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[Lord Shonus]

I think Putin realized that maybe he doesn't live in the 1940's anymore. If a modern war between superpowers broke out, it wouldn't be a long, stretched out war like WW2 was; it would be ended decisively very quickly by the very existence of modern weapons. You don't even need to factor in nuclear weapons, just regular modern weapons, which are now so potent that even first world superpowers can probably be obliterated in a matter of months, or just weeks if they aren't able to win first; and even then any victory would undoubtedly be Pyrrhic.

Even the US doesn't have an unlimited supply of modern weapons, and most other countries will deplete their armories within days. Part of that is the understanding that the role of continental NATO armies is to hold the line until American forces and supplies arrive in theater, part is an expectation that any conventional WW3 scenario is likely to be nasty, brutish, and short, and the rest is that modern weapons are really fucking expensive.

For the first two reasons, maximizing "throw weight" is more important than preparing for sustained operations. The Last reason means that you can't do more without making real compromises for more immediately important spending. Especially when you've spent twenty to thirty years convinced that the bear is dead and can't threaten you anymore.

"WW3 will be over in a month even without nukes" is a real possibility. "Non-nuclear WW3 will bog down into a grinding slog punctuated by brief periods of momentum as one side or another manages to produce enough spare weapons to launch an offensive" is also a real possibility.

Keeping nukes out of the equation is optimistic but possible as long as neither Russia or France start to perceive an existential threat.

[Iduno]

https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/1485612824583888898

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

So we can ignore science and engineering now.

[Lord Shonus]

That is blatantly "when bridges don't have weight limits because they've been rebuilt to handle proper capacities", not "we should remove weight limits and pretend they don't exist. Any other interpretation is deliberate idiocy.

[Dostoevsky]

To be fair, there are groups of politicians (sometimes bipartisan) that fight for 'reducing burdensome regulations' on various sectors of logistics. I don't recall Biden being in them, but his time in the Senate was before my work career.

Taking a quick look at the legislation in question, I'm seeing several provisions (and buckets of money) on investing in better bridges (including specifically those facing collapse risks), and not seeing any on 'streamlining' regulations. So looks like this is on the good news side of things. That said, I didn't do an exhaustive search of the law.

[nenjin]

Idiocy is that driver thinking his rig was going to make it across what is clearly an in-town creek bridge.

[martinuzz]

I can almost hear a 'I thought it would be fine, since I am transporting helium canisters' insanity plea defense coming.

[Starver]

He was transporting caged birds, but had forgotten to lean back and make a timely bang on the trailer to get them all flying off their perches...

[None]

Hey, hasn't it been about three months since Hunter Biden lost another laptop?

[MrRoboto75]

Hey, hasn't it been about three months since Hunter Biden lost another laptop?

The recent slow news week was over M&Ms changing the looks of their mascots.  We need an even slower news week than that to bring up another hunter biden 3 minutes hate.

[Iduno]

I don't recall Biden being in them, but his time in the Senate was before my work career.

That was exactly who he was/is. His career was about 36 years of deregulating the banks and credit card companies (lots of bigotry, too, but that's mostly a personal thing for him). That's the reason they're all located in one county: easier access to their congressman.

The recent slow news week was over M&Ms changing the looks of their mascots.  We need an even slower news week than that to bring up another hunter biden 3 minutes hate.

Yeah, but the M&M's thing is important so people don't notice that they're also in trouble for their child slave labor practices.

[Dostoevsky]

I meant for the logistics (well, trucking) industry specifically. And congressfolk tend to care more about the job centers than the on paper headquarters; DE is an advantage more for the state's legal system/specialty than congressional access.

[MrRoboto75]

Actually I've heard of them considering lowering the age to drive an 18-wheeler, to 18.

That's one year, per wheel.

[Dostoevsky]

That actually is a provision in the bill, yeah. Here's the federal register notice establishing the pilot program as required by the statute; there are supervisor requirements and whatnot for interstate driving, though I do agree with you that it seems, er, hasty.

[anewaname]

https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/1485612824583888898

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

So we can ignore science and engineering now.

The original news article.

This has nothing to do with Biden, Trump, the federal government, or the need for better bridge infrastructure.

The bridge was a historic bridge. The truck was too tall to fit through the tunnel and the truck was too heavy for the posted weight limit. Both of these points are exactly why Commercial Driver Licenses are regulated and those businesses need to go through red tape to operate.

This local news article give more details about charges applied to the driver. The reporter said "the man she says owned the company wouldn't take our calls so it's unclear whether or not the company has in fact closed down" and "the trucking company's insurance and the Orange County Commissioners are now trying to figure out who will cover damages", which is good, since it means that at least the business was insured.

This has nothing to do with Biden, Trump, the federal government, or the need for better bridge infrastructure, it is about stupidity.

I blame this on kids not doing enough physical work when they are pre-teen. They fail to learn how dangerous momentum can be and to understand that either the truck will fit or it will not fit, and you need to know which before you try to insert the truck into the bridge tunnel. I also blame the business for not using a CDL-class GPS device, which I presume is why they attempted to use that bridge.

[hector13]

I’m not sure what pre-teen physical work has to do with it (spatial awareness?) but she was presumably tired and wanted to go see her family, it being Christmas, so she was distracted also. Not a good combination for driving.

Equally so, she may just not have given that much of a shit about it.