Posts by gentlestag15

driftingtinker said:So, out in my little corner of the sticks, they skipped the mixed trash pickup yesterday. It’s a total mess because the last time anyone bothered to empty our bins was way back during the last scheduled run on Thursday. Around 3 PM, some posts started popping up on the local community Facebook group saying they actually did go around and empty the big dumpsters near those apartment complexes where the trucks can easily get to 😉

Fast forward to about 10 PM—pitch black, nobody else out on the streets, just us. Everyone’s wandering around clutching a trash bag, hanging out, trading insults with the apartment dwellers whose dumpsters are basically getting bombarded right now. Dogs are running around playing... I guess all we're missing is a literal cauldron and a merry-go-round to make the whole scene complete 😬

They haven't picked up my trash for the second Friday in a row. Looks like they slashed the service from twice a week down to once, though who knows what the deal is.
My bin has been sitting out on the curb since Friday.

driftingtinker said:For me, this is the second time I'm seeing this pattern. Most of the critics didn't even bother noticing the utility failures or how much of a mess the city has become until after Tomašević won.

I can't remember a single time in the fifteen years I've been managing the bills, bins, and all that nonsense at home where they missed the mixed waste pickup.

Christian Torres3 said:In theory, sure, it was non-nationalistic—the name "Soviet Union" practically screams that it wasn't about any specific nation. But let's be real: communism *needs* enemies to function, so they just branded entire nations as the enemy to keep the momentum going.

Look, theory is one thing, but reality is a different beast.
Pretty much every nation that had the chance jumped ship from the Soviet Union the second it collapsed, trading those old ties for a closer relationship with their Russian neighbors.

View on twitter
There's actually a statue of Putin in Saint Petersburg designed to look like the Roman Emperor Augustus. 🤦
Some group actually decided to go out and spit right in the emperor's face.

Jessica Peterson2 said:It appears I fall into that category of "wise guys," because I’m going to maintain that the very concept of communism was inherently anational. A massive collection of communists, secret police, prison guards, and low-level thugs—many of whom were of Jewish, Georgian, Ukrainian, Armenian, and so on, descent—held the reins, while the Russian ethnicity itself still lacks any distinct entity within the Russian Federation today.🙄
P.S. Glory to Ukraine!

Maybe communism was supposed to be non-nationalistic, but let’s be real—it went out of its way to target specific groups based on their ethnicity, and honestly, there were some pretty heavy elements of genocide involved in that whole mess.
Let's take a second to look back at the dozens of different ethnic groups that were slapped with blacklists by the Communists.

The Deportation of Koreans in the Soviet Union Koreans Back in the Soviet Union, there was this massive operation that started being planned around 1926, got moving in 1930, and really hit its stride by 1937. It actually stands as the first time the Soviet Union ever pulled off a mass relocation of an entire nationality. We're talking about almost the entire Soviet population of ethnic Koreans—about 171,781 people—who were basically uprooted and forced out of the Russian Far East to live in the empty stretches of the Kazakh SSR and the Uzbek regions.
When you take a long look at the whole era of Stalin's rule, you can basically check off a list: Poles (1939–1941 and 1944–1945)Norwegians (1940–1942), Romanians (1941 and 1944–1953)Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians (1941 and 1945–1949), Volga Germans(1941–1945), Ingrian Finns (1929–1931 and 1935–1939), Looking back at the history of the Finns living in Karelia, you realize how much shifts when borders start moving around. It’s one of those historical footnotes that actually carries a lot of weight if you stop to think about it. (1940–1941, 1944), Crimean Tatars, Crimean Greeks(1944) and Caucasus Greeks (1949–50), Kalmyks, Balkars, Italians of Crimea, Karachays, Meskhetian Turks, Karapapaks, and Far East Koreans. (1937), Chechens and Ingushs Back around 1944, things got incredibly dark. Shortly before, during, and immediately after WWII, Stalin carried out these massive, sweeping deportations that basically redrew the entire ethnic landscape of the Soviet Union. We're talking about a scale that's hard to wrap your head around—estimates suggest that between 1941 and 1949, nearly 3.3 million people were forcibly moved to Siberia and Central Asia. To make matters even worse, some researchers estimate that as many as 43% of those resettled didn't make it, dying from disease and malnutrition. It was a total catastrophe.

The history of how different groups were moved around within the Soviet Union is pretty heavy stuff. If you look at the massive shifts in demographics that happened under Stalin's rule, it wasn't just random; it was systematic. You have cases like the Deportation of Koreans in the Soviet Union, which affected almost the entire Soviet population of ethnic Koreans. It’s wild to think about how much the map changed because of those decisions. When you dig into the specifics of what happened during that era, you can see patterns involving various groups—Poles, Kazakh SSR and the Uzbek looking at the entire period of Stalin's rule, one can list: Poles, along with others like the Volga Germans, Ingrian Finns, and even the Crimean Tatars and Crimean Greeks. Then there were the Kalmyks, Balkars, Karachays, and Meskhetian Turks, not to mention the Far East Koreans. It basically touched everyone from the Caucasus Greeks to the Chechens and Ingushs. A lot of this tension and movement was happening shortly before, during and immediately after World War II, especially in places like Siberia and Central Asia or deep in the Russian Far East. It really shows how much the government could reshape an entire continent's identity just by moving people from point A to point B. It's some dark, complicated history, but it explains so much about why things are the way they are today.

rowdytiger13 said:If I were following pro-Russian logic, I'd say China and NATO are going to fight until the last Russian is gone. But clearly, the Russian invasion of Ukraine served its purpose: it successfully diverted global attention away from China, and quite effectively at that. Does anyone actually remember the formation of AUKUS? Or Biden's statements about how the USA will militarily defend Taiwan? He never once made a similar commitment for Ukraine... if anything, he emphasized that there wouldn't be direct military involvement.

The Chinese don't stand a chance near Taiwan right now.
They'd have to move a million—maybe even several million—soldiers over to an island 62 miles far off their coast
and Taiwan actually maintains one of the most modern militaries on the planet.
As it stands, this all feels like a lot of posturing without any actual threat.

Sam Wright21 said:Since Friday? It's Monday now—that's three days of waiting.

They were supposed to clear the trash on Friday and they just didn't.
Three days behind schedule, so I have to wonder when they actually plan on showing up.

rowdytinker3 said:Who's actually in charge of cleaning up carcasses on the street? There’s a dead cat in my neighborhood that’s been baking in the sun for three days now.

Just grab a bag, pick it up, and toss it in the trash.
I recently found a pigeon on our local subway platform in the exact same state—just a magnet for flies and ants.

My trash hasn't been picked up since Friday; hopefully, they show up tomorrow per the usual schedule.
If they miss it again, I’m honestly going to start stacking black garbage bags next to the bin out on the curb (not like I really have a choice).

So I was catching up with this guy whose cousin works for the Sanitation Department, and apparently, they’ve been grinding like absolute slaves for two months straight without even a single day off. They brought on 23 new hires recently, but 19 of them quit within five days of starting. Honestly, he’s betting that the remaining four won't last much longer either.
If things don't turn around fast, we're looking at a total garbage meltdown in New York City.

Charles Clark3 said:A buddy of mine over at Berkshire Hathaway mentioned that about twenty drivers and another twenty staff members from the Sanitation Department quit today. Apparently, they were all waiting for their bonuses or vacation pay to hit ( $833 ) before walking out. Honestly, the current trash issues in New York City are nothing compared to the mess we'll be facing once everyone actually finishes their notice periods and leaves. I just hope we don't end up looking like Naples. Does anyone know if New York City is allowed to hire foreign workers? I really don't see any other way out—unless we start paying these truck drivers 10 $0.00 times what they make now.

My trash was supposed to be picked up this morning, but my bin is still sitting there full on the curb
clearly those resignations are the cause; hopefully the new crew shows up soon because I'm just leaving this bin out until they deal with it
this is the first time I can actually remember them missing a pickup, looks like total chaos at the Sanitation Department

The Americans are sending

-11 Mi-17 helicopters
- 18 155mm howitzers along with 40,000 shells
- 300 Switchblade loitering munitions
- 2 AN/MPQ-64 Sentinel Air Surveillance Radars
- 10 AN/TPQ-36 Firefinder Weapon-Locating radar
- 200 M113 APCs
- 100 HMMWV IMVs
-500 Javelin
That number of 200 M113 APCs really jumps out at me; I mean, who exactly is going to be using those for the Ukrainians?

Looking back, about 20-something Czech Dana 152mm howitzers and 20 of those Czech RM 70 Vampir armored vehicles made it into Ukraine before this.

wiredseal7 said:Where'd I get this?
https://www.statista.com/statistics/...-of-palladium/
South Africa is basically our saving grace here; otherwise, Russia would pretty much have a monopoly.

Using the exact same page you used
https://www.statista.com/statistics/...ing-countries/

Andrew Miller102 said:If that’s the point you're making, then "you also have to consider that most people are completely oblivious to those lesser-known but unfortunately vital or irreplaceable raw materials". We aren't talking about oil or gas here; if you want the specifics, check out the links below.☕

Look, Neon comes about 70% from Ukraine, so I'm not sure how much that actually ties into sanctions against Russia.

Meanwhile, regarding Palladium exports:
Russia is at $6.4 billion
United Kingdom is at $5.4 billion
USA is at $5.4 billion
Italy, Germany, and Belgium are around $2 billion each

Europe has plenty of Palladium available, but Neon doesn't depend on sanctions—it depends on Russian bombs.

coastalbison6 said:Putin just confirmed it—starting tomorrow, they're only taking rubles for gas.

He's basically just digging his own grave with these sanctions.👍

driftingtinker said:Like I said before, if lonetrucker4 decides to bail, that whole subforum is pretty much dead in the water anyway.

It’s that classic "you can't fire me, I quit" energy—the kind where you tell your boss nobody else could ever do your job, and deep down, you know they're right.
I'm pretty certain they'd just post a job opening on the subforum
to scout out maybe five or ten potential mods.
Given everything he’s contributed and the sheer amount of work he’s put into this place, finding a replacement wouldn't be hard at all.
The problem isn't finding someone; it's that nobody actually wants to bother doing the work to make it happen.

driftingtinker said:Honestly, I doubt we’ll ever find another mod who could actually handle this kind of constant, years-long harassment. If my colleague finally just snaps one of these days, there’s really no other option but to shut that subforum down entirely.

Honestly, I have no clue who’s harassing whom. In my view, he’s the one doing the bullying by pushing his own agenda and handing out bans or warnings to anyone who doesn't worship at the altar of his specific worldview.
He starts slapping labels like "fascist" or "revisionist" on people left and right—man, he’s completely missed the mark on this one.

I’m not sure if Nica is actually trying to stick up for lonetrucker4, but honestly, having a moderator like that on the team—someone who just radiates pure chauvinism and carries this blatant hostility toward people from the Midwest, conservatives, religious folks, you name it—is straight-up masochistic on the part of the site owner. It’s completely irrational.
I really have to wonder why they even put up with him.
Either they’re buddies in real life or they’re totally on the same page with his views; there isn't any other logical explanation.

lonetrucker4 said:Yeah. And Jonathan Wright2 actually launched this massive campaign to get me removed because he just couldn't wrap his head around the concept of an "accurate quote." He thinks if he perceives something a certain way, it shouldn't be presented as what's actually written in a historical source. 🤦 (He’ll probably come back with a wall of text, but honestly, there's been a mountain of his complaints over the last year scattered across different threads).

Don't get too excited; you've basically driven most of the regular users away with all your nonsense.
If I actually felt any sense of responsibility toward this forum, I'd step down voluntarily.
But clearly, I don't, so this disastrous way of handling PDF history is going to keep on rolling. Why the owner puts up with it is a real mystery.

Christian Myers said:If there’s one thing that actually makes me happy about Reddit shutting down, it’s knowing I won't have to deal with people worshiping St. Thomas anymore. Or the constant trolling from those little attention-seekers. It’s wild how his posts stay up while basically every single thing he writes is just pure provocation.

The issue isn't even the fanboys praising St. Thomas; it's that anyone who dares to criticize Tomic gets their posts nuked or gets banned entirely. Meanwhile, his inner circle can get away with insults, trolling, and straight-up propaganda without any consequences.
They might as well just update the community guidelines to state that this site is nothing more than an official mouthpiece for the Progressive Party and that any dissent is strictly prohibited.
That would pretty much wrap it all up.

Charles Fox10 said:It’s actually two, not one, and honestly, don't listen to brightsailor17 because he clearly doesn't

just some naive kid who hasn't spent a single second working in the actual real world.

I can't even imagine how you'd rephrase this without losing the point entirely.

naive/inexperienced and zero experience in the real sector

is incredibly easy to spin differently

so what actually makes that post different from, say, this one tonight that isn't getting deleted?

gromukoprive said:But I’m talking about the actual overseers behind Milan Bandić—pripuz, Jelavić, and the rest of that crew...

They used to just walk right into his office, slap him around, and treat him like dirt... like he was nothing more than their own damn dog.

granitefox16 said:Hey there 👋

Quick question for this private forum where the mods have total control over what gets deleted—which was the deal I signed up for when I registered:

Politics, political scene subforum, thread regarding Tomislav Tomašević. Can someone explain why my last post got nuked? If it’s not too much to ask, could you just restore it here and maybe point out exactly where I went wrong? I'm a little slow on the uptake. All my other posts were just one sentence long with two emojis, so I'm genuinely confused about what was so problematic in that specific on-topic post.

Thanks and hugs to everyone
👋

Honestly, you dodged a bullet. About seven or eight people have been banned from this thread already, myself included.
(got banned without any explanation of who did it or why)
It's funny how everyone getting banned happens to be a critic of TT, while nobody from the camp defending him or his party seems to be catching any bans. I'm sure our dear moderation team will claim this isn't censorship.
O YEAA 🙏
They've clearly tightened the rules on this topic just to protect the dignity of the Tomica Quote.

Constructive criticism is obviously allowed—actually, it's encouraged—but we're talking about reasoned arguments here, not just mindless shouting. You really need to watch yourselves on this one because TT isn't some uneducated, lazy nobody. Since he was elected by the citizens of Washington, D.C., he has absolute legitimacy, and it's pretty disrespectful to question the intelligence of the voters.

Being a supporter is fine, but blind cheering without any substance is basically just trolling. It serves no purpose since TT isn't some walking, breathing deity.

If that's the case, why haven't they implemented these same strict rules for other politicians, like Andrej Plenković? 🤔

Anyone got anything?
I’ve seen the verdict, but I haven't laid eyes on the indictment or even met the judge yet.
What is this PDF even doing here?
Just another way to sell us a bunch of smoke and mirrors under the guise of "transparency"?

So I just got slapped with a ban, though it doesn't say which moderator did it or even what I actually did wrong

The ban explanation basically says

You have been banned for the following reason:
No reason was specified.

Date the ban will be lifted: 10/12/2021, 3:00 PM

I'm looking for some clarification here.