Why do the republicans/conservatives have this love for Putin and Russia???

[HawkGold]

Getting back to the original topic, I follow the Ukraine War very closely due to having many friends there and been there a lot.

I following US, British, German, Russian and India sources mostly. India seems most balanced actually though they have always had ties to Russia.

Russia is talking about how they are at War with the US in Ukraine and the US will fight to the last Ukrainian.

Been hearing out of Russia how the US is attacking Russian family values. That rhetoric plays to the far right in the US. The videos from Russian sources show different outcomes showing Ukrainian atrocities and Ukrainian equipment destroyed.

As soon as AZOV is destroyed, Russia will be able to release 8000 troops to attack the Donbas where 60k plus Ukrainian troops could get outflanked.

Btw, the Moskva likely had 2-6 tactical Nukes of which some could be as large as the Hiroshima/Nagisaki bombs. The green plus is where they will meet. Expect a major offensive to be timed to be over by the May Day parade in Moscow. Kharkiv will be destroyed before this is over. The area is about 200 miles by 200 miles.

 

[HawkGold]

On the Ukraine War, not everything out of Russia is wrong in the news. I've been hearing about this from my friends in east Ukraine. AZOV is known to fire on civilians fleeing the area. AZOV is NEO NAZI and trained by US 101st ABN on military tactics (not this though).

British mercenary told about mass executions of Mariupol civilians by Nazis

Captive British mercenary Aiden Aslin told how the civilians of Mariupol disappeared after meeting with the Nazis. He confessed that he personally saw how innocent

english.pravda.ru

 

[HawkGold]

Ukriniform, the Ukraian PBS just announced the new invasion has begun.

 

[okeefe4prez]

Been hearing out of Russia how the US is attacking Russian family values. That rhetoric plays to the far right in the US.

Many other countries say the same thing, amigo. You posted a lot of economic data. Have you ever seen data on marriage rates bince 1980? Kids born out of wedlock bince 1980?

Like take China. They get some movies from the US but run them through censors. Saudi Arabia, our great ally, does the same. There are a lot of people in other countries who call the US some derivative of "Great Satan." If one country thinks you're an asshole, they're probably just butthurt. But the list of countries who don't want our "culture" foisted upon them is pretty fucking long.

 

[thedukeofearl]

Getting back to the original topic, I follow the Ukraine War very closely due to having many friends there and been there a lot.

I following US, British, German, Russian and India sources mostly. India seems most balanced actually though they have always had ties to Russia.

Russia is talking about how they are at War with the US in Ukraine and the US will fight to the last Ukrainian.

Been hearing out of Russia how the US is attacking Russian family values. That rhetoric plays to the far right in the US. The videos from Russian sources show different outcomes showing Ukrainian atrocities and Ukrainian equipment destroyed.

As soon as AZOV is destroyed, Russia will be able to release 8000 troops to attack the Donbas where 60k plus Ukrainian troops could get outflanked.

Btw, the Moskva likely had 2-6 tactical Nukes of which some could be as large as the Hiroshima/Nagisaki bombs. The green plus is where they will meet. Expect a major offensive to be timed to be over by the May Day parade in Moscow. Kharkiv will be destroyed before this is over. The area is about 200 miles by 200 miles.

Putin just addressed the Russian People. Don't have details yet, but basically saying US is destroying Russian families and Z Hours has just begun. Likely the huge push we've been waiting for but who knows. Says not meeting resistance .... (yet). Attack also at Kharkiv (Ukraine just issued a NOTAM). UN Security Council is meeting. All Russian news sources though.

I was wondering what would happen on May Day

 

[HawkGold]

Many other countries say the same thing, amigo. You posted a lot of economic data. Have you ever seen data on marriage rates bince 1980? Kids born out of wedlock bince 1980?

Like take China. They get some movies from the US but run them through censors. Saudi Arabia, our great ally, does the same. There are a lot of people in other countries who call the US some derivative of "Great Satan." If one country thinks you're an asshole, they're probably just butthurt. But the list of countries who don't want our "culture" foisted upon them is pretty fucking long.

Well, ahh duh. But most don't specify the "family values". Going back to the title of the thread. That was the first I'd heard Putin say that exactly.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

The decrease in the velocity of money is part of the reason the Fed has printed so much helicopter money. The money supply is actually measured over time and velocity is a component of the measurement. When the velocity slows down, the money supply technically goes down and the Fed has been trying to fight that for years. There was an experiment in the early 2000's where the banks lent money to proles to buy houses. It did not end well.

Printing $$ may increase the velocity of the $$ moving thru the economy but the collateral damage is that the value of the dollar goes down. Not good.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

We aren't arguing at least on my part. I agree with what you are saying. Yes, it is true that electronics has limited the need, but has opened up other issues on playng the game. On the adoption, the bigger issue was that they were working me over from 2 offices in 2 states and didn't/wouldn't communicate. It was outright harassment. I hate it when a client says they aren't doing a 1099 and then do. Pain in the butt.

About Childrens Hospital and Kirk, been in that room. It's cool and appreciated. About the wave, as I've said before when we've been there the Childrens wing is always almost always empty. My daughter in watching games with me knew all about the wave and wanted to see the viewing area and we couldn't get in due to rich older donors taking pictures and being swooned. Even with my daughter in a wheelchair post-surgery, those people didn't care. Now I'm ranting. Seriously the place is nearly empty on Friday afternoons of "sick kids" and were were in the Oncology/heme area 3 times. We've gotten to know Childrens in Chicago, St. Louis, and IC very well. One more rant the Ronald McDonalds House in IC at least used to suck. That and you can't tell where Carver parking begins and ends and they give tickets to parents very readily. The other choice is parking at the back of is it Finkbine? and take a shuttle. It's easier to stay at Hotels and shuttle or park at the hospital. Even Chicago does much better.

Man that sucks and is wrong. Put a lump in my throat reading that. Kudos to you and your wife for adopting and sorry for the health struggles for your child. I really do look up to parents that adopt and provide homes for children, many who may not have had a chance.

 

[okeefe4prez]

Printing $$ may increase the velocity of the $$ moving thru the economy but the collateral damage is that the value of the dollar goes down. Not good.

You've got it backwards, bruh. Printing doesn't increase velocity, it is done in large part to try to stem the deflationary effects of the velocity of money going down. It sounds weird, but if you have a base money supply of $10 and it cycles 10 times you have the same "money supply" as if the base money supply is $50 and it cycles twice.

Japan has been particularly hard hit by deflation as the velocity of money slowed way down when their bubble burst. They have been printing for decades. The problem is that when the velocity goes down and the money supply contracts, it costs more to repay debt. The Fed has to try to maintain a steady state or slight inflation or else they will bust every model of people trying to repay debt.

 

[HawkGold]

Man that sucks and is wrong. Put a lump in my throat reading that. Kudos to you and your wife for adopting and sorry for the health struggles for your child. I really do look up to parents that adopt and provide homes for children, many who may not have had a chance.

The adoption was a very tough go. I met one of my daughters quite by what some would same random chance. Found out she needed medical help and tried to do that, but due to corruption in Ukraine couldn't get it done. We ran into both civil unrest and big time corruption in the process. If I hadn't been very acquainted with Ukraine, I would have given up. We already had bio kids so it wasn't like we needed to adopt. I gave up on the medical care and turned to adopting (honestly we were told she wouldn't live long) and not to bother. Found she had a sister so we had a package deal.

Due to the civil strife, adoptions were closed and when it opened again had to do a mountain of paperwork 2x. The corruption in the legal system was huge, but we fought our way through it. At one point we left empty handed and told it wouldn't happen and then it did. It's a much longer story than that, but we are blessed. They are the 2 kindest human beings I have ever met in spite of horrible abuse and neglect.

Back to the war and Ukraine and politicians, The govt of Ukraine whether pro west or pro Russia has been horrible in treating common people. Their 1 percent controls everything. It's an oligarch war in reality with common people paying the price and likely both sides will fight to the last surviving Ukrainian. Most of my friends are Russian native speakers and only want to live in peace. I loved working there in some ways as it was such a challenge and if you can make friends, they are friends for life and would do literally anything to help.

The leader of the Russian Orthodox Church which is huge in both nations is using the same rhetoric that US right wing clergy used in the US. He talks of family values, a just war and so on which he and Putin have in common with the Right in the US. The situation is incredibly sad. My 2 best friends are stuck as one has to stay as his college student son can't leave his area due to maybe being called up and another has a 90 yo mother that will die on the trip west as she is so frail. They are getting more and more nervous about communicating as what has happened with atrocities. Much of the Russian army committed murders are Chechans and Georgians (but obviously not all. On the Ukraine side, AZOV Battalion uses civilians as shields and fires on civilians trying to escape Mariupol When Mariupol falls, the Ukrainian Army in Donbas is ag huge risk of catastrophy. The population is preparing for nuclear war btw.

 

[HawkGold]

You've got it backwards, bruh. Printing doesn't increase velocity, it is done in large part to try to stem the deflationary effects of the velocity of money going down. It sounds weird, but if you have a base money supply of $10 and it cycles 10 times you have the same "money supply" as if the base money supply is $50 and it cycles twice.

Japan has been particularly hard hit by deflation as the velocity of money slowed way down when their bubble burst. They have been printing for decades. The problem is that when the velocity goes down and the money supply contracts, it costs more to repay debt. The Fed has to try to maintain a steady state or slight inflation or else they will bust every model of people trying to repay debt.

Nicely put. So, how do you see this playing out? Also a lot of rich guys made a lot of money in the last crisis with puts.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

The adoption was a very tough go. I met one of my daughters quite by what some would same random chance. Found out she needed medical help and tried to do that, but due to corruption in Ukraine couldn't get it done. We ran into both civil unrest and big time corruption in the process. If I hadn't been very acquainted with Ukraine, I would have given up. We already had bio kids so it wasn't like we needed to adopt. I gave up on the medical care and turned to adopting (honestly we were told she wouldn't live long) and not to bother. Found she had a sister so we had a package deal.

Due to the civil strife, adoptions were closed and when it opened again had to do a mountain of paperwork 2x. The corruption in the legal system was huge, but we fought our way through it. At one point we left empty handed and told it wouldn't happen and then it did. It's a much longer story than that, but we are blessed. They are the 2 kindest human beings I have ever met in spite of horrible abuse and neglect.

Back to the war and Ukraine and politicians, The govt of Ukraine whether pro west or pro Russia has been horrible in treating common people. Their 1 percent controls everything. It's an oligarch war in reality with common people paying the price and likely both sides will fight to the last surviving Ukrainian. Most of my friends are Russian native speakers and only want to live in peace. I loved working there in some ways as it was such a challenge and if you can make friends, they are friends for life and would do literally anything to help.

The leader of the Russian Orthodox Church which is huge in both nations is using the same rhetoric that US right wing clergy used in the US. He talks of family values, a just war and so on which he and Putin have in common with the Right in the US. The situation is incredibly sad. My 2 best friends are stuck as one has to stay as his college student son can't leave his area due to maybe being called up and another has a 90 yo mother that will die on the trip west as she is so frail. They are getting more and more nervous about communicating as what has happened with atrocities. Much of the Russian army committed murders are Chechans and Georgians (but obviously not all. On the Ukraine side, AZOV Battalion uses civilians as shields and fires on civilians trying to escape Mariupol When Mariupol falls, the Ukrainian Army in Donbas is ag huge risk of catastrophy. The population is preparing for nuclear war btw.

What a mess. Sad.

So, you are not Ukrainian or of Russian descent? You worked over there is how you have the knowledge and know all the people. You prob stated above, but how many years?

I didn't realize that right wing clergy over here was promoting the war. I haven't heard anybody supporting it or being fine with it. I vote right on a pure economic theory basis. I'm a Libertarian I guess at heart as far as civil rights and allowing people to live freely as they wish. It's not for me to judge and I don't think it has to be a political lever or topic.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

Nicely put. So, how do you see this playing out? Also a lot of rich guys made a lot of money in the last crisis with puts.

Don't make me Google "puts". As you can see, I'm not an economist.

 

[okeefe4prez]

Their 1 percent controls everything. It's an oligarch war in reality with common people paying the price and likely both sides will fight to the last surviving Ukrainian.

It ain't even 1%. I think in a lot of that region the people who took over the governments from the old politburos were corrupt as F and they sold off all of the formerly nationalized assets for fucking nothing. You can hate the rich in the US all you want, and while there are generational douchefucks like Paris Hilton, there are plenty of guys like Sam Walton or Bill Gates who actually made something or revolutionized a market. The bros who got rich in Eastern Europe/Russia were pretty much just those with proximity to the guys who "sold" off the national assets. There are squabbles all over the region that are pissing matches over those deals. The modern definition of corruption there has no objectivity whatsoever, it is strictly based on what faction of oligarchs you belong to. It's fucking disgusting.

 

[HawkGold]

Don't make me Google "puts". As you can see, I'm not an economist.

It's what is referred to as derivatives. Sort of like insurance against the market moving down. Calls are insurance for the market moving up if you sell your stock. Farmers use them (some do). Example. You sell your corn right now for $8.00 per bushel. You buy a call that will increase in value if it moves to say $12.00. Say you don't want to sell, but keep it in the bin. If prices move lower than $8.00 your put gains in value.

So, if you had insider info in 2008 you could make a killing knowing the market was going down (not corn) on your stock holdings.

If you have time, the documentary The China Hustle shows how a small town Iowa boy and his family made a killing by having insider info on shadow Chinese companies merged with US companies. Entirely legal and entirely unethical. I know the main target of the documentary.

It is also on Netflix I believe. Maybe I'm more interested because I know the family.

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

www.youtube.com

It's why you can't really "win" the game. You also can't afford not to play in some ways.

 

[HawkGold]

What a mess. Sad.

So, you are not Ukrainian or of Russian descent? You worked over there is how you have the knowledge and know all the people. You prob stated above, but how many years?

I didn't realize that right wing clergy over here was promoting the war. I haven't heard anybody supporting it or being fine with it. I vote right on a pure economic theory basis. I'm a Libertarian I guess at heart as far as civil rights and allowing people to live freely as they wish. It's not for me to judge and I don't think it has to be a political lever or topic.

No I'm German/English. I started about 19 years ago and quit before things got hot prior to Crimea. I was right there during some of the protests. I think I posted some pics of the unrest but will try and find. I worked with farmers and taught Business and Ag Marketing at a couple of Universities. It was not easy to get students to think outside of their Ukrainian box. I hosted farmer groups here, but gave that up due to drunk driving, prostitute and other sexual behaviors as well as them trying to source NO title expensive cars to put on ship containers. Not all were like that. It was the adult kids of Oligarchs who were former communist leaders.

Media paints it as a wonderful democracy and it isn't. The reason they aren't in EU is due to corruption. What is interesting is the US helped overthrow a democratically elected somewhat pro Russian President.

Was pointing out how the US farrrrrr right and Putin can sort of see eye to eye. Putin is actually a wonderful communicator and quite believable and sincere. And can look friendly into your eyes just prior to slitting your throat. He brought up in his big rally a quote from the Bible about dying for a brother.

some of my fav pics showing the real Ukraine. People especially men don't make it into their 60s. The family walking were heading west. Dropped off at bus station. Good 15 miles to the next town and there are very few homes in the country.

 

[HawkGold]

Ukraine unrest. Downtown Kyiv. Blue flags, normal Ukraine. Orange were from more nationalism. Red is pro Russian. It was fascinating to be there. Once in a lifetime opportunity. Embassy urged Americans to stay away, but my apartment was right there. The red flags were marching toward the orange flags and was stuck in traffic in the intersection. That time they just passed each other on each side of the van. I had 12 Americans with me I was chaperoning. They didn't go out to the night demonstrations though. Most were everyday people being paid 60 USD per day to carry flags and march against each other by the US and Russia. I am not sure where the far right got its funding though I know the US 101st Airborne trained AZOV.

 

[HawkGold]

What concerns me right now is the Russian Foreign Minister came out and said Russia in no way would be using nukes. Russians don't tend to make promises. Zelensky is asking people to prepare for nuclear war. I don't think it's propaganda.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

What concerns me right now is the Russian Foreign Minister came out and said Russia in no way would be using nukes. Russians don't tend to make promises. Zelensky is asking people to prepare for nuclear war. I don't think it's propaganda.

All I know is Putin is not going to back down until his goal is achieved. Once he started, it was and is going to be seen thru the end, as ugly as it is and can be. God speed!

 

[HawkGold]

All I know is Putin is not going to back down until his goal is achieved. Once he started, it was and is going to be seen thru the end, as ugly as it is and can be. God speed!

Have you seen the steel plant in Mariupol where AZOV is holed up? https://twitter.com/i/status/1516335338351841282