American Politics 4.0 - Orangeyou Glad He’s Back?

[BigThief]

Originally Posted by peter12

Okay, come on there, detective.

lol still easily triggered by Fuzz.

[DownInFlames]

https://theonion.com/stephen-miller-...irst-14-words/

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by peter12

Okay, come on there, detective.

Couple days ago he was ranting nonsense about shutting the CBC down because of one minor reporting issue that didn't even change the reality of the story. Russia is well known to use techniques like this to sow distrust in western journalism.


Now the only option is give Putin everything? Either an asset or a dumbass, but an ass he is.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by DownInFlames

My friend is a huge NIN fan and he was in Denver to see them last night. I replied, "I'm happy to see you're having fun but I'd prefer it if you kept your money in Canada".


Edit: He replied that he bought the tickets last year, which makes sense. He's a good dude.

I’ve been down to the US this year and have one more trip planned. It’s difficult because I’m pretty hardline and boycott as much as possible. But a couple of these have been for work, and also paid for/booked well in advance of the election and ensuing events. I’m very interested in seeing how things go on that front next year. Are people willing to overlook this and just book new trips there?

Originally Posted by peter12

This would be great, but we've basically been hearing this since 2023.

This is exactly it. The sanctions and economic policies were supposedly crushing Russia and they were in trouble. Unsurprisingly, they have sold oil to countries like China and India with no real issue, and the economy has kept rolling. I guess we’ll see if these talks of their demise come to fruition, but it sure doesn’t look likely.

And as far as the talk of China taking Siberia goes, that just makes me laugh. The whole point of Dragon-Bear is that they’re cooperating.

[Agamemnon]

Originally Posted by Slava

This is exactly it. The sanctions and economic policies were supposedly crushing Russia and they were in trouble. Unsurprisingly, they have sold oil to countries like China and India with no real issue, and the economy has kept rolling.

Where do you get your information that supports these assessments? Everything I'm reading supports the opposite of this, I'm wondering if maybe I'm missing some valid sources - do share.

Russia is supposedly in trouble (and I'm guessing the counter point to that is they are in no trouble at all?).
They have sold oil with no real issue - I'm pretty sure they have had issues, we can dig further on that.
Economy has kept rolling - what exactly does that mean? That Russia has an economy?

Your statements seem kind of soft/vague/tough to pin down, I wonder if you could make more definitive statements? Like what is and what is not working, and what is the metric to show that?

[Scroopy Noopers]

Originally Posted by Slava

This is exactly it. The sanctions and economic policies were supposedly crushing Russia and they were in trouble. Unsurprisingly, they have sold oil to countries like China and India with no real issue, and the economy has kept rolling. I guess we’ll see if these talks of their demise come to fruition, but it sure doesn’t look likely. .

I would imagine they are making an absolute ####-ton selling off US intelligence…

[DeluxeMoustache]

Originally Posted by Agamemnon

Where do you get your information that supports these assessments? Everything I'm reading supports the opposite of this, I'm wondering if maybe I'm missing some valid sources - do share.

Russia is supposedly in trouble (and I'm guessing the counter point to that is they are in no trouble at all?).
They have sold oil with no real issue - I'm pretty sure they have had issues, we can dig further on that.
Economy has kept rolling - what exactly does that mean? That Russia has an economy?

Your statements seem kind of soft/vague/tough to pin down, I wonder if you could make more definitive statements? Like what is and what is not working, and what is the metric to show that?

This information is pretty readily available

A simple way is to just ask something like ChatGPT “ How have Russian exports of oil to china and India changed over the past 4 years?”

(A lot of people browse their ‘sources’ and consume what is fed to them, and if you want to find information, you can ask pointed questions and leverage AI to work through a mountain of data and find and return relevant information. )

Anyhow here is an article from Reuters


https://www.reuters.com/markets/comm...ks-2025-08-15/

Look at the shift in oil markets from 2021-2025. This article talks about steep declines in oil exports from 7.6 million barrels per day in 2022, plummeting all the way down to… 7 million in 2024

The charts show very modest net declines with India stepping up as a buyer, and China as well. So basically the losses of exports to markets coordinated on sanctions is almost entirely offset by China and India

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Agamemnon

Where do you get your information that supports these assessments? Everything I'm reading supports the opposite of this, I'm wondering if maybe I'm missing some valid sources - do share.

Russia is supposedly in trouble (and I'm guessing the counter point to that is they are in no trouble at all?).
They have sold oil with no real issue - I'm pretty sure they have had issues, we can dig further on that.
Economy has kept rolling - what exactly does that mean? That Russia has an economy?

Your statements seem kind of soft/vague/tough to pin down, I wonder if you could make more definitive statements? Like what is and what is not working, and what is the metric to show that?

Yeah that’s fair, and those are pretty broad-based comments. But we’ve been hearing about how crippling the sanctions are for the better part of three years, and the Russian economy has held on.

India has been a major destination for Russian oil. The US has pressured them not to buy it, but India basically says they’re looking at the it own economic needs first. They are a net importer, but they refine and export a lot of oil. China has been buying Russian oil as well, and this is well known.

Overall, the Russian economy has grown for the past couple of years, and grown more than a lot of other global economies. The Rouble has been the best performing currency thus far into 2025. There are people saying the economy is overheating. Inflation is a problem and things could collapse. A lot of the significant growth in the past couple years was government spending, predominantly on military equipment. So, while I don’t think that everything is rosy and perfect for Russia, the sanctions haven’t cratered things there…at least not yet.

[direwolf]

Just checking in. Has Trump ended the war yet? I could have sworn he said he was gonna do that on day 1.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by DownInFlames

My friend is a huge NIN fan and he was in Denver to see them last night. I replied, "I'm happy to see you're having fun but I'd prefer it if you kept your money in Canada".


Edit: He replied that he bought the tickets last year, which makes sense. He's a good dude.

Tickets went on sale at the end of January, not last year, but before the #### hit the fan.

I had tickets for phoenix date in Sept. sold my ticket and cancelled my hotel. If I’d had a flight booked I almost certainly would have gone.

[WideReceiver]

Maine senator tries to entice western Canadians to join the U.S. My response would have been un-Canadian and far less polite than the B.C. MLA’s.

https://youtu.be/s1bkfe0L-pU

[direwolf]

Originally Posted by WideReceiver

Maine senator tries to entice western Canadians to join the U.S. My response would have been un-Canadian and far less polite than the B.C. MLA’s.

https://youtu.be/s1bkfe0L-pU

This really highlights how arrogant and clueless these f***wits are. They never stop to think how stupid, insulting, and disrespectful this crap is. Also, this is a state senator doing this seemingly on behalf of his entire country? Lol, Jesus Christ. Stay in your goddamn lane, ya f’n assclown.

[Rutuu]

Originally Posted by WideReceiver

I write a travel blog. We recently ended a Japan trip by sailing to Alaska and Vancouver. I covered Japan extensively but ignored the Alaska leg. We’d booked the trip quite some time ago.

Very interested in the time frames to do this.

[FlamesAddiction]

It was kind of frustrating shopping at Superstore today as the vast amount of produce are still products of the U.S.A. Even things like onions that grow just fine in Canada. I did notice that they now have "T" symbols on some shelves indicating products that have tariffs on them, which is helpful.

[Sylvanfan]

Originally Posted by DeluxeMoustache

Look at the shift in oil markets from 2021-2025. This article talks about steep declines in oil exports from 7.6 million barrels per day in 2022, plummeting all the way down to… 7 million in 2024

The charts show very modest net declines with India stepping up as a buyer, and China as well. So basically the losses of exports to markets coordinated on sanctions is almost entirely offset by China and India

The amount of Oil being sold is not down as much, but the price that they're getting for it is. China and India are more than happy to step in and buy it at a steep discount vis what the EU was paying for it. So overall the revenues are down, and with the inflation within Russia the costs to produce will be up. So they can sell it and get something, but it's not really sustainable for them to go on much longer.

I did hear a good one on the weekend about the theory that this wasn't the real Putin but one of many body doubles that he has that went to Alaska.

[Geraldsh]

Originally Posted by Sylvanfan

I did hear a good one on the weekend about the theory that this wasn't the real Putin but one of many body doubles that he has that went to Alaska.

That conspiracy fits, I heard they keep all his body secretions (feces,urine,snot,whatnot) and take it back to Russia with them.

[Cowboy89]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

It was kind of frustrating shopping at Superstore today as the vast amount of produce are still products of the U.S.A. Even things like onions that grow just fine in Canada. I did notice that they now have "T" symbols on some shelves indicating products that have tariffs on them, which is helpful.

They might, but does Canada grow enough in the quantities it consumes? Given the planting season do growers know enough about increased demand to displace US produce? It's going to take more than a few months to sort this all out.

[#-3]

Originally Posted by Slava

I’ve been down to the US this year and have one more trip planned. It’s difficult because I’m pretty hardline and boycott as much as possible. But a couple of these have been for work, and also paid for/booked well in advance of the election and ensuing events. I’m very interested in seeing how things go on that front next year. Are people willing to overlook this and just book new trips there?

We had booked a family trip this fall to the States a year in advance.

We chose not to cancel it for a variety of reasons, but currently our plans are that it will be our plans are that future trips will be elsewhere for the next few years. I don't think anything short of real legal reconning for the enablers and legislative change will interest me in changing that. The sane party eeking out an election with 51 to 49 will not comfort me that this is a country we should be patronizing in any way. I just don't know that I see a pathway for the US to really fix what is wrong down there right now without destroying themselves in the process.

[#-3]

Originally Posted by WideReceiver

Maine senator tries to entice western Canadians to join the U.S. My response would have been un-Canadian and far less polite than the B.C. MLA’s.

https://youtu.be/s1bkfe0L-pU

Unsurprised that an American would believe in American exceptionalism to the extent that they think others would want to abandon their own culture to be American.

But the real amusing thing about this is that he thinks they still have a constitution in the US. They have courts that have nearly abandoned the pretenses of jurisprudence, making laughably ridiculous arguments to twist themselves in knots validating constitutional violations, which means their constitution is meaningless. It means what ever the people in power want to mean, giving it no inherent self meaning.

Also personally for me, I find it laughable that he thinks regulation of fire arms is an encroachment on freedom, to the limited extent that Canada and Alberta do regulate fire arms, I find it very freeing, knowing that it is somewhat harder for the people around me to access those weapons.

[peter12]

Free trade is good and I don’t care where my goods are made. However, I won’t be travelling to the US for a good long while.