Ukrainian forces are pushing Russian forces east, in retreat. Ukrainians are motivated to fight for their homes, their families, their lives. Russians with educations are motivated to flee Russia. Russian soldiers are motivated to fight by amount of stuff they can steal, the women and girls they can rape, the people they can execute, including their commanders.
Continue readingThe NY Post‘s bottom of the page headline, “Florida Man Makes Announcement. Page 26” didn’t make it clear, but Donald Trump, announced on November 15, 2022 that he is running for President in 2024.
The fact that the Post wrote “Florida Man” not “Donald Trump,” “President Trump,” etc., speaks volumes. The twice-impeached 45th President of the United States, twice lost the popular vote, said COVID-19 is a hoax, suggested that people drink bleach to cure them of COVID, suggested that people take a drug used to treat intestinal parasites to cure COVID, tried to bribe Ukraine’s President Volodomyr Zelenskyy, refused – and still refuses – to admit defeat and accept the results of the 2020 election, stole Top Secret documents related to US national security, and launched an insurrection to hold power.
Question 1 is what’s the worst that could happen.
Question 2 is what is likely to happen.
Continue readingPutin says Russia’s “Special Military Operation” in Ukraine is going according to plan …
You can read a man like a book. His eyes, his smile, his body language reveal his character. How does he respond to adversity? Does he panic and blame others? Does he seek and listen to counsel and take action? Does he have a sense of humor? Can he take a joke?
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Looking objectively, Russia has failed to achieve Putin’s “strategic” goals.
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“You can’t work for a killer and get paid by him,” Elena Kovalskaya, who runs the Meyerhold Center theater, said on Facebook, and resigned.
The theater — named after late Russian playwright Vsevolod Meyerhold — also spoke out on Facebook, saying that Russia’s relentless aggression in Ukraine has “now come into tragic conflict with our mission…. We cannot be silent about this. We only have this left to say: ‘No to war,'” the performing arts venue said in the social media post. “War is much more than disrespect for a person, and much more horrifying. War is the death of a person, it is the killing of people.” The theater also thanked Kovalskaya for her “courage.”
Prominent Russians shocked by the invasion of Ukraine have gone public with their opposition to the war, despite the professional and personal risks that come with dissent on such a sensitive issue in Russia.
More than 1,800 people were arrested at rallies across Russia on Thursday night as prominent Russians from the worlds of entertainment, business and journalism have risked their livelihoods in order to speak out.
Elena Chernenko, the veteran diplomatic correspondent for newspaper, Kommersant, wrote. “War has never been and will never be a method of conflict resolution and there are no excuses for it,” she wrote. Nearly 300 journalists have signed, including representatives of state-run media. In retaliation, she has been expelled from the diplomatic pool, which she has covered for more than 11 years, for “unprofessionalism”.
The French navy has intercepted a Russian cargo ship in the English Channel that was bound for Saint Petersburg, the BBChas reported.
French officials said the ship was intercepted according to new European Union sanctions imposed on Russian entities and individuals after Vladimir Putin launched an invasion of Ukraine.
An official told the BBC: “A 127 meters long Russia cargo ship called the ‘Baltic Leader’ transporting cars has been intercepted overnight by the French Navy in the Channel and escorted to the Port of Boulogne-Sur-Mer in Northern France.
You can’t get Russian Vodka in Ontario, Alberta, Manitoba, and British Columbia, Canada (CTV News). Putin won’t notice.
Russians are protesting the invasion of Ukraine, across Russia, by the thousands (NY Times). Putin won’t care. There may be too many to put in jail – and anyway, they already are inside the gulag, they are already in jail, a jail called the Russian Federation.
However,
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Tesla, with a market capitalization of $1.137 Trillion at the close of trading on Friday, November 19, 2021, is worth more than GM, Ford, Honda, Toyota, BMW, Daimler Benz, VW COMBINED. 45% more.
Add in the value of Nisan, Hyundai, and Stellantis, which owns Fiat, Chrysler, Jeep, Maserati, Alfa Romeo, and other brands, and Tesla is still worth 25.8 % more than the rest of the major auto companies. See Table 1.
More surprising is that Tesla, is worth 39% more than Exxon Mobil, Shell, Conoco Philips, Chevron Texaco, and BP Amoco combined. See Table 2.
Arguably, Toyota set the stage for energy efficiency with the 1997 launch of the Prius (click here). And Fisker, launched in 2007, could have been Tesla. Coupled with the fact that other car companies are introducing electric vehicles, including the Chevy Bolt, the Ford Mustang Mach-e and the Ford F-150 Lightning, the Fisker Ocean, etc. it is clear that with Tesla, Elon Musk has changed the world.
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With apologies to The Bard,
Bamboo or no bamboo? That is the question. Whether tis logical to plant bamboo across America? For tis an evasive species with no natural predators, or to plant hemp, other grasses, and hardwoods and to do so as a means to natural sustainable carbon sequestration.
To place plants, to literally green the bio-humano-sphere, to create new habitat and pull carbon dioxide out of the air. And how much of the dioxide of carbon can we pull per year?
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If Attila the Hun had a resume it would read, Emperor, King, Chief, and Prince. The resume would probably not describe how after his father’s death, in 418, Attila was sent by his uncle to be a servant in the Roman Court of Emperor Flavius Honorius. That, however, is the back story, as told by Wess Roberts In Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun. (At Strand Books, here) Roberts describes Attila as a visionary, an ambitious, and charismatic leader and a strategic thinker who united the Hunnish tribes into a nation then transformed that nation into an empire. He brought Astrogoths, Alans, and others together with the Huns to try to realize his vision: to conquer Rome. And he came close.
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The Soviet Union did not collapse due to actions President Reagan or the actions of any President of the United States In fact, President Roosevelt, via the Lend Lease Act during WW II, helped the Soviet Union and Great Britain withstand the onslaught of Nazi Germany. It helped win the war. (History.com, OurDocuments.gov, FDRLibrary.org.)
The Soviet Union, according to Mikhail Gorbachev, collapsed after and as a direct result of the meltdown at Chernobyl. Andropov, Gorbachev, and other members of the Central Committee realized that not only could they not hide the truth, but that the Soviet system was failing and doomed to failure. This is discussed in detail at Slate and at Faultlines.
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Napoleon in Russia
On June 24, 1812 Napoleon led his Grand Army, 500,000 strong, across the Neman River into Russia. His goal was to persuade Tzar Alexander I not to trade with Great Britain. The Russian Army retreated before Napoleon’s, leaving a trail of burning farm fields. Napoleon made it to Moscow by mid-September, where he “captured” a deserted and burning city. Napoleon and his army camped out in the smoldering ruins for a month waiting the Tzar to sue for peace. But Alexander never did. Napoleon left Moscow on October 19, 1812, following the Russian army, with the Russian winter closing in. Napoleon’s army encountered the Russian army in the Battle of Maloyaroslavets. The battle was militarily inconclusive, but Napoleon’s army, starving and freezing, began its retreat back to Paris. In its retreat Napoleon’s army withstood attacks by the Russian army, Cossacks, and “peasants.”
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On Dec. 21, 2012, I put $16 Million imaginary dollars into 16 real energy companies; $8.0 in the Sustainable Energy space and $8.0 in the fossil fuel space, $1.0 Million into each. Excluding the value of dividends and transaction costs, but including the bankruptcy or crash of three companies in the sustainable energy space,
As of the close of trading five (5) years later,
In addition,
