Worth Knowing, Probably Not Quite Threadworthy 11/24

[SVPete]

The Other Cease-Fire: Hezbollah Still Stuck On FA, Number 2 FO's

https://hotair.com/ed-morrissey/2025/11/24/the-other-cease-fire-hezbollah-still-stuck-on-fa-number-2-fos-n3809221

Almost exactly a year ago, Israel signed a 60-day ceasefire with Lebanon that paused – not ended – the October 7 war with Hezbollah. The agreement required Lebanon to disarm Hezbollah and for both to abide by UN Security Council 1701, which decades earlier had ordered Hezbollah to evacuate the sub-Litani and Bekaa Valley areas of the country. The government in Beirut has since ordered Hezbollah to disarm but has taken no steps to force the issue, and Hezbollah continues to operate in both prohibited areas of Lebanon.

In recent weeks, Israel has increased military strikes on Hezbollah positions and personnel. Yesterday, however, the IDF took aim at Hezbollah's top leadership and killed the man most responsible for their recent attempts to reconstitute their position in southern Lebanon:

Israeli forces killed Hezbollah’s military chief of staff on Sunday with an airstrike on Beirut, the first attack on the Lebanese capital in more than five months.

The attack, which hit a residential building in the densely packed neighborhood of Haret Hreik in southern Beirut, targeted Haytham Ali Tabatabai, a Hezbollah veteran considered one of its highest remaining military officials. Israeli and Hezbollah officials confirmed Tabatabai’s death. ...

“We will not allow Hezbollah, the terror organization, to recover and rebuild its strength and threaten Israel from anywhere inside of Lebanon,” said Shosh Bedrosian, a spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office. Hezbollah’s “activities continue to constitute a violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon,” she added, without providing details about how the group has been trying to rebuild its capabilities.

Lebanon lacks the will - and possibly the ability - to disarm the Hezbos, so whatever happens WRT Gaza and Hamas, the conflict with the Hezbos will almost certainly continue.

[SVPete]

Jay Leno Drops a Truth Bomb on Comedy

https://pjmedia.com/matt-margolis/2025/11/24/jay-leno-drops-a-truth-bomb-on-comedy-n4946341

Jay Leno figured out what audiences actually want, and it turns out they want to laugh without the political sermon. I know, shocking, right? The 75-year-old comedian and former Tonight Show host has been on tour with his stand-up act, and he made a wise decision a while back that is paying off: He ditched the political material entirely, and the results speak for themselves.

During a recent appearance on NBC's Today with Hoda Kotb, Leno laid out his strategy in plain terms. He took politics completely out of his comedy routine while performing across the country. The results speak for themselves: Ticket sales jumped by 20-30%. The reason is simple. Nobody wants a lecture when they show up for a comedy show.

The choice was practical, not ideological. When you’re playing all over the country, you’re going to have politically mixed audiences. Coincidentally, I recently bought tickets to see Leno in Niagara Falls next year, and one of the reasons I had no qualms about buying the tickets is that I know he doesn’t want to alienate half his audience.

Leno estimates that roughly a third of any given crowd is going to disagree with whatever political stance a comedian takes. So why alienate them? Late-night TV is different. On television, you can tailor your monologue to a self-selecting audience that already agrees with you, and there is a built-in laugh track to paper over the awkward silences. That luxury does not exist when you are standing on a stage in front of real people who paid real money to be entertained, not preached to.

IMO, TV-yakkers feed their audience's self-selection process. If, hypothetically, I hear John or Jane TV-Comedian making denigration of pretty much any politician a staple of their nightly shtick, I'm moving on. Even if the pol being denigrated is someone with whom I disagree, the denigration will be boring and unfunny.

I don't know if Leno figured this out by noticing the Ditzy Tricks' or Kathy the Griffin's career self-destruction or independently with common sense. Many "comedians" and musicians seem not to have learned from those examples of career-self-destruction-by-politics.

As an aside, Leno is demonstrating the practical meaning of, "For better or for worse, in sickness or in health," in caring for his wife Mavis, who is in fairly advanced dementia.

[SVPete]

US Army’s Apache V6 can reliably hunt drones using existing sensors, weapons, show tests

https://interestingengineering.com/military/us-armys-apache-v6-reliably-hunt-drones

The United States Army is reportedly testing whether its venerable AH-64E Apache (Version 6) is capable of anti-drone warfare. Normally tasked with killing tanks, for the Apache to remain relevant in an ever-more drone-saturated battlefield, such tests are critical to assess its potential.

And, according to reports, the Apache did not disappoint. In testing, the Apache shot down 13 out of 14 drones, which is a remarkably high success rate.
...
Teaching an old dog new tricks
The tests involved using Apache helicopters‘ existing toolkit of weapons, from close-in-and-dirty guns to long-range missile systems. For the latter, test Apache’s were armed with its Joint Air-to-Ground missiles (JAGM) and Hellfire missiles, all controlled using its Longbow radar system.

They were also armed with their medium-range Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) laser-guided 2.76-inch (70mm) rockets. These are much cheaper than missiles and proved surprisingly effective, making them perfect for knocking out relatively cheap drones.

The test also reviewed the Apache’s iconic 1.18-inch (30mm) chain gun using high-explosive rounds. This is the “last-ditch” layer if a drone gets very close.
...
It also features “Link 16” networking, which enables it to share and receive targeting information. The V6 also comes with L3 Harris’ advanced manned–unmanned teaming called MUMT-X.

All this kit means the Apache V6 is well placed to be able to detect drones at range, and receive drone tracks from ground radars, Marines, Navy ships, or other helicopters. All this while being able to send its own sensor data back to everyone else.

This makes a valuable “node” in a kill web on the battlefield. Not bad for a chopper flown in the mid-1970s.

Ukraine has been finding that the retired by Germany Flakpanzer Gepard, a mobile radar-controlled double 35 mm cannon, has been very useful in anti-drone efforts.

The problem with using jet aircraft, such as an F-16, is that they fly so fast that the time their 20 mm cannon are in range is very brief, and the debris from a destroyed drone is a danger to the jet. As for missiles, a missile costs 10X-100X what the drone costs, not a great $$ trade-off (though saving a multi-million $$$$ something or other or saving lives is worth the cost of the missile).