News & views not related to the wars in Ukraine …
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February 18, 2026
Open (Not Ukraine) Thread 2026-042
Comments
@Posted by: Sticker | Feb 19 2026 14:57 utc | 201
“However, from God’s POV, outside the fishbowl and not existing within humans’ given organizing principles, what we call “time” must be flat. That is, visible to God all at once, in every direction, in every realm and dimension.”
That is pretty well what quantum mechanics also says, with an important caveat… God might be watching more than one variant of “reality”, the one in which war erupts, the one in which peace is signed, the one in which DJT dies of a stroke on live TV, etc.
Posted by: Shahmaran | Feb 19 2026 15:09 utc | 201
Posted by: Sticker | Feb 19 2026 14:09 utc | 186
… In Venezuala when not one missile locked on to an aircraft.
Not one missile was fired in Venezuela. Why is an open question, the narrative from the Pentagon is to be taken with a shovel of salt.
And unmanned kamikaze drones doesn’t need “locking”.
For what we know, no Israel or US aircraft was able to enter Iranian airspace for several years, they fire from elsewhere, with surprise effect.
Posted by: Sebgo | Feb 19 2026 15:10 utc | 202
Posted by: Sticker | Feb 19 2026 14:09 utc | 186
“… In Venezuala when not one missile locked on to an aircraft.”
Not one missile was fired in Venezuela. Why is an open question, the narrative from the Pentagon is to be taken with a shovel of salt.
And unmanned kamikaze drones doesn’t need “locking”.
For what we know, no Israel or US aircraft was able to enter Iranian airspace for several years, they fire from elsewhere, with surprise effect.
Posted by: Sebgo | Feb 19 2026 15:11 utc | 203
Posted by: denk | Feb 19 2026 14:49 utc | 196
Yeah. When Americans could still travel to Russia (pre-NATO war), you would see very similar propaganda about Russia. Having been to Russia several times during the last 10 to 12 years, I used to enjoy challenging the people who posted it. Almost all of them had never set foot in Russia.
Posted by: Saint Jimmy | Feb 19 2026 15:11 utc | 205
I complete agree. China has never supported Russia, Iran, or other countries victimized by the United States. They are simply taking advantage of people’s weaknesses to conduct business. If they were truly opposing the United States, why is their country which claims to be the biggest rival not under US’s sanctions? To begin with, China collaborated with Bill Gates and the Rockefellers in developing COVID-19 and its vaccines. It also maintains deep ties with UK, which considered the most corrupt nation in the world and is planning to build a mega-embassy there. They have been selling drones to Israel, fully aware that it diverts them for use in massacres. Moreover, problematic organizations such as the WEF and the UN are mostly pro-China. I don’t understand why there are still people on the internet praising China. Not only Russia, but I think most countries do not trust China at all.
Posted by: 志保🕊🫒🤍@反AI | Feb 19 2026 15:16 utc | 206
Posted by: Saint Jimmy | Feb 19 2026 15:11 utc | 210
—————–
When those who went to China and reported their first hand experience, totally debunking western narrative, guess what is the armchair trolls response ?
‘How much do CCP pay you ‘ !!!
Posted by: denk | Feb 19 2026 15:21 utc | 207
@Posted by: Sticker | Feb 19 2026 14:57 utc | 201:
“However, from God’s POV, outside the fishbowl and not existing within humans’ given organizing principles, what we call “time” must be flat. That is, visible to God all at once, in every direction, in every realm and dimension.”
That is pretty well what quantum mechanics also says, with an important caveat… God might be watching more than one variant of “reality”, the one in which war erupts, the one in which peace is signed, the one in which DJT dies of a stroke on live TV, etc.
Posted by: Shahmaran | Feb 19 2026 15:09 utc | 206
That’s it! Shahmaran and Sticker! And indeed, if we can penetrate that far, then we can, if we trust in an unknowable but allseeing God, we can be pretty sure that it is all going to be all right in the end! Because we do know that we ourselves are, we are! As dark as it gets, as much as we lose — even in Genesis the end point is that, as for Joseph God saw how his story would complete itself, so too for the world itself — God sees how it is going to ‘complete itself’.
Posted by: juliania | Feb 19 2026 15:27 utc | 208
211
WTF is this, I tried to paste the comment no but getting some rubbish
Nobody trust China ?
Speak for yourself.
See the last Pew poll…
Only the west and its satraps hate China, the vast humanity meaning the row are with China.
Posted by: denk | Feb 19 2026 15:28 utc | 209
‘ the people are starving and disappearing left and right BUT hey we can build a nice bridge’
Posted by: denk | Feb 19 2026 14:32 utc | 191
So damn brainwashed. That sounds much more like Detroit, Chicago, or Los Angeles than it does China.
Posted by: Saint Jimmy | Feb 19 2026 14:40 utc | 193
Except for the “nice bridge” part.
Posted by: malenkov | Feb 19 2026 15:28 utc | 210
To add to my 213 above: And there are plenty of ideas about that completion, scientific and otherwise. We won’t really ‘know’ till we get there!
Posted by: juliania | Feb 19 2026 15:30 utc | 211
Except for the “nice bridge” part.
Posted by: malenkov | Feb 19 2026 15:28 utc | 215
————–
China can build bridges !
Posted by: denk | Feb 19 2026 15:32 utc | 212
Ah yes, diversifying by blocking Russian banks from trading with China and not selling Russians tooling they need. Maybe China should not be sitting on its ass 24/7 drawing endless red lines if it actually wants to be taken seriously and not laughed at their “red lines”?
Posted by: Chicken War Hawk | Feb 19 2026 15:37 utc | 213
Posted by: Shahmaran | Feb 19 2026 15:09 utc | 20
A God that wants that you eat your Spinach/Broccoli does most likely not exist….🤫🤷♀️
Posted by: Nobody | Feb 19 2026 15:38 utc | 214
Daily gems from the west…
yt vid about Chinese robotics
sample comment
‘ imagine if the CCP devoted this and their military efforts to helping their own people be prosperous’
ROFLMAO
Why dont these clowns tell that to Trump with his 1.5T ‘defense’ budget, while the infra are crumbling and people starving and sleeping on the streets !
Posted by: denk | Feb 19 2026 15:39 utc | 215
@211, 15:16
I don’t really understand the trolling about “China didn’t defend such and such a country.”
Where and when was it said that China should militarily defend other countries ?
At what point did China itself commit to such a completely unrealistic and absurd undertaking?
It seems a bit childish to me, even for trolling.
Posted by: Sebgo | Feb 19 2026 15:42 utc | 216
Posted by: General Factotum | Feb 19 2026 12:29 utc
From an academic point of view, I can see the value of cold fusion as a demonstratable example in the laboratory.
Hot fusion however?
Let’s take the JET example:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_European_Torus
In 1997 JET achieved q=67 producing 16 MW fusion power.
This required the commandeering of 24 MW of coal fired electricity from Didcot power station stored up in massive flywheels, to power the ion cyclotron resonance heaters, effectively a form of magnetron found in a domestic microwave, or MASER gyratron, a LASER in the microwave spectrum, heating the plasma via the microwave wave guide.
They injected 24 MW of power and produced 16 MW of fusion power.
But in reality, what did they produce? They produced neutrons at approximately 80% of the energy used to generate them. And that’s before these neutrons are harnessed to, for example, heat water to produce steam to drive a turbine to generate electricity.
As is evident from the above, even with 1 kW in per 1 KW out, the losses overall would be massive.
The elephant in the room is GRAVITY.
What these torus/tokamak designs simultaneously attempt to do is mimic gravity in a star, while trying to create artificial gravity in these experiments with a greater than 1/1 overall.
Probably better off just covering the Sahara with solar panels and producing hydrogen via hydrolysis.
Posted by: lachaussette | Feb 19 2026 15:47 utc | 217
Posted by: 志保🕊🫒🤍@反AI | Feb 19 2026 15:16 utc | 211
#####
When you say, “I don’t understand”, that is the beginning of knowledge.
A full cup has no room to increase.
I think the Chinese (or Russians or Iranians) don’t operate on Western principles.
That doesn’t make them “wrong”. That makes them different.
If you judge a dog by the standards you would apply to a cat, you would likely be disappointed.
I have a simpler heuristic. If they are content and peaceful, then whatever their values and motives, that seems to be working for them.
And more people being in positive state makes for a pleasant world, in my experience.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Feb 19 2026 15:52 utc | 218
Lately we see an invasion of newbies who come here with the sole purpose to discredit China, even when the west are bombing Africa, trampling on Venezuela, strangling the daylight outta Cuba, Haiti….
Hmmm
Who’r the world’s no 1 shit stirrers ?
Posted by: denk | Feb 19 2026 15:53 utc | 219
This is so good, I have to post again, thank you, Sticker!
It all depends on one’s vantage point. Our view is limited. God’s is not. But even a man sitting on a high enough hill might look down, see a car travelling on a road and know where it will end up at the end of its journey.
Posted by: Sticker | Feb 19 2026 14:57 utc | 201
And here is another deep thought that I would love to converse about:
” Knowledge is given us by faith, that is to say, by our participatory adherence to the presence of Him who reveals Himself. Faith is therefore not a psychological attitude, a mere fidelity.
It is an ontological relationship between man and God, an internally objective relationship …”
Vladimire Lossky [my bolds]
Posted by: juliania | Feb 19 2026 15:56 utc | 220
This comment and the reaction to this proves that ppl largely got no idea how finance bros work. Tech bros get all the hatred (rightfully so) due their cult like behavior to liberalism but finance sector is largely ignored by ppl. But they also a cult who blv in nothing but whatever wall street rules that has been written in the books they read.
I wouldn’t have any idea either if I wasn’t trying to setup a business for more than a year and it’s getting nowhere as of now, thanks to sanctions. Do you know why Indonesia and Canada got those while Russia and Venezuela didn’t? Sanctions. No matter how much countries yap that these are only US sanctions (EU doesn’t matter), we are not bound by it, only UN sanctions matter bla bla, fact is finance bros don’t blv it. They worship USD more than God himself. And it’s a worldwide phenomena (except North Korea), not specific to any country.
These ppl cannot process any economic system that does not involve around USD and follows Wall Street derived rules. They have a dollar bug in their brain. I personally know a collapse bro who’s been predicting Russian economic collapse since 2022 coz no USD = no economy, simple math. He is still predicting it. When I ask about last 4yrs, he just grumbles some word salad then proceeds with his spreadsheets again.
Russia has no allies but their military and economy, something most Russians blv at their heart. These criticisms to China is valid in one sense but not so much in other senses. Russia is sanctioned to hell by US, it’s very normal for Chinese finance bros to avoid any links here and look for safer alternatives. If Xi Jingping did not personally intervene majority of Chinese finance sectors would follow all the US sanctions word by word. This is something US actually believed would happen btw.
Now reverse the role. Imagine Russia does not have sanctions (pre-2014) and China is sanctioned to hell due to Taiwan. Do you think Russian finance sector would keep doing all business with China? Simply no. Some would find some grey area to keep oil flow running but most would follow US sanctions word by word unless Putin personally intervenes.
Ask about this to RU patriots and watch them immediately moving to “akshually” tantrum. No “patriots” here would burn the European connection for China in that hypothetical scenario. But they are accusing China for not doing the same for Russia now.
Heck even Russia’s OWN finance bros refused to serve in Crimea between 2014–2022, coz US sanctions. Russian institutions, refusing to serve INSIDE Russian territory and we are accusing China for not serving to Russia 😂 Crimeans had to come to mainland for lots of basic bank services for years.
But what about Global South? Again, Global South is even more scared about sanctions and you can’t blame them about it. They have little to no economic room to maneuver and Russia does not sell ideology. The only other way is to bring in lot of cash (Ruble won’t work so Gold it is). But this is hardly possible to do without wrapping up the war.
We often talk about casualties only but reminder that it’s huge financial burden too. Besides, offering gold like old ways in modern economy has never been tried. You need radicals in charge for that. Not the old guard. In a finance bro’s spreadsheet, Global South does not bring in the amount a western or Chinese business does. So to them it’s a meh option.
But there are attempts, it’s not like that Russia is doing nothing. Like most other things in this country, it’s also happening very slowly. And it’s gonna take time, world is used to US based system for 35+ yrs now, you can’t simply go and convince them to ditch US and do business with Russia right away. It takes time for both sides to adapt.
One example on how much ppl want USD based system over anything else. One car dealer that I know went to Iran to get cars (used cars obviously) because they have lot grey market thanks to prior sanctions. He went to one of the bigger one near Tehran. Offered his ideas and plans to them. They flatly refused.
“Why?”
Sanctions”Okay but aren’t y’all sanctioned as well?”
Yes but we are working on a deal with west, if we make deals with you now we won’t be able to do anything with you anyways after sanctions are removed”…”
Let’s just say my man was too flabbergasted to say anything after that.
Posted by: don’t be cringey | Feb 19 2026 15:57 utc | 221
Posted by: denk | Feb 19 2026 15:39 utc | 220
#####
Trump’s budget announcements are for people who don’t understand economics and get excited by loud statements.
The US is broke. It can’t achieve its long term commitments, and at the pace of debt growth, soon will not be able to meet its short term ones.
In the meantime, Trump has asked the band to strike up a tune to keep the passengers entertained as the Titanic approaches and iceberg.
If I were an American, I would get a passport, and be researching my options.
We always have time before the crisis, but rarely once the crisis has arrived.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Feb 19 2026 15:59 utc | 222
If I were an American, I would get a passport, and be researching my options.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Feb 19 2026 15:59 utc | 227
—
LOL! Yankee go home!
Posted by: too scents | Feb 19 2026 16:05 utc | 224
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Feb 19 2026 15:59 utc | 227
——————-
Trump is banking on US ‘allies’ to fill the gap.
BUsh once bragged that ‘Japan is our ATM, mind you, it doesnt even needs a pin no’ !
The euro are finding out they are all US ATM’s as well as menu on the table !
Posted by: denk | Feb 19 2026 16:08 utc | 225
China didn’t spend a century trying to dismantle Russia piece by piece. It didn’t plant a hostile military alliance on Russia’s doorstep, engineer a war that killed tens of thousands of Russians, subvert the population with regime change operations, stoke separatist movements and then arm them, facilitate decades of terrorism that killed thousands, orchestrate the catastrophic economic collapse of the 90s — pillaging the nation until it nearly fell apart — or pursue a strategy of encirclement designed explicitly to destroy Russia.
Instead, China threw Russia a lifeline throughout its darkest hours, even when many of those disasters were self-inflicted. That China hedges its bets and refuses to economically self-immolate for Russia’s sake is simple pragmatism — especially given Putin’s chronic compulsion to crawl back to Western interests at the first opportunity.
This policy has zero to do with China. It’s the product of Putin’s endless pandering to oligarch interests — a policy of appeasement so craven it has gutted Russian deterrence and turned Ukraine into an unmitigated shitshow, all for a chance to preserve the wealth extraction pipeline of a narrow elite.
This delusional fantasy — that enough money could buy Western mercy or alter American grand strategy — will leave Russia completely isolated when the pendulum swings back and Washington comes knocking again. Two decades of Putin’s foreign policy, distilled into one spectacular act of self-destruction.
Posted by: Y D | Feb 19 2026 16:09 utc | 226
Last night a terrible wind (it had been blowing for two days) rushed through here, and then there was total silence. I had just been reading about the avalanche disaster in the California mountains. So I thought that maybe that terrible gust was the one causing the avalanche, in which lives were lost. Plato believed that all souls are immortal; I’m not sure if Aristotle did. (Someone can enlighten me; Persiflo?
Anyway, God have mercy on their souls.
Posted by: juliania | Feb 19 2026 16:09 utc | 227
Epstein Scandal (after his death..heh as usual…)
Link about his involvement in finance. By escp, substack: The development of a digital currency:
tinyurl.com/2pxh5u87
About the Panic in GB, London’s blind Panic, by Alex Krainer.
https://tinyurl.com/2t3bjjts
Both text only SFW and a bit of a long read but well worth it.
Posted by: Noirette | Feb 19 2026 16:09 utc | 228
China can build bridges !
Posted by: denk | Feb 19 2026 15:32 utc | 217
My point exactly 😁
Posted by: malenkov | Feb 19 2026 16:10 utc | 229
All these trolls who purported to Russians or speaking out for Russia….
Latest update,
MOre than 80% Russians have fav view on China. !
Why dont you fuck off back to your cesspool, all you shit stirrers !
Posted by: denk | Feb 19 2026 16:11 utc | 230
Pure blabbering by “finnanical guys”, showing once again, their “field” is as valid as Lesbian Dance Theory. Russians have opened “sanctioned” banks in a few dozen countries, that can’t work with SWIFT, but allow money to go from and to Russia, but only Chinese cannot allow the trade? They can’t sell tooling either to Russia? They can buy SOME oil, but they can’t buy a lot of oil?
The only thing they’ve shown is that they should not be taken seriously, that they prefer to be cowards and that they will never back up their allies.
Posted by: Chicken War Hawk | Feb 19 2026 16:14 utc | 231
Posted by: malenkov | Feb 19 2026 16:10 utc | 234
—————-
Thats swell !
Posted by: denk | Feb 19 2026 16:15 utc | 232
Posted by: lachaussette | Feb 19 2026 15:47 utc | 222
Thank you for this post.
It’s the approach of a number of people, myself included, to say that we haven’t yet fully exploited the capabilities of existing and well-known energy sources.
While cutting-edge research topics, however interesting, are rarely quickly accessible to the general public at an economically viable cost, there are older technologies that are underutilized.
In developing countries, our approach is therefore “low tech,” as much as possible.
Of course, questions remain, such as: is a solar panel truly “low tech”?
Posted by: Sebgo | Feb 19 2026 16:17 utc | 233
Why would China take risks for a state that proves itself incompetent every chance it gets? Should have Russia also bailed out Armenia? When there is nothing real about your real niqqa economy. Whining larpers all the way down.
Posted by: evrazian schizo | Feb 19 2026 16:18 utc | 234
The Jingoist trolls are out in force today across many platforms.
Putin bad.
China bad.
Iran bad.
We’ll see.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Feb 19 2026 16:22 utc | 235
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Feb 19 2026 16:22 utc | 240
————-
Where do these shit stirrers come from ??
Where’s the world’s biggest cesspool ?
Posted by: denk | Feb 19 2026 16:27 utc | 236
is a solar panel truly “low tech”?
Posted by: Sebgo | Feb 19 2026 16:17 utc | 238
—
A solar oven is surely low tech. As is solar adsorption refrigeration. How much energy is consumed in your country’s kitchens by burning fuel? Most of that can be replaced without electricity. There is not much profit in simple things and without profit investment doesn’t follow.
Posted by: too scents | Feb 19 2026 16:27 utc | 237
That is pretty well what quantum mechanics also says, with an important caveat… God might be watching more than one variant of “reality”, the one in which war erupts, the one in which peace is signed, the one in which DJT dies of a stroke on live TV, etc.
Posted by: Shahmaran | Feb 19 2026 15:09 utc | 206
Exactly.
I was going to mention quantum physics / mechanics, but didn’t and will now. But first let me address your caveat:
God might be watching more than one variant of “reality”, the one in which war erupts, the one in which peace is signed, the one in which DJT dies of a stroke on live TV, etc.
I don’t see these as variants. In my view, they are all part / aspects of a unified reality — a whole — that God can see all at once because His vantage point is way above ours.
Sort of like once you’ve read a novel. You can focus on this plotpoint, this sequence, that dialogue and so on. But regardless, you know the whole story arc — with all its seeming twists and turns, subtexts, motivations, purposes — you see where it’s ALL going, because you’ve already read it. You not only know how it ends, but how it gets there, when and why.
Even more so if you’re the AUTHOR of that novel!
In the quantum world (in my limited undetstanding) there’s no reason the same unit (particle?) of time couldn’t have different actual values, depending upon the observer, with each value being real.
Consonant with the fact that, to God, a day can be what we consider a thousand years and vice versa (with infinite ratios).
The perception / experience / organizing principle of human time was made for humans living on this planet. So, of course, it’s not binding on God.
In fact, it may not even be binding on humans outside the context of Earth. Isn’t it said that math proves that if humans could approach the event horizon of a black hole, they would grow progressively younger (i.e., lose already experienced time) along the way?
Posted by: Sticker | Feb 19 2026 16:28 utc | 238
Posted by: michaelj72 | Feb 19 2026 14:59 utc | 202
The Iranian ‘advantage’ had already been realized ahead by this analyst.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Y0OU6gvem8
As for the VZ drama of Maduro and the ‘The Discombobulator’ is really ‘disinformation’ for a scripted decapitation of government from the inside.
This was fully confirmed on Wednesday, US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) Commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan visited Venezuela.
Posted by: CrazyCanuck | Feb 19 2026 16:34 utc | 239
Civilization without God
In short, though the Emperor had the Mandate of Heaven (akin to Western divine right of kings), societal propriety and morals derived from Confucianism.
Posted by: ChatNPC | Feb 19 2026 13:40 utc | 180
Pardon me, ChatNPC, for taking exception to the above link in light of what I had to say earlier. Christian Orthodoxy does not suppose an angry God but a loving one. Indeed so does Genesis, on which text three religions are based. All we may say of God is speculation — manmade, opinion based : speculation, in my opinion. 😉
And in my opinion, it is the love expressed in Chinese philosophy which, knowingly or not, is the critical element in China’s successful ‘non-theology’.
Posted by: juliania | Feb 19 2026 16:39 utc | 240
@Sebgo
Is it true that Burkina Faso achieved food self-sufficiency? https://www.africanews.com/2026/01/02/burkina-faso-hails-security-gains-and-food-self-sufficiency-in-2025/
What external economic inputs are most pressing?
Posted by: too scents | Feb 19 2026 16:40 utc | 241
Posted by: too scents | Feb 19 2026 16:27 utc | 242
How much energy is consumed in your country’s kitchens by burning fuel?
You are far from our reality. Not a single kitchen in all the country burn fuel.
We import all hydrocarbons and it’s too expensive for the common people.
Even the ovens themselves are too expensive for them.
Fuel is used for the electricity plants and industry.
Wood and coal makes 85~95% of the energy consumption for cooking. The rest is provided by cooking gaz (butane).
Solar oven and biogaz are just experimental and less than 1% of it.
Apart from the cost and availability, we discovered one unexpected “socio-psychological” problem: people refusing to eat meal cooked with solar oven !
Posted by: Sebgo | Feb 19 2026 16:42 utc | 242
Two decades of Putin’s foreign policy, distilled into one spectacular act of self-destruction.
Posted by: Y D | Feb 19 2026 16:09 utc | 231
Sad to say, but true. What we are witnessing today in the Persian Gulf and potential all out war, is due to his foreign policy of handling the Syria crisis, appeasing to the Israeli’s.
Syria was a buffer zone, the same way the Ukraine is to Russia. Now both countries are facing DAILY non-stop foreign aggression’s with little to no end in site. I commend Iran for really standing up to the plate and fighting and really hitting back at the ‘decision making centres’ , little can be said for Russia.
Peace
Posted by: CrazyCanuck | Feb 19 2026 16:43 utc | 243
Posted by: too scents | Feb 19 2026 16:40 utc | 246
Is it true that Burkina Faso achieved food self-sufficiency?
Not true. We can’t make without imports, rice and wheat for grains, and industrial food.
What external economic inputs are most pressing?
I don’t understand the question.
Posted by: Sebgo | Feb 19 2026 16:46 utc | 244
I don’t think you are aware how China exploited Russia’s isolation from the 🇪🇺 energy markers to buy energy from Russia at humiliating discounted prices. But yes, you are absolutely correct about Putin cowering to Western interests to satisfy the oligarchs who keep him in power.
Posted by: Βυρωνας | Feb 19 2026 16:51 utc | 245
@Posted by: Nobody | Feb 19 2026 15:38 utc | 219
“A God that wants that you eat your Spinach/Broccoli does most likely not exist….” Indeed, Brocoli is the one thing I refuse to eat. And, with due regards to the Almighty, Quantum Physics does not postualte the existence of God. But quantum mechanics is in many ways stranger than what religions have to say. And it has equations to prove what it says too. So, not sure we’ve done away with the divine by relying on science.
Posted by: Shahmaran | Feb 19 2026 16:54 utc | 246
qparker | Feb 19 2026 13:06 utc | 169
*** BBC News reported that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, was arrested early Thursday morning on suspicion of misconduct in public office, amid allegations he shared confidential government trade documents with the late Jeffrey Epstein. The first arrest from the release of the Epstein files. ***
Bit odd Mandelson hasn’t been arrested … though him likely being Mossad/CIA and an effective controller of government would explain that.
What external economic inputs are most pressing?
I don’t understand the question.
Posted by: Sebgo | Feb 19 2026 16:46 utc | 249
—
In your opinion which external commodities is Burkina Faso most reliant upon? Which inputs can it not produce itself? What is the hierarchy of unmet inputs and in what practical ways can the shortfall be addressed?
Specifically, what can be done without and what is so important that incurring debt is obligatory?
Posted by: too scents | Feb 19 2026 17:01 utc | 248
Posted by: Βυρωνας | Feb 19 2026 16:51 utc | 250
…the oligarchs who keep him in power.
76 277 708 : That’s the number of Russians who voted for Putin in 2024.
That’s a lot of “oligarchs”, isn’t it?
Doesn’t the word itself imply “a few of them” ?
Posted by: Sebgo | Feb 19 2026 17:03 utc | 249
Nice touch to put in the Saha Eq (wish I had thought of that!). I hope you don’t detect any nastiness’ in my long-winded response. I actually found it useful to go through the exercise of trying to make a few opaque sections a bit more understandable. Hope it doesn’t muddy the waters unnecessarily…
Posted by: General Factotum | Feb 19 2026 12:35 utc | 163
Not at all, General. I haven’t yet read it closely 🙂 – You brought the Saha equation up; I have never seen it before. But now, after a bit more walking and doing some unrelated stuff … how about this:
The statistical mechanics approach from the plasma paper could get an additional kinetic energy term to describe a gas flow – then we get a pressure field (a velocity distribution) that is made up from the two components of total kinetic energy: 1, thermal, and 2, resulting from the flow. The two relate to each other as some sort of scattering problem, right? Heuristically, the thermal ensemble receives an impact from the flow term, which produces an angular scattering pattern; a statistical distribution with its mean in the direction of the flow. The scattering process itself is basically a simple inelastic collision for an ideal gas, from which we get a handle on the distribution of scattering angle vs. speed of the flow. It will be fairly narrow for high flow velocity.
Now here’s the trick: the scattering becomes something completely different once we introduce Coulomb forces such as those found in a plasma and described in that paper. Specifically, the angular distribution from the scattering is now dominated by electron-ion interaction of the plasma instead of the simple mechanical collisions, with the result that the gas flow fluctuates wider to the sides without losing its total mean direction. But this sort of scattering is also not evenly distributed in terms of involved kinetic energy as before (in the ideal gas), because the electron is so light.
Thence it appears possible to harness the Coulomb force interaction to spread the attacking airflow around a missile body more widely, without having to immediately sacrifice kinetic energy – ?!? – because the pressure field (which gives rise to friction) is locally less severe in the direction of the flow … think of it as a scattering angle of the molecules coming at you. — It still drains energy, but the bulk of this interaction is happening within the gas/plasma (forming as a thin layer around the body and continuously being sheared off) rather than the direct collision of the body with the attacking airflow. Now, if you have that plasma sheath readily at hand, and it forms with less cost than you gain from the (locally) dissipating airflow, you just might . . .
yucks, was this comprehensible? My neighbors are around, playing the strangest Katzenmusik imaginable, and I am still cold from the walk … might try again later.
Posted by: persiflo | Feb 19 2026 17:13 utc | 250
The real danger DJT faces here is a blockage of oil at Hormusz……..the spike in oil prices would be catastrophic, not only for him but for his presidency and for the mid term elections too. America’s sons and daughters coming home to Dover in body bags for sake of the Tel Aviv crowd is abnoxious. Oil at $220 a barrel would destroy the US economy, and destroy the DJT eco growth model.
I find it hard to believe that DJT could be suckered into such a disastreous position by a chucklehead like Bibi and his band of War Cabinet anti Christian freaks like Katz, Smotrich and company………
Is this what DJT/JDV really want as an outcome, not to mention endangering CVN’s and their CSG ship mates?
Posted by: tobias cole | Feb 19 2026 17:17 utc | 251
denk | Feb 19 2026 14:15 utc | 188
*** Six hundred years of western/gringo imperialism would go on by its own momentum, Jews/Israel/zionists/AIPAC are just convenient fall guy ***
Israel/zionists/AIPAC are far from being mere fall guys … they are present day names for a malign influence which has been working under various guises for many centuries … deliberately mis-shaping attitudes, policies and agendas of others to suit its own ends.
Tucker Carlson is absolutely correct when he states that AIPAC controls the Senate and the House, and the just dumped $50M into Byron Donald’s Florida Governor’s Primary race too.
Their tentacles are every where in US politics……
All for Greater Israel and the genociders of the Palestinian people, both Christian and Muslim.
Posted by: tobias cole | Feb 19 2026 17:20 utc | 253
Posted by: too scents | Feb 19 2026 17:01 utc | 253
The figures are undeniable. The country’s main expenditure item, its primary import, and the primary cause of foreign currency outflows are hydrocarbons and their transportation.
Medical products come in second.
Our landlocked status exacerbates the situation. Transportation from the neighboring country’s port to our storage tanks costs up to 40 times more than transportation from China or Russia to the port.
Because of this situation, everything that is transported, therefore all products, even those produced locally, are expensive. And of course, foreign reserves are challenged.
The electricity produced by our thermal power plants has often been the most expensive in the world. Hydropower is insufficient.
If we could find a way to obtain hydrocarbons more cheaply, preferably without using foreign currency, everything would change for us.
This would also be nice if we can have some local factories producing essential medicines.
This was the hope we had when oil was discovered in neighboring Niger.
But alas.
Posted by: Sebgo | Feb 19 2026 17:20 utc | 254
Thank you for your replies., @juliania.A few quick thoughts while I ponder how to articulate my further response:
And indeed, if we can penetrate that far, then we can, if we trust in an unknowable but allseeing God, we can be pretty sure that it is all going to be all right in the end! Posted by: juliania | Feb 19 2026 15:27 utc | 213
And this should result in inner comfort and peace. When it doesn’t, I think often the obstacle is that I’ve become over-invested — maybe even exclusively invested in — defining “all right in the end” my way. According to what I, left to my own devices, reason is the best, most favorable outcome.
All I can say is, for me, that’s a sign that I’m not actually trusting that God’s going to make things right at the end. Basically, that He doesn’t really know what He’s doing! Because He wrote the story differently than I would.
Uh . . . how embarrassing. Who’s that woman who was hired as an actress and then tried to take over the movie as Director?
I don’t want to be her.
One thing that has helped me is realizing I don’t want to “just” trust God. I want to entrust myself to Him. Put myself fully in His hands. To me, there’s a difference. And articulating it that way gives me insight into my own thought processes.
It is an ontological relationship between man and God, an internally objective relationship …”Vladimire Lossky [my bolds]
Posted by: juliania | Feb 19 2026 15:56 utc | 225
Yes. But this is ALSO a reality (accepted by some, rejected by others) that is integral to understanding the world (and, therefore, geopolitics), even if it’s not one’s personal experience. Because, as in physics, it’s a strong force that just is.
Posted by: Sticker | Feb 19 2026 17:22 utc | 255
Don’t get me started on predestination and how time may be flat rather than linear…
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Feb 19 2026 6:45 utc | 131
Woops, sorry, LoveDonbass. As you see, we did forge ahead! Is Genesis anthropomorphic when it says man was made in the image of God? We aren’t God, but we try to understand as much as we can. And I don’t think predestination fits the bill. It rather leads to a sort of ‘knowledge’ about the human condition that allows us to make fierce judgments of others, even misjudging the ‘greatness’ of God (or of the US). As we humans perceive events, things do happen as they happen; there is no Nemesis (sorry nemesiscalling) — at least, I don’t think that’s a good description of the human condition because it leads to judgments such as those being given in Platonic myths, which are clearly meant for some purpose to Plato, coming as they do at the close of some of his dialogues.
What is the meaning of Plato’s use of myth? He wants to emphasize what he says in The Republic: that everything we say comes down to opinion only. It may indeed be right opinion, but, in relation to the ultimate good, (which man can approach very closely to), that is ultimately the truth we have been blessed to approach as best we are able. And nemesis figures very closely there. Now, that comes short of what our religions or other philosophies may profess, but in relation to one person or another, if those religions or philosophies are sound spiritual exercises, they tell us to limit our capacity to judge others. Because each must only make judgments of himself or herself (and even therein we often err).
By their fruits, ye shall know them. Not judge them. Fruits are different, those we might perhaps judge rightly. Let’s judge China by her fruits.
Posted by: juliania | Feb 19 2026 17:28 utc | 256
I find it hard to believe that DJT could be suckered into such a disastreous position by a chucklehead like Bibi
Posted by: tobias cole | Feb 19 2026 17:17 utc | 256
If the threat is “Do it, or we release the multiple angle 4K video of you sticking it in a 6 year old”, I don’t.
Don’t know if Trumptard did such, but I would not be even slightly surprised if he did, or similar. He is a narccicstic sociopath. They don’t feel at all bound by morality or law that those pathetic ‘little people’ have to obey. They are above all that, in their sick minds.
Posted by: ftp | Feb 19 2026 17:28 utc | 257
The real danger DJT faces here is a blockage of oil at Hormusz……..the spike in oil prices would be catastrophic, not only for him but for his presidency and for the mid term elections too.
Posted by: tobias cole | Feb 19 2026 17:17 utc | 256
The midterm election “problem” is easily solved by posting ICE agents at polling places where the electorate is largely Dim-leaning and largely comprised of voters of minority ethnicities. For starters.
Posted by: malenkov | Feb 19 2026 17:37 utc | 258
arby@2:
“Looks like Venezuela is doing too good for its own good.”
Because Venezuela is now for the good of others…
The Vanishing of Maduro and the Return of Oil Power
https://journal-neo.su/2026/02/19/the-variety-of-maduro-and-the-return-of-oil-power
“…When leaders fall, media coverage often lingers on the spectacle. But spectacle is transient. Structures endure. What is unfolding in Venezuela now is not a personality driven saga but a methodical reconfiguration of energy flows and financial control mechanisms.
The real story is no longer about Maduro’s rhetoric or survival. It is about who writes the contracts, who monitors the revenue streams, and who determines the direction of one of the world’s largest hydrocarbon reserves. In that sense, Maduro’s silence is not absence it is displacement.
The true contest is no longer about who controls the Miroflores Palace. It is about who determines the velocity, destination and revenue architecture of Venezuelan oil. The seizure of a tanker in the Indian Ocean and the reopening of fields to European majors are not isolated events. The are pieces of a coherent strategic design.
Maduro’s silence does not signal irrelevance. It signals that the geopolitical machinery has moved beyond him. And machinery, unlike man, does not give interviews…”
Posted by: John Gilberts | Feb 19 2026 17:44 utc | 259
264 corrected:
https://journal-neo.su/2026/02/19/the-vanishing-of-maduro-and-the-return-of-oil-power
Posted by: John Gilberts | Feb 19 2026 17:47 utc | 260
Posted by: Cynic | Feb 19 2026 17:19 utc | 257
—————
Who’s the master, who’s the henchman ?
An oft cited meme to prove ‘Israel owns USA’ is the Liberty disaster.
US letting Israel killing Americans !
BUt thats par for the course for US ruling class, who see only two kinds of people..
useful assets and useless eaters.
Israel is hardly unique in this respect.
Whenever assets vs eaters, the former wins hand down, citizens be damned !
Exhibit A
uncle sham rationalising the rape cum murder of American nuns by its Salvadoran assets
‘Perhaps those nuns are political activists running a road block’ !
YOu couldnt make this shit up babe !
https://tinyurl.com/2mpx8x5v
Posted by: denk | Feb 19 2026 17:57 utc | 261
Posted by: Shahmaran | Feb 19 2026 16:54 utc | 251
Does the Spiritual World/Universe need a God?
Posted by: Nobody | Feb 19 2026 17:59 utc | 262
evrazian schizo | Feb 19 2026 16:18 utc | 239
*** Should have Russia also bailed out Armenia? ***
Russia should have killed the Pashinyan gang years ago.
denk | Feb 19 2026 16:27 utc | 241
*** Where’s the world’s biggest cesspool ? ***
Tel Aviv. Where it is particularly concentrated.
Slightly Off Topic…
Re: The Climate Change “Hoax”.
I believe that Climate Change is not only Real but is already in Runaway Mode:
1. Glaciers and Mountain Snowcaps are shrinking on every continent.
2. There are simultaneous floods and/or heavy rainfalls on every continent.
3. Longer and warmer than normal weather spells are causing excessive drying of forests/bushland leading to severe fires which are difficult to control or extinguish.
4. Few, if any, nations are taking firm steps to dramatically reduce Green House Gas emissions.
This means that even if every nation on Earth begins reducing Green House Gas emissions by 25% tomoŕrow, the existing over abundance of GHGs will still be added to by the remaining 75% of daily emissions. And whilst nothing is done to remove the existing GHGs from the atmosphere, the level of GHGs can only increase beyond present levels, which are already proving to be disruptive to normal living standards.
Thus Global Warming is certain to get worse before it gets better.
In Oz, some areas have recently been declared uninsurable by Insurance Companies.
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Feb 19 2026 18:21 utc | 265
Tel Aviv. Where it is particularly concentrated.
Posted by: Cynic | Feb 19 2026 18:06 utc | 269
—————-
Wrong again..
USA is the cesspool cuz it welcome assholes from all over the world like Rubio, Cruz, GOrdon Chang, JImmy Lai, flg ceo, …..
Tip of an iceberg
Posted by: denk | Feb 19 2026 18:29 utc | 266
the EU and its captive states become ever more dictatorial …….
https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/eu-sanctions-german-journalist-shocking-first-over-gaza-reporting
NATO “values” and “democracy” are very peculiar things.
‘Tonight is not about doing business with the world, but celebrating with friends all corners of the globe!’ from the Spring Gala Festival 2026 – China https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1O0TB6QL_aI&list=RD1O0TB6QL_aI&start_radio=1
Posted by: CrazyCanuck | Feb 19 2026 7:43 utc | 136
Thank you, CrazyCanuck. Such such fruit!! Bravo, Chinese people! Happy Year of the Horse!
Posted by: juliania | Feb 19 2026 19:06 utc | 268
UK Prince Andrew Arrested On Suspicion of Misconduct in Public Office
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/2/19/ex-price-andrew-arrested-on-suspicion-of-misconduct-in-public-office
“Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the United Kingdom former royal, has been arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office. King Charles II said after the arrest that ‘the law must take its course’ in the investigation of his brother.
Police officers were investigating him for serious allegations that emerged after US authorities released more than 3 million pages of documents relating to the disgraced financier [Jeffrey Epstein].
Some of those files suggested that Mountbatten-Windsor had, in 2010, forwarded to Epstein reports about Vietnam, Singapore and other places he had visited on official trips as UK trade envoy. In one confidential memo, he sought Epstein’s views on investment opportunities in Afghan’s Helmand province.
Mountbatten-Windsor should cooperate with the United Snakes authorities in their investigation, the UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said. ‘No one is above the law,’* he added.”
*Pull the other one, it’s got bells on.
Posted by: John Gilberts | Feb 19 2026 19:19 utc | 269
The U.S. State Department is developing an online portal that will enable people in Europe and elsewhere to see content banned by their governments including alleged hate speech and terrorist propaganda, a move Washington views as a way to counter censorship, three sources familiar with the plan said.
The site will be hosted at “freedom.gov,” the sources said. One source said officials had discussed including a virtual private network function to make a user’s traffic appear to originate in the U.S. and added that user activity on the site will not be tracked.
Headed by Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy Sarah Rogers, the project was expected to be unveiled at last week’s Munich Security Conference but was delayed, the sources said.
Reuters could not determine why the launch did not happen, but some State Department officials, including lawyers, have raised concerns about the plan, two of the sources said, without detailing the concerns.
The project could further strain ties between the Trump administration and traditional U.S. allies in Europe, already heightened by disputes over trade, Russia’s war in Ukraine and President Donald Trump’s push to assert control over Greenland.
The portal could also put Washington in the unfamiliar position of appearing to encourage citizens to flout local laws.
In a statement to Reuters, a State Department spokesperson said the U.S. government does not have a censorship-circumvention program specific to Europe but added: “Digital freedom is a priority for the State Department, however, and that includes the proliferation of privacy and censorship-circumvention technologies like VPNs.”
The spokesperson denied any announcement had been delayed and said it was inaccurate that State Department lawyers had raised concerns.
The Trump administration has made free speech, particularly what it sees as the stifling of conservative voices online, a focus of its foreign policy including in Europe and in Brazil.
@Slavyangrad
Posted by: Jo | Feb 19 2026 19:27 utc | 270
Posted by: John Gilberts | Feb 19 2026 19:19 utc | 274
What are the chances he gets Assange’s old cell?
About 100 million : 1 against. IMO
“Misconduct in public office” is a special kind of crime created for ‘people who matter’ and can carry a punishment of up to 15
minutes on the naughty step.
Posted by: ChatNPC | Feb 19 2026 19:33 utc | 271
well. I do not see any news re the Lavrov v OSCE recent haul ’em in and sort ’em out meeting. If Azerbaijan , following from last June letting Israel attack Iran from its base plus in January terrorists going to Iran, and further is involved against Iran, will that upset the apple cart more? Also when UDA bombs Iran, blocks Russian support to Cuba-will Russia then cease the peace talks???. Cease any START renewal talks?
Posted by: Jo | Feb 19 2026 19:34 utc | 272
Brussels just made a catastrophic mistake. A Berlin court ordered X to hand over Hungarian election data to researchers Germany funds — weeks before the vote.They’re trying to setup up another Romania. If they try to soft coup Hungary’s election and fail, every populist in Europe learns Brussels is even weaker than it looks.The EU collapses either way.👉 Read our latest on Substack🎙Subscribe @TheIslanderNews
Posted by: Jo | Feb 19 2026 19:51 utc | 273
I probably fall into the category of being able to “make sense” of it while not understanding everything.
Posted by: Dalit | Feb 19 2026 13:00 utc | 167
****************
Welcome aboard! That is the same boat in which I travel… I just wish I could climb up the mast to the Crows Nest so I could see bit further.
Posted by: General Factotum | Feb 19 2026 20:53 utc | 274
yt vid on Chinese bridge technology
Posted by: denk | Feb 19 2026 14:32 utc | 191
***************
https://youtu.be/qxkfhJfgWGU
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/i6OGmf_Bw0c?feature=share
Amazing work. Two sea barge cranes lift and place a deck box-girder section 142m long, 44m wide, weighing 4,586 tonnes. Try to visualise that size! These are fabricated off-site, and placed at the rate of about one per week. The Xiamen-Kinmen bridge is expected to open late this year.
Oh – any word on when the Francis Scott Key Bridge replacement work is going to commence?
Posted by: General Factotum | Feb 19 2026 21:17 utc | 275
Posted by: General Factotum | Feb 19 2026 12:29 utc | 161
One further thought: if the plasma can be penetrated by the people who launched it, than eventually the enemy could figure out how to interfere with those comms or penetrate the plasma themselves for the purposes of EW or even hijacking (as the Iranians did with some US drones).
In fact that might be the only viable defence.
Posted by: ChatNPC | Feb 19 2026 21:22 utc | 276
Probably better off just covering the Sahara with solar panels and producing hydrogen via hydrolysis.
Posted by: lachaussette | Feb 19 2026 15:47 utc | 222
****
I totally agree – with the caveat that I would prefer battery storage or pumped hydro storage rather than hydrogen (it introduces too many new problems).
We are entering the seventh cycle of the “ten-year time constant’ of fusion reactor development. Fusion is “interesting” physics and engineering but your reasoning is the basis for my decision to step sideways into solar. I finally “saw the light” and realised there was an excellent fusion reactor up there in the sky, that mysteriously appeared every morning, and that delivered free energy directly in my face…
Posted by: General Factotum | Feb 19 2026 21:37 utc | 277
Let me put a fine point on the plasma discussion
The last I checked, our species knows some things about 5% of all those atoms in that plasma you write about. What about the other 95% of those atoms that we theorize about?
Thats right…./s that dark energy and matter are all out in space but not discussed as 95% part of us…why would that be?
Posted by: psychohistorian | Feb 19 2026 21:42 utc | 278
Of course, questions remain, such as: is a solar panel truly “low tech”?
Posted by: Sebgo | Feb 19 2026 16:17 utc | 238
*******
It depends on who is asking the question, and who is answering.
To the ‘bushman’ using a solar panel to pump water or charge a battery, it is ‘low-tech’ provided the system is well-designed. Just hook up two wires and it works flawlessly.
To the ornery physicist, even just looking at a solar panel introduces questions of Quantum Physics – probably not low-tech??
Posted by: General Factotum | Feb 19 2026 21:44 utc | 279
Does the Spiritual World/Universe need a God?
Posted by: Nobody | Feb 19 2026 17:59 utc | 267
#####
You misunderstand the dichotomy. Without God, there would be no universe.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Feb 19 2026 23:27 utc | 280
Russia and China will do nothing. The U.S is is a big reason the war in ukraine has started and we’ve given billions of dollars, weapons, training and military intelligence and Russia has done nothing about it. Do you really think they will respond if we bomb iran into oblivion?
Posted by: folks nem crazy | Feb 19 2026 23:33 utc | 281
Dont know whether to laugh or pity at such blissful ignorance
Posted by: denk | Feb 19 2026 14:49 utc | 196
And the very next post comes another example. lol
Posted by: arby | Feb 19 2026 23:37 utc | 282
Without God, there would be no universe.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Feb 19 2026 23:27 utc | 288
Which God(s) though?
And supposing we all pick the wrong one and support for the right one falls so low that the Universe disappears in a puff of Love Donbass logic?
AFOAF
Posted by: ChatNPC | Feb 20 2026 0:18 utc | 283
[@245 Iran Thread] General
“Ferdinand vin Lindeman, proved the impossibility of squaring the circle in 1882…
…the construction of a square with the exact same area as a circle using only a compass and straightedge impossible”
Was and is wrong.
The construction of a circle with the exact same area as a square using only a compass and straightedge poses the difficulty… theoretically achievable also given an infinitely fine medium… one that probably exists only in math…how small can anyone count ?
As I have no reason or need to prove the above, it will just be left as a puzzle.
Posted by: Ornot | Feb 20 2026 1:06 utc | 284
Posted by: Ornot | Feb 20 2026 1:06 utc | 295
I think the impossibility is in the physical construction said square with a compass and straight edge (and a sharp pencil),
Mathematically it is facile to elucidate the length of the side of a square l which has the same area as a circle of radius r.
( l = sqrt(pi x r squared) ).
Posted by: ChatNPC | Feb 20 2026 1:16 utc | 285
It is immaterial to me whether or not anyone thinks I am a fraud.
Posted by: General Factotum | Feb 20 2026 1:21 utc | 297
######
You’re a good man.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Feb 20 2026 1:26 utc | 286
As I have no reason or need to prove the above, it will just be left as a puzzle.
Posted by: Ornot | Feb 20 2026 1:06 utc | 295
*************
ChatNPC 296 answers the question in the ‘real’ world.
But just to get on the merry-go-round once more, in order to get to the next step of the solution to your puzzle I need to know whether you are going to provide me with a countable infinity of small pieces, or an uncountable infinity of small pieces, with which I can assemble my square. It may make some difference to whether I can complete the puzzle, and the time I need to allocate to complete the task.
Posted by: General Factotum | Feb 20 2026 1:31 utc | 287
Does the Spiritual World/Universe need a God? Posted by: Nobody | Feb 19 2026 17:59 utc | 267 ##### You misunderstand the dichotomy. Without God, there would be no universe.
Posted by: LoveDonbass |
@nobody, I’m wondering what your definition of “need” is here? Also your concept of order as opposed to chaos? Is any system that’s essentially random sustainable?
Even the theory of evolution of the species ultimately depends upon systematically reasonable, purposeful, preferred “choices” guided by an “innate” biological logic sustained over geologic time.
Posted by: Sticker | Feb 20 2026 1:33 utc | 288
Even the theory of evolution of the species ultimately depends upon systematically reasonable, purposeful, preferred “choices” guided by an “innate” biological logic sustained over geologic time.
Posted by: Sticker | Feb 20 2026 1:33 utc | 300
?????? Really?
Wow.
Posted by: ftp | Feb 20 2026 1:44 utc | 289
Which God(s) though?And supposing we all pick the wrong one and support for the right one falls so low that the Universe disappears in a puff of Love Donbass logic?AFOAF
Posted by: ChatNPC | Feb 20 2026 0:18 utc | 292
Isn’t this always the fundamental question — “which God” to serve? All of the Bible narrative can be summed up as “who are you going to believe and trust, God or Mammon?” “God or Satan?”
It’s not @loveDonbass logic. It’s simply the way the table is set. To use your words:
[If] support for the right [god] falls so low . . . the Universe [the world as we know it] disappears [and God makes things right according to what He has foretold].
2 + 2 = 4. This is Eschatology 101.
The fact that individuals must pick the correct God is a feature, not a bug.
Posted by: Sticker | Feb 20 2026 1:51 utc | 290
If the threat is “Do it, or we release the multiple angle 4K video of you sticking it in a 6 year old”, I don’t.
Posted by: ftp | Feb 19 2026 17:28 utc | 262
At this point, I think the assassin’s ruthlessness and efficacy has been established. It really need only be as simple as “Do it, or we blow Melania and Barron’s head off.”
Posted by: Sticker | Feb 20 2026 2:07 utc | 291
The theory of evolution is stupid. It’s warmed over pagan mythology without a glimmer of science.
If you are interested in science, and not Darwin’s faith based mythological nonsense, you could dive into these articles on the destruction of Darwinism.
Posted by: Nobody Special | Feb 20 2026 2:31 utc | 292
Posted by: ftp | Feb 20 2026 1:44 utc | 301
A simple example. Of course, one can always quibble with terminology. But in the end, there are only so many ways to describe this process:
Viruses transmit via different routes and under different conditions. In order to transmit efficiently, viruses need to shed high levels of infectious virions. However, producing high levels of progeny requires high replication rate, which makes them vulnerable to immune response or consumes too much resources (infected cells) leading to rapid progressive fatal diseases. Either way, high levels of viral replication cannot be sustained in long term. Viruses therefore need to choose either to replicate at a maximum rate in a short period, or to extend the period of replication and shedding with reduced replication rate.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3782273/ [bold added]
Posted by: Sticker | Feb 20 2026 2:37 utc | 293
From: https://voxday.net/2026/02/07/veriphysics-the-treatise-006/
“In 1966, mathematicians and engineers gathered at the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia to examine the mathematical foundations of the Modern Synthesis [evolution]. Their verdict was devastating. The rates of mutation, the population sizes, the timescales available—the numbers did not work. The probability of generating the observed complexity through random mutation and natural selection was effectively zero.
“The biologists were unimpressed. They did not engage with the mathematics; they simply noted that the mathematicians were not biologists, and continued as before. The pattern established in 1966 has held ever since: mathematically literate outsiders raise objections; biologically credentialed insiders ignore them; the textbooks remain unchanged.
“The mapping of the human and chimpanzee genomes in the early 2000s provided the data necessary to test the theory quantitatively. The genetic difference between the species requires approximately forty million mutations to have become fixed in the relevant lineages since the hypothesized divergence from a common ancestor. Using the fastest fixation rate ever observed in any organism—bacteria under intense selection in laboratory conditions—and the most generous timescales proposed in the literature, the mathematics permits fewer than three hundred fixations.
“The theory requires forty million. The math allows three hundred. The gap is not a matter of uncertainty or approximation; it is a difference of five orders of magnitude. No adjustment of parameters, no refinement of models, no appeal to undiscovered mechanisms can bridge such a chasm. The theory of evolution by natural selection, as an explanation for the origin of species, is mathematically impossible.”
SUMMARY
The theory of evolution is garbage and has been repeatedly scientifically proven to be garbage, but faith based evolutionary true believers ignore the science and keep believing their myths.
Posted by: Nobody Special | Feb 20 2026 2:48 utc | 294
I mentioned it last year and upset some hardcore Dawkins fans. The theory of evolution has been mathematically debunked in the past and again last year in a book by Vox Day, which is followed up in a second book, “The Frozen Gene”. I believe he also published all of the supporting science in journals.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Feb 20 2026 2:57 utc | 295
Posted by: Nobody Special | Feb 20 2026 2:31 utc | 304 There is no fixed theory of evolution. The theory of evolution is comprised of scientific explanations of the multiplication of species over time. That phenomenon is a fact. Arguments over how the species multiplied have gone on since it was demonstrated that the species on Earth have changed over time. Any purported analysis of evolutionary theory that skips over the question of how species have multiplied is not even a real question, it is an obtusion, a pretense of argument that depends on being obtuse to reality. As more reliably attested evidence is accumulated, the scientific explanations—-which are scientific precisely because they don’t simply hand wave the multiplication of species—which is to say, the theory, changes too. Well, it should, though scientists being mere people often enough manage to find their preconceptions in the data. That’s the sense in which science is often called provisional. Personally I would prefer to say science is corrigible, meaning it is corrected according to evidence, all the evidence. There is no evidence species didn’t multiply throughout the history of life. No argument that ignores that evidence can be deemed scientific.
In addition to the obvious irrelevance of the link to any scientific theory of evolution, I suspect it is a cleveration, a pretense of an argument that substitutes elaborate analysis of subsidiary questions without any pretense of real world relevance. In this particular case, I quickly noted this person spoke of twenty million fixations. Since this person was clearly trying to snow his audience with a show of mathematical erudition, he did not even explain what he meant by twenty million fixations. It has nothing to do with genes. Humans do not have twenty million genes. There is a lot of confusion sowed by the nonsense spewed by Karl Popper who more or less claims that the scientific theories are those which have not been refuted. Any purported arguments that aim to disprove a theory are not however definitive, not even mathematical ones, unless they are consonant with the facts. In this case, again, the fact is that species have multiplied. That’s evolution. The point of theory is to explain it using evidence. Revelations from the supernatural are not evidence, cannot correct anything. No one has ever been able to establish the validity of anything supernatural. They’ve tried for thousands of years apparently.
Even google’s ai knows better than this. how many genes are in the human genome – Google Search
The human genome contains approximately 19,900 to 20,000 protein-coding genes, a number that has been revised down from initial, higher estimates. These genes make up less than 2% of the total genome, with the rest consisting of non-coding, regulatory, or structural sequences.
Key facts about human genes include:
- Gene Distribution: Chromosome 1 contains the highest number of genes (approx. 3,000), while the Y chromosome has the fewest (approx. 230).
- Protein-Coding Limits: While there are roughly 20,000 protein-coding genes, the total number of functional RNA genes is estimated to be higher.
- Comparison: Humans have roughly the same number of protein-coding genes as a mouse, highlighting that complexity arises from how genes are regulated rather than just the total count
.
- Genetic Variation: The DNA sequence between any two individuals is 99.9% identical.
Since this person may be speaking of base pairs rather than genes (being charitable) the point on genetic variation suggests another problem.
Also, the claim that Darwinism in particular is pagan mythology is factually wrong: Pagan mythology, whichever one you mean, did not hypothesize the multiplication of species. Even the few which claimed their were different kinds of people or a different kind of world did not suggest there was a continuous descent.
Posted by: steven t johnson | Feb 20 2026 3:08 utc | 296
In China, this two-bedroom, one-living-room apartment can be rented for about 1,200 yuan per month, roughly $165 🤯
1-minute, 18-second video
https://x.com/Eng_china5/status/2024681658637832319
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Feb 20 2026 3:10 utc | 297
Posted by: Shahmaran | Feb 19 2026 15:09 utc | 206
“…one in which DJT dies of a stroke on live TV, etc.”
Speaking of time, predestination, & so on, I actually had a thought that popped out of nowhere the other day…of Trump dying live on T.V. Albeit, in this instance, he choked on a burger precipitating a cardiac arrest.
Posted by: Jon_in_AU | Feb 20 2026 3:18 utc | 298
@ 299 General
It is known infinity is not countable but is instead an assumption of all inclusion.
Just as zero is not countable.
A circle on a piece of paper has a fixed area plainly visible as a certainty.
When we measure we are constrained to the accuracy (fineness) of existing units (length, mass etc.) which give meaning to dimension, but that are not in fact dimension but a representation of dimension in the physical, hence measurable hence scientific, world. Said another way, dimension provides meaning to those units.
If dimension provides the area of a circle, we will only ever measure it using existing units, even though its dimension is exact.
How big is dimension, and why does a curved or circular line resist forming a direct calculable relationship to dimension ?
If we assume dimension is infinite, a curved line is also infinitely curved (it has not straight section no matter how close observed) and so cannot provide fixed reference in mathematical terms.
A straight line does provide fixed exact reference between two points.
In the real world, both curved and straight exist as factual , but a circle (curved line) can be thought of as one dimensional only, the product of a straight line from center to circumference, the actual curve then described being not exactly measurable due both to the constraints on accuracy (fineness) of existing units (length, mass etc.) in the real world, and also due to its length not being calculable mathematically to exactness ; ‘ever slightly longer’ the closer ‘observed’ or calculated, due to curving.
So it satisfies neither criteria, and yet it exists as a fixed length, one whose exact measurement is constrained only by physical unit size, and where unit is actually a product of dimension, which itself is understood as infinite.
In this case the area of the circle could be used as the actual unit of relationship to dimensional infinity, therefore undividable due to assuming, but not measuring, all inclusion; nothing else/smaller could fit in.
If you wish to calculate a square to an area unit of ‘one infinity circle’, that includes also the square area (it is an infinity circle after all), then the calculation is not possible; one ‘infinity circle unit’ is not measurable any other way than by its own all inclusive existance.
So maybe your question should be whether we are using countable round units or countable square units.
A square unit will not fit into a round no matter how small you make it to fill gaps, but a round one can be turned into a square one, just as long as you know its square area in the first place.
We are left with units squared as two dimensional squares based on straight lines, and units round as a single straight line radius calculable to percent of one unit round (i.e. degrees) ; one unit round fits to the smallest radius measureable.
Which takes us back to the statement of Ferdinand Lindeman. A kinder way to phrase criticism would be that it is ‘incomplete’; If you cannot calculate the area of a circle exactly (pi), then you cannot construct a square with the exact same area.
Hence an absurdity of sorts.
Ergo, a unit round is not a unit square.
…and math cannot compete with the reality before us, because it is clear a circle has a fixed area… so transcendental … or just limited :-/ ?
@296 Chat
The construction is not hard, but is only possible exactly if you know the exact area of the circle. It can be constructed to whatever accuracy the circle is given to. The phrase Lindeman wrote assumed it was known exactly.
Will leave that to puzzle over.
Posted by: Ornot | Feb 20 2026 3:59 utc | 299