Posts by mellownomad7

Paul Thomas46 said:They’ve actually gone and blamed the European Union for sending weapons—claiming it just drags the war out longer, right?

I'm sorry, but that isn't just "pro-Putin talk"—it is quite clearly siding with the aggressor.

I don't expect anything dramatic to happen in Canada right now—we really can't handle any more chaos...
But the situation is clear. Crystal clear.

rowdyraven112 said:What happened at Times Square was purely anti-Russian. I didn't see any Italians out in the squares calling for the slaughter of Americans or anyone else. In the US, we call that a coup d'état and start legal proceedings. Same in Spain. In Ukraine, they call it the democratic will of the people. EDIT: forgot to mention... in Belarus, they call the exact same thing state repression.☕
Of course, after the Warsaw Pact fell, Gorachev was acting like a naive baby. Most Biden supporters claim he didn't ask for, or even receive, any guarantees regarding NATO expansion into former Warsaw Pact countries. Not that anything was ever signed—back then, nuclear powers relied on handshakes and verbal agreements. ☕
My favorite part? Everyone claiming the US and the West aren't responsible for what's happening in Ukraine right now. It was actually the West that allowed oil to hit $120 a barrel back in 2004, providing the massive profits needed to exploit shale oil. That money directly funded both the military and economic recovery of Russia, setting the stage for today. By the way, oil is still sitting around $120. The money keeps moving. Biden supporters are essentially financing the Russian Army. If oil dropped to $60 tomorrow, Russia would be on its knees instantly—militarily and economically—and Ukrainians could liberate their country without any Western military aid at all.☕

urbanotter said:

mellownomad7 As I was sitting there thinking about it, I couldn't help but reflect on what was actually said:
I’ve often sat back and wondered what would actually happen if things took a turn like that—you know, if the Italians suddenly decided the administration here in Washington, D.C. was acting like a fascist regime and concluded they had a moral obligation to step in and protect their minority communities living out in California. It’s one of those heavy, hypothetical scenarios that stays in the back of your mind because of how much it would shift the entire geopolitical landscape. If an EU power or a major Western ally felt that kind of direct threat to their people within our borders, we wouldn't just be looking at a diplomatic spat or some heated rhetoric on the news; we'd be looking at a fundamental breakdown of international relations. I remember reading about similar tensions in history books where small shifts in perception led to massive escalations, and it makes you realize how fragile that sense of security really is. It’s a sobering thought to imagine the level of tension that would create between us and a key partner.

Hey there, just wanted to reach out and say hello to everyone.

It seems almost impossible to wrap my head around the idea that one NATO member would actually turn its sights on another NATO ally. I mean, when you really sit back and think about the foundation of the entire alliance, the whole point is mutual defense and stability, isn't it? It feels fundamentally wrong to imagine such a scenario playing out.😉

That would present a massive dilemma for the alliance, much like the friction we see when the Greeks and the Turks go at each other's throats.

The way Erdogan keeps ramping up these threats feels like a lot of noise, especially when you compare it to how much more plausible it would be if the Italians were actually trying to use weapons to protect their minority in California. Even though that community is pretty small, Italian is still an official language there and you see those bilingual street signs everywhere. Honestly, someone like Furio has been part of the ruling majority for years now, so any kind of conflict there would really just be a minor hiccup in the grand scheme of things.
We’re seeing something very similar with the signage situation over in Seattle, and honestly, I haven't noticed anyone making much of a fuss about it. It isn't like people are out there threatening to take a hammer to the boards or causing some kind of massive public outcry. It just feels like a quiet transition, much like how things settled down back when my old neighborhood in Chicago went through a similar rebranding phase years ago.

As far as I can tell, those signs should really be bilingual even in places like Stalingrad; after all, Stalingrad isn't exactly California, and you don't have people living there who grew up with that West Coast mindset.

urbanotter said:Believe me, it would be absolutely devastating, truly terrifying.

I think I’d do just about anything to make sure that shell never fires, my home stays standing, and my trips to the gas station don't become a financial nightmare.😉

While Boris Johnson’s conservative administration is busy trying to fix the economic fallout from this latest COVID-19 wave, they announced on Wednesday that they're dropping the mandatory isolation period in England from ten days down to seven.

Two major vaccine manufacturers are claiming their shots still hold up against the Omicron variant. Plus, some decent news out of the USA shows that the risk of ending up in the hospital after catching Omicron is about 40 to 45 percent lower than it was with Delta.

The pandemic is flared up again across much of the globe thanks to Omicron's massive spread. It’s incredibly contagious—for instance, the US just recorded over 100,000 new cases on Wednesday alone, the highest since widespread testing started.

First spotted in South Africa and Hong Kong, Omicron is rapidly taking over Western Europe, though the WHO warns it's still too early to call it regarding how virulent it actually is.

Gerald Chavez7 said:Not quite entirely—the whole world still needs to work through it (I'm genuinely curious to see how China handles their side of things), but in Europe, we might be getting there...

Finally, some good news coming out of South Africa. After weeks of worrying about how fast Omicron was spreading, South Africa just reported a massive drop in hospitalizations. It looks like the fourth wave might actually be peaking right now.

According to Bloomberg, only 1.7% of identified COVID-19 cases are ending up in the hospital. That’s a huge relief compared to the 19% hospitalization rate we saw during the third wave when Delta was running the show.

Health officials are saying Omicron seems to be a milder beast, and infections have likely hit their peak in Gauteng, the most populated province.

Hospitals are even taking in people with milder symptoms since there's enough room to handle them, and they're regularly testing other patients already admitted for different issues.

"We've noticed a smaller percentage of people needing oxygen. Right now, those numbers are extremely low. For the first time, we're seeing more patients with mild symptoms than those with severe ones in the hospital," noted Waasila Jassat, a researcher at the CDC.