ecugringo

Isnt Russia one of the fastest dying populations in the world? I remember reading something like the birth rate is extremely low and in something like 40 years their population will be less than 1/2 what it is today? I do think Putin wants to expand his sphere of influence into Europe and push the US out. If the EU gravitates towards Russia for resources in enhances Russia's survivability long term.

Very true. I work in Oil and Gas. Been to Bakersfield more times than I would like.

Yup. I work remote or travel to see customers. Never really used our small office there. Cashed out and moved to the south. The way people handled covid was pretty amazing. Blindly follow whatever Polis said. If you questioned anything people would think you were pretty stupid. Had someone at Costco yell at me for not having my 2 yr old masked up.

Good Video! I lived close to Boulder, CO. Beautiful city hyper liberal. They built a green belt around it to stop housing development. No new homes can be build only tear downs. They wanted all utilities from green sources as well. WHat this did was make utilities the highest in the state and housing one of the highest in the country. Unless you want to be really house poor or are really rich you cant afford to work there. So the working bees must commute in or live in a small overprices apt. Its actually pretty insane. You get people like Gov Polis the Billionaire GOv of CO and people of that wealth acting as champions of hte working class but enabling policies to make them live elsewhere just to preserve your own neighborhood.

My neighbors when I lived in CO moved from the Bay area. They all said they were tired of the homeless issues and how $$$ CA was. But their Facebook page was full of AOC, Sanders etc.....CO is basically CA at this point.

Been an interesting read here. Russia is pulling troops back. My guess is that Putin doesnt invade, Biden claims a diplomatic victory. Putin gets a guarantee Ukraine never joins NATO. NordSea Pipeline approval. Meanwhile the media was distracted from inflation/economy the last few weeks.

Was unaware of Powell's health issues. The media conveniently left out those details. We just had covid go through our home. I'm 40, 160lbs, better health than when I was in the AF from 25-29. I've been sicker, I know for some it's pretty shitty. My company wants everyone to get the shot. I work remote and visit clients across the US so it's had to really justify. Not against the shot, I just dont think its the silver bullet some think it is. Also, I dont think business travel or office environments will ever be the same again.

Just read Colin Powel passed from Covid and was fully vaxed. I read last week some guy who won an emmy who was like 53 passed as well from COVID and vaxed. Then I also saw a college kid at UGA died as well and was vaxed. I live in CO, 24% of all 900 hospitilizations are fully vaxed. If the other 76% were, would they be in the hospital or is it just bad luck? CO is one of the most vaxed states yet we are in our 2nd biggest wave. We also have a city cop suing the city over forced to be vaxed who is not paralyzed. I know there is a 33 yr old woman in Pittsburgh who also was paralyzed from the vaccine. I personally know a college girl who was on scholarship and now has the heart inflamation from the vax. At this point with all the breakthrough/need for boosters cases you can legitimately question the effectivness of shot. The shot also doesnt end this. It might help the burden on hospitals but thats really it.

Thats shitty. I know there is a NHL Assnt Coach well now former that medically could not get the vax. He was forced to quit. Which is crazy, if everyone else has the shot, then he should be ok. At least you think. I work in Oil and Gas and Im being backed into a corner to take it. Our company isn't forcing ppl to take it but you can't go to the office, and our customers (Chevron, Exxon etc...) are all requiring you to be vaxed to visit. Its an honor system at this point but if you get caught lying then you're done. Being in sales my job was to be in front of customers and travel when necessary......Also being in O&G there aren't a lot of younger healthy spring chickens so I can see why companies are doing this.

If they didn't know the vaccine would wane after 6 months, what else do they not know about it?

I'm not pro or anti VAX but I have questions on the VAX. This vax was available for testing within like 4 months of the pandemic. After like 6 months it was the silver bullet vs Covid. But now there are ppl that have the vax and being hospitalized. Jesse Jackson and his wife, Oscar De la Hoya just to name a few celebs. There are many other break through cases. We really dont know what the make up of hospitalizations is because there is a good chance they will never admit how many breakthrough hospitalizations there are because then they lost all credibility. (not like we haven't been lied to before, Vietnam, Iraq, AFG, etc....)My 38 yr old healthy cousin is vaxed but still got pretty sick, not hospitalized. Most likely same symptoms vaxed or not. Now they are calling for boosters cuz the vax wears off. The US is in the 2nd highest case peak and climbing last i checked. Maybe, just maybe this vaccine sucks and they didn't have adequate time to really test it? Bring these questions up to a hard left pro vaxer and you basically get labeled as a racist deplorable trump supporter. There is literally no conversation. Just look at this thread. The position I am currently in is that my odds are low of dying of Covid. The VAX may or may not reduce my chance of hospitalization but even that my odds are still low of requiring a bed. I am not confident what the long term effects of hte vaccine are at this point. I am aware I will most likely need the vaccine to continue my job in hte civilian sector. Side note: We have an office in Calgary. Im pretty close with a guy there and I asked a while ago why Canada is so crazy over shut downs. Apparently they only have 250 ICU beds in Alberta which is like 4.5mm ppl. Compare that to my state of CO where we have like 2k....makes you glad you dont have govt run health care and makes sense if that is the case in Australia why they are freakign out over 5 cases. They simply pissed away tax payer money vs building the health care infrastructure.

Moving forward what will be interesting to watch. 1. NATO: Will the alliance hold strong or will there be more of a EU focus on cooperation? Difficult to predict with Brexit and other Euro nations only being half in. 2. Russia: Will Putin test NATO/EU on Ukraine, Baltics, Poland? Will Putin fill in a gap that the US leaves? The former Soviet block nations were Trump fans. Will they turn on Biden? 3. China: How hard do they push in the Pacific and Taiwan? I think they have a small window to seize as much power as possible given their population structure. 4. Islamic Fundamentalism: There is a very strong push to move away from Oil. Saudi Arabia is trying to diversify their economy but if Oil is no longer the global commodity it is today, what happens to the Gulf states? The younger generation will have a bleak future if they can't bet on oil. With the Taliban supported by China holding strong, will many youths look to AFG to be radicalized again? They can spin their misfortunes on the West for their lost desire for oil.

Any truth to the 100+ service dogs that were abandoned?

IDK....the Dems picked Harris solely because she was a woman and minority. She was a terrible candidate in the primaries but they wanted to push that agenda. Biden was picked because he was the only moderate they could pull votes away from Trump. I think Haley needs to be part of hte GOP future. They need to figure out how to appeal to younger voters. I honestly dont know much on Desantis but I can't think of many other figures at the moment that could win at the moment. Crenshaw eventually but I dont think he's there yet.

No the argument is mute. A dilemma for a MD to choose between a vaxed or un-vaxed patient? If that is a true scenario the vax has failed. We are being told that 99% of all patients are un-vaxed. Israel is hte most vaxed population on earth but pushing a booster now? The US is about 50-60% vaxed now not factoring in hte under age 12 group. So a huge chunk of hte population has the needle. Therefore the pool of ppl to be infected should be pretty small at this point. Considering 60% would show no symptoms, 28% would be mild and 12% would need hospitalization. This is why some ppl are questioning the shot in the first place.

If I had to guess it'll be Desantis/Haley. However, the Covid situation in FL may wreck Desantis at least the media is trying to paint that picture.

Getting my morning news feeds I came across this. Everyone probably knows a baby was born on one of the flights out of Kabul by now. The family has now named the baby after the callsign of the jet. Best wishes "Reach"! https://www.yahoo.com/news/afghan-family-names-baby-girl-112933925.html

https://www.wsj.com/articles/afghanistan-kabul-airport-explosion-11629976397 4 Marines Killed in the explosion.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/one-third-americans-were-infected-150000744.html 30% of US had covid by Dec 2020?

Has anyone even asked how long the booster lasts?

From what I recall the volume of cases was always to be the same, just hte timing spread out over time. Either way, most sold the notion that 2 weeks to flatten the curve and Covid will start to wane. Here we are 18 months later and we are in the 3rd wave. The last 2 were higher than the 1st. Unfortunately what nobody will really admit is that Covid is not going away and we are to deal with it. It would be good to also broadcast that personnel health is your own responsibility and instead of hiding out eating cheetos, the US should focus on losing weight and being a healthier society. My 4 yr old loves Wall-E, its on every other day. Its sad that it is becoming our reality.

Looking closely....looks photoshopped.

Of all these videos of the chaos at the airport, I dont blame them for desperately trying to flee for their lives. However, I dont think I see any women or kids in these images. I hope I am wrong and they made it out but the pure optics are they were left behind for the Taliban which is terrible. For those that are in their late 30's-mid 40's many of us joined to fight after 9/11. Early on we all knew it was a shit show with no real plan but we all wanted to take the fight to them. Now 20 years later, the Taliban is back, possibly stronger with Chinese support. Looking back I think many would have made different life decisions.

Thats not true. The vast majority of people with covid either dont know they ever had it or have mild symptoms. Some people get flu like symptoms that kick their ass for a few days, but the # of people hospitalized vs + cases does not support your statement.

Oh and I dont think we can just stamp this out. Look at Australia, Israel and China. Israel is having breakthrough cases, still not clear as to what that means but they are looking for a booster. Australia is about as locked down as you can get but still cases pop up. Read China is testing all 11mm ppl in Wuhan again after its found again?