Politics

[Nature Boy]

"He who rules his own spirit is greater than he who takes a city"

Yep, some can't play nice, never will get that. You have to agree with them or they name call.

 

[steve white]

I wish I could have hunted in Vietnam before the war--just read a book entitled "I Killed For a Living" by a frenchman who described game as plentiful and varied as Africa. Shame it cannot be returned to a game field. It would be financially smart, but that seems to be in short supply.

 

[1dirthawker]

ya know,

it is interesting that we will spend billions of dollars (your money, my money) to protect Ukraines borders, but, Trump had to fight tooth an nail to get 5 billion for our wall/border protection to protect OUR country. i think he had to get military money reassigned, and then, the "adults" that got back in charge, stopped building the wall and then invited a bunch of illegals in.

better yet, while the wall material sits on the ground doing nothing worthwhile, the illegals keep coming in and getting free stuff (anything they get, i mean ANYTHING is more than should be spent on them) like medical care in ER's, schooling, they use roads, etc. this costs you and i multiple billions that could be spent on OUR citizens.

november's voting opportunity is coming up. time to throw out the "adults" because apparently they cannot be trusted to do the right thing.

 

[mdwest]

I have read more than once that the real James Bond type activity is in corporate espionage.

Corporate intelligence yes... espionage (gathering of intel through clandestine means).. not really so much..

Knowledge and information is power.. and businesses will pay huge sums of money to obtain it.. Many "fortune" businesses have entire units dedicated to sourcing business intelligence.. and yes.. many businesses employ former members of the govt intel communities to help them with the gathering of intel and the analysis of intel... Fancy business terms like market research, capture management, etc are all about sourcing information you didn't have prior, analyzing that information, and making decisions based on the what you learn from the analysis..

But as @WAB has inferred.. the likelihood that companies that measure their revenues in billions conduct or condone espionage as a matter of practice.. or that officers of those companies participate in espionage is extremely low.. there might be a rogue out there at any given time.. but the risk is way too high.. and those companies and its officers are already seeing significant rewards without having to intentionally violate the law in a way that puts them in an orange jumpsuit for 15-25 if they get caught.. And why do it when most of the information you want is actually available to you legally.. if you just know where to go look for it.. and know what you're looking at when you see it...

For example.. Think back to the early 2000's... Blackberry owned the global "smart phone" market.. and Nokia owned the traditional cell phone market.... Where are they now? Why does Apple now own the majority of the global market? and how did it happen so fast?

Blackberry (and others) all were well aware that Apple was developing a phone.. they actually knew damn near everything about the first iPhone before it was ever released despite Apple trying desperately to keep their project a secret... Apple had tons of leaks.. and there was constant churn within its engineer team that left Apple, went to work for competitors, etc..

Apple, knowing Blackberry was watching and gathering intel, ran several counter intel campaigns in response.. sending out strains of information to push competitors down incorrect paths and make incorrect assumptions.. locking down leaks as they found them, etc..

When the iPhone was ready to be released, Blackberry knew their processor was better than Apples.. their reception capability was better than Apples.. their device was more rugged... their device had a better price point.. etc... They had stayed on top of Apples project the entire time the iPhone was being developed.. None of this information was gained through espionage.. They didn't need clandestine efforts to get all the goods on what was to become a world changing technological development.. it was all available through open source and basic human relationship management..

Where Blackberry (and others) failed was in the analysis of the intelligence they obtained.. and missing a couple of key "concepts" of the iPhone that Apple had kept secret.. Blackberry looked at the iPhone as a "Phone".. and deemed that it wasn't competitive.. It was more expensive, slower, less reliable, etc after all.. and Blackberry already had millions upon millions of users that wouldn't want to change devices and OS's...

Their failure was Apple wasn't developing a "phone".. they were developing a computer that fits in your pocket, that also happens to be a phone.. They weren't after the "cell phone" user market.. they were after the home computer user marker (who all also happen to own cell phones)... Apple didn't care that their "phone" related services were not up to scratch (initially).. they cared that you could surf the web.. get onto your MySpace account, search something through Yahoo, etc.. while walking down the street or hanging out at the mall..

and less than 15 years later.. Blackberry is a completely irrelevant entity..

The entire case is about business intelligence.. and an intel battle fought between two mega billion dollar firms... but lacks any element of espionage..

 

[VertigoBE]

That was a very interesting read @mdwest ! thanks!

 

[ActionBob]

Translation:

Pfizer tests showed their vaccine would not stop transmission so the stopped testing for it and rolled the vaccine out anyway.


View attachment 494097

And something like an 84% increase in heart problems in men under 40. But yet MANDATED to our mitary. Has to be a few men under 40 in that group. People lost their jobs and their lives because of lies shoved down their throat by unelected bureaucrats and then enforced by the government. Never voted on, much less backed by sound science.

 

[Nature Boy]

ya know,

it is interesting that we will spend billions of dollars (your money, my money) to protect Ukraines borders, but, Trump had to fight tooth an nail to get 5 billion for our wall/border protection to protect OUR country. i think he had to get military money reassigned, and then, the "adults" that got back in charge, stopped building the wall and then invited a bunch of illegals in.

better yet, while the wall material sits on the ground doing nothing worthwhile, the illegals keep coming in and getting free stuff (anything they get, i mean ANYTHING is more than should be spent on them) like medical care in ER's, schooling, they use roads, etc. this costs you and i multiple billions that could be spent on OUR citizens.

november's voting opportunity is coming up. time to throw out the "adults" because apparently they cannot be trusted to do the right thing.

Yup and the best part?


Oct 4th 2022 | DALLAS
Share
On the campaign trail, Joe Biden pledged he would build “not another foot” of border wall as president. But in the face of record numbers of migrants arriving at America’s southern border with Mexico, he has quietly reversed course, agreeing to fill in some glaring gaps that were left when he abruptly halted construction on his first day in office. Staying mum about the wall-work, Mr Biden has not wanted to telegraph the decision and risk alienating backers who associate the border wall with Donald Trump.

 

[cpr0312]

 

[Jfet]

This is Roley. She is my 16 month old English Cocker Spaniel. She does not give a squat about politics but she is pissed that I am making her stop hunting for the day and take this picture.

 

[John Wasmuth]

This is Roley. She is my 16 month old English Cocker Spaniel. She does not give a squat about politics but she is pissed that I am making her stop hunting for the day and take this picture.

View attachment 494128

Make a better commander in chief than we’ve got right now!!

 

[Wheels]

 

[Jfet]

Make a better commander in chief than we’ve got right now!!

She was born in the US thus citizenship is not an issue. Her parents are right off the boat though thus she has a pretty stiff upper lip.

 

[John Wasmuth]

Very handsome dog.

 

[PARA45]

 

[Tundra Tiger]

"I'm an American, I know more about it than you."

Hmm... Ad hominem much? I don't know @Zambezi but he's always struck me as a rational, intelligent dude, by his posts on here.

 

[marksman]

"whether you're selling oil or LNG is irrelevant your petrol prices have still increased by at least a dollar DUE TO THE WAR. The other many dollars/gallon increase is due to Biden. The war has raised your LNG prices that is hurting your"


Ukraine = NO US TROOPS

with the greatest of respect Zambezi
what l know for fact is that the day Brandon was inaugurated the fuel in my state (Victoria Australia) went up 70 cents per litre depending what part of the state you are in, nothing to do with Putin
what l found out at that time, it was because of Brandon cutting supply by stopping the drilling ect.. as part of his promises to the climate change extremists on federal land or something to that effect
that is the reason that he went to the middle east recently to ask the crown prince who he had slandered to drill more oil as the supply is lower than the demand but was told by the crown prince that if he wanted more oil he should drill it himself as his shareholders were happy with things
Brandon cant be seen doing that though as he would fall out with the OAC crowd of climate fanatics
that is what l have learnt about that anyway although NOBODY who wants this war can complain about the cost, just keep sending more bombs especially Himar missiles LOL

it has been reported about international nato troops being on the ground in Ukraine including American and l am not just talking about the mercenaries, we can take that with a piece of salt
but IMHO l would not put it past them
no different than it is widely known that in the Vietnam conflict before it was announced that the Americans/Australians were there, l think they were called advisers

 

[Hunter4752001]

Average retail price for petrol according to the Australian Petroleum Institute:

 

[steve white]

Corporate intelligence yes... espionage (gathering of intel through clandestine means).. not really so much..

Knowledge and information is power.. and businesses will pay huge sums of money to obtain it.. Many "fortune" businesses have entire units dedicated to sourcing business intelligence.. and yes.. many businesses employ former members of the govt intel communities to help them with the gathering of intel and the analysis of intel... Fancy business terms like market research, capture management, etc are all about sourcing information you didn't have prior, analyzing that information, and making decisions based on the what you learn from the analysis..

But as @WAB has inferred.. the likelihood that companies that measure their revenues in billions conduct or condone espionage as a matter of practice.. or that officers of those companies participate in espionage is extremely low.. there might be a rogue out there at any given time.. but the risk is way too high.. and those companies and its officers are already seeing significant rewards without having to intentionally violate the law in a way that puts them in an orange jumpsuit for 15-25 if they get caught.. And why do it when most of the information you want is actually available to you legally.. if you just know where to go look for it.. and know what you're looking at when you see it...

For example.. Think back to the early 2000's... Blackberry owned the global "smart phone" market.. and Nokia owned the traditional cell phone market.... Where are they now? Why does Apple now own the majority of the global market? and how did it happen so fast?

Blackberry (and others) all were well aware that Apple was developing a phone.. they actually knew damn near everything about the first iPhone before it was ever released despite Apple trying desperately to keep their project a secret... Apple had tons of leaks.. and there was constant churn within its engineer team that left Apple, went to work for competitors, etc..

Apple, knowing Blackberry was watching and gathering intel, ran several counter intel campaigns in response.. sending out strains of information to push competitors down incorrect paths and make incorrect assumptions.. locking down leaks as they found them, etc..

When the iPhone was ready to be released, Blackberry knew their processor was better than Apples.. their reception capability was better than Apples.. their device was more rugged... their device had a better price point.. etc... They had stayed on top of Apples project the entire time the iPhone was being developed.. None of this information was gained through espionage.. They didn't need clandestine efforts to get all the goods on what was to become a world changing technological development.. it was all available through open source and basic human relationship management..

Where Blackberry (and others) failed was in the analysis of the intelligence they obtained.. and missing a couple of key "concepts" of the iPhone that Apple had kept secret.. Blackberry looked at the iPhone as a "Phone".. and deemed that it wasn't competitive.. It was more expensive, slower, less reliable, etc after all.. and Blackberry already had millions upon millions of users that wouldn't want to change devices and OS's...

Their failure was Apple wasn't developing a "phone".. they were developing a computer that fits in your pocket, that also happens to be a phone.. They weren't after the "cell phone" user market.. they were after the home computer user marker (who all also happen to own cell phones)... Apple didn't care that their "phone" related services were not up to scratch (initially).. they cared that you could surf the web.. get onto your MySpace account, search something through Yahoo, etc.. while walking down the street or hanging out at the mall..

and less than 15 years later.. Blackberry is a completely irrelevant entity..

The entire case is about business intelligence.. and an intel battle fought between two mega billion dollar firms... but lacks any element of espionage..

I don't pretend to know anything about it, really. Just thought what I read was interesting. China certainly uses everything from students to employees to steal tech, tho.

 

[mdwest]

I don't pretend to know anything about it, really. Just thought what I read was interesting. China certainly uses everything from students to employees to steal tech, tho.

State sponsored espionage against US corporate entities absolutely happens… and the Chinese are among the worst about it..

Foreign corporations (again the Chinese are notorious) also do it with a lot more frequency than US and most Western European corporations..

The regulatory environment in many Asian and Eastern European countries and/or the willingness of those governments to turn a blind eye allows it… whereas the US and most Western European governments will go for the throat of businesses they catch practicing espionage… or other willful criminal activities …

 

[Wheels]