I think you’re onto something with your Ukrainian flag-waver idea, Jeff. How about if you express support for a policy that will require taxpayer funding, you are required to vote with your wallet? Those of us who abstain will be exempt from taxation on that particular item.
Can you imagine how different our foreign policy (and domestic, …
I think you’re onto something with your Ukrainian flag-waver idea, Jeff. How about if you express support for a policy that will require taxpayer funding, you are required to vote with your wallet? Those of us who abstain will be exempt from taxation on that particular item.
Can you imagine how different our foreign policy (and domestic, too, for that matter) would look if people had to pay the consequences for their virtue-signaling?
Jeff Childers - why is this can you report on this soon? Why is this man boob boy geek criminal and his Harry Potter nerd like criminal girlfriend still out living freely in a penthouse in the Bahamas? Why aren’t the in the clink yet?!?
The closest Putin's been to the conflict was when he went to the Kerch bridge sometime in the last 48 hours. Otherwise he's been in his bunkers, social distancing, and getting more covid shots to stay safe and healthy.
And Ukraine just struck two Russian Nuke bases that house Tu160 and tu95 bombers, damaging a few. Wonder if jeff will call this an "act of terrorism"? While Russia bombs civilian targets, Ukraine hits military bases.
Nonsense. You're very ill-informed. And do you really think there is anyone on the planet that is more evil than Obama, Biden, Newsome, Clinton(s) and their fellow travelers? Together they've murdered millions at home and abroad, maybe billions if you count the clot shot.
Just pointing out to you that your yardstick is off. Putin presides over a country in which abortion is illegal, sexual perversion is discouraged, and the prevailing religion is Christianity -- not secular humanism, as it is here. Most of the world views the US as a sinkhole of immorality, and the people who have progressively taken charge since Ubu's first election are responsible for fast-tracking the moral degeneration of the US. Europe went down the tubes before us morally and, between Europe and the US, we are responsible for countless wars all over the world, going back more than a century, including the one in Ukraine, the history of which you seem not to know. Putin/Russia made countless attempts to avoid the war and then end it after simply intervening in the dreadful situation in the Russian-leaning Donbass region, and Biden and Brussels spat in their face, first when terms to prevent the conflict were presented by Russia and then, when Kiev was ready to sign a peace deal last spring, Johnson flew in from London and said no way.
While you're at it, look up the history of Sputnik 5, the vaccine that Russia produced and marketed, basically for free, to the entire world, beating Pfizer et. al. to the punch and thereby single-handedly preventing the global monopoly by the mRNA producers that was designed to gain "passport" control over the entire world. Sputnik 5 was modeled on the safe and effective, non-mRNA vaccines that had already been developed for SARS, Ebola, and the like. The Russians thereby scuttled the globalists biggest and most dastardly plan to inject every man, woman, and child on planet earth and subject us to global control.
You'll have to work hard to explain how Putin is responsible for anywhere near the evil that those other leaders are. My advice is to assume you are being lied to by all mainstream sources of information. In fact, start by assuming the opposite is true and then look deeper to see if your assumption might be wrong. You will almost never be wrong from the outset.
This whole situation reminds me of the two brothers sitting at the table and the one named Charlie is constantly kicking the other one named David under the table ( NATO expansionism since 90’s) and then David who has had enough and can’t take it anymore finally hits Charlie back and Charlie suddenly screams, “Mommy, David is hitting me!!”
“I think it is the beginning of a new cold war. I think the Russians will gradually react quite adversely and it will affect their policies. I think it is a tragic mistake. There was no reason for this whatsoever. No one was threatening anybody else. This expansion would make the founding fathers of this country turn over in their graves.
"We have signed up to protect a whole series of countries, even though we have neither the resources nor the intention to do so in any serious way. [NATO
expansion] was simply a lighthearted action by a Senate that has no real interest in foreign affairs. What bothers me is how
superficial and ill informed the whole Senate debate was. I was particularly bothered by the references to Russia as a country dying to attack Western Europe.
"Don't people understand? Our differences in the Cold War were with the Soviet
Communist regime. And now we are turning our backs on the very people who mounted the greatest bloodless revolution in history to remove that Soviet regime. And Russia's democracy is as far advanced, if not farther, as any of these countries we've just signed up to defend from Russia. Of course there is going to be a bad reaction from Russia, and then [the NATO expanders] will say that we always told you that is how the Russians are but this is just wrong.” George Kennan, the architect of America's successful containment of the Soviet Union.
We can argue about the democracy in Russia but many European countries went full blown Fascists during covid pandemic, including Canada who froze the bank accounts of the people who went to protest the draconian measures. Democracy! I think Kennan knew what he was talking about. This is exactly what happened over time and now we are paying for it. God job!
Except one brother has been murdering and dominating the other because he believes it's his right. Russia committed a genocide against Ukraine, killing approximately 6 million ethnic Ukrainians because they weren't big on communism.
There is no such thing as Nato expansion. Nobody forces people to join nato, the people desire to join nato because they don't want to get Ukraine'd.
Why did both Finland and Sweden join nato? Because both desire the same thing-peace. Russia forced this situation with it's illegitimate war against Ukraine. Finland was the victim of Russian Imperialism in the winter war. So was Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine.
The people who run russia now are the same ones who profitted under Communism. Putin was a senior KGB leader.
To say Democracy is advanced in Russia is a bald faced lie.
The communist menace is back. Same flags, same leaders, new allies.
Are you saying a nation's own actions of managing it's internal affairs are so frightening to Russia it has to invade? Ukraine doesn't have the right to make it's own choices? Weird. I've heard that same talk from the vaccinators who said everyone should be vaccinated.
And putin too, who's big on the sputnik shot.
If your friends are China, Iran, North korea, and Russia, you might want to take a look internally and check yourself.
What I understood is Russia’s grievances with Ukraine are all the military training and the military equipment provided to Ukraine right on Russia’s border. What looks defensive to one country looks offensive to the other. There were warnings in the past that Ukraine would get wrecked. If you knew your actions would lead to this and how the other side would react why push to that outcome to endanger innocent’s people’s lives?
In the past a Russian journalist could be invited to NBC to present a different point of view, what’s wrong with that? By having a dialog we may come to a mutual agreement and the world would benefit from the cooperation and there will be less hostility in the world. Now they don’t even allow a different point of view from their own citizens, doctors and scientists. That doesn’t look good. We are being severely manipulated to hate each other, whether we are citizens of the same country or not.
Except none of that is Russia's business. It's Ukraine's business.
If we were neighbors and I demanded you get a covid shot for my safety, would that be okay with you? No, and it doesn't in this case.
Russia has no business placing demands on Ukraine. None.
Ukraine is it's own country and has every right to do whatever it wants so long as it doesn't harm Russia.
The Russian invasion and attempted subjugation of Ukraine has failed as Russia hasn't accomplished a single goal yet after 10 months of war and Ukraine has the momentum.
Ukraine wants to join the west because they live next to Russia, just like Sweden and Finland. It's hazardous to not be in Nato because of Russian expansion.
There was also this little incident where Russia murdered 7 million Ukrainians in a genocide known as the Holodmor.
I follow a lot of Russian sources. it helps to know what they are thinking.
I get what you are saying but it wasn’t Russia that murdered Ukrainians. It was the Soviet Union and not only Ukrainians. When Stalin was in charge many suffered including some from the Russian land, including Siberia, the territory of Kazakhstan. They all suffered famine. Ukraine suffered the most because they were the richest region for the grain production but I don’t think they were specifically targeted as a nation. Even scholars are arguing among each other and everyone interprets the events differently. Some are saying it was done on purpose and equate it to a genocide, others were saying it was a result of some political interests. I personally think there was definitely some malicious intent but I’m still not sure it was just about ethnic cleansing, I think it has also something to do with whatever economic policies that regime was trying to implement and people suffered as a result. Anyway it was criminal but the higher ups didn’t care. It was a part of the Soviet famine of 1930–1933. I know presently there are some outrageous statements made by some Russian personalities about Ukraine but I believe they don’t represent the views of the majority. Many regular people were never in favor of this war due to the simple fact that a lot of Russians have friends and relatives living in Ukraine.
All of this stems from the distrust between Russia and the West that started during Cold War.
Where did the orders come from? The politburo. Where was the Politburo?
Moscow, in Russia. Russia also still claims Ukraine because it was apart of the USSR, just like it also claims the Baltics and Poland.
The makeup of the 1930-1934 Politburo:
Andrey Andreyev=Russian
Lazar Kaganovich-Ukrainian
Mikhail Kalinin-Russian
Sergey Kirov-Russian
Stanislav Kosior-Polish
Valerian Kuybyshev-Russian
Vyacheslav Molotov-Russian
Grigol Ordzonidikidze-Georgian
Janis Rudzutaks-Latvian
Alexei Rykov-Russian
Stalin-Georgian
Kliment Voroshilov-Russian
Out of 11 spots 7 were Russian.
That's a clue.
Who's orders were they acting on? Moscow, in order to punish wealthy Ukrainian Kulaks.
Yes, all regions suffered but there was only one holodmor, intentionally perpetrated by Moscow in order to wipe out Ukrainians. They intentionally stole grain. It's a recognized Genocide.
"Most were never in favor of the war"....so why is it still going on?
Why did all of those former eastern bloc nations dump Russia and join nato?
Poland-Katyn forest, civilian murder and tribunals from 1945-1981
You mean to tell me Ukraine is actually fighting off the second largest army in the world with even less money and equipment? That's simply incredible!
It'd be enlightening to know what fraction, on average, of (physical) aid actually arrives in-country (Ukraine.) 1/10? 1/100? "Troll" perhaps, but the proper view should be skeptic. Even in peace time, with a legitimate business, goods are not shipped at zero cost. It's the "fees" I'm curious about: import duties, taxes and so on. Once we enter the unofficial, off-the-books-world, those are usually called "bribes." Like it or not, every stage of the pipeline gets his cut. This would be especially true for money, electronic or physical cash currency. Even if a load of food, clothing, equipment etc. lands in Ukraine, it is essentially distributed to the next-lower-level distributor. Most of these will sell what they can on the black market for cash. The guys at the front line may get the occasional rifle and ammo or perhaps an anti-tank or AA gear if they're lucky, but most of the equipment never reaches the front. It's now in the hands of a rival group elsewhere, or even terrorists in a different part of the world. Meanwhile, the foreign bank accounts of "our" government employees swell. Business as usual.
You can see literally thousands of artillery shells impacting Russians daily (warheads on foreheads).
Your accusation is like a sinking man selling his life jacket for a pound of gold. Possible? Sure, but not likely. The Ukrainians won't have a nice view of that because those weapons are being used to stop Russia from taking over their country.
Gun crime has increased in Russia 30% over pre war. More weapons in Russia make it to the black market.
Russians and their backers have been repeating this lie since the war and aid started in an attempt to get it shut down. Hasn't worked.
Russian tanks literally went into combat with the explosive filler on their armor stolen and half of their fuel sold by their supply officers.
The propaganda is strong in this one. In other news, Putin has brain cancer for the third time, or "Kremlin insiders" whisper that a palace coup is underway to replace him, the the Ukraines are winning and will be in Moscow by spring, etc. 🤣
Thank you for the prompt reply. Fro all I know, your information may be correct. My sarcasm is grounded upon the simple fact that most media simply cannot be taken at face value. Lies, half-truths and omissions are standard fare in normal times, doubly so in war. Even if we heard both sides' news, a skeptic would assume most of it was deception propaganda intended to manipulate opinion rather than inform. As a wise man said, in war the first casualty is truth.
No worries, I am on a 24 hour CQ shift and have nothing to do but I get to roll into my weekend.
There has been a lot of half truths, myths, and lies all around.
Don't take the MSM for it. Or Ukrainian or Russian media.
Look at a few key facts:
Russia invaded on February 24th and everyone, including Russia, thought the Russians would win in a few days. Russia declared victory on day 2, February 26th.
The USA, England, Poland, and a few others rushed aid to Ukraine but no heavy weapons-Nlaws, rifles, Javelins, etc.
Russia held half of the country until almost March when they retreated from Kyiv, Chernihiv, and the south of Kyiv. Ukrainians had launched several offensives which had encircled thousands of Russians, including their best troops in the north and stopped one of their elite divisions, 1st GTA, at the battle of Trostyanets.
But Russia kept advancing because they had such a massive disparity in Artillery. Ukraine lost the battle of Severodonetsk and Lyschansk, two key cities in Donetsk, because they were getting out ranged and out gunned. Russia is still an artillery army and they fired a lot more.
Ukraine begged for longer range weapons. Nato sent m777s, Krabs, M109s, PZH2000, Dana 152s, Zuzanna 2s, etc. These helped slow the gains.
In April the Black sea flagship, Moskva, which was actually built in Ukraine (And Ukraine has the unfinished one rotting away in Mikolaiv) was struck by two Ukrainian neptune missiles. The Russians denied it was hit but said it had an accident but was fine. It sank under two. Photos later showed it had 2 holes around the water line about amidship.
Russia kept advancing, winning the siege of Mariupol.
In may the supply ship Vasiliy Becht was sunk by Nato supplied Harpoons. Russia abandoned Snake Island, losing the battle.
In July 12 Himars trucks arrived. For the next 10 weeks 3-4 russian ammo dumps and command center were hit nightly almost 70 miles behind the lines. Instead of firing 60k rounds per day Russia wasn't able to fire even 1/4th of that and Ukraine struck back, attacking into Kherson at the end of August. Everyone was screaming about Kherson so Russia moved a lot of their good units down to Kherson, making it harder, but left the 1st GTA and a bunch of the LPR/DPR and the Rossgard. Ukraine broke through in one lightly defended area and went on an orgy of violence causing the entire russian army in the region to flee to the next city, Balakliya, which fell the next day and then on to Lyman. Almost all of Kharkuv was free and Ukraine inherited billions of rounds of ammunition in Lyman, balaklyia, and Kupyansk, large logistics hubs. An entire divisions' worth of tanks was captured, including the T80s of the 1st GTA (GTA=Guards tank army). The Russian MOD claims it was a "tactical regrouping". The Russian telegram channels (Reverse side of the medal, War gonzo, etc) all say another story. Dozens of torture chambers were found and mass graves also.
In august Ukraine struck Saki airbase in Crimea, blowing up a regiment of naval aviation-Su30s and Su24s.
Sometime in August the Russians begin using Iranian drones as cheap cruise missiles to augment a shortage of their own missiles. Strikes began to hit the power grid all over the country.
In September fighting was still going on for Kherson.
In October Ukraine blew up the Kerch bridge and it is still not back to working order (Jeff claims it's a terrorist attack, but he's awfully hypocritical when Russia blows up a maternity ward, killing an infant and power plants vs a legitimate military target).
Israeli lethal aid begins to show up-Israeli made Mraps are seen in Ukraine (Gonna have to take back your claims there, @Jeff).
Russia began using their nuclear missiles with the nuke warhead removed and a ballast installed. Pieces of a Kh55 were recovered from a shoot down.
On november 9th the city Russians said was going to be Russian forever was abandoned by Russia. Despite claims to the contrary that every soldier got out and all equipment was taken several hundred abandoned tanks, s300 systems (Huge score) and soldiers were abandoned. It was a massive victory.
Russia has been throwing mobiks and Wagner guys in human wave attacks at Bakhmut for months with Russian telegram channels saying the city has been about to fall for months. Allegedly it's Prizghozin's chance to gain political power if the city falls. Who knows, but it is grinding up Russians to the tune of almost 100-150 men a day. I've seen quite a few videos of Dozens of Russians getting chewed up by artillery and mortar attacks and even a dog eating a dude's face. It's like the Russian high command decided to re-enact Paschendale and the Somme, but with drones and HD cameras. There are thousands of bodies all around the city in various states of decomposition.
In short, Ukraine is winning the war as the Failure of an alleged super power to accomplish the goals they set out to do below:
Completely take Luhansk and Donetsk Oblast
Replace the Kyiv government
Seize Odessa
landlock Ukraine
Demilitarize and use ukraine as a buffer and vassal state, like Belarus
Not a single goal has been achieved in the 3 day war now on it's...I think 280th day?
But don't take my word for it. Look up what has happened. I don't use Ukrainian or Russian numbers. by Russian numbers they have destroyed the entire ukrainian air force 2x over and destroyed every Himars. I go by Oryx blog which shows vehicle losses backed up with documented photo proof.
Try listening to the interview and if that’s not enough look up Scott Horton’s interviews with General Douglas McGregor. The entire fiasco is a lie like Covid.
"The battle in eastern Ukraine is really almost over, all of the Ukrainian troops there have been largely surrounded and cut off. You have a concentration down in the Southeast of 30 or 40,000 of them, and if they don't surrender in the next 24 hours, I suspect Russia will ultimately annihilate them."
Macgregor said that in February. It’s now November.
Russia chose to hold off. It’ll all be over soon. Perhaps, once it’s over, you can stay in disgraced piano player Zelensky mansion that you helped pay for in Miami just make sure you have your booster shot or they won’t let you in. It’s a money laundering operation and not a war. But it will end soon.
Benjamin is correct and the people lying to you are wrong, Corkey.
Russia did not "hold off." Putin is committing war crimes daily attacking water, energy, heating for civilians and his marauders are using phosphorous in their attacks.
That's not holding off; those are war crimes, plain and simple.
People know the difference between freedom and genocide. The world standing up to Putin is a good thing.
We? That's a failed trope and there was no persecution of Russians. Of course Putin will say if two Russians are rejected by women in a bar in Warsaw, that's persecution too.
Russia has played that scam for quite a long time. People are long weary of it and the imperialism.
You’re quoting a convicted pedophile supporting your position?
Okay.
About Scott Ritter..sexting a 15 year old and you’re looking up to him?
Okay.
“Ritter was arrested again in November 2009 over communications with a police decoy he met on an Internet chat site. Police said that he exposed himself, via a web camera, after the officer repeatedly identified himself as a 15-year-old girl. Ritter said in his own testimony during the trial that he believed the other party was an adult acting out her fantasy.”
You’ve got some strange people you piggy back off of.
I talk with dudes in Ukraine daily. I found out about your boys in Russia running away so fast they left dozens and dozens of tanks and anti aircraft systems almost 24 hours before it hit the news.
Ukraine has crossed the dniepr river to fight on the Jin burn peninsula. Russians are only crossing the river styx.
Au contraire, you are obviously very well informed on what the Biden/MSM Ukraine narrative is. As for the rest, I never said anything about Kharkiv or Kherson. But that's ok. I know how difficult it must be holding more than one line of thought at a time.
That's not even a question anymore. 2020 and 2022 have been stolen and they have no intention of even holding an election in 2024. They will not give up power. Link everything they are doing and what does it add up to??? 2023 is looking very dangerous to me.
The Dems have perfected the process of nudging election results at this point. The feckless and clueless Republicans and other non-Democrats are sitting around whining about election results but not doing anything substantive to stop what is going on and create a more honest election system. I'm disgusted with all of them, and I'm starting to think the R's don't really want to be in a position of power. They prefer to be the diversionary second party. It's easier that way.
Margaret, I have been proposing this for years. It would finally result in the government doing what the PEOPLE want rather than what the moneyed elites/virtue-signalers-with-my-money would rather do. But it would remove 100% of the government's power base (the ability to extort money from those who do not wish to give it to spend on things on which they do not wish it spent) which is redistribution of your wealth. So, sadly, will never happen.
I remember when Hubs company would let him check which charity he wanted to donate to, through his company. If only we got to do that on our withholding forms.
That's closer to the original concept of our founders than you may realize. During our early years, only property owners could vote on major issues - as only they had skin in the game.
Federal automatic withholding is one of the worst crimes the government has ever perpetrated upon the working man. If we had to write a check every month to the government to give them the money, instead of them taking it out "automatically", can you imagine the outrage of all these clueless people? Maybe more so in years past, as those actually paying an income tax now, is far less than years ago. We would have had a revolution by now. People have NO idea because, ijeeits that they are, become excited to get money in the form of a "refund" of what should have been in their pocket to begin with. I. Can't. Stand. It.
Similar with all the taxes that get tacked onto various things such as utilities. Propane for example. Where I live, I have to have a propane tank, and the propane fuels my heater and water heater, also my stove. Taxes are not based on the amount or cost of propane I have delivered. It's a PER DELIVERY basis, whether I get 1 gallon or 180 gallons of propane. Each time the government fees add up to $20. Then there are taxes on the cell phones, taxes on land lines, taxes on electricity, gas taxes (in CA the taxes alone are .58 per gallon), taxes taxes taxes everywhere you look. If people added up all these taxes in addition to the income taxes, they would be shocked and angry. But most people remain fairly oblivious to all the taxes they actually pay.
And what do we get in return for all of those taxes?? A crumbling infrastructure, decaying “education” system, homeless, drug addicts, captured medical system, and rich politicians and bureaucrats 😑
I believe there was a really fun party on a pier, near a harbor. I think they might have talked about this very same thing. But, they are all dead now. Not relevant.
Problem is that cost-shifting is not a bug, but a feature. The whole point of machine politics is to transfer money to your supporters and dump the downside costs on your opponents. If your people have to pay for what they want, you're doing it wrong.
Granted, there's also a whole political-economy explanation about public goods being non-excludable and the free-rider problem. We all benefit from propping up Ukraine (supposedly) and there's no way to limit that benefit to the people who pay for it. Even that isn't an airtight argument for the public funding it, but it's not a crazy one.
Cynics would say that's all kayfabe: we don't all benefit, really. That's just the sales pitch. But right now our government is run by people who believe -- or at least, who claim to believe -- that we all benefit.
I love this idea... except that I think we all have to pay for military readiness, and then as I write this I imagine all the bill writers shifting all to that category, even if it ends up going to NPR and big bird. UGH.
LOL wouldn't want to be there though. I think the problem is, there are no honest people in politics. It is so sad to see all these legel pickpockets spend hard earned people's (tax) money, earning hundreds of thousands themselves, and we getting by on a dime. Thank you for the honour though !
Hey! Remember that time Russian was invading Afghanistan and we gave this guy in Afghanistan a bunch of money and weapons?? What was his name? That could never happen again...
You know, I could raise an issue about orange juice and somehow it would get pulled back to Putin-Putin-Putin. The hilarious part is they are hawking the OBiden/Bolshevik narrative on Ukraine and they are claiming to be anti-MSM. I think I've had enough laughs this morning. Time for some serious interface.
Umm... Yeah, actually we do this with MOST things, and we should do it with more. You want something, you should pay for it yourself. Of course, the government funds private interests all the time, but to the extent it does, that's corrupt and it shouldn't do so.
What it SHOULD fund are public goods like border security, or national security more generally. But even then, tradeoffs are still a thing, and even national security has to be subject to cost/benefit analysis.
Let's stipulate (only arguendo) that Russia is a threat and would otherwise "focus on us", trying to sap and impurify our precious bodily fluids, and so forth. We're safer if the Russians are preoccupied with Ukraine instead. So we should prop up Ukraine to keep the Russians tied down, or maybe even cripple and defeat them.
(What's funny is that this sort of concedes that Putin is right: we're using Ukraine as cannon fodder against Russia, and all the moralizing is just a smokescreen for the U.S. pursuing its self-interest.)
Problem is that propping up Ukraine isn't costless. Those costs make us less safe. It's far from obvious that the NET result of propping up Ukraine works to our benefit. Maybe one can make a moral or legal or realpolitik argument for propping up Ukraine. But the claim that it "keeps America safer" doesn't get past conclusory handwaving at meaninglessly high levels of abstraction.
I think you’re onto something with your Ukrainian flag-waver idea, Jeff. How about if you express support for a policy that will require taxpayer funding, you are required to vote with your wallet? Those of us who abstain will be exempt from taxation on that particular item.
Can you imagine how different our foreign policy (and domestic, too, for that matter) would look if people had to pay the consequences for their virtue-signaling?
Most of the money and equipment is being stolen before any of it gets to Ukraine. The entire war is a fraud as are the people supporting it.
Now that FTX is bust , one wonders how donations will get funnelled to dems and rinos.
If there's a will, there's a way - they always find it.
Why isn't that phoney runt in jail instead of having cocktails and hors d'oeuvre with the elites?
Jeff Childers - why is this can you report on this soon? Why is this man boob boy geek criminal and his Harry Potter nerd like criminal girlfriend still out living freely in a penthouse in the Bahamas? Why aren’t the in the clink yet?!?
There are more pay to play “foundations” who have billions.
Apparently Tether, another crypto exchange, is also used for this purpose and is being protected from being investigated. https://www.revolver.news/2022/11/sam-bankman-fried-ftx-on-steroids-is-cryptocurrency-tether-joe-biden-crypto-bcci/
They will just come up with a new scam. They always do.
Oh my...now you've done it. You just poked the anti-Putin hornet nest. Better duck cuz here they come.
Yeah, both of them. How will we survive the onslaught
😂😜😂
Oh my. That is hilarious.
They need a hat that reads, I swallowed the narrative. Ukraine is winning the war!! 🙄
Duck and Cover Saves lives.
I prefer Stop Drop and Roll personally during all emergencies
Most assuredly, the anti-Putin hornet's nest is waking up here and around the world. Not all of us want to learn Mandarin or Russian.
https://youtu.be/sYr5mTNljN8
Documentary on how your Russians got rolled up in Kherson and lost another major battle 😉
I don't know why you think they are my Russians - which actually makes no sense. Typical war-time propaganda.
When you keep defending them you own them.
The closest Putin's been to the conflict was when he went to the Kerch bridge sometime in the last 48 hours. Otherwise he's been in his bunkers, social distancing, and getting more covid shots to stay safe and healthy.
And Ukraine just struck two Russian Nuke bases that house Tu160 and tu95 bombers, damaging a few. Wonder if jeff will call this an "act of terrorism"? While Russia bombs civilian targets, Ukraine hits military bases.
Good score.
Go soak your head
I just took a shower, I’m good.
You didn’t see the video of Russian soldiers freezing to death in bakhmut, did you?
Poor buggers are sent to die in a pointless
War for an old mans ego.
LOL...yeah, ok. Knock yourself out. Everyone is entitled to an "opinion".
And some people know a bit more than others.
Losing 1540 tanks along with a sizeable amount of TA50 means dudes are going to the front without.
just like ww2.
The government elite, ours and Ukraine’s, need more blood money in their pockets.
Problem is, they never ever have "enough" money.
Wars are cheap, right?
Jeff always asks for donations. If you give 5$, why does he keep asking
For more?
Maybe Putin shouldn’t start the war that creates it ;)
He didn’t. Scumbag Victoria Nukand did in 2014.
She didn’t.
Putin did.
Why do you listen to Scott Ritter?
Heard this long time ago from others. Not Ritter. Giraldi and McGovern
Which is immaterial.
You’re quoting someone who’s literally the most evil of men.
Maybe take a look at the beam in your own eye before complaining about the twig in someone else’s.
Take a hike.
Nonsense. You're very ill-informed. And do you really think there is anyone on the planet that is more evil than Obama, Biden, Newsome, Clinton(s) and their fellow travelers? Together they've murdered millions at home and abroad, maybe billions if you count the clot shot.
Who said Obama, Biden, Clinton, and news on wasn’t evil?
People who prey on children are.
Just pointing out to you that your yardstick is off. Putin presides over a country in which abortion is illegal, sexual perversion is discouraged, and the prevailing religion is Christianity -- not secular humanism, as it is here. Most of the world views the US as a sinkhole of immorality, and the people who have progressively taken charge since Ubu's first election are responsible for fast-tracking the moral degeneration of the US. Europe went down the tubes before us morally and, between Europe and the US, we are responsible for countless wars all over the world, going back more than a century, including the one in Ukraine, the history of which you seem not to know. Putin/Russia made countless attempts to avoid the war and then end it after simply intervening in the dreadful situation in the Russian-leaning Donbass region, and Biden and Brussels spat in their face, first when terms to prevent the conflict were presented by Russia and then, when Kiev was ready to sign a peace deal last spring, Johnson flew in from London and said no way.
While you're at it, look up the history of Sputnik 5, the vaccine that Russia produced and marketed, basically for free, to the entire world, beating Pfizer et. al. to the punch and thereby single-handedly preventing the global monopoly by the mRNA producers that was designed to gain "passport" control over the entire world. Sputnik 5 was modeled on the safe and effective, non-mRNA vaccines that had already been developed for SARS, Ebola, and the like. The Russians thereby scuttled the globalists biggest and most dastardly plan to inject every man, woman, and child on planet earth and subject us to global control.
You'll have to work hard to explain how Putin is responsible for anywhere near the evil that those other leaders are. My advice is to assume you are being lied to by all mainstream sources of information. In fact, start by assuming the opposite is true and then look deeper to see if your assumption might be wrong. You will almost never be wrong from the outset.
How much do they pay you and is it in yuan?
You can find out all about my pay scale here: google, 2022 Military pay scale
A Chinese agent wouldn’t be harming their ally, they’d be helping Russia.
This whole situation reminds me of the two brothers sitting at the table and the one named Charlie is constantly kicking the other one named David under the table ( NATO expansionism since 90’s) and then David who has had enough and can’t take it anymore finally hits Charlie back and Charlie suddenly screams, “Mommy, David is hitting me!!”
“I think it is the beginning of a new cold war. I think the Russians will gradually react quite adversely and it will affect their policies. I think it is a tragic mistake. There was no reason for this whatsoever. No one was threatening anybody else. This expansion would make the founding fathers of this country turn over in their graves.
"We have signed up to protect a whole series of countries, even though we have neither the resources nor the intention to do so in any serious way. [NATO
expansion] was simply a lighthearted action by a Senate that has no real interest in foreign affairs. What bothers me is how
superficial and ill informed the whole Senate debate was. I was particularly bothered by the references to Russia as a country dying to attack Western Europe.
"Don't people understand? Our differences in the Cold War were with the Soviet
Communist regime. And now we are turning our backs on the very people who mounted the greatest bloodless revolution in history to remove that Soviet regime. And Russia's democracy is as far advanced, if not farther, as any of these countries we've just signed up to defend from Russia. Of course there is going to be a bad reaction from Russia, and then [the NATO expanders] will say that we always told you that is how the Russians are but this is just wrong.” George Kennan, the architect of America's successful containment of the Soviet Union.
We can argue about the democracy in Russia but many European countries went full blown Fascists during covid pandemic, including Canada who froze the bank accounts of the people who went to protest the draconian measures. Democracy! I think Kennan knew what he was talking about. This is exactly what happened over time and now we are paying for it. God job!
Except one brother has been murdering and dominating the other because he believes it's his right. Russia committed a genocide against Ukraine, killing approximately 6 million ethnic Ukrainians because they weren't big on communism.
There is no such thing as Nato expansion. Nobody forces people to join nato, the people desire to join nato because they don't want to get Ukraine'd.
Why did both Finland and Sweden join nato? Because both desire the same thing-peace. Russia forced this situation with it's illegitimate war against Ukraine. Finland was the victim of Russian Imperialism in the winter war. So was Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine.
The people who run russia now are the same ones who profitted under Communism. Putin was a senior KGB leader.
To say Democracy is advanced in Russia is a bald faced lie.
The communist menace is back. Same flags, same leaders, new allies.
Are you saying a nation's own actions of managing it's internal affairs are so frightening to Russia it has to invade? Ukraine doesn't have the right to make it's own choices? Weird. I've heard that same talk from the vaccinators who said everyone should be vaccinated.
And putin too, who's big on the sputnik shot.
If your friends are China, Iran, North korea, and Russia, you might want to take a look internally and check yourself.
What I understood is Russia’s grievances with Ukraine are all the military training and the military equipment provided to Ukraine right on Russia’s border. What looks defensive to one country looks offensive to the other. There were warnings in the past that Ukraine would get wrecked. If you knew your actions would lead to this and how the other side would react why push to that outcome to endanger innocent’s people’s lives?
In the past a Russian journalist could be invited to NBC to present a different point of view, what’s wrong with that? By having a dialog we may come to a mutual agreement and the world would benefit from the cooperation and there will be less hostility in the world. Now they don’t even allow a different point of view from their own citizens, doctors and scientists. That doesn’t look good. We are being severely manipulated to hate each other, whether we are citizens of the same country or not.
Except none of that is Russia's business. It's Ukraine's business.
If we were neighbors and I demanded you get a covid shot for my safety, would that be okay with you? No, and it doesn't in this case.
Russia has no business placing demands on Ukraine. None.
Ukraine is it's own country and has every right to do whatever it wants so long as it doesn't harm Russia.
The Russian invasion and attempted subjugation of Ukraine has failed as Russia hasn't accomplished a single goal yet after 10 months of war and Ukraine has the momentum.
Ukraine wants to join the west because they live next to Russia, just like Sweden and Finland. It's hazardous to not be in Nato because of Russian expansion.
There was also this little incident where Russia murdered 7 million Ukrainians in a genocide known as the Holodmor.
I follow a lot of Russian sources. it helps to know what they are thinking.
I get what you are saying but it wasn’t Russia that murdered Ukrainians. It was the Soviet Union and not only Ukrainians. When Stalin was in charge many suffered including some from the Russian land, including Siberia, the territory of Kazakhstan. They all suffered famine. Ukraine suffered the most because they were the richest region for the grain production but I don’t think they were specifically targeted as a nation. Even scholars are arguing among each other and everyone interprets the events differently. Some are saying it was done on purpose and equate it to a genocide, others were saying it was a result of some political interests. I personally think there was definitely some malicious intent but I’m still not sure it was just about ethnic cleansing, I think it has also something to do with whatever economic policies that regime was trying to implement and people suffered as a result. Anyway it was criminal but the higher ups didn’t care. It was a part of the Soviet famine of 1930–1933. I know presently there are some outrageous statements made by some Russian personalities about Ukraine but I believe they don’t represent the views of the majority. Many regular people were never in favor of this war due to the simple fact that a lot of Russians have friends and relatives living in Ukraine.
All of this stems from the distrust between Russia and the West that started during Cold War.
It absolutely was.
Where did the orders come from? The politburo. Where was the Politburo?
Moscow, in Russia. Russia also still claims Ukraine because it was apart of the USSR, just like it also claims the Baltics and Poland.
The makeup of the 1930-1934 Politburo:
Andrey Andreyev=Russian
Lazar Kaganovich-Ukrainian
Mikhail Kalinin-Russian
Sergey Kirov-Russian
Stanislav Kosior-Polish
Valerian Kuybyshev-Russian
Vyacheslav Molotov-Russian
Grigol Ordzonidikidze-Georgian
Janis Rudzutaks-Latvian
Alexei Rykov-Russian
Stalin-Georgian
Kliment Voroshilov-Russian
Out of 11 spots 7 were Russian.
That's a clue.
Who's orders were they acting on? Moscow, in order to punish wealthy Ukrainian Kulaks.
Yes, all regions suffered but there was only one holodmor, intentionally perpetrated by Moscow in order to wipe out Ukrainians. They intentionally stole grain. It's a recognized Genocide.
"Most were never in favor of the war"....so why is it still going on?
Why did all of those former eastern bloc nations dump Russia and join nato?
Poland-Katyn forest, civilian murder and tribunals from 1945-1981
Czech Republic-Prague, 1968
Hungary-Budapest, 1956
Romania-Revolution, 1989, repression
Baltics-ethnic cleansing, terror
I can go on.
Ponzi scheme dollars to enrich global politicians!
Yup.
You mean to tell me Ukraine is actually fighting off the second largest army in the world with even less money and equipment? That's simply incredible!
Troll
That's your allegation based on a simple statement of fact? Sad.
Troll
No links
Take a hike.
You want a link? I can help.
https://www.youtube.com/post/UgkxCtfgwKRqIeAbU4CxbJt5sM682ele9kl4
Those are "facts"? OK...it is a fact that it's just an echo chamber. Apparently the thumbs down button doesn't work either. LOL
😜😂😂
It'd be enlightening to know what fraction, on average, of (physical) aid actually arrives in-country (Ukraine.) 1/10? 1/100? "Troll" perhaps, but the proper view should be skeptic. Even in peace time, with a legitimate business, goods are not shipped at zero cost. It's the "fees" I'm curious about: import duties, taxes and so on. Once we enter the unofficial, off-the-books-world, those are usually called "bribes." Like it or not, every stage of the pipeline gets his cut. This would be especially true for money, electronic or physical cash currency. Even if a load of food, clothing, equipment etc. lands in Ukraine, it is essentially distributed to the next-lower-level distributor. Most of these will sell what they can on the black market for cash. The guys at the front line may get the occasional rifle and ammo or perhaps an anti-tank or AA gear if they're lucky, but most of the equipment never reaches the front. It's now in the hands of a rival group elsewhere, or even terrorists in a different part of the world. Meanwhile, the foreign bank accounts of "our" government employees swell. Business as usual.
90-95% of the equipment is making it.
You can see literally thousands of artillery shells impacting Russians daily (warheads on foreheads).
Your accusation is like a sinking man selling his life jacket for a pound of gold. Possible? Sure, but not likely. The Ukrainians won't have a nice view of that because those weapons are being used to stop Russia from taking over their country.
Gun crime has increased in Russia 30% over pre war. More weapons in Russia make it to the black market.
Russians and their backers have been repeating this lie since the war and aid started in an attempt to get it shut down. Hasn't worked.
Russian tanks literally went into combat with the explosive filler on their armor stolen and half of their fuel sold by their supply officers.
I read an article some time ago, that the weapons were traded on the black market
You heard wrong.
The fire finder radars we sent are being put to good use.
Gun crime in Russia is up 30% since the war started. Why is that?
Russians selling their weapons for food and fuel.
The propaganda is strong in this one. In other news, Putin has brain cancer for the third time, or "Kremlin insiders" whisper that a palace coup is underway to replace him, the the Ukraines are winning and will be in Moscow by spring, etc. 🤣
Ukraine is winning the war.
Putin hasn’t been able to take the country after 10 months of war with his finest troops.
You don’t fire almost half a dozen generals because things are going well.
Thank you for the prompt reply. Fro all I know, your information may be correct. My sarcasm is grounded upon the simple fact that most media simply cannot be taken at face value. Lies, half-truths and omissions are standard fare in normal times, doubly so in war. Even if we heard both sides' news, a skeptic would assume most of it was deception propaganda intended to manipulate opinion rather than inform. As a wise man said, in war the first casualty is truth.
No worries, I am on a 24 hour CQ shift and have nothing to do but I get to roll into my weekend.
There has been a lot of half truths, myths, and lies all around.
Don't take the MSM for it. Or Ukrainian or Russian media.
Look at a few key facts:
Russia invaded on February 24th and everyone, including Russia, thought the Russians would win in a few days. Russia declared victory on day 2, February 26th.
The USA, England, Poland, and a few others rushed aid to Ukraine but no heavy weapons-Nlaws, rifles, Javelins, etc.
Russia held half of the country until almost March when they retreated from Kyiv, Chernihiv, and the south of Kyiv. Ukrainians had launched several offensives which had encircled thousands of Russians, including their best troops in the north and stopped one of their elite divisions, 1st GTA, at the battle of Trostyanets.
But Russia kept advancing because they had such a massive disparity in Artillery. Ukraine lost the battle of Severodonetsk and Lyschansk, two key cities in Donetsk, because they were getting out ranged and out gunned. Russia is still an artillery army and they fired a lot more.
Ukraine begged for longer range weapons. Nato sent m777s, Krabs, M109s, PZH2000, Dana 152s, Zuzanna 2s, etc. These helped slow the gains.
In April the Black sea flagship, Moskva, which was actually built in Ukraine (And Ukraine has the unfinished one rotting away in Mikolaiv) was struck by two Ukrainian neptune missiles. The Russians denied it was hit but said it had an accident but was fine. It sank under two. Photos later showed it had 2 holes around the water line about amidship.
Russia kept advancing, winning the siege of Mariupol.
In may the supply ship Vasiliy Becht was sunk by Nato supplied Harpoons. Russia abandoned Snake Island, losing the battle.
In July 12 Himars trucks arrived. For the next 10 weeks 3-4 russian ammo dumps and command center were hit nightly almost 70 miles behind the lines. Instead of firing 60k rounds per day Russia wasn't able to fire even 1/4th of that and Ukraine struck back, attacking into Kherson at the end of August. Everyone was screaming about Kherson so Russia moved a lot of their good units down to Kherson, making it harder, but left the 1st GTA and a bunch of the LPR/DPR and the Rossgard. Ukraine broke through in one lightly defended area and went on an orgy of violence causing the entire russian army in the region to flee to the next city, Balakliya, which fell the next day and then on to Lyman. Almost all of Kharkuv was free and Ukraine inherited billions of rounds of ammunition in Lyman, balaklyia, and Kupyansk, large logistics hubs. An entire divisions' worth of tanks was captured, including the T80s of the 1st GTA (GTA=Guards tank army). The Russian MOD claims it was a "tactical regrouping". The Russian telegram channels (Reverse side of the medal, War gonzo, etc) all say another story. Dozens of torture chambers were found and mass graves also.
In august Ukraine struck Saki airbase in Crimea, blowing up a regiment of naval aviation-Su30s and Su24s.
Sometime in August the Russians begin using Iranian drones as cheap cruise missiles to augment a shortage of their own missiles. Strikes began to hit the power grid all over the country.
In September fighting was still going on for Kherson.
In October Ukraine blew up the Kerch bridge and it is still not back to working order (Jeff claims it's a terrorist attack, but he's awfully hypocritical when Russia blows up a maternity ward, killing an infant and power plants vs a legitimate military target).
Israeli lethal aid begins to show up-Israeli made Mraps are seen in Ukraine (Gonna have to take back your claims there, @Jeff).
Russia began using their nuclear missiles with the nuke warhead removed and a ballast installed. Pieces of a Kh55 were recovered from a shoot down.
On november 9th the city Russians said was going to be Russian forever was abandoned by Russia. Despite claims to the contrary that every soldier got out and all equipment was taken several hundred abandoned tanks, s300 systems (Huge score) and soldiers were abandoned. It was a massive victory.
Russia has been throwing mobiks and Wagner guys in human wave attacks at Bakhmut for months with Russian telegram channels saying the city has been about to fall for months. Allegedly it's Prizghozin's chance to gain political power if the city falls. Who knows, but it is grinding up Russians to the tune of almost 100-150 men a day. I've seen quite a few videos of Dozens of Russians getting chewed up by artillery and mortar attacks and even a dog eating a dude's face. It's like the Russian high command decided to re-enact Paschendale and the Somme, but with drones and HD cameras. There are thousands of bodies all around the city in various states of decomposition.
In short, Ukraine is winning the war as the Failure of an alleged super power to accomplish the goals they set out to do below:
Completely take Luhansk and Donetsk Oblast
Replace the Kyiv government
Seize Odessa
landlock Ukraine
Demilitarize and use ukraine as a buffer and vassal state, like Belarus
Not a single goal has been achieved in the 3 day war now on it's...I think 280th day?
But don't take my word for it. Look up what has happened. I don't use Ukrainian or Russian numbers. by Russian numbers they have destroyed the entire ukrainian air force 2x over and destroyed every Himars. I go by Oryx blog which shows vehicle losses backed up with documented photo proof.
Russian losses:
https://www.oryxspioenkop.com/2022/02/attack-on-europe-documenting-equipment.html
Ukrainian losses:
https://www.oryxspioenkop.com/2022/02/attack-on-europe-documenting-ukrainian.html
This is the saved article where a Russian state propagandist declared victory.
https://web.archive.org/web/20220226224717/https://ria.ru/20220226/rossiya-1775162336.html
"Russia without Ukraine is a country. Russia with Ukraine is an empire"
I'm exhausted but have to give a brief soon.
Just like Vietnam
Time to get payback.
Is it? Or is that what the MSM is telling you?
How come Russia was sent reeling in two major battles if the gear isn’t making it there?
Listen to the LJ interview posted above. And turn off the TV and throw out the American news propaganda pages.
I don’t listen to American news. I listen to more Russian news than American.
Try another assumption and fail even harder :)
Try listening to the interview and if that’s not enough look up Scott Horton’s interviews with General Douglas McGregor. The entire fiasco is a lie like Covid.
Macgregor isn’t a general, by the way.
"The battle in eastern Ukraine is really almost over, all of the Ukrainian troops there have been largely surrounded and cut off. You have a concentration down in the Southeast of 30 or 40,000 of them, and if they don't surrender in the next 24 hours, I suspect Russia will ultimately annihilate them."
Macgregor said that in February. It’s now November.
Your boy is an idiot, like I said.
Russia chose to hold off. It’ll all be over soon. Perhaps, once it’s over, you can stay in disgraced piano player Zelensky mansion that you helped pay for in Miami just make sure you have your booster shot or they won’t let you in. It’s a money laundering operation and not a war. But it will end soon.
It will?
Russia isn’t choosing to hold off. It can’t attack.
They’re equipping their troops with 60 year old tanks, ancient artillery, and no cold weather gear.
Your folks claimed they won on February 26th, yet the war is still going on.
Russia was sent reeling from Kherson and Kharkiv.
Still unvaccinated, so no booster shot yet 😉
Benjamin is correct and the people lying to you are wrong, Corkey.
Russia did not "hold off." Putin is committing war crimes daily attacking water, energy, heating for civilians and his marauders are using phosphorous in their attacks.
That's not holding off; those are war crimes, plain and simple.
People know the difference between freedom and genocide. The world standing up to Putin is a good thing.
You’re forgetting the rape, murder, and torture chambers.
Yes ppl do know the difference. We've been watching the Nazi persecution of the Russian population in Ukraine for many years now.
We? That's a failed trope and there was no persecution of Russians. Of course Putin will say if two Russians are rejected by women in a bar in Warsaw, that's persecution too.
Russia has played that scam for quite a long time. People are long weary of it and the imperialism.
Macgregor is an idiot.
He’s been wrong on numerous levels.
The guy speaks on Russia today.
Hardly someone to listen to.
He’s claimed Ukraine is losing and about to be defeated numerous times yet the Ukrainians
Keep pushing the communists back.
War will be over soon and Zelensky will disappear with his stashed stolen loot. Phil Giraldi, Ray McGovern, Scott Ritter all concur.
Zelensky isn’t going anywhere.
He didn’t run when 200k Russian soldiers charged into his country.
He told Biden and Putin to pound sand on day one.
Why do you listen to Scott Ritter?
Because there are many more than Ritter saying the same thing
Giraldi
McGovern
Davis
Etc
You’re quoting a convicted pedophile supporting your position?
Okay.
About Scott Ritter..sexting a 15 year old and you’re looking up to him?
Okay.
“Ritter was arrested again in November 2009 over communications with a police decoy he met on an Internet chat site. Police said that he exposed himself, via a web camera, after the officer repeatedly identified himself as a 15-year-old girl. Ritter said in his own testimony during the trial that he believed the other party was an adult acting out her fantasy.”
You’ve got some strange people you piggy back off of.
LMAO...MSM? Really? Show me how MSM is calling the war a fake?
I don’t follow the MSM.
I talk with dudes in Ukraine daily. I found out about your boys in Russia running away so fast they left dozens and dozens of tanks and anti aircraft systems almost 24 hours before it hit the news.
Ukraine has crossed the dniepr river to fight on the Jin burn peninsula. Russians are only crossing the river styx.
Uh...didn't answer the question. You're the one supporting the MSM Ukraine narrative.
I wouldn’t know what their narrative is since I don’t listen or watch them.
Are you saying Russia didn’t lose almost all of Kharkiv oblast in a lightning offensive in October?
Are you saying Russia didn’t run from Kherson with their tails between their legs?
But you do, so what’s your narrative now?
Au contraire, you are obviously very well informed on what the Biden/MSM Ukraine narrative is. As for the rest, I never said anything about Kharkiv or Kherson. But that's ok. I know how difficult it must be holding more than one line of thought at a time.
Kherson and Kharkiv were two major defeats for the Russians that were attributed to western weapons and aid.
It’s working.
If Biden had acted like trump none of this would have happened.
Hey, don't get in the way of the feels with too much logic. 😂
The fact some people here qoute Scott Ritter is disgusting.
Who’s he again, my equine friend?
It's sad but being on Putin's payroll doesn't mean someone doesn't fall for it.
Same with all the idiots who voted for Fetterman, and Biden for that matter.
In light of the questionable integrity of our elections, DID all of those people truly vote for Biden or Fetterman?
We need to go to watermarked, serialized paper ballots.....hand counted.
and forensic CPA auditing between voter and ballot
Watermarking a ballot system is great but it's only as good as stopping the ballot harvesting that is going on now. It's an epidemic.
Fetterman banked over 800,000 votes through ballot harvesting. It's a disgrace.
That’s why Biden went on the offensive about election deniers a week before the election. They knew the fix was in.
That's not even a question anymore. 2020 and 2022 have been stolen and they have no intention of even holding an election in 2024. They will not give up power. Link everything they are doing and what does it add up to??? 2023 is looking very dangerous to me.
The Dems have perfected the process of nudging election results at this point. The feckless and clueless Republicans and other non-Democrats are sitting around whining about election results but not doing anything substantive to stop what is going on and create a more honest election system. I'm disgusted with all of them, and I'm starting to think the R's don't really want to be in a position of power. They prefer to be the diversionary second party. It's easier that way.
Margaret, I have been proposing this for years. It would finally result in the government doing what the PEOPLE want rather than what the moneyed elites/virtue-signalers-with-my-money would rather do. But it would remove 100% of the government's power base (the ability to extort money from those who do not wish to give it to spend on things on which they do not wish it spent) which is redistribution of your wealth. So, sadly, will never happen.
I remember when Hubs company would let him check which charity he wanted to donate to, through his company. If only we got to do that on our withholding forms.
That's closer to the original concept of our founders than you may realize. During our early years, only property owners could vote on major issues - as only they had skin in the game.
If that were the case now, I am sure Blackrock and Vanguard would corner the voting market in certain places.
Federal automatic withholding is one of the worst crimes the government has ever perpetrated upon the working man. If we had to write a check every month to the government to give them the money, instead of them taking it out "automatically", can you imagine the outrage of all these clueless people? Maybe more so in years past, as those actually paying an income tax now, is far less than years ago. We would have had a revolution by now. People have NO idea because, ijeeits that they are, become excited to get money in the form of a "refund" of what should have been in their pocket to begin with. I. Can't. Stand. It.
Similar with all the taxes that get tacked onto various things such as utilities. Propane for example. Where I live, I have to have a propane tank, and the propane fuels my heater and water heater, also my stove. Taxes are not based on the amount or cost of propane I have delivered. It's a PER DELIVERY basis, whether I get 1 gallon or 180 gallons of propane. Each time the government fees add up to $20. Then there are taxes on the cell phones, taxes on land lines, taxes on electricity, gas taxes (in CA the taxes alone are .58 per gallon), taxes taxes taxes everywhere you look. If people added up all these taxes in addition to the income taxes, they would be shocked and angry. But most people remain fairly oblivious to all the taxes they actually pay.
And what do we get in return for all of those taxes?? A crumbling infrastructure, decaying “education” system, homeless, drug addicts, captured medical system, and rich politicians and bureaucrats 😑
I believe there was a really fun party on a pier, near a harbor. I think they might have talked about this very same thing. But, they are all dead now. Not relevant.
Some wicked smaht people at that one!
Man...I am sure they are rolling over in their graves. They fought so hard for the likes of these idiots?? Clown show. GROSS.
🎯
Problem is that cost-shifting is not a bug, but a feature. The whole point of machine politics is to transfer money to your supporters and dump the downside costs on your opponents. If your people have to pay for what they want, you're doing it wrong.
Granted, there's also a whole political-economy explanation about public goods being non-excludable and the free-rider problem. We all benefit from propping up Ukraine (supposedly) and there's no way to limit that benefit to the people who pay for it. Even that isn't an airtight argument for the public funding it, but it's not a crazy one.
Cynics would say that's all kayfabe: we don't all benefit, really. That's just the sales pitch. But right now our government is run by people who believe -- or at least, who claim to believe -- that we all benefit.
“But right now our government is run by people who believe -- or at least, who claim to believe -- that we all benefit.”
Criminal organizations aren’t run like that. They have their media puppets to promote that propaganda to the sheep.
CPK: Bullshit.
I love this idea... except that I think we all have to pay for military readiness, and then as I write this I imagine all the bill writers shifting all to that category, even if it ends up going to NPR and big bird. UGH.
Yep...I thought about categorizing things...I put down Veterans. Then...the inevitable hitting of the backspace button and leaving it as is.
Margaret Anna Alice for President !!! I will vote at least 12 times for you !
😹 Very sweet of you, Ingrid, but that sounds like a cruel form of torture to me 🤣
Maybe if I could dissolve the federal government and retire on my first day 🤔
unfortunately those with good ideas usually don't make it up high there !
Me too!! Ingrid for VP. We know we can trust her!
LOL wouldn't want to be there though. I think the problem is, there are no honest people in politics. It is so sad to see all these legel pickpockets spend hard earned people's (tax) money, earning hundreds of thousands themselves, and we getting by on a dime. Thank you for the honour though !
Haha, Ingrid would definitely make it more fun, but it still sounds like punishment to me 😆
💥👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👆🏻
Hey! Remember that time Russian was invading Afghanistan and we gave this guy in Afghanistan a bunch of money and weapons?? What was his name? That could never happen again...
#osamabinladen
Maybe put the monies aside for the new surrender flag wavers for language courses with the choice of a) Mandarin b) Russian and/or c) Farsi.
Operators in Moscow are waiting for you to sign up now. 🙃
Oh lord...here we go again. Sheese.
Troll
You know, I could raise an issue about orange juice and somehow it would get pulled back to Putin-Putin-Putin. The hilarious part is they are hawking the OBiden/Bolshevik narrative on Ukraine and they are claiming to be anti-MSM. I think I've had enough laughs this morning. Time for some serious interface.
Wonder if they are rassling fans too? They probably believe this kayfabe video as reality too. 😜😂😂
https://youtu.be/3TVU-sjy5_4
And have you done this with anything before?
Border spending?
Etc?
No.
Aid to Ukraine is keeping america safer. Less Russians to focus on us and both of Brandon’s brain cells are focused somewhere else
Umm... Yeah, actually we do this with MOST things, and we should do it with more. You want something, you should pay for it yourself. Of course, the government funds private interests all the time, but to the extent it does, that's corrupt and it shouldn't do so.
What it SHOULD fund are public goods like border security, or national security more generally. But even then, tradeoffs are still a thing, and even national security has to be subject to cost/benefit analysis.
Let's stipulate (only arguendo) that Russia is a threat and would otherwise "focus on us", trying to sap and impurify our precious bodily fluids, and so forth. We're safer if the Russians are preoccupied with Ukraine instead. So we should prop up Ukraine to keep the Russians tied down, or maybe even cripple and defeat them.
(What's funny is that this sort of concedes that Putin is right: we're using Ukraine as cannon fodder against Russia, and all the moralizing is just a smokescreen for the U.S. pursuing its self-interest.)
Problem is that propping up Ukraine isn't costless. Those costs make us less safe. It's far from obvious that the NET result of propping up Ukraine works to our benefit. Maybe one can make a moral or legal or realpolitik argument for propping up Ukraine. But the claim that it "keeps America safer" doesn't get past conclusory handwaving at meaninglessly high levels of abstraction.