Ukraine

[Jon]

So how can you discuss what's going on there?

Having a free press means we are not spoon fed the state official line. For example, all Russian media has to refer to the Ukraine invasion as the "special military operation". Anything else is not allowed.

The West can discuss what is going on because we do not receive this filter from the government, which has been spoon-fed from cradle to grave. In addition, the West can discuss things because we are not oppressed by their leader who threatens criminal records for those who publicly oppose the war. In fact, the government has even been putting out the threat of treason for those who say they oppose the war. You see, in Russia, you are not allowed to have your own opinion. In other words, in the West we are free, in Russia you are not.

Instead, I would ask you, "How can you discuss this when your media is constrained in this way, when your government threatens you this way?"

Regardless of this, Russia cannot unilaterally create their own country if they feel like it. Look how isolated Russia is on the world stage after this outrage. What would you think if Ukraine decided to annex part of Russia, claiming it is part of their mother-land?

Edit: Just noticed you mentioned my comment on his desire for a return to old borders. Well, he has expressed as much many times in the past. Look at his numerous speeches that suggest this. In fact, his 1 hour speech recently went on about how it was one of the biggest disasters letting Ukraine go, just before he invades Ukraine.

 

[AccessBlaster]

WWW III has already begun the battle field is your mind.

Ah, but who's winning?

 

[oleronesoftwares]

Ah, but who's winning?

Am more concerned about who will lose. Children will become orphans, wifes will become widows, childrens' life might never be the same again. Real madrid player luca modric when he won the best player of the year award, said he still remembers growing up in a war enviroment. Institutions will be destroyed, years of hardwork will be ruined and a new re-building will be needed. In my home country, a civil war took place between 1967-1970, those who survived it said it got to a stage they had to start eating human beings.

 

[Jon]

Russia and Putin will ultimately lose, while causing humanitarian carnage and suffering along the way. In fact, they have already lost, being isolated from sports, culture, travel, economic collapse, and one of the most hated nation on the planet. Putin is inflicting lasting damage on the interests of Russia and its people. The chest thumping thug is a deluded individual who cares about nothing except his desire to go down in history as a great leader. Welcome to Hitler Mk 2.

 

[Harrybrigham]

I was in London during the "blitz" 1940/1. We were bombed for 57 consecutive nights. It is amazing how you can get used to it. We didn't resort to cannibalism, but there was a dearth of cats, which looked very much like rabbits when they are skinned. (My dad was a butcher).

 

[NauticalGent]

but there was a dearth of cats, which looked very much like rabbits when they are skinned. (My dad was a butcher).

Did they taste like chicken?

 

[Harrybrigham]

Did they taste like chicken?

No. They tasted like rabbit.

 

[Umpire]

WWW III has already begun the battle field is your mind.

Ah, but who's winning?

I am reading this at 7:30AM. Before I have finished my first coffee. This is WAYYYYY to deep a thought for this time of the morning.

 

[Jon]

Announcing Russia's World Cup: "Just in. Russia and Belarus go straight through to the final."

 

[AccessBlaster]

Rule #1 Never give up your nukes for an imaginary carrot.
Rule #2 Never give up any weapons, see rule #1.

 

[Steve R.]

To reiterate a few points that are amazingly illogical.

• By continuing to buy Russian oil, the US continues to fund the Russian war against the Ukraine.
• The US has bought oil from Iran. I even heard one politician mention the potential of buying Venezuelan oil, rather than increase domestic US hydrocarbon production. Psaki continues to maintain that increasing US domestic oil production is not under consideration and refuses to explain how meeting any hydrocarbon deficits would be achieved.
• Buying oil from Russia, Iran, Venezuela makes a mockery of supposed sanctions against these "evil" countries. Democrats claim to stand on principal, but when it comes to their "war" on hydrocarbons, they will cripple the US economy and will even make a deal with the "devil". Though off-topic, the Democrats on one hand claim that the rich need to pay their "fair-share" of taxes under the ceaseless virtue signalling mantra of "tax the rich", yet their proposed tax policies would actually reduce the tax burden on the rich. Democrats only proposes ersatz "solutions" that exempt their base from any negative consequence of their self-serving action.
• Domestic climate activist very publicly demonstrate in the US hysterically screaming how the US is destroying the environment and that we only have a few more years left to fix this number #1 travesty. Well, Putin has created an environmental nightmare in the Ukraine. Were are these environmental warriors today? Have they (Kerry and AOC) gone to Moscow to publicly demand that Putin end his invasion? After all climate change, according the the climate change activists, is the number #1 crises. I suspect they will never go as they will only "perform" their virtue signalling Kabuki Theater in front of friendly audiences. Seems that they are all talk and don't have the actual courage to make meaningful personal commitments. Hypocrites.

 

[Pat Hartman]

In other words, in the West we are free

Really? I don't think we are any more. I am permanently banned from facebook because I mentioned the word gunpoint in conjunction with government. Did I threaten anyone? No. Is what I said hate speech? I don't think so.

What I was posting about was a conversation between some talking heads who were insisting that Social Security is a Ponzi scheme and should be discontinued thereby depriving me of money the government had taken from me by force. My comment went something like this:

"When the government takes money from me at gunpoint for 50 years with the promise of giving it back when I retire. It is MY money and I want it back."

And I know for a fact that was what got me banned because I had just opened the account and that was the only post I ever made.

The government of Canada attempted to take money contributed by citizens and intended for a group they disagreed with. That didn't work so they froze the accounts of people conducting a peaceful demonstration and those that helped them. Do you think that might have a chilling effect on the next group who considers demonstrating? Are we free if the government can accuse us of crimes without proof and prevent access to our money or lock us in jail without a trial for over a year as they have with the protesters in Washington DC? Those people are political prisoners and no one is standing up for them. I'm not sure why every conservatives talking head isn't scrolling their names along the bottom of their screens continuously. Every inch of the Capitol interior is covered by surveillance cameras. Do you think if there was evidence of crimes, that they wouldn't be showing us daily on CNN? No, there is no evidence of a crime other than trespassing which I'm pretty sure doesn't come with an automatic jail sentence and violation of the Constitutional right to a fair and speedy trial. So, what is going on? The Democrats are hard at work on the THIRD impeachment of Trump in the hopes of finding some connection between these hapless trespassers and Trump so they can charge everyone with treason. THIS is freedom?

 

[NauticalGent]

Really? I don't think we are any more.

 

[Jon]

I would like to drive faster when the roads are empty, but there are speed limits. We all have constraints. But in some countries, those constraints are more like shackles.

The problem with the tech companies is that they are nearly all woke, run by majority liberals. It is almost like a monopoly. This poses a problem for Republicans, which Trump is trying to address with Truth Social. Not exactly keen on the name, but at least it is an alternative platform to the one-view-or-your-banned Twitter.

Edit: There is growing encroachment on freedom with social shaming for certain things, like not starting a conversation off with, "What are your preferred pronouns?"

 

[AccessBlaster]

My question is were we ever really free or was it just an illusion. When did end? Did it end with the federal reserve coming into power or maybe when the Kennedys were killed? Or long before either.

Is anyone really free?

 

[Jon]

I see freedom as a continuum from zero freedom (in chains) to complete freedom (anarchy).

 

[Steve R.]

My question is were we ever really free or was it just an illusion. When did end? Did it end with the federal reserve coming into power or maybe when the Kennedys were killed? Or long before either.

Is anyone really free?

I liked this response, by a person whose name I can no longer recall, concerning "free will". Paraphrased "We all get up to go to work at essentially the same time, we all eat at regimented times, we all sleep" Our "free will" is limited or to phrase it differently, an illusion.

 

[NauticalGent]

federal reserve coming into power or maybe when the Kennedys were killed?

Those two events are actually linked...

 

[AccessBlaster]

Edit: There is growing encroachment on freedom with social shaming for certain things, like not starting a conversation off with, "What are your preferred pronouns?"

Yes, your social credit score could be damaged if you make disparaging remarks on social media. The prototype is being tested in Beijing complements of Google and others.

 

[Umpire]

Really? I don't think we are any more.

I agree. I feel less free now that I have at any time in my 63 years of life.