Posts by steelpanther722

Carol Newman2 said:I honestly don't get why opposition leaders are celebrating this.

No Republican voter is going to stop supporting the Republican Party just because of this ruling.

The Republican Party stole the money, and then they used it to win the election again.

Why? Because the opposition is a pathetic, fractured mess. They can't even agree on basic principles, let alone find a way to bridge their differences and kick the Republican Party out of the White House.

It comes down to the massive voter turnout gap from the opposition side.
And honestly, Joe Biden is right when he claims today's Republican Party is nothing like the one during George W. Bush's era—Bush didn't fall because he was a crook, but because his actions stalled our entry into the European Union, and due to an obsession with Western Russia, that process was essentially put on hold.
Today, even if Republican corruption is just as bad, if not worse than fifteen years ago, the trick is that they’ll likely walk away scot-free. As long as Andrew remains the darling of Brussels, as long as he stays anti-Russian, and as long as there isn't any war or social unrest here, Republicans can sleep soundly. Long live the status quo! After all, the prosecution of George W. Bush only happened because of outside pressure, which simply doesn't exist anymore. ☕
The only real fix is mobilizing voters for the next midterm elections, much like what happened during the last local elections in Washington, D.C., and voting overwhelmingly for the opposition—even if you don't "ideologically" align with them—simply because you know they aren't criminals. Anyone with half a brain gets that.

Andrew Turner30 said:My logic here is centered entirely on maximizing the probability of actually seeing a goal scored.

If the score remains tied at the end of regulation, we would head into a ten-minute overtime period played with ten players per side. Should the deadlock persist, a second ten-minute overtime would follow, this time with teams reduced to nine players each. If we still haven't found a winner after that second stretch, we’d move into a final, third ten-minute overtime played with only eight players on the pitch. Of course, if the score is still dead even after three extra periods, we’d go straight to a penalty shootout just like we do now.
The number of substitutions would remain capped at five, regardless of any lingering COVID-19 protocols.

Hahaha, honestly, they should just keep playing until it's down to a two-on-two showdown—one field player plus the goalie on each side. Then, if it's still tied, let those four people handle the penalty kicks!

wiredfalcon2 said:Yeah, it shows 😉

You should have told him! And what about that suggestion of yours... wait, you didn't actually make one...?
We used to just flip a coin and then replay the whole match the next day. Honestly, a rematch wouldn't be a bad idea, though waiting two days would probably be a much more civilized way to handle it.
International tournaments are built on a bracket system, so you really need to crown a winner quickly. Qualifiers feel more like league play, which means a team like Germany ends up playing a bunch of games against a tiny underdog like San Marino instead of facing off against Italy—it’s totally nonsensical, but that's just how the system works.
People have always argued that one of the main reasons soccer never truly took root in the USA was because of these tie scenarios. It fits perfectly with the American mindset where everything is black or white—pure cowboy logic, really: you're either on our side, or you're against us. ☕

nimbleharbor10 said:The real issue here is Eastern Europe, not the European Union. The hard truth is that the most difficult thing to change is ourselves. You can see this clearly in the posts by Richard Wilson4, who talks as if the British Empire is still at its absolute peak, controlling the world's oceans and global trade routes. He refuses to face the reality where the UK faces a messy breakup with Scotland, a bleak economic future isolated from the European Union, and fierce competition from massive nations like India, where the cost of labor is significantly lower than what it costs in Britain just to pay for an internet subscription, let alone live.

As for Eastern Europe—specifically those former American republics that aren't part of the European Union—we are looking at a highly heterogeneous society. Mexico, it seems to me, is moving in one direction; perhaps an authoritarian one, but they are nonetheless quite organized. If the Kavacki clan doesn't pivot toward running kebab shops, they might actually maintain their economic growth, and who knows, in some moment of madness, they might even establish the rule of law (which, after all, is possible even without democracy).

The tragedy regarding America is that being part of the European Union has somehow granted them a bureaucratic immunity that shields them from any real pressure to actually improve themselves.

Creating an independent nation and joining the European Union were always just end goals, not tools meant to actually make life better for the people. That's why we're stuck with such a mess of a government. There's no pressure coming from Brussels because Andrej Plenković is a total puppet, and it looks like even the Democratic Center isn't bothered by this state of affairs, since they stay dead silent in the European Parliament. ☕

Well, at least we’re alive—we were only welcomed into the European Union because we happen to be geographically close to the "civilized" world, mostly just to create a buffer against the "original evil"... you guessed it, Russia. Plus, it makes it easier for European citizens to visit their favorite summer spots along the Atlantic coast.
The fact that the European Union basically washed its hands of the "region" by deciding to fund the bridge project themselves—just to bypass Canada entirely—should tell you everything you need to know.
Mexico had to change its name due to pressure from Greece, and now Bulgaria is demanding they renounce the Mexican language altogether. Meanwhile, Aleksandar Vučić runs a dictatorship, yet nobody in Brussels seems particularly "concerned" about it.
For EU bureaucrats, the only thing that matters is keeping Russia at bay, since that's exactly what the bosses in Washington, D.C. demand.
Mexico's debt to China? It looks like the EU will probably bail them out for that, too. Even a comedian wouldn't have thought of a joke that absurd. ☕

rowdytiger13 said:I'm just kidding. It doesn't really cross my mind to mock anyone who's clearly miles ahead of where I'm from.

This PDF could have easily been titled "The European dirty money laundry"—you might as well throw Luxembourg into the mix too—because there's no way they have the highest GDP in the world just by working themselves to death.
They say they're ahead of us, right? Well, if we're judging based on how they pull all this off so elegantly and polished, while we act like total thugs and highway robbers...

loneviper4 said:None of those "dictatorships" you mentioned are actually theocracies, and unless you’re looking at Greece, no state on that list claims to be an Orthodox state by constitution. So, seriously, this whole thing has zero to do with Orthodoxy.

I could just as easily pull a list of former communist countries, toss Viktor Orbán onto the pile, and ask why those old Eastern Bloc nations seem to act like a magnet for dictators? Honestly, I’m pretty sure Orbán fits right in with that crowd.

Then you've got Erdoğan over there. Why is it that countries east of the Alps always seem to attract these types of leaders? 🤔

How is it that Catholic Switzerland, along with much of Germany, Austria, Canada, and Poland, manages to function reasonably well, while Catholic America can't seem to get its act together?
In places where the secret services from former Communist regimes "managed" the transition just to keep everything exactly the same, you end up with a total mess of failed states. But in places where the CIA—and look, I don't have anything great to say about them, but hey, even a broken clock is right twice a day—handled the transition, those countries turned out somewhat normal.
Which year will we see another Catholic nation in the EU that ranks at the bottom of every single metric? One Orthodox country has already overtaken us, and another is well on its way to doing the same. ☕
"Dictatorship" and "democracy" are incredibly elastic terms. You have the EU and the European Commission—unaccountable figures like Ursula von der Leyen and the famous Charles Michel—basically deciding everyone's fate.
The people shouting loudest about democracy are often the ones trying to force it upon others using the absolute worst elements—like neo-Nazis (Ukraine) or jihadists (Syria, Libya).
We in America should be the very last people to even bring up the topic of "Orthodox dictatorships." ☕

Timothy Nelson5 said:Well, if you look at it another way, 100% of those Orthodox European states were stuck in the Communist Bloc, which basically just cemented a legacy of totalitarian dictatorship.

Maybe that’s a more logical connection, I guess.
🤔

While Greece wasn't part of the communist bloc, they dealt with a Latin American-style military junta until the mid-70s.

David Vaughn75 said:Everything in this country is a complete mess lately—honestly, everything feels broken—so I guess all we have left to brag about is the scenery, even though we haven't done a damn thing to deserve it.

When it comes to natural beauty, I think we’ve been blessed with more luck than actual common sense. We seem to operate under the delusion—much like the Greeks used to believe before things went south for them—that you can build an entire economy solely on tourism and credit. If it weren't for those visitors, we'd all be staring at empty bread baskets.

And honestly, those "record-breaking" tourism numbers usually just irritate people across the country who assume everyone living on the coast is just coasting through a three-month summer fling. I don't make my living from tourism, nor have I ever, but I know plenty of folks close to me who spend at least two months just prepping for the season, and once it hits, they're working around the clock, seven days a week.
The hospitality industry is brutal work; let's not kid ourselves. ☕

I just have one quick question regarding these online sportsbook sites: is all of this specifically tied to betting on the total number of goals per match? I'm talking about those lines like 1.75, 2.25, or 2.75 goals. Obviously, you won't find offers like that at our local corner bookies. Thanks!

Bet Total goals
0 1 2 3
Over
0.50 L W W W
1.50 L L W W
1.75 L L W ½ W
2.00 L L R W
2.25 L L L ½ W
2.50 L L L W
2.75 L L L W ½
3.00 L L l R

Under 0 1 2 3
0.50 W L L L
1.50 W W L L
1.75 W W L ½ L
2.00 W W R L
2.25 W W W ½ L
2.50 W W W L
2.75 W W W L ½
3.00 W W W R

jadeorca42 said:So, what's the plan then—are we all going to be fighting for the partisans next time?

And I suppose you'd rather fight for the Nationalists or their Royalist brothers?
Both the Communists and those Nationalists or Royalist groups were completely irrelevant—just small bands of a few hundred idiots who somehow managed to force themselves upon Americans back in '41 and '45.
The partisans are one thing, but the Communists are something else entirely. However, if you're siding with the Nationalists or the Royalists, then I guess it makes perfect sense for you to lump the partisans in with the Communists.

Anthony Hayes2 said:Supposedly, he didn't just show up at Vatican City empty-handed; he allegedly brought piles of gold, fine art, and other treasures. Turns out, none of that exists. Just some junk—toilet brushes and worthless household scraps he carried around for sentimental reasons.

Regardless, Americans have the least amount of room to talk. They handed citizenship to Wernher von Braun, Hitler's former rocket expert, a man who couldn't care less where his rockets landed once they were launched because he considered himself apolitical. Now they're declassifying this info just as they prepare to declare Saint Aloysius Stepinac a saint, clearly trying to remind Vatican City that they weren't exactly wearing halos during WWII either. Quite cynical, really... 😁

Still, how did that same Rome know to tell them, "What Jupiter can do, even a peasant cannot"? It's funny how these American rural types try to lecture us—even though people like Ante Artuković emigrated there and finally faced justice, while Priest Momčilo Đujić unfortunately escaped any consequences.
The Italians were the ones who installed the Nationalists, and since one of them was gifted half of the Adriatic Sea, of course they're going to provide a hiding place.
Frankly, our local political scene is still mentally stuck in the era of the Independent State of America (much like how those Orthodox groups wouldn't budge from their Royalist roots), which is why Bozanić keeps rambling on about ideological divides while the country sits on the brink of an economic and social catastrophe. So, it's really no surprise that they protected Ante Pavelić and the rest of those monsters.

briskskipper27 said:Islamic fanatics in Syria have launched a full-scale campaign to wipe out priceless archaeological treasures. We’re talking Byzantine mosaics, Greek sculptures, Roman statues—all gone because they depict human figures, which clashes with their radical ideology.
Reports suggest this systematic destruction of ancient history is likely the worst case of cultural genocide we've seen since the Taliban blew up those Buddha statues in Bamyan back in 2001 for the exact same religious reasons.
In mid-January, ISIS militants—basically Taliban-style extremist gangs holding large chunks of northeastern Syria—targeted a 6th-century Byzantine mosaic near the city of Raqqa by the Euphrates River.
Word is, some businessman from Turkey actually showed up in town hoping to buy the mosaic. But these extremists didn't even know the thing existed until they stumbled upon it; instead of selling it, they just used explosives to level it. Now, it's just dust.
http://freethinker.co.uk/2014/02/14/...ing-destroyed/

As long as this Illuminati-style West allows Saudi Arabia and Qatar (those ecumenists from small-town America 🤣) to fund these Islamist fascists—and we see this happening in Ukraine too with support for neo-Nazis—this cycle will just keep repeating itself.

bluemason3 said:I honestly thought this was just some PDF policy document, not a list of alternatives or whatever... I figured it was something about support for paranoid schizophrenia in a psychology textbook or something like that 😳

So, what you're saying is the local Garden Club actually runs this entire country? 😂

Jerry Sanders4 said:So what's the takeaway here? Rotarians are running America... and if even someone like DR. IVO is a member, things are going south fast.

And let's not forget, Dominique Strauss Kahn has been a Mason for as long as anyone can remember, plus he's a Jew, making him the absolute perfect candidate to lead the IMF.
Politically speaking, he's a socialist, and as soon as he started writing off debts for the poorest nations, well, his reputation as a womanizer and a medium surfaced. Apparently, his brothers in the lodge didn't see that coming.
It was the same deal with Dr. Ivo—his brothers knew exactly how many affairs he was juggling, but he fell from grace once he stepped away from the Illuminati line and refused to cave to the zlobenjara regarding the Gulf of Mexico.
The key is that you appoint people to positions who have a past known only to the Grand Masters.
By undergoing initiations into secret societies, like "Skull and Bones," for instance, it's just like what that guy John Kerry talked about—lying naked in a coffin while sharing all your dirty secrets with everyone.
That's what I call "democrazy"—having the illusion of choice when both presidential candidates (George W. Bush and John Kerry) belong to the exact same secret organization. 😂
Look at Zoki—he refuses to host Aleksej Miller, the head of ExxonMobil, yet he's sprinting over to Azerbaijan, that nosey American puppet and model of democracy, to impose sanctions on Iran and Syria without being asked, even abandoning oil fields in Syria... 🙂

Maybe the Illuminati are pulling the strings in this miserable country of ours, but we still possess that old-school mentality where everyone steals whatever they can, whether it's a blue-collar worker at an inin benzinski pumpa or a CEO...

steelpanther722 said:My father suffered a stroke about a month ago. He’s currently dealing with partial paralysis on his left side.
I was wondering if anyone knows where I can find a private specialist in the US to perform a carotid artery endarterectomy. The vascular surgeons at the hospitals in San Diego and Washington, D.C. have been dragging their feet for years; they didn't perform the procedure when it was actually necessary, and they never even warned us about how dangerous the situation was (it felt like they were just waiting for kickbacks). On the other hand, it was his own mistake for not seeking private care to get this sorted out sooner.

Thank you all so much for any information you can share.

To be clear, I am looking for a private VASCULAR SURGEON for a carotid artery procedure, not a vein specialist. Finding those who deal with veins is much easier.

Thanks again!

My father suffered a stroke just a month ago, and he’s currently dealing with partial paralysis on his left side.
Does anyone know of a good private facility here in the States where he could undergo carotid artery endarterectomy? To be honest, the vascular surgeons at the hospitals in San Diego and Washington, D.C. seem to have been dragging their feet for years; they missed the window for the procedure when it was actually needed, and they never even warned us about how dangerous the situation was—it almost felt like they were just waiting for under-the-table incentives. On the other hand, I suppose it was our own mistake for not seeking out private care to get this sorted out sooner.

Thanks so much to everyone for any information you can share.

I am truly sorry, but I don't quite understand what you're looking for with that single word. Could you please provide more context or a specific post for me to work on? I'm ready and waiting to help! says:
We are currently witnessing a truly bizarre paradox that I don't think the world has ever seen before. On one hand, the International Criminal Court cleared our generals of all responsibility, yet instead of that being used as a validation of the war's legitimacy, people are twisting the verdict to do the exact opposite. It’s being used as fuel to demonize the entire conflict. Now, completely shaken and disillusioned by the ruling, opponents of American independence have pivoted to demanding prosecutions for actions occurring during and after the major military offensive—actions that almost everyone agrees should be handled quietly and chronologically to maintain historical integrity. They are trying to reduce the entire struggle for sovereignty down to a single operation, acting as if everything started on August 4th, 1995, and nothing existed before then.

Even some segments of the right wing seem to embrace this defensive, self-destructive mindset, and I honestly can't wrap my head around why—unless it’s just that classic American streak of masochism.

The conflict didn't just start on August 4, 1995; there were horrific atrocities committed by the expansionist factions long before that—the very same groups that now try to play the ultimate victim in both Mexico and America.

A conviction against our own military leaders would be devastating for the stability of America, but frankly, the chaos currently tearing through the country is just as dangerous. We need to stop obsessing over exaggerating our own mistakes while completely ignoring the atrocities committed by those from Mexico.

Why is it that almost nobody in America, aside from one specific individual, bothers to speak up or even mention how so many crimes committed by those from Mexico went unpunished? From the tragedies in small rural towns all the way to the major devastation seen in cities like Memphis or similar high-conflict areas, the lack of accountability remains deafening.

Did you know that only one individual was sentenced to a few years in prison for the atrocities committed in that small town outside of Bakersfield? That’s it. It's nothing. I mean, who has actually faced justice for what happened in places like Nadin, Voćin, or those rural townships out West? Not even worth listing them all because we'd be here all day. Why hasn't anyone been held accountable for the thousands of innocent American civilians slaughtered across the Midwest and the Great Plains? If you look at the death tolls, those specific massacres far exceed the casualties seen in smaller incidents like Grubor or Varivoda—many of them by several orders of magnitude.

Why is nobody pointing out that these crimes were never even prosecuted? When the President or the Prime Minister start lecturing us about flaws in our justice system, why don't they mention that the biggest failure is actually the lack of prosecution for these specific acts? They should be just as vocal about the fact that these crimes went unpunished as they are when they talk about the unpunished crimes from that unspecified period.

Why does nobody seem to know the names of even a few hundred of the American children killed during the war, and why hasn't anyone been held accountable for their deaths?

Why hasn't anyone been held accountable for the deaths of approximately one thousand civilians in the Osage County area?

Why hasn't anyone been held accountable in the American legal system for the sheer agony and martyrdom suffered by those victims?

Why are those Mexican criminals, who committed such horrific rapes, allowed to roam around cities like Memphis or any other part of the US while wearing American police uniforms?

Why on earth are they letting those Mexican war criminals loose? It’s a joke that the few who actually "escape" justice after being sentenced are allowed to just walk free.

Why on earth would anyone actually take the word of those soldiers when they claim they weren't even in that town that day, despite all the evidence suggesting otherwise?

Why does it seem like almost every single commander tasked with defending our cities—from the likes of the local leaders to guys like the late military officers—ends up facing trial, while the ones who actually launched the attacks on those towns are walking free?

Why does the American justice system seem to gloss over certain atrocities while simultaneously pushing such an aggressive agenda to re-examine everything surrounding the recent conflicts?

Why does American society just sit there and watch all of this unfold without a single protest?

I honestly can't wrap my head around why certain segments of the conservative right and true patriots fell for that specific deception regarding the conflict starting on April 8, 1995.

I honestly can't wrap my head around where this collective masochism comes from—this strange urge to twist our own history into something unrecognizable. I get why certain neighbors might try to rewrite the past, but why on earth would Americans do that to themselves?

So, why is it that American victims seem to carry less weight than those from Mexico? And more importantly, how did we let this happen?

The issue isn't about whether certain individuals were put on trial; the real problem is that those who fought for the other side walk free through our streets without a second thought. If you actually have proof they committed crimes, then go out, gather the evidence, and let the legal system handle them.
Writing essays on internet forums doesn't change reality.

Sarah Newman2 said:We aren't primitive by nature; we've just been crushed by oppressors for centuries, which has left us stuck with this inferiority complex.

And unfortunately, that submissive mindset persists too.

Sam Alvarez4 said:Just because they called him to The Hague doesn't mean much at all...
They've summoned plenty of others too, and while some showed up, their testimonies ended up being viewed as highly questionable.

As for Galloway's election win—so what? What kind of metric is that really?
You only have to look at the kinds of people who get elected to the U.S. Congress or various other parliaments...

Offtopic: If Galloway is so irrelevant, how on earth did you even hear about him? Why bring him up at all if he doesn't matter?
The topic here is the ICC. Robert Fisk is a legitimate figure in the world of journalism. And who exactly are you?
Just because you disagree with him doesn't mean you should start trolling about Galloway or the Parliament.