THIS ACCOUNT IS DEAD

Last Notes

2023-02-26 04:57:49 UTC

Sounds like the US is unprepared for war: Wall Street Journal video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEe_dJZtF1E

2023-02-25 07:17:45 UTC

For the record: I think the US putting 100-200 troops into Taiwan now gives China the right to claim (if they invade Taiwan) that the US provoked them. Saying the troops are for training purposes only is no excuse. The US can stand by with aircraft carriers, fine, but they shouldn't be putting troops in Taiwan while officially pretending to abide by the one-China policy. This is not diplomacy, this is provocation.

2023-02-25 05:00:28 UTC

Too many people think global warming is caused by the greenhouse effect. It's not. I concur with this: CO2 -> ... .... ... -> Global warming. But those ellipses are not the greenhouse effect. If you don't believe me, look up "stratispheric cooling"

2023-02-25 04:48:31 UTC

As for the 2014 revolution-or-putsch, I don't know what happened but I have strong suspicions it was a covert coup lead by the CIA. This is because of Victoria Nuland's recorded phone call. But also because of a few "facts" that don't make much sense to me.
First, the protest apparently started because Yanakovich didn't make a trade deal with the EU and instead wanted to make one with Russia (apparently he promised otherwise as a candidate). That's hard to believe. People don't protest trade deals. People protest losing their jobs, being forcably vaccinated, not being allowed an abortion, votes not being fair, economic turmoil. Nobody protests trade deals. Ok, so it was a small group of wonks who protested a trade deal. Then why did Yanakovich's police (allegedly) attack them so viciously? Over a small protest over a trade deal? That makes no sense. Nobody would react like that. The idea that additional protesters came to protest the mistreatment is totally plausable and I think that is exactly what happened. But the initial setup, I don't buy that it happened organically, I think it was setup.
Yanakovich fled for his life for a few days and the Rata decided he abandoned them and voted him out. That was dumb. Nobody does that when Biden goes to camp David for a few days. So that is not sensible either. I believe it was done under orders.
Anyhow, that's just my take on what was more likely.

2023-02-25 04:36:07 UTC

I think Putin is an imperialist and does want more territory. I also think Ukraine is a strange mix of many cultures which might work better if it was split up. And I think appeasing Putin with guarantees to Crimea and letting him have the Donbass with no more resistance could stop the war.
Not every war is WW2. Not every enemy is Hitler. Not everybody who makes this argument is Neville Chamberlain. Most military leaders don't want to hurt anybody, they just want power and control. And less people die if you give it to them. Hitler was the exception, not the rule.
Russia will not march across Europe taking more and more, because Russia will not dare attack a NATO country. His expansion stops at NATO. Moldova is the only other country at risk, and we probably can't stop him from taking it.

2023-02-25 04:29:22 UTC

So I listened to this debate on Ukraine https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0orsI3rQ0Mw and I had a number of thoughts.
The first is that Edward Lucas' thinking is predicated on a number of "facts" which I don't think he has any the evidence required to know whether they are facts or not. These include that Ukrainians are fighting against initial overwhelming odds with immense bravery and resiliance. I think this perception is curated by Western government and media, and isn't reflective of the truth on the ground. We know many of the heroic stories were fake. Second he thinks Ukrainians want what Westerner's want. But there are many Ukrainians and they don't all want the same thing. Whether Ukranians fight is mainly up to their leadership, the soldiers don't really have a choice.
But my biggest shock was Lucas' solution. He wants to bring in long range missiles to attack Russia's supply line on Russian territory. If you recall what Russia said when they first entered Ukraine, they said that NATO bases were setting up long range missile sites which could be converted into nuclear tipped missiles and reach Moscow faster than Moscow could react, and he had to eliminate those to restore the balance of power (he also said other things about Nazis, biolabs, and Russian speakers in the Donbass). If the West feeds long-range missiles to Ukraine and Russia cannot destroy them with conventional means, Russia will use tactical nukes. Because those missiles threaten the heart of Russia and Russia can't allow that.

2023-02-23 07:45:06 UTC

When humans are worried about their future, their bodies try to acquire more body fat to prepare for and survive the imagined future catastrophe.
So if you are overweight, it might be because of Twitter or watching the news.

2023-02-23 05:17:36 UTC

I love how there were no air sirens for at least a week in Kyiv until president Biden showed up. What a coincidence.

2023-02-21 20:14:31 UTC

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If you use the 2 overlapping squares icon below the note, it puts it into your cut-n-paste buffer.

2023-02-21 19:54:11 UTC

When a society has a low enough level of corruption, the institutions can handle most serious fraud and malfeasance and keep it in check. Some things slip through, but in general law and order prevail. New Zealand was ranked the 2nd least corrupt in the world, and while I disagree vehemently with some things the government has done politically, I concur that it has very low corruption. The people too do the "right" thing, returning lost wallets, offering to give people a ride in the rain, etc.
I'm worried that my country of birth, the USA, is getting close to a tipping point where the institutions that are supposed to keep corruption in check are so corrupt themselves that that country can't be easily salvaged. Trust is easy to lose, very hard to gain back. Granted, most countries around the world are more corrupt, but for this to be happening to my home country really bothers me.

2023-02-21 19:34:23 UTC

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followed

2023-02-21 19:28:59 UTC

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cool. followed.

2023-02-21 19:14:15 UTC

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With some of the controversial things I'm planning to say, I expect some will unfollow this acount and I take no offense.

2023-02-21 18:57:20 UTC

If anybody follows me, tag me and I will follow you back [while reserving the right to unfollow you if you turn out to be annoying 😁] I'm not following anybody yet since this account is brand new.

2023-02-21 18:20:58 UTC

This is the account I will use to talk about things not related to gossip or nostr.