Althouse: Sunrise — 6:41, 6:42, 6:45.

১৮ সেপ্টেম্বর, ২০২৩

Sunrise — 6:41, 6:42, 6:45.

৫৭টি মন্তব্য:

Mark বলেছেন...: Musk floated the idea of a paywall for Twitter today. 'Free' speech getting pricey, at least for US users.

Doubt Indian or Chinese users will pay the same prices.; ১৮/৯/২৩, ৭:৪২ PM
Jaq বলেছেন...: I'm talking about your "no evidence at all" quote.

Evidence includes:

an FBI source quoting Mykola Zlochevsky saying, “Five million to pay one Biden, and five million to another Biden," Hunter Biden's concordant note to daughter Naomi about how "unlike pop I won't make you give me half your salary,"

James Gilliar's quote about 10% to the "big guy,"
the use of pseudonyms in emails to Hunter,
the list of shell companies that came out of IRS whistleblower testimony,
the Devon Archer testimony about phone calls and Joe meeting with the likes of Vadim Pozharsky,
the tapes of Petro Poroshenko agreeing to fire Viktor Shokin as he insists, "We don't have any information about him doing something wrong," and many other things.

You may not find all this convincing, but you can't call it "no evidence at all."

https://twitter.com/mtaibbi/status/1703904618344853671

As what is already known becomes widely known, the Dems will dump Biden. Not yet, but they will, as Biden's loss of public support induces desperation in the DNC. For now we have the press lying to everybody claiming that there is "no evidence," and for now, enough people are believing it, since believing it is easier than checking it out for oneself.; ১৮/৯/২৩, ৭:৪৭ PM
Sydney বলেছেন...: Serious question: Why does Fetterman dress the way he does?; ১৮/৯/২৩, ৭:৫৮ PM
Dave Begley বলেছেন...: 1. Saw a tweet about a rape and horrible beating in Downtown Madison. Woman barely lived. $1m bail.

2. Jesse Watters laid out the evidence tonight about how the Bidens have been paid in diamonds. I’ve been writing that here for some time now. Some company that the Bidens did business with bought $223m in diamonds.

The bribery is clear and the numbers are huge.; ১৮/৯/২৩, ৮:০৬ PM
Dave Begley বলেছেন...: Checked the two (or is it one?) newspapers in Madison. Terrible. Just like the OWH.

It really is amazing and frightening. Substantial credible evidence that Joe Biden has been bribed and the MSM ignores it. But Trump’s documents! And phone calls!

We’re fucked.; ১৮/৯/২৩, ৮:২১ PM
Clyde বলেছেন...: Tomorrow is the 50th anniversary of the passing of Gram Parsons at the age of 26. He was a very influential figure in the evolution of country rock in his roles with The Byrds and The Flying Burrito Brothers. Here's one of the songs off his solo albums, with Emmylou Harris. "Cash on the Barrelhead" was written by The Louvin Brothers, but Parsons co-wrote "Hickory Wind."

Medley Live from Northern Quebec (A) Cash on the Barrelhead (B) Hickory Wind; ১৮/৯/২৩, ৮:৫১ PM
farmgirl বলেছেন...: There’s something very cool about the bottom picture.; ১৮/৯/২৩, ৯:১২ PM
Jamie বলেছেন...: One of my most frequent recurring dreams is that I'm in my own house, and I discover a sort of mezzanine level that is completely unfamiliar to me. At the same time, I know that I've always known about it.

Today I was listening to Jonathan Haidt talking about his first LSD experience. He said it was as if he'd been living in and exploring this beautiful mansion all his life, and then suddenly God ("well, not really 'God,' you understand") rips a hole in the roof, scoops him up, and takes him whirling through the universe. God says, "You thought that was existence? This is existence." Immediately I thought of my (completely non-acid-induced) dream.; ১৮/৯/২৩, ৯:১৬ PM
Drago বলেছেন...: Show of hands: how many people suspect Mittens Romney, who is still suffering from withdrawal after not being able to ship another 100,000 American jobs overseas and is angry over Candy Crowley never sending him a thank you card for his surrender to her on live tv, is upset that after all the support he gave to Black Lives Matter (in a "severely conservative" march with them sort of way) that they never returned the favor to him with a big send off party?

Here's hoping Mike Lee enjoyed the retirement announcement.; ১৮/৯/২৩, ১০:২২ PM
madAsHell বলেছেন...: “Serious question: Why does Fetterman dress the way he does?“

Because he’s a mentally challenged slob?

I’m coming to believe.......we ain’t electing the best, and brightest. Maxine Waters is just a tv sound bite for stupid women. AOC the same. I’m thinking there’s more voter fraud than we can imagine,; ১৮/৯/২৩, ১১:৪৯ PM
chickelit বলেছেন...: Sydney asked “Serious question: Why does Fetterman dress the way he does?”
Answer: Because he can and because PA voters love his mentality.; ১৯/৯/২৩, ১২:০৬ AM
gadfly বলেছেন...: Dave Begley: Surely you know that Jesse Watters and Fox News do not tell the truth. The lawsuits keep piling up and the documentation is already written up for the courts. The latest to file suit are Fox shareholders.

Madison is liberal, so the opinions from The Wisconsin State Journal and The Capitol Times follow suit but they don't print conspiracy theories of any ilk as best that I can recall.; ১৯/৯/২৩, ১২:১১ AM
PJ বলেছেন...: @Clyde - Why ain’t there one lonely horn with one sad note to play?; ১৯/৯/২৩, ১২:৪২ AM
Gospace বলেছেন...: I wrote not one, but two, two whole entire checks today, the first time in over a decade that I've done that. One to a local car repair shop- the 4% - or higher depending on card - credit card fees cuts into his margin. It's actually more expensive for the bank to handle paper checks- but they don't charge a fee for it...

I then went to a local bank to pay my school taxes. Most everything else governmental I do online now, even most DMV stuff. School taxes includes library tax. Twice a year local taxes. About 6 months apart. Property tax time, though both are based on property values, includes local government costs, primarily road maintenance- like plowing. Also includes fire district taxes, and if you live in one of the sewer districts or lighting districts, taxes for that. I'm out in the country- no street lights, no sewers. There's no sewage treatment plant in town. Two giant septic tanks, one on either side of the canal, that the sewers drain into. But anyhow, I pay by check after discovering that the bank charges me a bank fee of $6.00 to do it by debit transfer... Again, cheaper for them to handle- WTF? As for credit cards, I wonder how they can get away with charging percentage rather then a flat fee. Costs them exactly the same to process thousands of dollars as it does ten dollars- and they make their money on interest charges in any event.

So in the bank they were playing a country music station. I don't ever play country music stations- but my wife does. And they were talking about Maren Morris- I like some of her songs. Haven't heard the others, so I may or may not like them. Said she announced she was leaving country music. And the DJ said it was over a feud with Jason Aldean- who I've heard of (read about_ but never heard. And he said basically good riddance, country music existed before Maren Morris and will continue to exist after her. Pretty much the story of life- you think you're irreplaceable, or someone else, but the day after they leave or die- or you leave or die- the work continues on.

I not only don't play country music stations, I don't play any radio stations- not even AM since Rush departed. Well, he was actually kind of irreplaceable, he was definitely one of a kind. I stream Amazon. Pay for Sirius XM- which my wife has on all the time in her car, and turns on in my car if she's in it. I think it's Sirius- it comes out automatically like so many of my bills. Amazon for a while had both an upvote and a downvote button, and was rapidly learning I didn't care about the genre, as long as it was a female singer, group, or mixed group with female vocalist. They got rid of the downvote button, and apparently don't notice I immediately fast forward any song that starts with a male voice, and like only those with female vocalists. And consistently gives me male COUNTRY singers, who I particularly detest. Seems most country female vocalists no longer have a country twang- but the males do. Female country today is pretty much crossover music- pop or country interchangeably.

That's my non-political contribution to the open thread for tonight.; ১৯/৯/২৩, ১২:৪৪ AM
Lem Vibe Bandit বলেছেন...: X I wish I had thought up: Arresting people for saying our elections are rigged, sure seems like a terrible way to convince people our elections aren’t rigged.

D’oh!; ১৯/৯/২৩, ১২:৫৪ AM
Kate বলেছেন...: I wasn't much interested in Tucker's interview with Trump during the first debate, but if Trump is speaking to UAW strikers in Detroit during the second, that I want to see. I don't know how many Americans realize what Biden and the Left have been doing to the auto industry.; ১৯/৯/২৩, ৩:০২ AM
Kevin বলেছেন...: Why does Fetterman dress the way he does?

Because Chuck Schumer enables it.; ১৯/৯/২৩, ৩:১৫ AM
MadTownGuy বলেছেন...: Bidenomics strikes again: Real household income suffers biggest drop since Great Recession

"Nominally, households earned more money in 2022 than they did in 2021. But thanks to inflation caused by Bidenomics, real household income (that is, income adjusted for inflation) not only fell, but fell by an amount not seen since the Great Recession.

According to Census Bureau numbers released Tuesday, median household income fell from $76,330 in 2021 to $74,580 in 2022, a decline of 2.3%. This is the biggest drop in real household income since 2010, when it fell 2.6%. Even at the height of the pandemic, when millions of people couldn’t work, real income only fell 2.2%.

The decline in real income was driven entirely by near-record-high inflation. According to the Census Bureau, inflation rose 7.8% between 2021 and 2022, which was the largest inflation increase since 1981.

President Joe Biden used to try and blame Russian President Vladimir Putin for the inflation America is suffering through, but any honest Democrat, even those who worked for President Barack Obama, will tell you that Biden is to blame.

Before Biden’s first trillion-dollar spending law was even passed, National Economic Council Director Larry Summers warned, “Macroeconomic stimulus on a scale closer to World War II levels than normal recession levels will set off inflationary pressures of a kind we have not seen in a generation, with consequences for the value of the dollar and financial stability. … Stimulus measures of the magnitude contemplated are steps into the unknown.”"

Much more at the link.; ১৯/৯/২৩, ৩:৫৩ AM
wendybar বলেছেন...: Dave Begley said...
Checked the two (or is it one?) newspapers in Madison. Terrible. Just like the OWH.

It really is amazing and frightening. Substantial credible evidence that Joe Biden has been bribed and the MSM ignores it. But Trump’s documents! And phone calls!

We’re fucked.

9/18/23, 8:21 PM

TRUTH!!!^^^^^^; ১৯/৯/২৩, ৪:১৭ AM
wendybar বলেছেন...: "I don't know how many Americans realize what Biden and the Left have been doing to the auto industry."

I don't know how many Americans realize what Biden and the Left have been doing to AMERICA. We are the laughingstock of the world.; ১৯/৯/২৩, ৪:২১ AM
gilbar বলেছেন...: Gospace said...
I didn't care about the genre, as long as it was a female singer, group, or mixed group with female vocalist.

You should (could) try telling your amazon (or whatever) to play Sarah Jarosz, i think you'd like her; ১৯/৯/২৩, ৪:২২ AM
donald বলেছেন...: I’m heading over to New Orleans in a few minutes to visit Gram’s grave. It’s crazy the influence that he had on all the music I listen to.; ১৯/৯/২৩, ৫:১১ AM
Lem Vibe Bandit বলেছেন...: Why does Fetterman dress the way he does?

His first choice to dress as a Roman senator was voted down.; ১৯/৯/২৩, ৫:১৫ AM
BUMBLE BEE বলেছেন...: madAsHell said...

I’m thinking there’s more voter fraud than we can imagine.
Bingo! Yahtzee!
Any means necessary. ANY!; ১৯/৯/২৩, ৫:২৪ AM
BUMBLE BEE বলেছেন...: Who here thinks the SDS just went away quietly? Acorn?; ১৯/৯/২৩, ৫:২৭ AM
Clyde বলেছেন...: @ gilbar and @ Gospace

Sarah Jarosz has a new album coming out in January, and she released the first video for it a week and a half ago. Most of her music has been acoustic, but the new song has much more of a rock feel to it. I don't know if it's an outlier or if she has shifted her style a bit on the new album. Still, I love the song. It will probably end up on my end-of-year list of favorite songs of 2023, which is a pretty good trick since the album comes out January 24th.

Sarah Jarosz - Jealous Moon (Official Video); ১৯/৯/২৩, ৫:৪৩ AM
Clyde বলেছেন...: এই মন্তব্যটি লেখক দ্বারা সরানো হয়েছে।; ১৯/৯/২৩, ৫:৪৪ AM
rehajm বলেছেন...: According to the Census Bureau, inflation rose 7.8% between 2021 and 2022, which was the largest inflation increase since 1981.

BLS has altered CPI to favor reporting lower inflation than there actually is by jiggering how the goods in the index are weighted. It has been done before but they used to show old/new methodology and supply raw data so I could do all the calculations. Used to…

That economic weight on households feels heavier because it is…

Speaking of basket of goods- how much are you paying for Internet/TV/radio these days? My bill- high as ever, for less content.

Speaking of writers strike- did they time it so you won’t have anything else to watch but their propaganda in an election year?; ১৯/৯/২৩, ৫:৪৪ AM
rehajm বলেছেন...: I now write checks all the time…and hand write envelopes…and stick stamps. We’ve seen too many payee ‘errors’ to electronic withdrawals. Funny, they always favor the payee. I suspect more companies will use this neat little trick to juice their cash numbers once they figure it out. Blackrock will probably teach them…; ১৯/৯/২৩, ৫:৫৯ AM
rehajm বলেছেন...: What is Joe Biden doing to the auto industry? I haven’t heard…

Auto manufacturing tidbit of the week- China assembled 26 million autos in 2022…twice the next leading nation…; ১৯/৯/২৩, ৬:০১ AM
Humperdink বলেছেন...: Crude oil prices going up with no end in sight. It follows that gasoline prices are doing the same. Having drained the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, Biden looking around for where to get more crude. Last seen scratching his head.; ১৯/৯/২৩, ৬:০৪ AM
Jaq বলেছেন...: Of course Biden is innocent, and morally ramrod straight. We know this because anybody who accuses Biden of anything is against democracy and seeks to install an autocracy in the United States, and only Joe Biden can protect us! There is no need to look at the evidence, it's clear as day, if you oppose Joe Biden, you are a liar, and probably a thief, and a wannabe dictator.

I feel so much better now that I understand the truth. Those bank records? They mean nothing. If Joe Biden is taking millions of dollars from Ukrainian kleptocrats, the ones he installed in 2014 by an "armed coup for democracy," well, that was just Joe looking out for us. If Jesse Watters makes a claim, it's best not to look into it at all, because Jesse opposes Joe Biden, and is therefore against democracy, therefore he made it all up. The logic of it is impeccable.

All opponents of Joe Biden are liars.
Jesse Watters opposes Biden.
Jesse Watters is a liar.

modus ponens, QED

On a similar note, the latest thing appearing on X are Ukrainians claiming that Stalin started WWII, and Hitler was heroically trying to stop him. It doesn't matter that the Red Army was poorly armed, trained, or even organized at the outset, and so small that Hilter's armies drove so deeply into Russia, that they could see the minarets of Moscow before the Red Army was able to make a stand. That just proved Russia's perfidy! They played Hitler like a violin.

I am not saying that Stalin was not an evil man, he clearly was, what I am saying is that these efforts to rehabilitate Hitler by the Ukrainians is more than a little disturbing. This is the army that paints WWII era German crosses on the tanks we give them.; ১৯/৯/২৩, ৬:০৮ AM
Jaq বলেছেন...: +1 on Jamie's post.; ১৯/৯/২৩, ৬:০৯ AM
Jaq বলেছেন...: +1 on Jamie's post.; ১৯/৯/২৩, ৬:০৯ AM
Clyde বলেছেন...: @ Gospace

I also stream my music from Amazon. It's probably the best bang for the buck of anything I spend money on. I also like female vocalists, although not exclusively. Here's a list of some of my favorites, with a particular album and/or song that I really like:

The Beths - Future Me Hates Me (played the heck out of the whole album)
Allo Darlin' - Europe - "Capricornia", but the whole album is great. Probably my favorite new song I've discovered this year.

Allo Darlin' - Capricornia

Alice Howe - Circumstance - "Somebody's New Lover Now"
Molly Tuttle - Crooked Tree - "Crooked Tree"

KT Tunstall - Drastic Fantastic (Ultimate Edition) - SEARCH BY ALBUM NAME! This one doesn't show up if you just search KT Tunstall as the artist, only the regular version of the album! The Ultimate Edition has some live songs, including a cover of "Walk Like An Egyptian", and some alternate mixes as well as instrumental versions which are cool to hear, allowing you to hear the structure of the music behind the vocals, which I especially liked on "Little Favours" and "I Don't Want You Now."

Shannon McNally - The Waylon Sessions - "Black Rose"
Susanna Hoffs - Bright Light - "Time Will Show the Wiser"
Sam Phillips - Martinis & Bikinis
The Darling Buds - Pop Said
The Primitives - Lovely

Here are some where there is one particular song I really like:
Aimee Mann - "Gamma Ray"
Hazel English - "Shaking"
Nora O'Connor "Outta Space"
*Magnolia Electric Co. - "The Night Shift Lullaby"

* - Magnolia Electric Co. was Jason Molina's band and he sang lead vocals on almost everything, except this song, where Jenny Benford sang lead, and it's the one that Amazon gave me on my Discovery Mix a few weeks ago.; ১৯/৯/২৩, ৬:২৩ AM
rhhardin বলেছেন...: In Gresham Lectures the 3 year astronomy professorship of Katherine Blundell finally came to an end and astronomy lectures will be worth watching again.

Maybe they'll unwind the diversity all around now.; ১৯/৯/২৩, ৬:২৮ AM
Jaq বলেছেন...: Plus 2, I guess. It seems a little over the top, but there you have it. The gods of the intertubes have spoken.; ১৯/৯/২৩, ৬:৩১ AM
Jaq বলেছেন...: Now the rumor is that the OS of the F-35 has been leaked, since it's the same OS as a certain Airbus jetliner, it's possible, and that, children, is why all of the Marine's aircraft are grounded today. A zero day hack of a low flying F-35 leaving the base? Who knows? We will never hear what happened, and rightly so. One thing I do know is that re-using an OS for a fighter jet that cost half a trillion to develop, to save costs, seems a little short-sighted.

It reminds me of the time when the complete security plans of the Marine One helicopter were on the same computer that the user, at a defense contractor, was using BitTorrent to download movies, and it all leaked to the world, and had to be completely changed, holding up the new version for some time.; ১৯/৯/২৩, ৬:৫১ AM
Humperdink বলেছেন...: UAW demanding a 40% increase in pay. Prolly settle between a 25-30% increase. Inflation? What inflation?

I suspect the UAW brain trust will ignore the looming disaster that EV production will have on their membership. Musk is grinning. Biden not so much.; ১৯/৯/২৩, ৭:০৬ AM
Humperdink বলেছেন...: Which Democrat statesman said the following:

"... they (the Republicans) need to go hump a different leg."

A) Bill Clinton
B) Anthony Weiner
C) John Fetterman

If you guessed C, you would be right!

https://twitter.com/i/status/1703943080938807441; ১৯/৯/২৩, ৭:২৮ AM
Jamie বলেছেন...: This is a grammar question: when two clauses connected by a form of "to be" do not match in number, does the verb properly match the first, the second, or whichever one meets some criterion I don't know? I came across this situation in Duolingo and thought it was just bad translation, but now I've encountered it in other places and think maybe I've been wrong all my life.

Example: The reason for my anger [was / were] their ridiculous statements.

That's not a great example but I'm wracking my brain without success for a better one. I would always have said "was" in this example. If I reversed the clauses, I would use "were." IOW, I would match the verb to the first clause. But I swear, I've come across several examples recently in which the verb matched the second clause, and it sounds wrong to me, but (a) I cannot produce one of those examples for the life of me, and (b) they came from sources that generally use good grammar.

Any help here?; ১৯/৯/২৩, ৭:৫৬ AM
MadTownGuy বলেছেন...: Dave Begley said...

"Checked the two (or is it one?) newspapers in Madison. Terrible. Just like the OWH."

Cap Times has always been the Trotskyite voice in the local echo chamber. The State Journal was a moderate voice back in the Nineties and for a while after Y2K, but now some of us call it the State Urinal. George Hesselberg and William Wineke wrote good columns which I enjoyed even though I wasn't always on board with their views. Haven't bothered to read either paper online since they put up the paywall.; ১৯/৯/২৩, ৮:০২ AM
BG বলেছেন...: Dave Begley,

Madison Newspapers bought up surrounding small town newspapers. Not much local news anymore. I had subscribed to online only. It started out at $5.99 a month, then $7.99 a month, then I received a letter saying it was going to $17.99 a month. Oh heck no. I couldn’t cancel online; I had to call. The first gal didn’t know how to cancel online subscriptions. Finally someone came on who could. She was going through hoops trying to get me to stay. She kept lowering the price until it was back to $7.99. I asked,”How long will that last?” “Until the next price increase.” And I thought,”Go through all this again?” Nope. Not worth the aggravation just for obituaries and comics.

A local funeral director told a woman I know that she need not put her deceased husband’s obituary in the paper. They charge $200 to put in an obituary. It’s not worth it because people are canceling like crazy. The paper now reflects liberal views in a conservative county. They recently went to doubling up their print editions and mail it out three times a week rather than six.

I’ve been getting more local news from local community Facebook pages. The new “grapevine” so to speak.; ১৯/৯/২৩, ৮:০২ AM
Mike of Snoqualmie বলেছেন...: Today is "Talk like a pirate" day. Aargh! Make the scoundrel walk the plank!; ১৯/৯/২৩, ৮:০২ AM
MadTownGuy বলেছেন...: I discovered Sarah Jarosz when I heard a local group sing a Tom Waits song, "Come on up to the House." Waits' version was unlistenable, but YouTube helpfully offered Sarah's version which is a favorite of mine.; ১৯/৯/২৩, ৮:০৫ AM
Kate বলেছেন...: @Clyde --

I have that Hazel English album in my shoegaze playlist. Because it's my favorite genre, I listen mostly to women artists. I'll try a click on some of your suggestions. Thanks!; ১৯/৯/২৩, ৮:২৪ AM
MadTownGuy বলেছেন...: Declining Enrollment in Madison schools brings 'serious consequences' for finances

Uh-oh.; ১৯/৯/২৩, ৮:২৭ AM
planetgeo বলেছেন...: Thanks for the Sarah Jarosz link. Wow. Like the Second Coming of Joni Mitchell. No wonder the moon is jealous.; ১৯/৯/২৩, ৯:১১ AM
Kai Akker বলেছেন...: Jamie, your sentence's subject is "reason," singular, so the verb would have to be singular to agree: "was." OTOH, if you turned the sentence around, and made "statements" the subject, it would take the plural verb. I don't believe the two phrases in your example are actually clauses, which have their own verbs; the first phrase "reason for my anger" contains the subject and the second the predicate.; ১৯/৯/২৩, ৯:১৮ AM
West TX Intermediate Crude বলেছেন...: Jamie- not an expert, but I would match the number of the verb (was) to the subject (reason).

Humperdink- Musk will grin until the govt money runs out. There is no organic demand for EV's- it's all supported by direct and indirect subsidy. But you're right- Musk is grinning all the way to the bank now. It will be interesting to see if Pres Trump supports the UAW members when their pension funds run dry during his administration.

Gospace- I use my credit card for everything, including local taxes. I get 3% back, and have never had an inaccurate charge- I check every day. I also like country music, including Maren Morris. I don't like her politics, her lifestyle, or her tattoos, but she has a great voice. Sorry to see her go; I can easily ignore everything non-musical that comes out of her mouth.; ১৯/৯/২৩, ৯:৩৩ AM
PJ বলেছেন...: @Jamie — I endorse Kai Akker’s analysis and add that nobody under 30 seems to care about number agreement even in formal writing (possibly due to “they/them” coming into common usage as singular pronouns), and this may be affecting translation and other algorithms.; ১৯/৯/২৩, ৯:৫৮ AM
Jamie বলেছেন...: Kai Akker and PJ, I also would have the verb agree with the first part of the sentence in my example (and you're right, of course, that those weren't real closes! I'm wondering if the examples in the real world that I encountered were actual clauses. I'll have to think about that).

I've been trying to figure out how to Google this question so as to find a rule rather than examples that don't precisely meet what I remember seeing, but so far I haven't been successful.; ১৯/৯/২৩, ১০:০৯ AM
Narr বলেছেন...: Read some real history, tim. I would suggest MacMeekin's "Stalin's War." (Minarets of Moscow?)

The Red Army was anything but small in 1941, and had 3 to 4 more times the tanks and aircraft the Germans did. They also lacked any serious doctrine or plan for defense. and overpacked the new territories if mere long-term occupation had been the goal.

Lousy leadership and a significant lack of support among the new Soviet citizens of the western acquisitions, and a corresponding lack of morale among conscripts there explain the collapse of '41 better than some lack of size and weaponry.

Did Stalin start the war? No, but he was the best ally and trading partner Hitler had over a critical period of nearly two years, and ignored credible warnings about Hitler's betrayal. Russian (Ukrainian) wheat fed the German troops and Russian (Caucasian) oil fed the German tanks and planes while they blitzkrieged the rest of Europe.

But that's ignorant autocrats for you. Putin is in the mold.; ১৯/৯/২৩, ১০:৪৮ AM
Yancey Ward বলেছেন...: The verb should agree with the subject is what I was taught, and I believe this is correct. Your examples were probably just written by people educated in the last 30 years who don't know the rule well enough to apply it to the subject/s rather than the object/s.

"Bob is a policeman, fireman, and janitor." Correct
"The policeman, fireman, and janitor are all Bob." Correct.

As a rule- if it sounds incorrect to me, even if I don't actually know the rule, I will assume it is grammatically incorrect. This works 95% of the time or more.; ১৯/৯/২৩, ১১:০০ AM
Jaq বলেছেন...: Right, then Germany attacked the USSR, due to too much help from Stalin, not because he judges Russia weak. it was getting kind of embarrassing for him, took away his sense of self-sufficiency.

Putin is nothing like Hitler and Stalin, and the fact that an intelligent person like yourself could buy into that is a testament to the power of propaganda. Putin has no army designed to overrun Europe, and has his hands full just to handle Ukraine, but we are supposed to believe that he is just like Hitler, who waltzed through country after country, with his huge armies of millions, and Germany's industrialized war machine.

Stalin's Red Army got huge out of desperation and in response to an invasion, and then he took advantage of the situation, as it unfolded, making a deal for Eastern Europe with Churchill and FDR.

You should read some history yourself, all of the same factors were in play at the outset of WWI that are in play now. Including tricking Russian and Germany to fight each other because if they ever joined forces, they would be unstoppable, even just economically. But now those Russian resources are going to China instead of Germany. Great outcome for us.; ১৯/৯/২৩, ১:২৫ PM
Narr বলেছেন...: Putin is an opportunistic predator, just like Hitler and Stalin were. I never feared that Putin would overrun Europe--the Europeans have experience of the joys of Russian tutelage, and as rational beings they avoid it.

That you resort to answering arguments that I haven't made with distractions, and don't offer any good book(s) to help me understand the truth, makes me question your understanding even more. I'm not claiming to understand because I'm intelligent (though I am), I'm claiming to a greater knowledge of the history of the region than you display.

The factors of power politics and ambition are always in play, so save your rhetoric for someone you can impress.

Who tricked Germany and Russia into fighting one another in 1914, tim? And from fear of their joining forces? Name a single historian who makes such an argument. Albertini? Fischer? Keegan? Strachan? Fromkin? MacMillan? Neiberg? Clark?

Lots of theories from experts, but those are not among them.; ১৯/৯/২৩, ৬:১০ PM
Narr বলেছেন...: Just checking for loose ends.

I'll take the W.; ২১/৯/২৩, ১২:১৪ PM