October 19, 2022

Sunrise — 7:04.

IMG_3466

62 comments:

Achilles said...

“Having children is why you’re worried about your price for gas. It’s why you’re concerned about how much food costs. For women, this is not a reductive issue. You can’t divorce being forced to carry an unwanted pregnancy from the economic realities of having a child.”

-Stacy Abrams

wendybar said...

Now Progressives want to ruin Hockey for their FAKE diversity hoax. WHEN are they going to whiten the NBA?? If you really believe in diversity....What's next?? Transgenders taking the place of the best players??

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/10/nhl-apologizes-84-white-workforce-launches-initiative-increase-diversity/

wendybar said...

Vote for Mandela Barnes if YOU too are with the Mullahs in Iran!! Fanboy of REAL terrorists...just like Barack Obama. https://twitchy.com/sarahd-313035/2022/10/19/looks-like-wisconsin-dem-senate-candidate-mandela-barnes-forgot-to-delete-some-highly-problematic-tweets/

tim in vermont said...

In 2005 at his State of the Union that: “First and foremost it is worth acknowledging that the demise of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century,” Putin said. “As for the Russian people, it became a genuine tragedy. Tens of millions of our fellow citizens and countrymen found themselves beyond the fringes of Russian territory."

From this wildswan declares: "It’s clear he wants to re-establish Russian hegemony within the space of the former Soviet Union." Then uses admitted master of coups, John Bolten as authority for this mind reading.

I don't see anything like that in his words, I see that he is talking about the enclaves of Russians who got caught outside of Russia in the collapse of the Soviet Union, and you can parse his words, as spoken, however you want, but you can't get anymore than that without adding your own thoughts of what he "must be thinking."

Kruschev was a Ukrainian, and he awarded Crimea to Ukraine without so much as a by-your-leave from the people there, who had no historical connection to Ukraine. The Russian speaking enclaves in the east of Ukraine also fall under this category, but, Putin was quite happy to settle for autonomy, which Ukraine has attempted to deny by force of arms.

I have a saying that whenever somebody says "clearly," they are about to make an unsupported leap in logic, which you did.

tim in vermont said...

When you imagine that you know what Putin is "really thinking," you should take into account that your mind has been poisoned against him for six years of non stop propaganda, which you know is complete bullshit, when it comes to his connection to Trump, anyway.

One of the things they have managed with their propaganda is to make any suggestion by a Trump supporter, like myself, that Putin is no America's problem, an open invitation to smears of disloyalty to the United States. Guess what? We were not and are not at war with Russia, and America has nothing to lose if Russia wins, except for the dashed plans of neocons like Bolton.

Have you ever notices how they always call Putin "paranoid"? Who is really paranoid? Putin? Or neocons like Bolton who can't sleep at night until every possible rival to American hegemony has been crushed? It's the US that wants a "unipolar" world, Xi and Putin want a multipolar world. A unipolar world render all countries vassal to the US, only a truly paranoid person could beleive that that is the only way we can safely live. They always accuse the other side of whatever it is that they are.

Curious George said...

It's nice to have some sun, these constant battleship grey skies Wisconsin has starting about now get old. I'll take sun, even if it also means the 30F we had at 7AM here in Milwaukee.

Howard said...

Is there ever a scab that you people don't pick over and over again until it becomes pus filled and putrefied.

Dr Weevil said...

'tim in vermont':
Please stop repeating your filthy lies. Ukraine's claim to Crimea and the Donbas has nothing to do with Kruschev. Crimea and the separate jurisdiction of Sevastapol voted to join Ukraine when the USSR broke up in 1991, by 53% and 57% respectively. The vote in Luhansk and Donetsk was 83%. Russia confirmed the claim in the Budapest negotiations.

And Crimea only had an ethnic-Russian majority because Stalin deported most of the original inhabitants, the Crimean Tatars, to Siberia - those he didn't murder - and shipped in hundreds of thousands of Russians to replace them. (He did the latter to the Baltic countries, too, and they're still suffering the effects: a few months ago, a middle-aged ethnic-Russian Latvian was filmed cursing and threatening a little Latvian-Latvian boy for daring to wave a Latvian flag on the main square in the center of the capital of Latvia. Ethnic Russians in the former subject 'republics' of the USSR often act like total assholes, as if they still owned all 15.)

If Putin were only interested in the enclaves of Russians inside Ukraine, (a) he wouldn't have annexed Kherson and Zaporizhzhia along with the other 3, or declared martial law, so he can now draft ethnic Ukrainians in all 5 provinces and make them shoot at their fellow Ukrainians or be shot themselves (that's a war crime), (b) he could offer to swap some of the majority Ukrainian areas inside Russia - I've read that these include Belgorod to the north and much of the Kuban across the Kerch bridge. Zelenskyy has never even suggested that Ukraine has any claim whatever to any part of Russia, even if it's full of ethnic Ukrainians. Why should Putin have any claim the other way?

Heywood Rice said...

We were not and are not at war with Russia, and America has nothing to lose if Russia wins...

Ok, now do Taiwan

Beasts of England said...

Ron DeSantis and his administration have responded so well to a Category 3/4 hurricane a mere three weeks ago that it’s evaporated from the media cycle.

Jim at said...

It is to laugh. Talk about proving their point.

https://komonews.com/news/local/city-of-prosser-takes-down-city-hall-halloween-display-after-multiple-complaints#

Josephbleau said...

"Kruschev was a Ukrainian, and he awarded Crimea to Ukraine without so much as a by-your-leave from the people there, who had no historical connection to Ukraine."

Ignoring for a moment the wishes of the people of various areas, Kruschev was an absolute dictator who had life or death over over everyone in the Soviet Union under the law of the land. It was, without question, a legitimate act under Soviet Law to re-district Ukraine to include Crimea. There was no rebellion at the time to reverse the action. No one had standing to sue.

Are we going to go over every legal act of the Soviet Union since 1917 and litigate a new outcome based on modern sensibilities? Why don't we start first with the ancient Romans? or the Cave Men.

Gospace said...

Had a prescription refilled at the pharmacy yesterday. A whole family of 4 was there dutifully getting the new and useless bi-valent booster. Had a chance to open up a conversation with dad. He’s a former navy nuke electronics tech. Got out with 9years in rather than taking promotion to Chief. Working at our local nuke power plant. I I’m a retired non-nuke machinists mate Chief.

So I know it’s not possible that he’s stupid. But ignorance and intelligence seems to coexist in a lot of people with regards to the dreaded covid.

Looking at the numbers, and it’s all about numbers, I fear the worst case scenario involving the vaccine is happening. All cause mortality is still above historical numbers, and it’s not from people dying of the dreaded covid. And it’s in all age groups in highly vaxxed countries, not just the elderly.

pacwest said...

@ tim
First, I wish we hadn't of taken the route we did in Ukraine, but since we've went this far an extraction would be difficult. Best case is a settlement that includes Russia's access to the Black Sea, and no NATO in Ukraine imo. I don't see much progress or even willingness from any of the parties that regard.

A couple of flaws in your comments that I see. Your critisizm of wildswan's interpretation of Putin's thought process is followed by your own interpretation of his thought process. I'd be more likely to agree with wildswan based on various past statements and actions of Putin. If you think he's just in Ukraine to free certain enclaves of Russian loyalists how do you explain his military operations from the beginning of the invasion? His goal was obvious. Complete annexation. Not conclusive of wildswan's opinion, but leans towards that interpretation.

Xi and Putin want a multipolar world.
China most definitely wants a unipolar world and is willing to play the long game to get it. All of their foreign policy and economic power is geared towards that end. It's a stated goal.

Drago said...

Howard: "Is there ever a scab that you people don't pick over and over again until it be9comes pus filled and putrefied."

Shorter Howard: please stop pointing out all the undeniable New Soviet Democratical failures!

I suspect few will take Howard's plaintive plea to heart.

Humperdink said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
n.n said...

"Kruschev was a Ukrainian, and he awarded Crimea to Ukraine without so much as a by-your-leave from the people there, who had no historical connection to Ukraine."

Regardless of historical milestones, the legitimacy of the regime(s) in Kiev was betrayed with the violent deposition of the EU-certified democratically elected government. The Crimeans were denied services, assaulted, and Russia had legal tile and a compelling interest to share responsibility with the Ukrainians. Something they lacked in other regions, which explains their late RSVP to an invitation.

wildswan said...

Tim in Vermont said
"I see that he is talking about the enclaves of Russians who got caught outside of Russia in the collapse of the Soviet Union, and you [Wild Swan] can parse his words, as spoken, however you want, but you can't get anymore than that without adding your own thoughts of what he "must be thinking."

I quoted Putin's 2005 State of Union address* and then Putin's recent (2022) annexation speech**, arguing that one sheds light on the other. In 2022 Putin speaks of being "called [to a] battlefield ... for great historical Russia" in the context of the Ukraine war, so "battlefield" is not a metaphor.* And "great historical Russia" in Putin's mind certainly includes the whole of Ukraine. So I don't think I was putting words in his mouth.

I included the John Bolton quote*** just to show that my interpretation of Putin's intentions was widespread.

*Putin in 2005:
“First and foremost it is worth acknowledging that the demise of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century,” Putin said. “As for the Russian people, it became a genuine tragedy. Tens of millions of our fellow citizens and countrymen found themselves beyond the fringes of Russian territory.

**Putin in 2022
“The battlefield to which fate and history have called us is the battlefield for our people, for great historical Russia, for future generations, our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.”

***Bolton 2014
"It’s clear he [Putin] wants to re-establish Russian hegemony within the space of the former Soviet Union. Ukraine is the biggest prize, that’s what he’s after. The occupation of the Crimea is a step in that direction."

Bender said...

Comrade Timeyevich just gets more and more absurd, doesn't he?

n.n said...

There are transnational precedents for Russia to take control of Ukraine: South Africa, Libya, Afghanistan, Serbia, Afghanistan, Tibet, etc.; but, Western and Eastern precedents do not seem to motivate their limited response to the planned change of governance and its aftermath.

Carol said...

Thank you, Dr. Gospace. I know when I need medical advice, I seek out...Dr. Gospace. Every time.

hawkeyedjb said...

Beasts of England said...
"Ron DeSantis and his administration have responded so well to a Category 3/4 hurricane a mere three weeks ago that it’s evaporated from the media cycle."

Reporters and reporterettes hardest hit.

tim in vermont said...

"our critisizm of wildswan's interpretation of Putin's thought process is followed by your own interpretation of his thought process."

I interpreted his words. Show me where I didn't. So far his words have comported with his actions..

"His goal was obvious"

There is that "clearly" again, a sure sign that a logical step is being skipped on the way to a conclusion.

"Comrade Timeyevich just gets more and more absurd, doesn't he?"

Remember that scene in the movie 1984 where Winston Smith's friend is talking to him over lunch, repeating Party propaganda he heard on the TellScreen knowingly, as if he were sharing some deep insight?

Narr said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Narr said...

Come on, admit it.

Not even the most pro-life and anti-abortion among us can be anything but relieved that Stacey Abrams is childless. If she ever did get knocked up, I'd happily pitch in to have it fixed.

[Blogger is being an ass. Apologies [etc.]]

Dr Weevil said...

Poor 'tim in vermont' keeps insisting that the people of the Donbass are all ethnic Russians who want to join Russia. That appears to be false. Here is a Russian war-correspondent complaining that all the young men in Lisichansk (except "those we killed") left with the Ukrainian army when the Russian army captured the town, and the people left behind curse him behind his back. Yes, it's in Donbass and only the elderly and ignorant support Russia.

As for 'why should we care? it's none of our business', some of us thought "Never again" was an ideal worth pursuing. Of course, there have been quite a few genocidal massacres and other horrors that the U.S. was not physically able to prevent, in Tibet, Cambodia, Chechnya, and the Uighurs right now in Xinjiang. Others we could surely have done something to help, but didn't or don't: the Tutsis in Rwanda, the women of Iran right now.

However, when no troops are needed to stop genocidal aggression, only some military supplies (mostly surplus) and a relatively small amount of money to keep Ukraine's economy from collapsing while so much of their population is under occupation, refugees in exile, or serving in the military, it would be contemptible to tell them to submit to slavery and lick the hand of Putin.

tim in vermont said...

"Ok, now do Taiwan"

No. Do you think we should be keeping our powder dry for that one. BTW, all of the current problems there are due to Joe Biden's moronic gaffes.

DW, Crimea voted for autonomy in its referendum, overwhelmingly. They created the independent Republic of Crimea, a year later, Ukraine, next door, and with a far larger army, demanded that they insert into their constitution that they were part of Ukraine, which they did. In 1995 Ukraine nullified Crimea's constitution completely, sent in soldiers and arrested leaders, and annexed it. From 1995 to 2014 Crimea was ruled out of Kiev, the rest of the time since the 18th century, Crimea was ruled out of Moscow, except for about five years of independence. In 2014, Russia took Crimea without firing a shot, and it's leaders simply became part of the Russian government, and there has been no popular uprisings to suggest that the Crimeans have been unhappy. Ukraine had zero respect for Crimea's vote for autonomy, BTW.

These are the facts. It's not worth us getting into a hot war with Russia, which is what is coming if we keep escalating, to return Ukraine to those 19 years of glory when they ruled over Crimea.

Mark said...

Wendybar, you mean vote for the guy who promised to retire this year?

Whatever happened to "drain the swamp"?
Johnson is the very swamp he said he was going to drain.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Something I hadn't noticed by native English speakers.

Link to short video

The weak form, is so weak, we are probably adding them in our minds because these words belong there? I guess.

pacwest said...

There is that "clearly" again, a sure sign that a logical step is being skipped on the way to a conclusion.

Either you think his assault on Kiev was a feint or you think his intention was to occupy Ukraine by a quick turn of the government. Name me a third option. Is that the logical step you were looking for?

Bender said...

How much more after this Sudetenland argument will it take before folks get it?

n.n said...

relieved that Stacey Abrams is childless.

Not necessarily. Science is incapable of discerning origin and expression. Her child may be the diametric opposite of her in principle. Then there is the father, who contributes his own nuance to the child's intrinsic bias.

Gospace said...

Carol said...
Thank you, Dr. Gospace. I know when I need medical advice, I seek out...Dr. Gospace. Every time.


Possibly the worst attempt at sarcasm I've ever seen in a blog comment section.

Want medical advice? Here it is:

Get you Vitamin D blood level tested, and if it isn't around the 50 ng/ml mark- start supplementing to make it so. Hundreds of studies support that. The NIH says doctors dshouldn't test Vitamin D blood level unless patient is showing clinical signs of Vitamin D deficiency- which means they're already really sick. Further, studies show 40% of the US population (depending on who did the study, some more, some less, but that's the most common figure) are deficinet in Vitamin D. Especially blacks and the obese- who suffer more from covid. Numbers, it's all about numbers. And the NIH and CDC don't recommend testing... They're NOT looking out for ypur health. You're the only one responsible for doing that.

Nasal irrigation, every day. For allergies if you have them- it works - and mitigation of viral diseases. My solution- 1 tsp uniodized salt, 1 tsp xylitol, 1 tsp erythritol, 1/2 tsp baking soda, per pint of warm water. In a surevey done by Steve Kirsch of people who haven't contracted covid and haven't had the vaccination that NUMBERS say doesn't work, Vitamin D blood level and nasal irrigation were the two of the most mentioned items. Supplement use varied, we all seem to be taking different ones in different amounts.

Don't like even the idea of nasal irrigation? Nasal sprays. There are at least 5 different formulations that have proved effective against the dreaded covid- and other viral diseases. One is Xlear- primary active ingedient- xylitol, same as in my mix. Another is a spray with povidine-iodine mixture. Available on Amazon through the Althouse portal.And if you look up povidine iodine nasal spray you'll see nasal swabs with the mixture and other antiseptics. There are several other mixtures available that work in a nasal spray as well as a swab.

Supplements- start studying them. They seriously make a difference. Every body reacts differerntly to supplements- just as they do to painkillers and other drugs. You have to decide what's best for you. One of the most common recommendations I see is just pop 5000 IU Vitamin D daily. That would throw me into Vitamin D intoxication within 6 months to a year. 2000 IU over and above what's in a standard multivitamin and a gallon of whole milk a week keep my level right around that 50 ng/ml mark.

If you're overweight to the point of obesity, get off your fat ass and lose weight. Everone I know who has succssfully lost excess weight and kept it off has told me the same story- they decided on day they were tired of being fat, and started exercising and modifying their diet to lose it.



Lem the artificially intelligent said...

"It is now predicted that CDC is now almost certain to add the Covid shots to its ‘Childhood Vaccines Schedule’ tomorrow. This means that public schools, who all use this schedule, will now be able to mandate ‘vaccines’ in order for children to attend public school."

Oh boy.

gadfly said...

Josephbleau said...
Kruschev was a Ukrainian, and he awarded Crimea to Ukraine.

Actually, Nikita Khrushchev was born in western Russia in 1894 in a village in western Russia. In 1948 and 1949 he served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Ukraine (Bolsheviks) - which was a Russian entity that ruled over Ukraine.

In 1954, as Dictator of the Soviet Union, he made this grand gesture of turning over Crimea to Ukraine - which simply meant that the Communist Party of Ukraine was put in charge. So nothing really changed until the Soviet Union was dissolved by Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev in 1991 into 15 countries which included Ukraine but Crimea didn't have a government organization to fall back on.

Mutaman said...

99% of federal indictments end in convictions. Unless you're name is John Durham.

Mutaman said...

Gospace said...



" Looking at the numbers, and it’s all about numbers, I fear the worst case scenario involving the vaccine is happening. All cause mortality is still above historical numbers, and it’s not from people dying of the dreaded covid. And it’s in all age groups in highly vaxxed countries, not just the elderly."

Typical Know Nothing on the Althouse blog- Claims the "numbers" support his dopey statement, but fails to link or otherwise document those numbers. Where were these people educated?

Mutaman said...


Blogger Carol said...

" Thank you, Dr. Gospace. I know when I need medical advice, I seek out...Dr. Gospace. Every time."

I seek out my own personal MD. I know that's sort of wierd around here but that's the kind of guy I am.

tim in vermont said...

"Is that the logical step you were looking for?"

So you do see that there was an unresolved factor that you skipped over. We don't know whether it was a feint or not, and if it was real, if it wasn't just a way to force a quick surrender to force Zelensky to agree to Putin's demands, which specifically did not include the annexation of the Ukrainian part of Ukraine. I have a feeling that this has changed, and that Russia is planning to take Odessa now, given the risk to the Black Sea fleet from NATO weapons in the hands of Ukrainian ultra-nationalists, we will call them, since "nazi" seems to trigger you guys, weapons which are being poured in. I am just speculating, but I think Odessa's fate was sealed with the sinking of the Moskva.

" It was, without question, a legitimate act under Soviet Law to re-district Ukraine to include Crimea."

It's not our place to enforce Soviet law or the diktats of an absolute ruler. This is another fight that is none of our business.

wendybar said...

Mark said...
Wendybar, you mean vote for the guy who promised to retire this year?

Whatever happened to "drain the swamp"?
Johnson is the very swamp he said he was going to drain.

10/19/22, 10:04 PM

When you have a choice between the guy who promised to retire, and the guy running against him is an Anti Semite Commie, you choose the lesser of two evils. Not the guy who praises the Ayatollah and the biggest Anti Semite in America, Louis Farrakhan. Don't be dumb all your life.

gilbar said...

Beasts of England said...
Ron DeSantis and his administration have responded so well to a Category 3/4 hurricane a mere three weeks ago that it’s evaporated from the media cycle.

If it weren't for Foxnews, we'd be living in darkness
Florida Gov. DeSantis announces Sanibel Causeway reopening a week ahead of schedule

Meanwhile, on the left coast..
San Francisco building single public toilet that will cost $1.7 million and won't be completed until 2025

wendybar said...

President Trump embarrasses the "elites" precisely because he is willing to expose them for who they really are.

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2022/10/trump_embarrasses_the_elites.html

wendybar said...

Mutaman said...
99% of federal indictments end in convictions. Unless you're name is John Durham.

10/20/22, 2:19 AM

You haven't been paying attention. DC courts never convict the Progressives because they all think alike. DC is a toilet bowl, and the Progressives that hate America are the turds. We keep trying to flush them away, but DC likes their smelly toilet.

Jefferson's Revenge said...

I look at the current group of D candidates, Fetterman, Abrams, ORourke, Barnes etc and get very scared. I try to take a step back and be objective. It is a sincere attempt to see them as at least 45% of the electorate see them.

It is frightening to me that this group has mainstream supporters. I acknowledge that Trump had the same effect on those on the left but Trump was one person. The D’s have an entire slate of candidates that, if looked at through a clear lens, seem to be totally unqualified for any responsible job. I wouldn’t let any of these people park my car.

Yet they have significant support. One candidate, like Trump, can be an accident. Multiple candidates like these represent a movement.

How can anyone in their right mind see maturity and wisdom in that group of people? To feel comfortable about this country’s future I will need to see a massive R wave. It’s not just the policies. It’s also the people. What have any of them done in their lives to make anyone comfortable with them competently governing?

wendybar said...

And the FBI is getting more and more corrupt every day that they get away with their corruption in DC courts.

https://nypost.com/2022/10/19/its-been-two-years-since-51-intelligence-agents-interfered-with-an-election-they-still-wont-apologize/

pacwest said...

So you do see that there was an unresolved factor that you skipped over. We don't know whether it was a feint or not...

No, I just assumed that assigning 40% of his forces towards the seat of government, given his past patterns and statements made it obvious. We can't be sure that the moon isn't made of green cheese either since we haven't checked the entire surface, but I'm not going to write an essay detailing every "logical step" I make in coming to my conclusions in a blog comment.

No one knows the mind of Putin in the sense you are arguing, with the possible exception of the ones who have accidentally fallen out of windows, so I can't say with absolute certainty what his full intentions were anymore than you or wildswan can. But wildswan is making a much stronger case than you are.

Add to this that Biden pretty much gave Putin the green light to make incursions into the so called Russian enclaves that you say were his only goal yet he chose to make his major thrust the seat of government. A strategy that has worked in past conquests. I think it is safe to make some conclusions from that.

Given all of that, you and I are in agreement that the Biden/Obama administration have made yet another foreign policy blunder in their response to Putin's invasion.

wendybar said...

Homeless Americans see how the Illegals are a priority over them in NYC. This is how progressives treat citizens vs illegals. Get used to it. The illegals are treated better because the Progressives are wooing them to become progressive voters. Homeless should come through the southern border and claim they need amnesty. https://nypost.com/2022/10/19/randalls-island-shelter-residents-outraged-over-plush-migrant-tents/

rhhardin said...

I'm surprised that the Dell printer that came free with a cheap 2005 Dell laptop works, for a sudden need to print a website form for the government. It doesn't work with any current computer but it does with the original Dell computer, which I had retired many years ago after disk drive failure warnings, but it still turns on.

It's an ink-jet printer, so I suppose that's the last use it will ever have. The ink cartridges clog fast after they've been used. Do laser printers fare better over years of non-use?

Jersey Fled said...

"Blogger Mutaman said...
99% of federal indictments end in convictions. Unless you're name is John Durham."

What's the number in DC?

Inga said...

“Looking at the numbers, and it’s all about numbers, I fear the worst case scenario involving the vaccine is happening. All cause mortality is still above historical numbers, and it’s not from people dying of the dreaded covid. And it’s in all age groups in highly vaxxed countries, not just the elderly.”

Doesn’t it dawn on you that excess deaths could be attributed to after affects of millions of people having had Covid,and survived it, Long Covid, insults to the immune system, and lord only knows what else and not the vaccine? Bad science and conspiracy theories won’t explain excess deaths.

Inga said...

“What have any of them done in their lives to make anyone comfortable with them competently governing?”

Ron Johnson inspires such confidence! The man is a laughing stock. The FBI is out to get him too.

tim in vermont said...

I know personally three people who seem to have been affected more than normal by Covid, two of whom have been diagnosed with long COVID, and one who had it six weeks ago and has been sick with one thing or another since she recovered. All three are self starting, high energy, and successful entrepreneurs. I am guessing that they all chose to “plow through” the original infection. Or it’s something else.

wendybar said...

Ron Johnson inspires such confidence! The man is a laughing stock. The FBI is out to get him too.

10/20/22, 8:21 AM

So Inga, you are okay with Bidens Gestapo going after anybody who doesn't tow the Progressive line?? You really ARE what you claim Trump supporters are. Please take a good long look at yourself in the mirror.

Readering said...

Jersey Fled, you mean E.D. Va.?

wildswan said...

Some More Background on Putin's Thinking
In the late 1990's when the Soviet Union collapsed Clinton, the Russians and the Europeans guaranteed the Crimea to Ukraine in exchange for Ukraine giving up its nuclear weapons. This was the Budapest Memorandum. In 2014 Russia, under Putin, seized Crimea without the US or the Europeans doing anything except flap about in the UN. Bill Clinton said at the time: "If he wants to keep pushing the envelope and going in and out of Eastern Ukraine, I don't know what's going to happen. It's a very dangerous situation and it's unnecessary, and it's going to in the end hurt Russia more than it helps Russia." But he didn't call for action or for the Budapest Memorandum to be enforced.
So, I'd say Putin thought he could keep grabbing bits of other countries here and there and no one would act.

Narr said...

n.n., I still wouldn't want to chance it.

farmgirl said...

Brought my very pregnant daughter-in-law to an anesthesiologist appointment in Burlington yesterday. In case she needs one- she’s got a pacemaker… we got onto the elevator- crowded- and the woman pressing the buttons goes: whoa, crowed in here. Everyone boosted?

No one answered.

At least 2of us have never gotten the “vaccine”.

Michael K said...

Inga hasn't looked in a mirror in years.

Michael K said...

insults to the immune system, and lord only knows what else and not the vaccine? Bad science and conspiracy theories won’t explain excess deaths.

The vaccine has already produced excess deaths. Do some reading outside your left wing bubble.

Christopher B said...

Cry harder, Inga

In just a matter of two months, Democrats went from expecting to knock off the unpopular GOP incumbent, US Sen. Ron Johnson, to seeing their party’s nominee, Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, scrambling to catch up.

Already, the finger pointing has begun.

(CNN.com, H/T AofSHQ)

Andy Loduha, Republican party chairman here in Oneida County, said Barnes doesn’t understand the economic issues that have come to the forefront of the race.

“I think abortion is another example of how the Democrats don’t really have anything to run on,” said Loduha. “They’re running on emotional issues like abortion, but they don’t want to try to touch inflation, crime, drugs.”

...

To get there, Barnes will be campaigning next week in Milwaukee with former President Barack Obama, in a bid to energize voters. But there are no plans yet to campaign with the current President, Joe Biden, whose unpopularity remains a liability here.

walter said...

Ingot,
The timeline of those increased deaths, especially so in young healthy cohort, track curiously with introduction of the jab.
Very curious.

walter said...

I predict Barnes will get far more votes than Scott Walker.