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Recent Posts
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quote:
So, once again our President lies and says Zelensky is holding up the peace process:
He can't hold off on anything that disrupts his Putin love for longer than a day or two...
I think Trump is being manipulated into making the U.S. just as awful as Russia, which validates Putin's big pitch to his own country and the world: "The U.S. is just as bad as we are, they just lie about it." That's working like a charm right now.
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quote:
Russian forces are continuing their cognitive warfare campaign that uses small-scale cross-border attacks in previously dormant frontline areas in northern Ukraine to try to convince the West that the frontlines in Ukraine are collapsing.
Russian forces have still not set conditions for a major ground offensive in northern Sumy or Kharkiv oblasts, however, and ISW continues to assess that these cross-border attacks are not part of a major Russian offensive.
Will the above stop the daily "looks like the Ukrainians are collapsing/Russia is making gains" interpretations?
Of course not...
re: If you can't pay off your credit card monthly, you shouldn't have one.
Posted by Lee B on 1/13/26 at 7:59 pm to TigerAxeOK
quote:
If you're living in a $300,000 home
for the point you're trying to make you might want to bump this up to $750,000 or above... to keep up with inflation and the times.
The average home price in the United States as of mid-2025 is approximately $512,800.
re: If you can't pay off your credit card monthly, you shouldn't have one.
Posted by Lee B on 1/13/26 at 7:48 pm to PeleofAnalytics
quote:
are you paying unsecured debt off before you are dead or if your estate can cover it?
Unsecured debt is unsecured. If you go tits up, that's their problem... if your estate can't pay off what you owe, that's their problem... no one else is responsible for that contract. I'm not sure the companies can even really go after the estate that hard (though they will sell the debt sometimes for barely anything to the bottom of the barrel companies, who will call alist of relatives trying to scare someone who doesn't know any better into paying them something by claiming they can transfer responsibility). But don't mourn for the credit card companies, they have taken out insurance on you not paying off that debt, and if it's been riding for a while you've probably paid off the amount you charged, initially, and what's left is compounding interest, which is imaginary in a sense.
re: If you can't pay off your credit card monthly, you shouldn't have one.
Posted by Lee B on 1/13/26 at 7:15 pm to theballguy
quote:
I get it that some people just want have a new car every so often but I would never do that. I always pay cash for any car I buy.
If you bought a new car, drove it around the block for 1.5 miles, then drove it back onto the lot and tried to sell it back they'd tell you it's worth 20% less than you just paid for it...
If it sat in your driveway mostly for the next few years, it still just depreciates...
a barely used car is the best gambit
quote:
quote:
If you can't pay off your credit card monthly, you shouldn't have one.
True story. We had a credit card that we always paid off before the next cycle every time we used it. The company cancelled the card. My only guess was that they weren’t making money off of us by carrying a balance.
I had this happen when I was younger... I had used the Barkley's Apple credit card to buy a maxed-out MacBook for some work stuff... 0% interest if you paid it off in 18 months... I paid it off in 16 months... at 19 months with no new charges they cancelled the card, and it actually started the CC avalanche with a couple of others that also had no balance for some reason, so then my available credit amount plummets and some others lowered my credit limit, further screwing all of that up. I just maxxed out the one I had left, paid them off instantly, then they raised the limits up past where they'd been and the offers flooded the mail box and all was instantly good again.
It is a game... you have to let them make something or they get pissy.
quote:
Completely different situation for a house.
You build equity in it and don’t pay with a credit card.
True.
Cars... nope, depreciation monsters.
re: If you can't pay off your credit card monthly, you shouldn't have one.
Posted by Lee B on 1/13/26 at 2:19 pm to theballguy
quote:
If you're in debt, your number one priority is getting out of debt.
This is the truth...
I don't think of mortgages really as "debt." They're maintaining an asset and a very justified living expense. Some financial people even advise "never pay off your house!" for various reasons... like the interest deduction you're getting, the fact that a mortgage gives you access to a H.E.L.O.C. anytime, mortgages being low-interest forms of debt (even if you bought in a high-interest period, you can refi when they lower)... not that you should use your house as an ATM all the time, but the ability to refi lets you sell your house to yourself and pocket a profit.
"If you can't pay cash for a house or car, you shouldn't buy one."
credit cards are just another means of financing, to be approached and managed as such.
I was raised to be averse to them... I mostly have been, but when I've been in a position where something big unexpectedly had to be paid for right then and there, I just budget in getting that paid off before it takes a bite out of my arse. The accruing interest is just part of that calculation.
What has changed from my parent's time is that stores had accounts and credit cards, with low or sometimes no interest... and "lay a way" programs. That has carried over to some web-based retailers... you buy things for a set monthly charge, no interest.
credit cards are just another means of financing, to be approached and managed as such.
I was raised to be averse to them... I mostly have been, but when I've been in a position where something big unexpectedly had to be paid for right then and there, I just budget in getting that paid off before it takes a bite out of my arse. The accruing interest is just part of that calculation.
What has changed from my parent's time is that stores had accounts and credit cards, with low or sometimes no interest... and "lay a way" programs. That has carried over to some web-based retailers... you buy things for a set monthly charge, no interest.
re: Latest Updates: Russia-Ukraine Conflict.
Posted by Lee B on 1/13/26 at 1:31 pm to VolSquatch
quote:
Yep the guy who shows not even an ounce of desire to end a war that is becoming increasingly unpopular in his country is scared of his populace. Think you nailed it.
Apparently he IS, though...
remember, a formative experience for him was being a KGB officer in East Germany in the office when the Wall came down, and he was looking out the window at a huge crowd celebrating, and calling Moscow and... nobody would answer, and the crowd started heading towards all of the Soviet government buildings, smashing windows... and he had to run off.
Plus, any dictator is paranoid... they project their own ruthlessness onto everyone else...
And Putin has thought that NATO was behind every 'color revolution' anywhere in the world since he took office, and is paranoid that they've been creating them inside Russia.
As a matter of fact, this thread exists because he reacted to the Maidan Revolution as an American machination (something you might have heard alleged here only like every damned day by some posters)... and that just made him more insistent that Ukraine had to be controlled by Russia because that was too close for comfort.
Reuters: Putin says Russia must prevent 'color revolution'
quote:
So an alliance that kept the peace in Europe where wars had raged for decades helped the US more than these other nations who were destroying each other?
NATO also kept the Communists on their side of the iron curtain and eventually enabled Eastern Europe to regain their independence.
I think NATO was a good symbiotic relationship for all its members.
Good and symbiotic... sure.
The entire point was to keep the Communists on their side of the Iron Curtain... all of those European countries were barriers. This was all devised during the battle of Stalingrad, when we concluded that the Japanese were not the only collectivist death cult we had to deal with... and at that point, the concern was Millions and Millions and Millions of those Communists sweeping Westward, helped by the active Communist political movements in Western European countries, and sitting all along the Atlantic Coast of Europe and Scandinavia... in a position to endanger the U.S. through conventional means and naval power. We buttressed all those countries in place and built up our nuclear arsenal. That was a big benefit to us. And before ICBMs that logic was solid.
European countries got bailed out, rebuilt, got militaries and a system that let them trade with each other instead of fighting over things... and we helped them embark on robust social programs to take away the appeal of Communism in democratic elections, since we were doing the heavy lifting on the military end.
But who grew immensely... who was the biggest economy in the world and then shot into the stratosphere? Whose standard of living shot way beyond those of European countries (with very few exceptions, on average, that only emerged later), which admittedly... most had been reduced to various amounts of rubble?
We saved, protected, and rebuilt them... no disagreement at all.
But we set it all up to give us some benefit, too. We sat at the top of the world.
We also rebuilt West Germany and Japan, who arguably zoomed past any of our WWII allies very quickly. Noam Chomsky insists that the real reason we waded into Vietnam after the French got smart enough to pull out (and warn us it was a lost cause that we shouldn't bother with...) was "so we wouldn't have to have a war with Japan, again. It was to show them we could still project power in that region." Which I don't buy, because... Japan, like Germany, discovered that manufacturing ingenuity and innovation were an easier route to prosperity. Japan didn't have aggressive military impulses... the world was dying to give them money for things they produced, and that allowed them to trade for resources they needed instead of invading places that had them.
re: Latest Updates: Russia-Ukraine Conflict.
Posted by Lee B on 1/12/26 at 7:38 pm to VolSquatch
quote:
quote:
just a tool to keep European nations weak and subservient to the U.S. (he wasn't wrong
Perspective can shape reality at times. A large number of US citizens feel NATO gives the US the shaft, and then you have factions like the one you discussed probably in all NATO countries who feel we are giving them the shaft. None of them are technically incorrect about that basic premise in some sense.
Well, the U.S. by far was the biggest beneficiary of NATO (allowing us to dictate specs that favored US arms manufacturers, and to full out write the security policies of all the other members) and Globalism, for that matter.
Anti-NATO sentiment always ruled the pacifist or anarchist (not to mention Soviet-sympathizer) fringes of the Left...
But on the Right it was a very recent development, and I'm not sure Trump wasn't the first person to start blabbering about that in 1987 (granted, he wasn't a Republican, then). But everybody on the Right now objected to the Invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, in their memory...
re: Latest Updates: Russia-Ukraine Conflict.
Posted by Lee B on 1/12/26 at 3:56 pm to VolSquatch
France has a had a streak of NATO-skepticism from the beginning,,, de Gaulle thought the alliance was just a tool to keep European nations weak and subservient to the U.S. (he wasn't wrong)...
The French Right has always wanted to withdraw from NATO as part of their France First campaign... but they've never had the power...
and now...
Europe Diplomatic: France: abandoning NATO again?
Clémence Guetté (La France Insoumise (LFI) group) submitted a proposal for France to withdraw from NATO, citing U.S. actions during Trump’s presidency, which disregarded the legitimate insterests of the other nations.
I doubt it goes anywhere...
The French Right has always wanted to withdraw from NATO as part of their France First campaign... but they've never had the power...
and now...
Europe Diplomatic: France: abandoning NATO again?
Clémence Guetté (La France Insoumise (LFI) group) submitted a proposal for France to withdraw from NATO, citing U.S. actions during Trump’s presidency, which disregarded the legitimate insterests of the other nations.
I doubt it goes anywhere...
re: Latest Updates: Russia-Ukraine Conflict.
Posted by Lee B on 1/12/26 at 3:38 pm to LSURussian
quote:
quote:
Poor ole JB.
He came out of the gate with his new alter guns blazing. 91 posts in his first 30 hours.
Then: Poof!
Nothing in the past 30 hours.
His avatar is gone.
True to form, he was prolifically trolling everyone on the broader Poli Board just as before, I saw that a couple of times and knew he'd be gone fast, because they reacted much more angrily than anybody here.
Reuters: UK, Germany discuss NATO forces in Greenland to calm US threat, Bloomberg News reports
A group of European countries, led by Britain and Germany, is discussing plans to boost their military presence in Greenland to show U.S. President Donald Trump that the continent is serious about Arctic security, Bloomberg News reported on Sunday.
Germany will propose setting up a joint NATO mission to protect the Arctic region, the Bloomberg report added, citing people familiar with the plans.
A group of European countries, led by Britain and Germany, is discussing plans to boost their military presence in Greenland to show U.S. President Donald Trump that the continent is serious about Arctic security, Bloomberg News reported on Sunday.
Germany will propose setting up a joint NATO mission to protect the Arctic region, the Bloomberg report added, citing people familiar with the plans.
quote:
Greenland is projected by NATO. We don’t need to take it over.
I agree!!!!
Why doesn't Trump?
quote:
We have no business invading Greenland.
“If we don’t do it, Russia or China will take over Greenland, and we’re not going to have Russia or China as a neighbor.”
Trump then took things one step further as he added: “So we’re going to be doing something with Greenland, either the nice way or the more difficult way.”
Overlooking the fact that we do, already, have Russia as a neighbor (Sarah Palin should've told him...)
Russia or China will take over Greenland"
That makes me think that he does indeed see a world where the U.S., Russia and China are the three superpowers dominating their own hemispheres...
and it's even stranger that he thinks Russia, in their current state, are going to be in any position to conquer Europe and defeat NATO...
Why do you think he said that specific thing?
“Since Congress would not allow Trump to exit NATO, occupying Greenland could force the Europeans to abandon NATO. If Trump wants to end NATO, this might be the most convenient way to do it.”
UNILAD: Trump 'orders top generals to draw up Greenland invasion plan' days after warning the US will act 'whether they like it or not'
UNILAD: Trump 'orders top generals to draw up Greenland invasion plan' days after warning the US will act 'whether they like it or not'
Are we not supposed to post non-Ukraine things in this thread?
Iran's situation has some relevance:
Iran's situation has some relevance:
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