Politics

[Brent in Az]

Sneaky Bastards - Russian forces walk 9 miles inside a gas pipeline to take Ukrainian forces from behind near Kursk.

 

[lwaters]

Now I could buy crop insurance and hope it never rains.

 

[Tubby’s Canteen]

I think thats a good thing for Canada?

I get the impression of the liberals, he is the least extreme, has a good head on his shoulder for business, has a good bit of experience in international business negotiations, etc..etc..?

Trump might actually respect Carney a bit if the liberals remain in power.. certainly more than he respected Trudeau..

Hard to say at this point carney shows no real party loyalty working with the conservatives in the past and now running for and winning the liberal party nod. He’s been involved for years in international finance with the bank of Canada and the Bank of England. He is also been heavily involved in green politics climate change carbon pricing ect.

 

[deewayne2003]

There is already a huge $17 billion Samsung facility nearing completion in Taylor, TX (greater Austin area). My understanding is that labor is not an issue.

Correct, you have to understand that Texas Instruments or TI has been here for decades and have producing munitions chips since before the first gulf war.

They had campus’s all over Texas

Same for Raytheon

 

[DillonG]

Unfortunately these are the practices that are destroying our topsoil by trading soil health for short term profit.

Often these are the same farmers that ignore the much needed soil tests that @WAB mentioned, and simply throw out hundreds of pounds of 20-20-20 per acre; while complaining about fertilizer cost.

We do have problems with improper fertilizer use in the USA and runoff from it is a major factor in why so many of our lakes and streams are choked with vegetation.

Example: Nitrogen in granular form is a volatile element, if you spread hundreds of pounds per acre at one time your probably losing 50% of it to runoff and evaporation and if your soil PH is to low your only getting 50% of the fertilizer value being applied.

I’ve seen soil tests for Bermuda grass & corn requiring 800lbs + per acre of nitrogen alone.

Soil management has far more to do with crop rotation, organic matter, and tillage practice. Soil erosion in the U.S. is about as significant as climate change. However, U.S. soil is managed by U.S. landowners. The climate change, I suppose, is more of a problem to lay at the feet of China and India.

 

[MauserM03Blog]

Mauser, you are incorrect concerning just cool season burning, Scott and I have traveled extensively in Africa. You got to get out and stop reading some bullshit report

I imagine you'll provide the same advice to JD Vance? Get over to Ukraine and see the war crimes and terror bombing for yourself?

 

[Aaron N]

People change when they can use something that is better, cheaper and more convenient. Ask Kodak about this.

My wife and I went sailing after retiring. It used to be that cruising sailboats always had a generator to charge lead-acid batteries. Instead of this we had solar panels and lithium batteries. The performance was brilliant, it was cheaper than a generator and was more convenient. This approach is becoming standard. People change when a better, cheaper and more convenient solution is offered.

This is the big point for me when it comes to the energy transition. Green technologies have to be worth it. Right now I see the govt moving in the direction of forcing us to change.

Let’s take EV’s for example. I drive a 1 Ton diesel truck. I can drive for eight hours straight, pull over for five minutes filling up, and be back on the road for another eight hours if I wanted to. Now if there was an equivalent EV that met the power, distance, and convenience factor, I would seriously consider it. But phasing out ICE’s before EV’s are at their level isn’t how the free market is meant to work. EV’s need to be brought up to the standards we have at the moment for there to be a dramatic market shift towards them.

The green revolution seems to be using the stock more than the carrot to further their cause.

 

[deewayne2003]

Soil management has far more to do with crop rotation, organic matter, and tillage practice. Soil erosion in the U.S. is about as significant as climate change. However, U.S. soil is managed by U.S. landowners. The climate change, I suppose, is more of a problem to lay at the feet of China and India.

I bet you love anhydrous ammonia….

 

[DillonG]

I bet you love anhydrous ammonia….

I don’t farm for a living…
I also don’t love anything other than God, family, and country. Anhydrous is just a tool. I don’t love it. I actually prefer to not handle it. Pretty dangerous substance to apply. Go try it sometime, or maybe you have.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

I don’t farm for a living…
I also don’t love anything other than God, family, and country. Anhydrous is just a tool. I don’t love it. I actually prefer to not handle it. Pretty dangerous substance to apply. Go try it sometime, or maybe you have.

Get a strong whiff of anhydrous ammonia and you may hit the deck and never get up again, quite dangerous. Most people don't know how much home use ammonia is watered down and it in and of itself is quite nasty if you get a strong whiff of it.

 

[DillonG]

Get a strong whiff of anhydrous ammonia and you may hit the deck and never get up again, quite dangerous. Most people don't know how much home use ammonia is watered down and it in and of itself is quite nasty if you get a strong whiff of it.

It’s funny seeing the environmentalists/organic only folks not understand what happens when you work to make grain.

They also don’t understand what would happen to the livestock prices and grocery store meat prices, if we stopped using conventional ag practices without a major breakthrough. It’s basically talking to the crowd that thinks all food is made at Walmart or Costco.

 

[Aaron N]

Get a strong whiff of anhydrous ammonia and you may hit the deck and never get up again, quite dangerous. Most people don't know how much home use ammonia is watered down and it in and of itself is quite nasty if you get a strong whiff of it.

I remember once a cart flipped in one of our more interesting quarters to work. I was probably about 13, but I will never forget how over powering it was even from a distance.

 

[DillonG]

I remember once a cart flipped in one of our more interesting quarters to work. I was probably about 13, but I will never forget how over powering it was even from a distance.

We had a neighbor die from asphyxiation because of Anhydrous. It’s not an easy life of just wrecking soil with fert and becoming a millionaire like a lot of folks think it is.

 

[Tanks]

This is a good read on the subject....

How Trump could use sanctions in negotiations with Russia

In the run-up to his departure from the White House, President Joe Biden has slapped a number of major new sanctions on Russia’s financial systems and energy sector. The U.S. originally threatened Russia with “the mother of all sanctions” as Moscow prepared to invade Ukraine in February 2022.

kyivindependent.com

Did you read it? It is mostly how Trump could use the idea of lifting sanctions as a bargaining tool, not adding new sanctions to what is already there.

Also, sanctions take time to have their impact felt. With stopping all aid to Ukraine and stopping intelligence sharing it seems the immediate impact is on Ukraine. Russia can keep pummeling the civilian infrastructure in hopes of having better leverage on Ukraine.

So far, all actions by Trump have been pro Russia and anti-Ukraine and anti allies.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

It’s funny seeing the environmentalists/organic only folks not understand what happens when you work to make grain.

They also don’t understand what would happen to the livestock prices and grocery store meat prices, if we stopped using conventional ag practices without a major breakthrough. It’s basically talking to the crowd that thinks all food is made at Walmart or Costco.

Yes. I have a family relation that preaches organic natural meat. But they're always on a look out for the cheapest prices on just about everything else. They don't realize how market forces work. I have family in Iowa that still farm on the land my grandfather bought and built his family's home on. One of my cousins kids lives in that house now.

The whole countryside there has changed. None of the individual farmers that I could see in the area near/around my family raises livestock anymore. All of the stock come from large corporate type operations because the profit margin is so low it's too risky for the little guy to devote land to livestock. And you can be darn sure that the corporate ops do what they must to avoid loss from animals dying from diseases that can be prevented.

So not the old family farms are devoted to raising crops only. Much of that Iowa corn actually now goes to ethanol production, but that's a whole other discussion.

 

[DillonG]

Yes. I have a family relation that preaches organic natural meat. But they're always on a look out for the cheapest prices on just about everything else. They don't realize how market forces work. I have family in Iowa that still farm on the land my grandfather bought and built his family's home on. One of my cousins kids lives in that house now.

The whole countryside there has changed. None of the individual farmers that I could see in the area near/around my family raises livestock anymore. All of the stock come from large corporate type operations because the profit margin is so low it's too risky for the little guy to devote land to livestock. And you can be darn sure that the corporate ops do what they must to avoid loss from animals dying from diseases that can be prevented.

So not the old family farms are devoted to raising crops only. Much of that Iowa corn actually now goes to ethanol production, but that's a whole other discussion.

All of the land prices that saw dramatic increase after COVID was due to corporate influence. I tried buying 20 acres from a neighbor and he sold for roughly 40% higher to a conglomerate. I can’t blame him. A lot of the small farms are being destroyed for a variety of reasons. The organic crowd should push for the family farm, but they want cheap product.

 

[Corey0372]

In many ways his strategy is already working.. the positive results just arent getting the same level of attention as the negative responses (conflict always makes better TV I suppose)..

More than $1T in investment has already been pledged by multiple tech giants..

Apple is investing $500B alone in facilities and labor costs in Houston and Detroit and committed to 20,000 new jobs being associated with that investment, that they are promising to have completed within 4 years..

Stargate is also investing $500B in data center builds, also in Texas (there's a theme here where the Tech firms are expanding in Texas rather than their historical epicenter of Northern California).. they also plan to have all of that money spent within 4 years..

SoftBank is investing $100B in data centers, robot manufacturing, and chip manufacturing in the US.. That $100B is also coming mostly to Texas...

Meta is investing $65B in Texas' neighbor, Louisiana..

Microsoft is investing $40B in data centers in Texas and Arizona..

Damac is investing $20B across several states in the US..

Etc..etc..

All of these centers and the associated jobs could have easily been offshored.. many of the companies making these commitments are foreign owned.. yet they are choosing to invest on US soil (largely in business friendly markets like TX)..

https://fortune.com/2025/03/04/honda-civic-production-us-tariffs-mexico/

Add the next Honda Civic to that list

 

[fourfive8]

Go and look. What’s laughable is to express a strong opinion without being informed. Get some data, then work out what you think. China is still producing a lot of pollution but it has policies that are moving it in the right direction. It hasn’t thrown in the towel.

People trust science, you included. You enjoy using rifle propellants with various burning rates. You appreciate the consistency from batch to batch. You appreciate the shelf-life and the how safe it is to use, while still being incredibly effective when ignited in just the right way. All of this comes to you from science. Hodgdon H4350, one of the best and most useful propellants around, is Australian AR2209. I worked on the project that made this happen, early in my career.

People trust science. Think of all the other examples of how you trust science. The metallurgy in your barrels and actions, the coatings on your riflescope lenses, the laser rangefinders and thermal sensors you might be using. The GPS that guides the drone you use to find game. The fact that you never got polio and can walk when you go hunting. The masks you insist your surgeons use when operating on you. The mask you wear to avoid breathing in asbestos fibres. Go on, take it off if you don't trust science.

People trust science. They just don't realise all the ways. Then they get silly and decide not to trust science when they don't like what it reports, to their own detriment.

“I am the science” — Tony The Fauch


Just for grins, I did a simple internet search last night (using primarily google that has been infected for awhile with manipulated, slanted AI algorithms) for information about the various greenhouse gases- their sources and relative affect on warming/“climate change”. Unreal how biased and shaded the information available to the average citizen really is. Most of the sources don’t even bother to hide that bias. Science my ass!

 

[Tanks]

The gift that keeps giving, to Putin and Russia that is...

After all this, why would anyone get equipment from the USA.

MSN

The US has partially halted support for the F-16 fighter jets in Ukraine. This could deprive the Air Force of crucial air defense capabilities, according to Forbes.
According to the publication, the US cannot simply "turn off" the F-16 fighter jets from Lockheed Martin. However, the US has suspended critical support for the radar systems on the F-16s currently in Ukraine.

And already, pushback from ex-USA allies in regard to F-35s.

MSN

 

[Tanks]

On another note.

MSN

US President Donald Trump has reportedly informed his aides that the minerals deal between Washington and Kyiv alone will not be sufficient to resume aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine as officials from both countries gear up for talks in Saudi Arabia this week.
Details: Trump is pushing for a deal to be signed but also expects President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to show a shift in attitude toward peace talks, including a willingness to make concessions such as ceding territory to Russia, according to the officials.

Trump also wants Zelenskyy to take steps toward elections in Ukraine and possibly step down as the country's leader.

He couldn't have been more helpful to Russia even if he was a sleeper asset.