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Convicted Felon leads 2.7 Aggregate against Vegetable

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#8 | Posted by sitzkrieg at 2024-07-03 08:37 AM
Replacing Biden with Michelle Obama is. It's the only one.
Then we'd have Queen Michelle and Queen Bae. Two queens.

Unfortunately, (and to her credit) Michelle doesn't want to be "a king" and she (also to her credit) is no St. Hillary!

www.forbes.com - Here's Why Michelle Obama Led A Presidential Poll " And Why She Won't Replace Biden
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Posted by CutiePie at 2024-07-04 07:18 AM | Reply

American Interest in Electric Vehicles Short Circuits

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#23 | Posted by truthhurts at 2024-07-02 12:40 PM
cutiepie you realize no one reads your word walls, right?

I know, right?

Yes, I have noticed the severe shortage of Adderall, Ritalin and other ADHD meds and the [consequent(?)] inability of "no one" on this "most august site" to read, let alone comprehend, more than one or two sentences... if that.

www.nbcnews.com - 'I'm fed up': Frustrations grow as ADHD drug shortage continues

For "no one" suffering from shortages, may I suggest alternatives - www.ashleytreatment.org - so that "no one" can once again read "word walls" like articles, books, manuals, instructions etc.? That is, if "no one" can get this far to read this sentence.
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Posted by CutiePie at 2024-07-04 06:12 AM | Reply

American Interest in Electric Vehicles Short Circuits

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#19 | Posted by sitzkrieg at 2024-07-02 07:56 AM
Hydrogen is inevitable. It's okay that there's other energy storage technologies on the road to it.

Will take time and investment for R&D, trials and errors... but what doesn't?
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Posted by CutiePie at 2024-07-02 10:01 AM | Reply

American Interest in Electric Vehicles Short Circuits

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#20 | Posted by earthmuse at 2024-07-02 08:54 AM
Green energy surpassed fossil fuel energy for the first time in America.
www.eia.gov
See, I can link articles to support my research too. And they weren't the Oil Lobby generated Dreck that you posted...

Yes, you can link to "your research" but apparently you couldn't read "your research" or my post:

I specifically pointed out that what some call Green Energy includes Nuclear, Hydropower and NG (Natural Gas), not the "intermittent renewables" wind and solar.

From your link:

|------- "In 2022, generation from renewable sources - wind, solar, hydro, biomass, and geothermal - surpassed coal-fired generation in the electric power sector for the first time. Renewable generation surpassed nuclear generation for the first time in 2021 and continued to provide more electricity than nuclear generation last year.

Natural gas remained the largest source of U.S. electricity generation, increasing from a 37% share of U.S. generation in 2021 to 39% in 2022. The share of coal-fired generation decreased from 23% in 2021 to 20% in 2022 as a number of coal-fired power plants retired and the remaining plants were used less. The share of nuclear generation decreased from 20% in 2021 to 19% in 2022, following the Palisades nuclear power plant's retirement in May 2022. The combined wind and solar share of total generation increased from 12% in 2021 to 14% in 2022. Hydropower generation remained unchanged, at 6%, in 2022. The shares for biomass and geothermal sources remained unchanged, at less than 1%.
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Now look at the "Drek that you posted" and it (from 2022) matches almost exactly the numbers that I posted (for 2023) - your article was just playing with words describing "Green Energy" and comparing combined numbers for all "renewables" to either single coal- or single nuclear-generated power.

fyi...A hydrogen engine has already been developed by Toyota. www.youtube.com

FYI: "In 1807 Franois Isaac de Rivaz designed the first hydrogen-fueled internal combustion engine. In 1965, Roger E. Billings, then a high school student, converted a Model A to run on hydrogen."

Here is better information, should you choose to accept it, and gosh! maybe even read it (it also has pictures!) :

www.fastechus.com - The Past, Present and Future of Hydrogen Vehicles: 2023 Update | Renewable Energy - April 4, 2023

Hey, here is an idea. You try to protect your oil stocks and try to convince one of your MAGA friends (who has no brain)

Here's a better idea. Learn to read understand and add numbers, and stop beating the strawmen about my non-existent MAGA friends and oil stocks, and maybe some people here will start thinking that you are supposed to be an adult.

After you stop beating the dead strawmen, go and watch your YT videos, where you get all your "information."
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Posted by CutiePie at 2024-07-02 09:51 AM | Reply

American Interest in Electric Vehicles Short Circuits

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#17 | Posted by earthmuse at 2024-07-02 05:54 AM
There is plenty of info on YouTube that would refute much of what...

... And seriously CutiePie, citing and article from a "energy mag" called 'Thundersaidenergy.com'? Oh yeah, that sounds reputable!
Sounds like a mix between Toxic Masculinity and the Oil Lobby...Lol, which probably figures since it is likely a GOP Oil Lobby sponsored rag...

Maybe if you were "suppposed to be an adult" you would spent a few minutes researching what the reputable consultancy firm they are, instead of getting your "information" from Youtube - enough said right there!

Most of the numbers I took from DOE. The rest of the info is from other official government sources - you can verify all of them if you can bother to check them. The report by Thunder was requested by California Council on Science and Technology (CCST) as part of their CCST - KEY CHALLENGES for CA ENERGY FUTURE commission investigation and recommendations:
ccst.us - CCST - KEY CHALLENGES for CA ENERGY FUTURE - [PDF, 108pgs]
ccst.us - CCST - Overview

See more here about "reports" on Green Energy (BTW, Green Energy includes Nuclear and Hydropower (and sometimes NG), which are not "intermittent renewables," and hydropower cannot really expand, so its percentage of total energy generated and consumed will keep shrinking) : drudge.com - drudge.com/read-comment/275691/7020262

"Jul 1, 2020 " Thunder Said Energy (TSE) is a leading research consultancy focusing on energy technologies and the energy transition into disruptive energy technologies, founded in 2019 by Wall Street energy analyst Rob West, CFA"

clcouncil.org - Analysis of Climate Leadership Council Proposal | Summary of Key Findings - PDF (4 pgs)
|------- "By driving technological innovation, the CLC plan would reduce US CO2 emissions by 57% by 2035 (vs. 2005), unlock $1.4tn of new investment, create 1.6M jobs and enhance US competitiveness." -------|

This is only 4 pages PDF (shorter than watching most YT videos of "ill repute," and it has colorful charts and pictures even a child can understand!) - if you still think these reports are financed by "Big Oil" lobby, then you are not likely to be an adult.

www.energy.gov - Energy Shot Summit, August 2021

|------- "In my travels around the world I can't name a country that hasn't expressed excitement about hydrogen. From Saudi Arabia to India to Germany to Japan we're setting up hydrogen partnerships around the world to advance this critical technology that every country understands has the opportunity to play a vital role in the clean energy transition," said John Kerry, special presidential envoy for climate, in August 2021 at Hydrogen Shot Summit. -------|

www.hydrogeninsight.com - 'Nobody wants to pay for it' | ExxonMobil and Aramco CEOs say green hydrogen is too expensive to replace fossil fuels

|------- Mar 19, 2024 " Aramco CEO Amin Nasser told delegates that, in energy terms, the cost of green H2 amounted to the equivalent of $400 per barrel of oil...

Exxon boss also said his company would not produce blue H2 if it could not access 45V production tax credits.
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Posted by CutiePie at 2024-07-02 07:28 AM | Reply

The Supreme Court Puts Trump Above the Law

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#1 | Posted by _Gunslinger_ at 2024-07-01 11:22 PM
Dems should run on expanding the court to reexamine EVERY ruling this court has forced down our throats during their reign of error!

Brilliant! Sounds like the team that "prepared" (and "overcooked") Biden for the "debates" : tell the people what they don't already know ("Trump is a FELON found guilty on 34 counts, can you believe THAT!?" ... only to find out that Biden's son Hunter is not only a FELON, but "A FELON AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL," apparently a BIGLY FELON level that "nobody's ever seen before!" **) and what the potential voters are really interested in (how "handicapped" both geriatric old-timers are and which one was, in their own words, the BIGGEST LIAR and BIGGEST LOSER) and care about - because nothing says "LOSER" more than explaining why you want to expand SCOTUS now, after insisting many times over the years that you have no intention of expanding the highest court because it would only "politicize" it... and of course, give the same opportunity to the other side, when they get "their turn" ... which may seem to be sooner than we think.

Exhibit A (of exhibits A-Z): thehill.com - Biden: Expanding Supreme Court would 'politicize it maybe forever'

If Dems want to be ridiculed even more than they are now, and not just by Trumpers, this would be one way to go.

And be careful when you try to expand the power you want to give [any branch of] the "government," just because you might think for a moment you will be constraining it... and you probably won't like it "in the long run," because "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. ... still more when you [add] the tendency or the certainty of corruption by authority. There is no worse heresy than that the office sanctifies the holder of it."

Want to limit substantial existing corrupting power? Start by taking some real power back, e.g., a relatively simple and easy to pass constitutional amendment to take the UNCONDITIONAL power of ONE single man to decide who gets a pardon - especially in light of Trump's recent pronouncements of granting a pardon to himself (and bunch of other criminals) that should be very popular and bring people to vote... and would send a loud and clear message to all branches of federal government... and hopefully, done at the states / Governor level, too.

As far as campaign is concerned, 20 percent of your issues should provide about 80 percent of your votes - SCOTUS Dobbs decision is one of the top 5 issues almost all voters care about, other issues vary state by state - that's where Dems have clear advantage and should concentrate their resources, not distracting voters with minor issues (that someone in the campaign is interested in) that may split or antagonize some voters.

** BTW, I have warned before the "debate" about futility and puerility of "reminding" viewers about Trump being a felon, but I guess that was in the "script" - apparently the same people / team who came up with "Bidenomics" and "fighting shrinkflation" haven't been fired yet. And the huge drop in viewership from 2020 debates should tell us that most people already know more than enough about these candidates, and are uninterested, except for expecting a spectacle... which is what they got. This in itself may be a "graceful enough" (if there is any) reason to cancel the second debate.
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Posted by CutiePie at 2024-07-02 06:02 AM | Reply

American Interest in Electric Vehicles Short Circuits

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#14 | Posted by CutiePie at 2024-07-01 09:11 PM
Japan and European countries are following the suite - s/b "following suit"
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Posted by CutiePie at 2024-07-01 09:29 PM | Reply

American Interest in Electric Vehicles Short Circuits

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#9 | Posted by earthmuse at 2024-07-01 01:41 PM | Reply
It's a No Brainer that the Oil and Gas Lobby (i.e. the U.S. auto industry) wants them dead.

"Oil and Gas Lobby" is actually a "Big Energy" lobby - yes, "Big Oil and Gas," including Saudi Aramco, are primary participants in research and development of "green and blue hydrogen" and other renewable clean energy sources.

Also, "Big Energy" is primary beneficiary of "modern electrification" political efforts, because most electricity in the US (~84.5%) is derived from so-called "fossil fuels," nuclear and hydroelectricity, while "intermittent renewables" (wind and solar, which incur additional and "not clean" recurring storage expenses) have been stuck at about 14%... and because their actual "new capacity" requires increase in backup "fossil fuel" plants:

Total - all sources - 4,178 Billion kWh
Fossil fuels (total) . 60.0%
. Natural gas ....... 43.2%
. Coal .............. 16.3%
. Petroleum (total)... 0.5%

Nuclear ............. 18.7%
Hydropower ............ 5.8%

Wind ................. 10.1%
Solar (total) ......... 3.9%
Biomass (total) ....... 1.1%
Geothermal ............ 0.4%

"Utility-scale solar has almost quadrupled in the past decade, rising from 5% to almost 20% of the grid. Yet it has not displaced thermal generation, which rose from 28% to 36% of the grid. We even wonder whether wind and solar are entrenching natural gas generators that can backstop their daily, weekly and even seasonal volatility." - report: thundersaidenergy.com

So, increasing energy supply with intermittent "renewables" is impossible without first increasing energy supply with firm power (nuclear, hydrogen, natgas, etc.) - which raises the question why the intermittent utility-scale wind and solar (at cost of 2,900-4,200 acres/GW) may be needed at all, or ever becomes TCO-cost-effective, except possibly in very special circumstances.

Hydropower supplied about 16% of the world's energy in 2020, in the US it's less than 6% and pretty much limited to current capacity due to geography.

Nuclear power supplied 10.5% of world electricity in 2020, the US has just under 19%, and the US Energy Secretary recently finally called for restarting "retired" and building more nuke plants. Many other countries, including Japan and European countries are following the suite and rethinking their reliance on "intermittent renewables" in favor of nuclear power.

There are also designs for floating nuclear power plants (FNPPs), which don't produce a huge amount of energy, but are safe and mobile, so often can provide power where needed, e.g., in cases of natural disasters, to power temporary or long-term offshore projects, such as desalination or fishing stations or oil and gas production, building artificial islands, or where the land-based power plant would be too difficult or too costly to build.

World's first FNPP ("proof of concept") was built in 1967, in a converted Liberty ship. Russia's first FNPP "Akademik Lomonosov" started operations in 2019. China had FNPP plans since 2016, which have been suspended for a while, but some "baby reactors" may soon be deployed in South China Sea.
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Posted by CutiePie at 2024-07-01 09:11 PM | Reply

Can a Debate Change the Trajectory of Voter Sentiment

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#46 | Posted by truthhurts at 2024-06-26 07:08 PM
The 1930's comparison is to Germany. I see a distinct echo of the late Weimar Republic in America-the division, the discontent, the rise of fascism.

The 1930s comparison was not to Weimar Germany but to isolationists and non-involvement movements in the US and Britain, which under pretense of Neville Chamberlain's "peace for our time" 1938 Munich Agreement with Hitler allowed Germany to swallow Sudetenland and Czechoslovakia, and start making plans to carve out the rest of Europe with Joseph Stalin, without a peep from the West.

Most rational people understood then that the "peace for our time" (or a "permanent cease-fire" as some call it today) was just the beginning of the wider war, not the end of it.

www.hasdk12.org FOR OUR TIME-2022.pdf - Peace For Our Time

|------- [Chamberlain] spoke to the crowd about his meeting with Adolph Hitler and proudly proclaimed that day that the paper represented "peace for our time". There were more cheers from the crowd. "Good old Neville!!!" "Three cheers for Neville!!!"

France. Another crowd had gathered at an airport in Paris. When the plane came in, the Parisians rushed to it even before it had stopped. Edouard (Edward) Daladier, the French Premier, appeared. Crowds began dancing and cheering. Daladier turned to a man at his side. "The fools," he said. "They don't know what they are cheering."

Czechoslovakia. There were crowds in the cities of Czechoslovakia, too, that day. These crowds were not cheering. Some people had tears running down their faces. September 30, 1938 was a sad day for the people of Czechoslovakia, especially for the countries Jewish citizens.

Why were the crowds in London and Paris so happy? They believed their leaders saved them from a war with Nazi Germany. They thought Chamberlain and Daladier had made a "deal" with Adolph Hitler. It wasn't just a deal. It was a bargain, so they thought. The price of this "bargain" was some land that belonged to Czechoslovakia. It was called the Sudetenland.

There was cheering in London and Paris. People thought peace had been saved. The price of piece is not too high, Englishmen and Frenchmen said, we are not ready for war. We are still fighting the Great Depression. We can't afford a big army or air force. We can not go to war against Hitler now, even if we wanted to, they said.

While the English and French cheered, the Czechs and Slovaks of Czechoslovakia said the price is much too high. To appease Hitler and keep him quiet, you have paid with our freedom. Because we are a small nation, you have sold us down the river. You will see how wrong you are, they said.

It turned out the Czechs and Slovaks were right. ...

... Eleven months after Neville Chamberlain waved his paper to the cheering crowds declaring "peace for our time," Britain would end up declaring war on Germany. By that time, Hitler was looking for more land. Germany was more powerful than ever. The leaders of France and Britain had made a terrible mistake. Germany had invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. World War II had begun.
-------|

Czechoslovakia was at the time the only nation in Eastern Europe, besides the Soviet Union, that manufactured its own weapons, and was the world's 7th largest manufacturer of arms. After annexation by Germany, Czech factories continued producing weapons and munitions for Germany, vastly increasing and improving Wehrmacht's military strength.
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Posted by CutiePie at 2024-06-26 08:04 PM | Reply

Can a Debate Change the Trajectory of Voter Sentiment

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#46 | Posted by truthhurts at 2024-06-26 07:08 PM
The 1930's comparison is to Germany. I see a distinct echo of the late Weimar Republic in America-the division, the discontent, the rise of fascism.

Most rational people understood then that the "peace for our time" (or a "permanent cease-fire" as some call it today) was just the beginning of the wider war, not the end of it.

www.hasdk12.org FOR OUR TIME-2022.pdf - Peace For Our Time

It turned out the Czechs and Slovaks were right. ...

Posted by CutiePie at 2024-06-26 08:03 PM | Reply

Can a Debate Change the Trajectory of Voter Sentiment

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#43 | Posted by Zed at 2024-06-25 10:05 AM
Biden will watch for chances to give Trump rope. Trump will gladly place that rope around his own neck and millions will see him hang.

After watching Trump "roping" himself numerous times during his "rallies," do you really think Biden needs [a strategy] to "watch for chances to give Trump rope" ... or if/when Trump "ropes/hangs" himself, it should be credited to Dark Brandon's special superpowers?

Anyway, a cynical but real answer to the headline question ("Can a Debate Change the Trajectory of Voter Sentiment") is :

www.thedailybeast.com - We Know the Debate Is Total B***s**t, but We'll Watch Anyway | No one's minds will be changed by this silly spectacle, so we'll just have to enjoy the dark comedy of it all - TDB, Michael Ian Black, 2024 June 26
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Posted by CutiePie at 2024-06-26 06:50 PM | Reply

Can a Debate Change the Trajectory of Voter Sentiment

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#37 | Posted by truthhurts at 2024-06-24 06:26 PM
I am bothered by the current presidential race in that it is being looked at in a traditional sense. Appeal to this demographic, appeal to that demographic, promote this policy for the future. I am sick of hearing how this or that demographic is dissatisfied...

That's the power of identity politics, class / race/ethnicity / culture wars, branding and populism for you.

...

When in reality, our nation is at a singular crossroad. Like in 1776, 1861 and 1941 it is American's duty to protect our country and it's democracy.

At the time - at least until early-to-mid 20th century - there have been no poli-sci schools and the early ones didn't teach polling, behavioral political science, identity politics, wholesale and retail / "district / grid" geo-politics, and many other "tricks of the trade" (especially more recently, with "social," site traffic habits and purchasing cyber tracking and huge amounts of other "micro-data" to analyze) to figure out the proverbial "pocketbook and dinner-table issues" i.e., "what people want" and then promise it to them - populism in action, "left" and "right" play to their audiences, hoping to find enough independents along the way to create a margin of victory.

In reality, our nation is likely much closer to being "still" in late 1930s (rather than in 1941) mind-set, when isolationism and flimsy promises, or even appearance of promises. of "peace for our times" (no matter what "little" price there may be to be paid... by "others"... for a while...) are the zeitgeist of governing classes (academia and bureaucracy) and are again all too clearly seen, by some [fickle] friends / allies and make the enemies more determined to press on, with ever higher odds of success.

...

I think that this time calls for a "Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country," moment.

Except in current environment the "fine people on both sides" have very different ideas of "what your country can do for you" and "what you can do for your country" while expressing them in very similar populist language ("patriotism / fascism / socialism / intellectuals / the elite(s) / trailer trash / deplorables / democracy / for the people / vox populi / pitchforks" etc.) and while having similar ideas about what the "problems" with the "society / country" are, they have very different ideas and most often contrary and non-negotiable, rigid "simple solutions." on which neither side - or at least the extreme ideologs on either side - are willing to compromise.

e.g., "Jeffrey A. Sonnenfeld, president of the Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute, said in a guest essay published by The New York Times that a host of Donald Trump's economic initiatives "share more in common with [communist] Karl Marx than [capitalist] Adam Smith." " - QED!

H.L. Mencken: "There is always a well-known solution to every human problem - neat, plausible, and wrong."

H. L. Mencken: "For it is the natural tendency of the ignorant to believe what is not true. In order to overcome that tendency it is not sufficient to exhibit the true; it is also necessary to expose and denounce the false."
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Posted by CutiePie at 2024-06-26 06:37 PM | Reply

Can a Debate Change the Trajectory of Voter Sentiment

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#2 | Posted by reinheitsgebot at 2024-06-23 08:32 PM |
Biden should blurt out "convicted felon" every time the demented orange pedo starts gibbering.

That would only sound petulant, immature and cringy - it's not like he would be imparting some new knowledge on viewers... and Trump will just counter with "Crooked Biden's DOJ" and other [baseless but potent enough] charges. Trump may be able to get away with being offensive and boorish - people expect nothing else from him - but for Biden it could be the difference between win and loss margins where it counts.

Remember the reaction to unforced errors of Romney's "47 percent" and Hillary!'s "Basket of Deplorables" that may have pissed off enough people to possibly add to loss margin and/or even cost her election?

Did you watch what happened in recent elections in Europe? Telling voters again and again that you are pure as the driven snow and superior, and they are stupid isn't going to make you more likable and make them vote for you.

There are only a couple of issues where Biden and Dems are ahead of Trump and GOP right now - that's what he should be emphasizing, not the other's personal "baggage" or grudges.

None of them can really "win" these debates... but either one can lose them.

"... blurt[ing] out "convicted felon" every time the demented orange pedo starts gibbering" is a sure loser.
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Posted by CutiePie at 2024-06-24 12:45 AM | Reply

IDF Approves Lebanon Operation

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#31 | Posted by snoofy at 2024-06-22 07:33 PM |
Never knew that about Kurt Vonnegut.

So instead of facts re strategic military value and importance of "strategic targets" in war you prefer to rely on emotional reaction of writer who was American POW of German descent whose anti-war opinions were shaped by sequence of unfortunate life events - losing his ROTC deferment, losing his mother to suicide from OD, being captured by Germans and becoming POW during Battle of the Bulge...

|------- ... Since Dresden served as a major center for Nazi Germany's rail and road network, its destruction was intended to overwhelm German authorities and services - and to clog all transportation routes with throngs of refugees. The Allied assault came less than a month after some 19,000 U.S. troops were killed in Germany's last-ditch offensive at the Battle of the Bulge, and three weeks after the grim discovery of the atrocities committed by Nazi forces at Auschwitz.

... On February 13, 1945, American POWs heard Dresden's fire sirens... German guards moved them into undergound meat locker.** When they came back to the surface, "the city was gone," remembered writer and social critic Kurt Vonnegut - one of the American POWs who witnessed the Dresden bombing.

British RAF's Pathfinders ("Blind Illuminator") aircraft dropped thousands of "visual markers" on prospective targets, to increase bombing accuracy . The main attack followed with over 500 "Lancaster" bombers. The U.S. Air Force followed the next day and launched another raid with 210 bombers on February 15. German Luftwaffe and anti-aircraft defenses were totally destroyed, with the RAF losing six planes.

Allied strategists were afraid of allowing the Wehrmacht to regroup within Germany's border if they eased the pressure. The U.S. Army alone had suffered almost 140,000 casualties from December to January 1945 and 27,000 in the week prior to the Dresden bombing alone - the heaviest losses by the Western Allies' in the war.

So while the Dresden bombing was devastating, it was part of a war in which such tactics had been widely deployed. Less than three months later, and eight days after Adolf Hitler committed suicide, the German High Command signed the unconditional surrender.

It did not even stand out in the war's history of "strategic bombing" of cities. Most German cities had been flattened by 1945, and many left higher proportionate death rates and degrees of destruction. The bombing of Hamburg in July 1943 killed more than 30,000. The Luftwaffen raids on Eastern European cities such as Belgrade (more than 17,000 dead) or Warsaw (up to 25,000 dead) were far more deadly - to say nothing of non-nuclear city bombings in Japan.

Initial estimates of the number of dead seemed to suggest that the Dresden Bombing was unusually cruel. David Irving would claim in his 1963 book, The Destruction of Dresden, that Dresden bombing was "the biggest single massacre in European history." His estimate of 150,000 to 200,000 dead was significantly higher than previously published figures but became accepted and quoted without dispute, even though his assertion that Dresden was the "Hiroshima of Germany" lacked any evidence.

Irving became a "hard-core" Holocaust denier and National Socialism revisionist, "willfully misrepresented historical evidence to promote Holocaust denial and whitewash the Nazis" and was found providing documents forged by Nazis, including Tagesbefehl 47 ("Daily Order 47", TB 47), a document promulgated by Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels, and the claims by a former Dresden Nazi Hans Voigt, without verifying them against official sources available in Dresden.
-------|

** It took Kurt Vonnegut 23 years to write "Slaughterhouse Five" about his traumatic experience.
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Posted by CutiePie at 2024-06-23 09:28 PM | Reply

IDF Approves Lebanon Operation

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#10 | Posted by tres_flechas at 2024-06-21 03:06 PM
Hezbollah is taking out $100 million dollar iron dome batteries for pennies on the dollar.

You must be referring to the poorly made fake video of Iranian Almas exploding that made rounds two weeks ago? Nice looking blast ("BOOOM!") but there was no Iron Dome anywhere near it.

This had as much credibility as Houthis claiming recently shooting down F-22 over Red Sea (where no F-22s are deployed) ... but the videos of Israeli soldiers firing fireballs from trebuchet at Hezbollah's positions in Lebanon are real - they are used to burn the bushes and other plantations that provide the cover - to prevent Hezbollah fighters from infiltrating into the south (trying to create a "buffer zone"), while at the same time conducting airstrikes targeting Hezbollah military structures in southern Lebanon.

"Some 60,000 Israelis and 100,000 Lebanese residents have been displaced from both sides of the border since October 7, due to Hezbollah sending rockets and drones into villages and civilian areas of northern Israel" - talking about terrorist groups targeting civilians?

That's one reason why Israel is "retiring" their old PATRIOTS (they go back to the US, which in turn will replace units provided by Germany and other allies to Ukraine) and replacing them with native and jointly-developed integrated multi-layered arrays of Iron Dome, Arrow 2/3 and David's Sling.

Israel's MIC just reached their export record of $13B - not bad for a tiny country.

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Posted by CutiePie at 2024-06-22 04:05 PM | Reply

IDF Approves Lebanon Operation

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#21 | Posted by snoofy at 2024-06-22 12:54 PM
Hiroshima:
70,000 - 126,000 civilians killed
7,000 - 20,000 soldiers killed

Nagasaki:
60,000 - 80,000 killed (within 4 months)
150+ soldiers killed

You have lived in San Diego - a well-known "Navy town" and a major hub for US military and defense industry with 1.4M population and >$300B in GDP.

Care to give us a ratio of Navy+Army+AF personnel relative to "civilian" population - many of which work in "supporting capacity" with Navy and/or defense industry?

For example, Naval Base itself employs less than 42K people - that's including enlisted and "civilian" personnel.

Northrop-Grumman (a defense-related corporation) employs more than 6K of "civilians," etc. etc. In your opinion, does this make it an important "military target" or because the ratio of military personnel ("soldiers") to "civilian" population is so minuscule, San Diego has nothing to worry about?

Sure seems like killing a bunch of civilians as opposed to soldiers is how we got Japan to surrender.

Sure seems like you are just throwing "numbers" against the wall, without any understanding of relational importance / qualitative differences between them, or strategic importamce of locations (and industries they may contain/serve), whether people there are enlisted "soldiers" or "civilians."
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Posted by CutiePie at 2024-06-22 03:18 PM | Reply

I don't believe in peace now

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#25 | Posted by Effeteposer at 2024-06-21 11:23 AM
Dude,you're boring,and overly verbose. Any point you try to make is lost in the verbiage and irrelevant details. Besides being factually questionable.

Yeah, "dude," we lost count of you copy-paste-s**tposting this EXACT quote every time when you have nothing else to say and need to change subject and derail thread by attacking the messenger.

And we "discussed" this already - my posts are not for the level of understanding of the average low-level Russian troll-bot, which is what you are, as your every post, thankfully, reminds us.

Verbose enough for you?

Thanks again for s**tposting your pablum to remind us who you are and what you do.

Good night.

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Posted by CutiePie at 2024-06-21 05:36 PM | Reply

I don't believe in peace now

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#19 | Posted by Nixon at 2024-06-20 10:57 AM
she now believes the world hates Jews.
- - - - This is why religion is disgusting and keeps humanity from achieving great things.

Some of the greatest art ever was made to celebrate or demonize gods, religions and/or religious subjects, including ideological or territorial "religious / Holy" wars. Some of the greatest achievements in modern science were discovered or developed trying to prove or disprove religion-related beliefs, concepts or phenomena.

Hoard of Silver and Bronze Coins from Gallus Revolt Found in Israel | The Jewish revolt against Constantius Gallus, also known as the Gallus Revolt, erupted during the Roman civil war of 351-354 CE and was the last Jewish revolt against the Romans. - June 19, 2024

This is why religion is disgusting and keeps humanity from achieving great things.

When she said "Jews" she obviously didn't mean "religion"... at least not any "religion" that apparently can be identified by DNA - see the "raging debates" here about the apparent importance of DNA in distinguishing "where the majority of Israeli Jews came from" (Ashkenazi vs Sephardic) - and which ones are "real" Jews/Zionists that kind of possibly might "belong" in "Palestine" / Israel, and which ones have to "go where they came from" or "go back to their country," most often conveniently located somewhere in Eastern Europe.

Shi'a Muslims and Sunni Muslims have been at war with each other since 7th century CE (still going strong after 1300+ years) - that predates the Islamic / Arabian conquests of many "Christian" lands, including the province that Romans initially named "Syria Judaea" (and later "Syria Palaestina" and eventually "Palestine territory") and about half of Europe.

Queen Isabella of Spain in 1492 approved Christopher Columbus voyage to "India" (actually financed by loans from two "Converso" Jews) but also didn't care if the 300,000 Jews expelled from Spain same year were "religious" or secular (Alhambra Decree), after King Ferdinand victory over last Muslim stronghold in Granada.

digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu - The 1492 Jewish Expulsion from Spain: How Identity Politics and Economics Converged

|------- The Spanish kingdoms had been anti-Jewish for centuries, forcing the creation of ghettos, the use of identifying clothing, etc. Those who... converted, were the subject of further prejudice stemming from a belief that Jewish blood was tainted and that conversions were undertaken for financial gain. The ... banishment seemed more appropriate toward the non-conformist Muslim community, rather than the Jewish community. The economic reasons behind why the Jews were targeted were the following: first, medieval Spanish Jews emphasized education, which led to better paying professional occupations. Second, Jews held positions in banking and were subject to fewer regulations involving loans. ...
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German Nazis in 1942 didn't distinguish between "religious" and secular Jews when they were sending them from everywhere to concentration/extermination camps and gas chambers - they were doing it in the name of "racial purity" of Aryan race, not religion.

Majority of the Jews - in Israel and the USA - are secular, not religious. Majority of "hate crimes" or [attempted] genocides in the world are not due to religion, but either racial, ethnic or [non-religion] ideological.

Religion is not a prerequisite for humans engaging in "disgusting" behavior, nor is it the [only] thing that necessarily always keeps humanity from achieving great things. It really doesn't matter if these are done in the name of / for "King/Queen and Country." "God," Stalin, Mao, Putin or personal pride / ego.
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Posted by CutiePie at 2024-06-21 09:13 AM | Reply

I don't believe in peace now

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"I don't believe in peace, no. I don't believe, sorry." the Arabic and Hebrew teacher said. "I understand Hamas don't want it."
... She said students were being paid to watch over them. "I heard them say... 70 shekels for a day," she said. "It's a lot of money in Gaza because they have no work. And if you have work not with Hamas, it's no more than 20 shekels for a day," she said.

From Financial Times:
www.ft.com - Armed gangs stage bank heists in Gaza
Lenders robbed at gunpoint lose $120mn as Palestinians queue for days to rescue their own cash - FT, 2024 June 19

|------- Armed gangs, including Hamas-backed groups, have plundered at least $120mn from banks in northern Gaza in just the past two months, according to UN estimates, as the war-ravaged strip suffers from a severe cash crunch.

The thefts amounted to at least a third of the cash stored in stranded vaults, according to mid-May estimates seen by the Financial Times. About $240mn more is sealed in bank vaults in northern Gaza, some entombed in concrete to try to prevent looting ...

... The most dramatic bank robberies took place on April 17 and 18, shortly after the Bank of Palestine ... opted to pour concrete around the vault of its branch in the once-upmarket district of Rimal.

The emergency measure made no difference. An explosion rang out at the branch on April 17... Thieves absconded with an estimated $31mn in various currencies, according to an internal document sent to the bank's shareholders and seen by the FT.

The next day, the bank told customers and merchants to come to the remaining branch so they could withdraw their deposits before more cash was stolen. Instead, when they opened the doors, they found "armed groups already inside the branch." ...

The bank estimated that $36mn was taken in this second heist, "confiscated on orders ... from the highest authority in Gaza", a veiled reference to Hamas...

While the robberies threatened the Bank of Palestine's employees, the more than $70mn stolen does not threaten its stability given its overall $5.41bn in customer deposits, most of which - along with the lion's share of its business - is in the West Bank. At the start of the war its liquidity coverage ratio, a common metric for short-term financial health, was more than 740%, compared with less than 200 per cent for US and UK banks...

Banking officials are careful not to directly blame Hamas, but this amount of money in the hands of the "highest authority" is likely to fuel an already evolving insurgency against the Israeli military, said two Israeli officials.

The two large-scale robberies capped a theft spree that had begun earlier on a more modest scale: by April, about $7mn had already been stolen from Bank of Palestine branches, mostly from the ATM cassettes, by armed gangs that "drilled into" the buildings ...

The thefts came as Gazans, most of whom live in poverty, struggle to find banknotes to buy essential supplies as inflation spirals following eight months of war ...

Further worsening cash shortages, wealthy Palestinians have sent tens of millions to an Egyptian tour operator, which demands $5,000 a person in crisp new $100 bills ... to enable them to flee Gaza.

Before the war, Gaza had more than 90 cash machines and 56 branches of banks... All dealt mostly in Israeli shekels after the 1990s Oslo agreements reinforced their position as the de facto currency...

Cash was moved in armoured cars, with Israel's facilitation from Gaza... to West Bank where the banks and Palestine Monetary Authority are based. The Bank of Israel would trade soiled banknotes for new, or allow fresh injections of currency, sometimes in Brinks trucks, during periods of calm. ...
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Posted by CutiePie at 2024-06-20 04:25 AM | Reply

Trump-Friendly CEOs Shocked By 'Meandering' Meeting

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#14 | Posted by ClownShack at 2024-06-15 02:59 PM
Do people just not pay attention?
They pay attention to their favorite loud voices screaming hate at them on talk hate radio AM. They pay attention to the angry faces screaming hate at them on Faux News.

You are confusing CEOs and business owners/execs with hoi polloi who have nothing better to do than "pay attention to their favorite loud voices" on Fox News... or MSNBC... or eX-Twitter... or their other favorite "channels."

What's really happening: thehill.com - Scaramucci suggests CEOs backing former president have 'Trump-nesia' - 2024-06-15

|------- Jeffrey Sonnenfeld**... does not believe that CEOs are backing Trump.

"Not a single Fortune 100 CEO has donated a single penny to him, which is a break from major CEO support for GOP presidential candidates dating back over a century, going back to Taft ... all of whom regularly had 50% or more of major CEOs.

CEOs are not isolationists, protectionists, or xenophobic. Other than two or three prominent CEOs, none support Trump vocally or financially."
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This election will be decided not by "Big Business" CEOs or "Big Labor" leaders, but by "never-Trump" and "never-Biden" no-shows in 6-7 swing states:

www.bostonherald.com - Double-haters on the rise: One in four voters reject both Trump and Biden - 2024-06-16

|------- The ranks of the double-haters - voters who say they don't like either major party presidential candidate - are at a historic high and make up one-quarter of the electorate, according to Pew Research. That's nearly twice as many as at this point in 2020.

Biden and Trump are taking roughly equal measures of these disillusioned voters in battleground states, with Biden winning 25% to Trump's 22%...
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It's also why republicans oppose public education. Public education allows people to think for themselves...

Then you clearly don't understand why the enrollment in public schools has been declining since before COVID-19. I don't know Republicans who oppose public education - what they don't like is "progressives" vehemently opposing charter schools and parents' school choice - quite the opposite of "allowing people to think for themselves" - while educating their own children in private schools.

www.nbcnews.com - Public school enrollment falling nationwide - NBC, April 2024
Census Bureau data shows K-12 enrollment continued its downward trajectory in 2022, and experts say it's more than just declining birth rates.

www.educationnext.org - Teachers More Likely to Use Private Schools for their Own Kids

www.chalkboardnews.com - Public Teachers Send Their Own Children to Private Schools

www.nytimes.com - What Have We Liberals Done to the West Coast? - NYT, Nicholas Kristof, June 15, 2024

** Jeffrey Sonnenfeld is the "CEO whisperer" who was partly "responsible" for Trump being elected by making him somewhat palatable to "business community" and bashing Carly Fiorina just when she was "rising" in 2016 GOP primaries... then in 2020 he "whispered" to business leaders to "dump Trump" - not that they needed much convincing at the time.
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Posted by CutiePie at 2024-06-16 10:35 PM | Reply

'We're in 1938 Now': Putin's War in Ukraine

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'We're in 1938 Now': Putin's War in Ukraine

Except that about this time last year it was late 1944 - early 1945 for Putin ("bunker time")), but instead of fully supporting Ukraine counter-offensive and supplying them with what they actually needed for breakthrough, along with whatever old gear we were dumping from storage (e.g., Ukraine even refused delivery of number of German Leopard tanks because they were "not maintained" and "defective" / rusted) while we were listening to Putin's "red flags" and observing and debating what Ukraine will need to "give up" if the West wants "peace" instead of "permanent war" that would "cost too much" ... even though most of the "cost" not only stays in the US to spend on MIC, but also helps increase military exports into EU/NATO countries to replace NATO-"leased" old weapons, with the U.S. (and some members of NATO Armed Forces) standardizing on and getting outfitted with significantly improved technology, including F-35s and [Israel-developed] "Iron Fist" IF-LD.

And that was even before Putin and Ayatollah Khamenei unleashed Hamas and Hezbollah and Houthis and opened the "second front" in the Middle East, which we seemed to be ready to bungle as well, all so we can "de-escalate" and just pressure allies to "take the win" ... and then Russia opened a political "third front" in their hybrid war in Europe, politically / electorally flipping governments of some "unfriendly" NATO states and potentially cancelling or delaying unfavorable NATO decisions, like Orban and Erdogan have done recently.

Our State Dept, as usual, was caught either happily napping / ignoring or worse, unwittingly helping these developments, hoping for quick fixes and/or to kick the can down the road.
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Posted by CutiePie at 2024-06-14 04:28 PM | Reply