Year: 2023

Russia’s large arsenal of tactical nuclear weapons has been a source of concern for decades, yet Putin’s potential use of these catastrophic weapons has taken on new dimensions of seriousness due to Russia’s planned deployment of tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus.
Russia has ten times the tactical nuclear weapons as the United States and has visibly and repeatedly threatened to use them against Ukraine, NATO and the West throughout its now long-standing war effort in Ukraine.
Has this purely been a manipulative tactic to lessen or minimize Western support for Ukraine and hold the world hostage with nuclear threats? Perhaps, yet one could make the argument that such an “escalate to win” Russian strategy has been working.
Continue Reading Article (Warrior Maven)…
[ Editor’s Note: There has never been a time in U.S. history where nuclear threats, both verbal and real, were more prevalent. Russia readily admits that their conventional forces would have to quickly move to the use of tactical nuclear weapons in a full blown conflict with NATO.]
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Flexible PCBs are super-useful things, but they can have a limited fatigue life. [Carl Bugeja] has been using them to create flexible actuators, though, and he’s getting an amazing 100,000,000 cycles out of them after some rigorous development.
[Carl] explores all manner of optimizations to his flippy actuators in the video. He tried making them oscillate faster by putting a hole in the middle to reduce drag. Other tricks include getting the arm thickness just right, and experimenting with rigidity through adding or removing sections of soldermask.
Fundamentally, though, he learned the key to longevity laid in the copper traces on the flex PCBs themselves. After enough flexural cycles, the traces would fail, killing the actuator. He experimented with a variety of solutions, eventually devleoping a ruggedized two-arm version of his actuator. Twenty samples were put to the test, oscillating at 25 Hz for two weeks straight. All samples survived the test, in which they were put through around 107,820,000 cycles.
[Carl] has put in plenty of hard work on this project, and his actuators have come a long way since we saw them last. He hopes to use the better actuators to improve his FlexLED display. Video after the break.

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Scottie Scheffler has had a terrific season: he has a pair of victories, two top-10 finishes in majors, and now is the number-one ranked player in the world.
His first win came in the desert, where he won the Waste Management Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale.
The Phoenix Open marked the PGA Tour’s first designated event of the season, tournaments that feature $20 million purses and high-caliber fields.
In addition to these eight designated events, the PGA Tour lists the Sentry Tournament of Champions, the Players Championship, and the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play as elevated events with massive purses.
In these tournaments, Scheffler is 95-under par, according to NUCLR Golf Stats. He has dominated the designated/elevated events so far this season.

Best score to par in designated/elevated events so far in 2023:Scottie Scheffler, -95Jon Rahm, -74Patrick Cantlay, -70Viktor Hovland, -54Xander Schauffele, -53Scheffler has been dominate pic.twitter.com/j8xG71gzDl— NUCLR GOLF STATS (@NUCLRGOLFSTATS) June 1, 2023

Scheffler and Jon Rahm, who won the 2023 Masters Tournament, have rotated in and out of the number one ranking in 2023.
Yet, Scheffler is the undisputed number one player in the designated/elevated events. Rahm is 21 strokes behind Scottie thus far this season.
The former Texas Longhorn ranks first on the PGA Tour in strokes gained: off the tee, strokes gained: tee-to-green, total strokes gained, and greens-in-regulation percentage.
The one flaw in Scheffler’s game is his putting, as he ranks 114th on tour in strokes gained putting.
Despite that, his short game is terrific overall. He ranks 6th in scrambling percentage, getting up-and-down 66.3% of the time.

DUBLIN, Ohio — Scottie Scheffler hits from the first fairway during the first round of the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday at Muirfield Village Golf Club on June 01, 2023.

Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images

Nonetheless, Scheffler got off to a poor start at the Memorial, shooting a 2-over par 74 in round one, the first time this season he opened a tournament with a round over par.
A three-putt led to one bogey on the par-3 4th hole, while troubles with his wedges led to three other bogeys at the 16th, 2nd, and 8th.
But knowing how Scheffler has played this season, he will put this opening round behind him. […]

Getty

Josh McDaniels of the Las Vegas Raiders.

The Las Vegas Raiders‘ quarterback position is a bit in flux right now. The team revealed that Jimmy Garoppolo underwent foot surgery in March and he’s not healthy enough to participate in organized team activities. He is going to miss out on valuable practices where he could be developing chemistry with the wide receivers.There have been questions as to why the Raiders would sign Garoppolo knowing he was injured and not doing more to add a capable backup. This has led to speculation that the team could go after another quarterback, including Tom Brady. However, the Raiders don’t appear to be nearly as concerned as the fans are. Head coach Josh McDaniels finally had a chance to address the news but downplayed its significance.“I have no anxiety,” McDaniels said during June 1 media availability, via the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “You guys might have anxiety. I don’t have any anxiety.”“I’m not going to put a timeline on it or a day or anything,” McDaniels continued. “But like I said, I have no anxiety. Feel pretty good about it.”It’s possible this is being blown out of proportion but the Raiders could’ve avoided a media headache if they were honest about Garoppolo’s status when they signed him. Regardless, McDaniels isn’t worried about his quarterback right now.“Like I said, I have very good information that would tell me that we’re going to be fine,” he said. “So, again, nothing has happened that would’ve changed that. That’s why I feel that way.”McDaniels Wants to Control What He Can ControlThe Raiders made their bed. There isn’t a better quarterback available to the team right now than Garoppolo when he’s healthy. The best result for the Raiders is that Garoppolo makes a full recovery by training camp and is ready to start in Week 1.That’s what McDaniels is hoping for and is simply going to try to control what he can control.“I don’t worry about the things I can’t control,” McDaniels said. “I have very good information that tells me that we’re going to be fine, you know what I mean? So again, nothing has happened that would’ve changed that, so that’s why I feel that way.”McDaniels Talks Brian HoyerWhile Garoppolo is out, Brian Hoyer is getting the first-team reps. The 37-year-old hasn’t won a start since 2016 and is better suited to be holding a clipboard than taking snaps at this point in his career. He’ll be manning the ship until Garoppolo gets back and that’s something McDaniels is comfortable with.“I’ve obviously known Brian [Hoyer] for a while and Brian is a true pro … takes full advantage of every opportunity he has … excited about what he’s doing,” McDaniels said, via ESPN’s Paul Gutierrez.Hoyer is a good quarterback to have on the roster but having him as a Week 1 starter would be a major concern. The Raiders aren’t going to win many games if Garoppolo doesn’t get healthy. While McDaniels says that none of the injury news has come as a surprise, the team likely could’ve done more to solidify the quarterback position this offseason. They will now be relying heavily on a player with an extensive injury history to stay healthy. […]

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin stressed the importance of communication during a stopover Thursday in Tokyo, calling it unfortunate that his Chinese counterpart is refusing to meet him at an upcoming annual security conference in Singapore, which both men are attending.
On the way to the annual Shangri-La Dialogue Asian security summit this weekend, Austin held talks with Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada. Noting China’s increasingly assertive military actions in international airspace and waterways in the region, he told a joint news conference in Tokyo, “The provocative intercepts of our aircraft and also our allies’ aircraft, that’s very concerning, and we would hope that they would alter their action.
Continue Reading Article (ABC)…
[ Editor’s Note: This is a terrible time to have a complete breakdown in crisis communications. Things can escalate quickly, particularly with the increasingly adversarial relationship. ]
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Erik, founder and designer for Abprallen and Target Pride collection

On Thursday, JP Morgan downgraded their outlook for Target as the retailer continues to suffer through its longest losing streak in 23 years.
Nasdaq reported: On June 1, 2023, JP Morgan downgraded their outlook for Target (NYSE:TGT) from Overweight to Neutral.  Analyst Price Forecast Suggests 40.86% Upside.
Target started to see a significant decline in its stock shares as a result of mounting backlash and widespread calls for a boycott over its satanic and woke LGBT merchandise.

Target’s massive ‘Pride’ Section, devoted to trans and LGBTQ kids’ clothing including “tuck-friendly swimwear for kids” and chest binders, is displayed at the front of each store nationwide.

The collection includes shirts and bags with messages that include, “live laugh lesbian,” “cure transphobia not trans people,” “too queer for here,” and “we belong everywhere.”
Abprallen, an LGBT+ company based in London that sells apparel that includes satanic imagery including pentagrams, horned skulls, and references to the devil collaborated with Target to create the “PRIDE” collection.
Threats of boycotts and massive backlash across the country prompted Target to scale back during an emergency meeting with the Target Asset Protect & Corporate Security team.
Target was forced to remove some LGBTQ+ merchandise from its Pride Month collection.
The items now being removed include “gender fluid” mugs, “queer all year” calendars and books for children aged 2-9 titled “Bye Bye, Binary,” “Pride 1,2,3,” “I’m not a girl” and all products created by the satanic Abprallen brand.
Target lost over $10 billion in 10 days following the introduction of its trans-satanist clothing line.
Target stock since introduction of trans-satanist clothing line. […]

Florida men’s golf went to Arizona and will return to Gainesville, Fla., with two new trophies to add to the case. Senior Fred Biondi took home the individual title on Monday and, on Wednesday night, provided the winning point to help Florida capture its first team title since 2001. The Gators defeated Georgia Tech 3-1.
The 22-year-long drought is over as the Gators swept at the 2023 NCAA Men’s Golf Championship. Florida also won both titles in 2001 when Nick Gilliam claimed the individual medalist.
It was the Gators’ first time advancing into match play since match play was added in 2009. No team has been able to sweep the individual and team portion since 2016, when Aaron Wise and Oregon accomplished that feat, per the NCAA.
Florida head coach J.C. Deacon came to Florida in 2014, replacing Hall-of-Fame coach Buddy Alexander, and he finally got the Gators on top again, per the Gators’ press release.
“These guys don’t give up,” Deacon said. “They’re tough sons-of-guns, and I’m proud to be their coach.”
Four of the five championship matches came down to the wire. Only one ended before the 18th. Yuxin Lin scored the first point of the finals as he defeated Christo Lamprecht 4 and 3 in the lead-off match. Florida needed something after that point because Georgia Tech held the lead in the rest of the four matches.
After Lin’s match, the second match between Matthew Kress and Georgia Tech’s Bartley Forrester had to go to 20 holes before a winner was declared. Forrester scored the only point for the Yellow Jackets after holding off Kress, who came back to force extra holes.
Sitting at 1-1 with three matches to go, the Gators had to do something, and they did. John DuBois answered the call in the third match when he defeated Connor Howe 1 up to give the Gators a 2-1 lead.

Biondi clinched the championship by defeating Hiroshi Tai 1-up in a match that stayed within one the entire time. The Florida senior took the lead on 17, and Tai conceded the match when Biondi left his birdie putt just inches short on the final hole.
Fellow senior Ricky Castillo took on Ross Steelman in the anchor match and led 1 up through 17. That last match didn’t have to finish because the Gators got the three points they needed to capture the win.
“Winning as a team means so much more. It’s awesome that we did this together,” Biondi said. “It’s not just me closing it out. It’s every single person back home, back in the gym, the people back home cheering, the coaches on this staff, just everyone involved. It’s their championship, too.”
Florida accomplished a lot this season by winning their first SEC title since 2011, six tournament victories, and for the first time in school history, winning the SEC, individual and team national titles. The Gators now have five national championships in men’s golf. […]

SACRAMENTO, CA (June 1, 2023) – Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) announced today that it has filed a reply in support of its motion for summary judgment in its lawsuit challenging California’s ban on so-called “large-capacity” magazines (LCMs). The brief in Wiese v. Bonta, along with other case documents, is available at FPCLaw.org.“[T]he defense put up by the State in these cross motions for summary judgment solidifies that California can point to no legitimate justification for its prohibitions against the fundamental liberty of ordinary law-abiding citizens to acquire, possess, and use LCMs in the exercise of their right to keep and bear arms under the Second Amendment,” argues the brief. “Therefore, this Court can quickly and confidently enter summary judgment in favor of Plaintiffs. We respectfully request that it do so now.”
“Standard capacity magazines are owned in the tens if not hundreds of millions all across the country by peaceable people who use them for lawful purposes,” said Bill Sack, FPC Director of Legal Operations. “These items are protected by the Second Amendment, and their arbitrary restriction finds no support in the country’s history and tradition of firearm regulation.”
This action is part of FPC’s nationwide effort to restore the People’s Right to Bear Arms, and was filed less than a month after it secured injunctions against the ATF’s pistol brace rule and New Jersey’s Bruen response bill.
FPC is joined in the litigation by the Second Amendment Foundation.
Individuals who would like to Join the FPC Grassroots Army and support important pro-rights lawsuits and programs can sign up at JoinFPC.org. Individuals and organizations wanting to support charitable efforts in support of the restoration of Second Amendment and other natural rights can also make a tax-deductible donation to the FPC Action Foundation. For more on FPC’s lawsuits and other pro-Second Amendment initiatives, visit FPCLegal.org and follow FPC on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube.
Firearms Policy Coalition (firearmspolicy.org), a 501(c)4 nonprofit organization, exists to create a world of maximal human liberty, defend constitutional rights, advance individual liberty, and restore freedom. FPC’s efforts are focused on the Right to Keep and Bear Arms and adjacent issues including freedom of speech, due process, unlawful searches and seizures, separation of powers, asset forfeitures, privacy, encryption, and limited government. The FPC team are next-generation advocates working to achieve the Organization’s strategic objectives through litigation, research, scholarly publications, amicus briefing, legislative and regulatory action, grassroots activism, education, outreach, and other programs. 
FPC Law (FPCLaw.org) is the nation’s first and largest public interest legal team focused on the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, and the leader in the Second Amendment litigation and research space. […]

The Senate on Thursday voted to overturn Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness program 52-46.
Democrat Senators Joe Manchin (WV) and Jon Tester (MT) voted with the Republicans.
Democrat-turned-Independent Kyrsten Sinema (AZ) also voted with Republicans.

Biden vowed to veto the measure, however, the student loan forgiveness program is currently at the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court is expected to issue a ruling on Biden’s loan forgiveness program later this month.
Earlier this year the Supreme Court signaled it will likely put the final dagger in Joe Biden’s unconstitutional student loan bailout program.
CNBC reported:
The Senate voted largely along party lines Thursday on legislation to block President Joe Biden’s student debt relief program after the measure cleared a key procedural hurdle in the chamber.
The 52-46 vote to pass the legislation comes a day after senators took a similarly close vote to proceed to the measure, which would repeal Biden’s debt relief program and end the administration’s pause on federal student loan payments. A few moderate senators — Democrats Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Jon Tester of Montana and independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona — voted with Republicans on the final passage vote as well as the motion to take up the measure.
Just a simple majority of senators were needed to pass the legislation and send it to Biden’s desk. But the White House warned in a Statement of Administration Policy last month that Biden would veto the resolution.
Joe Biden unilaterally announced a massive forgiveness of student loans last August to buy the Gen Z-Millennial vote in the 2022 midterms.
Biden canceled up to $10,000 in student debt for borrowers who earn $125,000 a year or less and up to $20,000 for recipients of Pell Grants.
The 8th US Circuit Court of Appeals in November extended a block on Joe Biden’s student loan bailout plan.
The DOJ then asked the Supreme Court to lift the 8th Circuit Court’s block.
The Supreme Court left the block in place while they hear oral arguments and deliberate. […]