Politics

[spike.t]

Not sure if this is true...but should stir it up a bit in ANC ..EFF circles.....

The CIAG has today written to the President, the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, and the Western Cape Premier, formally notifying them of t… Shared via the Google app https://search.app/kmSS7RCtpAz6BdBw9

 

[WAB]

Sadly, I think not. Its not the emissions that keeps the cool vehicles out of America, its the safety standards and crash testing. Side curtain airbags. ABS. Traction control. If Toyota jumped through all those hoops and upgraded the 79s for sale here, they'd still be unsalable due to tariffs unless they built a final assembly factory in the USA. They won't do that because they have the Tacoma and Tundra over here, they'd only be cannibalizing their own market by introducing the African models.

It’s actually both. That diesel has never been approved for sale in the US in any vehicle and Toyota appears unwilling to make the investment necessary to do so.

 

[mdwest]

My bad. It was $12.50 a couple of weeks ago. Ours has also dropped.

Milk is also $12 a gallon.

Oh... and gas has been $7 a gallon for a year.

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there are many things to love about AK...

the cost of "things" up there however is not one of them..

I was blown away the last time I was in Anchorage at the cost difference between fairly common "stuff" and prices I was used to paying in TX..

 

[Tundra Tiger]

there are many things to love about AK...

the cost of "things" up there however is not one of them..

I was blown away the last time I was in Anchorage at the cost difference between fairly common "stuff" and prices I was used to paying in TX..

And I am not complaining. It's a part of the cost to live where I love.

I am actually in Oregon right now, and fascinated at how inexpensive everything is.

 

[WAB]

there are many things to love about AK...

the cost of "things" up there however is not one of them..

I was blown away the last time I was in Anchorage at the cost difference between fairly common "stuff" and prices I was used to paying in TX..

I can’t comment on TT’s situation, but having run a refinery and a large ag chemical complex in Alaska, don’t feel too bad for the folks there. The Alaskan differential in wages was well beyond the differential in cost of living. In addition, many local merchants in Fairbanks had two tier pricing. Visitors paid much more than residents. I don’t know the legality of this, but it definitely was in place. Housing was actually much less expensive than many areas in the lower 48. I don’t know if this is still the case or not.

 

[Doubleplay]

There are many reason that half of the world wants to live in the USA. Mostly for our freedoms of most things to include our economy and people's right to advance their station in life.

Not anymore.
With some high tech exceptions we're only attracting bottom of the barrel.

 

[Russ16]

Not anymore.
With some high tech exceptions we're only attracting bottom of the barrel.

Just since this came up, I’ll share an experience I had over the weekend.

Car shopping (long story I don’t. really want one) and I test drove an Audi. The sales guy had trouble with a couple of my questions and said he was new on the job. Only started two weeks ago. While we were on the drive, I asked him about where he was from, here is a summary of his story.

He's from Morocco and was in medical device sales. One day his wife came to him and said they won the green card lottery. Got picked against very long odds for a green card as a legal non asylum immigrant family. So, a little less than a year ago they picked up and moved to the US.
I asked him how he liked it and he said so far ok. But it was very different and very expensive. He said in Morrocco he worked in medical sales and his wife was able to stay home and take care of their two kids. Here she had to work 430 am – 1200 pm in the bakery at the Whole Foods. They also had to get a very expensive but not great apartment because they didn’t have any US credit history. His daughter has a medical condition and in Morocco the drugs were about $800 a year but here they are costing $25,000 a year--I didn’t ask about insurance etc. it was a short drive.

But he kept saying “but this is the land of opportunity, if I work hard, I can make it here.” After the third or fourth time I wasn’t sure if he was convincing me or himself.

It really brought home to me the fact that to a lot of the world we are still the beacon on the hill. For a guy to leave what he described as a career in medical sales to uproot his family and move here with very few prospects shows how attractive it must be here to someone living elsewhere.

It also made me think about our obligation as Americans. I believe we need to ensure that our policies still allow that dream to be realized. I also believe we need to be kind and warm to those who want to come here to realize that dream. To be frank it was very moving.

I wouldn’t call this guy the dregs of anything, if and when he gets his citizenship, I’ll be proud to call him a fellow citizen.

 

[skydiver386]

Putin Wants Suspension of Arms Supplies to Ukraine as Condition for Ceasefire, Bloomberg Reports

Putin demands a halt to arms shipments to Ukraine as a precondition for peace talks, while Trump prepares for a significant discussion with the Russian leader.

united24media.com

Of course there would be nothing to prevent Russian forces from frantically reequipping and resupplying their forces in contact. I will be interested to see if Trump is capable of holding a tough negotiating position in front of the whole planet.

Whatever Putin gets, he'll always ask for just one more.

My bet is he keeps delaying, while at the same time using any lull to mount attacks on the weakest part of the Ukrainian front.

Russia is scraping the bottom of the barrel in its storage depot's for armor, artillery ammunition and vehicles. It does have plenty of both towed and self propelled artillery that can be refurbished, but at what pace?

From the satellite images of Russian storage depot's, anything that could be pulled, quickly refurbished and rushed to the front has already been sent. From here on out the Russian Arms Industry will have to come up with new armor, vehicles and artillery tubes to supply the war effort. There are still Cold War stocks, but not enough to replace current losses.

If Trump and his advisors were smart, they'd see that Russia is far weaker than they appear. IMHO, never give your enemy any advantage he can't win on the battlefield.

 

[Brent in Az]

Putin is agreeing to conditions on a 30 day ceasefire deal

 

[Scott CWO]

well, my daughter and son in law have 6 kids. their friends have between 2 and 5 kids. apparently, i run in different circles. no status symbols at my kids house, just great, energetic, fun kiddos!

Yeah, all four of our kids are having kids of their own now. Each of them thinks they will have three each and one of our daughter-in-laws wants four! One daughter has three, both our sons have two so far but planning a third and our other daughter is getting married in July and wants to start having kids right away.

 

[rigbymauser]

My bad. It was $12.50 a couple of weeks ago. Ours has also dropped.

Milk is also $12 a gallon.

Oh... and gas has been $7 a gallon for a year.

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Gosh.

 

[SaintPanzer]

Could be a pay wall. Not sure:

https://www.nationalreview.com/2025/03/californias-war-on-farmers-made-eggs-even-scarcer/

 

[Wheels]

Looks like good investigative reporting by Loomer regarding Judge Boasberg and possible conflict of interest. It will be interesting to see what the DC Circuit says and if another Judge will be assigned.

Judge doesn't want criminal gangs removed from country and daughter makes her living defending them.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1901828312869347636

 

[Scott CWO]

I am sure lots of people wants to live in america, but it may not say something about "america" alone. It may say more about where they come from.

No kidding Captain Obvious. Lol.

 

[spike.t]

Could be a pay wall. Not sure:

https://www.nationalreview.com/2025/03/californias-war-on-farmers-made-eggs-even-scarcer/

Looks like you get 4 free views a month

 

[DillonG]

Just since this came up, I’ll share an experience I had over the weekend.

Car shopping (long story I don’t. really want one) and I test drove an Audi. The sales guy had trouble with a couple of my questions and said he was new on the job. Only started two weeks ago. While we were on the drive, I asked him about where he was from, here is a summary of his story.

He's from Morocco and was in medical device sales. One day his wife came to him and said they won the green card lottery. Got picked against very long odds for a green card as a legal non asylum immigrant family. So, a little less than a year ago they picked up and moved to the US.
I asked him how he liked it and he said so far ok. But it was very different and very expensive. He said in Morrocco he worked in medical sales and his wife was able to stay home and take care of their two kids. Here she had to work 430 am – 1200 pm in the bakery at the Whole Foods. They also had to get a very expensive but not great apartment because they didn’t have any US credit history. His daughter has a medical condition and in Morocco the drugs were about $800 a year but here they are costing $25,000 a year--I didn’t ask about insurance etc. it was a short drive.

But he kept saying “but this is the land of opportunity, if I work hard, I can make it here.” After the third or fourth time I wasn’t sure if he was convincing me or himself.

It really brought home to me the fact that to a lot of the world we are still the beacon on the hill. For a guy to leave what he described as a career in medical sales to uproot his family and move here with very few prospects shows how attractive it must be here to someone living elsewhere.

It also made me think about our obligation as Americans. I believe we need to ensure that our policies still allow that dream to be realized. I also believe we need to be kind and warm to those who want to come here to realize that dream. To be frank it was very moving.

I wouldn’t call this guy the dregs of anything, if and when he gets his citizenship, I’ll be proud to call him a fellow citizen.

A lot of gen y and z understand that the country is not the same as it was when our parents were our age. The old excuses of the kids are lazy only applies to a percentage of them (much like it applies to a percentage of boomers and gen x). I get why your car salesman was saying those things. I truly blame entitlement programs, but there is not a politician willing to commit career suicide outside of Massey. I doubt many voters, close to or in SS and Medicare windows, are willing to vote for politicians that will restrict those programs. I would gladly give up the money I have put in those programs. My runway is much longer than others though.

 

[rookhawk]

A lot of gen y and z understand that the country is not the same as it was when our parents were our age. The old excuses of the kids are lazy only applies to a percentage of them (much like it applies to a percentage of boomers and gen x). I get why your car salesman was saying those things. I truly blame entitlement programs, but there is not a politician willing to commit career suicide outside of Massey. I doubt many voters, close to or in SS and Medicare windows, are willing to vote for politicians that will restrict those programs. I would gladly give up the money I have put in those programs. My runway is much longer than others though.

The problem is one of selfishness. The country's opportunities are just as good as they were in "our day" whatever day that was. The difference is entitlement in Gen Y and Z. They believe they are owed and entitled to an education and a high paying job in a field of their choosing. They chased their dreams and their stupid parents, advisors, and college admissions deluded them into the notion they SHOULD follow their dreams.

I didn't follow my dreams. Most successful baby boomers and gen X-ers didn't follow their dreams either. They thought they were owed nothing, entitled to nothing, and deserved nothing. Those that flourished followed opportunities. My dreams were to be an ornithologist or maybe a judge, my reality was opportunities in technology and risk management were what society needed and I could easily deliver.

In short, a younger person cannot have what they want, if they're smart they'll do what I want because I'm the customer and they need to seize opportunities presented, not delusional dreams.

In addition, they have a piss-poor work ethic, will not start at the bottom, and expect the perqs I earned in 20-30 years within their first 6 months in an occupation, generally speaking.

 

[Scott CWO]

My bad. It was $12.50 a couple of weeks ago. Ours has also dropped.

Milk is also $12 a gallon.

Oh... and gas has been $7 a gallon for a year.

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Well dang it, at least the fish are free! Well I guess there’s the fishing license, boat, fuel, equipment, etc… so maybe not?

 

[Scott CWO]

there are many things to love about AK...

the cost of "things" up there however is not one of them..

I was blown away the last time I was in Anchorage at the cost difference between fairly common "stuff" and prices I was used to paying in TX..

Yeah and you can triple it again to get supplies down to our base camp on the Alaskan Peninsula for bear and moose season.

 

[Tundra Tiger]

View attachment 672532
Well dang it, at least the fish are free! Well I guess there’s the fishing license, boat, fuel, equipment, etc… so maybe not?

Which river Scott? That looks like it could be a SW river; the main for us is the Nushagak, which is also where most of my moose hunting happens.