Applause for Putin and Fears of War
In Taganrog, a port city in southern Russia, buses carrying hundreds of women and children from the so-called People’s Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk are arriving every day. The closest border crossing to the port city on the Sea of Azov is only about 70 kilometers (45 miles) to the north.
What do people here think about the crisis? Do they support Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has now recognized the breakaway territories in Ukraine’s Donbas after nearly eight years of fighting and has sent troops into the region? Will there be a new war?
DER SPIEGEL spoke with residents of the city:
Veronika, 25
"I think the fact that Putin has recognized the 'People’s Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk’ isn’t a bad thing, it can help the people there. Normal men, who have tried for all these years to live in peace, have now been called on to fight in those regions. It is no secret that our army is well equipped, maybe it will save human lives if our military comes to their aid.
"Who Are We Supposed to Fight Against? Our Relatives?"
We live in a border city, what I want is peace for all. I see the situation not from a political perspective but from a human one. Politicians make the decisions way over our heads anyways. I feel for the people, especially the children, who really don’t deserve all this. There has been fighting for years. I live near the train station and every morning when I drive to work, I see the buses with the refugees from the Donetsk and Luhansk regions waiting. (Eds. Note: The refugees are transferred onto trains that bring them to other parts of Russia further from the border). To be honest, tears came to my eyes when I saw all the buses full of people, when I drove by on Monday. After all, they will clearly not be able to go back anytime soon and are leaving their homes for a long time. I read that some of them are even being brought to Kazan.” (Eds. note: Kazan is located about 1,500 kilometers away.)
Alexander, 60, retired train conductor
"Putin is doing things right. I’m not afraid of a new war, not at my age. I’m already retired, live in a village outside of the city, take care of my garden, the potatoes. The situation in the Donbas will now calm down. It will take time, but that’s what will happen, I’m convinced of it.”
Ilya, 18 years old
"Of course I’m in favor of recognizing the territories. Will there be a new war? There’s already been one for eight years, and I’m afraid its not going to be coming to an end any time soon. Plus, there’s the propaganda war, which is like a lever that constantly exerts pressure on people to change their opinion. We can see how the Western media haven’t revised history on just one occasion. In the U.S., they say that it was the Americans who won World War II, and not the Russians. Of course, if worse comes to worst, I would be ready to fight for my country, for our sovereignty. Together with other volunteers on the weekend, I helped bring refugees from the Donetsk and Luhansk region to the train and to find their seats.”
Yulia, 43, market fruit vendor
Our volodya (Eds. Note: a nickname for Vladimir Putin) is just great. I have always voted for him. He’ll take care of things. The main thing is that he ensures peace. All of this makes me anxious, all the buses arriving here behind us with the refugees. When you only read about it, it’s different than when you see it yourself. All this is terrible, I feel for the people, the children.”
Tonya Vzhyol, 59, pensioner
"The territories have finally been recognized by the Kremlin as independent. This should have happened eight years ago. Thank God! What a speech by Putin, I watched it live on TV. I am so happy about it, what a day of celebration it is for us! My friends and I sent each other congratulations afterwards. My son believes that now, after the recognition of the 'People’s Republic of Donetsk and Luhansk,’ the danger of war will increase. I see it differently. I think we are one, one people, and I say that as someone who was myself born in Ukraine. I come from Zaporizhzhya region (Eds. Note: Area in southeastern Ukraine, west of the Donbas) and came to Taganrog after the collapse of the Soviet Union. I think that we belong together, not only the Donbas region, but also Kharkiv (a region in northeastern Ukraine), Dnipropetrovsk (in eastern Ukraine) and also my home region of Zaporizhzhya.”
Andrei Merkushkin, 28, train conductor from Rostov-on-Don
"To be honest, I try not to think about the issue at all if I can. I don’t want to be afraid of war and I try to block all of that out. Recognizing the 'People’s Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk’ is really a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it’s good for the people there, they are further integrated into the Russian state. On the other hand, it could go badly for us. By that I mean, there could be a new war. God forbid that should happen. And then, the economic consequences that we are now already feeling, the exchange rate for the ruble has already crashed.”
Ilona, 58, with her dog Luziya, retired economist
"Putin’s speech was commendable. Though I don’t really like him, I think it is time for him to make way for a successor. I have always voted for the communists. But I support the fact that he has now recognized the 'People’s Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk.’ It is simply very unpleasant to live in a border region, so close to Ukraine, where the nationalists are shooting (Eds. Note: this is how she refers to Ukrainians). They recently tried to push into Russian territory. How do I know that? I saw it on the news.
The Ukrainians want to go to war. I am convinced of that. There is some kind of hatred involved: They hate eastern Ukrainians and Muscovites and think we have annexed territory (Eds. Note: she is referring to the Crimea). But that’s not true. The land used to belong to us and was taken from us after the end of the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union and Ukraine itself were founded by Lenin. Without Lenin there wouldn’t be any Ukraine, as Putin correctly pointed out. Now, Ukraine has forced us to take these measures, to recognize the 'people’s republics,’ to send troops – after all, the Ukrainians don’t want the regions and all the people there.”
Vitaly, 27, works in a café
"My friends and I are all against the recognition of the 'People’s Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk.’ But many people are afraid to speak about it publicly, to criticize the leadership. There is a lot of pressure, along with the uncertainty and fear of what is coming. Repression in Russia has increased enormously recently.
I don’t like at all what’s happening now, Putin’s smugness, the feeling that everything we have seen recently seems very staged, as if this script had been written a long time ago. This is all very scary. I think that no matter what happens, it will not end well. I also don’t understand at all why Putin is acting like this – on what basis, based on what facts? His speech about Lenin, that everything was terrible back then, that is nonsense. He himself was a member of the Communist Party during the Soviet Union.
I like the fact that the EU and the U.S. reacted quickly with sanctions – and targeted at Putin’s entourage, not at all of us.”
Note: A further eight people did not want to speak or said they were not closely following the situation or only briefly said they supported Putin’s actions. Two people did not want to speak to foreign media, including an elderly lady who first said she wanted to award Putin the title Hero of Russia and then refused to be approached by a foreign journalist.
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Mission Creep: DHS and election officials should not control the narrative or free speech
People running for office have always bent opinion, lied and obfuscated about their positions, politics and facts. Often they believe their truths, which may be very different from someone else’s truth or the “real” truth. This is part and parcel of a democracy. One might even say, it is the “American Way.” It is not the government’s job, to determine what we believe, what we wish to vote for or to ensure accuracy of campaign speech.
That is mission creep.
They are constraining what is acceptable to discuss, what are approved opinions. They are purposefullly constraining the Overton window.
This is information control in the worst way.
It is not the job of the Department of Homeland, and local or national election officials to stop free speech, whether that “speech” is—on social media, TV or on a stage.
Conflating illegal foreign influences in elections, computer bots from foreign countries and free speech into the same governmental oversight is not ok. They are not the same.
This Politco article nicely demonstrates how election officials have seamlessly woven free speech with foreign influences can been seen in the following text:
Ten state chief election officials say in interviews they have had to refocus their positions to battle a constant flow of disinformation. This year, they say, will be no different...
“political candidates undermining the election systems that they still run for office in, and conspiracy theories that target even the most obscure parts of America’s election infrastructure”
The Politco article in question, goes on:
Voting for the 2022 midterms is already underway, and the nation’s top election officials are caught fighting a two-front war: Battling disinformation stemming from the last election, while simultaneously preparing for the next one.
The officials are no longer just running elections. They’ve become full-time myth-busters, contending with information threats coming from the other side of the globe—and their own ranks.
In interviews with 10 state chief election officials—along with conversations with staffers, current and former local officials and other election experts—many described how they have had to refocus their positions to battle a constant rolling boil of mis- and disinformation about election processes.
They’re dealing with political candidates undermining the election systems that they still run for office in, and conspiracy theories that target even the most obscure parts of America’s election infrastructure. And they say the country will face the same issues this year as it elects a new Congress and decides control of three dozen statehouses...
Election officials said they have increasingly been leaning on national partnerships—both with other secretaries and federal agencies like the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security—to help prepare local election workers.
Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat, said that she will soon host a workshop with CISA and local clerks in her state.
“It has exploded out of control,” Bellows said. “Disinformation can lead to people threatening harm” to election workers. She also said her office would work on further training for local officials, including de-escalation training, to help protect them in volatile situations.
Battling “mis, mal and disinformation” of American citizens is again mission creep. Free speech is free speech. It is our first amendment right.
Frankly, the idea that election officials are “leaning on” the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security is downright scary. That election officials truly believe that people exercising their first amendment rights will cause others to “threaten harm to election officials” demonstrates the government’s authoritarian position on free speech rights in the 21st century. Only free speech that doesn’t impact on the government’s approved narrative is allowed.
Because we all know that elections in the USA are always fair and never corrupted, right?
Some good news!
Rumble Inc., The Neutral Video Platform, to go Public Through Combination With Cantor Fitzgerald’s CF Acquisition Corp. VI (Nasdaq: CFVI)
- Tremendous growth from 1.6 million average monthly active users in Q3 2020 to a record 36 million average monthly active users in Q3 2021
- 44 million monthly active users in August 2021
- Viewer engagement grew 44x from Q2 2020 to Q3 2021 to 8 billion minutes watched per month1
- Transaction is expected to provide approximately $400 million in proceeds2 to Rumble, including a fully committed PIPE of $100 million at $10.00 per share and $300 million of cash held in the trust account of CFVI
- Transaction values Rumble at an enterprise value of $2.1 billion3
- Rumble Founder and Chief Executive Officer to retain voting control to facilitate execution of Rumble’s neutral mission on behalf of all stakeholders
Youtube’s policies to censor speech are benefiting non-censored video platforms. Now we need to decrease Twitter and Facebook’s (“Meta”) online presence as well. Let’s make GETTR, GAB, MeWe and Substack continue to grow!
As I have been saying for many months now, Justin Trudeau has become a very wealthy man on his profits from the BioNTech/Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. He is invested heavily in the Canadian company that holds the patents for the lipid nanoparticles. The Canadian government is also profiting nicely off of these companies—from their patent royalties.
Thanks to David Martin did the heavy lifting and has produced the documents and facts proving this point—that Trudeau and the Canadian government are tied in financially with the mRNA vaccine companies. Watch his video below (or on Rumble):
In my opinion: Trudeau’s conflicts of interest are vast. His vaccine mandates, authoritarian rule and use of emergency powers has benefited himself at the expense of Canadians. It is time for him to go.
https://www.independent.org/news/article.asp?id=14020&omhide=true&trk=title
************************************The state of California is introducing a new law that will allow activists to sue the makers of “Ghost Guns” and “Assault Weapons”
This new law has drawn the ire of 2A activists across the country and the press release from California Governor Gavin Newsom reads more like propaganda than a traditional press release.
From Newsom’s press release:
DEL MAR – Alongside California Attorney General Rob Bonta, legislators and local leaders, Governor Gavin Newsom today announced a new package of meaningful gun safety legislation to expand the state’s nation-leading protections against gun violence. The package includes a measure the Governor called for in December to help hold the gun industry accountable through private lawsuits, and a bill that would prohibit advertising of certain categories of weapons to children.
“California will continue to lead the fight to end gun violence with bold action to tackle the national crisis putting millions of Californians at risk,” said Governor Newsom. “It’s time to go on the offensive with new measures that empower individuals to hold irresponsible and negligent gun industry actors to account, crack down on shameful advertising that targets our kids and more. This is not about attacking law-abiding gun owners – it’s about stopping the tragic violence ravaging communities across the country.”
Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision allowing Texas’s ban on most abortion services to remain in place, Governor Newsom directed his Administration to work with the Legislature to propose a measure like the bill that will be introduced by Senator Robert Hertzberg (D-Van Nuys) today, modeled on the structure of Texas’s abortion law. The bill would allow private citizens to sue anyone who manufactures, distributes, transports, imports into the state or sells assault weapons, .50 BMG rifles, ghost guns, or ghost gun kits.
The state of California is no bastion for the 2nd Amendment but this legislation will likely result in many companies pulling out of the state entirely. Companies are not going to want to risk costly court battles, it will be more cost-effective for companies to simply stop shipping products and selling firearms in the state entirely.
The made-up and highly subjective terminology in the legislation is what makes this measure such a monster. “Assault weapon” means whatever it needs to when it comes to gun grabbers. Pretty much every firearm made of polymer has been called an “assault weapon” and you can expect activist groups in California to play fast and loose with the term so they can deal the maximum amount of damage with this legislation.
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Australian broadcaster slams calls for Australia to allow 235,000 new immigrants a year claiming it would push up house prices and bring wages down
Ben Fordham has slammed a push to open Australia to hundreds of thousands of skilled migrants as a 'quick fix' to pay back debts.
The 2GB radio host questioned if enthusiasm surrounding foreign workers was prompted by the tens of millions of dollars owed by the federal government.
He explained the influx would mean more tax could be collected but claimed it would stretch public services, inflate house prices, and pull wages down.
This is despite Australia having virtually no immigrants for two years since Covid closed the borders, and accepting 200,000 net a year before that.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg recently called for 235,000 new arrivals every year.
'That's the population of Hobart arriving in Australia every year,' Fordham said on his 2GB radio show.
'Our leaders see this as a money tree but is this really in our best interests?
'We're not talking about government interests or the treasurer, we're talking about the best interests of everyday Australians.
'It may satisfy economists but it won't help those who are waiting years for surgery and it won't assist anyone who can only dream of buying a house.'
Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce backed the push to bring skilled migrants Down Under but said they had to be prepared to settle down in regional areas.
'We have to say 'if you want to come to Australia you have to live in Tamworth. Sydney's full,' he said on the 2GB show.
'Sydney does not want more people but regional areas do.'
Fordham said though immigrants were crucial in building Australia, he worried housing, health services and transport would suffer.
He said a mass influx of 190,000 or even 235,000 skilled workers may satisfy economists but make life tougher for residents.
'For our political leaders it's a quick fix,' he said.
Fordham said Sydney was crippled by some of the worst traffic congestion in the world with 500 schools already crowded with too many students.
'Before Covid came along, one in three patients in our hospitals were waiting too long to be treated in emergency rooms,' he said, with 100,000 on the waiting list for elective surgeries.
House prices in the Harbour City also soared up to three times the rate of wages, faster than the rest of the country.
He said the demand for housing in Sydney would result in many having nowhere to live, putting pressure on public services to help the homeless.
The influx of skilled migrants would also put pressure on the 900,000 Australians currently surviving on unemployment benefits, he claimed.
Business leaders are complaining of a job shortage and there are fears employers will favour migrants to avoid paying higher wages to Australians.
'More needs to be done to put Aussies in jobs, before sending an SOS to the other side of the world,' Fordham said.
'You've got to show some tough love to those who refuse to work. And if you're a leaner and not a lifter you can't keep on collecting a cheque from taxpayers.'
Economists said the arrival of foreign workers would fill the gaps in high and low-skill jobs and contribute at least $1 billion a year to the economy.
Accounting giant KPMG has suggested bumping net migration levels beyond 350,000 a year to reverse a population decline and stimulate demand, increasing the size of the labour pool.
The report said pushing migration to 350,000 people a year - equivalent to adding a city the size of Brisbane every seven years - would boost GDP by 4.4 per cent.
However, the Grattan Institute said numbers alone would be counter-productive and the migration policy must tilt even more towards skilled workers, even though they far outnumber family reunion arrivals.
Business groups demanded the nation's cap on permanent skilled migration to be bumped up to 200,000 per year, rather than the current 160,000.
National wages growth has been stuck below the long-term average of 3 per cent since mid-2013 and last year grew by just 2.2 per cent, Australian Bureau of Statistics data showed.
Property prices in the year to January 2022 rose by 22.4 per cent, the fastest annual pace since June 1989, as professionals who could work from home took advantage of record-low interest rates to buy a bigger house or move to coastal regional areas.
The CoreLogic data showed an even more dramatic 29.8 per cent surge in Sydney's median house price to $1.39million, putting a home with a backyard beyond the reach of an average, full-time income earner on $90,329.
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My other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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Kristina Pimenova, once said to be the most beautiful girl in the world. Note blue eyes and blonde hair
Bliss: What every woman wants: to feel safe and secure in the arms of her man. Robert Irwin and Rorie Buckey. See 
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