re: Latest Updates: Russia-Ukraine Conflict.

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And that's not even counting the $100 bill I gave each of them on December 23 for a Christmas gift.

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Oh golly gee, a whole hundred dollars?! Aren't you just a good little Samaritan.

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It really stings you to know that my yard guy and gal make more per hour than you do

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This is such a weird melt just pay them a fair market rate dude, it's the right thing to do.

Neighbor kid opted not to go to college but expand his lawn business started during Covid. Both parents are Stanford PhD's in biology. Kid is making over $150k a year.

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Neighbor kid opted not to go to college but expand his lawn business started during Covid. Both parents are Stanford PhD's in biology. Kid is making over $150k a year

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Lawn businesses are legit. It's tough work as well. It's a shame some people underpay immigrants who don't know the local market and how much they should be charging.

I knew you would chicken out

Look at us cutting up. I think you're starting to like me.

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It's a shame some people underpay immigrants

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He has two classmates working for him. He pays them at least $20 per hour.

Illegals definitely know going rates and get paid that

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Following various incidents — starting with the undersea cables some time ago or the different drone incursions into NATO airspace or aircraft violations — what we've seen is that, in response to reactions from the West or NATO, Russia has taken various measures to prevent such incidents from happening again in the future.

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CNN: Finland detains ship and its crew after critical undersea cable damaged

Dec 31, 2025, 7:24 AM ET

Finland has detained a ship and its crew after a critical undersea telecommunication cable connecting the country to Estonia was damaged Wednesday, Finnish authorities said.

Finnish police said in a statement that the vessel suspected of causing the damage was found with its anchor chain lowered into the sea in Finland’s waters, while the damage site itself was in Estonia’s waters. The police later named the vessel as the Fitburg, a Saint Vincent and the Grenadines flagged cargo ship.

The Finnish National Police Commissioner Ilkka Koskimäki said at a news conference on Wednesday afternoon that all 14 members of the ship’s crew have been detained, adding that the crew are citizens of Russia, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan.

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If Ukraine did target Putin's residence...

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That's not allowed?

International Business Times (February 26, 2022): Russia Unleashes Elite Squad of Chechen 'Hunters' in Ukraine to Kill Zelensky and Other Kyiv Officials
According to a Moscow Telegram group with links to the security establishment, each soldier was given a special "deck of cards" with Ukrainian officials' images and descriptions on them.

A large number of Russian special forces, ranging from elite front-line troops to assassination and sabotage squads, have been deployed in Ukraine with the aim of assassinating the country's leadership, according o reports. Among these are over 10,000 ruthless and battle-hardened Chechen 'hunters' who have been unleashed in Ukraine especially with the aim of detaining or killing a group of Ukrainian officials.

These Chechens are also hunting for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his family. According to reports, Russia is recruiting and deploying Chechens mainly form their hometown Grozny, escalating fears the battle for Ukraine will turn into a horrific bloodbath.

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Should the mullahs have to flee Iran, Russia, Venezuela and China have lost an ally and supporter.

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The Mullahs came to power through popular protests that collapsed the Shah's government... and they saw HOW that happened: when Police and Security Forces have to face off against their own friends and family in the streets, they switch sides and that starts a chain reaction up the command ladder, as nobody wants to be on the other side of a mob that outnumbers them. So they instantly employed a solution: they go out into the countryside and get busloads of the impoverished goat herders and pay them more than they make in 2 years to put on a uniform and brutalize the protestors, who they don't know, aren't related to, and already hate for living better than they do and the belief that they look down on them. So far, that has stopped the never-ending protests from succeeding (and they have been going on since Khomenei took power and the public realized they were getting a Fundamentalist Islamic government and not the democratic freedom they'd been promised)... we'll see if anything is different this time.

I mean, I hope the protestors prevail... at this point, it would pretty much mean peace in the region.

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Neighbor kid opted not to go to college but expand his lawn business started during Covid. Both parents are Stanford PhD's in biology. Kid is making over $150k a year.

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He'll probably be able to sell the business to a landscaping firm or a larger yard company once he reaches a size they notice (this is what has happened to every company I've hired and to anyone I've ever known who owned one)... and then he can go to college.

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and then he can go to college.

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Except he actually hates school. He has done it by the book, set up an LLC and all.