Random Thought

Along with vol.5 of the RWBY anthology manga I also ordered an Ai Yori Aoshi and a Please Twins CD.

Last Saturday I watched the Laurel & Hardy Silent Film: Lucky Dog. It was different in that Laurel played the hero and Hardy played the Big Bad. It was strange seeing them play opposite sides. It was also the first movie they ever made together.

Former Clinton and Trump advisor Dick Morris was on Newsmax yesterday and stated that Biden's big mistake with Ukraine was not trying a diplomatic solution first. He then suggested that Biden should have cut off the Nordstream 2 pipeline and had Russia's monetary assets frozen first before trying to send troops and weapons to Ukraine. Former Trump Security advisor Ric Grenell also said they should've tried diplomacy first.
Then again Biden's such a SOB himself and so egomanical he probably thinks that everyone should kowtow to his rotten ideas on things.

Not watching the Winter Olympics. Truth to be told it has less to do with the Uighurs and China's awful human rights records (which includes the continual persecution of Christians and other religious groups which has been revived by Xi, who thinks he's Mao reincarnated)and more to do with the fact that I think the games have become more and more boring and less and less interesting over the last several decades as they're now every two instead of four years. I mean when the Winter and Summer games were the same year you still had something to look forward to every four years but now when they're held in separate years every second year....it has become rather blah. Also since there is now more and more of a professional feel to them and amateurs like Eddie the Eagle in ski jump are no longer allowed...like I said the whole games have become blah!

And now the "Biden Administration" (tm) is talking about putting a freeze on the Nordstream 2 Pipeline if Russia invades Ukraine. I still think Putin's simply taunting Biden waiting to see what he will do. If there were to be an actual invasion it would have taken place before now. Putin didn't sit around at the border when he invaded the Crimea. So there seems to be a deeper game that Putin's playing around with.

I was wrong about Clark having seizures on Superman And Lois, he was having visions. Turns out that he was on some sort of psychic link with Bizarro! Though at first I thought it was going to be Doomsday and they were going to do a live action version of The Death and Life of Superman.

My great nephew or grand nephew...what you will...is going to be a year old in a couple of weeks.
Latest picture looks like he has his teeth coming in.

Wanting to get RWBY vol. 8 for my birthday.

If it is not available when I do my birthday order I will get something else. Probably the first
Girls Und Panzer, Das Finale movie....but we shall see.

The new management of the restaurant that our church's man's group and trustees usually meet at once every month seems to not be doing too well. Complaints about the food and the higher prices along with the noise that the kitchen staff are making is forcing us to go elsewhere. Too bad too because it was our regular meeting place for so long.
But then when food goes down and the prices go up...The one bright side is the place that we're trying out is only down the hill from where I live and so not as far to walk, also safer as I don't have to worry about traffic...

Re-reading X-Men: Empire's End by Diane Duane.

Cold today,barely 20 above now. Groundhog Day. Next week I have dentist at 8:00 a.m.

The dentist is a new one and will be the third dentist I have had since we moved here.
The first one retired without telling anyone and the one I have been going to decided to retire but made it public. So this is the third one I have had in the past 30 years.

We had the plumber come in and take out the old dish washer that was leaking and put in a newer one. Though the newer one is about ten or eleven years old but at least it works and doesn't leak.

Slogan for Biden/Harris 2024: Vote Biden, 81,000,000 Chinese can't be wrong!

Finished reading X-Men: Empire's End today. Though since the movies can't help but hear Patrick Stewart's voice every time I read a line of dialogue with Professor X!

Speaking of Star Trek re-watched The Mark of Gideon on H & I Wednesday.

After going to the PO and not finding my order in yet I went home and clicked on to check when it was supposed to come in. Ends up it's not supposed to arrive until 9 pm tonight! So it'll probably be here either tommorrow or Wednesday.

I also have my dental appointment on Wednesday at 8 a.m.

Interesting that the only people who are talking about Russia attacking Ukraine are the Biden people.Wonder how much money the Biden family will loose if Putin takes over Burisma from the Ukrainians.
The same with China, the only real reason the Biden people are hesitate about sending aid to Taipei is because the Bidens have monetary interests in Beijing.

So either way it looks more like the Biden financial interests than actual American interests driving foreign policy in DC.

The MLB owners seem to be the ones currently blocking Spring Training and the '22 season from happening. Apparently according to the MLBPA the reps for the Owners came in saw what the Players were demanding for their part of the bargaining and simply walked out saying it was nonsense.

Re-reading Pat Buchanan's book: A Republic Not An Empirefrom 1999, but still relevant for today.

Looks like masks mandates are finally going to be coming down in a lot of the States.I still think masks and vaccinations should be up to the indiviual and not the government.

People need to read the Constitution before making any comments on it. Interesting the 14th Amendment, Section 3 ends with the words: "But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability."
Also the sentence before that talks about aid and comfort to enemies of America being a disqualifier for holding office.
Wonder how many of those in either party who are trying to use the 14th Amendment against President Trump would themselves be Constitutionally disqualified from ever holding office according to Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.
btw: this section was written by Radical Republicans as a means to disqualify former high ranking Confederate military and political leaders for ever running for Federal office post Appomatox.
So in reality it's irrelevant to today.

I think if the Freedom Convoy blocks DC and end up shutting the government down it may turn out to be a good thing. We have way too much government interference in this country. Perhaps it is time for the government to chill out and stop and allow the people to have their proper say in things.

I doubt that going to war with Russia over Ukraine satisifies any of St.Augustine's criteria for a Just War.
I also doubt too many Americans want us to go to war over Ukraine,especially after long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Rams won the Superbowl 23-20!

Now if only the Vikings could win one....

Dull day....weather goes from snow to snow/rain to clear and back again.

Well, it's clear we (NATO) are not going to war and Ukraine are left to do whatever they can. That was clear many months ago. We might act if it (the war) does drag on but not likely.
As for Putin it's his last presidency and last chance to do something about the Ukraine and wrap up lose ends. But that's not the real reason. For him, his cronies and oligarch friends this is a matter of survival after his presidency.
If the Ukraine remains western then at some point the influence (russia become western) could result in him and co. being extracted/kidnappend and brought before some court. Therefore, they must ensure their power and influence.
Whether by force or subversion the Ukraine is doomed. Putin wins regardless.
Practically/Politically, the Ukraine will end up having to bend and NATO giving concessions. This doesn't mean Putin will stop there, though.
Anyhow, the window to act is closing not just because of winter weather but also economically. We are making lots of money with gas right now to the detriment of russian gas throttling the EU. The russian reserves can't be left at current peak amount for long either. So military actions are limited up to mid-march.

Today is the Day of Unity for Ukraine according to Zelensky. So whether or not the Russians invade, the Ukrainians are going to go ahead and party as if nothing really is the matter; or so that is what Zelensky wants them to do.

Meanwhile Biden is ignoring the real problem with the Mexican border still being open. I think maybe if we pretend Texas is the Ukraine and Mexico is Russia it might get his attention?

I found out the hard way today that Dell has an emergency OS repair system installed in its computers. Today when I got on everything worked fine but when my mom tried to get on nothing. I tried rebooting twice and the second time the OS repair system came on line. It took about 10 to 15 minutes to get everything fixed but now it is back up and working normally.

To sum things up for the past 24-48 hours:
Tuesday:
* Ukraine PMs are no longer allowed to leave the country by law.
* Wages for the military personnel has been raised.
* Chechen Rosgvardia regiment joints russian troop build up (similar to Georgia invasion)
Wednesday:
* Sweden no longer seeks NATO membership (Putin scores)
* Russia has increase the number of troops by 7000; Last week there were ~60 BTG now it should be close to ~100 BTG.
Thursday:
* Russia has secretly completed setting up a bridge in the Chernobyl exclusion zone
* Donbas militia hit a kindergarden
* mass protest against cash registers; people want settlement books
* NATO secretly dropped a radar at the border

A lot is going on. Recognition of Donbas is a major issue that might eclipse everything as precedent for other future crisis with Russia & China.
Meanwhile nobody talks about the renewed intense fighting in Jemen or North Korean firing dozens of missile (to get attention in the past few weeks) etc.

As for mexico I think he gave up because there's another long game going on requiring better relations. For example building up a new defense umbrella to the south against chinese ICBMs / hypersonics. Maybe a new pacific-atlantic channel as alternative to chinese controlled panama II channel.

As they've been saying on Newsmax: "Putin is playing chess while Biden has been playing checkers."

I thought that was the Ukraine and not Sweden.
Anyhows....the score right now stands at Putin a trillion, Biden negative zero. In other words one of them is playing out of his league.

This whole thing might be a decoy to allow the PRC to attack the ROC on Taiwan when nobody's looking as everybody's paying attention to Russia/Ukraine instead.
You never know what Putin and Xi have planned.

Agreed.
Things are starting now (since yesterday).
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/02/20/mystery-z-markers-daubed-russian-tanks-approach-ukraine/
Poland was coerced to buy 250 M1 tanks.
Some Putin minions dropped a flyer into my home's mailbox on friday....

China has upped their game... like lasing an Australian patrol aircraft.
Right now and for the next 5 years if we go to war with China we'll lose the conventional war.
The navy lacks ships and subs. The air force lacks lots of F22...
Right now the 6th B-21 is being build and only now the F-22 received all 6 IRST installed.
For the past 4 months we rushed a lot of things into (testing) service: navy drones, airborne laser, special force drop container, (F-22) stealth containers, etc...
business is up everywhere.

Also germany is about to open up despite Omicron still going around at high level. Welp. Right now new Delta variants seems to be only in remote locations like Taiwan, New Zealand, Malta, somewhere in Russia and place you've never heard of. Omicron seems to have 5 clades now; BA2 is undoubtly gaining in variants and proportion.
It's about time for a new variant(s). Let's hope it's harmless.

From what I hear the more variants there are the less lethal it becomes. I think that we will have to treat it like the flu from now on. Though I wonder which we should be worried about more: the virus, the big pharma or the military industrial complex that wants to get us in to another war too soon after the last one?

Interesting enough i was reading at Gateway Pundit today that Huff Post back in 2014 had an article warning that Trudeau wasn't to be trusted as he was a wannabe dictator even then.
Even more interesting is the fact that his vice prime minister's maternal grandfather was a higher up in the Nazi regime in Poland. So the apple didn't fall too far from the tree.

It's gotten cold again and windy here.

Do you think we will ever see Amazon release the final Eva Reboot movie to the general public?

The immediate threat is almost always politics (law makers) followed by pharma & food.
The virus is ofc also immediate for which we need the power of the community, hence, politics.
Welp, you know how things go....

Canada is in such a mess right now. Seeing how it all was started rather with simple things I dunno how they manage to run things in the first place...
Yeah, there certainly has been a long list of various accusations but as an outsider it's difficult to follow up on them. I could only see those related to his political actions from the past.

Well, the reboot has been slow and it's only recently came to an end. I'm guessing maybe they want a theatrical release first before considering a media release. But then again I'm not sure how they see it compared to Gits.
Or maybe they want to gauge popularity in other places like taiwan first.

btw. depending how you view it China is demarcating Asia from Australia or vise versa

So the PRC is feeling its oats in the waters north of Australia. Wonder what Indonesia thinks about China running around in their waters like that.

I don't think Australia really cares what the PRC is up to right now; they seem to be more worried about people coughing in elevators.

Romania and Poland are now ready to welcome refugees from the Ukraine. I think that it's pretty obvious that the next targets will be the Baltic States. Then it will appear whether or not NATO is serious about standing up to Putin.

Though I don't know which is a better candidate for Anti-Christ: Putin or Xi as they both fit the bill, although at the moment I wouldn't put either Trudeau or Biden being a candidate either. Then again it may just be paranoia because of everything that's happening.

Amanda Winn Lee got shot down for a post she had on Tik Tok about Putin and the Ukraine,etc. While I disagree with what she posted I do think some of the responses were a lot more brutal than she deserved. Then again people have been savaging Tucker Carlson for what he's been saying about Putin and the Ukraine; so in the end it doesn't matter what side of the political aisle you're on, if you don't agree with the current zeitgesit you're going to get it from both barrels.

ASFIG with Putin: like I said he was basically taunting Biden and when he saw that Biden wasn't being serious he simply knew that he would be able to get away with invading Ukraine without worry about the consequences. I mean sanctions would have meant something if they were done a year ago and if they were targeted at Putin and the other Russian bigwigs and the major energy corporations there. What Biden has basically done is try to put a bandage on a cancer infected leg.

Also considering how unserious the American military is, if we were to go into the Ukraine right now we would loose big time. Then again a few good Russian missiles pointed at Washington DC would make Kansas City the new capitol of the US.

The war in the ukraine is going so-so. The veterans in Donetsk are doing fine but the rest of the country is steadily losing cities.
20220225 ~15:00 GMT
russian loses:
   Tanks - up to 80;
   Armored fighting vehicles of various types - 516;
   Aircraft - 10;
   Helicopters - 7;
   People - 2,800.

As I said before in Discord the Ukraine must hold out for a month before any help could come.
So current the russian lose ~1k a day after a month that amounts to 15% a critical number normal militaries would consider giving up. I doubt Putin will, though. In any case Kyiv must hold out all the time. Fighting in  the city has started since this morning so it doesn't look good. And they lose about 2 major cities a day. They don't have enough to last a month or even any overhead. It is very unlikely they can avoid being conquered.

I read at Russia Today that the mayor of Kiev claimed the city was surrounded but then back tracked later and said he didn't really say it but that it was Russian propaganda. And yes... it is Russia Today but then again it's interesting to read things from another pov.

Another article I read is that some of the videos that have been taken of the fighting turn out to be screen captures from video games. Considering how UFOLOGISTs have for years been using clips of the Jupiter 2 from Lost In Space as proof of the existence of UFOs, I don't think it's entirely improbable that some of the video may in fact be from video games.

I agree that Ukraine will probably fall. And as I said before watch the Baltics.

Now the hard choice for the average Ukrainian is do they fight on or surrender and collaborate with the Russians in order to survive.

Yes, the russian created a bunch of fake news report and video footages. All were debunked quickly for many inconsistent details but their goal was for a quick news report anyway.

Since the war progress is protracted there's no point in updating the map. Things are very dynamic going back and forth.

The Ukraine are not getting fighter jets. I'm not going to repeat all the reason here. Suffice to say it's not simple, takes, time, and might drag NATO into the conflict when providing airbases.

I was expecting Putin to use cold war era secrecy and compartmentalization to control and intimidate the military. And that's why nobody dares to do anything beyond their orders or take initiative, hence, why the war went badly.
But claims from interrogation reports give a far worse picture than I thought. I expected Putin to be more meticulous to ensure mission success and not be ignorant like Hitler.
But as it turns out it seems they employed classic communist MO like from Stalin's WWII, Soviet and Vietnam war era.
- The troops that were send were told they were going to do exercises and will be welcome by open arms. (Admittedly the allies were told the same.)
- The troops were send to their deaths so they weren't given fuel and food to last.
(- Those who refused were left in prison and to starve)
- those who were wounded in the field were shot and left on the battlefield; no KIA report was made
There's probably more similarities that will come to light later. (I'm sure you've heard about these from the past.)
Anyhow, moral is low and that's why troops abandoned their vehicles when given the chance. I dunno what they plan to do afterward, though. It's not like they can just escape Putin and jail. They might roam around and become brigands until war's end.

I think the Ukraine people will not stop even if Zelensky is killed and continue until they can't. I think we are past the point were the would give up. Also the whole world is supportive (unlike any other country in their positing before).
They may not win but they won't lack anything other than their territory and loved ones.

At this rate the russian might resort to scorched earth:
1. blow up Chernobyl tomb
2. make ISS fall a la gundam colony drop (least dangerous)(it's a joke ofc)
3. just carpet bomb back to the stone age

----------------

Meanwhile, since the Chinese government didn't do much to fight omicron in Hong Kong like the rest of the country, it has reached critical emergency yesterday....the dead are mounting beyond storage capacity.... panic has taken hold.
(Obviously a free genocide on the rebellious/unruly populace.)
Also they didn't get a lot of vaccination either but now they are required to have a vaccination pass.
A hard lockdown is coming in hours from now.

Everyone is so focused on Ukraine that no-one is really checking up on what the Chinese are doing. They could have another harsh crack down on Hong Kong and invade Taiwan and nobody would be the wiser until it was all a fait accompli.

And people wonder why I perfer to watch so much anime....

Did Biden really say "Ernegy" instead of "Energy" in his SOTU? And the Left wonders why he isn't taken seriously.

I will probably be lynched for saying this, but Zelensky is more like Jefferson Davis then Abraham Lincoln and the Ukraine is more like the Confederacy than the Union. Reason for saying it is like Davis Zelensky is the President of a nation that has been invaded and like the CSA, the Ukraine has to fight a defensive war to succeed. Yeah, there are parts where the similarity breaks down but really that's the closest comparison.

So now the brilliant mind behind the infamous 1619 Project thinks Europe is not a Continent and that Ukrainians "appear to be white". That last would be a surprise to all those Ukrainians fighting for their country and all those Americans of Ukrainian descent. I think that they pretty much are White like the vast majority of Europeans...than again like I said this was from the "genius" that gave us the
"1619 Project".

Wednesday I plan on ordering my birthday present from Rightstuf.

So the idiocy has gone way beyond the pale of stupidity when it comes to punishing Putin for his little war with Ukraine: now they're even banning Russian bred cats from international cat shows...Seriously?

Also Canada continues to show it has left all sanity behind by detaining two Russians in Yellowknife who were on their way to join an Arctic expedition when the invasion began. The last time I checked we're not at war with Russia so that didn't make any sense. Then we're talking Canada here, the land that sanity left when Trudeau decided to be Dictator instead of PM.

Let's be real here: unless we actually declare war on Russia over the Ukraine invasion doing such things is a violation of normal civilized behavior. The average Russian still has the same rights to visit America and the rest of the West and be part of normal every day activities here without being treated as an enemy spy unless war is declared. Also over reacting and attacking Russian culture doesn't make much sense as it has nothing to do with what Putin's doing.

Last week Amphibia introduced a character named Teri who looks strangely like Marcie. I think that's because they're giving her VA a chance to do a new character now that Marcie's possessed by the Core and become the Big Bad of the show.

Given this is Disney, I'm still a-waiting there to be a happy ending.

As far as the Real World is concerned: Why is the West canceling innocent Russian athletes, musicians and animals? Why are they attacking Russian culture? This has nothing to do with what's happening in Ukraine. Personally I think people go too far overboard.

Got my birthday order in to Rightstuf today: RWBY S/Vol. 8 and official manga vol.2.
Blake's on the cover of the second volume of the official manga.

Next time I order I have to see if the third volume of the official manga is still available.

Looks like Jonathan got his "Don't Do Drugs (tm)" speech from both his parents on yesterday's ep. of
Superman And Lois. Question is how can someone who is the son of the world's greatest ever superhero be so dumb? Also wouldn't the X-Kryptonite affect him differently from a normal human since despite not having any powers like his brother Jordan, Jonathan still is half Kryptonian?

I have a e-mail pen pal from Russia and the last time I e-mailed him I told him I would hate to see a war between America and Russia. I said this not only because it would lead to WWIII and be a long a costly war and maybe end in nuclear devastation of both countries, but also because we just got out of another long and costly war in Afghanistan and I doubt the American people really want another. At least not so soon.

Speaking of the Russians: this banning everything Russian because Putin Bad(tm) is, as I said before getting to be beyond absurd. We should be concentrating on punishing Putin and the other oligarchs as well as the top military brass and not the common Russian people.

That said why is no one other than Russian media like Russia Today reporting on what's happening on the Russian side of the war. Where are the interviews with the ethnic Russians and pro-Russians still in the Ukraine? I get why we're seeing news about how sorts of atrocities that the Russians are supposedly doing and Ukraine=Good Guys and Russians= Bad Guys but war is not as simplistic as that. In war there are good guys and bad guys on both sides. Also as I keep pointing out we are not currently at war with Russia ( at least not a declared one) so why are we only getting information on only one side: the Ukrainian side?
Shouldn't the US and rest of the West be more balanced and neutral?
Shouldn't we get both sides pov before jumping in and taking sides so willy nilly?
Just asking.

So far Tucker Carlson is the only American pundit who is willing to even take the unpopular view that Russia might have a pov that's worth looking into.

Yeah end rant for the week.