Smith & Wesson .357 Magnum Revolver

Of the 19 hijackers who carried out the Sept 11 attacks:

15 were from Saudi Arabia (a powerful/oil-rich country the U.S. works hard to maintain diplomatic relations with)

2 were from the United Arab Emirates (also a powerful/oil-rich country the U.S. works hard to maintain diplomatic relations with)

1 was from Egypt, 1 from Lebanon.

None of the hijackers were from Iraq.

None of the Sept 11 hijackers were Iraqi.

None of the 9/11 hijackers were from Iraq.

I feel like I am going to be having random WoT Finale thoughts for the next six months, but one I especially want to hit up now:

The actual logistics of the Whitecloak attack on Falme, from the military tactics to the geo politics of it all are so perfectly on point that it's like something Jordan would have written himself.

In the books the Whitecloaks are on Tomon Head for unrelated reasons to the Seanchan (ones that would be hard to establish properly in a tv format where we don't have the time to follow Bornhold Sr for six odd scenes), so the show runners shifted it so that they are explicitly answering a call for aid from a foreign throne. The Whitecloaks are a autonomous military body beholden to no nation that operates with pseudo-legality in most places that are not under their influence, and the idea of expanding that influence to another nation is far to tempting to resist, especially when no other power is answering the Falme's call for aid, including the White Tower, who are the Whitecloak's primary rival. On principles it seems like they are stepping up to help a victimized nation that the 'witches' have abandoned, or even orchestrated the fall of.

And then on a practical level, the actual tactics they employ are fiendishly clever. Using incense burners to create a fog to hide their approach and blunt the effectiveness of the enemy channelers (who need to be able to see something to target their weaves). This also makes sense on a world building level- the Whitecloaks probably have a dozen tactics in their back pockets to deal with an outright war against the Aes Sedai if it ever breaks out. Then once the Whitecloaks close up to the walls, they send in their cavalry first, to overwhelm enemy defenses before they can get the gates shut, then send in the infantry to secure and pacify the remaining resistance not taken out by the shock charge. At this point the Seanchan have to focus their fighting to the streets of Falme, and the best way to do that is to gather their damane on the nearby tower and rain down artillery fire in an attempt to break the Whitecloaks into retreat- a brutal strategy likely to result in the deaths of their own troops and civilians, but necessary if they are going to have any hope of holding the city.

And then is where things get INSANE. See, conventional medieval military wisdom dictates that in a situation where the gates are breached already siege engines have no use. Their too clumsy, taking to much time to aim and fire to be much use in a melee brawl like this. Siege engines are useful for breaking fortifications, toppling walls, etc, so if used offensively almost always come out first. That means that no one is expecting them to roll out of that fog and hurl stones at the damane's position. In one strike Bornhold Senior decapitates the enemy's primary advantage over him and tilts the battle in his favor. (And even if the damane had managed to counter the strike, they would be weakened significantly, having to focus on blocking further attacks and counter attacking the siege engines- not easy with the fog- instead of keeping the fighting in the streets under control).

This might be one of those things that only I care about, but good employment of medieval military tactics combined with magical fantasy elements always makes me go

*blows a kiss to the sky* for macheresin

[Comms during a training exercise]

Mav: I'm dead inside.

Ice: Really?

Ice: Because I've been in there many times and-

Slider: OH MY GOD, STOP! THIS. IS. NOT. THE. MOMENT. OKAY? THIS IS NOT THE MOMENT

What if instead of banning guns, we much a Federal Gun Owner Requirements (FGOR). An example of how such a system would work

All firearms require registration. All owners of all types of fire arms must have (insert sets of requirements) gun safe, in which all firearms must be stored at all times. Children found to have a firearm in their possession currently or previously will result in said firearms registered owner to lose the ability to own firearms for (insert based on severity of event) years and take on the child’s criminal charges, if any are present.

Firearm incapable of human casualty - must be 18+

Firearms capable of human casualty - 21+ and background check

Firearms capable of multiple human casualties in quick succession, being more than 3 in under 60 seconds - 21+, background check, gun safety course

Firearms with *high capacity *expanded upon with a specific threshold capacity based on weapon type in separate list - 21+, background check, gun safety course, gun competency course, psychological evaluation

Firearms with *extreme high capacity/accuracy enhances, *as defined in a separate list with a specific threshold capacity based on weapon type - 21+, background check, gun safety course, gun competency course, psychological evaluation, use of weaponry/ammo evaluation.

And so on.

Draw your squad like this

Favorite genre of GN'R song: Axl just saying shit in the middle of the song

Goose is so sick of them.

(Thx bunnywardcreations for the idea)

Axl Rose e Izzy durante a "Steel Wheels" tour, 1989

S&W Performance Center R8 8 Shot .357 Magnum

IM SO HAPPYYY i've been looking for a ford bronco hot wheels/mini for SO LONG and today at the store I spotted this

AND ITS THE EXACT ONE I WANT and then i took a closer look at the actual set

Not to say something controversial rn but I really don’t feel sorry for foolish ngl

Andretti opening a whole facility without even being in F1 and Williams not even having a spare chassis really just…

Like how they do they…

Mkay

I'm sat at the tire centre watching them swap my winters for my summers, and my first thought was "Wow. They're faster than Sauber" 💀