I really do not give to damns about Ukraine, so if Putin keeps it or does not keep it or uses it to park nuclear waste, I really do not care. I worry about Poland, they had enough shit happening to them last century to last a thousand years. I’d give them a couple dozen small nukes and let the Russian know they have them.
This stupid invasion, brought to you by the politics of the Soft Bellies and Yellow Backs of DC, is going to hurt us in the pocket and badly. As I am writing this, the price of the barrel of West Texas Intermediate stands at $99.23 and gas stations are already adapting to the change.
I went early to my local Big Box Wholesaler, and this is what I paid for gallon of gas:
Those stations who have not updated yet, ae still at yesterday’s price:
And then some are already going higher.
and…
Now, between Putin warmongering around and this administration’s effort to be environmentally woke by shutting down oil pipes (but supporting the Russian one) and offshore drilling, we are once again on the way to the Carter years and maybe lines in gas stations. We are back to being dependent on foreign oil and it will cascade on food prices and other consumer goods.
We are just lacking Billy Beer and news that one of our embassies was attacked and the workers are being held hostage to complete the reproduction of times past.
I keep getting the hankering to go to Iowa in 2024 and run on a platform of:
Make gas $1.59 per gallon.
Make chicken $1.79 per pound.
Deport all of the illegals.
Kill all the pedophiles.
I’m wondering what percentage of the popular vote I’ll get.
Why needs Billy Beer when you have Biden Blow?
Ukraine bought Biden. Then Zelenskyy protected his investment during the impeachment by just kind of letting it happen, rather than doing the honorable thing and loudly proclaiming the truth. He said that he didn’t want to be a pawn in a game between superpowers so he stayed out of it, even though the impeachment was about a phone call to him.
They made their bed and now they get to lie in it.
The only thing that really bothers me is that the price of 7.62×39 will jump up again. At least temporarily. My concern is that’s the biden admin will go and not respect the existing form 6’s that they by law have to respect.
I have been buying 7.62×39 exclusively with the occasional .22lr box, stockpiling so I will have more than I will ever use. I have enough right now to last me 15 years with my current usage which I will probably cut back on. But it still does not feel like enough.
That and gas prices. Selfish I know but it’s not really our problem over there. Let the Russians bog themselves down, it will be their afganistan.
It looks like your gas prices are lower than Florida prices. Our regular is $3.50, same as your last picture. I haven’t driven past a station today, though, so it may be up. A few days ago, one of the big banks was saying expect oil back over $100/barrel maybe even going above $150.
As for Poland vs. Ukraine, one word: Holodomor. Yeah, Poland went through a bunch in the last hundred years, but Stalin deliberately starved millions of Ukrainians to death in 1932-33. They’ve been through crap, too. At one time, Ukraine had lots of the Russian nuclear weapons, but they gave them back. I don’t see any reason to treat one of them differently.
Remember, though, that the Afghans drove the Russians out by what they did after the invasion. That will probably be the pattern.
Minnesota gas prices are buffered by the fact they have fracked oil from ND that have no pipelines, only Burlington Northern tank cars for shipping, and Alberta Canada Oil which is also land-locked by a lack of pipelines like the abandoned Keystone XL.
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Oops! Maybe Not So Much. Looks like prices are now $3.49-9/10, up from $3.149 to $3.199 YESTERDAY. What will Tomorrow bring?
Regular is $3.89 where I live. Problem is my car has a sports car engine so I have to put premium in it or it knocks when it’s cold. Premium is $4.40. That was yesterday afternoon. I can just imagine what happened to it in the last 12 hours.
Imagine if Trump was still in charge last year?
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He and Vlad come out of a meeting, and they announce that The US and Russia agree not to offer membership in NATO or the Russian backed CIS to Ukraine for 10 or 20 years. As if Ukraine membership in the Russian CIS was ever practicable? But it would give everyone a face saving climb down by equating Russia’s CIS to NATO, and damping tensions.
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In the mean time, what would oil prices be if the Keystone XL was pumping 800,000 bbl/day of Canadian Oil, AND there were 500-1,000 newly drilled fracking wells on public leases?
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How many fewer Fentanyl OD’s and Deaths would there be if the wall was completed, cutting illegal immigration AND drug smuggling, and a President Trump was hammering on Chairman XI about his Fentanyl Labs in China?
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Instead we have F. Joe and his drug addicted spawn paid off by CCP Inc. Don’t worry, the “important” Democrats and Republicans are collecting their fair share of the Chinese Bribes too.
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All the while, China is manipulating their “Military Ally” Russia and their Business Partner America, “Let’s You and Him Fight, Fight, Fight.”
Well, I feel better knowing that Biden is aware of it, and the White House says “standing up for your principles can be costly”
Well, at least the “US will not send groud troops into Ukraine.”
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Whew! We are not going to get dragged into that war!
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Notice what they are saying and NOT saying? Ground Troops, not US Military. Ground Troops, not Air Force, not Navy.
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Want to bet someone in DC is pushing for a NATO Naval Blockade of the Black Sea at the Bosporus, and the Russian Baltic ports too? Which means the US, Britain, maybe a few French and other ships. Maybe even a German frigate or two, if any of them actually can sail.
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Maybe we can declare Ukraine a “No Fly Zone!” like we did in Iraq? Put a couple US Carrier Groups in the Black Sea! That would not concern Russia one whit!
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Why do I think F. Joe Biden and his Democrats can escalate us into a Nuclear War with Russia by Easter?
I want to see $7/gal gas.
it’ll calm/crush the insane used car market and I can finally buy some things for prices are that aren’t moroninc. 😀
I saw a segment on Fox this morning that we import more oil from Russia than we do from the ME. How exactly are we going to level these so-called crushing sanctions on Russia, but still buy oil from them??
Leftists have been so short-sighted with the green energy bullshit and ant-energy independence it boggles the mind. Or maybe they’re hoping it will happen (if you listen to Raggedy Ann, “our values will cost us”) so they can get all their renewable energy wet dreams into reality.
I’m really trying to understand how we don’t get sucked into this and start trading lead with Russia. We and NATO are going to cut Russia off financially, they are (according to pundits) going to retaliate with cyber warfare, maybe shut down a pipeline or maybe part of the grid. It escalates with no fly zones and/or naval blockades as rd mentions above. It will just take one shot, one errant missile and we’re in 100%. Or hell, we look so weak, Putin may just call NATOs bluff and take the Baltic states while he’s on a roll. Ukraine will be conquered by Saturday, so why not keep moving west? Oh, and China has their back when they can’t bank in the EU or ME…China will do business with them.
It feels like 1939
Speaking of China, how long until they take Taiwan?
https://citizenfreepress.com/breaking/chinese-military-jets-enter-taiwan-airspace/
Europe gave the Sudetenland to Germany in 1938. By March 1939 the panzers kept rolling until they took most of Czechoslavakia, except for the parts Poland and Hungary grabbed up. That was principled European Diplomacy. Chop up a country and the neighboring jackals scoop up what can
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How much has changed? Except now we Americans are up to our necks in it.
It’s tempting to say no one cares about Ukraine. But just like Sudetenland in 1939, there is no good reason to believe Putin would stop his conquests with Ukraine. The obvious next target would be the Baltic states, at which point NATO has to decide whether it actually exists or not.
The other problem, as Jonesy hints, is that other bad actors will use the current events as a sign of what they can get away with. As I mentioned before, I’m not too worried about Iran because Israel can nuke them into oblivion, but China conquering Taiwan is a nightmare scenario. Taiwan actually matters in the world economy, more than most countries. Do you want to buy a new PC? New smartphone? Forget about that for the next 5-10 years if Taiwan’s chip factories are wiped out, run into the ground by communists, or sabotaged by Taiwanese patriots.
I noticed that the Ukrainian government officials are too polite to push the point, but as the WSJ points out in an editorial today, the US (among several countries) gave security guarantees to Ukraine in exchange for Ukraine surrendering its nukes, back in 1994. So arguably we DO have an existing obligation for military assistance. The other angle in that particular story is that it tells any other country that has or might be interested in nukes to be sure to hang on to them, because pieces of paper are no substitute for serious weapons. No surprise there, gun owners know this all too well.
I have two computers, a 13 year old Windoze (converted to Linux) and a 9 year old iMac. A large percentage of computers sold are “the newest, greatest thing” bought to replace functioning ones, just old. Yeah, 3 years old. Heck, I have two flip phones that I no longer use, but they do still work. Don’t confuse “wants” with “needs”. I still say losing Taiwan will have less effect on us or the world, than a nuclear war with insane muslimes.
But a nuclear war with the Mullahs will only last a few hours, while the loss of Taiwan will affect most users of large integrated circuits for a decade.
Yes, you have your old computers; so do I. But my company depends on being able to make and sell more new ones.
What kind of dope are you on, bud? A nuclear war will only last a few hours? Nothing personal, but THAT is total insanity, in spades. How many people will die, instantly, with each detonation? How many more will die from radiation poisoning in the following weeks/months? How long will civilization last, after a nuclear war? Are you really willing to let millions die, rather than lose your job selling computers? How many computers will you build and sell when the grid dies, in your few hours nuclear war? That’s past sick, that is moronic insanity. Fuck it.
Play nice, people
My point is that a nuclear war started by Iran will last only as long as it takes a couple of Minuteman missiles to erase Tehran.
I don’t sell computers, I never said so. What I meant is that my job, just like that of millions of other Americans, is enabled by the selling of high tech devices, devices that require chips manufactured only in Taiwan.
I did not say that I’m willing to let millions die, that’s something you invented out of whole cloth without any basis whatsoever. What I said is that the risk to the world is greater from a Taiwan invasion than from the Iran dictatorship doing what they have long claimed they want to do.
As for the grid dying, whose grid? The Iranian one? I don’t care about that one. Iran does not have the ability to destroy the US grid, not even if they get nukes. If they get nukes they will have the ability to target people in the region, and my point is that if they do, to paraphrase a famous saying “Persian will henceforth only be spoken in hell”.
I forgot the 1994 agreement to provide security in exchange for giving up the nukes. I’m sure at the time, we and other 1st world countries were a bit worried about a newly formed country having nukes. Oh well, hindsight is 20/20.
I’m sure it is not lost on Ukraine that the time for us to help was weeks and months ago. Too late now.
If Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, and Australia weren’t already making Instant Sunshine in a Can, they are probably going to start very soon.
I would think that most countries who were nuke capable learned just how trustworthy we were after 2022 & what happened to Gaddafi. The US is now schizophrenic, depending on which party (or even which branch of which party) is in power.
I’m afraid that this crisis (for us) was self-inflicted (just like I’m afraid Taiwan will be). I’m not sure we, as a country, can survive until the next presidential election.
I am not sure if the World can survive an F. Joe Biden Mis-Administration.
I don’t think the US will last another six months, much less until 24.
Make that 2011.