Posts by brightheron64

Nathan Thomas12 said:I mean, if you're running three AC units all month long, yeah—your power bill is gonna be a nightmare...

My AC was basically working overtime for about 30 hours a day all summer, living in a coastal condo down in Florida...🕺

Good luck trying to explain to my three daughters that taking ice-cold showers is actually great for your health, or that blow-drying hair is a total waste of time, or even that they don't need to throw their clothes in the wash after wearing them just once... 😉

dustyowl29 said:So, apparently the US GDP is up by 7%.
But what’s the point if those numbers aren't even grounded in reality?

So, my utility bills arrived in the mail yesterday...

And honestly, screw all these sanctions. I mean, don't get me wrong... everything is fine, really, but I can't help but feel like while people are out there cheering about how we're finally getting back at Russia, I'm just sitting here struggling to make ends meet... as if my own empty pockets somehow serve as a victory for the cause... 🕺

I’m just waiting for the day someone comes up with a clever little saying like, "Well, at least we screwed over the Russians"...

Good grief, I might actually be able to get away without wearing short sleeves this winter. Even better, I was looking through my closet yesterday and realized I don't own a single sweater, just some random sleeveless vests!...🤦

That explosion at Freeport isn't exactly a trivial matter, and all we can really do is hope we don't end up freezing our tails off this winter too.

A major American LNG supplier is going to need quite a bit more time to repair their damaged facility, which presents a whole new set of headaches for Europe
>The American liquefied gas exporter Freeport LNG has reported that they won't have full production back online at their damaged liquefaction plant until next March, signaling further supply struggles for importers across Europe.

And it seems our "brothers" from the Arab world have been lagging behind us lately, too...

The Saudi minister noted that the paper and physical oil markets have essentially become "disconnected.">
https://www.reuters.com/business/ene...ut-2022-08-23/

Jesse Hughes6 said:It took me all of thirty seconds to look this up—back in 2019, Russians accounted for a mere 0.91% of overnight stays in the US.
For context, travelers from Canada sat at 2.60%.

The only metric that truly matters here is how much money they actually spent. Either group could have easily taken up 100% of the overnight stays, but what really counts is how much cash was left in the local piggy bank...

I might be wrong on this, but I firmly believe that those 0.91% of Russian tourists left behind significantly more wealth than the 2.6% coming from Canada. Just speaking from personal observation—knowing people who run properties near the border with Canada—the latter group is often viewed as more of a burden, almost like they're taxing resources without giving back enough...

Every news outlet was buzzing about David Beckham going on vacation, and even if you call it just pure marketing, the bottom line is how much dough he pumped into the US economy. What good is a massive yacht belonging to someone like Bill Gates cruising the Atlantic if he already owns everything on that boat and ends up not spending a single cent on even the smallest local goods? It’s no different from those cruise ship pests, a phenomenon I would personally vote to wipe off our coasts entirely...

analogbear5 said:Ferrero actually has a plant in Poland, just outside of Warsaw.

It reminds me of how we have Kraft Heinz based out of Columbus, which makes finding a small jar of Linolada almost... $10 🕺

goldenowl73 said:Just some down-to-earth, everyday shopping stuff for you guys. This blogger from Russia decided to grab a full basket of the exact same products—nothing on sale, just standard shelf prices—across Belarus, Russia, Germany, and Poland to see how the costs stacked up.

In Belarus, he spent €176.19;
Over in Poland, it was only €97.83;
Germany came in at €119.98;
But man, in Russia, the total hit €199.54.

https://twitter.com/ru2ch/status/156...wOneAIXMzpSVuA

I noticed he picked up some Nutella too, which was only €2.32 in Poland.

It really makes you think about what's happening right here in America, because it feels like someone is seriously screwing us over...🤔

George Robinson43 said:Well, I am not quite sure. Lockheed Martin brings in annual revenues that actually exceed the entire yearly military budget of the Russian Federation.

And the total US national debt, too...😁

wiredseal7 said:They have to—honestly, every ex-Soviet state should probably chip in—but only after the bill for Vietnam finally gets settled. ☕

But let's get real here: nobody is going to force the USA or Russia to pay out war reparations to anyone.
Russia is a nuclear power—as we can see, they're pretty much immune to sanctions—so nobody's going to stroll into Moscow and start dictating terms of surrender.

Unless the Ukrainians somehow manage to hit 🙂 what to be SF, which would likely just result in someone pulling the nuclear trigger to shut the whole thing down.

And if the Americans, the European Union, and everyone else decide to just keep those frozen assets, relations with Russia will stay stuck at a level similar to the USA-Iran standoff.

Permanently?

I mean, everything from the most trivial "good neighbor" disputes to primitive drug cartels and full-blown geopolitical clashes... people end up killing one another over money all the time. In some small town nearby, a neighbor once shot his neighbor just because they were fighting over a property line—literally just a few feet of dirt here and there. I’ve even heard of close relatives tearing each other apart until death over a tiny strip of land barely larger than a backyard plot...

For instance, the USA could tell the Taliban in Afghanistan, "We aren't handing over your funds, we're keeping your deposit"... and then what could they possibly do in response? Appeal to the world by pointing out mass starvation or dying children...?

In a higher sphere, where the balance of power shifts differently, who knows... 🤔
The outcomes could even turn quite dark and twisted...

Nancy Gomez26 said:That assertion is far from reality.
Long ago—back when wars were fought on actual battlefields and the Rothschilds funded both sides through massive credit lines—one of the primary conditions for lending was that the victor would settle their own debts along with the debts of the losing side. It sounds paradoxical at first glance, yet the logic is sound.
As for money today... it has lost its substance. It isn't even a pile of colorful paper anymore—neither dollars nor lire—but merely a digital figure sitting in some computer, somewhere. You can generate as much of it as you please in an instant; they don't even need paper or ink to print it anymore. Consequently, the concept is losing its inherent meaning. In the modern economy, being frozen out of the system—exactly how they handled the Russian Federation—is a far more pressing concern than the hypothetical question of future war reparations.

That’s all a lovely thought, really, but profit and political consistency rarely walk the same path—if they ever meet at all...

Who could have possibly imagined fifty years ago that brands like Louis Vuitton and Gucci would end up with full-scale boutiques in Vietnam? Or that Vietnam would become the No. 2 global coffee supplier?

https://eu.louisvuitton.com/eng-e1/p...on-ho-chi-minh
https://www.gucci.com/us/en/store/ho...eet-district-1

And, just to step away from the realm of "socialism" for a moment...

Imagine if you had sat an American down x years ago and told them that the Empire State Building would look like a mere trinket compared to what was going to rise out of the Arabian Desert (the Burj Khalifa), or that the airport in Dubai would eventually become one of the most vital hubs in global aviation...

Nancy Gomez26 said:There are endless ways to spin this. For instance, they could agree to divert a portion of the revenue from Russian gas sales directly to Ukraine as reparations over the next decade or so. It’s all just a matter of optics. The Russians will tell their people that Western consumers are essentially footing the bill for Ukraine's reconstruction. Meanwhile, the European Union will tell its citizens that Russia is paying the damages, even if it means receiving slightly less for their gas imports. In reality, the truth will likely sit somewhere in the murky middle of those two narratives. Right now, the priority remains simple: stop the fighting and ensure Ukraine remains free. Ideally, Russia would show some cooperation and withdraw "out of goodwill," seeing as it's become obvious to everyone that this prolonged attrition serves no one. Honestly, that realization hit most people by the fourth day of the conflict. If they didn't manage to break Ukraine then, they certainly won't do it now.

Well, you can certainly think that...

But we've already discussed this—reparations are only ever paid by the defeated. By those who have been forced onto their knees...
Even back during the Paris negotiations regarding how the USA would pay reparations to Vietnam, they talked a big game. And did they actually pay? Not a dime!...

Nancy Gomez26 said:There are endless ways to spin this. For instance, they could agree to divert a portion of the revenue from Russian gas sales directly to Ukraine as reparations over the next decade or so. It’s all just a matter of optics. The Russians will tell their people that Western consumers are essentially footing the bill for Ukraine's reconstruction. Meanwhile, the European Union will tell its citizens that Russia is paying the damages, even if it means receiving slightly less for their gas imports. In reality, the truth will likely sit somewhere in the murky middle of those two narratives. Right now, the priority remains simple: stop the fighting and ensure Ukraine remains free. Ideally, Russia would show some cooperation and withdraw "out of goodwill," seeing as it's become obvious to everyone that this prolonged attrition serves no one. Honestly, that realization hit most people by the fourth day of the conflict. If they didn't manage to break Ukraine then, they certainly won't do it now.

That’s the ideal scenario, without question. It should happen immediately, right now!...
But, goodness, the Russian leadership making these calls is playing an entirely different movie in their heads... 😵

Nancy Gomez26 said:There are endless ways to spin this. For instance, they could agree to divert a portion of the revenue from Russian gas sales directly to Ukraine as reparations over the next decade or so. It’s all just a matter of optics. The Russians will tell their people that Western consumers are essentially footing the bill for Ukraine's reconstruction. Meanwhile, the European Union will tell its citizens that Russia is paying the damages, even if it means receiving slightly less for their gas imports. In reality, the truth will likely sit somewhere in the murky middle of those two narratives. Right now, the priority remains simple: stop the fighting and ensure Ukraine remains free. Ideally, Russia would show some cooperation and withdraw "out of goodwill," seeing as it's become obvious to everyone that this prolonged attrition serves no one. Honestly, that realization hit most people by the fourth day of the conflict. If they didn't manage to break Ukraine then, they certainly won't do it now.

This "special operation" was envisioned much like a coup in Afghanistan. Yet, here we are, watching it evolve in exactly the same direction. It seems someone simply refuses to grasp the old adage: "history is the greatest teacher"....

Timothy Stewart4 said:Exactly. Kim Jong-un, Viktor Orbán, Woody Woodpecker, Vladimir Putin, and Alexander Lukashenko—that's the benchmark for this fake "sovereignty" nonsense used by both the left and the right, and every Joe Biden or whatever else you want to throw at them.

Sent from my M2102J20SG using Reddit

Precisely, because they’re all essentially engaged in the same friendly, informal little game of rubbing each other the right way...

Goodness, look at this comment section... 🙄
Ignoring people, starting fights, spreading intolerance... is that really what you all consider positive? 🤦

"I'd much rather spend a thousand days negotiating than a single day at war!" Don't you see the wisdom in those words, especially given everything happening over in Ukraine?

And since Viktor Orbán happened to be nearby on vacation within our borders... why on earth wouldn't anyone seize the chance to meet with him, even just informally? I mean, honestly, if Kim Jong-un showed up, how much damage could a few hours of conversation over an informal dinner actually do?

Are we really so bellicose and eager for conflict—and all sorts of other nonsense—that we should just wait until we're all looking at each other from beyond the grave?

“Our Mrs. Reynolds” (S1E06)



It’s actually more of a "customized" Remington 870

Robin Jones2 said:That describes the entire Republican Party.

In 1990, they pivoted from being socialists to suddenly becoming "patriots."

They transformed from bottom-feeders into "respectable citizens."

And those former barroom philosophers morphed into devout "believers."

It was actually captured perfectly a long time ago: Viktor Orbán: Private vices, public virtues

Maybe we should be asking ourselves what kind of society can actually be run by such lowlifes? How long can this go on, and is there ever an end to it?...
The saying (Joseph de Maistre): "Every nation gets the government it deserves" feels like an undeniable truth, a mirror held up to our society, our community, our entire country... yesterday, today, and tomorrow...

Richard Wilson4 said:That was way back in 2015.

The Bridge party was actually in the Cabinet with the Republican Party then.

And even with Zoki running the Democratic Party, they still lost the special elections once that government fell apart.

So how do you explain 2016?

Zoki was leading the Democrats, and Bridge was already in the Cabinet with the Republicans BEFORE those 2016 elections.

So why on earth did Zoki lose in 2016?

Mike, did you lose your train of thought somewhere along the way...?
Less fried sausage, more sautéed greens...

April 27, 2017. 9:06 PM.
Biden's decision to oust those three ministers from the Republican Party effectively severs any remaining cooperation with the "messiahs"...By dismissively labeling those within his own ranks as mere obstacles to progress, he actually managed to solidify his grip on the party... It’s almost as if Donald Trump has finally stepped into his full role as the leader of the Republican Party...
With the election season heating up, it looks like the Republican Party is gearing up for a serious fight to reclaim their footing, especially as the current leadership under Donald Trump tries to navigate these increasingly turbulent political waters... It seems the internal dynamics within the party are shifting quite rapidly, leaving many to wonder how much influence the old guard will actually maintain as they face off against the changing tides of American politics... There’s a certain tension building in the air, isn't there? One can't help but feel that the upcoming shifts might fundamentally reshape how we view the party's direction for years to come...

Richard Wilson4 said:But by 2016, they weren't even close.

Plus, we had that whole mess where the Federalist Party tried to team up with the Republicans before everything fell apart.

And look, Joe Biden lost those elections regardless.

In 2015:
Republican Party 34.64%
Democratic Party 33.38%

In 2016:
Republican Party 36.56%
Democratic Party 33.47%

Give my best to Barack Obama and his little assistant... 🤣

Brenda Cook said:Go ahead and keep telling me your rosy little fairy tales.
He's harmless; he just talks nonsense and barks, but you can clearly see the results...

Exactly, and that’s precisely why the top brass of the Republican Party is acting so incredibly skittish, almost as if they’re walking on eggshells just to avoid any confrontation...

Gerhard Schröder: I won't apologize for my friendship with Vladimir Putin.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy: That is disgusting

Option 1: Schröder is just a jerk who hates Ukrainians but really wants some warmth this winter
Option 2: Schröder clearly knows more than the rest of us (including Zelenskyy)
Option 3: Schröder is honestly just an absolute disgrace, not even worth a comment...

Is there any other way to look at this?

Zelenskyy requested a meeting with the Chinese leader
Ukraine is seeking a chance to speak directly with Xi Jinping to help bring the war with Russia to an end, according to Zelenskyy's comments to The Wall Street Journal.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, the Ukrainian leader called on China to leverage its massive political and economic influence over Russia to help stop the fighting.

And here I was thinking that only Republicans were obsessed with this kind of thing... 🕺

I suppose the Russia-Ukraine war is serving as a sort of "field trip" for the Chinese, where they can see firsthand how the global "system" actually operates in real-time...

Roy said:You aren't even trying. When I sent you those two links, you didn't bother clicking either one, despite the fact that there is an absolute mountain of information available online about this whole situation, yet here you are playing the role of some detached UN peacekeeper. Well, best of luck with that approach...

I actually still hold you in high enough regard to consider you a serious conversationalist, so I went ahead and looked at both of them, along with the comments underneath... and, once again, it's just a massive pile of speculation and hearsay... Twitter as always.

Kate Cook27 said:Mistakes happen, sure. In this case? It's tough to buy. Why? Because this place has been marked as "Izolyatsiia"—a network of prisons across occupied Donetsk and Luhansk where prisoners and civilians are held—for years. No one picks a location like this just two days before an attack; it’s been a prison for a long time.

The timeline from the other side, though:
- A few days before the attack, interviews are released with captured Azov members where they admit to crimes against civilians and blame the government in Kyiv for ordering them.
- Occasionally, news slips through that certain mercenaries have already been executed—basically, that the sentences were carried out—noting they were prisoners from Mariupol.
- A couple of days before the event, propaganda media gather residents from Mariupol to film them; in these clips, locals talk about the atrocities committed by the Azov guys.
- Some were at different locations in Donetsk, and posts start appearing in groups saying prisoners are being moved.
- A few hours before the strike, militants in a DPR group post that they are firing from the direction of Olenivka toward Ukrainian positions, but there's no response. They don't post anything else after that.
- Then, the explosion-event at the prison.
- People are posting about explosions in various groups, but most mention there was no characteristic sound of a rocket flying overhead—just the blast itself.
- Medics later report that everyone inside was either wounded or killed.
- The next day, reporter Morozov reports that following the Ukrainian strike on the prison, about 50 were killed and 70 wounded—and by some lucky coincidence, not a single guard was hit or killed.

The Russians only seem to care about the captured Chechens; during prisoner swaps, they only look for them. Other national minorities don't interest them, and they care even less about the DPR and LPR soldiers.

That’s how it all stands.

Did I ever actually claim my hypothesis was the absolute truth? No, not at all. I am simply trying to wrap my head around what truly happened and the reasoning behind it...

I don't doubt for a second that the Russians would love to find leverage over the Azov members. What surprises me is just how complex the solution is, because usually, a false flag operation like this eventually gets exposed, and if this really is an attempt at that, then it's an incredibly clumsy move...