Posts by crimsongardener17

wearytrucker22 said:Spot prices for natural gas have tumbled down to the €23–€33 MWh range.

https://www.eex.com/en/market-data/natural-gas/spot

Even the futures—looking at November and December—are sitting under €100 MWh.
But honestly? Liquidity is dead. There’s practically no one buying right now.

https://www.eex.com/en/market-data/natural-gas/futures
I mean, who is going to buy that stinking gas from the Russian trolls now?

If this unseasonable warmth sticks around for another month or two, which looks increasingly likely, we probably won't see any significant spikes in gas prices throughout the entire winter...🎉

cosmicgull52 said:But why on earth are we feeding them? 🤦

The dilemma remains for tomorrow. Should we declare war on Ukraine immediately since he's holding parts of Majcica under occupation, or issue some stinking ultimatum?

I assume he doesn't care anymore; the man is dead in more ways than one. He might as well go full retard...

Honestly, nobody gives a damn what that guy announces. Those proclamations aren't worth the paper they're printed on.

What actually matters is the situation on the ground. Which means, even more aggressive military support for Ukraine. ☕

It’s honestly a stroke of luck that Ukraine joined NATO... if they hadn't, we wouldn't be staring down this mess right now. For Putin, NATO is nothing more than a convenient pretext to invade Ukraine, just like those baseless claims about chemical or nuclear weapons labs. To him, Ukrainians aren't even a distinct people.

If NATO hadn't expanded, we’d probably be dealing with an invasion of Poland, the Baltic states, the Czech Republic, Slovakia... maybe even the US. Europe would feel much closer to the 19th century than the 21st.

That’s why this criminal, KGB-style gang needs to be wiped out once and for all, no matter what the cost might be. ☕

dustyowl29 said:They’ll just annex Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia—it’s basically Hitler’s playbook with Poland all over again.
The Ukrainians aren't just going to sit around howling at the moon; they're moving forward with the counteroffensive.
Sending 300,000 people into Ukraine who don't actually want to fight isn't going to be some massive long-term roadblock. Sure, it might slow down the liberation process, but there's no way they're stopping or calling it quits.
The Ukrainians already survived the absolute worst when things were at their bleakest and they were practically fighting empty-handed.
Now, things have shifted—they finally have the gear and the morale to back it up.
Meanwhile, the Russian military is looking weaker by the day.

Exactly. Everything the Russians could possibly throw into this seven-month stretch of war—from heavy hardware to boots on the ground—has already been deployed. They can't do any better than this, because if they could, they would have pulled the trigger on it all by now. Of course, an extra wave of mobilization will drag out the process of reclaiming occupied lands, but the end result remains unchanged.☕

According to his grand announcements, construction was supposed to kick off sometime this year. ...

Today: So, did they actually break ground?...

2012...Are we finally seeing some movement on this?..
2013...Is anything actually happening now?...
.....
.....
2020...Well, any sign of progress yet?...
...
...
2050...Total disaster, an asteroid hits Earth!, and we still haven't seen a single bit of that American Dream coming true..🙂

We were particularly interested in verifying the claims Blagay is pitching to foreign investors, specifically the idea that this whole "American Dream" project is slated for a massive 5,000-hectare plot of land. According to his pitch, we’re looking at a sprawling empire of hotels, a casino, two marinas, a business park, a film studio, a theme park, sports arenas, recreation centers, museums, a vineyard, and five different golf courses.

Except instead of 5,000 hectares, it’s actually just 40!!!

"After several rounds of discussions with the investor and public hearings regarding the amendments to the Dubrovnik-Neretva County spatial plan, a 40-hectare tourist zone has been added at the Thorn location, which allows for the construction of hotels and apartments (zones T1 and T2). There is also provision for a nautical tourism marina with up to 400 berths. You could potentially tack on a golf course of about 100 hectares," Dobroslavic told Index, noting that it’s unlikely any actual construction on a golf course would happen anytime soon.

In fact, he pointed out that given the bureaucratic nightmare of amending spatial plans followed by the actual permitting process, there is very little chance any of this will materialize by the end of the year.

As for what exactly Blagay was "selling" to those Americans? Unfortunately, we couldn't get a straight answer from the man himself. We were simply told that he is still currently in the USA.

5,000 hectares! 😂
What was he selling to the Americans? Pure smoke and mirrors, obviously...☕

Alex Cook As if we haven't heard this all before.
Actually, if you look at the record, Michael Jordan holds two Olympic gold medals.😬

Good grief, I completely blanked on the Olympics in Los Angeles. Honestly, I’m so embarrassed by my own stupidity that I’m just going to bow out of this conversation entirely.😉

brightlynx23 said:I knew this discussion would just devolve into a petty New York-Los Angeles shouting match. 🙏

It’s amazing how much damage one stupid USOC award can do. 🤣

Well, damn, I guess that's how it looks, but now that I've read the exact same nonsense regarding the rowers that analogowl122 posted, I find myself scattering (well, only partially🙂) my own ashes...☕

Forget the stupid award—it's not just about whether the award itself is dumb; it's about the fact that you have to actually follow some semblance of decent rules and apply them equally to everyone, rather than deciding certain people are more equal than others... even on a show like Big Brother, you're supposed to stick to the rules.

analogowl122 said:Here is another sketchy detail—the water polo team grabbed gold at the EC, while the rowers took gold at the WC. Based on the USOPC criteria, those rowers should have been named Team of the Year.
But they weren't. Instead, they cooked up some entirely new category just so they could crown the water polo players as Team of the Year. It’s nothing more than blatant populism.
Read more about it here:

Honestly, why am I even surprised? Good grief, everywhere you look, it's just a swamp of corruption and nonsense, whether you're talking about sports, politics, or the economy...😠
...
.....
Kudos to Lisa Ward52 for the post above, though honestly, who cares about Michael Jordan? Who's to blame if he didn't compete in the OG? He showed up once, I think, and if he only has one gold, it's hardly better than having two silvers...

Anthony Jackson2 said:hmmm... deciding between a World Championship gold and two Olympic silvers from the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee🤔

is honestly a tough call to make.

How is that not a clear-cut choice? Even a hundred silvers don't carry the weight of a single World Championship gold. Just take a look at any Olympic medal standings; you'll see how they rank countries at the top versus the bottom—the nation sitting there with just one gold is always ranked higher than the one holding five silvers...☕

analogowl122 said:That’s exactly right.
In my book, an Olympic silver medal is basically just a World Championship gold that got unlucky.
Based on the standards set by the USOPC.
But honestly, that isn't even the issue here. It’s not like Vlašić ever made a fuss about it, anyway.
For the thousandth time now:
The issue here is that they’re completely ignoring Blanka’s other performances, focusing exclusively on her results from the European Championship and the World Championship.
It looks like they'll have to take Ivica's performance in the World Cup into account.
The coaching staff really did a number on Blanka; they've essentially stalled her progress.
Because they haven't been taken into account:
Winning the Continental Cup is quite something, isn't it?
Seven wins out of seven in the Diamond League—it’s a flawless run, though I can't help but wonder how much longer that kind of momentum can actually be sustained before reality sets in.
Another eighteen victories at those secondary meets, and honestly, it just feels like more of the same.
So, according to the USOPC, I guess all these achievements don't actually count for anything.
So, according to the USOPC, they’re only factoring in the Olympics, the World Championships, and the European Championships when they run their numbers.
They’re basically tripping over their own feet and contradicting themselves now, especially after they started bringing up Ivica's achievements on the World Cup circuit.
They’re essentially devaluing both Blanka and the entire sport of track and field. All these massive achievements by Blanka don't actually carry much weight in the eyes of the powers that be, despite what the USOPC tries to tell us. It makes you wonder why the FIS Ski World Cup gets all this recognition from the committee, yet the Diamond League or the Continental Cup seems to be treated like an afterthought.
Or, let me offer another comparison to drive the point home.

I honestly can't stand watching Blanka; those irritating little dance moves she does after a jump just grate on my nerves.🙂I don't even follow high jump—I'm much more into skiing—and frankly, I’ve never been a fan of Vlašić either. But this highlighted point right here? It hits the nail on the head. The USOPC doesn't even bother following its own rulebook; they operate with double standards, which is honestly worse than any other failure. If it were just Vlašić himself dealing with this, he would have absolutely lost his mind.☕So, at this rate, they can just hand the USOPC a trophy for incompetence. 👎

It’s a lot less extreme than what was mentioned above, but there’s still absolutely zero logic in suggesting that an Olympic silver carries more weight than a World Championship gold. There just isn't any damn sense to it.🤷

Honestly, Nadal, you’re lucky you aren’t American, because if you were, the USOPC would treat you like you didn't exist—which, frankly, wouldn't surprise me much given what I see on TV lately. It’s the same old pattern; this whole brainwashing cycle kicks off every single year in early December and just drags on until the Epiphany. If my own brother happened to be a skier, I swear I’d end up hating the sport entirely.

Everything about this situation just perfectly illustrates how far we've gone down the road with centralization here in America.☕

The "Investor" Project

"Where on earth are these investors who were supposedly lining up just because this project was allegedly designed by "the most renowned architects and consultants from America and around the world" (will they actually bother to publish those prestigious names in an ad next time?) once it finally gets the green light and the necessary acreage for development (since 30 hectares was nowhere near enough to make the math work)?
Dreams have a nasty habit of blurring reality. There’s an old saying for it: "If you dream it, you can believe it." But does the dream ever actually manifest? Eventually, the waking world hits. With Orc, it was a brutal crash landing. So, what’s actually going to be left of this supposed "American dream" over at the sister site?"

Does the lady in question not realize that the investor is actually Santa Claus?😁
I suppose he'll just show up in December and drop 5 billion euros... even Dubai will look like a pauper compared to this...🙏

Just dropping some info here so this thread doesn't die out. It would be a damn shame if, in five or ten years, we couldn't dig through the archives to present this topic as a witness to an era in the States—a monument to sheer human stupidity from back when various snake oil salesmen basically owned the media landscape. And get this: this guy actually had the backing of Kosorica, Popijač, Vlahušić, and the entire county assembly...😵..:

Vicenzo Blagajić: ‘The American Dream’ turns into a sinkhole

In five to ten years, when the site at Three Sisters is still nothing but a pile of rubble, some people will be laughing while others are crying... personally, I think I'll just enjoy a good, sweet laugh...☕

Vicenco Blagaić speaks out after green light for the 'American Dream': Secretary Dropulić nearly derailed my life's work

I honestly can't decide whether to laugh or cry at the whole thing.🤣
....
.....
"We are talking about millions of dollars invested here.
If this project had stayed limited to just 75 acres, no major bank would have even looked at us; their own feasibility studies would have shown we were skating right on the edge of being unprofitable, and in this current economic climate, nobody has the stomach for even the slightest hint of risk...😂

So, how exactly do you plan to manage the financial and organizational side of things?
- Our plan is to establish several closed-end real estate funds, which could target anywhere from $100 million to $300 million during the initial phase of the American Dream—a project with a total projected value of $1.5 billion.

But let’s be real: what is the actual annual revenue and profit for your currently operating companies?
- Revenue isn't high yet because these primary development projects and their parent companies aren't generating income quite yet; however, the annual turnover for our other group affiliates was slightly north of $50 million in 2009, with profits sitting around $8 million...😂

And what about your actual skin in the game? How much have you already poured into the American Dream and how much land have you actually secured?
- I won't get into the specifics of that, but we have already sunk over $2 million into architects, scale models, trade shows, and workshops over the last few years alone.😂😂

Do you truly believe you can maintain majority ownership in a real estate fund worth up to $300 million?
- Yes. Let me repeat: we enter the fund by contributing the land, the finalized project plans, and our labor, alongside a portion of cash. There is a way for us to secure over 51 percent, and that is exactly what we intend to do.😂😂

Where did the capital come from for all this land acquisition and development work so far?
- It came from the profits of my various projects and companies over the last 15 years, bank loans, and proceeds from selling minority stakes to firms like AECOM and Bechtel.

How did those partnerships work out, and why does it look like you're parting ways with both AECOM and Bechtel now?
- AECOM was settled just last December through a compensatory project, and we will likely settle with Bechtel very soon as well, though that will need to be handled in cash.

Which brings me back to my point: where is that cash coming from for these payouts?
- We will likely use a bank loan to pay off Bechtel. And to that persistent question that follows me everywhere—“Where do you get the money?”—I always give the same answer: It’s easy to get things done when you’re flush with cash; the real art is getting things done when you don't have it and you have to use creative solutions to make the financial structure hold together.😂😂😂"

Michael Davis9 said:I honestly hope this nightmare never actually becomes a reality.

The only way this happens is if the Euro and Dollar start falling from the sky or growing out of the ground like weeds... or perhaps if billions of Euros suddenly descend from the heavens via Santa Claus shouting, "Everyone rush in! We're almost out of money!!" ☕

So now Blagaić is throwing accusations of criminal activity at Minister Dropulić (who, frankly, is one of the few ministers I actually find tolerable).

Just take a look at the specific vocabulary this "developer" chooses to employ 😠:

"It seems we should have hired her husband (Duško Dropulić) as a consultant, and everything would have gone smoothly," Blagaić claimed. He then went on to question why the Minister doesn't seem bothered by the projects run by her 'close friend' Peter Đukan in Konavle and on Prevlaka, while the 'American Dream'—which is currently seeing an initial investment of 1.5 billion euros—is being obstructed.

"To wrap things up, Blagaić stated he supports the Prime Minister and the measures intended to pull us out of this crisis, yet his description of appointing Marina Matulović Dropulić to lead the Investment Promotion Agency was quite vivid, comparing it to putting a fox in charge of a chicken coop. He also called upon the FBI and the Department of Justice to investigate the business dealings of both the Minister and her husband. "

And here is the response from the Ministry 👍:


We view the false allegations, attempts at entrapment, and the baseless labeling of the Minister presented by V. Blagaić and the Proceftus group in their open letter and other media appearances as unacceptable pressure on the Ministry’s operations, designed solely to achieve their own ends and distract the public from the core issues, specifically any meaningful debate regarding the feasibility and quality of Blagaić's visions .

redgull7 said:Personally, I’d be all for a project like this, but I’m honestly terrified we’re looking at a total disaster... It’s just way too expensive and they're obsessing over things that don't even matter.

I don't get how long America is going to keep acting like some insecure beauty queen☕ who thinks she's better than everyone else..

By what logic is this supposed to work? If people want to get away, they'll just head straight to Dubai anyway.
Dubai is basically a gold-plated sheep; everything looks amazing on TV, but it's a facade.
Building a resort that looks like a sci-fi movie set makes sense if you're stuck in the middle of a desert, but scarring a gorgeous coastline with overpriced, futuristic eyesores? Not so much.

People don't flock to Dubai for the "sightseeing"—it's about business and the nightlife.
- Who's actually coming here to build the American Dream?
- The season only lasts about 100 days..

America has its own strengths, and if we actually played them right, we could become a massive player in tourism.

👍
Of course, nobody is suggesting we shouldn't expand hotel capacity. But we don't need these megalomaniacal monstrosities; what we actually need are small, high-quality boutique hotels where guests feel comfortable and truly at home... essentially, smaller operations that are resilient and can actually weather market shifts...☕

coastalridge64 said:It’s really nothing to worry about. ☕

Here is a bit of older news regarding Dubai:

The word that Dubai World—the massive state-owned investment giant behind that emirate—has asked its creditors for a break on $60 billion in debt sent shockwaves through global stock markets. It seems those old fears about the stability of the international financial system are resurfacing once again.

I mean, really, who can blame those sheiks when they don't have our own Vincent🤣 🙏
Maybe if he lent them a billion or two? 😵
...
This isn't directly related to this thread, but it’s certainly telling:

“As far as we are concerned, it’s out of the question, regardless of whether the price drops. The project doesn't align with our criteria for several reasons, and frankly, I have to say that new hotel developments in America are generally unprofitable investments due to how short the tourist season is.”
...☕