and it’s fun. But for a traditional race driver, where smooth is fast, I can imagine it all feels a little discombobulating.”

The tall Jaguar goes out next and returns seven minutes’ worth of laps later. I pop out the SD cards from the Vboxes and open the file—a 1:27.00. No MiEV, but not bad for a 5,000-pound, five-passenger crossover that’s quicker than the Golf R and WRX STi. Geez.

“There’s a lot of understeer, and the brakes could be inconsistent,” Randy notes. Those two words—inconsistent and unpredictable—keep coming up during his Jaguar download.

Finally, it’s the big-dog Alfa’s moment to break the EV silence. We hear the Giulia’s bark and baritone as Randy warms the tires. Judgment time. Which will win? Twenty-one thousand gasoline combustions per lap, or software code swarming through silicon chips? The Alfa moves dartlike through the same corners the Tesla just drifted through. Randy pulls in wearing a smile we haven’t seen yet today. Mr. Consistency just laid down a 1:22.78. That’s 1.12 seconds quicker than the Tesla. “It just does exactly what you expect,” he says. “No surprises. Always predictable. Rear-wheel drive just gives me the control that I want.”

Then somebody notices the Alfa’s Pirelli P Zero Corsa AR Asimmetrico front tires. They’re asimmetrico, all right: Half of each tread block’s rubber is gone after two sets of three hard laps. The Tesla engineer points to his car’s Michelin Pilot Sport 4Ss that are at worst scuffed. “We could do that time if we were willing to destroy our tires,” he says. The Tesla’s rubber contains complex compounding across its tread for minimal rolling resistance but stickiness for corners (with foam glued into its interior to reduce noise). The technical investment in this tire—which can generate 0.95 g’s of cornering grip from a 4,078-pound car without significantly damaging the rubber and still deliver 310 miles on a charge—is remarkable.

Nevertheless, the conversation drifts toward imagining sliders on the Tesla touchscreen to fine-tune Track mode or tapping the names of tires you bring along to have their performance characteristics loaded. One idea I like: “Randy mode.” Ludicrous for the road racing set.

Track Mode

Four years ago, I drove our long-term Tesla Model S P85+ to Laguna Seca for a similar lapping day. When I arrived, I unloaded 17 bags of ice from a 7-Eleven along Route 68, plus a dusty roll of bubble wrap I found at Home Depot. We shoved the ice bags under the car until they were stacked up against the battery, then I encircled the car with bubble wrap like a floor-length insulating skirt, taped it to the bodywork, and waited for the car to charge. We had tried to lap the Tesla a few months before, but it couldn’t get to the hilly track’s Turn 11 before it self-limited its power output, due to heat buildup. This time it would start refrigerated.

Thermodynamic experimentation be damned, the Tesla power-limited at just about the same spot anyway. And our photo of the wrapped car touched a nerve with Tesla. The “Teslas can’t lap” rap has remained a thorny issue with Elon’s crew, so a month ago Tesla invited me up to Marina Airport after Monterey Car Week to finally sample its solution.

Rather than a vender-sourced patchwork of stability- and traction-control systems, Track mode is a holistic solution to enthusiast EV driving. It begins with a unified piece of clean-screen, Tesla-written software. Rather than look up tables of approximated data to pick a prerecorded response to steering and chassis angle, the system simulates each tire’s available grip in real time (it estimates the force on each contact patch from the car’s acceleration, braking, or cornering rate). The result is a higher-resolution picture of those patches, exploitable by each axle’s precisely controlled, fast-reacting electric motors; laterally, it’s vectored by individual brake dabs (the differentials are open). Track mode’s agility is like a cat with espresso in its water bowl—but it’s also alert to nervous-looking inputs and decreases the chassis’ cornering angles until they cease.

As to the heat problem that limited our early Model S lapping at Laguna, Tesla has a solution. Before the car heads out, setting Track mode tempers the overheating issue by launching into a (loud) coolant-chilling frenzy of both the low-temperature battery system and the high-temperature motors. Unlike in the Models S and X, both of the Model 3’s cooling circuits can be merged, allowing the hotter motors to briefly use the giant battery as a heat sink. For how long? Maybe four or five continuous laps. Weekend warrior Derek Powell makes a face. “Track sessions are normally 20 to 25 minutes,” he says, “and there are four or five sessions per day.” I don’t think he’s impressed.

We’ve figure-eighted the Model 3 Performance with and without Track mode. I did a 24.3-second lap sans assistance but a 24.2 with it. A teensy time difference, but to moi at the helm, the car’s cornering attitude suddenly became open to playful interpretation—almost to distraction. As Angus noted during our lapping at Streets, big, drifty angles are more about fun than fast.

Technology

If there were a book simply titled The History of the Sport Sedan, you’d find a dramatic picture of this exact blue Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio on its last page. The story line building up to it would ping-pong between Turin and Munich, and with every turned page there’d be episodes of engineers finding new ways to polish the sport sedan’s ingredients to a perfect gloss. Like this car’s twin-turbo V-6 engine, eight-speed paddle-shift transmission, multilink rear suspension, and 505 horsepower laser-beamed to two rear tires.

Tesla nods, closes the book, and places it on the shelf with the rest of automotive history. Park the Giulia next to the Model 3, and Leonardo da Vinci beside Robert Oppenheimer. The ultimate artist-engineer meets the calculating disrupter of worlds.

The other day, I read Bob Lutz espouse that “Tesla has no tech advantage, no software advantage, no battery advantage. No advantages whatsoever.” With all due respect, Bob, that’s bull. As I sat in the plugged-in Model 3 at the Supercharger station in a Valencia, California, parking lot, I watched a number grow on the car’s multitouch screen. That’s so cool. Just by plugging the charger in, the Supercharge from PerformanceJunk WP Feed 3 https://ift.tt/2NWW5WH via IFTTT

A U.S. P-8A reconnaissance plane was soaring above the Mediterranean Sea on Wednesday when a Russian SU-35 fighter jet appeared on its tail. For 42 minutes, U.S. Navy officials say, the Russian pilot flew in an “unsafe” manner—at one-point flying upside down and sweeping within 25 feet of the plane’s nose.

The high-stakes intercept, which U.S. officials say put the American aircrew at risk, was just one in a string of incidents that took place over a 24-hour period in which American military resolve was tested across the globe. No Americans killed or injured during any of these events, but the timing was no coincidence. With novel coronavirus cases among U.S. service members now at 2,486 and climbing, America’s adversaries are emboldened to test U.S. military dominance, current and former Defense Department officials tell TIME.

Earlier in the day, U.S. Space Command reported the Russian military had tested a missile capable of “destroying” U.S. satellites in low Earth orbit. Not long afterward, 11 Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) gun boats “conducted dangerous and harassing” actions against six American warships operating in the Persian Gulf, the U.S. Navy said. The motorboats repeatedly ran alongside and crisscrossed in front of the much larger American ships at high speeds and close range – at one point buzzing within 10 yards of a cutter’s bow. All three incidents came after North Korea launched a barrage of short-range missiles from ground batteries and fighter jets off their east coast.

The cluster of adversary action poses no existential threat to the U.S. military. But the crosswinds produced by COVID-19 are strong. As Washington is preoccupied with its fight against the world’s largest number of coronavirus cases, restrictions have been slapped on U.S. military operations and movements out of health concerns in almost every part of the world. Routine troop rotations and military family relocations have been paused due to a “stop movement” order that restricts all military travel. U.S. aircraft carriers, floating symbols of American might, are sidelined. While it remains unclear how long the pandemic will loom over missions abroad, U.S. rivals are seeking to exploit the gaps COVID has created.

“When the world and America are off-balance, it presents opportunities for our adversaries,” said Chuck Hagel, a former U.S. Defense Secretary and Republican Senator from Nebraska. “They will continue to make every effort to assert themselves in this time. I don’t believe we are ever adequately prepared for events like we are living through now, especially a global health pandemic.”

Keep up to date on the growing threat to global health by signing up for our daily coronavirus newsletter.

The U.S. military’s playbook for deterring adversaries since World War II is to project power by promptly deploying thousands of troops, flying in nuclear-capable bombers, or dispatching aircraft carrier battle groups to problematic regions. It’s a practice that’s taken on increased importance under President Donald Trump, who relishes the military hardware paid for by his Administration’s $700 billion Pentagon budget.

Amid today’s COVID pandemic, the options to demonstrate a show of force are severely limited. The Pentagon has thus far responded to the spate of threats rhetorically, repeatedly publicly warning enemies not to confuse the current moment of national crisis as a weakness. “We will continue to carry out our mission assignments around the world in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, et cetera,” Joint Chiefs Chairman General Mark Milley told reporters Tuesday at the Pentagon. “Our readiness is still high. Our readiness is still strong. We are able to deter and defeat any challenges that may seek to take advantage of these opportunities at this point of crisis.”

The aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, the anchor of a deterrent force against China’s advances in the South China Sea, has been docked in Guam indefinitely. A COVID outbreak swept through the ship’s 4,865-person crew last month, and has since infected at least 615 sailors, killed one and sent five others into a Guam hospital. The only other American carrier deployed in the Pacific, the USS Ronald Reagan, is receiving maintenance for four months in Yokosuka, Japan, available only for “Selected Restricted Availability,” and in Bremerton, Washington, the Navy has quarantined the crew of the next carrier strike group scheduled for duty in the Pacific, led by the USS Nimitz.

With these ships sidelined, China now has the sole carrier operating in the region. Over the weekend, China sent a Liaoning-class aircraft carrier and a five-ship battle group near the territorial waters of U.S. allies Japan and Taiwan. It was China’s latest attempt to flex its muscles in the region after sinking a Vietnamese fishing boat in the contested waters of the South China Sea; announcing new “research stations” at military bases in the area; and landing “special military aircraft” on one them, Fiery Cross Reef, according to an April 6 statement by State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus.

Ortagus warned China “to stop exploiting the distraction or vulnerability of other states to expand its unlawful claims in the South China Sea.” The Air Force, for its part, attempted to project power this week by parading 14 aircraft on a runway in Guam. The military publicized the so-called “elephant walk,” which included B-52 bombers and KC-135 refueling tankers more than a half-century old.

Meanwhile, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il, China’s ally, has been carrying out his own military exercises. After voluntarily pausing missile launches last year, Pyongyang has blasted off a wide range of missiles in recent weeks. The launches are seen as “an attempt to demonstrate strength and deterrence, both internally and externally,” amid the COVID pandemic, according to analysts with the United States Institute of Peace.

In many ways, that’s nothing new. The Chinese and North Korean actions are “business as usual” by America’s two adversaries in the region, says Zack Cooper, an Asia expert at the American Enterprise Institute. The sentiment is shared by Jeffrey Lewis, a nuclear weapons analyst with the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies in Monterey, California, who says North Korea is pursuing a backlog of tests now that diplomacy with the U.S. has floundered. “We’re in the post-diplomacy period now,” he said. “We’re just waiting for them to test what’s next. The big stuff is yet to come.”

Iran, another longtime adversary, has also been ramping up its efforts to strengthen its influence in the region and attempt to drive U.S. troops out. Despite fighting a widespread COVID outbreak at home, Iran has not relented on backing armed attacks on American forces on Iraqi bases through its proxy militias. “The Iranians are keen on demonstrating to the U.S. that the COVID crisis has neither debilitated them nor has altered their strategic calculus,” says Ali Vaez, the Iran project director at the International Crisis Group. “In fact, the less the Iranians have to lose, the less risk-averse they are likely to become.”

Russia, America’s longest running adversary, has pursued bold military moves that have crept beyond the continent of Europe. The aerobatic intercept over the Mediterranean and satellite-killing missile follows a flight off the Alaskan coast. On April 8, the U.S. Air Force scrambled F-22 fighter jets to intercept two Russian IL-38 submarine-hunting above the Bering Sea just 50 miles off Alaska. North American Aerospace Defense Command General Terrence O’Shaughnessy said: “COVID-19 or not, NORAD continues actively watching for threats and defending the homelands 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.”

The Pentagon also has its own personnel health to worry about. To guard against outbreaks, the Pentagon is developing “safety bubbles” by ramping up its internal COVID testing and isolating healthy troops. After a negative test, service members have to do a 14-day quarantine before going back to the business of being a soldier, sailor or Marine. Military laboratories are now processing about 9,000 tests a day. “Our desire, our aspiration, is to expand testing, especially for groups that are going to be in tighter quarters, such as sub crews, bomber crews, basic trainees and things like that,” Milley said. “We’ve got an objective here of ramping that up to about 60,000 tests here in about 45 days or so.”

Even when the military’s battle against COVID is physically over, there will be a lingering battle ahead, says AEI’s Cooper. “COVID will have a short-term impact on the U.S. military’s readiness, but the longer-term impact will be greater: defense cuts,” he says. “Having just spent $2 trillion to address the economic damage done by COVID, U.S. officials and taxpayers will be looking for cost savings. And they will look to the Defense Department, particularly after November.”

Please send tips, leads, and stories from the frontlines to [email protected].

April 15, 2020 at 08:51PM

A U.S. P-8A reconnaissance plane was soaring above the Mediterranean Sea on Wednesday when a Russian SU-35 fighter jet appeared on its tail. For 42 minutes, U.S. Navy officials say, the Russian pilot flew in an “unsafe” manner—at one-point flying upside down and sweeping within 25 feet of the plane’s nose.

The high-stakes intercept, which U.S. officials say put the American aircrew at risk, was just one in a string of incidents that took place over a 24-hour period in which American military resolve was tested across the globe. No Americans killed or injured during any of these events, but the timing was no coincidence. With novel coronavirus cases among U.S. service members now at 2,486 and climbing, America’s adversaries are emboldened to test U.S. military dominance, current and former Defense Department officials tell TIME.

Earlier in the day, U.S. Space Command reported the Russian military had tested a missile capable of “destroying” U.S. satellites in low Earth orbit. Not long afterward, 11 Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) gun boats “conducted dangerous and harassing” actions against six American warships operating in the Persian Gulf, the U.S. Navy said. The motorboats repeatedly ran alongside and crisscrossed in front of the much larger American ships at high speeds and close range – at one point buzzing within 10 yards of a cutter’s bow. All three incidents came after North Korea launched a barrage of short-range missiles from ground batteries and fighter jets off their east coast.

The cluster of adversary action poses no existential threat to the U.S. military. But the crosswinds produced by COVID-19 are strong. As Washington is preoccupied with its fight against the world’s largest number of coronavirus cases, restrictions have been slapped on U.S. military operations and movements out of health concerns in almost every part of the world. Routine troop rotations and military family relocations have been paused due to a “stop movement” order that restricts all military travel. U.S. aircraft carriers, floating symbols of American might, are sidelined. While it remains unclear how long the pandemic will loom over missions abroad, U.S. rivals are seeking to exploit the gaps COVID has created.

“When the world and America are off-balance, it presents opportunities for our adversaries,” said Chuck Hagel, a former U.S. Defense Secretary and Republican Senator from Nebraska. “They will continue to make every effort to assert themselves in this time. I don’t believe we are ever adequately prepared for events like we are living through now, especially a global health pandemic.”

Keep up to date on the growing threat to global health by signing up for our daily coronavirus newsletter.

The U.S. military’s playbook for deterring adversaries since World War II is to project power by promptly deploying thousands of troops, flying in nuclear-capable bombers, or dispatching aircraft carrier battle groups to problematic regions. It’s a practice that’s taken on increased importance under President Donald Trump, who relishes the military hardware paid for by his Administration’s $700 billion Pentagon budget.

Amid today’s COVID pandemic, the options to demonstrate a show of force are severely limited. The Pentagon has thus far responded to the spate of threats rhetorically, repeatedly publicly warning enemies not to confuse the current moment of national crisis as a weakness. “We will continue to carry out our mission assignments around the world in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, et cetera,” Joint Chiefs Chairman General Mark Milley told reporters Tuesday at the Pentagon. “Our readiness is still high. Our readiness is still strong. We are able to deter and defeat any challenges that may seek to take advantage of these opportunities at this point of crisis.”

The aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, the anchor of a deterrent force against China’s advances in the South China Sea, has been docked in Guam indefinitely. A COVID outbreak swept through the ship’s 4,865-person crew last month, and has since infected at least 615 sailors, killed one and sent five others into a Guam hospital. The only other American carrier deployed in the Pacific, the USS Ronald Reagan, is receiving maintenance for four months in Yokosuka, Japan, available only for “Selected Restricted Availability,” and in Bremerton, Washington, the Navy has quarantined the crew of the next carrier strike group scheduled for duty in the Pacific, led by the USS Nimitz.

With these ships sidelined, China now has the sole carrier operating in the region. Over the weekend, China sent a Liaoning-class aircraft carrier and a five-ship battle group near the territorial waters of U.S. allies Japan and Taiwan. It was China’s latest attempt to flex its muscles in the region after sinking a Vietnamese fishing boat in the contested waters of the South China Sea; announcing new “research stations” at military bases in the area; and landing “special military aircraft” on one them, Fiery Cross Reef, according to an April 6 statement by State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus.

Ortagus warned China “to stop exploiting the distraction or vulnerability of other states to expand its unlawful claims in the South China Sea.” The Air Force, for its part, attempted to project power this week by parading 14 aircraft on a runway in Guam. The military publicized the so-called “elephant walk,” which included B-52 bombers and KC-135 refueling tankers more than a half-century old.

Meanwhile, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il, China’s ally, has been carrying out his own military exercises. After voluntarily pausing missile launches last year, Pyongyang has blasted off a wide range of missiles in recent weeks. The launches are seen as “an attempt to demonstrate strength and deterrence, both internally and externally,” amid the COVID pandemic, according to analysts with the United States Institute of Peace.

In many ways, that’s nothing new. The Chinese and North Korean actions are “business as usual” by America’s two adversaries in the region, says Zack Cooper, an Asia expert at the American Enterprise Institute. The sentiment is shared by Jeffrey Lewis, a nuclear weapons analyst with the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies in Monterey, California, who says North Korea is pursuing a backlog of tests now that diplomacy with the U.S. has floundered. “We’re in the post-diplomacy period now,” he said. “We’re just waiting for them to test what’s next. The big stuff is yet to come.”

Iran, another longtime adversary, has also been ramping up its efforts to strengthen its influence in the region and attempt to drive U.S. troops out. Despite fighting a widespread COVID outbreak at home, Iran has not relented on backing armed attacks on American forces on Iraqi bases through its proxy militias. “The Iranians are keen on demonstrating to the U.S. that the COVID crisis has neither debilitated them nor has altered their strategic calculus,” says Ali Vaez, the Iran project director at the International Crisis Group. “In fact, the less the Iranians have to lose, the less risk-averse they are likely to become.”

Russia, America’s longest running adversary, has pursued bold military moves that have crept beyond the continent of Europe. The aerobatic intercept over the Mediterranean and satellite-killing missile follows a flight off the Alaskan coast. On April 8, the U.S. Air Force scrambled F-22 fighter jets to intercept two Russian IL-38 submarine-hunting above the Bering Sea just 50 miles off Alaska. North American Aerospace Defense Command General Terrence O’Shaughnessy said: “COVID-19 or not, NORAD continues actively watching for threats and defending the homelands 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.”

The Pentagon also has its own personnel health to worry about. To guard against outbreaks, the Pentagon is developing “safety bubbles” by ramping up its internal COVID testing and isolating healthy troops. After a negative test, service members have to do a 14-day quarantine before going back to the business of being a soldier, sailor or Marine. Military laboratories are now processing about 9,000 tests a day. “Our desire, our aspiration, is to expand testing, especially for groups that are going to be in tighter quarters, such as sub crews, bomber crews, basic trainees and things like that,” Milley said. “We’ve got an objective here of ramping that up to about 60,000 tests here in about 45 days or so.”

Even when the military’s battle against COVID is physically over, there will be a lingering battle ahead, says AEI’s Cooper. “COVID will have a short-term impact on the U.S. military’s readiness, but the longer-term impact will be greater: defense cuts,” he says. “Having just spent $2 trillion to address the economic damage done by COVID, U.S. officials and taxpayers will be looking for cost savings. And they will look to the Defense Department, particularly after November.”

Please send tips, leads, and stories from the frontlines to [email protected].