Phil1111

Incidental casualties for Brent on Earth Day.

This is an example of why Florida banned dozens of textbooks. What went unexplained is that the new math textbook provider is a republican political candidate. The lesson that people should disagree respectfully? Republicans have an answer:

Tough judges, tough prosecutors,lots of prison cells and tough laws. When your side looks bad and gets caught, the issue isn't important. When the issue stares you in the face, solutions become important.

I for one am embarrassed about Canada's military contributions. Democracies however are generally ruled by majorities. Riggerrob can pipe in but under funding of hardware for the CAF has gone on for at least four decades. Lack of equipment and age of equipment have been serious issues for a even longer time. Military spending substantially arises from a perceived need. Canada doesn't see many threats in the world. Many perceived important interests. The US sees many. IMO the Ukraine war justifies an all out response. The entire rationale for NATO was the Russian threat. Nothing against the Russian people. But Putin wasn't created overnight. The Duma has rubber stamped his actions. The Russian military has gone along with the action. Generals, FSB insiders, the Duma, etc. all know whats going on. Canada's lack of extra useful weapons doesn't prevent it from buying some used equipment from other NATO members. The Phoenix Ghost is this was rapidly developed by the Air Force, in response, specifically to Ukrainian requirements "The US military’s electronic warfare enterprise needs to take a page from SpaceX when it comes to responding to new threats, the Pentagon’s director for electromagnetic warfare said today. After SpaceX sent Starlink terminals to Ukraine in February in an apparent effort to help Ukraine maintain its internet connection amid war with Russia, SpaceX founder Elon Musk claimed that Russia had jammed Starlink terminals in the country for hours at a time. After a software update, Starlink was operating normally, said Musk, who added on March 25 that the constellation had “resisted all hacking & jamming attempts” in Ukraine." It seems as if there is a damn Ukrainian saboteur under every Russian ruble "A major fire broke out today in a secretive Russian military research center, killing several people, injuring others, and leaving significant damage in its wake. The facility in Tver, 120 miles northwest of Moscow, is responsible for diverse research focused on air defense, but reportedly crosses over between the fields of both space and the military. Most notably, it reportedly studies stealth technologies — and, above all, counters to use against them."

Jones did serve a useful purpose by arming underemployed lawyers. With the precedent of law on how to go after shills of the GOP, the right, etc. How to box them in and bleed them dry.

How the IRS Was Gutted "Philip Esformes acquired a $1.6 million Ferrari and a $360,000 Swiss watch and traveled around the United States on a private jet, a spending spree fueled by the spoils from what federal prosecutors called one of the largest Medicare fraud cases in history.... two-decade scheme that involved an estimated $1.3 billion worth of fraudulent claims.That prison term ended suddenly this week, when President Trump commuted what remained of Mr. Esformes’s sentence. Rick Scott (R) Senator"oversaw the largest Medicare fraud in the nation’s history." Politifact fine was $1.7 billion, ..On Scott’s 2010 campaign website, he admitted to the $1.7 billion fine,....we rate the claim Mostly True.. Amount of the fraud now surpassed by others Others who received pardons or commutations included Sholam Weiss, who was said to have been issued the longest sentence ever for a white-collar crime—835 years. ... John Davis, the former CEO of Comprehensive Pain Specialists, the Tennessee-based chain of pain management clinics, had spent four months in prison. Federal prosecutors charged Davis with accepting more than $750,000 in illegal bribes and kickbacks in a scheme that billed Medicare $4.6 million for durable medical equipment. Trump’s pardon statement cited support from country singer Luke Bryan, said to be a friend of Davis’."

Boo-hoo trump is but 16 months ago and you're coming apart. Although you have a bit of a point. "Marine" Le Pen is a chip off the trump block in France. She is but five points behind Macron with the vote next Sunday. Debate tonight, hi-lights quoted. " she will cut taxes, reward hard work, and help those who are vulnerable. I will “give the French their money back”, she says, to the tune of €150-200 a month per household...questions EU sanctions on Russia, which she says “will do enormous harm to the French people” ...Macron counterattacks, raising Le Pen’s support for Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the fact that her party has taken out Russian bank loans. “You are dependent on Russian power, and Mr Putin”, Macron says. Le Pen insists, vehemently, that the loans do not mean she is influenced by Moscow: “I am a perfectly free woman,” She would normalize relations with Putin if elected then said “I want the European Commission to respect sovereign nations" Then num-nuts got re-elected in Hungary after doing some serious GOP re-redistricting, vote-buying, etc. Then allowing busing from one voting district to another through changes to the law. But i digress. Yes there seems to be a fascist under every rock. I better pour a double whiskey.

I believe you're mistaken. Getting rid of the communist kleptocracy won't be easy for the Chinese people. The current zero-covid screwup in Shanghai is a perfect example of the dangers of single party rule. Xi will be very difficult for China to get rid of now that he's president for life. Xi and Putin are two of a kind and they will both end up in the dustbins of history. Democracies work because they regularly oust the ruling parties. Keeping corruption lower.

Evidently the Polish Mig-29s are in Ukraine now. Together with a couple tons of spare parts. "Pentagon spokesman John Kirby retracted his statement from Tuesday that Ukraine had received fighter jets from an unnamed ally, after weeks of speculation that a neighboring country might provide Russian-made MiG-29s to add to the Ukrainian air force's capabilities against the Russian invaders. While fixed-wing aircraft have been offered by an unidentified country to bolster Kyiv's defenses, "they have not received whole aircraft from another nation," Kirby told reporters. "I was mistaken. They have not received whole aircraft from another nation," Kirby said of his Tuesday claim." Evidently if you take out the vodka cup holder from the cockpit its not a complete aircraft. Thus the tender sensitivities of the Russians won't be offended. As soon as the parts were transferred to Ukraine. They immediately started flying in formation! "Separately, a senior US defense official said the parts supply has enabled Ukraine to add 20 previously inoperable jets to its active fighter fleet."

I was thinking of trump with $100 million. DeSantis with another hundred million. Then all the others. All trying to mover further to the right.

Words have consequence. Why do you bait and encourage? https://www.youtube.com/shorts/81kMaPi_Hug Does the US need more republicans?

Sort of. The politicians yank the chains and define the parameters of the commissions. Knowing full well as Rob suggests. That its a delaying, wheel spinning exercise and waste of money. You're right about the lawyers making coin off of it. There is a lawyer behind every document, beside every bureaucrat. Back to Ukraine Wimbledon Will Bar Russian and Belarusian Players Yet the Olympics can't help themselves in their pandering to Russian and Chinese cheating. "Russia announced on Wednesday it had successfully launched a new missile that it said could deploy nuclear warheads at hypersonic speeds anywhere in the world and outwit defenses, a move that President Vladimir V. Putin said was aimed at showing Russia’s adversaries that they needed to “think twice” before threatening his country." There is no word yet about the damages to Russian infrastructure caused by the launch. Russian news reports stated that the missile needed "further testing".

A recent appraisal of military aid to Ukraine has shown the US to be the number one supplier of aid and equipment. Your representations about German stockpiles is on point. But in line with what I suggested. The German chancellor has recently walked back some of his commitments to spending. Which I understand. Germany under Chancellor Merkel tied Germany very closely to Russia in energy supplies. I really admired Merkel, but that was a colossal mistake. Now Germany has to wean itself from the Russian nipple of energy and rearm. After years of under-funding its military. Politicians love to make promises that they won't follow through with. Canadian ones the full equal of any other government. Our current covid promises in international funding and vaccine deliveries. To the international effort to fight the pandemic. Is way short and long overdue. But I digress. Prior to the last budget in Canada. The Canadian defense minister uttered all kinds of musings about equipment Canada needed. Submarines, Canada has none because the three used ones we bought from the UK are duds. Fighter aircraft. There was talk of a F-35 order. Shot down in the budget. New ships. Sunk in cabinet discussions. My point is that politicians will talk up what serious needs of defense equipment. But when the presidents, the prime ministers, the chancellors. Sit down for the final budget decisions in cabinet meetings. In most NATO countries, defense gets the short stick. Baltic states, the US and Poland currently exempted. I will say that I have big current concerns about China. Perhaps trump was right again. Perhaps the current US, Australia and N.Z. coalition concerns are correct. I see China as a dangerous concern almost equal to Russia. IMO Canada would have to suffer a serious debacle on the battlefield. To turn Canadian pacifism with regards to military spending around.

DeSantis uses much of this B.S. as a fundraising mechanism. He currently has a $100 million election war chest. A concept he learned from his master, trump. So he will continue such political grandstanding and Marjorie Taylor Greene style ideas. Because republicans will send in more and more money. Florida’s DeSantis catching up to Trump in campaign cash Ron DeSantis amasses massive war chest "money from all 50 states" $5.5 million in one month! Yes America is getting the government it deserves. The best money can buy.

Easy Jakee...eaaaasy Jakee. Its obvious that Joe underestimates the sheer power of the US military. No I'm not talking about a dozen nuclear powered carrier battle groups. I mean the power of the lobbying of the US military industrial complex. Its power to convince Americans that only massive military power of the best weapons will do. Speaking of which. I've got a bone to pick with Biden. He phoned the Canadian prime minister and persuaded him to donate artillery systems to Ukraine. Up till now, in true liberal fashion. Canada has been the only G-7 country not to send heavy weapons. Canada only has 37 modern artillery weapons. So now the liberal government is in a serious quandary. How many to send? So he has postponed that decision. Instead of loading them on the three C-17s that Canada has. Canada will likely order a Royal Commission to study the matter for 3-5 years. For the uninitiated " Royal commissions, once described by a member of Parliament as costly travelling minstrel shows, are a form of official inquiry into matters that could take years and cost tens of millions..."

Completely agree. When i was 14, I had a paper route. Typically better than 95% of households subscribed. Everyone had TV via broadcast. Today myself and the next door neighbor subscribes to the local newspaper. But I don't see anyone else on the block that gets a paper. I also subscribe to the NYT, online. I don't get FB news. I only use FB for the marketplace. If a person gets into some sort of FB algorithm of extremism. Anything goes. So we get to the degree of bias. Percentage of single source news coverages chosen. Accuracy of chosen sources. Together with the ability of consumers, for lack of a better term. To ascertain biases in such sources and specific stories. (PEW) Republicans less likely to trust their main news source if they see it as ‘mainstream’; Democrats more likely (PEW) More Americans now say government should take steps to restrict false information online than in 2018 To wit, where is my ban FOX thread.

IMO to a certain extent thats true. But at the same time there is a whole world of very knowledgeable people, business and leaders. Before the internet you had to go to libraries, to school. Now you can browse a magazine or newspaper. Then in a short time proof every story, every representation. Take a story then spend an hour to study every aspect of that event, technology, geography, etc. Yes you can be dumbed down. If you choose or have such innate dispositions. But at the same time there are more and more people that are super smart. About dozens subjects that would span a college class twenty years ago. "The dumbing down of America is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30-second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest common denominator programming," Yeah thats a problem. When news reporters subtly change an adjective about a short news story. The entire story gets turned upside down. Sometimes its through ignorance sometimes laziness, sometimes poor editing.

From NYT "Over the past 24 hours Russia has added two additional battalion tactical groups into the Donbas region of Ukraine, a senior U.S. defense official said in a briefing to reporters, bringing the total number to 78. The official said that Russia still has about 75 percent of the soldiers and weapons from the pre-invasion force it assembled outside of Ukraine."

Proletariat, pleb, killjoy. Classic success suspicion syndrome. As an aside. Russian oil exports have slowed by 800k barrels a day since sanctions came into effect.

A Canadian success story. Where a Canadian business hoodwinked a US agency. Where he made a billion because of US political nationalism-pandering-corruption. Then in the end trump is out the cash, minus the fine of course. Good points, a Win-Win-Win.

Canadians have been counter-meddling in US politics and one got caught. Southwestern Ontario billionaire fined US$975K for illegal Trump donation Billionaire Barry Zekelman is fined for donating illegally to a fundraising group supporting Donald Trump. He must have had really, really, good lawyers because ' the federal regulatory agency that enforces U.S. campaign finance law “did not find that the violation was knowing or willful.” bhhhhaaaa He owns one of North America's largest steel pipe and tube makers.

It is a great story. But why is he in Poland when every male between 18 and 60 should be holding a Kalashnikov in Ukraine? As an aside, he's Jewish, born in Russia, 39, "Andrey Stavnitser is a Ukrainian businessman, co-owner and CEO of TransInvestService. Andrey is also the co-owner of Neptune Grain Terminal, P&O Maritime Ukraine towage operator and Founding Partner of SD Capital Investment Company. Honorary Consul of the Republic of Austria in Odessa."

Putin has given many Russians who reside in Crimea and the Donbas Russian citizenship. Russian passports and the benefits of Russian citizenship. Should Ukraine clean out Russian troops from all of Ukrainian territory. Do you think Ukraine should offer those Russian citizens free bus service to the Russian border? Or let them walk?

Canada has been supplying the Ukrainians with real time satellite radar and conventional satellite imagery.

President Putin has used the Russian Orthodox Church as an arm of the state. As a part of his own political agenda. Just as the GOP uses religion in the US. Just as trump uses evangelicals and they use him. Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church has endorsed the war and as near as can be ascertained one, or only a few ministers have spoken out against it. Russian Orthodox priest arrested for anti-war stance But for Patriarch Kirill, its fire the cannons and god bless the Russian solider. Look the other way at their war crimes. Just as evangelicals blessed trumps actions. "The relationship between the president and the prelate escalated rapidly. Kirill, allegedly a former KGB staffer like Putin, hailed the Russian Federation president’s leadership as a “miracle of God.” Meanwhile, Putin worked to frame Russia as a defender of conservative Christian values, which usually meant opposing abortion, feminism and LGBTQ rights. The pitch proved popular among a broad swath of conservative Christian leaders, including prominent voices within the American religious right: In February 2014, evangelist Franklin Graham offered cautious praise for Putin in an editorial for Decision Magazine, celebrating the Russian president’s decision to back a law barring dissemination of “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations” — a statute which, activists argued, effectively banned children from accessing media that presents LGBTQ identities and relationships in a positive or normalizing light. Graham would travel to Russia the following year, where he met with both Kirill and Putin, and told local media that “millions of Americans would like (Putin) to come and run for president of the United States.”