Burstar

Burstar Mod , 1 day ago

I would absolutely love it. Used to be an FLO and all I can say is carrying a stack of HE Shells would be stress free. Nobody rushing you or even being remotely discourteous. A team of escorts tackling anyone that even looks in the direction of my path, let alone attempts to walk in the way...

Burstar Mod , 3 days ago

What evidence? I see zero reference to any evidence other than the word in the title. Nonsense.
Reading the NYT article (which should have been the actual article not this blog post BS) the closest you get to anything Western related for breaking the negotiations is their advice that the initial tentative agreements 'were tantamount to capitulation'. Negotiations proceeded long after that point and 2 key issues with them are attributed to their breakdown:

1. Putin's micromanaging of his negotiation team led the Ukranian side to doubt the negotiations were anything but a stall tactic, and

2. A deal-breaking Russian amendment to Ukraine's Article 5-esque 'guarantors will come to the aid of Ukraine if they are attacked again in the future' which essentially gave Russia a veto.

;tldr the only evidence provided by this blog post BS is for Russia not negotiating in good faith, and definitively being the one that spoiled the talks with a garbage ally defence veto amendment which strongly indicated they had every intention of doing all this again anyways no matter what the agreement said (their SOP.

Burstar Mod , 3 days ago

Fact: WWII was almost 8 decades ago. Japan, France, Italy, Brazil all are not Nazis.

Every nation has an element of Far-Right wackadoodles in their midst. To call Ukrainians nazis is as racist as calling Poles communists because they were a part of the USSR 40 years ago.

Burstar Mod , 3 days ago

I actually read the referenced articles.

Burstar Mod , 3 days ago

Thank you for making my job a little easier today :)

Burstar Mod , 5 days ago

For anyone wondering, this sort of blatant Russian propaganda is evaluated using a higher level of scrutiny but will be tolerated so long as the content can be reasonably interpreted as not intending to incite or belittle Ukrainians.

In this specific example, the claim 'an Ukrainian assault by untrained and inexperienced prisoners was annihilated with ease' would be in violation if it wasn't so absurd, unsupported by the footage, and laughable.

Why allow it?
Ukrainian ideals include things like 'freedom of the press/information'. In times of war this has significant limitations ofc but I for one am interested in hearing 'their side' of events as they happen so long as it is done in a neutral voice. Many truths can be gleaned from lies for people savvy enough to read between the lines.

Rest assured this is not an open invitation for Russian bots to start spamming propaganda. This community will NOT become a Tankie Hellhole.

Burstar OP , 12 days ago

First, the bump to 66% only happens after 250k that year so $25k would not trigger the extra 16% eligibility. So standard 50% CG only would be applied. $12.5k taxed at your rate means the min rate which may be something like 20% (this number is a wild guess) so say $2500 paid to the gov. Not as bad as it sounds.

Burstar OP , 12 days ago

A better way to think of it is <$250k 50% of the profit is tax-free. >$250k only 34% of it is tax exempt.

Burstar OP , 12 days ago

IF it was forced to be in the 66% CG bracket $16.5k would be taxed at the previously posited 20% resulting in $3300 paid to government so it is a respectable jump in tax owed for those being subjected to it.

Burstar , 13 days ago

Streisand effect too: hadn't heard of this until now. Git downloads immediately get flagged as Trojans tho

Burstar Mod , 14 days ago

username checks out

Burstar Mod , 15 days ago

It is not difficult to aim up or down. In fact, the greater the angle from horizontal the less the bullet trajectory is affected by gravity. It literally shoots straighter. Well trained shooters will understand this and compensate for it easily. That video talks about air rifles, the ballistics of which are not relevant to aiming the weapons being used to shoot at drones.

The real issue is that it is very difficult to judge the distance and speed of objects in the sky as there are few objects to gauge the target's distance against. Let alone that the shooter may have no idea the actual size of the craft they are trying to shoot down.

Burstar , 16 days ago

Yes and totally had nothing to do with the fact the belligerents were on all continents except Antartica. Total propaganda with no basis in accuracy whatsoever.

Burstar , 16 days ago

Yeah it's a ridiculous stance to take, particularly for WWII. Of the 6/7 continents (Antarctica not included) only Africa and Australia were colonial participants. US, UK, France, Japan, Germany, China, Russia all were not colonies. Direct conflict occurred on Africa by Germany and Japan bombed Australia. Thus to say 'WWII' is a propaganda title to make it sound bigger than it was is at best a pedantic argument as all continents (except Antarctica) were affected by a non-colonial belligerent.

Burstar Mod , 21 days ago

Your Hitler example is perfect IMO. There were many beyond Hitler in Germany that deserved the hatred directed at them whether directly through horrific acts or indirectly due to their apathy or ignorance. The civilians in the towns directly adjacent to liberated concentration camps were forced by allied forces to aid in the cleanup and recovery of the camps and their victims. Many of these 'innocent Germans' expressed outrage at their 'undeserved' treatment like as seen in this video. They didn't deserve sympathy either.

At a certain point 'I am just an innocent wittle civilian who has done nothing wrong' is a cop-out. "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good [people] should do nothing" -Burke.

To be clear this isn't to justify warcrimes on civilians. It is merely to say her crocodile tears fall on deaf ears.

Burstar Mod , 21 days ago

Her statements in the video suggest otherwise:

"[Russians] have a strong nationality", which to me means they identify with their country and consequently its government. This statement alone says she should be emotionally responsible for her government's actions as it indirectly or tacitly supports them.

"We are not an aggressive people". False. Your nation is currently waging one of a series of aggressive wars in the region of late and there are numerous Russian videos that show how common vehicular accidents have everyone involved (and more) exiting their vehicles armed with melee weapons (crowbars, bats, etc...). Not an aggressive people? Relative to what, the Mongol Horde?

Members of hostile Nations have a burden of proof to show they are willing to play ball with other civilizations. The very fact she's crying about the unfair treatment instead of asking 'why all the hate' and trying to dispel everyone's very reasonable concerns is another strike against.

If she actually sat down and learned what her country was doing to innocent Ukrainians, and publicly denounced their actions she would have my sympathy. Until then she is a citizen of Orkistan, raised to hate the West and believe her governments lies since birth and cannot be trusted.

Burstar , 21 days ago

2023 people.

Burstar Mod , 23 days ago

“I think it’s vital that we continue to play that role. I have seen in the program for [the] new government that the support [for] Ukraine will continue, that the new government also values the European Union, NATO, etc.,” she said.

Burstar Mod , 25 days ago

If it convinces a soldier to mobilize it worked. That's all this cope coop is designed to do.

Burstar Mod , 28 days ago (edited 22 days ago)

I'm no expert, but at first glance that looks like a BLEVE to me instead of ordnance detonation. Too much fuel slowly burning off after the fact. Could very well have been a strike that hit a fuel truck or something ofc, but my bet is either neglect or sabotage of some fuel store.

Edit: oh, and the falling large debris in the last clip of the actual explosion is why you do not assume being anywhere near the blast radius is safe. If you ever see a fuel tank of any type burning you turn and run and get to cover strong enough to withstand whatever is burning landing on it from 2km high.

Burstar Mod , 1 month ago

Right now Russia is not forcing anybody in combat.

There are numerous examples of Russia conscripting unwilling 'volunteers' as punishment for criminal offences, protesting, etc... Additionally, a policy of 'advance or be shot' strains the credulity of the claim 'nobody is being forced into combat'.

Burstar Mod , 1 month ago

I was going to remove this post for not being explicitly related to Ukraine but opted to leave it up so this question could be asked and answered for those that don't know the reason(s). In the future the answer should be more polite as this is one of the last places on Lemmy where the realities of this war are disseminated without an obvious pro-Russian bias, and good questions should be encouraged.

Burstar Mod , 1 month ago

2 Things:

Firstly, Article 5 does not apply to OP's question until Estonia the nation gets attacked. Support troops sent to Ukraine that came under attack could not be used to trigger that article. This is the risk they take.

Second, you misunderstand the wording of Article 5 during an hypothetical attack on a member nation directly. It is not subjective. "An attack on one IS an attack on all". ALL nations would act as if they are under attack. It is their individual responses that are where any possible 'subjectiveness' kicks in meaning each nation would send what it CAN, not everything and the kitchen sink without regard for its own security. That is what that means. This idea that a member nation required to behave like it is under attack would do nothing is... misguided.

Burstar , 1 month ago

Just use I2P? Can you access public trackers via I2P or do you have to use the crap internal ones?

Burstar , 5 months ago

No, just no. If you want strangers to take what you say seriously then you should show the simplest respect by supporting your claims with the reason(s) you have them. Laziness is flapping your mouth off and expecting to not have to back it up.

Burstar , 11 months ago

Well it was confusing to begin with. I'm still not sure how to search efficiently or whatever, and I don't know where you can quickly see the Instance themes. I've settled in though and I'm comfortable now. It really helps that **every **comment isn't replied to with someone outright hostile for whatever reason. Pretty sure that'll change once the bots realize we're worth their time.

I have my icks. I wish thread trees were more distinct. I'm still getting the hang of the interface. But despite them there is a pleasant vibe here where you feel like you're actually talking to people and not screaming to be heard amongst a hostile crowd.