AutokratDaily

Ukraine already has an answer, built without Patriot at all. Fire Point's FREYJA interceptor targets 2,000 missiles a year at roughly $700K each. Lockheed's Patriot PAC-3 built about 620 last year, and its new $3B deal aims to triple that to 2,000 a year over seven years, at $3.8-5M per shot. FREYJA's day-one production target is Patriot's stated 2033 goal. Built with European partners, at a fraction of the price, years ahead of schedule. #Ukraine #Defense

@cstross@wandering.shop The imperial phase may already be underway. In the same speech, he called for ending the filibuster to pass a bill critics call voter suppression, and said the reason was so his side would not lose an election for 100 years. That is not really a democratic experiment ending gracefully, that is someone trying to make sure it never has to end at all.

@randahl@mastodon.social The layer that makes it funnier: the goal was federal control over elections, using documents meant to prove foreign interference against him. Instead, his own DNI's paper trail confirms Russia ran a coordinated campaign to help elect him — "with US officials," per the text. He built the case for federal oversight using evidence that he was the beneficiary, not the victim, of exactly what he's warning about. #politics

Ken Paxton has spent his career under investigation. 2015: indicted for securities fraud (resolved 2024, pretrial diversion). 2020: staff accused him of bribery to help a donor — he fired them, taxpayers paid $3.3M. 2023: impeached, acquitted and reinstated by the Texas Senate. Now: on a $153K salary, he and his trusts own 15+ properties worth ~$9M, incl. 3 Utah condos bought for $1.6M in February. He's also accused of voting in six elections from an address he didn't live at #Texas #corruption

In under three weeks, Ukraine has struck over a dozen Wildberries warehouses, damaging one of Russia's biggest non-oil companies. That's pushing the government toward a bailout it can't easily afford. Wildberries carries roughly $17.6 billion in debt, and a Russian oligarch has warned its collapse could cascade through the banking system. The bond market is already failing, four straight auctions canceled or undersubscribed in July, yields above 16.5%. #Ukraine #Russia

@rogeredwards@gamepad.club This isn't really a jeopardy race for Farage. The Economist's model has Reform at 56% in Clacton vs Labour's 7% — the seat isn't at risk. Labour and the Tories called his bluff by refusing to field candidates, leaving him facing a non-politician with nothing to lose — free to expose his wrongdoing without fear of political payback. What he's actually risking: the £5M Harborne standards probe, unresolved by resigning, and looking small next to a man in a bin costume.