LMAO. Your conclusion is born from the ignorant indoctrination that you have had shoveled (to maintain your labouring analogy of the " pick" ) into your stupid¹ brain all your life by those controlling you & your thoughts.
Stupid¹
[en.m.wikipedia.org]

These are Cipolla's five fundamental laws of stupidity:

1. Always and inevitably everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation.
2. The probability that a certain person (will) be stupid is independent of any other characteristic of that person.
3. A stupid person is a person who causes losses to another person or to a group of persons while himself deriving no gain and even possibly incurring losses.
4. Non-stupid people always underestimate the damaging power of stupid individuals. In particular non-stupid people constantly forget that at all times and places and under any circumstances to deal and/or associate with stupid people always turns out to be a costly mistake.
5. A stupid person is the most dangerous type of person.

Corollary: a stupid person is more dangerous than a pillager.

@FrayedBear blah, blah, blah...

@FrayedBear Independent of everything else here, you should stop quoting Cipolla's laws of stupidity. Laws 3 & 5 are fundamentally untrue.
3. Causing losses to an individual or group whose ideology or goals run counter to yours, even while incurring what you deem acceptable loses for the amount of damage you've done them, is the exact opposite of stupid.
5. An extremely intelligent person who desires to cause harm is FAR more dangerous than a stupid person.

@ChestRockfield interesting opinions. I will reflect.
However straight off the cuff isn't "An extremely intelligent person who desires to cause harm" a logical impossibility.
And
How can any loss be an acceptable expense particularly if it is resulting in wanton destruction?

@FrayedBear
Why would you think that's a logical impossibility? You apparently have preconceived notions about what one must value in this world (or what constitutes intelligence) that are causing you to make conclusions that do not necessarily follow from the premises.

There are plenty of things that are losses that are considered acceptable in pursuit of harming one's opposition or enemies. I could probably start typing examples of scenarios where it actually happens or could happen and not stop coming up with examples for hours. In my personal life, I routinely accept proselytizing materials from religious or conservative groups so that I can throw them directly into the trash. It is a cost of a little bit of my time to waste their money. Political parties and campaigns have been known to produce items and robocalls that deliberately mislead the other camp's voters in various ways. They are spending money and time to destroy the other side's chances of winning. And the amount of loss that would be acceptable scales to how much of the thing you are losing you have to spare (and also how highly you value what you could possibly gain from it). I hate the board members of my condo association so much it's hard to put into words. If I won the Powerball, and had hundreds of millions of dollars, I would spend millions of dollars to cost them hundreds of thousands and ruin their lives. Which also brings us back to the first point. Don't you see that a more intelligent person would be able to devise more and better ways to harm those individuals than a stupid person?

@ChestRockfield why make an enemy when you can make synergy with a friend?

LOL. You sound like the man who cut off his nose to spite his face & prevent it growing to prove him a liar.
But that of course has been American policy for many generations.

@FrayedBear
Again, another assumption. Why would it have to be me that is making the enemy?
Again, there may be a cost, but the potential for overall gain, so not necessarily cutting off one's nose, and especially not preventing it from growing. Check your assumptions.

Also, nothing you said here contradicts or invalidates my claims. Thinking you could make a friend or would be cutting off your nose doesn't in any way change the fact that his laws of stupidity 3 & 5 are false.

@ChestRockfield how about you abuse Yahoo for this report made about a year ago. It supports what I've been saying since February 2022.
[news.yahoo.com]?

I haven't blocked anyone yet, but I definitely ignore anything he posts.

tattered teddy.

it really must.

I love how you profane yourself Joe each time that you "lash out".
Keep making my day.
One day you will hopefully recover from your psychosis. I hope so & that I will not, as happened with my brother, have you die on me before it happens.
Metaphorically love you Joe.

People who endorse or parrot fascist bigotry can't be reasoned with, so in the absence of moral integrity, denunciation is entirely appropriate. We readily identify (and may block) the trolls that lack honor.

@FrayedBear I'm sorry for your loss

@barjoe Thank you. Although largely disassociated from my big brother his early death 20+ years ago by another's stupidity grieved me far more than the deaths of those I was more associated with. But that was my selfishness & ambition for future brotherhood.

Ignorance & rabid desire to believe your indoctrination will enable your memory to remember what ever you wish. You are lying as you have just unblocked me in order to go & read my profile. I never had you blocked & until your admission did not know that you had blocked me. That I am able to respond to you in General & Hellos identifies that you have now unblocked me.

On just checking my profile I see that you have just visited it so I do recommend that you either see a doctor about your short term memory loss or if you are simply a lying troll who has stolen someone else's photo go & join Zelenski's fascist brigades so that you can be shot or preferably captured & tried for crimes against humanity. Either way come back, correct your statement & apologise for your defamation. My profile does not & never has stated where I was born.

I am grateful for you mentioning his origin. It is bizarre to me that those who are ethnic Russians or Russophiles would still blindly support Putin's genocide. SMH

@Garban smh…I blocked him long ago.

Interesting advice TVC15. I see that you have not blocked me & been a member of one of my groups for quite a while now - even contributing to a post last September.
As you suggest that Walt delete his thread you obviously recognise that he is making a defamatory post. I will not be asking for Walt's ridiculous post to be removed because it identifies his indoctrination & stupidity.

@FrayedBear Walt prodded you to comment and I see you obliged him.

@FrayedBear I do not doubt that our paths have crossed and if I felt I had enough of a conflict with you I would have blocked you. Apparently that has not happened as of yet thus I have not blocked you. The fact that I have not should not make you think that I do not empathize with those who have. I like this site, I do not like unnecessary bickering. And honestly I really do not pay attention to who started which groups so there is that as well.

@MyTVC15 I take it that you prefer a life of "see no evil, hear no evil & speak no evil"?

@barjoe yes Joe, I've asked him to produce his evidence to obviate the obvious "defamation. It's trolling. It identifies the stupidity¹ arising from your lifetime of indoctrination regarding the imagined greatness of your stupid¹ country."

Do you have a problem with that? Do you understand that?

By the way did you do as someone else suggested and check that you washed the cowshit off your hoof before you put it in your boot (you have progressed from bare feet haven't you?)?

Metaphorically love ya Joe.

@FrayedBear Face it. You stands alone with Russia. At least the Soviets were an atheist state. Russian Federation walks hand in hand with the Orthodoxy. No amount of evidence would sway you from your support for Moskal Cossack storm troopers.

@Gwendolyn2018 Oh. He's all over this thread.

@barjoe Sad that USA machination resulting in the collapse of the USSR has resulted in a return to religious practice. Equally sad was the fact that Stalinism was as much a religion as Russian Orthodox Christianity.

@barjoe please remind Gwendolyn that she is the one who blocked me not the other way round. Now that's what I think is stupid¹.

@FrayedBear There is plenty of evil everywhere. You are right. I don't like indulging in it when I am relaxing. This site it a pastime for me, not my life.

@barjoe [news.yahoo.com]

@FrayedBear A post from a year and a half ago. Zach Dorfman wrongly thought US economy was in peril. He was wrong. If you think Russian economy is so fucking strong, put all your money in Moscow Exchange. You'll be in the poorhouse.

@barjoe "US economy in peril"? No of course it's not Joe. It going along superbly as indicated by todays reports:
[wsj.com]
[msn.com]
[cnn.com]
[ft.com]
[bbc.com]
[markets.businessinsider.com]
[www2.deloitte.com] - but why would you believe anything they or other disgraced accounting firms proclaim?

I love your sarcasm Bob. Thanks.

Ah Jolanta tut, tut, tut. You will have to do better than that if if you want understanding by me: "he knows but pretends otherwise* - I pretend what? I know what?
In Pauline's frequent cry "please explain!"

And its not just any bear; it's a Russian bear.

He does not suffer from dementia.

@AnneWimsey @Garban @barjoe I still think it's likely he does it for dirty Russian petro dollars.

Who hasn't? Particularly those supporting USA led indoctrination.

[news.yahoo.com]

Liar. You have not blocked me because I am able to read your defamation here in General & Hellos & declaim it by response.

@FrayedBear you were temporarily blocked Aussie bitch troll, don't tempt me to permanently block you, your stupid trolling posts are not missed, by the look of the majority of comments, seems like you bitch troll many people.

@Mofo1953 [news.yahoo.com]

I hope you enjoy his company.

Funny how some contrarians fill their mouths with holier than thou crap and faux kumbaya message, while hypocritically insulting everyone who posted comments here against that Aussie troll, typical.

@Mofo1953 Funny how children can't escape the temptation to act out in exactly the ways you describe. I don't know much about him. Have had responses from him in the past but no stored impression; which is why the curiosity. If all of you are so triggered by him, he can't be all THAT bad. Individuals are always viewed as contrarians to the indoctrinated. As 'reactionaries' to the herd. Nothing new about 'mavericks as seen by the hooved.

We're in possession of mental faculties by Nature that allow us to examine and question inconsistencies all around us. Sure, there are paranoids... There are also those who spot inconsistencies because, well, THEY ARE INCONSISTENT. (most often, functionally)

I will agree that if a real conspiracy or covert activity is going on, the paranoids will be first to spot it. They have nowhere else to go. But that is good. They are often 'radar' for the rest of us with more balanced analytical abilities.

To denigrate all who suspect, automatically, best exemplifies the indoctrinated, authoritarian mind.

@Mofo1953 To be insulted by someone for whom you bear no respect, causes only an indifferent reaction. Like it or not, such things as actions with often concealed motives DO EXIST. You in the flock constantly accuse others of this with mutual impunity. Only your adversaries are 'crazies'. There's no monopoly on either paranoia or Stockholm Syndrome.

Врач, исцели себя.

Thank you. As always: to the point, on the ball & very humourous. I have much respect.

@Mofo1953 Sad that you are unable to see that when you call me a troll it is your subconscious projection trying to protect your conscious mind & its psychosis.

@Silver1wun "I don't know much about him." You probably know far more than most on this site thanks to your life's many & varied experiences having honed your very perceptive mind.
What you do not know (& I respect that) is a lack of need to know probably due to you being a heterosexual male who is unlikely to ever meet me in person & therefore having no need to know thus not enquiring further.

@FrayedBear bye Aussie bitch troll.

@Silver1wun way too wordy, got bored due to the inane content, even using Cyrillic characters, wow, can you get any more pseudo intellectual bullshit in 2 "comments"?

@FrayedBear I agree on a not needing to know attitude on my part. I neither need nor want to know anyone here. This is a place for opinion sharing and, potentially, learning.

I'm not intolerant of others' opinions but often intolerant of them, if they ridicule me or others out of fear and ignorance, whilst passing themselves off as 'thinkers' just because they've rejected deities.

The name calling and bragging about 'blocking' people is really juvenile and discloses fear of potentially contradictory information. I can't imagine blocking anyone; don't even know how. If they are worthy of addressing, I do it. If not, they're ignored.

What makes them worthy? Certainly not any ambition on my part to change their, usually enslaved, minds. They are worthy due to usefulness as a foil. When they're particularly grotesque in their attitudes and discourtesy to others, they can be a valued asset in the process of modifying opinions of those following and possibly participating in the conversation thread. Therein is where the fun and progress take place.

Instead of being adversaries, they're turned into allies. The more strident they are in their replies, the more valuable.

@Silver1wun Agreed.

@Silver1wun just brought to my attention is a post resulting from this Yahoo report
[news.yahoo.com]
Undoubtedly those berating me will not accept it nor understand that it is the reason for my stance regarding the Ukrainian conflict. I imagine that the WWII nazis argued equally trying to protect their minds from the horrors that they inflicted in the holocaust & countries that Germany attacked.
At least now there are many others around the world recognising that like Vietnam, Cambodia, Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, Chile, Venezuela, & now Ukraine it is all due to US interference.

@Silver1wun And then there is the possibility that all the negative attention @FrayedBear gets is well earned. But by all means, take a closer look and judge for yourself. This much is certain: (s)he consistently defends the indefensible position of Vlad the Invader, that Ukraine is not a sovereign nation, that NATO provoked Russia into invading Ukraine, blah, blah, blah. It's a lot like the fossil fuel industry claiming that global warming isn't real, or isn't caused by burning fossil fuels: a few people are, if not convinced by the lies, at least paralyzed by doubt. But on this site, most people are free thinkers, with good critical thinking skills. They know bullshit when they see it, hear it, smell it. And @FrayedBear reeks of (sh)it. And that's why so many people here have blocked his sorry ass. And why have I not done the same, you ask? Well, I like to keep my friends close, and my enemies closer.

@Flyingsaucesir that must be why you cannot respond to [news.yahoo.com]?

Or are you claiming Yahoo is a troll? I suggest that any shit that you smell is your own - you are simply full of it following a lifetime of having been indoctrinated living in the quagmire of duplicitous US corruption.

@FrayedBear No, it's that you do not get to put items on my reading list. Coming from you, it's likely to be drivvel, and I reserve the right to use my time better.

Pushing lots of links in front of their victims is a common tactic among trolls. For some reason they seem to think it is a valid stand-in for a genuine argument. Certainly it is a way to bog your opponent down, waste his/her time, try his/her patience. I'm not falling for it.

If you have been paying attention at all you should know that I have my eyes wide open with respect to the USA. I see the good and the bad

@Flyingsaucesir Like the metaphorical ostrich head in the sand. Seriously don't you think that your reply reeks of troll and that is how you will be recognised around the world - arrogant ignorant American troll?

Fuck the Russian "empire".

That would describe the Russian Federation exactly.

@barjoe Yes, grew up with Cold War propaganda, quite familiar with it.

We have been over this already. The USA has done some dodgy things, some terrible things. But it has also done a lot of good. It's complicated. One thing for sure: the international consensus is NOT that the USA, or its military industrial complex, is a terrorist organization.

While you may be a Russian troll, I doubt you are a member of any organization because I can't imagine any organization accepting you.

@Alienbeing you've cracked another joke. Whatever meds they've got you on please keep taking them.

@FrayedBear That was not a joke.

@Alienbeing another joke

@FrayedBear The only joke here is you.