Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[Hannibal]

90E88F63-0C7C-435C-9D10-59E0E01E238E.jpegYou coulda had just mean tweets.

[THE_WIZARD_]

fuckin' Putin

fuckin' Trump

fuckin' Del Rio

fuckin' Mega MAGA

[lineygoblue]

I wish I could FIND gasoline at $4.82.

Cheapest around here is $5.16

And Debbie drives by in her electric car thinking everything is wonderful.

If Gretch Whitmer had her way, it'd be about $5.60 now in Michigan.

[THE_WIZARD_]

STFU you peasant!

[lineygoblue]

I'm not even a peasant, Wiz.

I am the slime on the belly of a slug. Or, at least that's how The Ruling Party sees me, and people like me.

[THE_WIZARD_]

...

[Jeff Buchanan]

Welp, catching up, the last 5 pages of posts were interesting reads. I'm still of the mind that the televised scripted "big reveal" about January 6th is theater of the absurd. Yeah, it's political, no shit. Making the case for Treason? Insurrection? The law, as I understand it, would support none of those charges against anyone involved not the least of which is Donald J. Trump...... thank God.

As I wrote that comment above, I thought, maybe I better look at exactly what criminal charges are out there and who, if anyone is charged. The second part of that question is easy: Stewart Rhodes and several named deputies within the Oath Keepers. At present, no one else has been charged with anything at the level of Seditious Conspiracy (18 U.S.C. § 2384) notwithstanding AG Garland's statement he made when the indictments were unsealed that the process will proceed gradually, implying others may be charged namely the Proud Boys members and possibly Roger Stone. There are a raft of other lesser indictments. You can read about them below.

I think it is really important to understand all the charges and the applicable law ...... that is not what is happening in the proceedings we are getting exposed to in a manner and intent unprecedented since, possibly, thevery politically motivated McCarthy Hearings. I found this article describing the law surrounding the alleged crimes of Stewart Rhodes. The article is about the law; it's not about characterizing the House Committee's fanciful proceedings and IMO, you have to understand the law if you hope to make sense of January 6th ..... and American citizens are being grossly mislead by them for purely political purposes.

https://www.lawfareblog.com/seditiou...ers-indictment

So, this theater remains a big fucking distraction and it is why I posted the comment that the best way for the voters to prevent Donald Trump from being re-elected president in 2024 is to dilute support for him. The best way to do that is not by by pillorying Trump through a soap opera designed to cast him as involved as a conspirator - not going to happen because, you know, THE LAW.

How do his would-be opponents for president in 2024 - D or R - dilute support for him? By advocating for or actually working to seriously address the long list of bad shit happening in the US and to Americans right now and, to the extent possible fixing what's broke. Several posters here have pointed out exactly what the fundamental problem is: flooding the economy with trillions of dollars under whatever nice sounding moniker may be chosen for the largess. Step one is to stop the Congressional largess or, at the least, substantially pare it down. I agree that requires an admission by the Ds that the fiscally progressive agenda being advanced by them is, again, at the least, partially responsible for 8.7% and $6.

I'm less pessimistic about that actually happening than others here. Biden's numbers are plummeting, the voters are angry and if the clown act of irresponsible spending continues in the immediate future, no action is forthcoming to bring gas prices down and inflation under control, the voters are going to be pissed and demand change. That demand may come in a package that re-elects Trump. The D's are in a position to do something about that, despite DSL's belief that the ball is in the R's court. It's not.

[THE_WIZARD_]

Kangaroo Court.

Just when you thought the left and the MSM couldn't get any lower or more ridiculous....they go and TOTALLY REDEEM THEMSELVES!!

[Hannibal]

The World's economic elites in 2021: "You will own nothing and be happy"

The World's economic elites in 2022: "You will own nothing and you will also be unhappy, but that's OK with us"

1306e93c253b3b27.png

[THE_WIZARD_]

That is psychotic.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Pipeline.jpeg

[Jeff Buchanan]

I have a leased '22 Hyundai Tucson. I love it. It practically drives itself and safety features galore. I saw what I thought was going to be my next lease vehicle: The Hyundai ICONQ5 - all electric with 300 mile range....... that was until I recently read multiple articles that describe typical all-electric vehicles will add 2-4h to a normal cross country drive of 8-10h duration. Compared to the 2-3, 5-10 minute gas stops I make on such a journey in my carbon emitting, fossil fuel driven Tucson, I'll likely need 3-4, 2h stops to recharge, assuming I can find a charging station, even a decent battery like the ICONQ5 has.

A 10h trip with stops, takes 16-18h in the electric. Crazy. Yet, this is our future?

[lineygoblue]

And Queen Gretch actually thinks its safer for fossil fuels to be trucked over the road thru Michigan into Canada, instead of using Line 5, which has been utilized for what, .. 50 years?

Trucks get in accidents. They leak. Petroleum trucks are rolling bombs. Truckers who haul petroleum are called suicide jockeys for good reasons. They need special liscences and training. Not every trucker can jump in behind the wheel of a tanker.

But, she'd rather have that, then an underground pipeline, which is maintenance free, and totally safe when buried properly.

"but... but ... an anchor from a ship might hit it in the Straits" ... Hogwash. Ever hear of marker buoys? Its easily done by none other than the US Coast Guard. Place marker buoys along the path of the pipeline, and warn ships not to drop anchor anywhere within one nautical mile either side of the buoy line. Simple. Problem solved.

But no... Gretch has to pander to special interests to get re-elected. Common sense is not a trait in her party.

[THE_WIZARD_]

It's for the children. Stop being so selfish.

Well that and all the politicians raking in big bucks off green energy investments...there is that too...

Think of Nancy. Be kind.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Ukraine: Ukrainian Intelligence reports that Russian war planners are extending the time line to reach their objectives into October. Those objectives appear to be (1) establish Russian control of the Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts, (2) Create a land bridge from these regions (the Donbas) to Crimea through the Kherson, Zaphoresia and Mykoliv Oblasts. Obtaining these objectives would secure Russian control of the entire Black Sea coast, isolating Ukraine from important ports, agricultural and industrial regions. The economic cost would be significant to Ukraine.

Objective (1) appears to be further along than (2). The war in the east of Ukraine is centered around the cities of Severdonetsk and Lysychansk. There is a fixed artillery battle of attrition going on there between the Russian and Ukrainian armies. Ukrainians are out gunned 10-1 and that is why you here repeated pleas from the Ukrainian government for more "heavy weapons." What the Russian army is doing is relentlessly bombarding Severdonetsk, reducing buildings there to ruble and then slowly advancing infantry street to street, crushed building to building. It is a ruthless and barbaric tactic that, nevertheless, will likely result in the capture of a 90% destroyed Severdonetsk at some point. The focus will then shift to Lysychansk and another grim artillery dual for control of that city, reducing it to ruble and killing more soldiers and civilians in the process.

The problem for the Russians is that the staggering cost of achieving what will amount to a mostly symbolic achievement for the Russian army in the Donbas is that the cost is much higher than any strategic value obtained. The reason for that is that the Russian Army being able to achieve objective (2) is very much in doubt. The Ukrainian army is making gains v. depleted Russian defenses attempting to hold territory in the Kherson and Zaphoresia Oblasts. Ukraine still controls all of the Mykoliv and Odessa Oblasts - a chunk of Ukraine's territory economically vital.

It's hard to sort out who's got the upper hand in the war overall. The news is focused on the fighting in the Donbas (Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts) where the Russians have not achieved much more than had already been achieved post 2014 through proxy LNR and DNR forces and puppet governments. OTH the net effect of the intense media focus on this front is to portray the Russian army as closing in on "a win," achieving tactical objective (1) and defining some kind of grand victory. It won't be.

At the macro level, though, I don't see any way that Russia, whose army has taken a beating with huge losses of personnel and equipment is going to control the Donbas region and extend that to include the Kherson, Mykoliv and Zaphoresia Oblasts. That, as a Russian strategic goal, would create this Russian controlled land bridge to the Crimea. I believe that's been Putin's grand strategy since the start of this even though he had initially hoped to capture Kiev and Kharkiv as part of that strategy and that failed badly. Now, it's become obvious that Putin has reassessed and, long term, probably years, through control of the entirety of eastern Ukraine, he seeks to isolate Ukraine economically. The end game is forcing the collapse of the Zelenski government to be replaced with one more favorably disposed to Putin.

With the grueling western sanctions in place against Putin's war fighting capacity over the long term and in combination with a severely depleted Russian army right now, achieving the endgame seems like a long-shot. The off-shoot, however, is that he'll try and in the process the costly disruptions to the global economy his war is creating will continue unabated. If you're interested in understanding the geography of Ukraine in the context of Putin's war aims and where the cities and Oblasts I've mentioned above are, here's a link to an interactive map:

https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/36a7f6a6f5a9448496de641cf64bd375