Political Posts

[cwericb]

8 hours ago, cubsfan said:

 

Guess I hit a nerve - don't have a meltdown.

I definitely know how full of shit you are @cwericb - tell your government to get to work and settle this war already.

But I do appreciate your little speech and offer to "educate me".

 

 

Well I thought Trump had already settled it on day one?

 

Moving on....  As far as being full of it, since you stated.................................  

"And Canada and Europe have done absolutely [nothing] in Ukraine.

All talk, no action.

Not to worry - Trump will figure it out for the cowards."

 

Given the gross misinformation you spouted above I simply had to point out how out of touch you were given that ..... 

A) Canada had done more, per capita to support the Ukraine financially than any other country and that includes the United States.

B) That Canada has long been supplying military support training Ukraine troops and providing military equipment.

C) Canada Cowards? Simply shows your ignorance of Canadian history. 

 

Have a problem with being confronted with actual facts?

 

Now behave yourself or we  may have go back down and burn down the White house.

Again.

For the second time. 

 

 

 

[cubsfan]

[changegonnacome]

10 hours ago, cubsfan said:

All Joe Biden did was call Putin names and issue empty threats when Putin invaded. Obama greased the skids for Putin with his empty talk and famous "red lines".

 

Plenty of blame to go around and plenty that can be attributed to Trump as being a contributing factor to Russia ending up invading Ukraine.

 

Trump has two fairly major black marks on his management of the Ukraine portfolio which can be argued got us where we are:

 

 (1) need I mention his shakedown of Zelensky for investigations into the Bidens by the withholding of military aid?......this was signal to the Kremlin (if any we're needed) that Ukraine was now a puppet regime of the United States....you only speak to puppets the way Trump spoke to Zelensky....you only direct domestic sovereign criminal investigations like that when you have complete leverage over another sovereign country and they are dependent on you. This was a red flag that Ukraine had morphed into a fully fledged US proxy on Russia's doorstep.....imagine Putin/Russia with such domineering control and leverage over Mexico that he would speak to President Sheinbaum this way and you might understand the anxiety this created in the Kremlin when the contents of that call became....it would do the same in D.C. and before too long Mexico might have US troops crossing the Southern Border.

(2) before Trump left office ~2019 he decided to authorize the sale of javeleins to Ukraine (a decision his predecessors had considered and upon mature reflection had judged as too provocative to Russian security)....Trump had a different view and authorized them.......when this happened Russia viewed the US supplying Javelin missiles to Ukraine as a significant escalation of aggression in Ukraine-Russia-USA relations. Russian officials strongly condemned the move at the time, arguing that providing these weapons would worsen tensions and encourage Ukraine toward more aggressive military decisions. 

 

The road to the Russia-Ukranian conflict is long....Trump's contributions to the mess there are meaningful...he was no genius in his mgmt of the situation, quite the opposite and its likely to come back and bite him in the ass as I think its inevitable that Ukraine's front lines will collapse during his Presidency which will be deeply embarrassing to the West/US and as much as Trump attempts to distance himself he is the guy who said he'd have it fixed no time at all even before he moved into the WH again.

[cubsfan]

Now that is a very interesting perspective:

 

1) Is it a shakedown when you question contingent aid to a country that had been paying off the Biden family??      

 

Looks pretty bad to me. Americans have this thing about foreign corruption and foreign bribes to OUR political leaders.

 

2) I have a really tough time with your javelin argument.

 

So Barrack Obama cancels missile defense initiatives in Eastern Europe, which green lights Putin on expansion to Eastern Europe.  Then he tells Russian President Medved - "Give me some space for my re-election, and Vlad will be good" - something like that. Basically Obama saying - do whatever you want, I just hope you don't invade anyone - but don't fuck up my re-election chances.

 

Then Trump arms Ukraine - and that's provocative. But Obama disarms the missile program - and that's not a green light for Russian expansion.

 

Definitely have a tough time with that logic.

[changegonnacome]

1 hour ago, cubsfan said:

But Obama disarms the missile program - and that's not a green light for Russian expansion.

 

Definitely have a tough time with that logic.

 

Depends on your perspective.....there are two versions of Russia that people subscribe too..... there is Russia/Putin the expansionist regime hellbent on territorial expansion & re-building the USSR (even though prior to 2022 they had a standing army so minisucle that the idea it could fundamentally conquer and hold additional hostile landmasses is fundamentally laughable)......or Russia/Putin the diminished power re-trenched to its own sphere with a bright red line under Belarus and Ukraine region remaining deeply neutral and acting as security land buffer for what is Russia's deeply vulnerable Western border with Europeans powers....which is to say the North European plain (see below).....this is flat land mass east of Warsaw that Belarus and Ukraine occupies today which constitues a massive land mass almost impossible to defend given its topgraphy and size.....through which Russia has had three near regime death experiences in the last 350yrs....Napoleon 1812, WWI and WWII....in all instances standing armies marched through here with ease on their way to Moscow....if you are a country this is not the topogrpahy and borders you would ask God for when he's handing out countries.

 

 

History above and the video below might help folks understand why Ukraine & Belarus are so important to Russian security architecture...you've got to walk a mile in someone elses shoes in diplomacy to get a 360 view.....if your nation was nearly destroyed three times in the most recent past from the West through armies marching over the North European Plain and for which there little solution to that defense problem given the vastness of terrain and its flatness...you might care, as much as Russia, does about the direction of travel of the regimes in Ukraine and Belarus that occupy the vast majority of that North European Plain....you might not agree with Russia's security concerns but its hard to argue with their logic on why these two nations remaining neutral are a key pillar of Russia's security architecture as they think about their Western border.

 

 

[cubsfan]

44 minutes ago, changegonnacome said:

 

Depends on your perspective.....there are two versions of Russia that people subscribe too..... there is Russia/Putin the expansionist regime hellbent on territorial expansion & re-building the USSR (even though prior to 2022 they had a standing army so minisucle that the idea it could fundamentally conquer and hold additional hostile landmasses is fundamentally laughable)......or Russia/Putin the diminished power re-trenched to its own sphere with a bright red line under Belarus and Ukraine region remaining deeply neutral and acting as security land buffer for what is Russia's deeply vulnerable Western border with Europeans powers....which is to say the North European plain (see below).....this is flat land mass east of Warsaw that Belarus and Ukraine occupies today which constitues a massive land mass almost impossible to defend given its topgraphy and size.....through which Russia has had three near regime death experiences in the last 350yrs....Napoleon 1812, WWI and WWII....in all instances standing armies marched through here with ease on their way to Moscow....if you are a country this is not the topogrpahy and borders you would ask God for when he's handing out countries.

 

 

History above and the video below might help folks understand why Ukraine & Belarus are so important to Russian security architecture...you've got to walk a mile in someone elses shoes in diplomacy to get a 360 view.....if your nation was nearly destroyed three times in the most recent past from the West through armies marching over the North European Plain and for which there little solution to that defense problem given the vastness of terrain and its flatness...you might care, as much as Russia, does about the direction of travel of the regimes in Ukraine and Belarus that occupy the vast majority of that North European Plain....you might not agree with Russia's security concerns but its hard to argue with their logic on why these two nations remaining neutral are a key pillar of Russia's security architecture as they think about their Western border.

 

 

 

That is a really great clip on Russia's concerns. Makes total sense.

 

I've done a complete 180 on Ukraine/Russia.

 

2 years ago or so, you pointed out the difficulty of displacing a heavily dug in opponent, such as the Russian army, and the overwhelming force required to do so. In spite of all the advanced technology the west can throw at it - that has held up.

4/5 years later - all the killing has yielded nothing by Verdun - an absolute killing field with lines that shift but a few miles. All this for 100 miles into Ukraine, but they can't be displaced.

 

@Gregmal Early on, also pointed out the very complicated history of Ukraine, and the ethnic and religious hatred - so many groups and agendas.  I never understood or appreciated all the rivalries. It's a mess of agendas.

 

Therefore my opinion went from the USA needs to fight here and kick Russia out to we have no business there.  It's for Russia, Ukraine and Europe to decide. 

 

The USA should have no part in this war. It's not in our strategic interest. 

[Gregmal]

Happens all too often. I see things for what they are way earlier than most and then just have to be patient as consensus eventually comes around. Unfortunately there wasn’t really a ton of actionable investment angles to the Ukraine situation other than just treating it as a pointless distraction and exiting my oil calls northof $110 a barrel. 

[LC]

I will say my biggest criticism of Obama is how soft he was on Russia in 2014/15 or so. It kept the US out of an international conflict (looks good short term), and I think he was hoping the problem would solve itself. But the repercussions of his inaction weren't felt until after his term, in 2021.

 

Not to conflate the two issues but it will be the same with Trump and his economic and domestic policy - looks good in the short term but makes the long term problem worse.

 

Not even so much an attack against either - voters aren't looking long term and politicians will reflect that...we're just getting what we've paid for. 

[Spekulatius]

Interesting article in the WSJ:

https://www.wsj.com/world/china/china-trade-war-trump-talks-25c50136?mod=hp_lead_pos1

 

Quote

In its trade standoff with Washington, Beijing thinks it has found America’s Achilles’ heel: President Trump’s fixation on the stock market.

China’s leader, Xi Jinping, is betting that the U.S. economy can’t absorb a prolonged trade conflict with the world’s second-largest economy, according to people close to Beijing’s decision-making. China is holding a firm line because of its conviction, the people said, that an escalating trade war will tank markets, as it did in April after Trump announced his so-called Liberation Day tariffs, prompting Beijing to hit back.

China expects that the prospect of another market meltdown ultimately will force Trump to negotiate at an expected summit with Xi late this month, the people said.

 

[Parsad]

I have stacks of old newspapers that I work my way through and I had a copy of the so-biased and inaccurate NY Times from October 27, 2024.  In one opinion piece (of course blatantly against Trump...couldn't be anything else) they stated:

• Trump says he will use the Justice Department to punish people he doesn't like - Believe him!
• Trump says he will round up and deport millions of immigrants - Believe him!
• Trump says he will deploy the American military against U.S. citizens - Believe him!
• Trump say he will allow vigilante violence to end crime - Believe him!
• Trump says he will order the military to strike foreign civilian targets if they attack the U.S. - Believe him!
• Trump says he will punish blue states by withholding disaster relief - Believe him!
• Trump says he will use ideological tests to decide which public schools get federal money - Believe him!
• Trump says he will abandon U.S. allies - Believe him!

So far, they've been right on 7 out of 8 of those...the only exception so far is the ordering of the military to strike foreign civilian targets if they attack the U.S.

 

How this rag of a newspaper is allowed to spread such disinformation against the greatest President in at least 150 years is beyond comprehension!

 

Silly NY Times...thinking that their opinion matters!  Cheers!

[John Hjorth]

4 minutes ago, Parsad said:

I have stacks of old newspapers that I work my way through and I had a copy of the so-biased and inaccurate NY Times from October 27, 2024.  In one opinion piece (of course blatantly against Trump...couldn't be anything else) they stated:

• Trump says he will use the Justice Department to punish people he doesn't like - Believe him!
• Trump says he will round up and deport millions of immigrants - Believe him!
• Trump says he will deploy the American military against U.S. citizens - Believe him!
• Trump say he will allow vigilante violence to end crime - Believe him!
• Trump says he will order the military to strike foreign civilian targets if they attack the U.S. - Believe him!
• Trump says he will punish blue states by withholding disaster relief - Believe him!
• Trump says he will use ideological tests to decide which public schools get federal money - Believe him!
• Trump says he will abandon U.S. allies - Believe him!

So far, they've been right on 7 out of 8 of those...the only exception so far is the ordering of the military to strike foreign civilian targets if they attack the U.S.

 

How this rag of a newspaper is allowed to spread such disinformation against the greatest President in at least 150 years is beyond comprehension!

 

Silly NY Times...thinking that their opinion matters!  Cheers!

 

*chuckle* - Sanjeev [ @Parsad ],

 

I think you forgot to mention NY Times is also a very cheap paper to subscribe to digitally, so it can't be worth more! lol.

[Parsad]

11 hours ago, LC said:

I will say my biggest criticism of Obama is how soft he was on Russia in 2014/15 or so. It kept the US out of an international conflict (looks good short term), and I think he was hoping the problem would solve itself. But the repercussions of his inaction weren't felt until after his term, in 2021.

 

Not to conflate the two issues but it will be the same with Trump and his economic and domestic policy - looks good in the short term but makes the long term problem worse.

 

Not even so much an attack against either - voters aren't looking long term and politicians will reflect that...we're just getting what we've paid for. 

 

Obama was Martin Luther King Lite!  He was a great orator (no beep, beep, bong, bing, bongs from him), extremely charismatic, essentially an honest, decent person.  But the expectations were far, far higher than the results.  Not talking about the problems after 9/11, depths of the GFC, etc...but that regardless of partisan politics, he didn't get enough done based on the expectations thrust upon him.  The race politics had less to do with him and more to do with his opponents and supporters...the guy's half black and half white...why on earth would he be racist to white people?  With Trump, there's very obvious reasons why he has some racist (ok bigoted) perspectives...he's a WASP who never understood how anyone could be better than him

 

Trump is the anti-thesis of Obama.  For the better part of his life and his tenure as President, he's been a horrible human being and person, essentially a life-time grifter, who talked, lied, cheated his way into office and then did everything he could to stay there.  But he is a maverick when it comes to policy...he doesn't care about how things get done, as long as he gets what he wants.  Frankly an overachiever based on the expectations set by his opponents and his duplicitous, narcissistic tendencies!  

 

Cheers!

[Parsad]

3 minutes ago, John Hjorth said:

 

*chuckle* - Sanjeev [ @Parsad ],

 

I think you forgot to mention NY Times is also a very cheap paper to subscribe to digitally, so it can't be worth more! lol.

 

Yes, very cheap!  Poor quality paper...no gold motifs or inlay in the paper...just plain black and white!

 

How does someone read something with no gold on it?  Also, too many big words like "presumptive" or "indictment".

 

Cheers!

[dealraker]

The good news on this debate is simply and clearly that Parsad won.  For well over a decade Cubs and Greg infiltrated and dominated all of COBF with their politics.  Now only the optional politics thread.  What a nice thing that is!

 

6 hours ago, Parsad said:

 

Yes, very cheap!  Poor quality paper...no gold motifs or inlay in the paper...just plain black and white!

 

How does someone read something with no gold on it?  Also, too many big words like "presumptive" or "indictment".

 

Cheers!

 

Edited October 15, 2025 by dealraker
Spellin'

[Gregmal]

42 minutes ago, dealraker said:

The good news on this debate is simply and clearly that Parsad won.  For well over a decade Cubs and Greginfiltrated dominated all of COBF withe their politics.  Now only the optional politics thread.  What a nice thing that is!

 

 

lol totally! The poor board was dominated only by two people… During a period in which, during half of it(ok 4 years to be exact)…there was little to no politics here at all!
 

Make no mention of the incredibly left leaning natural tendency of many on this board, and the overwhelming chorus of non contributors that only seem to jump in for the “good fight” as well. How many folks, quality ones, latest example being @james22 get run out of here for either being conservative or not bearish enough…they only do so too cuz of cubs and I…meanwhile, so tormented, I suppose, is this poor board, that despite the burden, more people seem to follow or care about what I say than either Sanjeev or Viking..wtf, so weird! You were even one of them til Trump took over your peace of mind.
 

Or that when I was off here in early 2021, folks collectively engaged in “peaceful protest”(not the kind that involves burning down cities thank goodness) with a bring Gregmal back movement…the first and only of its kind in COBF history. What did I do to get the ban? Called then NYC governor and liberal hero Cuomo a disgusting liar and creep. As with most things again, I was just way ahead of yall there too… go figure. 
 

Anyway, I hope you poor souls can endure. It’s just too much having to constantly be dominated by two people who hold different views. One day this board will be great again when it’s 100% composed of left leaning people with the same views!

[SharperDingaan]

12 minutes ago, Gregmal said:

Anyway, I hope you poor souls can endure. It’s just too much having to constantly be dominated by two people who hold different views. One day this board will be great again when it’s 100% composed of left leaning people with the same views!

 

There's always room for another sh1te disturber! and the more of them ..... the better balanced the discussion 

Taleb's 'Skin In The Game' is a refreshing read every now and again, and we could all do with a lot more of Fat Tony and beers with the boys

 

Orange Boy has his fans, but the drunk and the felon aren't going to be able to shut the press out .... roaches are just too hard to kill.

Leaks happen, midterms are coming up, and there ain't a lot of love lost. FIFA calls Orange Boys bluff and moves the world cup games entirely out of the US ..... Orange Boy doesn't get the Noble Peace Prize ..... whispers, ostracism, and thin skin don't go well. Tradeable 

 

SD

 

 

 

[Gregmal]

13 minutes ago, SharperDingaan said:

 

There's always room for another sh1te disturber! and the more of them ..... the better balanced the discussion 

Taleb's 'Skin In The Game' is a refreshing read every now and again, and we could all do with a lot more of Fat Tony and beers with the boys

 

Orange Boy has his fans, but the drunk and the felon aren't going to be able to shut the press out .... roaches are just too hard to kill.

Leaks happen, midterms are coming up, and there ain't a lot of love lost. FIFA calls Orange Boys bluff and moves the world cup games entirely out of the US ..... Orange Boy doesn't get the Noble Peace Prize ..... whispers, ostracism, and thin skin don't go well. Tradeable 

 

SD

 

 

 

Rugby games are more fun when you have two teams. Especially when there’s shared pints afterwards and then a friendly bar brawl. I’ve never understood the point of only having one team who’s rocking Vuori short shorts and drinking matcha lattes. 
 

 

Disclosure: over the years I’ve come around to matcha lattes! 

[73 Reds]

29 minutes ago, Gregmal said:

Rugby games are more fun when you have two teams. Especially when there’s shared pints afterwards and then a friendly bar brawl. I’ve never understood the point of only having one team who’s rocking Vuori short shorts and drinking matcha lattes. 
 

 

Disclosure: over the years I’ve come around to matcha lattes! 

Yeah, reading the same tired rhetoric over and over again by the same posters against a sitting President on an online investment board is about as stimulating as watching Alabama or Ohio State play the Little Sisters of the Poor on a Saturday afternoon.  Yawn.

[cubsfan]

2 hours ago, dealraker said:

The good news on this debate is simply and clearly that Parsad won.  For well over a decade Cubs and Greginfiltrated dominated all of COBF withe their politics.  Now only the optional politics thread.  What a nice thing that is!

 

Always so good to hear from ole' @dealraker

 

I'm ok with being despised as the common rube from the Midwest who loves traditional American values. Call me the cranky old man from the farmlands whose mission it is to save his country. And you're always welcome to express your elitist globalist opinion and cheap shots. Also feel free to keep those cheap Mexican roofers so you can pile up more money as well, while you deny decent paying jobs to those "basket of deplorables" whose lives you've destroyed. Trump will save them.

 

Me?

 

I'm kinda of upset about the 4 years of unrelenting crime, rapes, murders and general lawlessness that the likes of you have unleashed on us the rest of us common trash while you sip your lattes.

 

But it is AWESOME to be winning again.  Suck on that brother.

[cubsfan]

3 hours ago, Gregmal said:

Rugby games are more fun when you have two teams. Especially when there’s shared pints afterwards and then a friendly bar brawl. I’ve never understood the point of only having one team who’s rocking Vuori short shorts and drinking matcha lattes. 

 

THIS.

 

You proved when you invited all opponents to the JOE meeting that that indeed is the case.  I met so many great people at these gatherings in SPITE of knowing that some of them didn't agree with me. But what great people who can share and acknowledge their differences, yet have so much fun together.

 

Even my chief antagonist @LC says "Free Cubsfan". Now that is a great guy that knows how to push my buttons when we debate. I hope he never changes because he always cracks me up and it would even be more fun over a pitcher of beer.

Edited October 15, 2025 by cubsfan

[Gregmal]

6 minutes ago, cubsfan said:

opponents

Agree, but I don’t think it’s fair to consider them opponents lol. It’s just been a little odd here how many from one particular side, have regularly cried for bans and censuring, and to Sanjeevs credit, I think all in all, he’s been reasonable. There’s been a ton of center/right posters who just leave rather than deal with some of these babies after relentless whining. Not my style, but again, that’s something we only really see happening on one side.
 

Why get so hot and bothered lol, like I don’t get it at all. It’s just stupid internet bickering and if it’s not fun, why do it? 75% of the people I bicker with I know personally. Maybe there’s a few outsiders whom get wrapped up and then think it’s personal. Get over it. 

[cubsfan]

^^^  Definitely - and clearly my screw up.  COBF Members, NOT opponents.

 

America is "e pluribus unum" - meaning out of many we create one for unity.

 

 

Edited October 15, 2025 by cubsfan

[Sweet]

Many thinks it’s divisive that conservatives are allowed a speak at all.  Must be tough hearing opposing views when it’s been left wing talking points dominating the internet for decades.

[SharperDingaan]

1 hour ago, Gregmal said:

Rugby games are more fun when you have two teams. Especially when there’s shared pints afterwards and then a friendly bar brawl. I’ve never understood the point of only having one team who’s rocking Vuori short shorts and drinking matcha lattes. 

 

To quote SaintsAndHeathens.com “Soccer is a gentleman’s game played by thugs. Rugby league is a thug’s game played by thugs. Rugby Union is a thug’s game played by gentlemen.” Though I'm kind of partial to the Oscar Wilde quote “Rugby is a good occasion for keeping thirty bullies far from the centre of the city” and Orwell's apt description “Serious sport has nothing to do with fair play. It is bound up with hatred, jealousy, boastfulness, disregard of all rules and sadistic pleasure in witnessing violence: in other words it is war minus the shooting.”

 

Well there are only 2 teams in the world, and they are both from the southern hemisphere, the other guys are just practice 

 

SD

[John Hjorth]

4 minutes ago, SharperDingaan said:

To quote SaintsAndHeathens.com “Soccer is a gentleman’s game played by thugs. Rugby league is a thug’s game played by thugs. Rugby Union is a thug’s game played by gentlemen.” Though I'm kind of partial to the Oscar Wilde quote “Rugby is a good occasion for keeping thirty bullies far from the centre of the city” and Orwell's apt description “Serious sport has nothing to do with fair play. It is bound up with hatred, jealousy, boastfulness, disregard of all rules and sadistic pleasure in witnessing violence: in other words it is war minus the shooting.”

 

Well there are only 2 teams in the world, and they are both from the southern hemisphere, the other guys are just practice 

 

SD

 

HaHa!  - Great, SD [ @SharperDingaan]!