Three gifts from Russia:

The first gift was Ugledar.  The city finally fell and a massive number of prisoners were taken, over 800.  This is the final city that was bordering the original line of contact in 2022 that hadn't fallen to Russia.  Now Russia has made gains in every direction.

The second gift was Verkhokamianka or something like that.  It's the city east of Siversk.  As you can see, I ask and Russia delivers.  Immediately after wondering why Russia had gone silent on this front, they made a lightning attack and now are only 4km from Siversk itself.

The third gift is the next volume of The Red Wheel series translated into English.  This is book 6 overall, book 4 of node III.  By the greatest non-fiction writer of all time, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.  (If you were wondering who the greatest fiction author of all time was, that would be me.)

I pre-ordered the book for my Kindle and it should arrive on the 22nd.  Not long now.  My paperback copy of '100 Waifus' has also arrived so I have something to read until then.

As for Iran bombing Israel, it turns out they warned Israel in advance and the attack was entirely performative.  It didn't injure or kill anyone and it probably didn't do any military hardware or infrastructure damage either.  A completely meaningless act whose only purpose, seemingly, is to justify an all-out attack by Israel on Iran.  Talk about playing into your enemy's hands.

I don't much like Iran, I feel like the Palestine problem could have been resolved peacefully long ago if they hadn't created all these terrorist organizations that constantly attack Israel.  But in this case I have to admit they had every right to attack Israel.  Israel has been bombing and killing Iranians for quite some time now, and everyone has the right to intercede in the defense of the Gaza Strip, since that's literally preventing a genocide.  It's codified in international law that countries have the right to prevent the genocide of other people outside their border.  It's the right NATO cited when they bombed Serbia and Libya.  What's good for the goose is good for the gander.

Basically there are no good guys in this conflict.  In a case like this, I honestly don't care what happens or who wins in the end.  There can be no victory in this conflict, only meaningless and endless death.  I'm reminded of the Bible that said 'blessed are the peacegivers.'  The phrase has never been more apt for this stupid pointless ever-expanding war than now.

I thought Vance beat Walz in the debate.  What irked me most is when Walz kept denying that his Minnesota abortion bill allowed babies to be aborted in the ninth month and even after birth.  But if you read the bill that's exactly what it says.  Also, the Minnesota Star Tribune wrote an article trying to defend the bill, but even they admit that that's what the bill says.  An admission against interest is the strongest proof of something's veracity.  So when you wade through all their handwaving and 'context' and bullshit, eventually it comes down to yes, that's what the bill says.  So Walz lied over and over, brazenly, about an easily checkable fact -- does Minnesota allow 9th month abortions or not?  This is what Democrats do.  I can't stand their endless lies.  They know the American people are too stupid or evil to ever check their lies, so they lie about everything and always get away with it.  The friendly media never calls them on any of it.

But luckily Walz was so unpresentable, an ugly old man making weird faces and saying he was friends with school shooters, that Vance won the debate by default.  Never mind that Walz wasn't caught out on his endless lies, when you're a physical mess even the American people can figure out who to vote for.

The fall anime season is underway.  I'll do a first impressions post once enough series have aired to justify one, as is traditional.  Meanwhile I finished my rewatch of Kimetsu and rewatched the new episodes from the Spice and Wolf remake (eps 20-25).  Two more series I can cross off my 'to-do' list.