PayPal is Pro-War.
This wasn’t the first example I’d heard about where independent and in particular, anti-war media coverage was being targeted for censorship, deplatforming, having their funding sources shut down, etc.
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Paypoo is a bitch to everyone, and everyone should know that. Nothing new here. Though I thought they no longer use the “6 months suspension of funds” practice. Didn’t they get in legal trouble for that?
There’s a lot in this article, including mineral rights and domestic oil stuff that you might be interested in. Here was the Russian piece -
the Russia-Ukraine situation. A couple of things about that, particularly about the sanctions. First, Russia, among the developed nations—if you want to look at it that way— Russia is the only country with a balanced budget. I know it’s hard to believe, but they really do, they have a balanced budget. They have 81 million ounces of gold in the vault, and they can produce plenty more, because the government controls the land that has the gold in it. That’s one example of why they’re autarkic, in the sense that they don’t really import anything they need; they just import things that they want. That could be Disney films, or it could be dolls, but if need be, they can live without it.
What they do have, for example – and this might be surprising if you don’t already know it – is fertilizer. Russia accounts for about 35 percent of global nitrogen-based fertilizer production. So, when various nations declared sanctions against Russia, it was not well-noted that Russia also declared sanctions on the countries that were sanctioning them. Russia’s not exporting any agricultural nitrogen-based fertilizers to those countries. That’s a very big problem for agricultural commodities, because in another 30 days we’re coming into the planting season and we’re going to need fertilizer.
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Thank you, xerty, for posting. That is a remarkably valuable piece. I have saved it.
Look at fertilizer prices; they’re up big, because people will be ordering it right now. You can order it, but it’s expensive and is likely to get more expensive, unless this problem can be solved. So, whether we have a recession or not, I think we’re going to have inflation; this is just one more inflationary factor. And we might have a recession just because of the inflationary shock. It’s possible. So, commodities are in very, very good stead and that’s just the way it is right now.
It’s really too extensive for me to summarize, but I can comment:
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Sheldon Whitehouse is, straight up, a fool.
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The USA is a very large, magnificent country. It is a pity we are being led by people from our very smallest, and least significant or important, states.
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Those states produce people with small minds, envious of our greatness and anxious to bring the rest of America to heel and down to their level.
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America will never realize her full potential until those small state jackasses are overcome.
But Sheldon Whitehouse in particular pins the pomposity meter so wildly that it becomes irreparable. And he so well represents the people of his diminutive, unimportant state.
Look, so long as such Democrats are running things, it’s pretty clear from that writing we have no chance whatsoever.
Finally, discussion in there of the asinine “ESG movement” sent chills down my spine. This is another concept emanating from the same general location, New England. The fact of anyone taking it seriously is just beyond belief. So destructive!! And that is entirely by design!!
Following up on Biden’s expropriation proposals,
- Rendering unlawful the knowing or intentional possession of proceeds directly obtained from “corrupt dealings” with the Russian government.
- Allowing for extended pursuit of money laundering prosecutions (and post-conviction forfeitures) based on foreign offences by extending the statute of limitations from 5 to 10 years.
Which all may sound good, but a 10 year statute of limitations would inconveniently include millions paid to Hunter Biden back in 2014, and those are only the payoffs we know about.
First rounds of sanctions worked so well, we’re going to do some more.
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Greenwald on the politics of the war
From the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, the Biden White House has repeatedly announced large and seemingly random amounts of money that it intends to send to fuel the war in Ukraine.
one could argue that the U.S. government entered this war and rapidly escalated its involvement without this critical question — which should be fundamental to any policy decision of the U.S. government — being asked at all.
One need not be a conspiracy theorist to marvel at the great fortune of this industry, having lost their primary weapons market just eight months ago when the U.S. war in Afghanistan finally ended, only to now be gifted with an even greater and more lucrative opportunity to sell their weapons by virtue of the protracted and always-escalating U.S. role in Ukraine. Raytheon, the primary manufacturer of Javelins along with Lockheed, has been particularly fortunate that its large stockpile, no longer needed for Afghanistan, is now being ordered in larger-than-ever quantities by its former Board member, now running the Pentagon, for shipment to Ukraine
One would usually expect the American left , or whatever passes it for these days, to be indignant about the expenditure of tens of billions of dollars for weapons while ordinary Americans suffer. But the American left, such that it exists, is barely visible when it comes to debates over the war in Ukraine
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Yeah. Meanwhile the rich Western European countries chuckle and smile as they embrace a willing Biden stooge in their welcoming arms. They love him just as long as he pays, with our money, to solve their European problem as they remain in the background bearing FAR less than their legitimate share of the cost.
The rich Western Europeans are so happy right now Trump is not POTUS! If he were he would be forcing them to pay up. No danger whatsoever of that with their BFF Biden.
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Oversight on the $40B we’re giving away? That’s crazy talk… how will the Big Guy get his 10%?
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Good ole Rand making sense again 
Watch out!!
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Currently just 64.83 rubles are equal to one American dollar.
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Health and coup rumors.
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I’m not surprised. When you get to my age you notice stuff. More than one person of my acquaintance has perished from cancer following time spent in highly stressful circumstances. My one buddy, for example, died several years ago following a tumultuous divorce. They reconciled at the end, but it came too late. A relative of mine died from cancer following (not all that many) years in the Wall Street pressure cooker at a VERY high salary.
You have to figure this war has done a number on Putin, stress wise. For some people, as cortisol goes up survival chances go down.
Putin did what he could to avoid COVID-19, maintaining distance from others. But he did not do enough to prevent stress. Dumb.
It probably has. I have another take, though. He found out he had late stage cancer. That stressed him to the point of near-insanity. In this state,
- he thought that invading Ukraine would protect Russia and be his legacy.
- he ignored objections by his advisors
- he scared any of his friends/advisors into not objecting
- he ignored the results of battles
- he misread the room of other countries
- his hysteria about a coup was not enough to prevent one
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Just when the guys getting paid for perpetual war in Afghanistan had to leave, we’ve now got an “open ended commitment” to keep blowing billions in Ukraine.
https://news.yahoo.com/fierce-fighting-ukraines-east-eurovision-040818401.html
And if that doesn’t work out, like Putin dies or retreats (terrible!), we’re also ramping up our coup efforts in Somalia as a backup.
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So, Joseph Robinette Biden is an anti-Shababite. Dollars to doughnuts (that used to be great odds) that without a teleprompter, our Dear Leader would think a Shabab is more related to inflation than anything else. 
What a great way to spread the risk. He’s starting to remind me of the “compounding interest chick (or guy depending on the day of the week)”.
Mariupol holdouts surrendered
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Debt payments. If Russia will refuse to default on their own by making payments to their creditors, we’ll just refuse to deliver them and make it happen anyway.
- US SET TO BLOCK RUSSIAN DEBT PAYMENTS, RAISING ODDS OF DEFAULT
- Treasury Department Won’t Extend Carveout That Ends May 25
- Expiring Waiver Gave Moscow Leeway to Pay Coupons in Dollars
- US Set to Block Russian Debt Payments, Raising Odds of Default
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Shorts stuck in limbo, charged high borrowing rates indefinitely
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From the article… “Ian Bezek, a Colombia-based investor and financial writer, has a $10,800 short position on ERUS. The 33-year-old is now paying an annualized borrow rate hovering at around 60%”
Ouch!
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