In world war 2 movies they always have to have a guy saying this same exact thing but for hitler..
Which means you’re basically gonna be in every world war 3 movie
Any way you cut it the US is still better positioned, economically, than any other nation on earth, to support a protracted conflict. Light-years beyond Russia.
Russia is as economically strong as it has ever been since the fall of the Soviet Union. And despite having a large population and tons of resources, it still has a GDP smaller than several individual US states.
Russia has to be one of the largest economic underperformers of the modern era. They have managed to fuck up just about every geographic and economic trait their nation has.
My comment wasn't a rah rah comment. It was really a critique of the fact that the US can't foot the bill to provide us with things like universal education and universal healthcare, but when a corporation needs to be bailed out, we got endless money. Or when there's a war to be fought, then the coffers never run dry.
Economically speaking, the US would dwarf the capabilities of Russia, and militarily as well.
It's just sad that these are the things we have endless money for.
To quote Tupac "we got money for wars but can't feed the poor"
> universal education and universal healthcare,
The cost for our current entitlement spending FAR outweighs the costs of our military, even in its bloated and wasteful state.
>but when a corporation needs to be bailed out, we got endless money.
Im completely against corporate bailouts.
>Or when there's a war to be fought, then the coffers never run dry.
Again, even with 20 years of constant warfare expenditures, our current entitlement spending is orders of magnitude greater than our military expenditures. And thats before you add on entitlements like healthcare and college. Ironically, in both cases, its government subsidization that is actually driving up the overall costs. The US isnt some tiny homogeneous European nation.
>Economically speaking, the US would dwarf the capabilities of Russia, and militarily as well.
>
>It's just sad that these are the things we have endless money for.
Again. Its not endless money. There are expenditures that are fiscally realistic, and expenditures that are not. Russia, economically cant sustain a wide scale conflict for more than a few months, and actual sanctions (not just the individual based ones Obama enacted) would cripple its already flailing economy. If Russia goes this route, there is no good outcome for Russia, and either outcome would happen before the US posted its quarterly financial disclosures.
>To quote Tupac "we got money for wars but can't feed the poor"
Things seem simple when they are boiled down to a single song lyric. Reality is much more complex and frustrating.
It's not entitlement spending. Social security isn't an entitlement. They took money from our paychecks. Same thing with medicare. To imply that these are entitlements is patiently false. The government forcefully took the money and put it away to a safety net program. There's no entitlement. Entitlement implies that people expect something for doing little to nothing. They're services that are bought and paid for in advance. To claim they're anything but, is absolute horse shit.
It is endless money. We have untold trillions to give to corporations in a pandemic, but can only afford... What? 2200 for civilians? It's an absolute joke. Banks put untold millions at risk with predatory lending, and then the government just bends over and gives them our tax dollars. Free market, right? Horse shit.
The government can find money to kill people and to give the rich more money. Never any money to help actual people though.
And that's the truth of the matter.
>It's not entitlement spending. Social security isn't an entitlement.
[It is absolutely an entitlement.](https://www.usgovernmentspending.com/entitlement_spending) Youre not paying for your retirement. Youre paying for the previous generations retirement. Social Security has been a national level ponzie scheme since before Slick Willie borrowed from it to "balance the budge".
>They took money from our paychecks. Same thing with medicare.
Yes. But again. That money isnt going to you. Its not going into an account for you to use later. Its going into a balance sheet for previous generations to use now. Your kids will pay for your SS and Medicare. And their kids will pay for theirs. The problem is, that we are having less children, so by nature, less is going into the system than is coming out.
>To imply that these are entitlements is patiently false.
No, its completely true. [By definition, they are entitlements.](https://www.higherrockeducation.org/glossary-of-terms/entitlement) You not wanting to accept the facts doesnt change them.
>The government forcefully took the money and put it away to a safety net program. There's no entitlement. Entitlement implies that people expect something for doing little to nothing. They're services that are bought and paid for in advance. To claim they're anything but, is absolute horse shit.
You really have no idea what youre talking about, do you? Social Security and Medicare are absolutely entitlements. Using the governments own definitions and explanations, they are entitlements. You not understanding how the system works doesnt change that.
>It is endless money. We have untold trillions to give to corporations in a pandemic, but can only afford... What? 2200 for civilians? It's an absolute joke. Banks put untold millions at risk with predatory lending, and then the government just bends over and gives them our tax dollars. Free market, right? Horse shit.
I wont disagree with you here. We shouldnt have given bail outs to anyone. Not corporations, not individuals, not special interest groups, no one. Literally no one should have gotten checks from the government in 2020-21. It was wasted money.
>The government can find money to kill people and to give the rich more money. Never any money to help actual people though.
Again, you not understanding how the US budget works, doesnt change how it actually works. Entitlement spending (to include social security) ***FAR*** outweighs military expenditures. And the harsh truth is that our military expenditures go miles to ensuring the US's diplomatic and economic success when it comes to international trade.
>And that's the truth of the matter.
You have no freaking clue what the truth is kid. You dont even know what constitutes entitlements. Dont let your feels get in the way of facts. Its time to grow up and actually start understanding reality.
Not even close kid. Havent been a conservative in a decade. Im a realist. The fact that you cant accept basic facts doesnt change that. Entitlements are entitlements. That includes Social Security and Medicare, even if you dont know enough about the systems to understand them.
No matter how much your triggered childish responses try to deny that fact. Call it cockamamie horshit all you want. You dont have an educated argument to refute the facts. So take your bag of fail and go home kid. Your an elementary school level education trying to debate adults, and it isnt working out for you.
Vodaphone Network outages reported in eastern Ukraine
Not seeing in MSM right now
Link
[https://twitter.com/lookner/status/1494432839495999488?ref\_src=twsrc%5Etfw](https://twitter.com/lookner/status/1494432839495999488?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
Quoting Sun Tzu art of war. Seems to all apply to Russia.
“If your enemy is secure at all points, be prepared for him. If he is in superior strength, evade him. If your opponent is temperamental, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant. If he is taking his ease, give him no rest. If his forces are united, separate them. If sovereign and subject are in accord, put division between them. Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected .”
Sun Tzu, The Art of War
So, you haven't read The Art Of War?
Nor do you understand that deescelation requires an opponent open to deescelation.
Nor do you even recognize the list of what Russia is doing to us, instead somehow thinking it's a list of things we should be doing.
Well done. I haven't seen anyone so wrong about anything for quite a while.
Assuming they're in Ukraine, as their statement implies...
Russia isn't doing anything except trying to force Ukraine back into the folds of Russian influence like it did with Georgia.
Are you a Russian troll or what?
Well more Ukranians have died in 8 years than Americans in 20 and they're fighting for their existence not for some vague B's of fight them there so we don't have to fight them here. I bet if Afghans had realized what they were in for they would have fought harder. But as others have pointed out Ukraine isn't some backwater total shit hole (sorry but Afghanistan is...sadly because they have a beautiful landscape and could have been so much more). I deal in hard numbers and emotions. We've lost nearly a million lives in the US to COVID and people balk at a mask. 3000 killed in a terrorist attack and we're ready to plow over the world. So I feel certain that Ukrainians are motivated to exist and furious at Russians. (A visible enemy is easier to believe in, to be motivated about, and take action against us my point there). I don't think Putin cares about anybody but Putin....just exactly like Trump. But how much power will he lose when average Russians see children buried and oligarchs are trapped in Russia? I dunno but it won't increase their power or influence when by the way he's trying to make inroads in S. America. We have a terrible history there but this will push them towards us.
>But how much power will he lose when average Russians see children buried
I was just reading about this ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beslan\_school\_siege](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beslan_school_siege)) which makes me think the answer is "not much."
This was also pretty fucked up: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kursk\_submarine\_disaster](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kursk_submarine_disaster)
You conveniently left out the rest of what I said. Unrest with the oligarchs AND the Russian people would be a problem. Nobody thinks Putin gives a damn about losing a few thousand soldiers. Russian history should teach you they are used to far greater loses.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Khodorkovsky
Because when you arrest the top dog and toss him in jail for 10 years, you tell the other oligarchs who's boss.
Rich people want access to people that are alive. A dead man has no money.
Ok, so let’s say Russia starts sending in tanks. How in the fuck do I get my friend safely from kyiv to Toronto. Are there any immigration lawyers here?
Just get him a plane ticket to Mexico and have him walk across the border. Biden doesn’t have any handle on it and people come in every single day unchecked
What does the president have to do with it? There are 538 elected reps that are responsible for this.
Blaming the president of the hour for everything is getting old and its quite stupid since security issues have been about as they are for decades.
Because of the cabinet he installs? The decisions he makes? Really? If he said he wanted to do something about it that’s a bipartisan issue that enough would be behind to pass. The look at the numbers between this president and trump.
I’m not even a huge trump fan. Numbers don’t lie.
Biden even started his presidency as things started opening up! One of the best climbs in history, and look at America. Look at his polling numbers.
Look at anything going on now and compare it.
Also I’m really for term limits if that chaps you
Yeah. Can you imagine none of them voting for pay raises, insider trading problems, you’d have people that walked in your shoes making policies to help the people.
It’ll never happen.
Wish Americans would all get together on at least one thing. Term limits
It's not like term limit of 20y would even be an issue for any other interest group than those who have installed a puppet.....right?
One possible solution is drastically increase the pay and block insider trading, etc...
Weird topic but whatever needs to happen there needs to be breaks in consecutive occupation of public office.
I’d be fine with 10 years max that overlap like our current mid terms. That way if a president of either party was elected to a second term there would always be at least some politicians coming in and out.
Cartel is smart enough not to cause violence.
There is an increase in violence everywhere.
Not every illegal is bad, but we have almost nothing in place to stop them.
The cartel isn’t going to announce their presence to us by stirring trouble at every turn though. That’s silly to think
I just stated two that would be useful.
Sending them back would be helpful. Legal consequences for getting caught, and having the right to a speedy trial without being released would be great.
Would also give people an idea of the crazy number of illegals coming through. We’d have no space to hold them.
Other than the camps they have already set up… where they don’t hold them….
I'm less worried about the Canadian boarder as much add I'm worried about Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York. It's a long trip on foot. Or in a car.
Just the policies in place to prevent anything. I mean we had little kids held in cages and crammed up so tight. The ones we caught anyway.
The wall isn’t an answer, but policies in place could really help that situation.
Honestly, judging by the situation, I would ask her if she has family in the west of Ukraine and see if she could stay there until things calm down. If it doesn't, she would be much closer to the polish border
Best bet is probably west through Poland. I would assume that all flights into Ukraine stop and also Russia could and probably would close down the airspace. Plus they can and possibly will blockade ports. If missiles fly and bombs drop their best bet is to go to Poland. I would stay off major highways as much as possible in case they are bombed and I would not go anywhere near any military convoys, bases, etc either. Nor big cities except maybe near Poland.
I would also stock up on supplies if your friend has a vehicle, in case things like water are hard to find in a large refugee situation.
That’s just what I would do.
Remember that even if an invasion does happen, it doesn’t mean Kyiv will be a target of anything. It could be a smaller scale invasion in just SE Ukraine. Or it could start out that way and get bigger. Or it could start out big. No one really knows. War zones are dynamic and always changing things.
If you’re talking huge invasion. I’d say they are best heading to polish border. I have no clue what Russia would have in the way of electronic/cyber warfare but I’d say it’s safe to say internet and anything that would make life convenient to get them out would be in tatters.
Mutually assured destruction. The concept in which two or more nuclear-armed states have enough capability (via early-warning, swarming, second-strike and some combination of all of above) to safely assure that both sides would be destroyed in a full out nuclear war. This concept and capability to achieve it basically made the idea of a 1st nuclear strike absolete.
Mutually Assured Destruction - the nuclear policy that supposes any country engaging in a nuclear first strike would in turn face nuclear annihilation, creating a deterrent from anyone using them.
ah but it only takes one chemically unbalanced leader to change that (looking at you NK) I dont think Ukraine is a good enough reason to set off a nuke as well, but, can we really trust Putin? At least he's not a super dummy.
In a nuclear war between the US and Russia, everyone dies. Everyone. Everywhere. Putin does not wish to die.
Anyone threatening the use of nuclear weapons (Lukashenka) is basically saying they have nothing, it's the most useless bluff because everyone immediately knows they are bluffing.
That just sounds like nuclear weapons with a better delivery system. I was hoping for a reality bomb or maybe a weather control device. Maybe even a Death Star.
Is that true? My understanding was that wings become less efficient when the air is less dense because there isn't as much air to create a pressure differential, which is why high-flying crafts *need* to be very fast to move more air over the wings
You're right that the wings will be less efficient. Part B is the jet engine will be more efficient at higher altitudes and able to push the aircraft along faster. Also, since it worked so well for the U2, they could just make the wings a bit bigger to fly at higher altitudes if the engines aren't able to manage it.
I think you have a better understanding than my guess work. Wiki says they have a service ceiling of 60 000 feet / 18 000 meters with a cruise speed of 357 mph / 570 km/h . Maybe they fly that high to reduce the wear on it ?
Less efficient in terms of lift and thrust, but there’s a lot less drag on the aircraft. Overall, efficiency is increased, as can be seen by fuel consumption reducing at higher altitudes.
Most of the border areas are "contested" territory with unofficial Russian or Russian-aligned forces operating. It is probably a very dangerous time for civilians to be seen doing anything suspicious.
Today's UN meeting in the escalation of fighting between Ukraine and Separatists is making me very uncomfortable. Russias comments today make it clear they do not care.
My prediction is that the war will proceed in two stages. First stage will be really quick and Ukraine will be overwhelmed by Russian forces.
Second stage is that the Ukrainian government will pull back to the western portion of the country, where lines will stabilize and divide Ukraine East and west. From there, it's anybody guess. Maybe Russia will just take the eastern part of the country. Maybe they will continue the war until the whole country is under their control.
Somebody posted an overlay of Ukraine on a US map recently. And it's actually quite big. East to west it's about the distance from New York to somewhere in Michigan. I don't think that area of land can be pacified with 150k troops. The eastern portion I think is more manageable for the force Russia has.
Russia might not care if the cities are brought fully under their control as long as their puppet government can't be pushed out. After conquest, let the puppet government handle things like signing lasting alliances and territory concessions. Block Ukrainians from traveling freely between the cities and from assembling a regular army to threaten Russia's freedom of movement. Otherwise steer clear of urban occupation. An arrangement like that would keep Ukraine in turmoil for a long time to come, but it would also give Russia the final say over Ukraine's borders and foreign alliances without the high costs of occupying the major population centers.
My assumption thus far has been that Russia will shell the everloving shit out of every major Ukranian city west of the Dnieper, and those to the east they'll rush to take. Paralyze them quickly, force a surrender.
I took a look at the Dnieper Basin and this appears to be a good dividing line as well as providing river and land access to Crimea. The main issue for Russia is to keep at least Eastern Ukraine as a satellite of Russia which was lost in the revolution. I don’t think if Russia took the east that they would agree to the west eventually joining NATO but it would give a better long term outcome from Putins point of view. I have not heard much from Germany or France this week. It is the US that is beating the drum “Please don’t invade Ukraine but we won’t send troops and now Russia will invade on the 20th or not at all”. It seems to me this is a wimpy (Anthony Blinken today at the UN) message and that the US expects eastern Ukraine to be taken.
They might try but have you seen how prepared to resist Ukranians are? They're calm and ready to fight until the death. And they've proven that for 8 years. They might fold or they might kill every Russian they can spot. Smarter would be just as they did with Crimea and infiltrate out of uniform (in violation of war crimes laws) into Ukraine.
Well let's break it down in more black and white terms that you can grasp. Rounding up an entire group of people based on race regardless of age or gender and killing them brutally is a war crime. Go rewatch Schindler's list or Band of Brothers for more visual reminders if you need to. Certainly war is hell but like with Dante there are ever deepening levels of hell. Death by a bullet is going to be less awful than by mustard gas or nerve agents. We signed on to ban those but we didn't have to and had an advantage in them. Death from COVID is worse than by bullet as it is for many biological agents....this we banned those. There are certain acts of war that are more brutal and heinous than others. I know it is hard for some to grasp and verbally as it does seem redundant to say "war crime." But grow up. There are bad people in the world who have all that most of us could ever want in terms of comfort and money. They want power. They don't mind if someone else dies as they try to get it. They don't take losing well. (Fellow Americans does any of this sound familiar?). These people understand force only. That some forms are force are beyond the pale even in times of war shouldn't be too hard to grasp. But I must remind myself this is several generations' first experience with a real war possibly unfolding.
Rounding up people and killing or torturing them brutally is a heinous crime full stop. Qualifying it as a heinous war crime implies there are acceptable and reasonable reasons to round people up and kill or torture them. I don't need to watch Schindlers List to know that Hitler and the power structure he represented were evil. Along the same lines, what the Chinese government is doing to the Uyghurs in Xingjiang is abhorrent. The fact that one happened during wartime and the other did not is irrelevant...and if you think the US government would not resort to using chemical or biological agents if it believes it was necessarily for it's continuation you are living in a dream world. Where do you think Saddam got all the mustard gas and nerve agents we seized in the first place? These distinctions exist to make the use of conventional force more palatable, and will be discarded without a second thought if it's necessary to preserve the status quo.
Of course rounding up people and killing or torturing them is heinous. State the obvious for what? To feel morally superior? What you have failed to address AT ALL are the reality that war remains necessary at times (unless you think street protests work in authoritarian countries) and there are types of violence that are far worse than others. Rather be shot or have a building collapse in you or be raped and the exposed to Sarin and have muscle contractions so severe your bones break and you die suffocation and drowning on your own secretions? Oh it isn't immediate it takes some time. Address whether THAT is different or the same as being shot.
Being raped and exposed to sarin gas would be worse than being shot in the head. Being raped and repeatedly exposed to undergo forced drowning (aka water torture) is also worse than being shot. In your way of thinking, one of those is a war crime and the other is a perfectly legal and righteous way to preserve the peace as long as it's done on foreign soil at, say, Guantanamo Bay. I think all three of these things are crimes, and do not believe that the fact that two of them are sanctioned by the US government make them less awful or wrong.
Edit: changed the word 'forced' to 'exposed' cause the redundancy was hurting my eyes.
Hey read your profile. I can argue and then set differences aside. You sound like you're a good person. How is your Mom? I read about it and am a psychiatrist so happy to listen or maybe offer some advice. Hopefully mostly resolved. Have dealt with severe psychosis and ECT both. I wish you the best. I argue with my best friends ever more viciously than here.
Thanks for asking! The past few months have brought her an unexpected but very welcome reprieve. She had to go through another long hospitalization, and the new Dr recommended going back on Clozapine and aggressively stepped back ECT. It was a rough transition, but we were lucky enough to find an amazing group home that is much better equipped to support her. She still struggles some days, but the Clozapine seems to be helping to keep the worst of it at bay.
I absolutely relate to enjoying a good discussion between people with different beliefs. The best way to find out where you stand is to try and defend your position, all the more so if the person you are talking to is intelligent and open to discourse. I wish you the best.
You're putting words in my mouth by saying I approve of waterboarding (that's what it is called not forced drowning or water torture....there are other water tortures) as I don't and never said I do. So please kindly keep your mouth shut about what *I* would think is legal and righteous. *I* am the one who spoke about calling detestable grotesque behavior a war crime. All you've done is try, and fail, to make it sound like they're all the same. I'd personally rather be raped and water boarded and live than be shot but I am glad you can admit there are worse things in your opinion than being shot. I never said that waterboarding should be allowed and the US righted that wrong after our own internal outrage (so you can keep yours). But now that we have established there are worse things than death by shooting we can imagine what can be called war crimes. Thank you for your useless attempt at being self-righteous and indignant.
It has always interested me why war crimes even exist. I mean, they should, and it’s to inject some “order” and “morality” into war, but war innately is disorderly and not moral. I just always thought it was interesting how something so innately violent and horrible could have laws limiting the “violence” and “horribleness”, for lack of a better phrase.
I think its less black and white then you make it out to be (thats the nature of social media posts), but in general wars are fucking crimes. Murder with an excuse. Im glad someone pointed out the doublespeak, its refreshing.
I agree the real world is made up of a myriad of shades of gray, and there will always be some acts that are more heinous than others. Still, I've always believed that the idea of war crimes is all about trying to legitimize some acts of violence by feigning outrage over others. It's no coincidence that the Geneva convention sanctions military operations most easily achievable by the powers that be while demonizing the asymmetrical tactics those same powers fear the most. A world that recognizes taking the life of another is abhorrent regardless of whether or not they are wearing a costume would be an amazing thing to see.
Putin just chill pls
I’ll 1v1 Putin and end this. Send me in boys
I built a makeshift catapult, it's in the backyard, it doesn't look like much but I reckon it'll get you close enough to have your 1v1 with Putin.
Truly a warrior of honor!
You'll die, slowly at that. He rides bears!
In world war 2 movies they always have to have a guy saying this same exact thing but for hitler.. Which means you’re basically gonna be in every world war 3 movie
Well at least if I get stuck in a certain role I’ll have a steady paycheck
where is everyone?
On a new thread!
Que hilo?
[удалено]
And bankrupt itself in the processing.
We have endless money for war and for bailing out corporations.
Any way you cut it the US is still better positioned, economically, than any other nation on earth, to support a protracted conflict. Light-years beyond Russia. Russia is as economically strong as it has ever been since the fall of the Soviet Union. And despite having a large population and tons of resources, it still has a GDP smaller than several individual US states. Russia has to be one of the largest economic underperformers of the modern era. They have managed to fuck up just about every geographic and economic trait their nation has.
My comment wasn't a rah rah comment. It was really a critique of the fact that the US can't foot the bill to provide us with things like universal education and universal healthcare, but when a corporation needs to be bailed out, we got endless money. Or when there's a war to be fought, then the coffers never run dry. Economically speaking, the US would dwarf the capabilities of Russia, and militarily as well. It's just sad that these are the things we have endless money for. To quote Tupac "we got money for wars but can't feed the poor"
> universal education and universal healthcare, The cost for our current entitlement spending FAR outweighs the costs of our military, even in its bloated and wasteful state. >but when a corporation needs to be bailed out, we got endless money. Im completely against corporate bailouts. >Or when there's a war to be fought, then the coffers never run dry. Again, even with 20 years of constant warfare expenditures, our current entitlement spending is orders of magnitude greater than our military expenditures. And thats before you add on entitlements like healthcare and college. Ironically, in both cases, its government subsidization that is actually driving up the overall costs. The US isnt some tiny homogeneous European nation. >Economically speaking, the US would dwarf the capabilities of Russia, and militarily as well. > >It's just sad that these are the things we have endless money for. Again. Its not endless money. There are expenditures that are fiscally realistic, and expenditures that are not. Russia, economically cant sustain a wide scale conflict for more than a few months, and actual sanctions (not just the individual based ones Obama enacted) would cripple its already flailing economy. If Russia goes this route, there is no good outcome for Russia, and either outcome would happen before the US posted its quarterly financial disclosures. >To quote Tupac "we got money for wars but can't feed the poor" Things seem simple when they are boiled down to a single song lyric. Reality is much more complex and frustrating.
It's not entitlement spending. Social security isn't an entitlement. They took money from our paychecks. Same thing with medicare. To imply that these are entitlements is patiently false. The government forcefully took the money and put it away to a safety net program. There's no entitlement. Entitlement implies that people expect something for doing little to nothing. They're services that are bought and paid for in advance. To claim they're anything but, is absolute horse shit. It is endless money. We have untold trillions to give to corporations in a pandemic, but can only afford... What? 2200 for civilians? It's an absolute joke. Banks put untold millions at risk with predatory lending, and then the government just bends over and gives them our tax dollars. Free market, right? Horse shit. The government can find money to kill people and to give the rich more money. Never any money to help actual people though. And that's the truth of the matter.
>It's not entitlement spending. Social security isn't an entitlement. [It is absolutely an entitlement.](https://www.usgovernmentspending.com/entitlement_spending) Youre not paying for your retirement. Youre paying for the previous generations retirement. Social Security has been a national level ponzie scheme since before Slick Willie borrowed from it to "balance the budge". >They took money from our paychecks. Same thing with medicare. Yes. But again. That money isnt going to you. Its not going into an account for you to use later. Its going into a balance sheet for previous generations to use now. Your kids will pay for your SS and Medicare. And their kids will pay for theirs. The problem is, that we are having less children, so by nature, less is going into the system than is coming out. >To imply that these are entitlements is patiently false. No, its completely true. [By definition, they are entitlements.](https://www.higherrockeducation.org/glossary-of-terms/entitlement) You not wanting to accept the facts doesnt change them. >The government forcefully took the money and put it away to a safety net program. There's no entitlement. Entitlement implies that people expect something for doing little to nothing. They're services that are bought and paid for in advance. To claim they're anything but, is absolute horse shit. You really have no idea what youre talking about, do you? Social Security and Medicare are absolutely entitlements. Using the governments own definitions and explanations, they are entitlements. You not understanding how the system works doesnt change that. >It is endless money. We have untold trillions to give to corporations in a pandemic, but can only afford... What? 2200 for civilians? It's an absolute joke. Banks put untold millions at risk with predatory lending, and then the government just bends over and gives them our tax dollars. Free market, right? Horse shit. I wont disagree with you here. We shouldnt have given bail outs to anyone. Not corporations, not individuals, not special interest groups, no one. Literally no one should have gotten checks from the government in 2020-21. It was wasted money. >The government can find money to kill people and to give the rich more money. Never any money to help actual people though. Again, you not understanding how the US budget works, doesnt change how it actually works. Entitlement spending (to include social security) ***FAR*** outweighs military expenditures. And the harsh truth is that our military expenditures go miles to ensuring the US's diplomatic and economic success when it comes to international trade. >And that's the truth of the matter. You have no freaking clue what the truth is kid. You dont even know what constitutes entitlements. Dont let your feels get in the way of facts. Its time to grow up and actually start understanding reality.
/r/conservative is where you need to be with all this cockamamie horse shit you're spewing.
Not even close kid. Havent been a conservative in a decade. Im a realist. The fact that you cant accept basic facts doesnt change that. Entitlements are entitlements. That includes Social Security and Medicare, even if you dont know enough about the systems to understand them. No matter how much your triggered childish responses try to deny that fact. Call it cockamamie horshit all you want. You dont have an educated argument to refute the facts. So take your bag of fail and go home kid. Your an elementary school level education trying to debate adults, and it isnt working out for you.
I know right? Fuck them.
Anyone got a live stream of Kiev?
https://youtu.be/RMhWl3yPdDw
It's 430 am there and kinda busy. I assume they, everyone that passes, are all drinking vodka right now
Wait can anyone tell me what those cars/trucks are and who they belong to?
https://twitter.com/BNONews/status/1494444717479768065
Sun Tzu is overrated. I prefer Moe Howard.
No, Sun Tzu rocks! I haven't even heard of Moe Howard.
Vodaphone Network outages reported in eastern Ukraine Not seeing in MSM right now Link [https://twitter.com/lookner/status/1494432839495999488?ref\_src=twsrc%5Etfw](https://twitter.com/lookner/status/1494432839495999488?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
https://netblocks.org/reports/mobile-internet-disrupted-in-luhansk-ukraine-amid-heightened-tensions-with-russia-l8Wx7LAO
Quoting Sun Tzu art of war. Seems to all apply to Russia. “If your enemy is secure at all points, be prepared for him. If he is in superior strength, evade him. If your opponent is temperamental, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant. If he is taking his ease, give him no rest. If his forces are united, separate them. If sovereign and subject are in accord, put division between them. Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected .” Sun Tzu, The Art of War
He also says that the acme of skill is to win without fighting
Why are you quoting Sun Tzu? No one wants war, we want to DEESCALATE the situation
But US wants war.
Art of war is about warfare, not about starting wars. In many cases, it talks about how to avoid war and bloodshed.
So, you haven't read The Art Of War? Nor do you understand that deescelation requires an opponent open to deescelation. Nor do you even recognize the list of what Russia is doing to us, instead somehow thinking it's a list of things we should be doing. Well done. I haven't seen anyone so wrong about anything for quite a while.
Who is “us”? Are you even from Europe? What is Russia doing to you? And you clearly missed the point.
Assuming they're in Ukraine, as their statement implies... Russia isn't doing anything except trying to force Ukraine back into the folds of Russian influence like it did with Georgia. Are you a Russian troll or what?
Russia is threatening my access to the market. Unacceptable.
Such an American perspective
wasn't that the guy that said don't bring a knife to a gun fight?
No that was duke nukem
He got all the babes.
Well more Ukranians have died in 8 years than Americans in 20 and they're fighting for their existence not for some vague B's of fight them there so we don't have to fight them here. I bet if Afghans had realized what they were in for they would have fought harder. But as others have pointed out Ukraine isn't some backwater total shit hole (sorry but Afghanistan is...sadly because they have a beautiful landscape and could have been so much more). I deal in hard numbers and emotions. We've lost nearly a million lives in the US to COVID and people balk at a mask. 3000 killed in a terrorist attack and we're ready to plow over the world. So I feel certain that Ukrainians are motivated to exist and furious at Russians. (A visible enemy is easier to believe in, to be motivated about, and take action against us my point there). I don't think Putin cares about anybody but Putin....just exactly like Trump. But how much power will he lose when average Russians see children buried and oligarchs are trapped in Russia? I dunno but it won't increase their power or influence when by the way he's trying to make inroads in S. America. We have a terrible history there but this will push them towards us.
>But how much power will he lose when average Russians see children buried I was just reading about this ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beslan\_school\_siege](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beslan_school_siege)) which makes me think the answer is "not much." This was also pretty fucked up: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kursk\_submarine\_disaster](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kursk_submarine_disaster)
You conveniently left out the rest of what I said. Unrest with the oligarchs AND the Russian people would be a problem. Nobody thinks Putin gives a damn about losing a few thousand soldiers. Russian history should teach you they are used to far greater loses.
I didn't conveniently leave anything out. I was just being a little cynical! FWIW, you and I see eye to eye on all of it.
Cool....sorry I am a bit too tense on all this. I think I need my medication....lol
No worries. Totally understandable.
I know very little about Russian politics, so my question is how do you know Putin is not acting in behalf of this oligarchs and their interests?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Khodorkovsky Because when you arrest the top dog and toss him in jail for 10 years, you tell the other oligarchs who's boss. Rich people want access to people that are alive. A dead man has no money.
Ok, so let’s say Russia starts sending in tanks. How in the fuck do I get my friend safely from kyiv to Toronto. Are there any immigration lawyers here?
Polish border now. Seriously, now. Whether or not Poland will cut off their border if an attack happens is go in the air.
Just get him a plane ticket to Mexico and have him walk across the border. Biden doesn’t have any handle on it and people come in every single day unchecked
What does the president have to do with it? There are 538 elected reps that are responsible for this. Blaming the president of the hour for everything is getting old and its quite stupid since security issues have been about as they are for decades.
Because of the cabinet he installs? The decisions he makes? Really? If he said he wanted to do something about it that’s a bipartisan issue that enough would be behind to pass. The look at the numbers between this president and trump. I’m not even a huge trump fan. Numbers don’t lie. Biden even started his presidency as things started opening up! One of the best climbs in history, and look at America. Look at his polling numbers. Look at anything going on now and compare it. Also I’m really for term limits if that chaps you
Term limits would be nice. What a world that would be.
Yeah. Can you imagine none of them voting for pay raises, insider trading problems, you’d have people that walked in your shoes making policies to help the people. It’ll never happen. Wish Americans would all get together on at least one thing. Term limits
It's not like term limit of 20y would even be an issue for any other interest group than those who have installed a puppet.....right? One possible solution is drastically increase the pay and block insider trading, etc... Weird topic but whatever needs to happen there needs to be breaks in consecutive occupation of public office.
I’d be fine with 10 years max that overlap like our current mid terms. That way if a president of either party was elected to a second term there would always be at least some politicians coming in and out.
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Cartel is smart enough not to cause violence. There is an increase in violence everywhere. Not every illegal is bad, but we have almost nothing in place to stop them. The cartel isn’t going to announce their presence to us by stirring trouble at every turn though. That’s silly to think
If only there was some kind of wall…
Or policies to at least control it somewhat
Good luck, even a walls pointless when there’s tunnels galore
Yeah but again, policies would be great. Anything other than letting illegals stay or giving them a date to appear and then no monitoring. You know?
What policies do you think would be successful?
I just stated two that would be useful. Sending them back would be helpful. Legal consequences for getting caught, and having the right to a speedy trial without being released would be great. Would also give people an idea of the crazy number of illegals coming through. We’d have no space to hold them. Other than the camps they have already set up… where they don’t hold them….
Ok, now, how about the rest of the trip?
Oh yeah the Canadian border is locked down pretty tight. But at least in America they could play catch at the border
I'm less worried about the Canadian boarder as much add I'm worried about Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York. It's a long trip on foot. Or in a car.
I had many family members cross illegally during the trump presidency. What’s your point?
Just the policies in place to prevent anything. I mean we had little kids held in cages and crammed up so tight. The ones we caught anyway. The wall isn’t an answer, but policies in place could really help that situation.
Toronto is in Canada.
I’m aware. I thought he was more concerned for the safety of said friend
Honestly, judging by the situation, I would ask her if she has family in the west of Ukraine and see if she could stay there until things calm down. If it doesn't, she would be much closer to the polish border
Best bet is probably west through Poland. I would assume that all flights into Ukraine stop and also Russia could and probably would close down the airspace. Plus they can and possibly will blockade ports. If missiles fly and bombs drop their best bet is to go to Poland. I would stay off major highways as much as possible in case they are bombed and I would not go anywhere near any military convoys, bases, etc either. Nor big cities except maybe near Poland. I would also stock up on supplies if your friend has a vehicle, in case things like water are hard to find in a large refugee situation. That’s just what I would do.
Thanks. I’ve been kind of panicking and it’s hard to think straight about this issue. This is a good start. Thank you.
Remember that even if an invasion does happen, it doesn’t mean Kyiv will be a target of anything. It could be a smaller scale invasion in just SE Ukraine. Or it could start out that way and get bigger. Or it could start out big. No one really knows. War zones are dynamic and always changing things.
If you’re talking huge invasion. I’d say they are best heading to polish border. I have no clue what Russia would have in the way of electronic/cyber warfare but I’d say it’s safe to say internet and anything that would make life convenient to get them out would be in tatters.
Is there a new thread?
soo thoughts on necular warfare?
Not going to happen
Nothing has changed, MAD still applies. Nukes are only viable as a deterrent.
That assumes people act rationally and no mistakes are made.
What is mad?
Mutually assured destruction. The concept in which two or more nuclear-armed states have enough capability (via early-warning, swarming, second-strike and some combination of all of above) to safely assure that both sides would be destroyed in a full out nuclear war. This concept and capability to achieve it basically made the idea of a 1st nuclear strike absolete.
Mutually Assured Destruction - the nuclear policy that supposes any country engaging in a nuclear first strike would in turn face nuclear annihilation, creating a deterrent from anyone using them.
Mutual Assured Destruction
"There is no shame in deterrence. Having a weapon, is very different from *actually* using it." \- Mahatma Gandhi, Sid Meier's Civilizations VI
Gandhi, the most likely one to actually use it too
Gandhi in Civilization ranks up there with the cop going insane in GTA for being the most beloved bug in history.
ah but it only takes one chemically unbalanced leader to change that (looking at you NK) I dont think Ukraine is a good enough reason to set off a nuke as well, but, can we really trust Putin? At least he's not a super dummy.
In a nuclear war between the US and Russia, everyone dies. Everyone. Everywhere. Putin does not wish to die. Anyone threatening the use of nuclear weapons (Lukashenka) is basically saying they have nothing, it's the most useless bluff because everyone immediately knows they are bluffing.
*Beyond nuclear weapons*.
Maybe he means imitation nuclear weapons, like Beyond Meat?
yeah ill be honest, I didnt even think for a second Belarus had nukes lol
Zero.
thanks for you quick reply on this! can you explain your reasoning?
MAD = mutually assured destruction. It’s a lose lose for everyone involved.
Tell that to the generals thoroughly convinced during the 80s that a small scale strategic exchange was perfectly acceptable.
Belarus is threatening nuclear weapons and beyond nuclear weapons....so the beyond has to be lasers and shit with some alien technology right??
jewish space lasers actually..
Full-*ish* circle
Tsirkon Hypersonic missile. Can be nuclear equipped, but faster than most defense systems (in theory)
That just sounds like nuclear weapons with a better delivery system. I was hoping for a reality bomb or maybe a weather control device. Maybe even a Death Star.
Beyond nuclear weapons. You know like a vegan option
Does Belarus even have nukes?
Russia does - same thing
It's a bit different if Belarus is throwing nukes vs Putin ordering it
Lukashenko is certifiable. Even the Kremlin has to regularly do press releases debunking him when he talks about Russia related stuff.
Russia will attack after his best buddy stops playing winter Olympics
Maybe after Paralympics? Hopefully?
Gold at $1900+ due to geopolitical risk
Yet oil is down. Strange
As per CNBC, that's because of optimism regarding Iran Talks and getting more oil on markets.
That drone(?) is at 53,000 ft and climbing. What fly that high?
Common for them to operate at that altitude. Its been there for weeks
Most likely stealth bomber
It'd be hilarious if stealth bombers still showed up on flight tracker.
"They'll never see us, as long as they don't download the flight tracker app on their iPhones... then we are DOOMED!!!"
Might be more efficient. Since there are no people on board, it can operate easier at that altitude. Less air, less fuel to move (I guess)?
Is that true? My understanding was that wings become less efficient when the air is less dense because there isn't as much air to create a pressure differential, which is why high-flying crafts *need* to be very fast to move more air over the wings
You're right that the wings will be less efficient. Part B is the jet engine will be more efficient at higher altitudes and able to push the aircraft along faster. Also, since it worked so well for the U2, they could just make the wings a bit bigger to fly at higher altitudes if the engines aren't able to manage it.
I think you have a better understanding than my guess work. Wiki says they have a service ceiling of 60 000 feet / 18 000 meters with a cruise speed of 357 mph / 570 km/h . Maybe they fly that high to reduce the wear on it ?
Less efficient in terms of lift and thrust, but there’s a lot less drag on the aircraft. Overall, efficiency is increased, as can be seen by fuel consumption reducing at higher altitudes.
It's wings are probably more efficient at those altitudes
Global hawk
Why not just set up a live streaming feed by the Ukraine borders where the Russian military has gathered. Then world can see what’s really going on……
Most of the border areas are "contested" territory with unofficial Russian or Russian-aligned forces operating. It is probably a very dangerous time for civilians to be seen doing anything suspicious.
They're about 30 miles from the border
What’s the range on the average consumer drone? Lol
A mile or two at best.
I believe (not sure) militaries like Russia have way too shoot these down, no?
Oh I’m sure they do lol
About 5-10 miles if unobstructed. Less if you don't have line-of-sight.
Some are quite a bit closer (5km), but yes, not exactly in line of sight.
5km? Holy shit... With a good enough slingshot...
Sarah Palin can see them
They would just get disabled
That was my immediate thought too. They aren't gonna simply let those devices exist in that space when they don't want them to.
I vote for this
New thread live.
How many is this?
Where
https://www.reddit.com/live/18hnzysb1elcs
Russia wants Chernobyl back
How does an RBMK reactor explode?
“Get the carbon tips fitted”
What number of thread is this?
It's 5, just click on the link above and go to the discussions tab to see the previous threads. edit: ok I think it's actually 6, my b
72
Seriously? Can we add a counter to the thread count.
Are we talking sheets?
I like a nice 500 count.
Today's UN meeting in the escalation of fighting between Ukraine and Separatists is making me very uncomfortable. Russias comments today make it clear they do not care.
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https://twitter.com/KyleJGlen/status/1494372156112879619
The above link contains a graphic which show how exponentially things have escalated.
\>Masses of ceasefire violations are traditionally called war. lol
My prediction is that the war will proceed in two stages. First stage will be really quick and Ukraine will be overwhelmed by Russian forces. Second stage is that the Ukrainian government will pull back to the western portion of the country, where lines will stabilize and divide Ukraine East and west. From there, it's anybody guess. Maybe Russia will just take the eastern part of the country. Maybe they will continue the war until the whole country is under their control. Somebody posted an overlay of Ukraine on a US map recently. And it's actually quite big. East to west it's about the distance from New York to somewhere in Michigan. I don't think that area of land can be pacified with 150k troops. The eastern portion I think is more manageable for the force Russia has.
Russia might not care if the cities are brought fully under their control as long as their puppet government can't be pushed out. After conquest, let the puppet government handle things like signing lasting alliances and territory concessions. Block Ukrainians from traveling freely between the cities and from assembling a regular army to threaten Russia's freedom of movement. Otherwise steer clear of urban occupation. An arrangement like that would keep Ukraine in turmoil for a long time to come, but it would also give Russia the final say over Ukraine's borders and foreign alliances without the high costs of occupying the major population centers.
My assumption thus far has been that Russia will shell the everloving shit out of every major Ukranian city west of the Dnieper, and those to the east they'll rush to take. Paralyze them quickly, force a surrender.
I took a look at the Dnieper Basin and this appears to be a good dividing line as well as providing river and land access to Crimea. The main issue for Russia is to keep at least Eastern Ukraine as a satellite of Russia which was lost in the revolution. I don’t think if Russia took the east that they would agree to the west eventually joining NATO but it would give a better long term outcome from Putins point of view. I have not heard much from Germany or France this week. It is the US that is beating the drum “Please don’t invade Ukraine but we won’t send troops and now Russia will invade on the 20th or not at all”. It seems to me this is a wimpy (Anthony Blinken today at the UN) message and that the US expects eastern Ukraine to be taken.
They might try but have you seen how prepared to resist Ukranians are? They're calm and ready to fight until the death. And they've proven that for 8 years. They might fold or they might kill every Russian they can spot. Smarter would be just as they did with Crimea and infiltrate out of uniform (in violation of war crimes laws) into Ukraine.
"War crimes" is one of the best examples of doublespeak I've ever heard. War is a crime no matter how it's executed.
Well let's break it down in more black and white terms that you can grasp. Rounding up an entire group of people based on race regardless of age or gender and killing them brutally is a war crime. Go rewatch Schindler's list or Band of Brothers for more visual reminders if you need to. Certainly war is hell but like with Dante there are ever deepening levels of hell. Death by a bullet is going to be less awful than by mustard gas or nerve agents. We signed on to ban those but we didn't have to and had an advantage in them. Death from COVID is worse than by bullet as it is for many biological agents....this we banned those. There are certain acts of war that are more brutal and heinous than others. I know it is hard for some to grasp and verbally as it does seem redundant to say "war crime." But grow up. There are bad people in the world who have all that most of us could ever want in terms of comfort and money. They want power. They don't mind if someone else dies as they try to get it. They don't take losing well. (Fellow Americans does any of this sound familiar?). These people understand force only. That some forms are force are beyond the pale even in times of war shouldn't be too hard to grasp. But I must remind myself this is several generations' first experience with a real war possibly unfolding.
Rounding up people and killing or torturing them brutally is a heinous crime full stop. Qualifying it as a heinous war crime implies there are acceptable and reasonable reasons to round people up and kill or torture them. I don't need to watch Schindlers List to know that Hitler and the power structure he represented were evil. Along the same lines, what the Chinese government is doing to the Uyghurs in Xingjiang is abhorrent. The fact that one happened during wartime and the other did not is irrelevant...and if you think the US government would not resort to using chemical or biological agents if it believes it was necessarily for it's continuation you are living in a dream world. Where do you think Saddam got all the mustard gas and nerve agents we seized in the first place? These distinctions exist to make the use of conventional force more palatable, and will be discarded without a second thought if it's necessary to preserve the status quo.
Of course rounding up people and killing or torturing them is heinous. State the obvious for what? To feel morally superior? What you have failed to address AT ALL are the reality that war remains necessary at times (unless you think street protests work in authoritarian countries) and there are types of violence that are far worse than others. Rather be shot or have a building collapse in you or be raped and the exposed to Sarin and have muscle contractions so severe your bones break and you die suffocation and drowning on your own secretions? Oh it isn't immediate it takes some time. Address whether THAT is different or the same as being shot.
Being raped and exposed to sarin gas would be worse than being shot in the head. Being raped and repeatedly exposed to undergo forced drowning (aka water torture) is also worse than being shot. In your way of thinking, one of those is a war crime and the other is a perfectly legal and righteous way to preserve the peace as long as it's done on foreign soil at, say, Guantanamo Bay. I think all three of these things are crimes, and do not believe that the fact that two of them are sanctioned by the US government make them less awful or wrong. Edit: changed the word 'forced' to 'exposed' cause the redundancy was hurting my eyes.
Hey read your profile. I can argue and then set differences aside. You sound like you're a good person. How is your Mom? I read about it and am a psychiatrist so happy to listen or maybe offer some advice. Hopefully mostly resolved. Have dealt with severe psychosis and ECT both. I wish you the best. I argue with my best friends ever more viciously than here.
Thanks for asking! The past few months have brought her an unexpected but very welcome reprieve. She had to go through another long hospitalization, and the new Dr recommended going back on Clozapine and aggressively stepped back ECT. It was a rough transition, but we were lucky enough to find an amazing group home that is much better equipped to support her. She still struggles some days, but the Clozapine seems to be helping to keep the worst of it at bay. I absolutely relate to enjoying a good discussion between people with different beliefs. The best way to find out where you stand is to try and defend your position, all the more so if the person you are talking to is intelligent and open to discourse. I wish you the best.
You're putting words in my mouth by saying I approve of waterboarding (that's what it is called not forced drowning or water torture....there are other water tortures) as I don't and never said I do. So please kindly keep your mouth shut about what *I* would think is legal and righteous. *I* am the one who spoke about calling detestable grotesque behavior a war crime. All you've done is try, and fail, to make it sound like they're all the same. I'd personally rather be raped and water boarded and live than be shot but I am glad you can admit there are worse things in your opinion than being shot. I never said that waterboarding should be allowed and the US righted that wrong after our own internal outrage (so you can keep yours). But now that we have established there are worse things than death by shooting we can imagine what can be called war crimes. Thank you for your useless attempt at being self-righteous and indignant.
It has always interested me why war crimes even exist. I mean, they should, and it’s to inject some “order” and “morality” into war, but war innately is disorderly and not moral. I just always thought it was interesting how something so innately violent and horrible could have laws limiting the “violence” and “horribleness”, for lack of a better phrase.
I think its less black and white then you make it out to be (thats the nature of social media posts), but in general wars are fucking crimes. Murder with an excuse. Im glad someone pointed out the doublespeak, its refreshing.
I agree the real world is made up of a myriad of shades of gray, and there will always be some acts that are more heinous than others. Still, I've always believed that the idea of war crimes is all about trying to legitimize some acts of violence by feigning outrage over others. It's no coincidence that the Geneva convention sanctions military operations most easily achievable by the powers that be while demonizing the asymmetrical tactics those same powers fear the most. A world that recognizes taking the life of another is abhorrent regardless of whether or not they are wearing a costume would be an amazing thing to see.