Political Discussion

debianlinux said:
The sanctions alone are going to destabilize already shaky economies across the globe. Everything about this is deeply grim. Warmongering is not an acceptable coping mechanism.
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25-30% of all European gas and oil comes from Russia. We are also reliant on their oil to the tune of around10%. How is the Biden administration going to keep its promise to curb rising prices if we get rid of 10% of our supply? We were always heading towards inflation because the artificial suppression of interest rates by the Fed caused asset price rise, so we were on an inflationary trend well before the pandemic. Not saying that we shouldn’t stand up to the bullies that Russia are being, but that our society is less cohesive than it has been in the past and we are all about to be asked to sacrifice.
 
nolalady said:
25-30% of all European gas and oil comes from Russia. We are also reliant on their oil to the tune of around10%. How is the Biden administration going to keep its promise to curb rising prices if we get rid of 10% of our supply? We were always heading towards inflation because the artificial suppression of interest rates by the Fed caused asset price rise, so we were on an inflationary trend well before the pandemic. Not saying that we shouldn’t stand up to the bullies that Russia are being, but that our society is less cohesive than it has been in the past and we are all about to be asked to sacrifice.
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Meanwhile, Republicans are really putting the heat on Biden and Mocking him over this.

Example: I just got this in a text from my father.

1645983709455.png
 
Joe Mac said:
I just wish we could get our heads around just using less. This should be an opportunity to invest in massive grants towards things like insulation and heat pumps and sure the increased employment in doing it adds back to the tax take.
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Absolutely. 10% should not be tough to shave off. But American appetites for monster homes, multiple SUV's in the driveways, are standing in the way. As the pandemic showed, asking for even small personal inconveniences gets the nutjobs marching to stage a coup.

On the other hand, Joe Biden could just do a u-turn on the Keystone pipeline and the problem is solved.
 
Joe Mac said:
I just wish we could get our heads around just using less. This should be an opportunity to invest in massive grants towards things like insulation and heat pumps and sure the increased employment in doing it adds back to the tax take.
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I have seen changes in recent years in the Architectural industry when it comes to things like electric parking bays, higher spec glazing/insulation, etc but one of the main issues is how they are adopted by clients. Typically with each project, there will be a requirement for specific sustainable elements (ie X amount of electric bays per size of the footprint) but clients typically view these as a tick box exercise rather than a minimum requirement.

There are a few incentives such as a BREEAM rating, an independent assessment that results in a "grade" that can be used to market the sale or rent of the building, but again there is only a low number of commercial clients that want to explore this and only really if the costs associated are minimal.

These all link to the idea of using less as well but a lot of the time the bigger picture is often ignored. Hell, I could tell you of countless stories where Council projects are abandoned when new leaderships come in as they don't want to look to be finishing the previous administration's work. Think of the time, materials, labour, etc just thrown away because of the egos of those people pushing a "sustainable" agenda, it's sickening.
 
Selaws said:
I have seen changes in recent years in the Architectural industry when it comes to things like electric parking bays, higher spec glazing/insulation, etc but one of the main issues is how they are adopted by clients. Typically with each project, there will be a requirement for specific sustainable elements (ie X amount of electric bays per size of the footprint) but clients typically view these as a tick box exercise rather than a minimum requirement.

There are a few incentives such as a BREEAM rating, an independent assessment that results in a "grade" that can be used to market the sale or rent of the building, but again there is only a low number of commercial clients that want to explore this and only really if the costs associated are minimal.

These all link to the idea of using less as well but a lot of the time the bigger picture is often ignored. Hell, I could tell you of countless stories where Council projects are abandoned when new leaderships come in as they don't want to look to be finishing the previous administration's work. Think of the time, materials, labour, etc just thrown away because of the egos of those people pushing a "sustainable" agenda, it's sickening.
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Yeah there are definitely issues in the new build arena, like social housing these things are far too often tick boxes. The other issue is existing housing stock. It’s almost more of an issue because new builds will, even by osmosis have more modern technologies but we really do need to invest in making our existing stock fit for purpose so that it takes less heating using methods that are less dependent on burning oil and gas.
 
Here is a slightly different topic that got a giggle out of me for how far corporations will go to exploit the law to save a few bucks.

The Jones Act of the 1920's requires that goods shipped between American ports must be shipped by American Vessels under American Flags. There is one exception to this law. And that is if the goods travel part of the way by rail.

So what is one international corporation shipping their seafood from Alaska to the East Coast to get around this requirement? They once did utilize rail for around 30 miles of the journey, but somewhere around 2012 they stopped doing that and found a way to avoid paying a railroad to ship their goods.

They built their own railroad. A 200 foot short line that they drive a semi truck up on. Move the truck by rail to the end of the line nad back and back the truck off and continue their journey.

The Department of Homeland Security (No idea how this falls under their jurisdiction as weren't they formed after 9/11?) fined them $350 Million for violating the law. About 90% of their yearly profit.

Of course the company is challenging the fines in court saying they didn't actually violate the law. Their shortline railroad is registered as a railroad. And the law does not say how far the goods must travel by rail.

It's pretty clear they intentionally sought out a loophole in the law and exploit it. But will the fine stand in court? Can they be fined when they technically didn't violate the letter of the law?


www.thedrive.com

This 200-Foot-Long Railway to Nowhere Is Actually a Brilliant Shipping Loophole

The so-called Bayside Canadian Railway is now at the center of a massive court fight.
www.thedrive.com www.thedrive.com
 
Jan said:
www.theguardian.com

Why Vladimir Putin has already lost this war | Yuval Noah Harari

The Russians may yet conquer Ukraine. But Ukrainians have shown that they will not let them hold it, says historian and author Yuval Noah Harari
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
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So, the "Ukraine isn't a real nation" isn't just Qanon bull shit? It's lies spread by Moscow as well? I really didn't know anything about this angle from Russia until this article and first heard similar garbage from my father last week.

When talking to my father about this war and China blaming the US, my father completely agreed last week.

Said that Ukraine isn't a real nation. They never registered as a nation after the collapse of the USSR and gained their freedom. And to this day, are not recognized by the UN as a nation.

He then went on about how the Deep State installed their own regime to rule Ukraine under Obama. And this is why they were trying to become a part of NATO. Said that Ukraine isn't a NATO nation, never was, and the act of trying to make it one is a direct hostility against Moscow. And that if Trump was still in charge this would have never of happened.


But that is good news to hear that Putin most likely will lose the war. And with the Sanctions against Russia hopefully the current government will weaken and Putin will be on his way out.
 
RenegadeMonster said:
So, the "Ukraine isn't a real nation" isn't just Qanon bull shit? It's lies spread by Moscow as well? I really didn't know anything about this angle from Russia until this article and first heard similar garbage from my father last week.

When talking to my father about this war and China blaming the US, my father completely agreed last week.

Said that Ukraine isn't a real nation. They never registered as a nation after the collapse of the USSR and gained their freedom. And to this day, are not recognized by the UN as a nation.

He then went on about how the Deep State installed their own regime to rule Ukraine under Obama. And this is why they were trying to become a part of NATO. Said that Ukraine isn't a NATO nation, never was, and the act of trying to make it one is a direct hostility against Moscow. And that if Trump was still in charge this would have never of happened.


But that is good news to hear that Putin most likely will lose the war. And with the Sanctions against Russia hopefully the current government will weaken and Putin will be on his way out.
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the no real nation is the putin line, obviously qanon is taking their rhetoric directly from putin now, but
The ukraine is recognized as a nation by the UN, indeed it even was one of its founding members in 1945 before it was integrated into the soviet union. after its independence, it even served as a non-permanent member in the security council from 2017-19,.

Edit: about the second point, who is actally losing the war is not so quite clear besides the peoples of ukraine and the young russians who have to fight this out for the kremlin. From a military standpoint ukraine cannot win this , they can keep up the resistance so long that it is not a real win for putin either, but that basically means lots and lots of bloodshed. And Putin is regularly threatening using his atomic weapons, so the best to hope for is probably building a way for him to withraw without loosing his face. the scary thing is that he is a 70 year old guy who might set the world on fire because he does not have much of a future anyway and wants to leave this legacy of a greater russia.
 
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Joe Mac said:
I just wish we could get our heads around just using less. This should be an opportunity to invest in massive grants towards things like insulation and heat pumps and sure the increased employment in doing it adds back to the tax take.
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But Jooooeeeeee, how do we make record profits if we encourage everyone to use less??
 
RenegadeMonster said:
So, the "Ukraine isn't a real nation" isn't just Qanon bull shit? It's lies spread by Moscow as well? I really didn't know anything about this angle from Russia until this article and first heard similar garbage from my father last week.

When talking to my father about this war and China blaming the US, my father completely agreed last week.

Said that Ukraine isn't a real nation. They never registered as a nation after the collapse of the USSR and gained their freedom. And to this day, are not recognized by the UN as a nation.

He then went on about how the Deep State installed their own regime to rule Ukraine under Obama. And this is why they were trying to become a part of NATO. Said that Ukraine isn't a NATO nation, never was, and the act of trying to make it one is a direct hostility against Moscow. And that if Trump was still in charge this would have never of happened.


But that is good news to hear that Putin most likely will lose the war. And with the Sanctions against Russia hopefully the current government will weaken and Putin will be on his way out.
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It's pretty staggering the amount of pure false information that social media and media outlets (Fox, and the alt-right media) put out. And they do so knowing full well that it is false and damaging, and takes advantage of people who gravitate to these beliefs as a means of giving them comfort and to rationalize an irrational world.

One day we will all come to understand that social media has been a tool of repression used to sow disunity and break social cohesion. Facebook, Twitter, and others are simply Russian propaganda tools. Trump was a Russian asset, and by association. most of the current Republican party.

NATO is a defensive tool, not an offensive one. No one needs fear NATO aggression, but increasingly, they need to fear NATO defense.
 
avecigrec said:
Oooof.... that would in turn lead to me getting my breakfast elsewhere!
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Yeah, this isn't my photo but I certainly would have turned tail.

It reminds me of the the example I gave a friend as to why I had to stay away from Facebook. I compared it to going to a fictitious bar where everyone let you know their political thoughts or complaints aloud as you walked to your table. Apparently some actually feel the need to do that on their daily special signage.
 
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