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#21 | Posted by LampLighter at 2024-04-14 02:06 AM
OK, I think you just blew your cover.

What "cover" would that be, exactly? "Think" harder, please.

Up until that c#20 omment, I have seen you present links and facts. And I welcomed that for the discussion and the jousts I have had with you. But, with #20, your alias seems to have turned to the ad hominem attacks that I see in other trolls here on this most august site.

"Jousts" - really???

If this is the phrase that set your alias mind on fire - "Maybe for those like you who don't have the necessary skill set, but millions of Americans are free to work and do work overseas ("outside national boundaries"), as well as millions of foreign workers are in the U.S., "outside of their national boundaries" - you wouldn't know because you never worked, traveled on business or lived for a while outside the U.S." - then don't worry, it's hardly an ad hominem when

1) Snoofy (and/or his alias ) has readily admitted to that fact on numerous occasions, often proudly, though he/his alias often makes self-contradictory statements - quite often in the same sentence - which makes it impossible to take him/his alias seriously. Seems he/his alias thinks he mastered the art of the snark, and tries to show it often - I don't care about that, but on occasions when I have time I only correct the facts he/his alias is twisting to form an opinion, for sake of others lest they be misled. That's what we do at this most august of the august sites, is it not?

2) I also brought up a few facts and axioms (as well as links - yay, your favorite!) which were simply ignored in favor of posting of nonsense response which could easily be construed as an ad hominem.

I understand that your alias and Snoofy's alias are quite prolific posters - more posts in 1-2 days than I do in 1-3 months - so it may be difficult for your alias to keep up and know what Snoofy's alias copped to, especially when posting impaired (his alias' drink of choice is tequila, in case your alias cares to know) so I get how your alias could miss something so ordinary that many people (not trolls) on this site know very well by now and pointed out to his alias on numerous occasions.

Now, your alias knows very well that I am not a troll, and thanked me and my posts often for bringing sense to questions and topics you didn't know or understand, so the only reason your alias would try to imply such would be that your alias tried to get upper hand and "win" some kind of imaginary "joust"? That's weak and ineffective, so your alias should abstain from that course of action in the future, no matter how much psychic income your alias got from that at the moment - it tends to backfire. Make a note of it?

Ah-ha, I see what happened: your 2am-3am late night/early morning alter alias (in its standard 'fifth-grade teacher troll' mode) came out again and started its usual stupid trolling, as it does every two-three months for whatever reason?... BTW, trolls and their aliases accusing others of "trolling" is not a new tactic, and doesn't work, no matter how pleased trolls and their aliases are with themselves at the time.

I thought I and your aliases came to an agreement last time (December 2, 2023 3:05am) that your aliases should better control and keep in check your alter alias, and not waste my time any longer on what Pres Obama called "stupid s**t" as in "Don't do stupid s**t"? Can your alias impart that piece of wisdom on your "late night/early morning" alter alias and stop it from embarrassing your alias and more importantly, wasting my time explaining this again and embarrassing your aliases?

Thank you.
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#13 | Posted by LampLighter at 2024-04-13 11:05 PM
Yeah, if labor does price itself out of the market, then the business owners will go elsewhere to resolve that labor cost issue. As your comment states.

OK, maybe there is still a light at the end of the tunnel.

And this is good for American workers, how?

Strange question, because it doesn't address the substance of the issues - but maybe we can correct the direction - much better and the right question would be :

"How can we stop the politicians in the government and the Big Labor [unions] from "pricing itself/us out of the market" through capricious populist mandates, laws, tariffs/taxes that make our labor, costs and products more expensive while making our productivity lower, so we can compete and don't need to outsource, automate and reduce costs through layoffs and/or cutting work hours?

#19 | Posted by LampLighter at 2024-04-14 12:53 AM
Thanks for providing further evidence of corporate America exporting jobs overseas for little else than to increase the profits of their wealthy shareholders.
One thing I didn't see in the articles your comment cited was a reduction in prices to customers for that exporting of labor.

All right, light out, back in the tunnel.

How about businesses having to raise prices to end user (you) or having to fold altogether? See #11 for "the articles [my] comment cited."

Good night.
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#12 | Posted by snoofy at 2024-04-13 10:20 PM
Imagine writing ten paragraphs of nonsense to try to massage the plain truth labor isn't free to work outside national boundaries.

Maybe for those like you who don't have the necessary skill set, but millions of Americans are free to work and do work overseas ("outside national boundaries"), as well as millions of foreign workers are in the U.S., "outside of their national boundaries" - you wouldn't know because you never worked, traveled on business or lived for a while outside the U.S.

Imagine constantly writing nonsense, without even basic knowledge, experience or understanding of things they are writing about... then time and time again being surprised and keep b*t*hing that things turned out (again) not the way they expected, even as they have been warned of what the number of consequences would likely be.

Imagine that "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

Imagine that "If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got."
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#8 | Posted by GalaxiePete at 2024-04-13 05:45 PM
"earning about $3 an hour, about 150% more than the Philippine minimum wage of $1 per hour." That is 200% more than minimum wage if the wage is $1/hour.

From the actual article:
|------- Though he didn't disclose Happy Cashier's wages, Zhang said, "We pay 150% more than the average cashier job in the Philippines," which, according to Indeed, is ... about $1, per hour as base pay. Using Zhang's approximation, Fortune calculated that Happy Cashier employees would make $2.50 hourly - 150% more than the $1 converted average. -------|

$1/hour is not "minimum wage" in Philippines, which is not discussed in the article (they don't have national minimum wage, only regional) but ranges from ~USD$6.15 to ~USD$10.90 per 8-hour day, depending on region, industry and type/terms of contract - daily (highest $/hour) or monthly.

Happy Cashier's employees may also be sharing restaurant tips on top of their wages, which are quite good for remote service BPO.
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#3 | Posted by snoofy at 2024-04-12 04:56 PM
Capital is free to roam while Labor is held captive by national boundaries.

If the Labor "prices itself out of the market" by demanding (and receiving, often with the government's help) wages and benefits well in excess of its productivity ($/#widgets, $/work/hr), then $$ will find a way to shrink, or simply leave.

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#18 | Posted by oneironaut at 2024-04-11 05:49 PM
This is false, Podesta was victim of a phishing email, that's not "hacking". Seriously calling it a hack is hilariously uninformed.

NOT calling "phishing" / "spearphishing" a "hack" is seriously and hilariously uninformed.

Hacking is a wide range of techniques not limited to just phishing, but phishing is a widely used form of initial "social engineering" methods popularized by hacker Kevin Mitnick (RIP) to get information such as logins and passwords used to facilitate further hacking process - data exfiltration and/or planting further malware, such as worms, viruses or ransomware.

Phishing is only one of many initial digital hacking methods, just like there are many "debuts/openings" in the chess game - you don't get to start in the middle.
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#23 | Posted by LampLighter at 2024-04-11 06:19 PM
It wasn't just a few aides that the hackers went after; it was an all-out blitz across the Democratic Party. They tried to compromise Clinton's inner circle and more than 130 party employees, supporters and contractors.
While U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia was behind the email thefts, the AP drew on forensic data to report Thursday that the hackers known as Fancy Bear were closely aligned with the interests of the Russian government.

DNC and Hillary's campaign were protected by cybersecurity company Crowdstrike. They initially identified breach as cyber attack by APT28, which was later confirmed by multiple firms and agencies.

APT28 aka Fancy Bear, Tsar Team, Sofacy Group etc. are not just "closely aligned with the interests of the Russian government" - they are one of the Russian government's cyber espionage APT (Advanced Persistent Threat) teams, more specifically attached to and having all the resources of military intelligence unit / GRU. Other Russian government APTs are Cozy Bear aka Midnight Blizzard, Dark Halo etc (APT29, SVR and FSB) - which is responsible for recent, and still ongoing, breach and exfil of HPE and Microsoft's Azure/MS365-managed email accounts systems, including US and other governments accounts.

China has several APTs (e.g., APT20, APT27, APT30, APT31, APT41 etc.) as well as Iran (APT33, APT34 APT35) and North Korea (APT37), Pakistan etc. Israel's IDF Unit 8200 is one of the best at cyber warface, but works mostly to penetrate military targets, like Iran's nuclear arms facilities.

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#5 | POSTED BY DONNERBOY AT 2024-04-03 01:07 PM
Sales have obviously not "plateaued" in China.

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#5 | Posted by jpw at 2024-03-27 03:53 PM
With Trump sinking his claws into the RNC and its funding functions, you can guarantee down ballot candidates are going to see their funding dry up or disappear.
And all that work to build majorities at state and local levels over most of my life will evaporate.

That's unlikely... or at least, very unlikely due to "RNC and its funding functions" and most of RNC haul going to Trump - it would be much more likely due to "Dobbs" decision.

First of all, most of local GOP apparatus, especially the ones who worked to build majorities at state and local levels, are funded and operate pretty independently from RNC... and as they and their donors realize that money and attention from RNC is not reaching them, they will stop relying on and donating to RNC and start funding and pay attention to state/local races.

Second, most big money donors can't stand Trump and just decide to maybe give some token donations to RNC / Trump campaign, so as not to be blacklisted in case he wins, i.e., "insurance" money, but concentrate on direct donations to Senate and House campaigns, and some local where they see either promise of gaining seat(s) or shoring up potential losses - again, "insurance" but against Biden win. IOW, they will take on some of the responsibilities of 'dysfunctional' Trump-owned RNC - it's not a lot of work to set up PACs where they see are needed, any more than they've done before - just a change in distribution of capital.

Wouldn't be surprised if RNC / Trump campaign is being "starved" of big donors' money while some Senate and House campaigns are "supersized" with PAC's dollars.

"Double haters," in particular, may decide to split their vote and donate to GOP down ballot, while voting for Biden.
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#6 | Posted by madbomber at 2024-03-27 04:06 PM | Reply |
In another country, "Republicans" would be being sent to the firing squad as communists or woke-ists or whatever, while being replaced by those whose loyalty to the premier superseded everything else.

Not even in another country/place, just in another time? Fast-forward a few hours, days, weeks, and we are not far from there already, minus "the firing squad" (for now?), courtesy of "America First" Il Duce and his family coterie:

'Bloodbath' at RNC as new leadership loyal to Trump purges staff | Lara Trump Promises to Use RNC to Complete MAGA Takeover of Party | Donald Trump's daughter-in-law made it clear that there's only one option going forward.

|------- Donald Trump is well on his way to replacing the conservative party with a "counterestablishment" of his own that, according to his family, has no room for dissenters.

41-year-old [Lara] Trump insisted that she was the only person loyal enough to the former president to be considered for the RNC job...

... Prospective RNC employees are being asked if they believe the 2020 election was stolen, constituting a "litmus test" as the 2024 election approaches. sources described the 2020 question "as unusual for a job interview" but saw it as a way of "questioning their loyalty to Donald Trump".
-------|

IMO, these old-school republicans aren't really betraying the party...it's just that the party has changed dramatically.

Like Reagan's "I didn't leave the Democratic Party. The Democratic party left me" - only now it's GOP?
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*** In their own words:

** Donald Trump Jr. in 2008, at real estate conference: "We are looking all over the place, primarily Russia. ... And in terms of high-end product influx into the US, Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets; say in Dubai, and certainly with our project in SoHo and anywhere in New York. We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia."

** Donald J. Trump in 2013: "The Russian market is attracted to me, I have a great relationship with many Russians. ... Almost all of the oligarchs were in the room" at a party he threw at Miss Universe in Moscow.

** Eric Trump in 2014 boasted about "Russian money" flowing through Trump Organization:
-- Q: "Eric, who's funding? ... Because of the Great Recession no banks have touched a golf course - it's been dead in the water the last four or five years... no one's funding any kind of golf construction."
-- Eric: "Well, we don't rely on American banks. We have all the funding we need out of Russia... We just go there all the time."

** Donald J. Trump in January 2017 (as president-elect): "Russia has never tried to use leverage over me. I HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH RUSSIA - NO DEALS, NO LOANS, NO NOTHING!"
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#73 | Posted by madbomber at 2024-03-27 04:44 PM
Did Trump defraud the people who loaned him money? Is the intent of this lawsuit to get the lenders the money they would have gotten if the evaluation of Trump's assets had been more accurate? ... And if the banks feel they've been defrauded, why not let them sue? Or is that what's happening in this case?

That's the obvious angle, which is what Trump and his lawyers tried to argue in court... and in public.

That was not the real issue in the case - there are actually several (at least, two) other issues that are not clearly obvious but inter-related, why the state was involved - lenders/banks may have been eventually paid back because they were not the "end target" of fraud:

Think of this as inflating the valuations and therefore value of the investments in "business case" of the pyramid/Ponzi scheme "in progress" where the people have not yet lost or don't yet think they lost the money because they are overpaying for something based on understanding that since a bank loaned him money (which he openly touted, and which was part of his defense), it's presumed to have done a due diligence and therefore effectively "certified" the valuation for other would-be investors, condo buyers and/or lessees. For example, Bernie Madoff (who, as Trump, was also employing his relatives in the firm - brother, sons, niece) was running his Ponzi scheme for more than 20 years until more / enough people needed to withdraw or sell their overinflated "on paper" assets.

The other aspect is money-laundering - by inflating the valuation of the assets for the purpose of the bank loan, he may have either collateralized these assets to get other loans at much higher valuations - or, for example, as actually happened, had foreign (mostly Russian) "investors" buying condos in his empty buildings during 2006-2008 GFC at double pre-crash prices, to keep his bankrupt "empire" afloat.

That's why he was most concerned about, and making threats, to make sure that Robert Muller's investigation was not looking into his business dealings - anything else he could shrug off as a "hoax."

It's pretty well known that most, if not all, of his [money-losing] golf courses in Scotland and elsewhere are financed, and are essentially owned, by Russian money. ***

Of course, the easiest way to launder and/or "gift" someone money through fraud is via the stock market... like boosting the value of otherwise worthless securities or assets, as in "pump-and-dump" scheme. Trump has transferred his personally guaranteed loans, which unloaded his debts unto shareholders in his listed company trading under DJT and TRMP symbols, which "died" / was delisted in bankruptcy in 2004 (and its remnants filed BK in 2009, and then in 2014), when Trump had only a small stake but was getting fat "management and name licensing" fees. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

Sam Bankman-Fried's crypto "empire" actually blew up - because Binance didn't bail him out - and he has just been sentenced to 25 years in "criminal" fraud case... yet there is a good chance that his victims may get all their money back simply due to huge bull run in crypto, which is also similar to what happened with "frozen" Mt Gox accounts years ago.

These "Ponzi in progress" charges would be a lot more difficult to prove, let alone get required unanimous conviction, in criminal trial - that's the reason for civil case and Trump's decision not to request a jury trial, i.e., getting a bench trial, which may be easier to appeal due to "bias" and/or "conduct" of the judge, which he constantly tried to provoke.
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#7 | Posted by hamburglar at 2024-03-26 08:16 AM
Is it possible to raise animals in more sanitary conditions? It would affect food supply and prices.

Obviously - which is what California pols denied when they pushed Propositions 2 and 12 for "cage-free" chickens.

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Aren't antibiotics sometimes needed to treat sick animals? This seems much ado about nothing

- - - #4 | Posted by snoofy at 2024-03-25 08:44 PM
- - - This is about giving antibiotics to healthy animals.

This is about antibiotics that have been given to sick animals. Supply chains are sometimes disrupted, as we should all know by now, and recently there has been an outbreak of bird flu, which is why the prices of chicken eggs rose again sharply, after steady decline from the post-COVID peak.

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#72 | Posted by libs_of_dr at 2024-03-20 11:12 PM |
Pfizer CEO postponed Israel visit because he isn't fully vaccinated ...
A visit by the CEO of pharmaceutical giant Pfizer next week was postponed due to the fact that Albert Bourla and his delegation are not yet fully immunized...

Lol, I god damn guarantee you that Biden nor Trump nor anyone else 'inside' got it either. lmao.

NB! - That was on March 4 of 2021.

Fully vaccinated by Pfizer vaccine required at least two injections separated by several months and then at least 2 weeks of immunization period, and at the time the vaccine has not been on the market that long or in sufficient quantities, and he pledged in December of 2020 not "to cut in line" to get the vaccine. In December 2020, Israel signed an agreement with Pfizer to purchase enough doses to vaccinate its entire population.

On March 10, 2021 this happened : Bourla was fully inoculated in late March. Bourla tweeted a picture of himself receiving his second shot. "Excited to receive my 2nd dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech #COVID19 vaccine. There's nothing I want more than for my loved ones and people around the world to have the same opportunity. Although the journey is far from over, we are working tirelessly to beat the virus."

This was easy to check... still LOL?
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#47 | Posted by Effeteposer at 2024-03-21 09:47 AM |
Dude you're boring...and uninformed. Too much unnecessary verbiage. You think it's impressive?

Putin's Russian IRA troll farm Kremlinbot - keep trolling for Putin and for rubles... while you are allowed, but:

We've already covered your comprehension level before - you don't need any because you just post the same script over and over, since it's # of rubles per post and response/"engagement," to turn any thread into "Ukraine" and "ZioNazis" - and agreed that my posts and "unnecessary verbiage" are not meant for you... to read or make empty comments on.

So "Dude," please try to remember this next time and spare me your ineffective propaganda script - I know its variants better than you do, whether you are drunk or not at the time.

Thank you.

BTW, your handlers may be experimenting with your "handle" - some of your posts have definite "AI" look-and-feel, different from your usual one - your days here may be numbered.

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Western Colonialists to rid Europe of its Jew Problem by making it Palestine's Jew Problem.

"Colonialists"
"Jew Problem"

Abundantly clear, thank you.

You can lead a horse to water, but..." ... "From the River to the sea."
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#13 | Posted by snoofy at 2024-03-19 08:19 AM
Good article about the Jews trying to erase Al Aqsa from the face of the earth: aljazeera.com

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#29 | Posted by CutiePie at 2024-03-20 12:04 AM
... The soooooo partisan "Biden Impeachment Inquiry" has produced a "highly credible witness" ex-FBI informant Alexander Smirnov... who turned out to be a dis-informant working for Russian intelligence service. That was a laugh riot! Who says politics can't be funny?

Still OT re thread, but in the same lane re "Biden Impeachment Inquiry" - another GOP "most credible [witness] by far," Hunter's former business associate Tony Bobulinski's emails and WhatsApp messages have just been released and it doesn't look good for Tony and the inquiry:

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#31 | Posted by Danforth at 2024-03-20 01:27 AM
Much like the J6 hearings. Soooooo partisan. [taken and accepted as irony(?)]
- - - - Exactly! Obviously, not mutually exclusive...
- - - - - - - No, that was based on evidence and testimony.

The 2021-2022 J6 hearings were vice-chaired by Liz Cheney(R), assisted by Adam Kinzinger(R), and both were active in the MSM at the time... so were clearly bipartisan.

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#28 | Posted by Danforth at 2024-03-19 11:01 PM
Much like the J6 hearings. Soooooo partisan.

Exactly! Obviously, not mutually exclusive, so a very good example of "deciding" things and exercising the power of the governing body based only on the "identity politics" / partisanship.

Then again, some of these provide unexpected entertainment.

The soooooo partisan "Biden Impeachment Inquiry" has produced a "highly credible witness" ex-FBI informant Alexander Smirnov... who turned out to be a dis-informant working for Russian intelligence service.

That was a laugh riot! Who says politics can't be funny?
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#23 - "federacy" = "federal"

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#19 | Posted by madbomber at 2024-03-19 10:22 AM |
It just gets tricky because it gives states the ability to eliminate candidates based on little more than perception, or even opinion.

Some may say a "slippery slope," but you have something there, it can actually simplify and speed up elections. Instead of clear (state and federacy) standards on who can and cannot hold the state and federal offices, and therefore be on the ballot - like age limits, citizenship, legal status, criminal history, etc. - we can just let the Governors or "election commissions" or state courts decide.

The hell with "democracy," let's go for efficiency - states' "election commissions" (I presume appointed by governors) will kick out the candidates they don't want on the ballot (let's say Trump is "senile, insurrectionist - January 6! Pence! Russia! Twice impeached!" and Biden is "old, senile, corrupt - Big Guy! Hunter! Burisma! Ukraine! China!")

For most states, like Colorado or South Dakota it's not important because they already know who will win and can just "let the voters decide" by going through the process and concentrate on other / local issues, so it would be mostly up to about "swing" and/or "mixed" states, which is how it is now, except the decision will already be made for voters, unless they want to write in "ineligible" candidate, and there can be upfront rules about acceptance/non-acceptance of these "rogue" votes.

Then we'll just count the states' votes total and be done and will know who our President is right after they secured their party's nominations - easy-peasy, nothing "rigged" about it, and the citizens know that when they vote for Governor (or whoever decides the ballot inclusion/exclusion) which party President (the actual candidate TBD later) they are voting for.

We'll know which party will be in the White House and govern the Senate, maybe House, well before "general" elections - eliminates the uncertainty, simple, efficient, no drama, no trauma, Putin-style.

I mean, we are not that far from that already - about half-dozen "swing" states will decide elections outcome - Trump not being on Colorado ballot wouldn't change outcome of the general election, which is why it was politically so nakedly partisan and, therefore politically stupid.

If / while we do that, maybe we can do something that really matters, and can cut corruption significantly - have an amendment that denies a single person (President and Governor) power of pardon and/or commutation - which they can use to either pardon themselves (TBD by SCOTUS) or promise pardon to people who may commit crimes on their behalf / for their benefit. I think we've seen enough of that happening... but neither major party even brings this up, apparently just awaiting their turn at the helm/trough, to use the way they see fit.

"It's good to be the King!"
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Thomas Friedman: Israel today is in grave danger. With enemies like Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and Iran, Israel should be enjoying the sympathy of much of the world.

Friedman, as usual, looks in a political rear view mirror and sees the "future" - Israel had "enemies like Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and Iran..." for decades - first through all the Soviet Union-supported Arabic states' genocidal wars since Day 1 of Israel's existence... and after decades of supporting Islamist terrorist organizations like PLO, PFLP and PIJ, and spreading disinformation by Soviet Union's KGB and GRU, using "Palestinians" as an issue... so it never was "enjoying the sympathy of much of the world"... because "Jooos."
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Our resident Russian troll Effeteposer is just one tiny cog in that old war machine, while former KGB/FSB Colonel Vladimir Putin is trying to reconstruct the "glorious" Federation of former Soviet Republics, and his partner Ayatollah of Iran is doing what he can to help.

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#6 | Posted by AMERICANUNITY at 2024-03-18 06:04 PM
There are growing calls to require mandatory military service for ultra-orthodox Jews in Israel. They've been exempt from military service in Israel since 1948 when there were only 400. Now there are millions who don't serve, spending their time instead reading the Torah...

Haredim, yes. The Arab/Muslim Israelis and other "pacifist" or "non-violence" religious sects are also exempt, e.g., all Druze women etc.
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