Hate to see the oil burning.
Love to see Russia get a little blowback.
I fully support expanding Ukraine’s border 100 miles into Russia to create the kind of “buffer zone” Russia tried to turn Ukraine into. 100 miles of no man’s land, all Russians must move. Ukrainians may settle there. Turnabout is fair play, and they deserve every inch of lost territory.
Then they should retake Crimea.

In a second story today, Russian troops are evacuating the Chernobyl area after poisoning themselves with radiation sickness by digging trenches, driving tanks, and generally disturbing the highly radioactive soil there. Those soldiers are in for a gruesome death, Russia can’t afford to treat thousands of cases of acute radiation poisoning.

In a third report, Putin’s ploy to demand rubles for Russian oil has already fallen apart on day one. They continue to accept euros…euros they can’t transfer to Russia because of banking sanctions!

this should be the next big internet challenge: try to down a drink while listening to clips like these (w/o the slightest spit-take).

isn't it something, hearing the co-occurrence of mtg claim of never of having heard of the 4x polio vaccine, when the process is actually that? that's spooky dumb.

but that is a phenomenon have noticed over the years (just off the top o' head)...

- the orange scream admin's numerous typos (SOTU tickets, inaugural tickets...) selling it's self as the best ever
- blackburn quoting the declaration of independence while pontificating about the constitution, yet she is on the panel questioning a SCOTUS candidate
- w's sec of war not knowing the history of WWII when declaring adolph was elected
- the gop urging of obama to let an oil pipeline continue, yet the same co. having a major pipeline break, just days before the decision deadline

...the symmetry in their assertion of knowledge; then disproving the claim - many times in the same sentence - is surrealistic.

add this and their laws against schools...

https://youtu.be/YR5ApYxkU-U?t=204

Average gas prices are temporarily $.06 higher than 2008. Oil prices are dropping fast. Oil companies aren’t pumping oil they have and aren’t near top production levels at refineries, but are complaining they can’t have more preserve land and offshore preserves to drill on.
You want to compare to 2020, and you want to ignore the absolute disaster of leadership that made the economy so bad that gas prices dropped significantly and oil went to -$40 a barrel at one point. You want to forget the -36% gdp and 750000 dead Americans, and between $10-16 TRILLION dollars in wasted money it took to have those lower gas prices (with no where to go because everything was closed, and nothing to buy because all supply chains were broken).
For a family of 4, the debt left by Trump’s Covid failures is well over $200000. How many tanks of gas would that have bought you?
Yes, I maintain my position that the pandemic response team global response unit could have likely identified and stopped Covid in the very early stages and evaded even an epidemic in China had they not been eradicated, and you can’t prove different. That puts it all on you know who’s shoulders.

BTW, liberal California is poised to rebate every taxpayer $400 to cover increased gas prices thanks to our functioning economy and budget surpluses.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7604733/

With all the Trump and Trumpist failures, I think it could be a total ass kicking BY Democrats. The shine is off the Trump penny, and everyone outside the cult can tell it’s just a blank slug painted copper…that includes many in your party, causing a deep divide for Democrats to exploit. Numerous Republican candidates are being challenged in court to bar them from public office for being part of an insurrection….including Trump in 6 states. Can’t win if you can’t hold office. D’oh!

Are you sad about duckduckgo? It seems your ilk are outraged that the platform has decided to limit (not even censure) Russian propaganda, moving it away from the top of their news feeds, and without their Russian propaganda spoon fed to them, they’ve started throwing tantrums and stomping away in search of a site that will tell them the lies they want to hear. Such infants. Are you one? Be honest. (Ha, like you would)

Still no answer to posting an insanely edited misrepresentation video….no surprise. You’re an infant. A dishonest racist and sexist infant propagandist.

Yes Bob.
Because she’s a black woman, you can’t accept that she’s accomplished, that she earned her position. That is racist and sexist. I know your little brain has trouble figuring that out.

You are a blatant racist piece of shit. Evidence: your comment above and all previous racist comments
You are a blatant sexist piece of shit. Evidence: your comment above and previous sexist comments
You are an ignorant, moronic piece of shit. Evidence: all your previous comments
You are a pro Putin, anti American, anti democratic piece of shit. Evidence: many of your previous comments.
Plenty of hammer and sickles, Russian, and nazi flags at your far right rallies…for years now. Not found at Democratic rallies, you dumb shit.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-trump-cpac-russian-flags-speech-republicans-support-president-latest-a7598276.html

Better red than blue is a Republican slogan, you lying piece of shit.
We should be friends with Putin and let him expand is a Trump position, not Biden dumbshit.


All those are insults to shit and complimentary to you….better than you deserve. You lying worthless waste of skin. Fuck you you liar.

All delusional nonsense bullshit Bob. How many Republicans went on international tv to tell those immigrants the border is wide open, starting new waves of immigrants? Not one Democrat did that.
Energy independence is a lie, we never stopped importing oil, you liar. We produce more oil today than under Trump.
Inflation is a Trump legacy, idiot. It will get worse. That’s the problem with just printing 1/3 of every dollar over 4 years, it makes every dollar worth 1/3 less. Trump did that, not Biden. When inflation hits over 33%, we can talk….until then keep your ignorant whining to yourself.

Trump spent far more money than any two terms of any administration and for that we had a recession, 750000 dead, Russia expanding, a useless wall that hasn’t stopped a single immigrant, inflation through the roof, negative GDP, skyrocketed unemployment, an insurrection, etc. Nothing good to show for it, no investments in America, just failed trade agreements, wasteful spending like drunken sailors, huge debt, loss of international standing, loss of allies, recession, and unprecedented death.

Anti immigration = anti American. Anti democracy = anti American. Pro Russia = anti American. Pro China = anti American. Vote fraud = anti American. Insanely high deficits = anti American. Doubling the debt = anti American. Tax breaks for the rich = anti American. Removal of social safety nets = anti American. Racism = anti American. Sexism = anti American. Fraud = anti American. Insurrection = anti American. White Nationalism = anti American. Suggesting the death penalty for people not even charged with a crime = anti American. These are all Trump policies, bob.

I paid less for gas last week than I paid in 2019, dumbass. $5 a gal for super.

I know you don’t remember, because it wasn’t yesterday, but Trump policies caused all your issues…including your panicked insanity. Trump was the worst president in history by far by almost every measure. Biden is an unqualified success by comparison, and you can’t stand it so you go off on insane sexist racist rants, like accusing the accomplished professional VP of sleeping her way to the top despite not having a clue with who or how that could work in public office.

Edit: Here’s your chance, exactly who do you claim she slept with to be elected VP? 1/2 of America? The entire DNC? Who? How does that work, exactly? (Don’t worry, no one expects you to be able to answer, we know you don’t have a clue, and that you can never back up your hysterical delusional racist claims).

Biden removed the national cancer. He’s a winner no matter what else happens.
Trump will always be the biggest loser, the worst president in history by far. He made W look reasonable and competent! Deal with it.

Edit: oops…I missed the part where shipping logistics are now Biden’s fault, even though the issue began in 2020 and is purely in the private sector. I guess you are upset Biden hasn’t nationalized the ports so he can take control? Same complaint about the oil industry. If it’s Biden’s issue, you must be suggesting he take charge, and the only way possible would be by the nationalization of private industry. Who’s the socialist? ROTFLMFAHS!!!

We are not hoping Putin will reverse his course, we are hoping (rich elite and military) Russians will decide they would be better offf without war and threatening to destroy the world.

Switching of SWIFT is not a total ban on transactions but is very annoying for russians.

Dependency of Europe on Russian oil and gas is a direct security danger, they do use it to extort (and bribe - see Mr. Schroeder) the west.

China gets paid mostly in dollars, it would be a pain for China to use anything else to buy oil and gas. But nothing is ever certain forever.

Russia will need dollars in any form, even if they have to be black market dolars so they will gladly take Chinese payments in dollars. Also their stock market and currency is... f***ed.

Sleepy Joe has already destroyed the Russian economy in just one week. Stocks down 40% and market closed. Foreign banking closed. Interest rates doubled, Oil exports stopped. Rubel in total collapse.

Even Russians are protesting against Putin.

Joe creating an international coalition to give Russia a unified front opposing him has done more damage to their country than 4 years of Trump’s “leadership” did to ours, and that’s quite a lot.

Imagine if someone gave him caffeine…he’s already doing exponentially better asleep than Dumb Donald when he was awake. Poling agrees.

No.

What kind of tolerances do you need to seal the chambers created by those rotors and then what happens to those tolerances from thermal expansion when the engine heats up?

Now ask yourself how you lubricate all of that and then notice the oil literally pouring out of the front seals of that engine.

All of those numbers are made up. Maybe someone did some creative theoretical napkin calculations but those numbers aren't based on anything that engine is doing.

If that’s your position I wont bother reading past sentence one.

It’s exactly the same as your other mistake, claiming a billion in goods delayed in transport is the same as a billion dollar loss.

Money not spent is not the same as money lost. It’s actual money lost vs potential expenditure delayed. It’s permanent actual jobs lost vs potential temporary construction delayed (the project as planned is cancelled, not the plan to build a pipeline SOMEWHERE, and spend a billion on it, just not through reservations and sensitive watersheds on the cheap.)

The auto manufacturers will never recoup the lost production, the oil company will build a pipeline. There are costs to delays/redesign, absolutely, but they aren’t 100% of the projected project costs or anywhere close.

Have a nice day. I’ve grown tired of the merry go round. I’m pretty sure we understand each other’s positions, and don’t see progress beyond that. You insist on not seeing similarities and differences I think are incontrovertible….like the idea that a blockade of a major city, closing it down for weeks +, is far more unacceptable and inconveniences exponentially more people and business than a blockade of a railroad out in the country, or of a pipeline on tribal land by the tribe.

When you cancel a project, you don’t lose the money, you just don’t spend it. Really?!

I’m guessing you think I’m “urban” (racist code in the US btw, might wanna go with “city folk”). You would have guessed wrong. The nearest town to me is Eureka, 25k people 25 miles away.

You just don’t understand money if you insist canceling a billion dollar project is the same as losing the same amount of money. Edit: that’s only true if it’s canceled after it’s completed.
I’m using the figures Auto manufacturers gave as their lost production value, not including the collateral damage temporarily closing those plants cost the communities and both up and down supply chains.

Funny, you don’t include hospitals, which the truckers also reportedly blocked.

Protests can be permitted. If you’re disrupting someone else’s or public property without a permit, expect arrest for trespassing/breaching the peace at least.

Odd, if that’s really your position, why would you defend the truckers rights to blockade a city of worksites, job sites, and trade routes…reasons be damned?!?

I’m of the opinion that protests designed to disrupt the lives of people completely uninvolved in your cause always hurt your cause and make you look selfish. I tend to not defend self centered tantrums. I do not put pipeline protests in that category, permanent contamination of watersheds effects everyone, and almost everyone buys oil.

I read it, nowhere did it give an estimate of what those protests cost, and it indicated there were multiple other routes for the oil to travel so didn’t even disrupt oil transportation completely, much less ALL commerce.
And it was about pipelines crossing their (or protected) land it seems, a far cry from the truckers. Yes, the validity and severity of your cause matters, just like the damage you do and to whom.

Billions worth of goods stuck temporarily…but no actual estimated cost for their delay, this cost billions in lost production and salaries that won’t be recovered.

That protest was targeted against the offending entity, not the populace. I have no issue with natives blockading their own land and preserves that feed those reservations against permanent destruction for some private profits. That’s a far cry from the truckers blockading the main border crossing for industry and tourism because they’re afraid to get a poke.

The numbers I saw were special. Hundreds of millions-billions lost (your billions in goods delayed doesn’t have a price tag). That was before the bridge was reopened. These protesters weren’t satisfied with that damage and continued to close your capitol with ever shifting demands. Since regular measures had failed, I support emergency measures, seizure, even forfeiture after trial, of any funds or tools used.

Perhaps they became only as localized (but certainly not as targeted, and localized in a city not the unpopulated country), but they had already done exponentially more damage and showed no sign of end or even demands.

Let’s ignore someone personally supporting a grass roots movement outside their country and control, please. I find it a red herring totally unconnected to how he governs.

Yes, some Floyd protests were more violent than the truckers, some weren’t, remember how they were all violently smashed, tear gassed, rubber bullets galore, run through with police trucks, unmarked vans pulling up and grabbing people crossing the streets, unmarked vans driving through towns full of police shooting tear gas at any moving body, etc? Don’t pretend the response is similar.
Also, the Floyd protests lasted a weekend in most cases (occupy Portland really wasn’t about Floyd) and went elsewhere the next march. They weren’t closing down one area for weeks intent on staying. Most lasted hours and were peaceful until police became violent, despite right wing media’s fear-mongering.

I think you’re stretching, putting on blinders, and doing insane mental gymnastics to pretend you believe that. From the actual damage caused, the idiotic reasoning behind it (quickly abandoned), the extremely uncanadianness of the self centered far right rally masquerading as protest, the international damage, the foreign involvement from planning to funding, these are unique “protests” in numerous ways.

Their idiotic beliefs are only one of many distinctions I’ve pointed out, and as I mentioned only color public opinion and the amount of patience they’re given by the public, not how the government treats them. It’s not at all honest for you to pretend that’s the entirety of my position…it’s very Bob of you, and has lost some of my respect.

Pipelines crossing sovereign territory or preserves = bad so blockading those areas to force pipeline movement = good….oil companies didn’t truck the oil out, they increased shipments from other areas by rail. Read the article you linked.

Native cultures and governments are different. Pretending an elected board for a reservation works for the people is naive in the extreme. Read about politics on reservations, who funds the people that get elected in most cases, what happens to opposing candidates…saying the board signed off while so many showed up to fight against it seems a bit at odds, no? Like maybe the board members were bribed, had ties with the oil industry, or other conflicts….just maybe?

And again, those protests didn’t cost a fraction what the truckers did from my research. Delaying delivery of a billion in goods isn’t the same as costing a billion in losses. Neither is delaying or cancelling a billion dollar project. Be adult please….don’t make such specious arguments ….please. They don’t slip by, and they make me think you are being disingenuous.

Economic disruption of the blockades was similar to the Mohawk blockade of railways about 2 years ago:
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-ottawa-rejects-police-intervention-to-put-an-end-to-blockades/

Similarly, mass lay offs and multi-billions of dollars of goods stuck sitting around waiting to get to the industries needing them.

Since at least 2012 the attempted expansion of an existing pipeline(Trans Mountain) was targeted continuously by blockades. Opposition and resulting delays leading to cost overruns so large that company ultimately halted the multi-billion dollar project.

In terms of dollars being lost, the convoy protest wasn't special. More over, the blockade of the border in Ontario that was causing the real economic damage was dismantled and removed before the 'emergency measures' were enacted. Which is to state, the emergency measures were primarily intended to clear out downtown Ottawa. In downtown Ottawa though, the damages were at minimum as localized as any of the lumber or pipeline blockades mentioned.


Prime Minister Trudeau couldn't be more unequivocal when he was expressing his support for the farmer protests in India and the Floyd protests in the US. Clip if you'd like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9EaSF6Y0eE

The protests in India absolutely did immensely more harm to India's economy than the convoy here did in Canada. The protests in support of Floyd were again unequivocally more violent than the convoy in Canada.

There really is no basis by which to point to the convoy's actions and find them in any way unique or distinct from multiple other protests within Canada, or ones abroad that have been either given more latitude, or outright embraced and supported.

The distinction as even you can't resist going after, is that their beliefs they are protesting for are stupid and wrong, so no right to protest for them. That isn't how the right to protest within a democracy should be allowed to work.

I also have to point out the 'ethical' argument isn't as cut and dry as you want to make it out either.
-Pipelines bad so blockading is good ignores the fact the same oil gets pumped regardless, it just gets loaded into trucks that burn even more oil to haul it and have a fair greater risk of accidents and spills.
-Defending the rights and lands of Aboriginal peoples(like at Coastal Gas Link site violently attacked with millions in damages while the convoy was being vilified for 'incitement') is anything but obvious. The Wet'suwet'en hereditary leaders made claim to parts of the pipeline route and demanded it be shut down. However, the same Wet'suwet'en people's multiple elected Band Councils signed on with their wishes to proceed with the project. In fact, ALL elected representatives of ALL the Bands with land along the route had ALL signed onto the project and wanting it to proceed. It is in no way obvious that ignoring the will of those other bands to favour the conflicting claims of the hereditary leaders is clearly the most respectful of the people's wishes.

The protests you mentioned didn’t halt commerce for huge swaths of your, and our country, did they? Severity and ubiquity of impacts matter.

Lemme ask you, did this protest ask for dialog, or outright refuse it?

None of the other protests intentionally caused as much collateral damage as possible. It’s not their cause, it’s their methodology and severity of the results.

It’s not about their cause du jure, it’s about their methods, causing economic damage as deep and widespread as possible. I’ll ask, did the other protests you mentioned try to shut the country down for their cause, or were they targeted against the industries/entities they were protesting?

I’m pretty certain that, had they not blocked freeways, border crossings, cities, and industries their protests wouldn’t be being broken up and protesters wouldn’t be arrested. Again, it’s not the why, it’s the how that’s an issue. Their methods aren’t the same as other tolerated protests in severity nor focus.

BUT…there is a significant difference, morally, ethically, and logically between protesting being murdered by police or protesting your last tiny bit of sovereign land or water sources being taken and permanently destroyed by oil companies, and protesting not getting a shot to have the privilege of traveling to another country. I’m far more prepared to be patient for life and death causes than ignorant inconvenience causes.

Edit: P.S. also, “fuck your feelings” goes both ways. These are the same people that took that stance for 4 years here (some still do). When you tell people “fuck your feelings” in response to any subject, any complaints, it’s pretty ridiculous to expect those same people to respect your feelings, especially while you honk a truck horn in their back yard all night for weeks. In my neighborhood, there would have been burning trucks night one, and peace night 2….but I’m a native Texan, kind of the opposite of a Canadian.

Downvote at dishonest “bidenflation”. This is Trumpflation if we must be infants.

Economists will tell you how inflation happens. Creating 1/3 of every dollar in existence to pay for things we can’t afford (2020) is the simplest way. Lowering GDP is also a factor (-2.2% 2020)
At least under Biden, wages are increasing too. Didn’t happen under the last president, not so much. Inflation from a glut of new money (but no added value) takes time. It will continue no matter what steps are taken until the spending we did on fake “credit” gets paid.

Another debt Trump left, not Biden policies driving inflation.
I defy you, @bobknight33, name 3 Biden policies that are driving inflation. Name one. I’ve named the Trump policy economists say caused it….printing new money to pay for programs without funding. Look it up.

As for meat prices, remember that little thing called Covid? Remember how the last administration insisted Covid was a mild flu, and meat processing plants closed because of massive outbreaks? That, and subsequent labor shortages have increased prices, not Biden adding taxes.
Comparing mid pandemic unnaturally low (shutdown means cheap fuel, even free oil) fuel prices to artificially inflated (refineries refused calls to ramp production back up) prices of today is a red herring, a paper tiger. Two factors there caused the increase, neither caused by Biden.

Total false narrative, or in bob speak, FAKENEWS!

Um….the horse and buggy still exists. It’s the main transport in many (often poorer) places, even some in America (Amish country).

You’re insane if you think the internal combustion engine is dead. Even if that was the worldwide goal, it would take decades upon decades to pull off and tens-hundreds of trillions in subsidies….and even then there are hundreds of applications where electric doesn’t work for hundreds of reasons.
If you believe that, why do you support expanding oil exploration and offshore drilling? Why destroy the few places left unadulterated for a horrendous energy source you claim is phasing out soon. That’s incredibly short sighted and dumb.

Besides, you might be unaware, the electric car was more accepted than combustion engines before, at the turn of the last century. We’ve seen this movement before. It didn’t turn out as you predict.

Electric is great, but it’s not a panecea, and it’s not a painless switch.

Yeah, the crutch of it for me is the UBI moniker.

What you describe at the end of your post, minimum income, is really just a rewording of the existing social security and welfare systems across the western world. I know they look different in each, but here in Canada what you describe is more or less our already existing system's design goal. Welfare money exists for those that straight up can not work, and an employment insurance system exists to protect those inbetween jobs, meanwhile other multiple programs are aimed at distributing financial assistance to the lower income groups.

Despite all of that already existing, UBI is still being heralded up here in trials as well as a replacement. The problem being that for the needy the UBI pitches are generally a step backwards.

Eg. $500/month is the UBI pitch, and they say it'll be great because everyone gets it no matter what so it's simple and fair and nobody is left behind. The trouble though is that the reality is the truly in need people were already benefitting more than the $500/month under the existing systems, and the cost was much less because it was targeted.

I here UBI and get very worried about folks just selling snake oil 'solutions' that in the end are just a demand to adopt their own particular flavor of wealth redistribution.