Weekend Unthreaded

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148 comments to Weekend Unthreaded

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    I keep hearing that since solar juice is cheap it pays to add it to the generation mix. That is like saying it pays to add a small, high mileage car as a second car. It ignores the added cost of the car. You would only save money under very unusual conditions, where you mostly drove the small car, drove a lot, and gas was very expensive. None of these conditions hold when it comes to the grid.

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      James Murphy

      My thoughts are somewhat aligned. I have never understood how it can possibly be cheaper for an end user to install another layer of hardware on top of the existing grid if one factors in the tax paid to fund the subsidies and feed-in tariffs.

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    CHRIS

    So Vlad the Impaler attacks Ukraine…who would have thought? Putin thinks he is the reincarnation of Stalin, but he has a long way to go before he can be compared to the original Dictator

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      Jojodogfacedboy

      I suspect the United States did a ‘false flag’ operation in the Donbass region which would look to be the Russian Governments fault as in Putins speech in the tragedy in that region.
      This would be more of a confirmation with the confusing speech by President Biden Administration and the rush by the Russian Federation to make those regions independent and under Russian territory rule.

      https://www.algora.com/Algora_blog/2022/02/24/president-putin-in-his-own-words

      The suspicious behavior of Prime Minister Trudeau in invoking his Emergency Powers Declaration and actions seems more suspicious as he seem to have expected President Biden to issue a Declaration of War against Russia for the atrocities in that region. And the confusing speech as Putin put that region under Russian control.
      This left both PM Trudeau and President Biden speeches to be totally confusing messages as invoking more sanctions isn’t exactly newsworthy on top of all others being issued.

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        Fran

        Trudeau seems to have lucked out good with the Russian issues to take the heat off him for his declaration of Emergency in Canada. It is unclear if his revocation of the EMA was due to the probability of the Senate voting against or the run on banks or his handlers in the WEF jumping on him for jumping the gun. Fortunately several law suits are going ahead.

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      Doc

      Chris. Now its become a matter of street fighting, Putin has every chance to rapidly emulate Stalin. As in Hungary, the tanks get brought in and simply blast the ground story of buildings to make them collapse and kill every one in the building. The ominous part of the Putin story is the increasing frequency with which commentators are saying he has actually become visibly mentally unstable.

      The split in NATO over cutting Russia out of the international banking system – the nuclear ‘weapon’ of sanctions – would harm the European economies. A price they are not willing to pay. In that case they are showing weakness to Putin and that is an encouragement for him to expand his attack to the surrounding states that were part of the USSR.
      Sometimes I wonder about the bona fides of Angela Merkel when she, as a former East German, stripped Germany of its nuclear and coal powered energy generators. In the USA, everyone is blaming Biden’s decisions on the extreme left wing of his Party. There are grounds based at least on perceptions, concerning the leadership people of both Parties with their huge financial (and familial?) interests in China and Russia, as to whether or not these matters are clouding their judgements.

      Then there’s Kerry with his lunatic fixation on AGW, even as he allowed Russia the free use of its oil exports which fund Putin’s current actions. An unproven matter that has an unprovable outcome dated a century away – or a millenium away – which blinds this man to what can be a more-than-likely tragedy in the next 6months. Then there’s the US Supreme Court decision not to look at Trump’s cases over the election results on the grounds of exciting social discord if they did so, That whistle blower expose has never been denied. So, who can one believe at this moment of the greatest disruption of international peace since the Cuban missile crisis? Too many people with interests other than the national interest, be they EU or US, with so many irons in the fire!

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        farmerbraun

        ” commentators are saying he has actually become visibly mentally unstable. ”

        Putin has every reason to be extremely angry , that Russian lives are being lost because of the actions of Obama , Biden , the U.K. France and Germany.
        All of this was avoidable ; there was every opportunity for a peaceful situation , but the psychopaths behind the trashing of Ukraine , and the enslavement of the Ukrainian people by Nazi thugs , rejected any and every peace overture.
        Obama has a lot more blood on his hands now.

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    TdeF

    There is a lot which needs fixing in the Ukraine. Only tiny Moldava beats Ukraine in absolute poverty. There has been a deadly civil war running for 8 years. 13,000 dead. Shelling by both sides, even yesterday. It had to stop but no one but Putin seems to think so. Certainly not the Western press.

    It had to stop in what is the biggest country in Europe in population and size and by far the poorest. The country is rich but unlike Russia, the cash goes to criminals. And their friends, like Biden and Hunter.

    So I am hoping that despite the total war picture beloved by journalists, total destruction, the casualties stay very light in fact. The explanation given seemed reasonable and the top Soviet soldier says they are not bombing cities, which makes sense if they are only targeting military installations. And crippling the Ukraine’s ability to conduct endless war.

    There was no way NATO or Germany or France or the UK or the US was going to solve this problem. They had what they wanted, Ukraine’s resources on a platter. The country was just a pawn in a much bigger power game. Where was their concern for the Ukrainian people? Zero.

    And I am really hoping that Putin and Zelensky can find a way to end conflict and settle this civil war with no more loss of life. NATO does not settle problems. Nor does the EU. At least Putin is trying to force an end to war and thousands dying every year, unreported in the West. If he does, he will prove everyone wrong. No matter how poor the average Russian is, they are 3x as rich as the Ukranians. It’s a kleptocracy and a EU puppet state.

    It is in Putin’s interest to have a healthy, prosperous Ukraine as a partner state against outside enemies and there are plenty. Rather than a basket case at the mercy of others and their own infrastructure where the police are the criminals. The only people who benefit from this are the foreign business people and the criminal elite of Ukraine.

    Meanwhile the press is openly baying for bloody all out war. I hope it doesn’t happen. Putin is clearly out to solve the problems.
    80 million Ukrainians are hoping the same thing. Who cares what the Germans and French and Brits and Americans think? They have done nothing but exploit the impoverished country. And this will be instantly obvious to Ukrainians, that they were just cannon fodder in the West.

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      TdeF

      Was it just two years ago that Donald Trump was on trial over a phone call with the Ukranian President? An outrageous trumped up charge with someone who heard the phone call but was not actually on the phone call?

      Then the fake Russian pee-pee dossier created by Steele and paid by Hilary Clinton and the Democrats?

      And the extortion where Joe Biden witheld billions to force the President of Ukraine to fire the Chief Prosecutor who was investigating Hunter Biden’s criminal boss.

      Ukraine has been used and abused by the Bidens and the Democrats for years. Except they have lost interest and are now off doing deals with China. Meanwhile the EU and NATO play games with Ukraine and Turkey, pretending they care. But they don’t.

      Remember the blonde President Timoshenko and the Orange revolution. In the next move she was in jail on a hunger strike, charged with theft.

      And how much did Biden really care about Ukraine, his special areas of responsibility appointed by Barack Obama? Not at all.

      So while the media also really care about those poor Ukranians, they don’t. Putin and the Russians are always the problem. Not Biden and Xi and their friends in the Democrats. And no matter how strongly Trump tries to tell the world it’s not true, the leftist press hate Trump and Putin.

      Again I hope Putin can solve the disaster which is Ukraine. It may be too big a problem and endemic, but at least now three areas may have their freedom and will not live in fear of being shelled in their beds. That would be something.

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        Joao Martins

        And add to that the fact that there is NOT a civil war going on since 2014: there are two regions whose most inhabitants are Russian by language, tradition, ethnicity, etc., who are discriminated by the covernmente of the country in that “war” that took already 13000 lives. These regions have their own elected parliaments, which several ties discussed their secession. In the EU and the rest of the world, secession of Kosovo from Serbia was legitimate, but secession of these two Russian regions is not: two weights and two measures…

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        This is all about your hatred of the bidens isn’t it?

        The notion that 80 million Ukrainians are hoping Putin will solve matters for Them is complete nonsense. They are fighting desperately for their country as Putin smashes his way in killing hundreds of civilians.

        The mail online reports, hopefully incorrectly, that the Russians are planning to unleash their weapons that vaporises bodies. They have used most every other weapon on this fledgling democracy that you seem to believe consists of nothing but gangsters. Kviv is a vibrant European city not one consistimg of only gangsters.

        ‘Again I hope Putin can solve the disaster which is Ukraine. It may be too big a problem and endemic, but at least now three areas may have their freedom and will not live in fear of being shelled in their beds. That would be something.’

        Putin can solve the problem he is creating?

        Last week commentators here were rightly cheering truckers for trying to protect their democracy. Now they are green thumbing those who support Putin in trying to snuff out democracy and appear unaware his plans include killing as many of the Ukrainian citizens as is necessary for him to fulfil his crazed ambitions. Putin has gone mad.

        Let us be clear Ukrainians do not want him there, they are fighting him . They are dying. we know people trapped in the UKraine who are terrified as to what has been unleashed on them. Their sons have volunteered to collect rifles to defend themselves. Do dispel this idea you seem to have that the locals are eagerly awaiting their saviours, the Russians. They certainly are not.

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          farmerbraun

          When Putin has cleaned out the genocidal Nazis , anywhere in Ukraine or outside it , that they reside or hide , he will leave Western Ukraine to go the dogs .
          He will ensure the safety of the independent republics ; that is all.
          The rest of Ukraine is someone else’s problem.

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          farmerbraun

          ” Their sons have volunteered to collect rifles to defend themselves. ”

          Now that is what I would call plain crazy, suicidal even.
          If they have not taken part in or supported the genocide , then they need not fear.

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            Farmerbtaun

            Taken part in what genocide?

            As hundreds of Ukraine civilians have found already, they have lots to fear.

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              farmerbraun

              Sorry , I thought that you aware of what the Donbass and Donetsk have been enduring , since France and Germany washed their hands of the Minsk agreement , which they had guaranteed.
              Your friends should be aware that Putin has invited the Ukrainian generals to overthrow the Nazi coup which saw the present lot come to power.
              “Essentially, Russia is now coupling its military intervention with a political track in terms of these possible negotiations. In fact, the former complements the latter in that militarily crushing the neo-Nazi elements in Ukraine would strengthen Zelensky’s hand to negotiate with Russia.

              It would be quite a Putinesque judo move if Russia can “flip” Zelensky, the American/European vassal, into being a partner for a negotiated settlement that satisfies Russian security concerns.

              I am sure there would be much tie and rug chewing in Washington DC, London, and Brussels if this were to happen.

              Zelensky should be careful, however, and be aware that the Americans would dump him and try to regime change his government (or worse) in a heartbeat.

              See Manuel Noriega, Saddam Hussein, or other leaders that the USA liquidated, when they were no longer political assets.”

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                Bozotheclown

                See Manuel Noriega, Saddam Hussein, or other leaders that the USA liquidated, when they were no longer political assets.”

                Not going to disagree but what will fill the vacuum in this instance in time and what specifically was the pressure in the case of Noriega or Hussein?

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            farmerbraun

            To further explain :-

            “Ukrainian troops are making civilians targets by giving assault rifles to all takers in cities, and setting up sniper positions in apartment buildings.”

            See how it works Tony?

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          yarpos

          Sort of ironic you pen your initial tirade talking about someone elses hatred of the Bidens when you seem to have your own thing about the Putin.

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            Yarpos

            Strangely I do have a thing about a dictatorial mass murderer.

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              MP

              How many civilians were killed in the NATO war against Libya, the Iraqi wars, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen and on and on they go.
              Biden, well he is smarter than you.

              Give you time to check your one true source of truth, the daily mail.

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              OldOzzie

              Buchanan: Did We Provoke Putin’s War In Ukraine?

              When Russia’s Vladimir Putin demanded that the U.S. rule out Ukraine as a future member of the NATO alliance, the U.S. archly replied: NATO has an open-door policy. Any nation, including Ukraine, may apply for membership and be admitted. We’re not changing that.

              In the Bucharest declaration of 2008, NATO had put Ukraine and Georgia, ever farther east in the Caucasus, on a path to membership in NATO and coverage under Article 5 of the treaty, which declares that an attack on any one member is an attack on all.

              Unable to get a satisfactory answer to his demand, Putin invaded and settled the issue. Neither Ukraine nor Georgia will become members of NATO. To prevent that, Russia will go to war, as Russia did last night.

              Putin did exactly what he had warned us he would do.

              Whatever the character of the Russian president, now being hotly debated here in the USA, he has established his credibility.

              When Putin warns that he will do something, he does it.

              Thirty-six hours into this Russia-Ukraine war, potentially the worst in Europe since 1945, two questions need to be answered:

              1. How did we get here? And where do we go from here?

              2. Whatever we may think of Putin, he is no Stalin. He has not murdered millions or created a gulag archipelago.

              Nor is he “irrational,” as some pundits rail. He does not want a war with us, which would be worse than ruinous to us both.

              Putin is a Russian nationalist, patriot, traditionalist and a cold and ruthless realist looking out to preserve Russia as the great and respected power it once was and he believes it can be again.

              But it cannot be that if NATO expansion does not stop or if its sister state of Ukraine becomes part of a military alliance whose proudest boast is that it won the Cold War against the nation Putin has served all his life.

              President Joe Biden almost hourly promises, “We are not going to war in Ukraine.” Why would he then not readily rule out NATO membership for Ukraine, which would require us to do something Biden himself says we Americans, for our own survival, should never do: go to war with Russia?

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                OldOzzie

                The Ruling Class Is A Far Greater Threat To Americans Than Russia Is

                There’s no gentle way to say it, but the truth is that a lot of us hate our elites far more than we hate some foreign dictator.

                Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine Thursday. He’d been fixing on it for a while. Most of the world knew it was coming.

                By nightfall, their advanced forces had reached the capital city of Kyiv, and the situation looked dire. In the ensuing bloodshed, the internet was awash in hot takes. Not insignificant among them: That treason is amiss on the right, where our elites detect an insufficient support for the White House — and an insufficient hatred of Putin.

                They’re shocked their bugles ring hollow in the ears of so many conservative and Christian Americans. Our lack of enthusiasm infuriates them to their core; they’re shaking with indignation.

                So what’s the cause of this apparent treason? Why aren’t we charging? Why aren’t we all impressed with a government that’s afraid of racially profiling Chinese spies, or the carbon footprint of war in Europe? Why didn’t the Russians fear the diversity tweets of our NATO alliance, or our maternity flight suits and trans soldiers?

                Why, they wonder, haven’t American conservatives flocked to their “racist” flag singing our “racist” National Anthem?

                There’s no gentle way to say it, but the truth is that a lot of us hate our elites far more than we hate some foreign dictator. It’s a tough truth for the tough place our civilization is in — and surely, it’s a difficult truth for our ruling class to see amid the glare of their self-righteousness.

                The Right To Rule

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                OldOzzie

                BIDEN REGIME & NATO NEED A HISTORY LESSON ON RUSSIA!

                THE THREE BROTHERS WENT HUNTING AS THE LEGEND GOES—AND THREE NATIONS EMERGED

                The eldest, Lech, fell in love with Poland after finding the nest of a white eagle—the nation’s symbol to this day. He chose it for his home.

                For the history-hating Marxists reading this, I won’t make you guess which nation ‘Czech’ founded, I’ll tell you so we don’t waste time—The Czech Republic. How ‘bout that?

                And guess where the medieval state of ‘Kievan Rus’ as it was know, was founded by ‘Rus’?

                Russia. And you’ll never guess what ‘Kievan’ refers to….that’s right. Kiev. Is this starting to come together for you?

                Without any regional knowledge or thinking—Joe Biden and the NATO fools were about to kick off WW III—rattling nukes of all things instead of just sabres!

                Since signing of the ‘Eternal Peace Treaty’ ending the Russo-Polish War (1654-67), all lands east of the Dnieper River have been Russian.

                Other than a short stint when Kiev’s Bolshevik Red Army took over and created the short-lived “Ukranian Soviet Socialist Republic” (1917-21) it was restored as one of the founding republics of the Soviet Union in 1922.

                Eastern Ukraine (including Crimea) was ceded to the ‘Ukranian SSR’ by the Soviet Union the year after I was born, so this whole idea of Ukraine as an independent nation is quite new—and even then, it remained in that union with Russia until forced out when the West caused its crumbling.

                – DONETSK AND LUHANSK ARE AS RUSSIAN AS TEXAS IS AMERICAN—MAYBE MORESO

                – SO THEY’RE LYING…GOT IT…BUT WHY DO THEY WANT WAR WITH RUSSIA?

                I’m so glad you asked—and there are a few answers.

                I’M NO PUTIN APOLOGIST, BUT HE’S RIGHT ON THIS ONE—THIS IS BIDEN’S WAR, NOT PUTIN’S

                SO LET’S DROP THE MEDIA HYPE FOR A MOMENT AND TALK PUTIN

                Do you know who is the most prolific ‘church builder’ in modern history?

                So in closing, I’ve got a message for Joey from a friend.

                MESSAGE TO BIDEN—“WORRY ABOUT AMERICA’S BORDER, NOT UKRAINE’S”

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                Kippax

                I found this podcast quite helpful, I listen to these guys regularly, and one is Russian born with relatives in both Russia and Ukraine. He explained it quite well.

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                Kippax

                https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNnq8gMAE-8

                Sorry, pressed “Post” too quickly before

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                OldOzzie

                Ukraine’s Deadly Gamble

                By tying itself to a reckless and dangerous America, the Ukrainians made a blunder that client states will study for years to come

                Russian President Vladimir Putin chose this war, Joe Biden said in his Thursday afternoon speech to America regarding the conflict in Ukraine. That is true, but U.S. elites also had something to do with Putin’s ugly and destructive choice—a role that Democrats and Republicans are eager to paper over with noble-sounding rhetoric about the bravery of Ukraine’s badly outgunned military. Yes, the Ukrainian soldiers standing up to Putin are very brave, but it was Americans that put them in harm’s way by using their country as a weapon, first against Russia and then against each other, with little consideration for the Ukrainian people who are now paying the price for America’s folly.

                It is not an expression of support for Putin’s grotesque actions to try to understand why it seemed worthwhile for him to risk hundreds of billions of dollars, the lives of thousands of servicemen, and the possible stability of his own regime in order to invade his neighbor. After all, Putin’s reputation until this moment has always been as a shrewd ex-KGB man who eschewed high-risk gambles in favor of sure things backed by the United States, like entering Syria and then escalating forces there. So why has he adopted exactly the opposite strategy here, and chosen the road of open high-risk confrontation with the American superpower?

                Yes, Putin wants to prevent NATO from expanding to Russia’s border. But the larger answer is that he finds the U.S. government’s relationship with Ukraine genuinely threatening. That’s because for nearly two decades, the U.S. national security establishment under both Democratic and Republican administrations has used Ukraine as an instrument to destabilize Russia, and specifically to target Putin.

                While the timing of Putin’s attack on Ukraine is no doubt connected to a variety of factors, including the Russian dictator’s read on U.S. domestic politics and the preferences of his own superpower sponsor in Beijing, the sense that Ukraine poses a meaningful threat to Russia is not a product of Putin’s paranoia—or of a sudden desire to restore the power and prestige of the Soviet Union, however much Putin might wish for that to happen. Rather, it is a geopolitical threat that has grown steadily more pressing and been employed with greater recklessness by Americans and Ukrainians alike over the past decade.

                That Ukraine has allowed itself to be used as a pawn against a powerful neighbor is in part the fault of Kyiv’s reckless and corrupt political class. But Ukraine is not a superpower that owes allies and client-states judicious leadership—that’s the role of the United States. And in that role, the United States has failed Ukraine. More broadly, the use of Ukraine as a goad against enemies domestic and foreign has recklessly damaged the failing yet necessary European security architecture that America spent 75 years building and maintaining.

                Why can’t the American security establishment shoulder responsibility for its role in the tragedy unfolding in Ukraine?

                Because to discuss American responsibility openly would mean exposing the national security establishment’s role in two separate, destructive coups: the first, in 2014, targeting the government of Ukraine, and the second, starting two years later, the government of the United States.

                In February 2014, the protests forced Yanukovych into exile in Moscow. Consequently, Nuland and other Obama administration officials worked to assemble a new Ukrainian government friendly to the United States and therefore hostile to Russia.

                In late February, the Russians responded to the American soft coup in Ukraine by invading Crimea and eventually annexing it and creating chaos in Eastern Ukraine. The Obama administration declined to arm the Ukrainian government. It was right to avoid conflict with Moscow, though by leaving Kyiv defenseless, it showed that the White House had never fully gamed out all the possible scenarios that might ensue from setting a client state on course for conflict with a great power. Instead, Obama and the Europeans highlighted their deadly miscalculation by imposing sanctions on Moscow for taking advantage of the conditions that Obama and the Europeans had created.

                The White House seems to have taken a perverse pride in the death and destruction it helped incite in Eastern Europe. In April 2014, CIA Director John Brennan visited Kyiv, appearing to confirm the agency’s role in the coup. Shortly after came Vice President Biden, who took his own victory lap and counseled the Ukrainians to root out corruption. Naturally, a prominent Ukrainian energy company called Burisma, which was then under investigation for corruption, hired Biden’s son Hunter for protection.

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                OldOzzie

                Russian military attack on Ukraine: How we got there

                Moscow says the current situation is the result of years of failed talks to end the bloodshed in eastern Ukraine after the 2014 coup in Kiev

                Here are the key events of the past eight years that led to this conflict.

                1. ‘Euromaidan’ protests in Kiev end with West-backed coup

                2. Crimea votes to leave Ukraine for Russia

                3. Conflict breaks out in Donbass

                4. Minsk ceasefire puts an end to large-scale fighting

                5. No reform, no peace for Donbass

                6. Road to escalation in Donbass

                7. Russia recognizes Donbass republics

                8. Moscow launches ‘military operation’ in Ukraine

                9. What comes next?

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                OldOzzie

                From New Catallaxy Blog

                Plasmamortarsays:

                February 27, 2022 at 8:25 am

                I suspect that once the Russians saw the new U.S. army ad, they knew the time was right…

                For the comparison, see here

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              yarpos

              Plenty of them about , but yes you can select any that suit.

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    • #

      Fascinating! Thanks T. I figured there was a lot more to this story.

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        David

        There is nothing more to this story than a mad man is trying to destroy a friendly democratic European country after annexing three parts of it in 2014 . My guess is that he will try to take Kviv despite the brave opposition, as it is at that point that the river naturally divides Ukraine in two. He wil Take the eastern part which will give him a land bridge to Crimea and enable him to bind together the three territories he has already annexed. This will embolden dictators worldwide.

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          farmerbraun

          Tony , Putin is in no way mad ; perhaps you meant something else.

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          Farmerbraun

          Unhinged then. Several experts in the field have called him that. However I am not sure unhinged is too far from mad and one military expert has said that Putin would be mad to attack a NATO country but has shown himself to be that anyway by his actions so far.

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            farmerbraun

            Ukraine is not in NATO.
            No NATO countries will be attacked by Russia.
            Ukraine threatening last week to station nuclear weapons on Russia’s border gave Putin just cause to act in pre-emptive self-defense .
            But he has long intended to ensure the Minsk agreement held up , since it was obvious that France and Germany were comfortable with the genocide practised by the Nazis in Ukraine, and had no intention of upholding the agreement which they had guaranteed.
            But the military campaign is brilliant and will succeed , however long it takes , cf. Chechnya.
            The Ukraine air force and navy no longer exist , the army will surrender and all military installations will be SNAFU. Job’s done.

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              Putin had already acted months ago bringing his troops up ready to invade. The planning must have begun last autumn.

              You are surely not happy that a friendly soveroegn European country is being ruthlessly dismantled by a megalomaniac who if he wins will turn his attention elsewhere and embolden his fellow dictators?

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                farmerbraun

                Putin began to plan years ago when the Obama administration was instrumental in deposing and imprisoning the democratically elected president of Ukraine.

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                MP

                WOW, your a military expert on strategic planning now. More fact free propaganda, all based on propaganda.

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            yarpos

            has he attacked a NATO country?

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              Nobody said he had. The point was made by a top commander that if he was mad enough to invade Ukraine it was a short step to be mad enough to invade a NATO country.

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                yarpos

                I think in most peoples minds that wouldnt be a short step at all. He seems to have successfully controlled his craziness for quite a while now and routinely makes the current crop of peer leaders look stupid.

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          KP

          Too much mainstream propaganda TonyB.. Putin is not a dictator, he was elected just like Biden or Scotty from Marketing. Its not who votes, its who counts the votes…

          Its been said before, but would Biden do nothing if Mexico had Russian troops and ‘advisors’ helping them on their USA border, Russian missiles being put in Mexico so New York was only minutes away, Russian biolabs being set up in Mexico because any problems become some 3rd-world country’s problem, or maybe because some mysterious disease comes over on a Southerly breeze…

          Try it on Scotty if China was threatening Oz and took over PNG in the same way America has taken over Ukraine.

          No, NATO has done nothing good for Ukraine, just used them to annoy Putin and then hung them out to dry. If the Ukrainian people are feeling bad then they should remember wey they had their colour revolution and tried to wipe out the Russian-speakers. If they disarm and accept they are a buffer between Europe and Russia, so don’t take sides, then Russia will leave them alone. The Yanks will be back in there in a few years, formenting trouble again & whispering around corners about joining Europe and getting rid of Russia.

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            As jo pointed out in the other thread Putin imprisons his opponents.

            as for mainstream propaganda , the Russians are self evidently not leaving them alone. The Ukrainian people would really like it if his troops took their weapons and disappeared

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              farmerbraun

              Perhaps the Ukrainians of whom you speak need impartial sources of information, if the internet is still up there . The Vineyard of the Saker would be a good start.

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                Why would the Ukrainians want to consult a Russian conspiracy blog

                https://euvsdisinfo.eu/the-saker-blind-loyalty-disguised-as-defiance/

                Many ukranoans invariably have friends and family in Russia and know what Russia is up to without needing to read a pro kremlin blog

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                MP

                Well you keep exceeding even my low expectations of you.
                Eurodisinfo is a Soros funded fact checker, as most are.

                https://euobserver.com/opinion/141458
                https://www.thelibertybeacon.com/a-fight-for-freedom-dutch-parliament-against-the-eus-soros-ministry-of-truth/

                The Gefira team opted to check the background of the remaining seven sources that collaborate with EUvsDisinfo. Here they are:

                The most active is “European Values”, operating through its unit “Kremlin Watch”, a Czech think-tank funded by the Open Society Foundations of George Soros;3)
                StopFake, which is also supported, though it’s unclear how, by Open Society Foundations;4)
                the NGO “Promote Ukraine”;
                the Hungarian “Political Capital Institute”, which lists among its donors Open Society Foundations;5)
                the Czech “Prague Security Studies Institute”, which lists among its partners the Open Society Fund;6)
                “Polygraph”, a fact-checker created by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty;7) Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty collaborates with the Open Society Archives;8)
                “Myth Detector”, a Georgian organization. Georgians aren’t EU members, but this organization is funded by the usual Open Society Foundations9)and that’s enough for credentials to work for an EU institution apparently.

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                farmerbraun

                If you and your friends in Ukraine think that the Saker is pro-Kremlin , and nothing else, then you cannot be helped , and must suffer your fate .
                I do not say the Saker is unbiased ; he is very pro-Orthodox Christian.
                But always read both sides of the story to find the truth.
                And above all , admit the facts.

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                farmerbraun

                If the Saker is not to their taste , then perhaps try Pat Buchanan , writing at ZH :-

                “Thirty-six hours into this Russia-Ukraine war, potentially the worst in Europe since 1945, two questions need to be answered:

                How did we get here? And where do we go from here?

                How did we get to where Russia — believing its back is against a wall and the United States, by moving NATO ever closer, put it there — reached a point where it chose war with Ukraine rather than accepting the fate and future it believes the West has in store for Mother Russia?”

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              MP

              Who controls Ukraine. https://www.mintpressnews.com/leaked-george-soros-puppet-master-behind-ukrainian-regime/206574/
              Its always the same people, want to know who is flooding your country with immigrants, Open society and Tides foundation, both Soros. https://www.civilianintelligencenetwork.ca/2019/02/18/soros-tides-foundation-and-the-social-economy-slush-fund/

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      Ukraine’s population is just under 44 million and not your stated 80 million………………..

      20

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      Leo G

      There was no way NATO or Germany or France or the UK or the US was going to solve this problem.

      It looks to me that “this problem” already has been solved in deals between Russia, Europe, China and the USA and the present procession in Ukraine by the Russians is part of a grotesque deception.

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    • #
      TdeF

      Laser is not finished. Diode laser in metal cutting is quickly displacing plasma, taking affordable power to 6-8kw at a tenth of the cost of traditional lasers. And a few months ago, the US navy fired a 180kw laser as a sea to air weapon off the coast of Somalia. Who needs plasma?

      60

      • #
        red edwards

        The point is not which technology is optimum, but that there may be a technology that works in a reasonable time scale.

        I also note that this is only a technology (if it works) for a tectonically stable area. Definitely not for coastal California or Japan. . .

        30

        • #
          Peter C

          Why is that?

          10

          • #
            red edwards

            If it works as described, earthquakes would shatter the slag holding the soft material at the depth of the shaft, and the hole would close. You’d have to re-drill the bottom part of the hole. More time and money, which wouldn’t be good for the area dependent on the power generated by the hole.

            00

    • #
      Serp

      Deploying the technology at existing coal fired power stations is a winning move.

      The telling quote for me is: “power plant that uses supercritical water as the working fluid can extract up to 10 times more useful energy from each drop when compared to non-supercritical plants. Aiming for supercritical conditions is key to attaining power densities consistent with fossil fuels.”

      I do wonder about the difficulties in maintaining the integrity of these bores long enough for them to be useful given the dynamism of the planet.

      30

  • #
    YWNBAW

    The Neo Liberal bootlickers have selectively forgotten the Western backed putsch that removed the actual duly elected President of Ukraine in 2014

    101

  • #
    Lance

    More Canadian insanity.

    Canadians would be subject to legal action if they are suspected of intending to post “hate speech”.

    “Legislation making its way through the Canadian Parliament would allow citizens to be taken to court and penalized if they are suspected of simply intending to post “hate speech” online.”

    https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2022/02/24/proposed-canadian-law-would-penalize-intent-to-commit-online-hate-speech/

    100

    • #
      Double on Tundra

      If calling someone a racist, misogynist, insurrectionist, supporter of Bad Orange Man, ignorant, a threat to overthrow government, or things along that line would qualify as “hate speech”, I might see the point of it, even if I disagreed completely with the law.

      But somehow I think that its application might be, how shall we put this, somewhat more selective.

      God created people with free will. Anyone interfering with free will is trying to set xerself up as a substitute for God.

      Choose this day whom you will serve, right? (or is that hate speech because of the Book it comes from?)

      I think I need to maybe declare my pronouns as Us/Them.

      50

    • #
      KP

      Ah, Thoughtcrime… about time it turned up. We will end up with starving rats in a cage on your face.

      20

      • #
        Serp

        Thoughtcrime verification technology is in the pipeline; apologies for not being able to find it in my browsing history.

        10

  • #
    farmerbraun

    The ramifications of the High Court decision in NZ are profound .
    The ruling means that ineffective measures cannot be mandated.
    The intent was to slow/stop the spread of virus.

    The judge took medical advice that both “vaccinated ” and unvaccinated people could spread the virus i.e. the “vaccine ” did not eliminate the possibility of spreading .
    Therefore the unvaccinated could not legally be discriminated against.

    The judge was at pains to point out that the “vaccine ” was therapy for those contracting the illness ; it did not stop spreading , which was the intent of the mandate.
    Now , about those ineffective masks . . . . 🙂

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    • #
      farmerbraun

      So , for example , I cannot now be refused entry to the annual Agricultural Field Days , on the grounds that I cannot prove “vaccination “. (currently “mandated”)

      So there goes the vax pass . . meaningless and worthless.

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      • #

        Farmer Braun

        Is the fax pass still a big thing in Australia or New Zealand?

        02

        • #

          Sorry, the fax pass is probably not a big thing at all, but perhaps the vax pass still is?

          12

          • #
            Serp

            The faux pas perhaps.

            80

          • #
            farmerbraun

            Schoolchildren openly flout the mask mandates. Only the terminally compliant have any use for the vax pass ; the rest of us ignore it , or go round it.
            Ardern said last week that it was to go , and “it has nothing to do with the protests!”.
            LOL . Puerile nonsense from She-Who- Never-Lies .

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            robert rosicka

            The vax passport still exists in Victoriastan but I think NSW and Tassie have removed it .

            40

            • #
              OldOzzie

              but I think NSW and Tassie have removed it .

              No – a lot of NSW Clubs will not admit you if unvaccinated , as well as Restaurants

              So saving a lot of money not going out – have never used QR Code – if asked, ask them to write down my details

              60

            • #
              yarpos

              Although the vax certificate is a VIC govt requirement , the actual interest in looking at it seem minimal in my region, with few requesting it and only the most cursory glance given. It would only take 30minutes on a word processor to create something that would serve quite adequately.

              I guess the keenness for this stuff varies by location and the level of policing, but as with most aspects of Dans meglomania, people are over it.
              We had a once a year lunch at a nice place down in Melb last weekend, and we asked the greeting staff if the needed to see certs and the weary response was “yes, Dan hasnt finished messing with hospitality just yet”

              00

      • #
        mawm

        FamerB – hopefully this will be the first domino and we’ll be allowed back in our libraries, our swimming pools, on our ferries and in coffeee shops.

        60

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          farmerbraun

          The logic of the decision is impeccable.
          Any mandate which cannot possibly achieve its stated objective , its raison d’etre , is completely arbitrary and illegal .

          And mandating an experimental medical intervention which is not an eliminative vaccine , has been proven neither safe, nor without alternatives that have already been proven safe . . . . this can only go one way . And it’s going . . .

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    • #
      Brenda Spence

      https://rumble.com/vvsemb-masks-science-or-political-science.html

      A bit of science v political science

      CO2 levels rise horrendously and quickly inside a good mask.

      40

  • #
    William Astley

    There has been a sudden increase/awakening, in discussions and the quality of information/papers written, concerning the first release RNA vaccine dangers and their lack of effectiveness to protect against Omicron.

    There is an outrage growing. There is no longer political protection to hide the covid scandals because the WH is out of control. Biden has lost his political power/voter support. I believe this scandal will have legs.

    Almost every country is now stopping covid restrictions because their general population will have herd immunity (because of Omicron) to covid and because the covid first release vaccines do not provide long term protection against getting covid and because there is data that the first release covid vaccines are dangerous.

    The population covid options are, continue to vaccinate everyone every 3/2 months with the first release covid vaccines and then watch them getting severe covid vaccine ‘side effects’ or alternatively allow people to get exposed to Omicron, when the population has maximum short term protection against Omicron, due to the first release vaccines. The third option would be lockdowns. It has been shown however that western style lockdowns do not stop Omicron. This option just delays the infection, because Omicron is endemic in the world now.

    To make an informed scientific decision, data is required on the first release covid vaccine risk and their effectiveness for the current covid strain, Omicron, as well as the risks due to getting Omicron. The CDC (CDC requires ‘White House’ ‘approval’ to release covid data) is now hiding covid data that shows the first release covid vaccines and boosters are not required or not effective for different groups.

    Evidence for this assertion is the fact that the CDC suddenly stopped providing the effectiveness of boosters to stop Omicron for the 18-49 year group.

    The CDC is also hiding detailed data that shows Omicron is less deadly than Delta.

    The justification for given the experimental vaccine to young children was the complex dangerous “Sudden System Inflammation Syndrome” in children. There have been 5 million children infected with covid in the US and roughly 6200 cases of Sudden System Inflammation syndrome.

    When the cases of Sudden System Inflammation, in children, dropped to zero, with the arrival of the Omicron strain, late December, the CDC suddenly stopped providing the data of the number of children that are getting Sudden System Inflammation Syndrome. Covid should not be a political game. It is not the ‘job’ of the WH or our governments to hide data to force us to get as many first release covid jabs as possible.

    https://www.clayandbuck.com/nyt-admits-the-cdc-lied-withheld-covid-data/

    NYT Admits The CDC Lied, Withheld Covid Data
    ““When the CDC published the first significant data on the effectiveness of boosters in adults younger than 65 two weeks ago, it left out the numbers for a huge portion of that population, 18 to 49-year-olds, the group least likely to benefit from extra shots because the first two doses already left them well protected.” What do you think’s going on here?”

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      Fran

      Denis Rancourt argues that there never was a pandemic on the basis of all cause mortality in Canada and the US. Rather, there were isolated pockets where the pandemic response led to high mortality in the frail population and specific groups. The latter includes working age males from places like Alberta and some of the southern states with significant poverty. The paper on the US is very long. The summary is in this podcast.

      https://denisrancourt.ca/videos.php?id=42&name=2022_02_13_all_cause_mortality_update_with_james_corbett

      30

      • #
        farmerbraun

        I think the evidence, from all- cause mortality figures , has long shown that there was no pandemic and that the declaration of an Emergency was without foundation , and was likely for purely political/economic purposes.
        Remember that Jacinda Ardern declared a Climate Emergency at about the same time ,with even less foundation in fact because nothing had emerged . . . . it was all purported to be in the future , on the basis of no evidence of any scientific merit.

        The problem in NZ was that there was no political opposition . . . the Uniparty problem seen in the U.S. , Canada , and Australia also.

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        William Astley

        Thanks Fran.

        That is a great link to independent thoughtful analysis of the world covid data by specialists in Canada and France. Those involved are still working on the problem. Other are working on law suits.

        The covid mortality and vaccine adverse events, data tells a story. The first release covid vaccines are dangerous. The first release covid vaccines killed people and caused complex long term health problems, based on the data.

        https://denisrancourt.ca/uploads_entries/1644466772722_OCLA-Report-2022-1v1—-VAERS%20toxicity%20–5d.pdf

        Nature of the toxicity of the COVID-19 vaccines in the USA

        The above conclusion determined by analysis of the covid data, is support by detailed analysis at a cellular level, of the organs taken from people who died unexplainably after being jabbed with a first release RNA vaccine. What was found was the same biological damage in the heart and other organs taken from the deceased.

        https://www.bitchute.com/video/fHIT55iM4Zv9/

        DR SUCHARIT BHAKDI: ORGANS OF DEAD VACCINATED PROVES AUTO IMMUNE ATTACK – 22/12/2021

        50

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    Fran

    Doug Ford, premier of Ontario had deregistered 39 trucking companies and a number of private vehicles before ending the Emergency in the province. It is also not clear to what extent the federal government is vindictively pursuing those involved in the recent protests in Ottawa. The organizer of the defunct GOFundMe, Tamara Lich was finally granted bail but the charges against her are not known. The whole area around the government buildings in Ottawa are a police controlled desert. We are not out of the woods yet.

    https://www.trucknews.com/transportation/mto-grounds-trucking-businesses-involved-in-freedom-convoy-protests/1003157332/

    https://thepostmillennial.com/39-trucking-businesses-shut-down-after-freedom-convoy-protests

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    farmerbraun

    “We are not out of the woods yet.”

    Far from it , if you accept that the declarations of Emergencies had nothing to do with virus , nor climate.
    The political/economic agenda has many facets , is in no way derailed , and we will see Plan C emerge very soon (if it is not already obvious).

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    • #
      robert rosicka

      Something you don’t want to happen at those speeds .

      20

      • #
        OldOzzie

        Watching the heads bob up and down, would really have an effect on nead and neck muscles, and as commentator said “It would disrupt you vision trying to set up braking points and line for corner”

        10

  • #
    OldOzzie

    Feeble EU Squabbles over Whether to Include Designer Handbags, Diamond Trade In Sanctions

    Despite tough talk over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the European Union is squabbling internally over whether to include luxury goods and diamonds in sanctions, while there is reluctance on all sides to restrict energy imports.

    While the 27-member bloc had been sounding off about severe consequences for the Vladimir Putin-led Russian Federation if it carried out a military offensive against its neighbour, it evidently failed to agree a common line on sanctions over the last several months.

    Joe Barnes, Brussels correspondent for The Telegraph, claims that Italy’s Prime Minister Mario Draghi has secured a carve-out for luxury goods — presumably thinking of the lost profits if brands such as Armani and Prada could no longer sell designer shoes and handbags to wealthy Russians.

    “Apparently selling Gucci loafers to oligarchs is more of a priority than hitting back at Putin,” one EU diplomat is said to have remarked.

    Italy has also been “resistant to sanctions that include railways” and Belgium, for its part, is reported to have fought successfully for a luxury goods-style carve-out of its own for the diamond trade.

    While such squabbles are perceived by some as exemplifying the European Union’s fundamentally unserious approach to the Ukraine crisis — despite Brussels having pushed hard to bring the country into an EU Association Agreement in the teeth of Russian opposition — the fact that Italy, Germany, and Austria were all “concerned [about] broad banking-sector sanctions” and there was “broad reluctance” to sanction the all-important energy sector, per Matina Stevis-Gridneff, Brussels bureau chief for The New York Times, is more serious.

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    • #
      KP

      So laughable, and completely expected! If they, and the Yanks, were serious then surely you would shut Russia’s borders. No exports of gas or oil, precious metals, metal ores… It would cripple Europe and America at the same time, so they don’t really want their sanctions to have an effect, they just have to be seen to be doing something!

      I lived in South Africa in the time of sanctions, it did the country a power of good! Although a foreigner I felt united with everyone there as we worked to make everything within the country and find ways to replace goods sanctioned out. The cost of living went up so the standard of living dropped, something all these people calling for Aussie to make everything here and not import from China should think about, but our priorities were not Gucci loafers and gold watches!

      60

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    KP

    This is why nothing will be done about vaccines & Govt handling of Covid. NOTHING! The public don’t see a problem at all.

    “The vast majority of voters in NSW believe masks should continue to be worn in shops and indoor public venues, with more than 40 per cent of survey respondents saying they believe the state’s restrictions were eased too soon.

    Voters are evenly split over whether QR codes are necessary given that contact tracing is no longer a key part of the state’s COVID-19 response, but 65 per cent of people say they are still checking in before entering venues.”

    We will slowly release all the pandemic restrictions and people will think the Govt did a good job, except those people who had a close friend or relative die and believe it was the vaccine. Everyone else will be ready to queue up when the next disease gets released…

    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/more-comfortable-with-masks-voters-want-some-covid-restrictions-to-stay-20220225-p59zs4.html

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    OldOzzie

    Salvage team boards burnt ship with luxury cars off Azores, towing begins

    LISBON (Reuters) -More than a week after a ship packed with luxury cars caught fire in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, a salvage team managed to board the vessel on Friday and started to tow it to a safe location off the Portuguese Azores archipelago.

    In a statement, ship manager Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd (MOL) said the Felicity Ace remained stable, and the smoke that for days billowed from the vessel, adrift around 170 km southwest of the Azores, had stopped.

    The 22 crew members of the Panama-flagged Felicity Ace, which was carrying around 4,000 Volkswagen vehicles including Porsches, Audis and Bentleys from Germany to the United States, were evacuated last Wednesday, the day the fire broke out.

    Some of the vehicles are electric and their lithium-ion batteries have made the fire very difficult to extinguish, port officials have said.

    “We fear that the fire on the ship has damaged a large number of the nearly 4,000 group-brand vehicles to such an extent that they can no longer be delivered to customers,” Volkswagen said in a statement on Friday.

    It is still unclear how the fire began, but the incident underlined the fragility of global supply chains and raised questions about the safety of transporting large numbers of electric cars, whose batteries are known to be highly flammable, on cargo ships.

    Some analysts estimated the value of the cargo at nearly half a billion dollars.

    90

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    OldOzzie

    Defense department to use world’s largest 3D-printed boat, made at UMaine

    The smaller of the two vessels can transport a Marine rifle squad and three days of supplies, UMaine officials said.

    ORONO, Maine — The world’s largest 3D-printed boat will serve as a logistics vessel for the U.S. Department of Defense.

    The boat was created by a 3D printer at the University of Maine’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center. The university said it is one of two 3D-printed prototypes made for the defense department and simulates ship-to-shore movement of 20-foot containers that represent equipment and supplies.

    The smaller of the two vessels can transport a Marine rifle squad, and three days of supplies, UMaine officials said.

    Sens. Susan Collins, a Republican, and Angus King, an independent, joined members of the UMaine System and the defense department on Friday to celebrate the production of the vessel. The university said the composites center 3D printed and assembled one of the vessels in a month when using traditional materials could have taken more than a year.

    The senators and university said in a statement that the vessel is “a significant milestone towards demonstrating advanced manufacturing techniques to rapidly constitute critical DOD assets closer to the point of need.”

    UMaine representatives said the Composites Center produced the vessel in collaboration with the Marine Corps Systems Command’s Advanced Manufacturing Operations Cell. UMaine is home to the world’s largest 3D printer.

    You’re gonna need a bigger boat? UMaine has printer for that

    The 3D printer, which can gobble up 500 pounds of plastic polymer pellets per hour, is already proving useful as demonstrated by the patrol boat.

    But the university hopes to make it better.

    A $20 million research collaboration with the Oak Ridge lab will focus on using bio-based thermoplastics reinforced by cellulose-based materials to create a 3D printable material that’s strong, durable and recyclable, Dagher said. If it works according to plan, the printer will be able to quickly produce items like molds for boats or concrete casks that could be recycled afterward, he said.

    20

  • #
    philemon

    https://boriquagato.substack.com/p/did-the-science-change/comments

    Read it and weep. Or laugh. Your choice.

    And then there’s this insidious plan:

    https://www.forbes.com/sites/suzannerowankelleher/2022/02/24/national-vaccine-quietly-rolled-out/

    “‘We’ve seen a notable uptick in states that have officially launched public portals where individuals can get verifiable vaccination credentials in the form of SMART Health Cards with a QR code,’ says Brian Anderson, co-founder of the VCI and chief digital health physician at MITRE.”

    Because we should all trust MITRE! Ha ha. Thin end of the wedge.

    “‘We believe it gives people peace of mind when the folks around them are unlikely to be contagious,’ says Gus Warren, CEO of Bindle, a health verification app that allows venues to verify the vaccination status of patrons.”

    Yeah, right. Like the so-called “vaccine” helps at all. Anyone vaccinated should feel more peace of mind around people with natural immunity at this point.

    “Lastly, having a vaccine verification system in place prepares the U.S. for the next coronavirus variant as well as the inevitability of a future pandemic.”

    Inevitability? Ah, they think they can pull this BS again and get away with it. How nice of them to confirm that they are completely untrustworthy.

    https://babylonbee.com/news/queen-elizabeth-asked-if-shes-taken-ivermectin-for-covid-responds-with-definitive-nay

    https://babylonbee.com/news/loud-cheering-heard-from-lockheed-martin-board-room

    https://babylonbee.com/news/trudeau-jealous-another-dictator-taking-all-his-press-coverage

    https://babylonbee.com/news/biden-orders-astronauts-on-iss-to-eat-all-the-freeze-dried-ice-cream-and-not-leave-any-for-the-russians

    You know, the Russians good, Russians bad, Russians good again, No! Russians bad, bad, bad!

    First we got Duranty, heh. Then, the red-diaper babies. Then, neo-cons and neo-liberals. Oh, boy! Yay, Russian oligarchs! Oops! Putin. So, bad Russia.

    There was a Quaker website about their efforts to alleviate the starvation caused by the Bolsheviks. The Bolsheviks knew nothing about farming. All they knew was that there might be pogroms; so they shot dogs, many breeds of farm dogs were lost forever.

    20

  • #

    can anyone expand on this at all?

    Chembombs and emf being used to interrupt planned legal protest in Australia. watch out Brisbane
    https://odysee.com/@AussieFighter:8/Chembombs-and-emf-being-used-to-interrupt-planned-legal-protest-in-Australia.-watch-out-Brisbane:7

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  • #
    John Connor II

    Strike 1.
    US microchip powerhouse Nvidia hit by cyber attack
    Exclusive: Parts of its business are ‘completely compromised’ at time of Russian cyberwarfare against Ukraine

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2022/02/25/us-microchip-powerhouse-nvidia-hit-cyber-attack/

    Take out Silicon Valley & Taiwan’s TSMC and watch what happens.

    20

  • #
    John Connor II

    What are you paying for petrol right now?
    My local BP just upped 95 grade to $2.25/l.
    Thankfully my WRX gets 7l/100kms when driven sedately and that’s how I drive anyway 😆

    What will the price be in a few weeks I wonder…

    40

    • #
      OldOzzie

      Looking at Petrol Spy app on Samsung Note 8 – U95 201.9Cents/l BP Manly (has independent competition in Manly

      00

    • #
      Leo G

      What are you paying for petrol right now? …
      What will the price be in a few weeks I wonder…

      There’s good news and bad news.
      On one hand, and the last I heard, our country has about 2 months reserves of petrol and last year our government passed legislation requiring importers and industry to maintain a minimum stockholding of fuels.
      On the other hand, most of our reserves are held on our behalf in the USA; the Minimum Storage Obligation legislation doesn’t come into effect until July; and if diesel is your thing, well, the government didn’t call the diesel storage program the BADSP for no reason.

      20

      • #
        John Connor II

        The 2 month reserve is well known and a disaster in the making if supplies dry up.
        Thank your government for that one. Again.

        20

        • #
          MP

          2 months, last I read was 19 days. This link will give you Dec 2021, I can’t open the XXL file, storage issues?
          https://www.energy.gov.au/publications/australian-petroleum-statistics-2021

          00

          • #
            Leo G

            Australia has contracted with the US to hold part of its reserve in the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The present holding is 1.7 million barrels.

            The petrol resource held in Australia could well account only for 19 days supply. I have heard similar numbers over the past few years (19 to 28 days).

            Those figures did not count the reserves held overseas and may not even have included resources enroute to Australia. They also didn’t include defence force reserves.

            00

            • #
              MP

              According to government we have 19 days supply also in the US and it will take 25 days to get it here. It is held as crude.
              Those numbers are peace time, I guess you could halve the numbers for a war time.
              Less than a months fuel

              00

  • #
    yarpos

    This guy think “anti-vaxxers” are stupid because they dont understand (as he does) its the vaccinations that have protected us from Omicron.

    https://www.news.com.au/world/coronavirus/australia/proof-covid-antivaxxers-have-totally-missed-the-point/news-story/1a80b32bf49d22fe0cdb7638f2b98b0a

    50

    • #
      KP

      Absolutely zero credentials without open comments below… What he wrote was rubbish but he’s not going to allow any arguments, which is typical of the precious mainstream snowflakes these days.

      Let him come on here and state his case, like Simon does, then we can pound it all out.

      30

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    John Connor II

    Strike 2..

    #Anonymous shut down Gazprom site and start on Russian sites stating they will expose the hidden dirt. #Popcorn time.

    https://youtu.be/cO4uRCkuJVg

    As I suggested a week ago, it’s a good idea to do some stocking up and put some money under the bed just in case.

    10

  • #
    OldOzzie

    Growing Number Of Experts Call On US Govt To Recognize Natural Immunity

    A growing number of experts are urging the U.S. government to formally recognize natural immunity, or the protection given by recovering from COVID-19.

    More experts are arguing that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) recommended vaccination schedule should feature fewer doses—or none at all—for people who have contracted COVID-19 and survived.

    “Natural infection should count as two doses,” Dr. Paul Offit, professor of pediatrics at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and an adviser to the Food and Drug Administration on vaccines, told The Epoch Times.

    Offit and two former FDA officials stated in a recent op-ed that “requiring people who have been infected to get three shots is overkill at best—a waste of valuable doses—and an unnecessary risk at worst (given that vaccines have side effects, albeit rare ones).”

    Under current CDC guidance, all Americans 12 and older are advised to get three doses of the Moderna or Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines. The CDC defines fully vaccinated as people who get two shots of the Moderna or Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines, or the single-shot Johnson & Johnson jab.

    The CDC’s guidance isn’t binding but is cited by companies and jurisdictions when imposing vaccine mandates. Many mandates force workers or residents to get fully vaccinated; others require a booster on top of the primary series because of waning protection. Few have exemptions for natural immunity.

    20

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    John Connor II

    Spanish MSM fakes their report on Ukraine using a video game ‘Arma 3’

    At 14 seconds into the YouTube video showing the scene from ARMA 3, the light from a missile tracer can be seen. The same exact missile formation can be seen 6 seconds into the video purporting to have been taken recently from Ukraine.

    In a statement to VERIFY, a representative with Bohemia Interactive, the studio that created the ARMA series, said “there [are] a lot of videos from heavily modded Arma games being falsely tagged as a footage from the Ukrainian conflict.”

    https://brandnewtube.com/watch/spanish-msm-fakes-their-report-on-ukraine-using-a-video-game-039-arma-3_hahiyYRzhLzHkf5.html

    Almost as pathetic as A Current Affair and most Oz media claiming Putin wants to expand his empire by invading Ukraine.
    Oh please…are you REALLY that ignorant???
    Rhetorical…

    41

    • #
      KP

      Ah, the last one as the little Arab girl running through the streets of a bombed out city in the Middle East, crying…

      Those terrible Syrians and the foul beast Assad..!!

      Came off a music video a few years before.. I’m sure Jo Hildebrand in Yarpos’ comment took it as gospel & fainted.

      30

      • #
        John Connor II

        ..the same child covered in dirt magically appears in 3 different countries for staged msm shots to fit the current situation.
        Just can’t trust the msm at all these days.

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    • #

      Putin only wants the Eastern half of Ukraine and the bit next to Moldova where the most wheat is grown. The people in the east are russian speaking as well – more so towards the russian border. There is a lot of manufacturing and mining in the eastern half. I don’t think he wants the western half……..The western half can act as a buffer state………..

      10

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    John Connor II

    K Mart is dead

    Kmart becomes another victim of the ‘retail apocalypse’ as the once-popular discount chain that rivaled Walmart and Target dwindles to just four surviving stores – and experts say its ‘blandness’ is to blame.

    Kmart, the once-popular discount chain with more than 2,000 stores throughout the United States, has become the latest victim of the retail apocalypse, with just four stores still in operation.

    The once retail giant recently announced that it is closing two more of its locations – leaving just two in New Jersey, one on Long Island, New York, and one in Miami, Florida, according to the Oregonian.

    Not much better here in Oz. They’ve really gone downhill. Empty shelves, limited stock, limited range, terrible service. Bland and boring. Don’t even shop there any more.

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    OldOzzie

    THE STAMPEDE OF THE GREEN LEMMINGS

    No country on Earth relies entirely on wind/solar energy, but Australian politicians aim to achieve this miracle.

    They are leaders in the Stampede of the Green Lemmings.

    Solar energy has a huge problem. Even on sunny days almost nothing is generated to meet the demand peaks around breakfast time and dinner time – the solar energy union only works a six-hour day, goes on strike with little warning, and takes quite a few sickies.

    So, for at least 18 hours of every day, electricity must come from somewhere else. Then around noon, the millions of solar panels pour out far more electricity than is needed, causing electrical and financial chaos in the electricity grid.

    Naturally our green “engineers” see wind power as filling the solar energy gaps. But wind power has a union too and they take lots of sickies when there is no wind over large areas of the continent. And they down tool in storms, gales or cyclones in case their whirling toys are damaged.

    So the green planners claim that batteries can solve these intermittent problems of the green energy twins.

    They will need to be humungous batteries.

    Batteries are just a crutch for a crippled generation system. And with fierce lithium battery fires reported regularly, who wants a humungous fire-prone battery over the back fence or in the basement?

    A battery is not a generator of electricity – every battery (including Snowy 2) is a net consumer of electricity. Batteries are very expensive, most lose capacity as they age, and every conversion between DC storage and AC transmission triggers energy losses.

    To collect, back up and re-distribute green electricity will require a continent-spanning spider-web of transmission lines with all the costs and energy losses that network entails.

    Still nights, and calm cloudy days, are what really expose the problems of wind-solar-plus-batteries.

    Suppose electricity consumers require 100 units of electricity every day. A well designed coal, nuclear or gas power station can do that, 24/7, day after day, whatever the weather.

    But to insure a wind/solar system against, say, 7 days of calm/cloudy weather would require a battery capable of storing 700 units of electricity. To re-charge this huge battery while still supplying consumers will require much larger wind/solar generating capacity.

    However if several weeks of windy/sunny weather then occur, this big battery will sit idle, connected to a bloated expensive generation system that is capable of delivering far more power than is needed.

    Sunny/windy weather brings a deluge of green energy, causing power prices to plunge at irregular intervals, and forcing reliable generators to stop producing and lose money.

    Eventually they will close. Once all coal-gas generators are all gone, every (inevitable) green energy drought will awaken the spectre of extensive blackouts.

    On top of all these practical problems of green energy, we have the massive carbon credits scam, where speculators sell green fairy stories to greedy bankers, and real producers are forced to buy these fictitious “products”, passing the costs onto real industry and consumers.

    Australia is following the green energy lemmings of Europe.

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      I’ve read this before on another Blog…………………..

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      Catherine

      Hi OldOzzie,

      You are on fire again 🙂
      Great to see you back

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        OldOzzie

        Catherine,

        thanks at home from hospital yesterday afternoon with family – only 2 blood drains from shark bite on side – look like smurf with bandage on head

        feeling fine

        Old Ozzie

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          OldOzzie

          As one of my 4WD Mates reminded me today of a poem dedicated to us

          THE DUNNY RUN

          Drive 200 metres to the nearest dunny?
          Well, some might think that’s kind of funny!

          But chaps of decorum and a sense of pride,
          Think nothing of it and are glad of the ride.

          While others, like me, aren’t so fussy you see,
          We dig in the sand for a poo and a wee!

          It’s therapeutic under a sighing She Oak tree,
          Quietly communing with nature, quite naturally.

          But perhaps when I can’t find a loo with a view,
          I’ll hitch a ride with the Boys to the Public one too !!

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    Furiously+Curious

    Europe is wheeling out the big guns. Russia has been banned from Eurovision.

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    John Connor II

    Covid Victory: New Zealand Court Rules Vaccine Mandate “Unlawful”

    New Zealand police and defence personnel no longer require Covid “vaccination” to keep their jobs, courtesy of a ruling by the country’s High Court:

    The High Court has quashed the Covid-19 vaccine mandate for police and Defence Force staff.

    https://xyz.net.au/2022/02/covid-victory-new-zealand-court-rules-vaccine-mandate-unlawful/

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    John Connor II

    Chile Approves a Law to Protect Employment Rights of Mutants and Genetically Modified Humans

    What…like the vaxxed?

    In addition to a law protecting neurorights, Chile now has an employment law to protect against discrimination of mutants and genetically modified individuals. The National Congress of Chile approved a bill titled “Prohibits Labour Discrimination Against Mutations or Alterations of Genetic Material or Genetic Testing” on 16 February 2022.

    https://dailyexpose.uk/2022/02/25/a-law-to-protect-genetically-modified-humans/

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    KP

    I’m trying to keep up with Ukraine, just how far the Russians have got and how much resistance there is.. Lots of mobile ph footage going up, and like any war the people are completely unprepared, the women are crying and screaming, the men swearing, they never expected this to happen to them!!

    Didn’t they have a clue what their Govt was doing in Eastern Ukraine for the last 8years?? Haven’t they got any idea of what its like to be in Donetsk? Did they think Russia would let them shell and kill the Russian Ukrainians in the breakaway region? They just seem to live a big-city life in Kiev and worry about which cafe for coffee tomorrow.

    This is what you get for electing a comedian for a President, that is what he used to be….

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      farmerbraun

      The Vineyard of the Saker is providing up to the hour reports on progress.
      The encirclement of the remaining Ukrainian (?) die-hards is nearly complete. They will surrender or die.
      Zelensky has run , after breaking off negotiations with Putin , whereupon the Russian advance , which had paused to allow negotiations, moved into the final phase.
      This won’t be pretty.

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        KP

        Yes, on Saker I saw the truckload of crates being opened and guns handed out to anyone who wants them! So now some clueless civilian will be randomly shooting at Russian soldiers, who will just call in artillery or an airstrike to level the building and everyone inside.

        That would have been a NATO idea, the Ukrainian Army had enough light arms already. The Yanks are keen to make it into another Vietnam for the Russkis.

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    KP

    ..and on another level, its always been mooted that reverse transcriptase might incorporate the spike protein RNA code back into human DNA. Now this pops up-

    “Alden et al, Lund University, Sweden, confirms one of our worst fears. The exogenous genetic material coding for the dangerous Spike protein is reverse-transcribed into the human genome; possible long-term constitutive expression/synthesis of disease promoting/lethal Spike.”

    Current Issues in Molecular Biology, via Twitter
    https://twitter.com/P_McCulloughMD/status/1497284602540351491?cxt=HHwWhoCj4beatscpAAAA

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      mawm

      It is an in vitro study. We’ll just have to wait for some in vivo studies which are most likely happening at the moment.

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    KP

    “Some stories have been corroborated by Ukrainian officials, including one in which 13 Ukrainian border guards were recorded telling a Russian warship, “go fuck yourself,” before a defiant last stand against in defense of a rocky Black Sea landmass known as Snake Island.”

    The Ukrainian Govt said they all died heroes in a bombardment…

    The Russians said none were killed, they all surrendered..

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    OldOzzie

    Long-Enduring COBOL May Still Have a Shelf Life The aging programming language is giving way to younger, more flexible software environments

    Sid Mohanram, senior vice president of software engineering at Verisk, a huge data-analytics and risk-assessment multinational, is overseeing his company’s migration away from COBOL. He’s part of a trend as companies and governments are exploring other options than the programming language that runs some of the world’s most critical applications.

    “The goal is to get out of the mainframe,” Mohanram said.

    The COVID-19 pandemic has been a wakeup call for organizations running critical computer systems written in the 60-year-old programming language, COBOL. In the United States, New Jersey, Wisconsin, Vermont, Iowa, Kansas, and even the federal government have faced shortages of COBOL programmers to keep unemployment benefit systems running amid a historic spike in claims.

    But a perceived shortage of COBOL programmers isn’t the only problem. COBOL has also become an old (though still quite reliable) clunker in the high-speed world of programming languages and software development.

    “The speed by which we can implement changes in COBOL is slow, and people start building workarounds,” Mohanram said, creating a buildup of what he calls “technical debt.” “Developers say, ‘I need to make a change, but I’m too busy to make the COBOL changes, so I’m not going to touch the existing COBOL program, but I’ll add three more steps outside of COBOL, with Excel spreadsheets or something else, to apply the changes.’ So now you have this COBOL program that’s very dated, and a bunch of other things that are workarounds to get the final result.”

    Reuters estimated in 2015 that there were 220 billion lines of COBOL code still in production running 43 percent of the world’s banking systems and 95 percent of its automated teller machines. Traffic lights, airlines, pension funds, and payroll systems all regularly run on COBOL.

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      yarpos

      Funny how making changes was fine for 50+ years. Sounds more like a competency deficit than anything else. They didnt want to invest because it worked, now they are in a corner.

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    OldOzzie

    ICE St Moritz – International Concours of Elegance

    The ICE St. Moritz has been created to enjoy driving, showing and watching some of the world’s most exciting motor cars in the unlikely environment of the frozen lake. Polo matches and Horse-Racing have been held there for decades, and a high class motoring event seemed the natural choice to expand the winter lake activities.

    The idea first came in mind in the mid-Eighties and it took many years to make it true.

    Unique and magic

    The ICE St.Moritz is a very different event, a refreshing concours. A completely magical environment where drivers, collectors, and just plain car enthusiasts enjoy a late winter day in the sunshine, surrounded by the landscape and atmosphere that only St.Moritz, at the top of the world, is able to offer.

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    OldOzzie

    Headphones change listeners’ perceptions, judgements, behaviors

    Headphones have a much greater impact on listeners than external speakers because they put voices “inside your head,” a new study explains.

    “Headphones produce a phenomenon called in-head localization, which makes the speaker sound as if they’re inside your head,” said study co-author On Amir, a professor of marketing at the University of California, San Diego.

    “Consequently, listeners perceive the communicators as closer — both physically and socially. As a result, listeners perceive the communicator as warmer, they feel and behave more empathically toward them and they are more easily persuaded by them,” Amir explained in a university news release.

    The findings could have significant implications for training programs, remote work and advertising, according to the researchers.

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    OldOzzie

    THE WEEK IN PICTURES: U-CRANIAL INVERSION EDITION

    “Buyer’s remorse” isn’t a strong enough term to capture the obvious regret more and more Americans are feeling right now about our superaddled president. What’s the over-under line that Biden’s speechwriters are furious reworking next week’s State of the Union address to focus on the New-Old World Order? What’s the over-under line that Biden’s special guest in the gallery will be Justin Trudeau, as his new BFF for showing how to handle COVID protesters? In any case, the Biden Administration’s cranial-rectal inversion is nearly complete. Call it a U-kranial inversion perhaps.

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    Environment Sceptic

    I overheard someone with an oz accent saying to a mate the other day, “there is too much propaganda in yur crania”

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    OldOzzie

    Byron York’s Daily Memo: A guide to Clinton dirty tricks

    by Byron York, Chief Political Correspondent

    A GUIDE TO CLINTON DIRTY TRICKS. Hillary Clinton, the former first lady, Secretary of State, and 2016 presidential candidate, is deflecting again. Recent revelations from a federal investigation have suggested that her campaign engaged in dirty tricks in the race against Donald Trump six years ago. Those revelations, of course, come on top of earlier disclosures that she engaged in what might be called the ultimate dirty trick, the Steele dossier, in the same campaign.

    Now that there is some attention being paid to these matters, Clinton is lashing out against Trump and some media outlets.

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    RickWill

    Russia has been cut off from SWIFT. A bit like Trudeau stopping transactions of truckers but at the international level:
    https://www.afr.com/world/europe/russia-banned-from-swift-central-bank-locked-out-20220227-p5a00p

    Washington | The US and its allies have launched fresh sanctions against Russia including banning its banks from the global SWIFT payments system and disarming Russia’s central bank from using its foreign currency reserves.

    I expect this will be more effective then banning Russia from Eurovision but probably not much. It will hurt EU more so they can share Ukraine’s pain.

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