Today Russian missiles hit multiple targets deep (reportedly 15+ miles) in Poland, including grain storage and power distribution centers, plunging Moldavia into darkness and killing two. This may trigger NATO’s direct involvement since Poland is a NATO member.

WW3 may have started today.

This is part of the new enormous terrorist attack by Russia targeting Ukraine’s energy at the onset of winter, trying to freeze the Ukrainians out. Of course, Russia denies involvement, but their missiles are easily identified, and I assume were tracked. There’s no way this was an accident, you don’t miss with today’s military missiles by over 15 miles. Missing by 15 blocks is nearly impossible.

https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-zelenskyy-kherson-9202c032cf3a5c22761ee71b52ff9d52

Oops this turned into a semi rant. But I am legitimately open to discussion here, and am curious to get your thoughts on a few points Bob. That is, IF you're willing to actually think about them beyond the level of repeating talking points.

I find it interesting how divergent the two overall "sides" are in this country, in terms of where they focus. None of the issues brought up in this video are really on the radar of most progressives, beyond being aware some on the right are talking about them. And I'm guessing a lot of the concerns progressives discuss rarely come up in your chosen media landscape. A lot of the issues in the video are largely off of my radar, and I have to wonder how you feel they should be addressed - like, actual proposed solutions rather than just complaining about / worrying about them.

We only dedicate one day to remember our fallen soldiers

How many should there be? Arguably we have more than one already: there's Memorial Day and Veterans Day, and it seems that Sept 11th is often used for the purpose as well.

I'd argue we should spend more time acknowledging and understanding the principals behind WHY our soldiers died in the various conflicts which caused them to fall in the first place. Let's make sure our citizenry appreciates what we collectively rejected in the Revolutionary war. Why it was important that we kept the country together rather than allowing the south to split off in the mid-1800s. Why we chose to honor our diplomatic agreements and support our allies in WW1. Why we fought against the countries and governments we did in WW2. What our goals were in Korea and Vietnam, and what lessons we learned from those conflicts and from the Cold War in general. Commemorating and remembering those we've lost absolutely matters, but if we're ONLY doing that while forgetting why they fought OR ignoring what we learned then we're doing them an equal or greater disservice. Remember that America was built on the idea of forming "a more perfect union" - not a perfect one, a MORE perfect one - a work in progress. We're striving towards an ideal, not assuming we're already there. Learning from our past successes, failures, and our struggles around both outcomes is vital. If our self-analysis is no deeper than hero worship we'll never make real progress towards that theoretical perfect union.

The only mask that's gonna save us is duct tape on their mouths

Yeah, sound medical advice and evidence-based science is terrifying. Better to shut up those whose words we dislike, because we're reactionary authoritarian babymen. I truly do not understand being more afraid of reasonable safety measures than of a virus which has been shown to cause serious harm in the short and long terms. The only reason this "masks = liberal / maskless = conservative" crap came about is because politics has devolved to the level of team sports in the US, and one party has chosen "the opposite of whatever our political opponents say" as their entire governing philosophy. (And yes, ONE party - research and understand the GOP's 2020 platform if you want to argue the point.) This video even seems to reach a reasonable conclusion at the end, while coming up just short of that final logical leap to "maybe I should question what the public faces of MY side have been claiming in this Us vs Them madness." Seriously - keep going friend, you're almost there! George Washington was 100% right in wanting to avoid political parties being a force in the US, and it makes me immensely sad that his fears came true.

Big oil runs the world / the only wars to get fought are with the countries who have natural resources they want

Solid point here, no sarcasm. The US military has long been a tool of our profit-driven form of "free market" imperialism. A really great way to combat this, specifically with an eye to ending Big Oil's goddamn death grip on our foreign policy goals, would be an aggressive implementation of renewable energy projects. Remember the space race? America can be an absolute beast at clever engineering solutions when we dedicate ourselves to it. Fuck the petrostates, we have the available land and resources to absolutely kick ass in the realms of solar and wind power, and be leaders in the the post-hydrocarbon reality. We can certainly agree on that, right Bob? Left / Right nonsense fully aside, I think any reasonable American can agree on at least two points: let's stop sending heaps of cash to buy oil off of the Saudis (etc), and Fuck Cancer.

But if a white man acts too white he's white trash / he's a racist he's a bigot he's a monster

What the fuck is this horseshit? What does "acting too white" even fucking look like? Watching NASCAR on a sailboat while listening to polka? Typically when I see racism from white people it's in the form of denying that brown-hued people deal with any additional difficulties in life due to their skin tone, or denying that there have been structural obstacles for them through history, or lamenting that their white children are being burdened with a broader lens on culture or with (gasp! shock!) an accurate accounting of actual US history, including the ugly bits that we shouldn't be proud of (but MUST learn from). I'm progressive / lefty as fuck and there is no aspect of "white culture" or "acting white" which upsets me in the slightest. UNLESS one counts "denying racism exists / has ever existed" as a fundamental value of being white. Which... why would anyone want to claim that nonsense? If you want to listen to classic country music in a rusty pickup truck while driving to an evangelical church, then discuss hockey over Buds after 18 holes with the rest of your tractor pull team, then absolutely go nuts my fellow caucusoid! Just recognize and understand that your life experiences may not be the same as those of others. Further, if we care about trying to avoid unnecessary, avoidable unfairness in life (recognizing that life will never truly be fair, for anyone), then it might be reasonable for some governmental / legal / structural recognition in furtherance of that notion. There is absolutely room for legitimate policy disagreement here without being accused of racism. It's denial of others' reality which tends to garner the label of racist (sexist etc) - steer clear of denying the lived experiences of other people, allow for the possibility they may have encountered difficulties you haven't / won't, and we've room for further discussion.

Edit / final point: I voted the video back up to 0 from the -1 where I found it. Because while I disagree with a lot of the positions taken by the performer, they may have reached them through no fault of their own and with no true malice. Misinformation / disinformation is a devious shit of a motherfucker, and the rot it causes can run deep. It is painful to abandon deeply-held beliefs, on a fundamental level. If nothing else, the video gives us room to discuss some specific viewpoints held by people who think of themselves as good, but which can lead to harm.

Bob- “Derp….that news outlet isn’t in the Trump cult, so I can’t listen. FAKE NEWS!”

https://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/2022-election-hobbs-campaign-confirms-break-in-at-phoenix-headquarters

Now what?

You don’t burglarize a campaign headquarters for cash or food, all they have there of value is campaign materials, you only do it for political motivations. Even a sub 75 iq individual like yourself knows that.

Joe wiped the floor with tiny dick energy Insecure Don from that basement without breaking a sweat.
Lake told her crowd to go ask their little kids if Trump has big dick energy (they all said no)….party of debauchery, grooming your own children to be Trump’s next…he doesn’t have Epstien or Maxwell around to get more little girls for him, now he needs Lake.

Now, how about Ashley Babbitt….she sure did ask for it, didn’t she?

Corporate profits are up 54% while labor costs are only up <8% over the last 18 months. What’s driving inflation again?
The largest refinery in America (and the Shell name and distribution rights) was sold to the Saudis in a non publicized deal in 2017, and they have reduced production and raised prices ever since. So much for the energy independence lie, even our oil in country was sold off to the Saudis. Thanks Trump.

For Biden to have control over the main driving factors, he would have to nationalize all industry. That is the answer to the current main driving factors of the current inflation rates. Severely limiting outrageous corporate profits would cut inflation by more than half. Is that what you advocate, or are you just lobbing blame at your enemies despite them having little involvement or control?

"Europe has a bleak future ahead of it thanks to Biden and his energy sanction push, and no one seems to have a clue what to do about it."

*sigh*

Either you have absolutly no clue about the thing you are talking about or you lie. Mostly to yourself.

It feels like Biden has divided opinion so comprehensively that the two sides can't find any common ground. They each think the other side is the work of the devil and so are unable to take legitimate concerns seriously.

Speaking from a UK perspective I don't like either side, but I see what Biden and his crew are doing around the world and they seem to be an incredibly dangerous administration. Lighting fires and inflaming tensions in countries across the world.

He's upset the Russians, the Chinese, the Indians hate him, so do most of the middle east and Latin america.

Europe has a bleak future ahead of it thanks to Biden and his energy sanction push, and no one seems to have a clue what to do about it.

I'm really starting to miss Trump.

republicans gonna bring that same big dick energy to this one?! LOL nope. hypocrites the whole bunch of em.

Good, then I’m not just being dumb….But you don’t recall at what point it goes from KE= 1/2m V^2 to E= M C^2 …or the equation/function used to determine energy below the speed of light but above the 1/2 threshold?

Somewhere below C (speed of light) it gains up to 1/2 the total system energy, beyond simple kinetic energy…I’ve heard this alluded to as mass becoming energy, but never with any explanation how or even if that’s reality or just a mathematical “trick” to make the equations work…nor an equation describing the process. I only took year one physics….over 25 years ago.

Hmmmm….
K.E. = 1/2 m v2
E = m v2 (only when v=c)
Does equation 2 include equation 1 or not?
Does total system energy E = 1.5m v2 (kinetic energy + mass-energy) or is the equation really E = 1/2m c2 + (K.E.)?

Anybody?

Yes…brilliant in fact…and moral to the extreme, and ethical beyond reproach, and a genuinely nice, thoughtful person too. None of those traits are positives to you though.
And let’s not forget, besides sea testing new nuclear submarines he was also “assisting in the design and development of nuclear propulsion plants for naval vessels.”…but only reached LT, not Captain.

Explain, specifically how was he poor as president?
Because he didn’t go to war in Iran (nor would he break the law and collude with them and sell them weapons like Reagan)?
Because he advocated for renewable energy that would have made us energy independent in the 80’s and oil free before 2000?
Exactly what?

Oh Bob. Always a laugh with you. The unintended self deprecation always brightens my day.

Well, well, well... base on this reasoning, the FIRST thing we should do is bring down is the stock price of Tesla, make it into a junk stock company for those endlessly promoting Musk here. Yessssss.......

Whether oil is finite or otherwise is kind of moot when we're talking about its impact on the economic & environment at large. With the advancement of renewable, clean energy techonology and ever cheaper cost of manufacturing & generation -- without even mentioning the political shift it would bring by reducing the power & authoritarian tendencies of the OPEC countires -- it's just plain Good Business to transition as fast as possible away from oil.

Why do republicans spend 80 percent of their energy obsessed with .05 percent of the population? Why ?

It dropped precipitously because Elon was buying Twitter and would have to sell billions of stock to pay for it, just to name one self inflicted wound. The economic state should benefit Tesla, as you say, with gas at $5 and rising, ev’s are in high demand.

Gas in Canada is $6.75 US. UK is $5.75 in usd. Europe is around $5.25. But sure, it’s all Biden’s fault. Meanwhile my Exon, BP, and energy mutual funds are reporting record profits….but there’s no correlation. Hmmm.

I guess you didn’t hear Elon decided to cut his workforce by 10% anticipating a slump in sales. Elon doesn’t share your optimism.

Isn’t his major production hurdle a worldwide chip shortage, which he can do nothing about? Not sure how he’s going to ramp up production without more chips.

China isn’t the only economy in trouble….where is this unsold production supposed to go? Europe?…in trouble. US?… looking like we’re in trouble and a logistics nightmare. How much does shipping add to the price too? $5k? More?

All car manufacturers raised prices multiple times last year significantly, they all have a shortage of chips. I think it’s more likely he raised prices because he could without slowing down sales, not in order to slow sales.

Granted, ev’s are in high demand, but the big 3 are ramping up production and will outbuild Tesla in short order, as are European and Asian companies. He’s done great without competition, but some real competition is coming. The electric F150 is going to produce around 15000 this year with over 120000 (edit now 200000) reservations. They built a billion dollar factory for it alone, it will be the best selling full sized ev truck as soon as production starts. They also won’t have a chip constraint because they can take them from their huge f-150 supplies to meet production estimates.

If you want Tesla stock it’s not the worst time to invest, that was last November, but I certainly wouldn’t go all in. The PE ratio is still near 100….GAWD AWFUL. That’s called a speculative bubble….they pop. Ask Twitter.


Sorry about your dad. Mine died when I was 21. It’s never easy.

I wouldn't call that as the intention. But the NRA, Big Pharma, Big Energy, Big Tech, most GOP (and to be fair, some Democrats like Manchin & Sinema) are all about the big "Ps" - profit & power - before morals. Extremist terrorism as a means to more profit/power? Their motto is "Hell Yeah why not?"

They're reduced to reading 4 words in the 2nd Ammendment as their whole and only (constitutional & religious) Bible.

I don't believe this was ever about taking Ukraine with the Russian military. I believe this is about destroying Ukraine and squeezing Europe's energy-dependent balls until the EU cracks under the economic pressure caused by the sanctions. This is already happening with Germany whimpering to Daddy Vladdy for all that precious, precious oil and gas. "Oh, we gave Zelensky a billion euros!"; yeah, and you gave Putin 25x that in oil/gas purchases.

The mealy-mouthing and dissembling has already begun, most shamefully from the New York Times, who is calling for Ukraine to make "hard choices". "This isn't capitulation" -- fuck you NYT, yes it is.

I had honest hopes that the western powers would show some spine and resolve, but as soon at their economies started to feel a little pain, the number of fucks given for Ukrainian lives went to zero. Russian is going to rape and murder its way from Odessa to the Belarus border until the western powers figure out some way to make it all Zelensky's fault or force him to cede massive amounts of Ukrainian territory before any real economic pain felt.

The worst part is that Finland and Sweden are going to be granted NATO membership, but Ukraine still is denied. Why are these two the hills NATO is willing to die on and Ukraine not? If NATO isn't willing to risk nuclear war over Ukraine, what happens when the tip of a single Russian boot touches Finnish soil? What happens when Finland then calls for Article 5 and the rest of NATO suddenly realizes shit just got real? What happens when it's time to shit or get off the pot; put up or shut up? Either NATO charges into the teeth of a potential nuclear war, or NATO is shown to be a paper tiger. If someone sees a middle ground, I'm interested in hearing it.

(Incidentally, NATO's Article 5 is pretty porous. A-5 doesn't say every NATO nation commits whatever forces are deemed necessary by the whole to defend against an aggressor. Instead, it says that in the event of A-5 coming into play, each member will take "such action as [the member state] deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area."

Notice the whole 'each member' and 'deems necessary'? Yeah, to quote a popular movie 'I don't think this mutual defense pact means what you think it does'.)