So, China, then.
1) No. 1 manufacturer of solar panels.
2) Leaves them as only market for Russia.
3) Get to blame U.S.

Happens not infrequently.

My bet is that he will be indicted, he will either be acquitted of these light charges or there will be some sort of minor punishment, and then Biden, Democrats, and everyone on the Left will be saying, “case closed,” “let’s move on.”

Or, he will be indicted and then there will be a blackout on any further news about progress on this “active case,” and any prosecution will just fade away and disappear down the memory hole.

As well, I’m betting that there will be no tie in to President Biden, or the rest of the Biden family.

Since Obamacare made hiring people more expensive, companies are reluctant to add to pay roll. It’s more effective to work the people you have half to death.

The other side of this is not giving people more hours than for part time, so you don’t have to pay health care.

I know it’s fashionable to pile on millenials, but all those I know work hard, and often in indivious [typo] positions.

And part of all this is that the attitude of the companies is “Do exactly as we say, or else.” Yes, even now with the so called labor shortage. And even when what they want is patently impossible.

And so…. So we see silent quitting. We see a lot of people, mostly women, (particularly those with kids) choosing to stay home, which is probably a wash even on medium paying jobs. We see people who are so tired and burned out they can barely function.

And none of this, none of it, amounts to the best productivity.

The truth is the culture has gone poisonous. Squeezed by the government, businesses squeeze employees. Convince that millenials are slackers, we demand the impossible of them.

And then we’re shocked the “no work” movement appears. As stupid as it is, so is what they’re reacting against.

And we wonder why millenials aren’t marrying and having kids. Most of them don’t have the time for a social life, and the married ones often lack energy for their spouses.

Let’s give the kids the benefit of the doubt.

I’m not one for collective action, and I’m not going to suggest a general strike. That’s what we’ll get if we don’t do something about it.

First, let’s stopped the macho culture of “I work all hours of the day, and barely see my family” is a good thing. (And women are often more macho than men.) Work is work and necessary, but there is life outside work.

Second, let’s agitate to get government’s foot off business’s neck. Because yeah, businesses can be asses, but government mandates don’t help anything.

Third, let’s figure out alternatives, and create alternative work pathways. Indie. Job sharing. Whatever.

Let’s dispense with the idea that a company making unreasonable demands is better than a government making unreasonable demands.

Can your boss demand you work the occasional weekend? Sure. It happens. Should your boss demand you work seven days a week and hem and haw at giving you Christmas off? Oh, heck no. (My husband ran into this when we were thirty.)

All the movies, everything picturing a “career” as the most important thing in your life are wrong.

Most jobs aren’t a career. They’re just work. (Like if I made crafts. Just work.)

Work is dignified, and it’s important. It gives shape to life. And paying your own way makes you an adult.

But life isn’t work. There is more to life than that. And until we start seeing that people should have a life beyond and beside work, we’ll see the reaction of trying to say all work is bad, or of “silent quitting.”

Yes, in the days ahead a lot of work might be required of us in order to survive. But there is a difference between that and make-work pushed at us because someone in charge can do it. And most people do know the difference.

https://theoptimisticconservative.wordpress.com/2022/09/23/uranium-jerky-angle-on-ukraine-part-vii/
Small excerpt to give a hint of the topic:

It’s important not to overstate the significance of Ukraine’s self-sufficiency push as a potential factor in Vladimir Putin’s policy decisions. But there’s a hazard in understating it too. That’s in part because uranium is one of several key resources and access arrangements Ukraine seeks to optimize for the purpose of achieving functional political independence from Moscow. It’s also because Kyiv’s main partners for this enterprise are in Europe and North America.

There is a lot of time between her posts because of the depth and complexity of her analysis.

https://theoptimisticconservative.wordpress.com/2022/10/06/toc-ready-room-6-october-2022-ukraine-or-the-world-in-a-pickle/
Most of the post is about the “packaged propaganda” feeling to the narratives from both the West and Russia (and Ukraine to the extent it diverges from the West’s orthodox line).

The point here is not to take a stand on who’s guilty of what. It’s to make the essential observation that the fight in Ukraine in fact has aspects of a cartel fight; there’s been fierce competition as well as collusion, since the collapse of the Soviet Union, between cartel bosses in Russia and Ukraine, and those currents run unfettered through Ukraine’s national politics. To suggest that they’re not a core feature of Ukrainian state operations is to look, shall we say, poorly briefed.

And the current U.S. president has had documented, indisputable family business ties to oligarch-linked business in Ukraine since the last Russian invasion in 2014. I don’t think this “cartel wars” drama is by any means the only factor on which the course of events in Ukraine hinges. What we think of as “real” politics, with ideologically and philosophically defined views of priorities and interests, is certainly present. But it is never, at any time, operating outside the effects of cartel corruption, with oligarchs controlling resources, money, and access to the levers of power. (As an aside, note that the appalling destruction and brutality Putin has visited on Ukrainians in the occupied portions of the East bear an interesting similarity to some of the mass slaughters and population subjugation of the cartel wars in Mexico and Central America. The message being sent is as much that of a syndicate kingpin as of a 1940s-era Communist takeover – or a Roman-style burning, razing, and sowing with salt.)

The difference between Putin and Zelenskyy, on one hand, and the American public on the other, is that Putin and Zelenskyy see the syndicate-crime outline very clearly. They know the environment they’re operating in. That doesn’t mean Putin is right in any particular thought he has about Joe Biden, but it does mean Americans staking out sides are frequently wrong in the thoughts they have about the overall Ukraine situation. It’s not the case that it’s about Putin hating “democracy” (he’s perfectly satisfied with it as long as he can manipulate it, which makes him no different from George Soros), any more than it’s about Maidan Ukrainians being in their essence a fascist cabal, as Putin alleges.

It’s about power, geography, and those facets of human nature we probably understood somewhat better before Immanuel Kant and John Stuart Mill came among us.

And then the most current development, the pipeline sabotage (as validated by Sweden today; sorry, Lawdog, you had me convinced it was poor maintenance):

It appears to have been a professional job, but that doesn’t mean it was executed by the military force of a nation-state. That’s essential to keep in mind. It isn’t necessary to have the kind of assets Russia has in the Baltic Fleet complex to bring this off. Drawing conclusions from the mere existence of capability isn’t warranted in this case. Anyone could actually have done it using national military assets: Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany, Poland, etc. Or a non-Baltic power with forces deployed to a Baltic host. Doesn’t mean any of them did.

To the cui bono? question, the answer seems to be: those pushing extreme climate alarmism, whose project is to stun and rapidly transform the world with drastic hits to our energy arrangements. I don’t think it was megaphone-waving street activists though. This was a deep-pocketed attack.

The possibility of the pipeline perps being really committed (aka insane) environmentalists did occur to me, and I was discussing that with AesopSpouse just this morning. I don’t think we’re unique, but it hasn’t had a lot of play in the pundit-sphere.

ICYMI: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/kremlin-says-russia-not-invited-nord-stream-investigation-2022-10-06/

Swedish Security Service says ‘gross sabotage’ indicated
Investigation shows detonations at Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines
Russia says not asked to participate in investigation

Details behind their paywall.

I think he was speaking about another video or talk. The comments on the video Neo linked were overwhelmingly in agreement with his thesis about women preferring motherhood over career when faced with the choice.
Not that women can’t do both, but if it’s one OR the other, the kids win.

Which is one motivation for the greedy capitalists to support the abortion activists, and willingly pay for or otherwise facilitate abortions for their worker bees.
(Analogy chosen deliberately.)

FWIW, I worked full or part time through five births, as a computer programmer or instructor in college programming courses, and only quit when we moved to another state because the overhead of setting up the necessary social support system was too high. I was already signing most of my paycheck over to care-givers for the ones not in school, but had a lot of neighborhood and church back-up for days when either I or the kids were sick. If I could have kept treading water until they were all in school, I probably would have, because then it’s much easier when they are away all day. However, I worked in small settings or 9-5 jobs where I didn’t have to compete with the 80-hour workaholics.

Water under the bridge now, but I don’t regret being a professional mother working from home.
My product line was small but high-quality.

I read a long post recently, by Francis Menton, discussing the few alleged totally-renewable locations, and none of them really are. For one thing, all of them import food or commodities made in locations that are still fossil fueled.
Including their wind and solar equipment, and probably the pumps and pipes for filling the volcano reservoir.
Imagine that.

https://www.manhattancontrarian.com/blog/2022-10-2-without-a-demonstration-project-or-feasibility-study

The thrust of the post addresses JJ’s observations.

FNCs Watters takes 9 minutes to set the bigger and Really Big context for this story — the highlights (in truth, lowlights) are stunning even to those who’ve followed it, methinks,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFZGCCratXk

But charging will come after the election — undoubtably “balanced” by Federal charges against ex-Prez Trump…so, get your good news where you can, while you can.