Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[THE_WIZARD_]

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[THE_WIZARD_]

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[lineygoblue]

CNN fired (and cancelled) Brian Stelter today. Maybe Liz could take over for him.

[THE_WIZARD_]

So the dumbass takes over for the fatass...

[iam416]

I know this passed without comment, but The Chairman and his cadre of PR geniuses took to describing this month's inflation (8.5% year over year) as "zero inflation". Yes. ZERO. I guess it's all relative. It's zero compared to the previous month (9.1%). But, back in April (I think), when it was also 8.5%, it was being described as a "40-yr high" by most people. It's no longer a 40-yr high since, you know, we've smashed past 8.5%. Now, I can sort of kind of at least understand The Chairman's efforts to redefine "recession." It's ridiculous, but whatever. I can't see how 8.5=0.

I mean, fucking seriously -- "Zero inflation". I thought we were supposed to rid ourselves of habitual liars and spewers of falsities when DJT was sent packing. And, here were are.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Ukraine: Nothing is happening wrt territorial gains one way or the other and hasn't happened for the last two weeks - longer for the Russians. What is happening is a spate of high visibility explosions in Crimea and the Kherson province assigned to Ukrainian special operations and partisan sabotage. According to analysts, these ARE having an impact on Russian advances as the targets are primarily those that are intended to disrupt Russian logistics and resupply.

Putin clearly isn't where he wanted to be at this point and as a Ukrainian rainy season and winter approaches. After failing to quickly force the collapse of the Zelenski government at the start of Putin's special military operation in late February being embarrassingly turned back from the capital, Kiev, by Ukrainian defense forces, Putin shifted his focus to take all of the Donetsk and Luhansk provinces and annex them as he did Crimea, unopposed, in 2017. Russian troops and the proxy LNR forces do have control of Luhansk, but not Donetsk so, for Putin, this is a second failure. Add these events in eastern Ukraine to the shaky control of the Kherson Province in the South and you have an Afghanistan like quagmire emerging for Putin that he is going to have to address in the short term. Evidence of that is the persistent inability of Russian administrators backed up by the Russian FSB to impose Russification of this region on an unwilling Ukrainian population.

So, it looks like somewhat of a win for Ukraine. Analyst think that the drama that is unfolding in the Zaphoriza NPP where it seems clear that Russia is setting conditions to blame Ukraine for any kinetic events that result for the Russian occupation and shielding of Russian artillery operations at the NPP, represents an effort by Putin to leverage this situation IVO his poor progress on the ground. Yesterday and today, meetings between Russian officials, Erdogan and Gutierrez are intended to address the threat of a nuclear meltdown at the Zaphorizia NPP should artillery fire hit any of the reactors there. A nuclear disaster is a real threat and one more by an accidental artillery hit on one of the reactors than an intentional act by the Russians to blow up a reactor. Either way it would be very bad news. So, of course, Putin is rattling the nuke saber, just differently.

Putin has NOT declared a wider national draft which experts believe would be required for Russian forces to build up the manpower needed to achieve his strategic objectives, instead he has relied on forced conscription of Ukrainians from occupied territories and covert conscription of Russians in the rural east of Russia proper. However, with the exception of Afghanistan, Putin has prevailed in all his other wars of aggression by simply outlasting the opposition. As long as energy prices remain high, he calculates the west will become weary of supporting Ukraine, military resupply from the west will end and Russian forces will then prevail. It's a waiting game at this point to see who blinks first.

[Obi-Jon]

A Russian soldier critiques the war in Ukraine.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/aug/17/i-dont-see-justice-in-this-war-russian-soldier-exposes-rot-at-core-of-ukraine-invasion

[Dr. Strangelove]

Didn't get mentioned yesterday (I don't think) but part of Florida's STOP WOKE Act got blocked by a federal judge yesterday as unconstitutional. Had this line in the very first paragraph and referenced Florida's anti-social media law that also has been partly blocked from taking effect:

Normally, the First Amendment bars the state from burdening speech, while private actors may burden speech freely. But in Florida, the First Amendment apparently bars private actors from burdening speech, while the state may burden speech freely.

preliminary-injunction-order-honeyfund-v-desantis.pdf (documentcloud.org)

The courts haven't declared the entire social media bill unconstitutional, just the most sweeping and regulatory part. Likewise the Stop Woke Act isn't being entirely thrown out, just parts of it.

[lineygoblue]

Disney should still keep its corporate liberal mouth shut, and just promote the mouse. Its what Walt wanted to begin with.

[Obi-Jon]

That's true, Disney should stick to its own business. By the same token, DeSantis should also respect free speech rights of others instead of being a goon.

[lineygoblue]

So I guess everyone needs to respect the other's right to free speech?

[Tom W]

Not like we'll ever see them, but it's highly unlikely that we'll see DeSantis's name on the guest lists for Epstein Island. It's probably just as unlikely that's got a crackhead kid that deeply indebted to a communist regime or that's he's directly profiting from whipping up any storms of hysteria over COVID, climate change, "social justice" or whatever the crisis of the moment must be.

So, yeah, he's just a "goon" by default.

[CGVT]

download (1).jpeg

[iam416]

If Disney wants preferential treatment from government it'd be well-advised to avoid pissing off that government. As it is, DeSantis and Florida are simply treating Disney like every other company and yanking its special status or whatever.

It's politics. If you want to wade into the political fray then, well, you're gonna piss one side off. The "Inflation Reduction Act" is loaded with benefits for D patrons and favorite pet projects. If the Rs get a chance they'll likely reduce those benefits. And they should.

And DeSantis simply removed a big carrot for Disney. In contrast, the New York AG breaks out the stick to sue oil companies and the NRA in obviously partisan enforcement actions. That's the Prog way.

Thank fucking god there is someone to stand up to Woke bullshit. The kind of preposterous bullshit that gets a MLB All-Star game removed from Atlanta because of "Jim Crow on Steroids".

[iam416]

Not like we'll ever see them, but it's highly unlikely that we'll see DeSantis's name on the guest lists for Epstein Island. It's probably just as unlikely that's got a crackhead kid that deeply indebted to a communist regime or that's he's directly profiting from whipping up any storms of hysteria over COVID, climate change, "social justice" or whatever the crisis of the moment must be.

So, yeah, he's just a "goon" by default.

First it was "Death"Santis. That proved to be, well, preposterously wrong as his handling of Covid was vindicated.

Then it was Don't Say Gay. Another outright lie that no one in the Media dared question.

Now it's DeSantis the Authoritarian.

That's the Media Narrative. The Prog Sheep swallow it without an iota of thought. They know DeSantis is a huge threat.