Politics

[atrious]

 

[atrious]

 

[atrious]

 

[atrious]

 

[deewayne2003]

So you are now safer at a Christmas parade in El Salvador than in Europe.......

 

[spike.t]

Non stop shit

China holds military drills around Taiwan as warning to 'separatist forces'

The drills come days after the US announced the sale of one of its largest weapons packages to Taiwan.

www.bbc.com

 

[Brent in Az]

Zelnskyy disrespected Trump on multiple occasions, and now he's on Trump's shit list. Trump controls the strings in that deal.
Maybe the geniuses of the EU can scrounge up the balls to fill the void that Trump's so called "incompetence", has left in the Ukrainian theater?

Bueller? ........Bueller?.......

The Ukraine is the most corrupt of the eastern Europe countries. I hope the country can be saved for the people, and I hope the political leadership crash & burns.

At the end of the day, it's really not Trump's, or the USA's, responsibility to play referee.

For those unhappy about the situation, maybe you should call up Joe Biden......the weak worthless grifter, who's presidency collateraly started this war.
Maybe Joe can fix things to the satisfaction of the anti Trump mob? Maybe some taxpayers don't mind being robbed.

Just another excuse for the anti Trump crybabies of the world to wail about something Trump, is, or isn't, doing.

 

[fourfive8]

The Dems in Santa Fe and Washington also successfully buried this little nugget with help of complicit media. Like Epstein, Bill Richardson took many secrets with him.

 

[spike.t]

Mote on labour fkn up the UK...

Access Restricted

 

[Boyd Brooks]

Mote on labour fkn up the UK...

Access Restricted

Could you give us the Coles notes, as it requires a subscription to view here.

 

[deewayne2003]

While I think a convicted pedo deserves the worst fate possible, the problem with Gitmo is that it’s reserved for enemy combatants and doesn’t afford certain US constitutional protections..

Step one would be stripping a convicted pedo of US Citizenship… after that MAYBE you could get away with sending them to Gitmo..

All of that said.. it’s not really necessary…

There is a code among hardened criminals… one of the “rules” is there is no tolerance for “short eyes”… one thing many lifers have in common is they had young children when they got locked up…and they are protective of those kids..

The solution is simple… put pedos in max security facilities and put them in gen pop.. stop putting them within the protected population or in isolation..

Once the lifers find out there is a pedo among them.. that pedo will experience every imaginable hell on earth from that day until his day of release, or until they kill him (which won’t come quickly, painlessly, or with any mercy),,

I came across this video today and it made me think of @mdwest post.

If you have 6 spare minutes and want to hear the philosophy of a true "convict" inside a maximum security prison.....

 

[Red Leg]

Zelnskyy disrespected Trump on multiple occasions, and now he's on Trump's shit list. Trump controls the strings in that deal.
Maybe the geniuses of the EU can scrounge up the balls to fill the void that Trump's so called "incompetence", has left in the Ukrainian theater?

Bueller? ........Bueller?.......

The Ukraine is the most corrupt of the eastern Europe countries. I hope the country can be saved for the people, and I hope the political leadership crash & burns.

At the end of the day, it's really not Trump's, or the USA's, responsibility to play referee.

For those unhappy about the situation, maybe you should call up Joe Biden......the weak worthless grifter, who's presidency collateraly started this war.
Maybe Joe can fix things to the satisfaction of the anti Trump mob? Maybe some taxpayers don't mind being robbed.

Just another excuse for the anti Trump crybabies of the world to wail about something Trump, is, or isn't, doing.

Though Ukraine is hardly a bastion of uncorrupted commercial opportunity or governmental honesty, it has made meaningful strides over the last half decade as it attempts to meet EU membership requirements. There is an actual data source you can go to which lists perceived corruption of 180 nations in the world. The Corruption Perception Index (CPI) is published annually, and 2024 is most recent edition. Ukraine has a rating of 35 (higher is better) and is ranked 105 on the list. In comparison, Hungary, a darling of Tucker Carlson and the anti-Zelensky wing of the MAGA movement, has a rating of 41 and rank of 82. Not a lot of difference.

Russia has a rating of 22 and is ranked 154 on the list behind such gardens of integrity as Mozambique and Nigeria. (And the current administration would have us believe this is the sort of partner with whom we should have a strategic economic relationship.) The US has fallen to a rating of 65 which puts us number 28 on the list, behind virtually all of Western Europe, Canada, Japan, Australia, and even the UAE.

https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2024?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=15272914516&gbraid=0AAAAADud0D9Txev7NFhavrLGiKw9QwJm2&gclid=Cj0KCQiA6sjKBhCSARIsAJvYcpPxVGiXqXL9KIDIlkfXXjg_vzYJ5UxVIu8n86_ffqt_ikyJv7C77AsaApcbEALw_wcB

 

[Boyd Brooks]

Though Ukraine is hardly a bastion of uncorrupted commercial opportunity or governmental honesty, it has made meaningful strides over the last half decade as it attempts to meet EU membership requirements. There is an actual data source you can go to which lists perceived corruption of 180 nations in the world. The Corruption Perception Index (CPI) is published annually, and 2024 is most recent edition. Ukraine has a rating of 35 (higher is better) and is ranked 105 on the list. In comparison, Hungary, a darling of Tucker Carlson and the anti-Zelensky wing of the MAGA movement, has a rating of 41 and rank of 82. Not a lot of difference.

Russia has a rating of 22 and is ranked 154 on the list behind such gardens of integrity as Mozambique and Nigeria. (And the current administration would have us believe this is the sort of partner with whom we should have a strategic economic relationship.) The US has fallen to a rating of 65 which puts us number 28 on the list, behind virtually all of Western Europe, Canada, Japan, Australia, and even the UAE.

https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2024?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=15272914516&gbraid=0AAAAADud0D9Txev7NFhavrLGiKw9QwJm2&gclid=Cj0KCQiA6sjKBhCSARIsAJvYcpPxVGiXqXL9KIDIlkfXXjg_vzYJ5UxVIu8n86_ffqt_ikyJv7C77AsaApcbEALw_wcB

They must have asked all the Liberal insiders in Canada for their opinion. The way the Liberals funnel Canadians tax dollars to their friends and business interests is probably closer to Russia than any other country on the list.

 

[mdwest]

I came across this video today and it made me think of @mdwest post.

If you have 6 spare minutes and want to hear the philosophy of a true "convict" inside a maximum security prison.....

Sex offenders are 15% of the prison population in California... but account for 30% of the people murdered in prison in CA for example (and thats general sex offenses that includes offenses against adults)..

most child sex offenders face prison justice very quickly once word gets out among the population if the prison doesnt take pretty extreme measures to protect them (isolate them or only allow them to be housed with other sex offenders, etc)...

but even that doesnt always work... using CA as an example again... CA started housing sex offenders separately from other inmates a little over 20 years ago as a matter of practice in all of their state prisons... and yet the sex offenders get killed (and raped, and beaten, and everything else) at a rate double that of all other prisoners..

In other states the stats are a good bit higher..

"Short Eyes" is right up there with being a former cop or a high level informant... it simply isnt tolerated in prisons... if youre any of the above and the prison doesnt go well out of its way to afford you additional protection... youre a dead man walking...

 

[Brent in Az]

Putin will never honor any deal.
There's only 2 ways to end that war.

1. Putin gets what he wants
2. Foreign troop's and heavy hardware join the fray and pound Russia's army into oblivion or retreat.

 

[mdwest]

Putin will never honor any deal.
There's only 2 ways to end that war.

1. Putin gets what he wants
2. Foreign troop's and heavy hardware join the fray and pound Russia's army into oblivion or retreat.

The real question that needs to be answered is what is it that we want? Thats where there seems to be confusion..

What Z wants and what Putin want really shouldnt matter to the US (or the EU or anyone else honestly).. what should matter is what we (and the EU, and NATO, etc) all think is in our strategic interest...

Its estimated that the war has cost the Russians between $1.3T and $1.69T in GDP so far, depending on which source you believe.. Russia supposedly has experienced 21% inflation and is starting to see a "brain drain" as educated people and professionals have left the country in notable numbers... theyve lost $10B in arms sales globally.. and obviously their military hardware has been drained by huge numbers..

With Russia being our noted enemy for the better part of the last 75+ years.. all of the above would appear good, and in our strategic interest..

so as long as Russia isnt rapidly advancing and is continuing to cost themselves trillons, create devistating inflation, and decimating their military hardware.. maybe we would like them to continue down that same path for a bit longer?

but.. at what cost? and is that cost in our strategic interest? and is the trade off between the two worth it?

While I find no joy in young men getting thrown into a meat grinder, no matter what their nationality is.. the equation related to what is best for the US in all of this is incredibly complex.. and unfortunately, it might require tens of thousands more Ukrainian and Russian soldiers perishing, and several more years of fighting before it all gets figured out...

I wont begin to pretend that I know what the best answer is... On one hand I'd love to see Ukraine fully restored tomorrow and the Russians be forced to pull back to Moscow with their tails between their legs and spend the next 10+ years licking their wounds and having to focus on recovering their economy, and rebuilding their war machines before having to think twice about them on the world stage again..

But on the other hand.. I wonder if its not better for the US (and Europe for that matter) to keep the Russians pre-occupied for another 2-3 years.. let them continue to drain their population of smart and experienced people.. continue to run inflation at insane levels until the economy just collapses on itself.. and let them lose another 5 or 6 war ships and another 50 aircraft that all have to be replaced.. and essentially remove them as a "near peer" threat for 20-30 years (or perhaps forever).. leaving us only needing to focus on the Chinese for the forseeable future..

Where the balance point between the two is, and why.. I dont know...

I do love the idea that one of the major BRICS players isnt nearly as "major" as it once was.. and that its going to be a long while before it matters again though.. no matter which final direction is taken..

 

[Scott CWO]

Zelnskyy disrespected Trump on multiple occasions, and now he's on Trump's shit list. Trump controls the strings in that deal.
Maybe the geniuses of the EU can scrounge up the balls to fill the void that Trump's so called "incompetence", has left in the Ukrainian theater?

Bueller? ........Bueller?.......

The Ukraine is the most corrupt of the eastern Europe countries. I hope the country can be saved for the people, and I hope the political leadership crash & burns.

At the end of the day, it's really not Trump's, or the USA's, responsibility to play referee.

For those unhappy about the situation, maybe you should call up Joe Biden......the weak worthless grifter, who's presidency collateraly started this war.
Maybe Joe can fix things to the satisfaction of the anti Trump mob? Maybe some taxpayers don't mind being robbed.

Just another excuse for the anti Trump crybabies of the world to wail about something Trump, is, or isn't, doing.

I’m not anti-Trump. I like most of his policies. Many are awesome. His handling of Putin is not one of them.

 

[bowjijohn]

Putin’s residence reportedly attacked by drones

Either by Ukraine or a deliberate own goal

Either way Putin using it as an excuse to put a spanner in the talks

 

[WAB]

I’m not anti-Trump. I like most of his policies. Many are awesome. His handling of Putin is not one of them.

Agreed. He has done some things well. His handling of foreign trade and Ukraine are not on the positive side of the ledger for me.

 

[spike.t]

Could you give us the Coles notes, as it requires a subscription to view here.

Strange....didn't ask me here....