ATL Bear said:
Sam Lowry said:
ATL Bear said:
Sam Lowry said:
trey3216 said:
Sam Lowry said:
trey3216 said:
Sam Lowry said:
trey3216 said:
The_barBEARian said:
ATL Bear said:
Doc Holliday said:
Redbrickbear said:
Doc Holliday said:
whiterock said:
Doc Holliday said:
You can have your wars%85but this BS has got to stop:
add this to the stories of four-digit hammers and five-digit toilet seats...... %A0It's what happens when you place cost controls on the big-ticket parts of the program. %A0It causes allocation of expenses into the margins. %A0 %A0
If this was a case of garden-variety bilking, we would not be seeing steady trends of consolidation in our defense industrial base.
If global hegemony domination means we turn into a quasi socialist country made of wage slaves forking over financial freedom%85then what is the point of global hegemony?
Great point
Thanks
I kind of see it like selling our soul. We're willing to drop trillions on Ukraine and any other war/s in order to supposedly dominate Russia or other countries that pose a threat to western dominance and in process of doing so we print trillions further devaluing the dollar by creating insane inflation.
We "succeed" in war efforts at the cost of destroying our middle class, in effect it's like we're becoming that which we're fighting against.
You guys are distracted. In 2022 we spent $4.5 Trillion on medical services of which 90% was paid for by private insurance (highly subsidized/regulated industry) or the preponderance by Medicare and Medicaid. %A0A number that rises at a 4-8% clip annually regardless of inflation. %A0Check it out. How much of your income goes toward Ukraine versus the healthcare costs of others from your private insurance to your Medicare tax to your income tax that gets allocated to Medicaid? %A0If there's a "MIC" you're a wage slave to it's the Medical/Healthcare Industrial Complex. %A0
That is if we want to have an honest conversation about fiscal concerns. %A0
While I agree in principle, at least Medicare has a direct benefit on actual Americans.
Foreign aid has a negligible benefit to Americans and is the most obvious and insulting waste of tax dollars.
Especially in the case of Ukraine, where supporting them turns a Christian Orthodox Russia into an unnecessary enemy.
Putin already said multiple times he is ready to take a peace deal. Was Hitler offering peace deals after he annexed Austria?
It is you psychopaths who support Biden who are perpetrating this war but ofc you are too cowardly and pathetic to actually go fight it yourselves.
There you go again thinking Russia is this bastion of Christian ideals and defender of Christianity. %A0Absolutely insane. %A0
The GOP is no bastion of Christian ideals, but it is often a defender of Christianity. Two things can be true at once.
Considering any political entity a defender of Christianity in any form is as misguided as it is idiotic. %A0
If so then it's equally misguided to criticize any political entity for not being a defender of Christianity.
If so, then it is lobial absentia to believe Russian Orthodoxy is a victim and at stake here. %A0The poor poor persecuted Russian Orthodox Christians, following their despot in the fight against the anti-Christian world around them. %A0
They are certainly being persecuted in Ukraine, but there's no point in arguing about that. The next time you recognize an obvious fact will be the first.
You'd think on a Baylor message board there'd be the slightest bit of sympathy for the Baptist's in Eastern Ukraine getting tortured and demanded to pledge loyalty to the Russian Orthodox Church under the guidance of priests. %A0Or the outlawing and restrictions on evangelism in Russia proper, or the outlawing of denominations like Jehovah's Witness under terrorism laws. %A0But then you provided a crusade era quote in defending Patriarch Kirill. %A0I knew you guys held Putin and Russia above the U.S., I just never expected you to hold them above our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. %A0Welcome to the shame of Christian nationalism. %A0
I don't lack sympathy for Baptists under Russian law, nor am I saying we should follow the example of the Crusades. I'm just pointing out the irony of your comparing Patriarch Kirill to an Islamic jihadist when Christians have long justified anti-Muslim crusades in the same manner. And of course Protestants and Catholics have committed many crimes against each other over the centuries, with Protestants being the worse by far. None of this is new. Just get a little sense of history before making such absurd statements, that's all.
Absurd? It's because I know the history that I point out what Putin with his Patriarch lackey Kirill are doing…
I know Putin is using the church to manipulate and control Russia, I'm just shocked at how many of you seem to sympathize with the effort.
Of course Putin is trying to use the ROC for his own ends (trying to gain legitimacy)
But did you know the CIA was also using the Orthodox Church?
[The CIA's Man In Constantinople'
That's the title of Michael Warren Davis's new TAC piece about the collaboration between Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and the US Government. Excerpts:
Everyone knows that the Moscow Patriarchate is in bed with the Kremlin. Few realize that the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople is deeply beholden to the United States government.
This ignorance is surprising, given that many Greek Orthodox leaders are quite proud of the fact. In 1942, Athenagoras Spyrou -the Archbishop of America for the Greek Orthodox Church -wrote to an agent of the Office of Strategic Services. "I have three Bishops, three hundred priests, and a large and far-flung organization," Athenagoras wrote. "Every one under my order is under yours. You may command them for any service you require. There will be no questions asked and your directions will be executed faithfully."
In 1947, the OSS was rechristened as the Central Intelligence Agency, or CIA. One year later, Athenagoras was elected Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, the spiritual leader of Eastern Orthodoxy.
One might point out that, when Athenagoras reached out to the OSS, his native Greece was under Nazi occupation. It is understandable that a Greek bishop in America would support the American war effort. But it was more than that. Athenagoras was a strong supporter of American exceptionalism and encouraged Washington's militarist foreign policy. The U.S. Consul in Istanbul recounted a conversation with Athenagoras in 1951: "As usual, he talked at some length of his belief that the United States must remain in the Near East for several centuries to fulfill the mission which had been given it by God to give freedom, prosperity and happiness to all people."
(These quotes, by the way, are pulled from a talk given by an Orthodox historian called Matthew Namee at Holy Cross Hellenic College, the Greek seminary in Boston. These are not malicious forgeries peddled by Russian propagandistst- Greek Orthodox are quite proud of their association with the American security apparatus.)
You really need to read the whole thing. MWD talks in detail about the close affiliations between the US and the EP. If you want to condemn the Russian Orthodox Church for being too compromised by politics and geopolitics, go ahead but understand that the United States and the Ecumenical Patriarchate play these same games.]
