And I do mean anything. Painkillers are kicking in.

Seems like the new WBB board needs a new BIG catchall thread. Had been an early Iowa target for 2025.

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Vote every one of these pitiful cowards out up down the ballot in every election going forward, period..

@BlIIlken2

He promised he would have it ended in 24 hours. Months later the two countries seem as far apart as ever. He's had time to sit down with both leaders multiples times, has had time to apply pressure and make deals, but this morning we get stories like this that sure seem like his administration is giving up. What gives?

So much winning for the globe at least

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In the spring of 1945 the German military completely collapsed on the Western Front but in the East German soldiers continued to fanatically fight the Soviets. The day before a German delegation arrived at Reims {France} in an effort to surrender to the Western Allies while continuing the war against the Soviets. However Eisenhower insisted that any surrender would have to be unconditional to all the Allies. Moreover Eisenhower threatened that if the Germans continued the war against the Soviets the Western Allies would prevent German civilians from entering Allied occupation zones. In the spring of 1945 19,000,000 Germans fled the Eastern provinces in advance of the Red Army for the safety of the lands held by the Western Allies. The German delegation relented and signed the surrender on May 7 which would take effect at midnight May 8.

There was a Soviet general present in Reims to act as a representative but he did not have the authority to sign. In the end the Soviets forced the Germans to sign a separate surrender the following day in Berlin. While the main motivation was to force the Germans to surrender to the Soviets in a distinct ceremony for national pride there were actually a couple significant stipulations. The most important was the status of German troops. Because of the way the war had unfolded there were still large numbers of German troops in pockets not only in Germany but scattered across Europe as well. Mainly for logistical reasons the surrender of these forces agreed upon at Reims were to be staggered over the following couple days. With the German surrender to the Soviets at midnight on May 9 all German soldiers, wherever located, would be considered POWs.

I've talked about it in other threads, and started a related thread that got a little traction, so I'm going to start one thread to talk about it. Maybe it will just be me posting things I find interesting LOL. Mega thread is tongue in cheek.

This is the most truly interesting (though far from the most sensational) thing going on in politics right now, the movement of a wing of the Democratic party to wrestle control and rebuild the party around a new paradigm. As a lifelong conservative with huge misgivings about where the Republican party is now, this is the most interested I've ever been in anything coming out of the Democratic party, probably in my lifetime.

There's different ways to define it or describe it, but Abundance Agenda seems to be the most common name that is sticking. Sometimes it's called Yimbyism. Essentially, it is a push for Democrats to become the party that gets things done, primarily through smart deregulation, but also through more competence, smart incentives, and changes in philosophy. It most frequently pivots around building more housing, and to a lesser extent infrastructure, but it really encompasses anything that symbolizes government being muscular, efficient, responsive and effective. Safe functional cities, affordability of all kinds of goods and services, and strong economic growth are all part of the agenda.

It is an alternative to, and in opposition to, the traditional Republican small government rhetoric in general, and DOGE in particular. I've been following this wing of the Democrats for a couple years, but it's really being supercharged now by Democrats looking for an agenda beyond/besides wokism/identity politics, combined with the damage the Trump administration is doing to government.

Anyway, this is pretty long, but it's a great introduction to this premise, by one of its leading proponents on the left.

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My mother's birthday is in a week and it's often tough organizing two big family dinners so close together so I offered to take her to a sushi dinner on Sunday evening.

CSB.

How about you?

Oh well, you're not smart enough to understand anyhow.

A customer did not tip the owner of a restaurant so he followed him outside and banned the customer.