Free Republic

Simpler times. Fewer people in the world. Businesses closed on Sundays; it was a family day. Most families were in church Sunday morning. No personal computers, Internet, cell phones, or video games. Kids played outside, in the woods, rode bikes. Black & white TV with 3 or 4 channels. News people that were journalists not entertainers, and they reported the facts and didn’t try to tell us how or what to think. Families ate around the table and talked. Holidays were for family. No Interstate highways. A trip was an adventure. Stops along the way to see and do stuff. Roadside picnics. Neighbors talked and socialized; sewing circles, chatting over the fence, community dances, church dinners. People were friendly and more caring and took time for each other. Doctors made house calls. Health care before the government got involved (Medicare and Medicaid) was about and not money. X-ray taken and read at hospital was $25; that was a substantial sum but not like the thousands it costs now.

Simpler times. We are worse off now in my opinion.

We lived in Jersey in a quiet suburb about 30 miles from Newark. My older sister had a friend who had a job there, and during the riots the front windows of the building she was in were shot out. She was lucky, because the National Guard was coming down the street she was on and the rioters left to loot another area. I didn’t understand what was going on at the time, or why, still don’t to this day. Rioting and looting isn’t going to help your cause, and burning down your own neighborhood is beyond stupidity.

The BLM Goons helped Dems last time but I don’t know if the Palestine Fan club will get Biden extra votes, if anything it looks like it might hurt his chances

I don’t think the Ukes understand “combined arms” - you can’t just smash tanks through a defensive line, you need infantry and air support, and tactics beyond “forward march”.

Rdct29 mistakenly addressed to Worldtraveler once upon a time: "So everyone who disagrees with you is spreading propaganda."

Soviet style Agitprop:

We should start by clarifying definitions of the word, "propaganda" because in some cultures, "propaganda" is not always a bad thing, it can simply refer to the government explaining what it's doing, and why.
If, for example, you are a member of the ruling party of some country, then propaganda simply explains how you should understand events in the country and the world.
By the way, in this same context, the word "agitation" means slogans for the masses.
Think of any political slogan -- the one that comes to my mind from the Vietnam era is, "Hell no, we won't go" -- that's "agitation".
In the Old Soviet Union they had a whole Ministry for Agitation and Propaganda -- "Agitprop" for short.

However, in the American tradition, there is nothing ever in any way good about the word "propaganda".
For us, propaganda always means lies and deceptions intended maliciously to confuse and disturb its listeners or readers.
Propaganda is only ever transactionally connected to facts or ideals when those can be weaponized to accomplish the propagandists' purposes.

So, my point is, the issue here is not who agrees or disagrees with me, but rather, what are the tactics being used to express those opinions?
If those tactics feel dishonest, or personally insulting, then "propaganda" is as good a word as any to describe them.

Rdct29: "There’s no propaganda coming out of Ukraine or the western media." (?)

You can answer that question yourself if you ask, "do I find any particular report to be inaccurate or insulting?"
If it is, then before too hastily declaring it "propaganda", you should take time to identify: what exactly is inaccurate and/or insulting?
Then, when you see those same insulting inaccuracies in another report, you can see they're somehow related.

Rdct29: "Are the Ukrainians driving the Russians back right now?
What are the facts on the ground right now according to the pro Ukrainian side?"

Our FRiend buwaya substantially answered that question in post #93.
The summary of it is:

1. By end of March, 2022, Russians occupied nearly 27% (62,000 square miles) of Ukraine's territory -- at Vlad the Invader's peak of success.
   Since Ukraine is roughly the size of Texas, that is territory equivalent to the Texas panhandle, or states like Georgia and Washington.

2. By the end of 2022 Ukrainians had liberated roughly half of that 27%, leaving Russia's military in control of about 14% (33,000 square miles) of Ukraine's 2013 internationally recognized borders.
   That is still roughly the size of states like Indian, Maine or South Carolina.

3. Since the end of 2022 battle lines have changed very little, despite hundreds of thousands killed or seriously wounded, most notably around Ukrainian cities like Bakhmut and Avdiivka.
   The net results in Russia's favor have been just enough territory to round up the percentage of Russia's control from 14% to now 15% of Ukraine 2013 borders.

Rdct29: "I see the west giving Ukraine just enough to fight but not nearly enough to win.
That’s a cruel thing to do."

Exactly right!
It's the reason why, six months ago, when then new Speaker Johnson laid out his conditions for Ukraine aid, one of them was, a plan for victory!

Did Johnson ever see such a plan?
We don't know, but Ukraine's Pres. Zelenskyy did say after the aid package passed, that it will give Ukraine a good chance for victory.
That may be as much as the public will ever know, until the time comes.

(Left) Russian troops on parade: (Right) Ukraine's troops on parade:

“...One way to understand how Democrat politics operate is to look back at the political corruption surrounding George Floyd’s death...”

“death”? Suicide by cop is more like it!

As far as Liberal political corruption is concerned, it’s like the man said:
‘Depart from the book at your own peril.’

Name names.

What I remember most about that case was the zeal with which Chauvin was tried and convicted on FR. By people with absolutely no experience in or understanding of what went down.

Correct. Before LBJ, ‘black culture’ was respectful, Christian, and while marginalized everyone except Democrats was changing that in the natural way (through assimilation, opportunity, and hard work).

The “Great Society” explicitly created conditions where hard work and advancement were punished, but laziness and poverty were rewarded. (1961 - ADC becomes AFDC — from supporting a child to supporting adult(s) gaming the system. Also, Food Stamps (re)introduced). If you work, the more you make, the less you get.

Because self-sufficiency was penalized, a family was better off if an earning parent (usually Dad) wasn’t in the household. One swoop and the family is broken.

(Remember 1954-1994 is solid Democrat congress, no matter who was President). In 1974 national child support is purported to fix this by making ‘dad’ pay back some of the largess from taxpayers. Lo, earners were driven down, the barrier to normal life is doubled, and black women have a double dose of free money (from uncle sugar and baby daddy) and a double victimhood title.

50 years of THAT and the culture change is complete. For those millions in the welfare lifestyle, study, advancement, knowledge, all are tickets to ruin; all the benefits go away and the road to what we call normal life not only means all the hard work but doing it while everyone around you drags you down. “Moribund” is the term and it’s the same way Muhammedans act when someone tries to leave their death culture.

Sleep in, shack up, and never do a lick of work on the books, and be rewarded with housing/electricity/heat, food, money, and then live your real life in what is politely termed the ‘underground economy.’ The generational ignorance makes a path up a rare thing. Hereditary castes and classes are back.

All by design by Democrats to keep the division strong and the slaves back in their hovels voting Democrat.

Google and watch the documentary The Fall of Minneapolis and you’ll see what a sham the whole thing was. No way should the cops be in jail.

No names or quotes from Ovation staff? It’s just a faceless entity without morals I guess. DEI likely played a part.

Anyone who has followed my comments can see I have long predicted that in Mid-April the Russians would crack the Ukrainian lines and it would cause a rout. This is coming true and soon we are going to see Russia capture hundreds of square miles from Ukraine, capture or kill up to 100,000 soldiers, and capture hundreds of vehicles and tons of ammunition.

Bookmark this in your mind: Zelinski will not spend anymore time in Ukraine or Kiev than he has spent at the frontlines after May 21, 2024. Russia has declared he will not be a legimate leader for Ukraine and they will not recognize him as president. Harken back to January 2023 when Ukraine attacked the Kremlin and out buildings 3-4 times trying to kill Putin, and I think Russia is making clear their intensions.

As if the Biden/Obama regime wasn’t woke enough, Blinkin waited untilt he last second in China to call XI a Dictator. I am sure China will soon do something to harm American interests and maybe on a military front.

“I can’t imagine many Western men believing they should give their seat on the lifeboat to a woman; that’s where we are now. Anyone who believes we may have another draft is delusional; the last decades have made it clear there is no legal way to include women in it. This is the flip side of insisting they can be included in all units (including combat units).”

Have you seen the latest commercial where the lady is talking to the camera and says (paraphrasing) “if you want equality in the workplace, remove women from the workplace.”

And then she goes on to say “that’s what gun control is all about”.

She couldn't move her fat behind over just a wee bit and let him, I dunno, LIVE too......(sorry, had to - a female comedienne did that joke)

It does seem like the time is right for retribution.

Many years ago in the leftist NATION Katha Pollit argued against the slavery of renting wombs.