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Woland

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Posts posted by Woland

  1. Cross-posting this from the DT thread, which I'm not sure I'm doing correctly but here goes:
     

    I was thinking about this book the other day and Russia.  It's a wonderfully written novel by Russian author, Bulkagov called "The Master and Margarita" (our English translation).  It's probably not been read by 89% of Americans and 99% of Americans who oppose supporting Ukraine.  If you believe, as the Christianity claims, that the Devil is all around us and we must cast him out from our lives because he fools us into doing evil things.  You would do well to read it instead of just preaching to us about how the Devil has taken over our country and maybe even our planet.  

    Long story, short (too late, Lobo).  The Devil takes on myriad forms throughout history from Ancient Rome to Christianity to eventually threatening the very existence of the Russian hierarchy.  He uses Russia against her enemies and her enemies against Russia.  It even forecasts that Russian evils (the book was eventually embargo'd by the USSR) will eventually be accentuated by even more powerful forces outside her borders (it obviously doesn't explicitly mention the United States but one could easily supplant that idea upon some of his metaphors and amalgamations).  One can also obviously see how Putin is a version of a few of the characters, though they are long and tired Russian fictional tropes.  But the trick is, seeing who the Devil can also be who you don't see coming.  If you really believe what your church and your bible tells you about how evil comes in the form of someone offering you comfort and validation if you'll only just support this unjust cause over here in my other hand...that's the true work of evil genius.  Be careful when you pull a lever for allowing Russia to expand this theater.  For the Devil is not the obvious guy committing the heinous acts, but instead could very well be the charismatic other guy who convinces us to look the other way while it's happening.  

    You'll most likely know the story better in its more modern, and samba-like incarnation.  Pleased to meet you.  Hope you guessed my name?  


    Great book, I’m biased.
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  2. Except that Biden can now campaign heavily on the Republicans refusing to vote in favor of the very border deal they proposed. "You want a secure border? Vote Biden!"
    Trump has already lost the blue collar workers who got him elected in 2016. The GOP has no issues left to run on other than "Vote Trump because Trump." That's literally all they have left, because enough of the current GOP got to power solely because they were riding Trump's coattails. The rest were either run off or quit, or chose to ride the tiger. 骑虎难下 - it's easy to ride a tiger; it's the dismount that's difficult.
    I'm hoping Trump is on the ballot on November, because he will lose. AGAIN. Moderate Republicans will either stay home or vote Biden; all but Trump's most dedicated will vote, and even they are being told by Trump himself not to bother. The rest of us, especially women, are highly motivated to vote. Oh and a good bit of his base skipped the vaccine and died from COVID.

    Right-wing media has cultivated the idea that no matter how bad Trump may be, Biden is ten times worse. “I’d rather have someone other than Trump, but I’ll never vote for Biden. Biden is destroying America and must be stopped.”
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  3. We were promised that the private market would ensure that there would always be enough electricity. The other promise was that prices would remain low because of competition.
    Can someone remind me again of the benefits of our electricity system?

    It’s the same plan to save education. Conservatives choose proven losers to save America.
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  4. Thank you to everyone who contributed to this thread. We will be in Switzerland for two weeks next May. We have friends who live just outside of Geneva so that will be our home base and point of departure for excursions. I don't know what our friends will plan, but I imagine we will do some overnight short trips away from Geneva.

     

  5. Our annual return to San Antonio will be the beginning of December. We will be staying in Southtown. Last year we went to Maverick on Friday and Bliss on Saturday (chef’s tasting menu with wine pairing). We enjoyed both last year but are open to something new. Mixtli?

  6. This is an old conflict. Historically, there has been a population of Armenians (Christians) living inside of Azerbaijan (Muslim) in a region called Nagorno-Karabakh. It seems Azerbaijan is trying to bring the conflict to a conclusion to the detriment of the Armenian residents.

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