blungld said:

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movielover said:

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BearHunter said:

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blungld said:

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BearHunter said:

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Spending other people's money and then borrowing the rest with no intention of paying it back is called altruism.

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You state this while ignoring reduction of national debt under Democrats and increase under Republicans. Why is that? It looks like willful ignorance.

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You don't know the answer because your premise is wrong.

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They want to add $2.2 Trillion in debt - or more - as far as the eye can see, and much is failing!

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How much did Trump & Bush add, and how much did Clinton and Obama reduce?

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You won't catch me defending the Republican party on the debt issue, but Clinton's policies would be considered Republican by today's standards. And Obama oversaw a massive increase in the debt on his watch and added new entitlements that saddle the government with much larger deficits in the future.

Zippergate said:

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I love it when democrats, who lack the drive, ambition, and risk tolerance to run businesses...

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I love it when political bozos assume that Democrats don't run businesses.

What percentage of the Republicans or Democrats posting here on BI do you think run businesses? I am willing to bet that there are more Democrats who ran businesses on these boards than Republicans. I am also willing to bet that the percentage of MAGA voters are a much lower percentage of business owners than the general population or democrats. It might be of interest to you to learn that thought leadership and higher education tends to track with Liberals. You see, creativity and curiosity are highly correlated to intelligence which in turn drives innovation and financial/business success.

But you go on thinking that regressive people that lean towards 1950s America are the ones on the cutting edge, that they are taking all that ambitious risk even though most of their beliefs and policy is status quo, and that they are the ones with drive despite a high percentage of nepotism in wealthy white Christian conservative America.

It's always been clear that you just pull shlt out of your arse, but this is one of your more funky craptatstic takes. Your motto: if it feels right to me and mocks people different than me, then I get to believe it's true.

dimitrig said:

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oski003 said:

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dimitrig said:

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Zippergate said:

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sycasey said:

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movielover said:

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BearHunter said:

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I’m a pro choice and anti-war 90s Democrat Jew from LA.

Suddenly I’m alt-right.

I’m so confused.

— Marc Lobliner - IFBB Pro (@MarcLobliner) October 2, 2023

The Democratic Party is a cult and center left liberals will vote against their self-interests in order to keep their cult membership.

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I believe it was Dr. Norman Matloff who analyzed the working conditions of hotel maids in southern California decades ago. It used to be a majority of African American women with a fair wage, and benefits. When Millions of illegal immigrants poured in, they were replaced by these Latinos at a much lower wage, and little or no benefits.

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I think I would blame the hotel owners and not the immigrants for that.

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The Democratic party, summed up right there.

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Yes, the poor helpless hotel owners had no choice but to hire illegal immigrants.

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Do the street vendors popping up all over need to pay their illegal immigrants minimum wage? Whose fault is it that they don't?

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You might as well ask if pimps needs to pay their prostitutes minimum wage. What does an illegal business have to do with Republicans' love for hiring illegal immigrants?

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Is that business really illegal if everybody allows it? There are street vendors almost everywhere. There is a fresh sliced fruit vendor and a Mexican vendor right outside the parking lot of my work. They have been there for years. Again, who does and who doesn't have to pay fair wages? If nobody is enforcing wage laws for illegal immigrants, is the problem really an individual hotel or motel owner?

Ten Million illegal immigrants.

I asked a friend who works at Head Start eight years ago what percentage of her clients were Latino. She asked what I meant. I repeated the question. "100%."

A friend was part of a business charity which gathered coats for the poor. Same answer, most illegal.

Barack Obama years ago, before Democrats changed their positions, said America couldn't provide welfare services for Central and South America. Now we are.

The statistics say otherwise, but it doesn't matter. So typical of you to hyperventilate on a tiny part of a post so that you can pretend the rest of it is not there.

Business owners who hire illegal immigrants should be prosecuted.

By the government that won't deport them, gives them drivers licenses, food, health care, education, unemployment, etc? I'm in hearty agreement with you, but as I said, the businesses and the immigrants are not to blame.

Zippergate said:

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Business owners who hire illegal immigrants should be prosecuted.

By the government that won't deport them, gives them drivers licenses, food, health care, education, unemployment, etc? I'm in hearty agreement with you, but as I said, the businesses and the immigrants are not to blame.

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Business owners should be prosecuted for that, so that conservatives might finally start to support something reasonable like legal work permits and an expedited citizenship process. Right now it's to their advantage to maintain a quasi-legal underclass.

Is this still the Ukraine thread?

Zippergate said:

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blungld said:

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movielover said:

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BearHunter said:

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blungld said:

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BearHunter said:

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Spending other people's money and then borrowing the rest with no intention of paying it back is called altruism.

---

You state this while ignoring reduction of national debt under Democrats and increase under Republicans. Why is that? It looks like willful ignorance.

---

You don't know the answer because your premise is wrong.

---

They want to add $2.2 Trillion in debt - or more - as far as the eye can see, and much is failing!

---

How much did Trump & Bush add, and how much did Clinton and Obama reduce?

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You won't catch me defending the Republican party on the debt issue, but Clinton's policies would be considered Republican by today's standards. And Obama oversaw a massive increase in the debt on his watch and added new entitlements that saddle the government with much larger deficits in the future.

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Clinton tried to pass national healthcare and raised taxes on the rich. Obama inherited massive deficits and two wars and cut the deficit in half. Obama also passed Obamacare which is the single largest deficit reduction bill ever passed. It's stated goal was to lower the health care cost curve. Check the data.
https://www.statnews.com/2019/03/22/affordable-care-act-controls-costs/

oski003 said:

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sycasey said:

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Zippergate said:

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Business owners who hire illegal immigrants should be prosecuted.

By the government that won't deport them, gives them drivers licenses, food, health care, education, unemployment, etc? I'm in hearty agreement with you, but as I said, the businesses and the immigrants are not to blame.

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Business owners should be prosecuted for that, so that conservatives might finally start to support something reasonable like legal work permits and an expedited citizenship process. Right now it's to their advantage to maintain a quasi-legal underclass.

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Are you going to prosecute all the food vendors outside of sporting events and the two I mentioned that are outside my work everyday? Where do you draw the line?

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Which business owners are employing them?

Zippergate said:

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The statistics say otherwise, but it doesn't matter. So typical of you to hyperventilate on a tiny part of a post so that you can pretend the rest of it is not there.

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Okay, well then it should be really simple for you to post those statistics. Show me the study that contradicts the two opinions I stated: 1) That there are more Democrats who ran/businesses on BI than Republicans. 2) That the percentage of business owners who are MAGA is higher than the general population.

I know you can't. And won't.

blungld said:

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Zippergate said:

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The statistics say otherwise, but it doesn't matter. So typical of you to hyperventilate on a tiny part of a post so that you can pretend the rest of it is not there.

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Okay, well then it should be really simple for you to post those statistics. Show me the study that contradicts the two opinions I stated: 1) That there are more Democrats who ran/businesses on BI than Republicans. 2) That the percentage of business owners who are MAGA is higher than the general population.

I know you can't. And won't.

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Are you or someone else paying someone to run a study? For the record, I am a Republican on BI who ran a business. The hostile business/employer environment in California is part of the reason I have voted Republican in the past.

oski003 said:

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sycasey said:

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oski003 said:

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sycasey said:

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Zippergate said:

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Business owners who hire illegal immigrants should be prosecuted.

By the government that won't deport them, gives them drivers licenses, food, health care, education, unemployment, etc? I'm in hearty agreement with you, but as I said, the businesses and the immigrants are not to blame.

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Business owners should be prosecuted for that, so that conservatives might finally start to support something reasonable like legal work permits and an expedited citizenship process. Right now it's to their advantage to maintain a quasi-legal underclass.

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Are you going to prosecute all the food vendors outside of sporting events and the two I mentioned that are outside my work everyday? Where do you draw the line?

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Which business owners are employing them?

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The owner is often on-site or around. I don't think there is a list of names somewhere. Have you never seen them?

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Look, if people are just setting up food stands in random locations around town then theoretically you could prosecute them, but it doesn't seem like the best allocation of resources. Hotels or farms or other larger, stationary businesses would seem to be more useful targets.

sycasey said:

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Zippergate said:

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Business owners who hire illegal immigrants should be prosecuted.

By the government that won't deport them, gives them drivers licenses, food, health care, education, unemployment, etc? I'm in hearty agreement with you, but as I said, the businesses and the immigrants are not to blame.

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Business owners should be prosecuted for that, so that conservatives might finally start to support something reasonable like legal work permits and an expedited citizenship process. Right now it's to their advantage to maintain a quasi-legal underclass.

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We allow over a Million legal immigrants a year, plus Millions of H1B visas, tourist visas (often abused), and many other kinds of visas and work permits.

I believe we have the most generous immigration system. Wall Street Globalists want Millions more to suppress wages, and Democrats want new government dependents to manipulate.

Err, Sanctuary Cities?

Fast food.
Construction.
Meat processing.
Landscaping.
Warehouses (see Central Valley).
Restaurants.

Illegal Immigration thread:

https://bearinsider.com/forums/6/topics/108235

blungld said:

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Zippergate said:

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The statistics say otherwise, but it doesn't matter. So typical of you to hyperventilate on a tiny part of a post so that you can pretend the rest of it is not there.

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Okay, well then it should be really simple for you to post those statistics. Show me the study that contradicts the two opinions I stated: 1) That there are more Democrats who ran/businesses on BI than Republicans. 2) That the percentage of business owners who are MAGA is higher than the general population.

I know you can't. And won't.

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I've seen statistics. I don't have them handy and neither do you, I suspect, but happy be to proven wrong. If you would like to take a win on this point, go ahead, I really don't care. Call88 is right, there is an illegal immigration thread so I will direct any further comments on this issue there. Btw, you should join us on the vaxxine thread. Please visit so we can hear how many boosters you've received.

Zippergate said:

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dimitrig said:

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Zippergate said:

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sycasey said:

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movielover said:

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BearHunter said:

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I’m a pro choice and anti-war 90s Democrat Jew from LA.

Suddenly I’m alt-right.

I’m so confused.

— Marc Lobliner - IFBB Pro (@MarcLobliner) October 2, 2023

The Democratic Party is a cult and center left liberals will vote against their self-interests in order to keep their cult membership.

---

I believe it was Dr. Norman Matloff who analyzed the working conditions of hotel maids in southern California decades ago. It used to be a majority of African American women with a fair wage, and benefits. When Millions of illegal immigrants poured in, they were replaced by these Latinos at a much lower wage, and little or no benefits.

---

I think I would blame the hotel owners and not the immigrants for that.

---

The Democratic party, summed up right there.

---

Yes, the poor helpless hotel owners had no choice but to hire illegal immigrants.

---

I love it when democrats, who lack the drive, ambition, and risk tolerance to run businesses, lecture everyone on how to run a business. Sure, hotel owners could pay above market rates for labor, but this would hurt their competitive position relative to other hotels. If you are so concerned about the working poor, perhaps you should open a hotel and conduct a lottery to see who will have the great fortune of receiving the above market wages you're so eager to pay. People play the game within the rules they are given; it's called human nature. When it comes to employment for illegals, the State has looked the other way and made a mockery of the immigration and employment laws on the books. It's silly to blame employers or the illegals themselves for entering into work arrangements which benefit both sides when the State is responsible for setting and enforcing the rules.

People on the other side of this issue also care about illegal immigrants, it's just that they care about American poor more. You scoff, I'm sure, but the facts are undeniable. Limitless illegal immigration suppresses wages, places enormous strain on the education system, social services and housing, and increases crime, drug smuggling, and human trafficking. California has been blessed with the tech industry, biotech, agriculture, entertainment, defense, tourism, oil and gas, and the best weather in the country which attracts the best and the brightest. So why is it that the state is a fiscal basket case even with the highest tax burden in the country? Why has the quality of life dropped so dramatically? Yeah, I'm sure it's those evil hotel owners hiring illegals. Nothing at all to do with the policies of Team Blue which has a supermajority in the state legislature and has controlled both houses almost continuously since the early 70s.

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If there weren't any jobs here the illegals wouldn't come. In fact, we saw that during the COVID shutdown. The business owners are definitely part of the problem and they aren't pressuring the state to do anything because they benefit. Start penalizing employers and I think you would see immigration rates drop.

Cal88 said:

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Illegal Immigration thread:

https://bearinsider.com/forums/6/topics/108235

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^^^^

I wonder if Russia ever gets tired of winning.

They recently got stronger by the defeat of their navy in the black sea, forcing a withdrawal there.

Heappey said that the Russian Navy has now "been forced to disperse to ports from which it cannot have an effect on Ukraine," the Guardian's Diplomatic Editor Patrick Wintour wrote on X.https://t.co/u3Lk9h3piH

— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) October 3, 2023

A Russian aircraft tech carried out an attack on their airbase near Moscow in protest of this dumb war.

2/ The attack on the night of 18/19 September is reported to have destroyed several military aircraft (see below). While commentators have suggested it was carried out using UAVs, the VChK-OGPU Telegram channel reports a different scenario.https://t.co/36zjZq8BwG

— ChrisO_wiki (@ChrisO_wiki) October 3, 2023

The Ruble is falling again.

Again, we have passed the Rublecon.

Billions from the Russian budget going into defending the 100 level on the Ruble, interest rates tripled from a year ago, all to no avail. pic.twitter.com/4EVA2WJ3fg

— Jay in Kyiv (@JayinKyiv) October 3, 2023

And Putin's best hope is to increase his propaganda in hopes that will erode support for Ukraine.

Putin is looking for ways to end U.S. and European support for Ukraine

American officials are convinced that Putin will try to cut off U.S. and European support for Ukraine by using his intelligence services to spread propaganda for pro-Russian political parties and fuel… pic.twitter.com/T0MibCjRxE

— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) October 3, 2023

Turns out the cluster munition ATACMS are serviceable and can be quickly deployed to Ukraine once Biden formally approves. They are older munitions and technically expired but still have meaningful capabilities.

🚨 Significant development on ATACMS. US Army Assistant Secretary for Acquisition Doug Bush is on the record saying they are ready to transfer M39A1 ATACMS to Ukraine. This means the missiles, which are officially expired, are serviceable as is. https://t.co/TbM4PD0uS0

— Colby Badhwar 🇨🇦🇬🇧 (@ColbyBadhwar) October 3, 2023

A Russian propagandist acknowledging a successful change in tactics a few miles from Bakhmut.

Hard to believe I’m reading this no other than from one of the fiercest propagandists Aleksandr Kots but he brings up “change of tactics by the enemy (Ukrainians)” in Klischiivka, where occupiers positions are first obliterated to the ground with artillery and then the infantry… pic.twitter.com/5aAUMq04al

— Dmitri (@wartranslated) October 3, 2023

And a Russian officer recently defected to Ukrainian captivity with a dozen of his soldiers.

Russian officer escaped to the Ukrainian side with 11 of his fellow servicemen, GUR reports.

Russian lieutenant Daniil Alfyorov "actively cooperated with the Ukrainian GUR and Defence forces since June 2023". He convinced 11 of his comrades to surrender into Ukrainian captivity… pic.twitter.com/lwssfODj6L

— Dmitri (@wartranslated) October 1, 2023

And remember, all of this only makes Russia stronger because apparently every day is opposites day with Russian propaganda.

movielover said:

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Err, Sanctuary Cities?

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Sanctuary cities leads to sanctuary states which leads to sanctuary country, which leads to collapse and chaos. We need to get off this train.........now.

tequila4kapp said:

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Unit2Sucks said:

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I wonder if Russia ever gets tired of winning.

They recently got stronger by the defeat of their navy in the black sea, forcing a withdrawal there.


A Russian aircraft tech carried out an attack on their airbase near Moscow in protest of this dumb war.


The Ruble is falling again.


And Putin's best hope is to increase his propaganda in hopes that will erode support for Ukraine.


Turns out the cluster munition ATACMS are serviceable and can be quickly deployed to Ukraine once Biden formally approves. They are older munitions and technically expired but still have meaningful capabilities.


A Russian propagandist acknowledging a successful change in tactics a few miles from Bakhmut.


And a Russian officer recently defected to Ukrainian captivity with a dozen of his soldiers.


And remember, all of this only makes Russia stronger because apparently every day is opposites day with Russian propaganda.

---

The Ukrainians are inventive and tough SOB's. I hope we never have to fight them.

---

Ukraine has lost over 70,000 KIA and taken huge equipment losses since their counteroffensive begun exactly 4 months ago. Their strategy was poorly conceived and outright suicidal, playing into Russian hands, they have nothing to show for for these massive losses.

They are getting slaughtered by the hundreds of thousands, thanks to their maniacal ideologically-driven civil and military leadership, who view Bandera as their founding father and his supremacist ideology as their brand of nationalism. I have already posted pictures of their commander in chief honoring Bandera with 2 bronze busts of his likeness in his office, and top Ukrainian officials casually calling not just Russians as racially inferior "asiatics", but also Chinese and Indians as intellectually inferior Asians. Ukraine is the only white supremacist regime in the world today.

These people are literally destroying their country, they could have chosen to live in harmony with their large Russian minority and their Russian neighbor, and have instead closed all doors for a negotiated settlement, a path which any leader that is truly concerned with his people would have taken.

Zelensky signed the peace deal, then Uncle Sam came with buckets of $$$ and offshore accounts, and proxy Boris Johnson said "Niet"!

bearister said:

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Several years ago I read a story about two Ukrainian mercenaries fighting somewhere in the Middle East. The author of the article said the fought for hours like demons and were greatly out numbered (similar to the SEALS in Lone Survivor).

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Eh, I don't put that much into it. Ukraine fights hard because they are facing a genocide of their people. Russia has stolen their children, bombed apartment buildings, hospitals and train stations. They are occupying ~20% of the country and tried to take the whole country before they failed miserably.

Putin and the Kremlin have repeatedly said that they don't believe Ukraine has a right to exist or that the Ukrainian people have any identity. We've seen that parroted in this thread by shills.

Ukrainians have real motivation to fight, which is why so many are resisting Russia's invasion so valiantly. By contrast, most Russians have no interest in engaging in this war. The propaganda tries non-stop to convince Russians that this matters, but no one wants to lay down their life for Putin's propaganda. The armed forces don't want to die for this cause or be thrown into the meat grinder and it's part of the reason why Russia has failed so utterly in their military efforts. Of course, we can't ignore the impact of decades of rot from their corrupt kleptocracy which impacts everything from the weapons they have available, the logistics of supporting this invasion, the way they equip and train their troops and their antiquated and ineffective command and control structure. Russia is underperforming despite devoting massive resources to subdue and destroy Ukraine.

It's also an important reminder that the war effort is not symmetrical. Ukraine didn't start this war and is not the cause of all of this bloodshed. They are just there to protect their homeland from a criminal invasion. Russia is the only one that can stop the war. When Putin decides he's had enough, he will end it. It took us 20 years (and courage from Joe Biden) to finally end our dumb occupation of Afghanistan. The hostilities in Ukraine could last just as long. The big difference is that while Afghanistan cost us a lot of national debt, it otherwise had almost no impact on the day to day lives of American civilians. Russians are very much being impacted by the war effort and that impact will only grow. The fact that they have no reason to support this war will eventually force Putin's hand.

Russia used to have a number of quite strong military units but they have been massively degraded by this dumb war. I don't know how long it will be before we are able to get an accurate picture of those losses, but there have been plenty of credible reports about the degradation of the VDV and other strong units which Russia will not be able to reconstitute on any sort of expedited timeline. It will be years if not decades before Russia could possibly generate the same type of skilled and experienced operators that they had when the war started. Ukraine and Russia have both suffered terrible losses of young men and women fighters, but the world is a much safer place because Russia's ability to launch new invasions has been severely degraded.

Probably OT, but then again, Iran is an ally of arch-enemy number one, Russia.
Simply shocking article.

https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/iran-spy-ring-robert-malley-lee-smith

"The Biden administration's now-suspended Iran envoy Robert Malley helped to fund, support, and direct an Iranian intelligence operation designed to influence the United States and allied governments, according to a trove of purloined Iranian government emails." ...

"The contents of the emails are damning, showing a group of Iranian American academics being recruited by the Iranian regime, meeting together in foreign countries to receive instructions from top regime officials, and pledging their personal loyalty to the regime. They also show how these operatives used their Iranian heritage and Western academic positions to influence U.S. policy toward Iran, first as outside "experts" and then from high-level U.S. government posts. Both inside and outside of government, the efforts of members of this circle were repeatedly supported and advanced by Malley, who served as the U.S. government's chief interlocutor with Iran under both the Obama and the Biden administrations. " ...

"Tabatabai's emails show her enthusiastically submitting to the control of top Iranian officials, who then guided her efforts to propagandize and collect intelligence on U.S. and allied officials in order to advance the interests of the Islamic Republic." ...

'Why an Iranian operative is still at the Pentagon, especially in a job which gives her [Tabatabai's] daily access to classified information that puts the country's most sensitive military operations at risk, is another matter entirely. "The optimistic reading," says Theroux, "is that they were watching her to see what she does and the FBI has her apartment all teched up. But to be an optimist you have to believe the FBI is clean, rather than see this as a huge counterintelligence failure. Though, of course, it's not a failure if they were complicit."'