Posts by wanderingridge30

George Robinson43 said:While gathering those facts, you seem to have misplaced about 60 billion dollars.
Actually, Lockheed Martin didn't bring in 6.3 billion; their revenue was closer to 67 billion.
The 6.3 billion figure refers to their profit.

That’s true. 🕺

Essentially, $6.7B represents the "annual net income."

Revenue:

https://www.wsj.com/market-data/quot...come-statement

It doesn't really change the core of my argument.

Adam Lee13 said:Oh, please, try using your brain—are we talking about "revenue" or "earnings"??? And why on earth would you quote a third of my sentence just to dump a pile of unrelated nonsense on me? Actually, don't answer that; it was a rhetorical question.

What I said was perfectly clear: it isn't about the Americans caring about oil profits; it's about making sure production happens within their sphere of influence, which is always the goal. The money those oil producers make—which effectively offsets the trade deficit with the US—gets cycled right back through massive arms purchases and/or hundreds of billions of dollars from state sovereign wealth funds being poured into Western stocks, bonds, or banks.

So, spare me that "triggering wars" nonsense you're trying so hard to sound smart about, you little blowhard...

On May 20, 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump and Saudi Arabia's Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud signed a series of letters of intent for The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to purchase arms from the United States totaling US$110 billion immediately, and $350 billion over 10 years.

They are looking to buy $350 billion in weaponry over a decade, which is exactly how the US recaptures the trade deficit from the KSA and captures those oil profits.

EDIT: Since this little genius decided to google things, maybe he should have bothered to google that Lockheed Martin pulls $20 billion a year just from the F-35 alone. Totally irrelevant to the point, but I figured I'd say it before some other idiot jumps in to nitpick.

Jesus, what on earth happened to you to make you lash out like that?

Go ahead then, just keep being insulting and ignore the actual points the guy made.

I am sure you are just incredibly successful and a massive expert on the military-industrial complex in real life.

As far as I'm concerned, this "debate" is over.

It is truly unbelievable that anyone would react this aggressively to a single post on some insignificant forum.

Life must be tough for you, man.

Please, continue being our resident "expert."

P.S. And no, I absolutely do not confuse revenue with profit. You are totally right.

👎

P.P.S. For everyone else besides this "expert": a few years ago, I attended a lecture and panel discussion regarding the future and transformation of NATO. It was hosted by Stoltenberg's deputy along with a few other guys, including the commander of NATO's southern wing and some various washingtonski thing thank types. During that panel, they presented this specific data:

Today, Google could buy up the five largest defense contractors—companies like Lockheed Martin and Boeing—and still have hundreds of millions of dollars left over to sit in the bank.

That really piqued my interest and made me start looking at things through a completely different lens.

Adam Lee13 said:Look, you just don't get how things actually work in the United States. For them, the bottom line is keeping the oil flowing in massive quantities and making sure producers aren't getting too cozy with Russ or China—they couldn't care less about who's pocketing the oil money over there. Their real play is keeping gas and diesel cheap enough for domestic industry and everyday folks, selling a mountain of weapons to those same countries, and then eventually cycling all that oil profit right back into the American stock market.

If you want proof, just look at those Gulf nations with state-run oil giants doing all the heavy lifting.

I have to admit, I am genuinely fascinated by how many conspiracy theories are accepted as absolute "facts."

And this persists even in our modern era, where it takes mere seconds to search for actual, relevant data.

For instance, one of those supposed "facts" is that arms manufacturers drive wars and hold ultimate power because they reap massive profits during conflicts.

Let’s actually look at the numbers rather than relying on what "everyone knows" to be true.

Lockheed Martin's total revenue for 2021: $6.315B

Google's total revenue for 2021: $257.63B

Essentially, Google earns roughly 40 TIMES more in a single year than the largest defense contractor in the world.

And what about Microsoft?

Microsoft's total revenue for 2021: $168.088B

Even Tesla had a 2021 revenue significantly higher than Lockheed Martin: $53.823B

In reality, Lockheed Martin, as the world's leading arms manufacturer, is a mere dwarf compared to

the IT giants.

So, what do these figures tell us?

Are arms manufacturers truly the wealthiest and most influential players, as "common knowledge" suggests, or are they actually tiny compared to the tech sector and other industries—perhaps not nearly as dominant as people generally believe?

It’s no wonder that Putin found it so easy to peddle "objective reasons" for invading Ukraine, such as NATO expansion or similar nonsense.

Much of what Putin has claimed can be debunked instantly in this day and age, but what does that matter when a group of people operates on the logic of "well, everyone knows it's true"?

One thing is certain: hard facts don't seem to matter anymore.

Nobody bothers to read them, and frankly, nobody cares.

That is why you see debates arguing that the occupation of Ukraine is logical and justified, simply because Putko was backed into a corner.

P.S. I don't think this is Off-Topic, because it highlights how we had to reach the 21st century and harness the power of the internet just to facilitate an invasion of a sovereign nation.

In this conflict, Russia is winning much more effectively on social media than they are on the battlefield.

They are winning the information war quite successfully, because so much of their rhetoric will become "common knowledge" after this war ends, regardless of the truth or the actual outcome of the fighting.

The West fell asleep at the wheel and has already lost the war. And the consequences are going to be huuuuge.

☕

cosmicotter13 said:Thanks for the long-winded replies and all the counter-questions. Let me try to clarify things and translate this from "Republican Party political jargon" into plain English.

1. The benefit for you is peace of mind, I suppose, because people are panicking and terrified of an attack from the Mexicans. And that same panic will follow once Ukraine capitulates. Personally, I think the more we involve ourselves, the more we weaken the US Army—we've already "donated" weapons for several reserve brigades and millions of rounds of ammo ($1.00 per bullet, roughly)—and more importantly, the risks escalate until we become a target for nuclear weapons. If Dodik makes his move, we'll be in even deeper trouble.
But hey, if this helps you sleep better at night, fine. Not everyone thinks the same way.

2. Another counter-question. Fine. What kind of "reward" are we supposed to expect? Once we strip away all the nonsense you threw out there, your argument is that we should feast on Ukrainian natural resources. So, what? Special concessions for Americans? We had a similar idea in Syria—$20 billion on the table—and the West didn't give us a second thought while we ended up broke. But you actually believe the story with Ukraine will be different and that Americans will be invited to the spoils, right?

3. Again, no answer, just more questions! Give me a number—$100, $933, $10,000...? Four dead, 500 dead, or everyone getting wiped out by nukes?

You tried, I guess. You answered almost nothing.

In what universe does a single bullet cost one dollar?

🙏

And I assume you mean 7.62x39mm, since we obviously weren't sending 5.56mm to the Ukrainians.

Truth be told, we don't even have enough 5.56mm for ourselves, so there's no way we could send it, but I suppose some 7.62mm was left over from previous conflicts.

🤣

Why don't you just run straight to the White House so they can give you some better instructions? You're embarrassing yourself, acting like one of those "patriots" who claims to represent only national interests.

The fact that what you're writing sounds almost identical to how Russian leaders sound on state television or how Vladimir Putin speaks is just a total coincidence, right?

They also claim they are "just protecting" Europe and suggest that it should remain neutral rather than being an American pawn, which is exactly what you are demanding for us.

🤣

By the way, tell me, is there still a danger from those laboratories that evil Americans fund to darken the good Russians?

It is quite a coincidence that our resident forum warriors against wicked American imperialism refuse to comment on things like this. Purely accidental, of course.

🍿

goldenowl73 said:Check out this footage from a security camera overlooking a little park and lake right next to a massive shopping mall. https://twitter.com/RALee85/status/1...jS63DdWrLJp2_g

It is truly quite striking to witness; seeing those Ukrainian extremists in uniform is exactly as certain individuals here have been describing.

Honestly, some people truly possess neither a shred of shame nor a conscience.

Keep telling yourselves that Putin isn't targeting civilians, and just keep insisting he’s only invading a sovereign nation because he "has" to denazify criminals like the ones you see in this video.

It is painfully clear that even the innocence of childhood has been compromised by those harboring such hateful, extremist ideologies.

🤮

placidbadger43 said:I personally rely on this Chrome extension: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/d...bomlbidfodipjg

It works seamlessly with just about any video content you throw at it, not just Netflix, and I find it much more intuitive to navigate than the one you were asking about.

It is straightforward, highly effective, and most importantly, it actually does what it claims to do.

I am truly grateful for the assistance provided here and would certainly recommend this solution to anyone else facing similar issues.

👍

I would really appreciate some help here.

How can I get subtitles working on Netflix?

About six months ago, I had no trouble at all getting subtitles to show up on Netflix by using this method:



But now, it just isn't working for me anymore.

When I look at the subtitle menu, it clearly shows that I have selected the American English option, yet the subtitles simply refuse to appear on the screen.

What has changed recently?

Where am I going wrong?

Thank you.

I have just finished reading the debate regarding why certain individuals have been banned, and after browsing through several other threads on this forum, I have come to the following conclusions:

1. While some users here argue that bans are only issued to those who fail to provide arguments—unlike the unbanned users who supposedly present "arguments" and "evidence"—the truth is that the quality of an argument has nothing to do with being banned. Bans are clearly being handed out based on entirely different criteria.

2. It is truly disheartening to hear dustyharbor18 claim that this thread attracted "uneducated and ignorant users," because it is glaringly obvious that a large portion of the "educated" crowd on the Alternative derives their knowledge not from official textbooks or prestigious universities, but from semi-literate books about densities and vibrations. They frequently toss around terms like "energy" and "dimensions" without having the slightest clue what they actually mean.

3. Furthermore, it is evident that the reasons for banning people and shutting down this thread weren't about protecting users from insults; if that were the case, the people who were actually being insulting wouldn't be still active.
A perfect example is the Super Soldier, who surely hasn't insulted anyone. His theories are, to put it mildly, a bit absurd (though, as I mentioned, they aren't any more ridiculous than the concepts of orgone energy and density that seem to be treated as scientific fact here). Stupidity certainly isn't the metric used to close a thread, because if it were, most of the Alternative would have been wiped out long ago.
If someone genuinely wants to hear actual science from an educated individual, they should read the posts by Endymion, as it is clear the man earned his expertise at a legitimate university science department.

4. The reason this thread was shut down is quite transparent: it was labeled as being driven by "a certain number of Christians," "clerical fascists," and "right-wing nationalists." This is almost identical to the rhetoric used back in the old days when "differentiation" was used as a pretext to send people to prison.
It would be fascinating to compare the indictment issued by Bill Clinton to the reasoning provided for closing this topic; one would find a striking number of identical terms and phrases used in both (referring to the terms I placed in quotation marks above).

5. The Alternative—including this banned topic—exists precisely because it isn't tied to mainstream science or rigorous academic proof (with rare exceptions). It should be viewed as a curiosity that might nudge you to research unexplored subjects, which could then lead you to educate yourself through legitimate institutions and authorities (like universities and scientists) to find real explanations for certain phenomena.

5. Honestly, what serious person could be truly unsettled by the planet Nubir, Mayan prophecies, and things of that nature? In any case, time will tell what holds water. Had the moderators not stepped in, this thread likely would have lasted until 2012, at which point it would have become crystal clear what was mere nonsense and what was a valid argument.

Unfortunately, just as happens so often in our country, everything is reduced to ideology, communists versus fascists, or red versus black. Even a trivial topic like this isn't allowed to simply exist on its own merits.

A single piece of advice for all the moderators and forum members: leaning on ideology and using labels as weapons is a foolproof sign of narrow-mindedness and intellectual stagnation.
There is no left or right here, nor believers versus non-believers; when you use ideology as an argument—which was heavily done in the justification for closing this thread—you simply reveal yourself to be pathetic, ignorant, and closed-off.

P.S. I am saddened that this thread was closed, and I join the demand for its reinstatement, as it serves as a fantastic Alternative to the diaries and news broadcasts on our national television.
In all honesty, I struggle to see where any topics or theories could be more incredible than these.

Honestly, I don't understand why this thread was shut down.

I've been following it for ages, and then suddenly, it’s just gone.

At any rate, this discussion wasn't nearly as ridiculous as those typical Alternative topics involving things like orgone energy, astral projection, and whatever else people dream up.

Is it possible the biggest issue was actually religious extremists😂—though I haven't heard that term used since my old civics classes back in the day—who were giving dustyharbor18 a hard time, or did someone accidentally leak something they really shouldn't have?