Kamala names her VP pick today

[testboner]

Beautiful daughter TB. Envious of her living in Russia. If I knew the language I would definitely move there after my parents pass.
Big old uncle Sam needs a boogie man it's always been Russia North Korea Saddam et all. I hope to retire some day in the Midwest. Hopefully it will still be an open and free area then. I can't stand political shit and there is none of it out there.

Thank you MG,

I wish I could spend more in person time with her. She’s very sweet, happy, caring, and doing really well in Russia.

 

[testboner]

I never understood what people are so proud of. Seems to me certain people are "proud" of a fantasy that never existed. America is like any other country. Better at some things, worse at others. There is nothing special about the American people. We are lucky to have some insanely great geography. Oceans protecting us. This is the sole reason we are independent now and not a colonized country. We got this land by murdering millions of the natives who lived here before us. We have incredibly fertile farm land. Mineral deposits. Land for cattle. Flat land in the Midwest easy to develop for industry. America has more navigable water than the entire rest of the world combined. We have oil.

American benefitted from being a young country with a large amount of room to expand while other countries were already maxxed out. The only reason we say we have freedom of religion is that religions had places to run to and be free from the tyranny of OTHER religions. America did not respect religious freedom. The Mormons and Quakers simply had places to run and hide to avoid the savage murderous impulses of the Christian barbarians who were killing them in the East.

It was almost impossible for America not to succeed. There was enough young open expanses to be exploited.

But proud to be America? Proud of America starting constant wars? Overthrowing sovereign nations for the benefit of corporations? Proud of slavery? Genocide? If America vanished off the face of the Earth the world would be a much happier place.

Very true. Good summary.

 

[tommyguns2]

I never understood what people are so proud of. Seems to me certain people are "proud" of a fantasy that never existed. America is like any other country. Better at some things, worse at others. There is nothing special about the American people. We are lucky to have some insanely great geography. Oceans protecting us. This is the sole reason we are independent now and not a colonized country. We got this land by murdering millions of the natives who lived here before us. We have incredibly fertile farm land. Mineral deposits. Land for cattle. Flat land in the Midwest easy to develop for industry. America has more navigable water than the entire rest of the world combined. We have oil.

American benefitted from being a young country with a large amount of room to expand while other countries were already maxxed out. The only reason we say we have freedom of religion is that religions had places to run to and be free from the tyranny of OTHER religions. America did not respect religious freedom. The Mormons and Quakers simply had places to run and hide to avoid the savage murderous impulses of the Christian barbarians who were killing them in the East.

It was almost impossible for America not to succeed. There was enough young open expanses to be exploited.

But proud to be America? Proud of America starting constant wars? Overthrowing sovereign nations for the benefit of corporations? Proud of slavery? Genocide? If America vanished off the face of the Earth the world would be a much happier place.

I have to disagree. While you can list many valid things the US has done that is bad, that doesn't negate that it's been uniquely good for the world over the past 250 years.

The world was at a constant state of war before the US came into existence, and has been so after the US arrived. What has changed was this crazy idea, originally formulated by Locke and Voltaire (and a few others) that your freedom/liberty has an individual did not come about because the king/queen bestowed that right upon you. Rather, such rights existed fundamentally based on you being an image-bearer of God. Consequently, your liberty couldn't be yanked away willy-nilly by the sovereign or the state (in later sovereign incarnations). That was radical thinking, and had never really been tried on any scale before, and certainly not successfully. Yes, a good bit of enlightenment thinking in Europe paved the way, but it never took actual form until 1776/1787 (Declaration of Independence, Article of Confederation).

There is a reason why all the boats between the US and Cuba are going in only one direction. There's a reason why illegal immigration is crossing the TX/MX border going north, and not south. That cannot be denied.

The US is simply better by most reasonably accepted metrics. Higher median income, health metrics, lifestyle, food availability, hours worked per week, etc. Sure, you can tell me Finland has better XYZ and you're probably correct, but taking all the stuff together, the US is simply better.

But we don't have to argue about it. Everyone can voice their opinion with their feet. Because you have freedom of movement, you can move to Europe, or Cuba, or Venezuela, or Sweden any time you want. And some people do. I've got no problem with that.

You know, Russia is blessed with a lot of room and a plethora of natural resources. And yet.... the average Russian has a standard of living that awful. Yes, there are the top 5% of people living in Moscow or St. Petersburg, but go anywhere else, and it's millions of lives living in vodka-soaked desperation.

Venezuala has more oil reserves than the US. Most of the Middle East is sitting on top of a ton of oil, and while sheiks have gold plated lambos, they live in a shithole (except for Israel, which oddly has created an oasis in the desert despite a lack of natural resources). Perhaps liberty and freedom actually matter. Just think if all the women in the Middle East were allowed to contribute instead of being treated like chattel.

And all those natives on the US continent were slaughtering each other for hundreds of years before we got here. Nomadic, tribal people.... you know, like Afghanistan. Life on this continent was no picnic. Human sacrifice, you name it.

And slavery was an institution on every continent and every culture around the world for the last 5,000 years. To say that the US is uniquely shitty and that only blacks were enslaved is not accurate. And yet, the US fixed its abhorrent practice (it's still common around the world), and a black man was elected President. And politicians now try to convince voters they're black, or Indian, or whatever. So, being a POC can't be too bad these days, we've got white people faking it.

 

[beefnewton]

 

[fasttwitch]

I have to disagree. While you can list many valid things the US has done that is bad, that doesn't negate that it's been uniquely good for the world over the past 250 years.

The world was at a constant state of war before the US came into existence, and has been so after the US arrived. What has changed was this crazy idea, originally formulated by Locke and Voltaire (and a few others) that your freedom/liberty has an individual did not come about because the king/queen bestowed that right upon you. Rather, such rights existed fundamentally based on you being an image-bearer of God. Consequently, your liberty couldn't be yanked away willy-nilly by the sovereign or the state (in later sovereign incarnations). That was radical thinking, and had never really been tried on any scale before, and certainly not successfully. Yes, a good bit of enlightenment thinking in Europe paved the way, but it never took actual form until 1776/1787 (Declaration of Independence, Article of Confederation).

There is a reason why all the boats between the US and Cuba are going in only one direction. There's a reason why illegal immigration is crossing the TX/MX border going north, and not south. That cannot be denied.

The US is simply better by most reasonably accepted metrics. Higher median income, health metrics, lifestyle, food availability, hours worked per week, etc. Sure, you can tell me Finland has better XYZ and you're probably correct, but taking all the stuff together, the US is simply better.

But we don't have to argue about it. Everyone can voice their opinion with their feet. Because you have freedom of movement, you can move to Europe, or Cuba, or Venezuela, or Sweden any time you want. And some people do. I've got no problem with that.

You know, Russia is blessed with a lot of room and a plethora of natural resources. And yet.... the average Russian has a standard of living that awful. Yes, there are the top 5% of people living in Moscow or St. Petersburg, but go anywhere else, and it's millions of lives living in vodka-soaked desperation.

Venezuala has more oil reserves than the US. Most of the Middle East is sitting on top of a ton of oil, and while sheiks have gold plated lambos, they live in a shithole (except for Israel, which oddly has created an oasis in the desert despite a lack of natural resources). Perhaps liberty and freedom actually matter. Just think if all the women in the Middle East were allowed to contribute instead of being treated like chattel.

And all those natives on the US continent were slaughtering each other for hundreds of years before we got here. Nomadic, tribal people.... you know, like Afghanistan. Life on this continent was no picnic. Human sacrifice, you name it.

And slavery was an institution on every continent and every culture around the world for the last 5,000 years. To say that the US is uniquely shitty and that only blacks were enslaved is not accurate. And yet, the US fixed its abhorrent practice (it's still common around the world), and a black man was elected President. And politicians now try to convince voters they're black, or Indian, or whatever. So, being a POC can't be too bad these days, we've got white people faking it.

This is a huge topic of course. Without going down to many rabbit holes I would simply argue that the Western world was in general moving towards more individual liberty since the Magna Carta was issued in June 1215. Progress was patchy and slow but in general what happens is that once other peoples in other countries see a certain group with something that looks attractive, they demand the same. The US Constitution was simply an update based on the newly founded territory's priorities and a unique set of circumstances.

The US is better by some metrics. That is a statistical rabbithole. We will each present our favorite statistics which prove our cases and then look for holes in each other's stats and/or try to attack the sources of the statists. I would ask this.. Why are hundreds of millions of people happy in their countries when a so called better life exists so obviously elsewhere? Truth is, they are pretty happy in most places in Western Europe, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, etc. These are not the hellish nightmare places to live that conservatives seem to claim they are.

However, America has a major advantage. Early and widespread adoption of large capital markets. The talent flows here not because people are miserable elsewhere.. But because they have a talent which can earn more here. If they could earn the same where they live they would likely stay there.

I agree there are no innocent people. Everyone has slaughtered everyone since the beginning of time. Everyone has blood on their hands.

Vote with their feet? If they have the money, knowledge and courage to leave many might. But there are many variables there. There are language barriers. Which country would suit a person's priorities the best? Depends. And the information is not always clear. Especially given the propaganda. It is not easy for working folks to simply leave their country.

There are bad countries. Bad in almost every metric. That is the truth. But there is a reason why billions of people stay where they are.

Once the family trust is in my name I'm headed out. Much to the relief of many in this group.

 

[rawdeal]

Looks like what a dog imprisoned on a hi-rise balcony most of the day might have had to resort to .

There is so much we can learn from them.

 

[Heady Muscle]

rAJNIN,

As for me, it can be said I’m a political atheist; I don’t believe in a centralized system of control such as gov’t is — It’s far more harm than good. I’m not a script follower, which you have to be in order to be on a party supporting bandwagon.
The US in particular is in its most hypnotized (manipulated, indoctrinated), politically obsessed climax era ever, and it’s destroying / destroyed our character and culture at large. Politics is not our / the solution.

As far as my domestic situation is concerned, I am married and we have no children. Been together for 12yrs now. I have a 14yr old daughter from my previous relationship with a Russian girl I was with when I was living full time in Vegas. My daughter was born in and lives full time in Russia. All US generated, Russia hate propaganda aside, she’s far better off development wise, in Russia.

View attachment 15260View attachment 15261

Wow, she is a beauty! You are a lucky soul my friend.

 

[fasttwitch]

rAJNIN,

As for me, it can be said I’m a political atheist; I don’t believe in a centralized system of control such as gov’t is — It’s far more harm than good. I’m not a script follower, which you have to be in order to be on a party supporting bandwagon.
The US in particular is in its most hypnotized (manipulated, indoctrinated), politically obsessed climax era ever, and it’s destroying / destroyed our character and culture at large. Politics is not our / the solution.

As far as my domestic situation is concerned, I am married and we have no children. Been together for 12yrs now. I have a 14yr old daughter from my previous relationship with a Russian girl I was with when I was living full time in Vegas. My daughter was born in and lives full time in Russia. All US generated, Russia hate propaganda aside, she’s far better off development wise,

I remember when she was little, TB. Back in the Umass days. You posted a pic there at the time. What a fine young woman she is becoming.

Can I ask what region she is in? I have many Russian friends. My friend Matvey is from the far eastern section. His family owns a large fishing boat. They do ok. Now he is in Moscow. Party central as far as he is concerned. He is loving it.

I sent him $300 US dollars for his birthday. He acted like he was rich. There was a dollar / ruble exchange of like 1:90. What a nightmare that was. I had to use a service called SendNomad. There was no other way I could find. Now though, Sendnomad is shut down. No way to send cash to Russia that I know of. Well, there is a way, but it is absurdly expensive.

 

[testboner]

I remember when she was little, TB. Back in the Umass days. You posted a pic there at the time. What a fine young woman she is becoming.

Can I ask what region she is in? I have many Russian friends. My friend Matvey is from the far eastern section. His family owns a large fishing boat. They do ok. Now he is in Moscow. Party central as far as he is concerned. He is loving it.

I sent him $300 US dollars for his birthday. He acted like he was rich. There was a dollar / ruble exchange of like 1:90. What a nightmare that was. I had to use a service called SendNomad. There was no other way I could find. Now though, Sendnomad is shut down. No way to send cash to Russia that I know of. Well, there is a way, but it is absurdly expensive.

Hey FT,

Thank you, she’s a pretty girl, and super sweet and genuine, very caring, not pretentious.
Yeah Bro, during the Umass days I made a couple 3 month visits over there. She was born in and lived in St Petersburg up until 3 years ago when she and her mom moved to Sevastopol, Crimea for a better climate on the Black Sea. Now of course however, the US is helping the nazi Uke’s to strike there on occasion, but so far they’ve been safe from the areas typically attacked.
St Pete has its nice areas and vibes, but if I were to relocate to Russia it would be Moscow.

I send them money every month. There’s been several ways I’ve had to do it especially with the sanctions in place, it’s tricky. Currently, I make a transfer to a friend of her mom in Kazakhstan and he then transfers to her without sanction issues.

 

[testboner]

Wow, she is a beauty! You are a lucky soul my friend.

Thank you HM,
She has her mom’s looks. I’m ugly!

 

[fasttwitch]

Hey FT,

Thank you, she’s a pretty girl, and super sweet and genuine, very caring, not pretentious.
Yeah Bro, during the Umass days I made a couple 3 month visits over there. She was born in and lived in St Petersburg up until 3 years ago when she and her mom moved to Sevastopol, Crimea for a better climate on the Black Sea. Now of course however, the US is helping the nazi Uke’s to strike there on occasion, but so far they’ve been safe from the areas typically attacked.
St Pete has its nice areas and vibes, but if I were to relocate to Russia it would be Moscow.

I send them money every month. There’s been several ways I’ve had to do it especially with the sanctions in place, it’s tricky. Currently, I make a transfer to a friend of her mom in Kazakhstan and he then transfers to her without sanction issues.

Ah, I see. I wondered how money was getting there. I noticed a Turkish service was operational too.

What I do now to help my Russian friends is kind of convoluted. I buy Likee diamonds, Likee is a Tiktok clone. I send the Likee diamonds to their accounts. They can then convert the diamonds to Rubles. But man, it is expensive. I lose about 1/2 my cash. I spent about $7,000 dollars in the last year to send my Russian friends the equivalent of about $3000-4000 dollars.

Yeah.. the US deep state is trying to weaken Russian. This whole fight has nothing to do with the US wanting Ukraine to succeed. It's all draining the Russian federation of young men and resources. The US is using Ukrainians as cannon fodder. The US wants a fragmented Russia that is weaker and easier to control. So we can exploit their resources.

Glad your daughter is well, though. Nice to see an update!