filthy_liar

Exactly.

Huh? Sorry, dumb that down for me. I have no idea what your point was there. You did read my original point, yes?

He is, but not for now. I think he will be eventually, the DNC has to get rid of him and they seem to have their shit together much better than the RNC at current. The classified files shit is the beginning of putting Biden out to pasture. ABC attacked the whitehouse spokesperson today. That is new. They are putting him down gently. And here's what's not new: the RNC continues to let Trump storm all over the Republican party. If the RNC can't put that asswipe away, we're going to be in for yet another 4 years of not Biden, but a democrat president.

You are a weird dude. Don't take that the wrong way. You are a flaming liberal ok take the flaming off but you are definitely a liberal, and yet you are more self sufficient and have more know how and are actually doing self sufficient things than anyone on here. A lot of people could learn from you. your political leanings, those are right out, but you have a hell of a lot to offer in terms of self sufficiency. I'm sure you have a load to offer in other things but this one thing I picked up on.

Well, maybe. I dunno. Neither do you. Or maybe you have a lot more faith in reported numbers/statistics than I do. Back to my original statement. Has your life changed one ounce based on your statement above? No. It hasn't. Before Russia invaded Ukraine, did you feel that your daily life was in any kind of grave danger from Russia? No, you didn't. Raytheon, NG, LM, and a shitload of other defense contractors that have huge lobbyist influence in DC have a vested interest in making sure that no matter which way the political winds blow in the US, we always must have a boogeyman.

I didn't know any of that, thank you for the update.

I understand your point. But that has been a fact of life for my entire lifetime. I remember being in class in gradeschool where they marched us into the auditorium and we watched the wall come down in 89. After all of the duck and cover drills. Its like a lot of other things, eventually I started scratching my head and asking why were we doing this? So again, are you living in mortal fear day in and day out of Russia? No. No you are not. This flare up is not going to result in nuclear annihilation. So back to my point...is your life going to change if we don't give a nickel to the corrupt s in Ukraine? No. No it isn't. And I'm not picking on Ukraine. Is your life going to change if you don't give a nickel to the corrupt s in Washington? No.

You sure are being optimistic about us kneecapping Russia.

DSG gets it. Hopefully you are investing in the myriad of defense contractor options. Wouldn't want the contractor companies to get all of the pie.

Apologies CH, I'm further derailing the thread - we need another one on self sufficiency. This ban the gas stoves nonsense, even though we all know it isn't going to pass this round...should be concerning. I mean they could at any moment cut the natural gas. Everyone with electric stoves is good...until the electric grid fails or is shut off. Now nsplayer can't get around. It seems ridiculous as hell but think about when you were in Iraq, Afghanistan and the HOA. They didn't turn into shitholes without any means to sustain themselves overnight. A better example is Argentina and Venezuela. No gas for you. No electricity for you. No Krogers for you. No city water for you. I tell people to think about that. And of course it falls mostly on deaf ears because that could never happen to us in America. Well, I hope they don't turn off the natural gas stoves and then...wait for it...heat.

While all of the talk about bleeding our enemy without us spending any blood is going on...is Russia a threat to us? If we didn't send a nickel to Ukraine - would our lives be any different here at home? I'm not convinced. What I am convinced of is that a lot of Americans have yet again been duped - there is a boogeyman (he doesn't affect your day to day in the slightest), but we need to send a shitload of $$$ to customer ### to defend against the boogeyman. Its kinda like cyber. "Dude, if you don't know that the cyber threat can shut down the ATMs at any moment, then I don't know what to tell you." Well, every ATM I go to works just fine. You can only use the "it's all on JWICS" argument on me so much before I start to have doubts. And yes, I'm on JWICS every day. I think people just get so caught up in the hype, just like the covid threat, that they forget to think. The narrative starts and then it starts spiraling into a frenzy because people want to believe that their leaders aren't selfish pricks who will do anything to obtain and keep power and wealth. If Europe doesn't care enough to take care of Ukraine, then I guess I'll still go ahead and keep living exactly how I was before Russia invaded. And Ukraine's shitty extremely corrupt construct of a government. I think people need to pay attention to what is actually happening around them. Put on earphones, turn off the tv and radio, and observe what is actually happening.

What's happening in Oregon and Illinois is concerning. To HD's point, even if it is gimmick that they know will get struck down for now, it is still conditioning people. Just like the Green New Deal, just like the ban the gas stoves/ovens nonsense. That stuff gets in people's heads and starts to normalize politicians know that. The republicans do it also of course - the consumption tax gimmick that they are taking for a test drive is not going to pass right now. But it gets people thinking and eventually someone will campaign on it and then all of a sudden America wakes up one morning and the banning of "assault" rifles and high capacity magazines doesn't seem so shocking. To go the other way, we wake up and all of a sudden killing the income tax and to a large extent the IRS doesn't seem so shocking. To me the difference is, one is taking away liberty from me and the other is (for me personally) giving me more control over how much money I hand over to the govt.

That's awesome, more folks should do that. I'm under a coop in the TVA also. They decided to inflict a blackout when it was 3 degrees outside. Luckily I have a wood fireplace and a pretty aggressive emergency propane heater. I woke up the morning of the blackout - my house hadn't started to get cold, but that was an eye opener. I repositioned the propane heater so I could get to it faster next time because going out onto the deck to get firewood when you first wake up and its 3 degrees...sucks.

I might've missed something at the beginning of the solar power conversation. I'm not in CA, don't know anything about their regulations. Solar power here is a thing. I don't know of anyone who sells it back - they are configured to be completely off grid. Most people I know that have installed solar are still plugged into the electrical coop, but they don't use it. And its not required. Same with wells. I pay my monthly $20 minimum payment to retain access to city water, but my well provides 100% of my water. And I'm not required to retain access to city water.

For some reason I can't edit. "close the door to the chicken coop" reads less retardedly.

I agree. Americans are bored. If you put down the chainsaw, gardening tools, close the door to the chicken door and sit down and think about how absurd the shit that woke people are concerned with is, it makes sense. They are extremely comfortable, safe, and therefore bored. Again, I don't think ill of urbanites. But I can see the boredom. Unfortunately I can also see the fragility of the safety net.

This is the problem in our society, and its really depressing to think about. Parents have checked out and just run around with a wheel barrow of excuses on why they cannot properly guide and discipline their kids. And unfortunately their misbehaved kids who lack self discipline and control are on a path leading straight to a Ritalin/Adderall prescription. I could write ten pages on how parenting has declined but I shan't. I'll leave it with I agree with FF.

I wished I agreed with you, but I don't believe I do. Maybe in day to day nuanced situations. But most Americans are urban/suburban dwellers, living by HOA covenants and all kinds of rules. Doesn't make them evil by any stretch, but it certainly makes them dependent on a gov't mechanism that ensures they are fed if Kroger gets shut down for whatever reason. Same for fuel, water, electricity, security, etc. I work in the city and live in a rural area. They are basically two different countries. Where I live nobody sweated it when the shelves were empty and the gas pumps were turned off due to some kind of hacking incident (IIRC). Again, doesn't make the other 80% bad or wrong (people get amazingly defensive when I talk about urban/suburban vs rural living), but it makes them very much more dependent on the gov't ensuring that essential needs are met when things go bad for whatever reason.

That is very cool, thanks for sharing.

Valid. Not sure how tasty endangered sea turtle eggs are, not sure we should fry them up. But the analogy stands.

Ran out of arguments = valid. Have you seen these arguments? Pedantic...there you go again. Just call it a drawn out argument. I think you lost sight that I was no longer interested in making an argument, but rather flaming a caustic shit head, because its the internet. Don't say "you do you, boo" to a dude. I'm not woke, and its not ok to say that to another dude. You are ing weird.

Can we stand back and look at this. I'm not sitting here happy that Biden is president. I'm also not sitting here happy that Trump was the president before Biden. WTF is going on? The best the conservatives could do the last election before Biden was to put the most ridiculous clown into office. Drain the swamp. Liked his policies that actually made it through, hated everything else about Trump. Did he drain the swamp? No he did not. Put a bunch of his relatives into office - yes. Did he fix healthcare? No. Immigration? No. Lowered my taxes - yes. So there's that. And didn't get us into anymore "wars." But he is a toxic unpredictable mess that is only interested in cajoling other humans to make money. Really RNC? That's what you had to offer? You gave us someone who was predictably a one term president. Thanks. Then to react to that atrocity that was Trump we put someone up there that is a grandpa that you need to be several dates in before you intro him to your girlfriend, because....he has tendencies. And he's very likely senile. I don't agree with his policies, but I'm not going to knock the party for that. He's a ed up mess who can't articulate effectively. Not a personal attack, but he's ed up. As was Trump. WTF is going on here? We have had on display for at least the last 2 election cycles some of the worst Americans that I could nominate to run the country. There is something going on. Why can we not get a sane, stable, predictable human being through the primaries on both sides anymore? I think most people on this forum could. But as a nation we don't. Everyone I talk to that is non military thinks about the same. They might be a democrat, they might be a conservative. But to a man and woman they all agree that Trump and Biden were not good choices. So why are they ending up on the general election ticket? This is why election fraud is getting the attraction that it is enjoying. I don't believe there is fraud enough to overturn an election. I could be dead wrong, but I haven't seen the evidence. So if its not election fraud, what is it? Who is being represented in the elections? Its not me. At the local level, the person that is sitting in the seat makes sense to me. Here are their credentials, here is their background, here is why they are sitting there. Even if its a democrat, I can explain to anyone that asks how they got there. I can't explain this at the national level. I hang out with a truckload of conservatives. Every one of us says Trump should never made it into office. Always did. How did he take our party? And why is the RNC allowing it to continue? There is a huge WTF going on.

I don't understand the RNC. I'm trying really hard to not go down the deep state hole because there are a shitload of crazies in that space. But a small child could figure out that Trump is not good for the Republican party. Something is wrong. We have the guy - DeSantis. It couldn't be more obvious. But now we're going to have to wring our hands until the primaries to see what Trump is going to do. The RNC is currently a bunch of incompetent idiots, or the whole construct has been rigged. Something is wrong.

Good point. I'll look for the M9.

It's the internet. ad hominem attacks are authorized. And using the phrase ad hominem makes it look like you don't know the definition of a new latin word. Just say "personal attacks." Have you seen what that cat has posted? I'm definitely sad that he flew B-1s. We have some great people in that community. Hopefully he hasn't been running around the community poisoning the Lts with his takes on the merits of mandates, article 15s and such.