Should the U.S. Ban Russian Oil?

I would say yes because the U.S. only gets 2% of its oil needs from Russia. You would have to think as this situation moves along that margin could be absorbed by U.S. allies such as Saudi Arabia and maybe even perhaps Iran or another member of OPEC.

Should NATO sanction all other Russian oil sold through-out the world is the logical follow-up question?

On this I would say no because this would drive up the worldwide price of oil and have significant inflationary effects on all of the nations aligned against Russia…including the U.S.

From a practical standpoint, China, the leading importer of Russian oil, would probably absorb that oil at a significantly lower market price after they haggle the Russians down in per barrel price.

With this in mind, both Joe Manchin and Lisa Murkowski have a bi-partisan bill in place to follow the Part A. strategy I listed above in this piece.

Everything should be calibrated with the thought of weakening Russia and mitigating inflation elsewhere to keep NATO’s resolve as strong as possible to eventually topple Putin in Russia.

Perhaps, as the noose tightens in Russia…his own people will take him out for us.

Lest, we not forget, the Germans almost took out Hitler in World War II. only the explosive didn’t detonate correctly.

We’ll cover that anecdote in history next while Thunder Mommy is changing diapers and handing out afternoon marsh-mellow treats at the Daily Thunder Day Care facility. Go…Thunder Mommy…Go!

Pray for Ukraine. Pray for their resolve and freedom.

Why I Would Still Vote No to the U.S. Declaring War on Russia

On Michael Smerconish’s show last Saturday morning the question was: Should the U.S. declare war on Russia?

I voted no instantly. It took me less than ten seconds to register my vote despite the horrifying things all of us are witnessing every day in Ukraine.

My uncle was a decorated war hero from WW II. My father was a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy who served on a mine sweeper. I would have clearly gone to Vietnam if I was of age before the Vietnam War ended. My father in-law was a U.S. Air Force Bird Colonel who flew intelligence missions along the Russian border during the Cold War. His best friend, and, a father figure to me, was a Brigadier General who flew those same missions with my father-in-law into the Baltics.

What I’m saying is…I don’t come from families who are pacifists.

Here’s why I voted no. I voted no because from the point of January 6th, 2021, our own country has been embroiled in its own Civil War. We have no business being at war with anybody given the current state of affairs in America.

How can we look to the rest of the world and ask them to risk becoming what we became during the four years of Donald Trump’s all-out assault on America’s institutions and democracy?

Why would we aspire for them to become like us?

What would change this for me?

Simple. The vote to impeach Donald Trump in his SECOND impeachment trial was 57-43. Conviction would have required ten more GOP senators vote to convict.

Here’s what I would suggest. The Senate hold a second vote based on the evidence already on the record. Obviously…this would be double jeopardy and would not be a legally binding conviction.

However…what it would be is a symbolic gesture by the GOP senators that they are finally prepared to begin the process of coming clean with their constituents and putting patriotism above self-serving political survival.

You cannot have two sets of facts and effectively govern a country.

I mean…how do you Trump people even think given our current state that the Senate could even get the votes required to declare war?

In closing, I would say we need to get our house in order before we even think about the rest of the world.

And, again this quote, “The total indifference to evidence is today’s American exceptionalism.”

Pray not only for the Ukrainians, but ourselves as well.

Josh Giddey Wins Western Conference Rookie of the Month 4th Time in a Row

This kid has it. It’s a shame he got stuck in Oklahoma City though. Same with Shai.

Rookie of the Month four times in a row and he gets sabotaged by his own general manager. Hopefully…he plays next game. This is a travesty.

If Presti is so incredibly prescient turn Josh and Shai both loose. The Warriors basically became a dynasty with Steph as a No. 6 and Klay as a No. 11. If you know what you’re doing…. then you know how to evaluate talent. Period.

They’ve probably already screwed themselves of getting Jabari…so if he’s really a general manager savant…then draft where your team falls and put the last two pieces of the team in place with the Thunder’s other two first round picks and all that obscene cap space you’ve stored away.

People in Oklahoma keep going bonkers about how he drafted Harden and Westbrook.

Let’s be candid. Russell, bless his heart, may have the lowest BBIQ in the league, and Harden is addicted to strip clubs. Isn’t a prescient GM supposed to kind of have a feel for those things.

And, of course, Portland took Greg Oden. Tell me who wouldn’t have taken Durant at that point. Even the little G League coach with the bowl haircut would have taken Kevin at that juncture.

Sam Presti… play the kid. This is pathetic… even for Triple AAA level Oklahoma City.

Shout out to Little Nick Gallo… I thought he did a really nice job on this interview. He commanded his space, his voice was deeper, he wasn’t rubbing his nipples against Josh like he used to do with Russell, and I thought he looked like a pro. I think he’s starting to listen to some of my hot takes here on the blog.

In closing…I don’t remember if LeBron or Kevin or whoever won Rookie of the Month four times in a year. Josh… your agent needs to nip this in the bud immediately. I’ve got a few names for you if your guy can’t get this done. I know a lawyer or two…just saying.

405Baller…don’t let me down over there at Mr. Rodgers Neighborhood. They’re sweet kids, but they’ve been sheltered too long by ThunderGirl.

Those who speak truth to power don’t mind becoming a pariah as long as they know what they’re talking about in the end. Until those kids learn how to create serious content…they’re not monetizing shit. Did someone over there tell this Cray person they were The Athletic or something even close?

I need a pump-up song. It’s been a tough week in America. Pray for our Ukrainian friends.

Best Thunder Paragraph I’ve Read in Two Seasons on the Daily Thunder

Obviously…none of us really know what the Thunder are doing or why they’re doing what at certain intervals of this season. I’m okay with it because as I said earlier this NBA season…I’m totally good following OU, the Big 12, and the five teams I listed at the beginning of the season who I thought would be most interesting to follow this NBA season. Those five teams being Milwaukee, Miami, Golden State, Phoenix, and Memphis.

There is no angst with me regarding the Thunder. Sam Presti runs that show and the team per the last Forbes valuation had a listed value of $1.6 billion dollars. Not a bad rate of return on a $300 million investment.

I’ve been banned from the Daily Thunder from posting over there or even liking someone else’s written post.

So last night after the Thunder’s perplexing win on the road in Denver…I scrolled thru some comments after the game to see if even the trained puppets left over there were as puzzled as I was about last night’s win.

The group left over there minus maybe four seem scared to write the truth because they know Royce Young is now openly employed by the Thunder. At times…they seem genuinely and collectively scared to write an honest paragraph on what the Thunder are doing this season.

None of what some of them are writing makes any sense whatsoever. Pure homer laden nonsense like you’d here from either Michael Cage or Little Nick Gallo on a Thunder television broadcast.

So… I came across this one post from a person who goes by the screen name of 405Baller. I have no idea who this person is. It could very well be one of the very weak, feckless Daily Thunder staff writers desperately reaching out to someone like me to validate their puzzlement with wtf the Thunder are doing right now.

*In closing…here’s the post from 405Baller: ‘It’s hard to make sense of anything in this hybrid tanking environment. It’s like seeing registered democrats over here argue Brandon is doing a good job, etc. You never know if they’re trolling or being serious.’

Bravo.

And the first honest paragraph written in the Daily Thunder in the last two NBA seasons.

Enough of that.

I want to finish today with a lead into my post on Friday morning.

This was written last week in the NY Times by one of their famous columnists as to our current political times in America.

The quote reads:

‘The total indifference to evidence is today’s American exceptionalism.’

Thunder Inexplicably Win in Denver, 119-107

Who in the world knows what the Thunder are doing at this point? Maybe Sam Presti has already decided on a dark-horse pick who’ll fall out of everybody else’s top four in the upcoming draft.

Could be.

The fact they beat Denver isn’t shocking to me, given I don’t take the Nuggets very seriously without Jamal Murray.

I mean, who is the Nuggets second best player without Murray?

They don’t have one without Murray.

Anyway, Thunder win 119-107 with former Rookie of the Year contender Josh Giddey and seven other Thunder rotational players sitting this game out.

I probably only watched ten minutes of the game. But from what I saw of the game it appeared Isaiah Roby had a career night. If I remember correctly…this is about the same spot in the schedule from last year when the Thunder inexplicably won a road game in Boston with both Roby and Dort having big nights.

I have no idea whatsoever who the Thunder play next.

But I do know they host the defending champion Bucks next Tuesday…and I think I might go sit behind the Bucks bench to cheer for Giannis, Jrue, Khris, and Bobby Portis. I love Bobby Portis. I love his swagger.

This is the one singular selfish reason part of me hopes the Thunder stay in town.

The Thunder actually have a nice framework in place to have a decent team, but who really knows when Sam Presti pushes that button or if he wants to push that button with the Thunder still in Oklahoma City.

Russian Major Oil & Gas Companies Down 95% in Market Cap Equity

Let’s tackle this in a different manner since this is in essence an Oklahoma City Thunder underground blog.

I used the phrase market cap in my previous post in relation to both Devon and Continental which are both Oklahoma City based companies.

Both of these companies are trending at 52 week-high market values. What is market cap value? It’s the current price of the stock times total shares.

To put that in perspective as of right now Devon’s equity valuation is $ 40 billion while Continental’s is at $ 21.5 billion.

As of closing today on the London Stock Exchange where quite a few Russian stocks used to be traded…major Russian oil and gas companies have lost 95% of their market equity in the past week. This translates into an equity loss of $190 billion dollars. Add to the fact the ruble has been virtually decimated.

Now…I know its Oklahoma. I understand you Trump people aren’t the most sharpened pencils in the jar. Like Michelle Obama…I’m trying to go high with you people, so you don’t embarrass yourselves in public like the Barbie Twins do every single day they open their mouths. I could care less what you say or do in the privacies of your homes and strip bars. Again…I’m a social liberal. None of that is my business.

So… instead of embarrassing all of us…just click on the blog here if you need some helpful positive guidance as we as a country navigate how we best as a country can help the Ukrainians get through this nightmarish ordeal.

Thank you.

God bless, America and Ukraine.

Lauren Boebert: Point…. Counterpoint

Lauren…you ignorant misguided slut.

Your behavior last night at Joe Biden’s SOTU speech was beyond the pale even for you and your little barbie girlfriend Marjorie Taylor-Green.

Even for you this was a performance which actually makes people like Lindsey Graham and Ted Cruz appear capable as leaders of a major political party.

You and Marjorie Taylor-Green in my socially moderate view can have any type of sexual relationship you may want to have in private. I could care less…. it’s none of my business. And I could care less what your wordly views are as well since most of them were formed with your clothes off and two consenting adults on top of you.

Truth of the matter is…. inflation is high and will get higher as oil is trending at over $110 plus a barrel as I write. But of course…I imagine a person of your stature didn’t hedge it right. If you had been reading my blog you would have known oil is headed beyond the $120 a barrel benchmark…maybe higher. But of course, it’s difficult to follow the markets when one has a vibrator in their mouth 24/7.

Oklahoma oil companies Devon and Continental are market capping like they haven’t in quite some time. So instead of heckling a president at a SOTU address…I’d suggest you and your little bedroom barbie keep your clothes off and follow the markets instead of wasting adults’ time at a major political speech…. or maybe even consider joining as members of the Daily Thunder’s message board. Trust me…you would fit in there immediately.

Under Joe Biden we finally appear to have a handle on Covid, or at the least have convinced most of the Trump followers like you to stop injecting themselves with horse vaccines or Lysol.

Do you even know what GDP means? This past year under Joe Biden America’s GDP crested at a 5.7 performance threshold in 2021. That figure is just slightly lower than what Trump’s economy performed his first three years in office collectively before Covid.

Unemployment is down at around 4% which is tolerable…in fact excellent.

Did you even know the Afghanistan troop removal action was signed on by Donald Trump well before he left office?

You ignorant stupid love starved slut….why don’t you spend more of your time actually accruing wisdom than embarrassing our country in front of the entire world in the midst of a critical juncture in our nation’s history.

In closing, let me add, when I was young, single and quite something…if I’d come across you and your little barbie whore friend naked and laying on my front porch…. I would have clearly passed.

Instead …I would have just kicked you two to the side and said, ” No thanks, I’d rather masturbate and save a trip to the doctor to get a penicillin shot.”

Have a wonderful life.

God bless, America and Dan Ackroyd.

Mike Jackson, Editor in chief of okcthunderground.com

I have to cleanse myself. It is stunning the country we have become.

Joe Biden’s State of the Union: My Response

I’m always honest here on the blog. I was disappointed with the speech. To be blunt…I’d give it either a B- or a C+ given this was one of those historical moments where a speech could not only unite a country, but change the course of the entire world’s history moving forward.

I wish Joe Biden would have let either me or James Carvell write the speech.

As a president, you only have several opportunities to utilize the bully pulpit…and this was one of those times. One of those Teddy Roosevelt moments as POTUS you walk softly carrying a big stick.

A moment like Reagan in front of the Berlin Wall. Or Roosevelt in 1941 declaring war on Japan. Or Bush 41 telling Saddam Hussein his aggression in Kuwait would not stand.

Only the first ten minutes of the speech were directed towards the Ukrainian and American people as to why this moment is so critical to the new world order of democracy

I would have pointed out that of the 195 countries in the world only two as of today are standing with Putin…those being neighboring Belarus and rogue state Venezuela. Think about the magnitude of that accomplishment alone in as far as the Biden administration unifying the world.

Then the troublemaker in me would have come out having Joe Biden rattle his saber towards the dumbest of the dumb in the Trump Coalition.

While having him stare down Marjorie Taylor-Greene and her even dumber cohort Lauren Boebert…I would have had him say…”Even amongst all the various terrorist groups in our very dangerous world…only two in the entire world have sided with Putin.”

“Folks, let me help you out here. The two terrorist groups aren’t the Taliban or Al Quida. No. The only two terrorist groups standing with the war criminal Vladimir Putin are Fox Network and the Trump crazies in the far-right wing of what used to be the Republican Party. Those same treasonous traitors who tried to overthrow our country on January 6th just over a year ago.”

Biden spent way too much time struggling with the middle of the speech. You could tell he was tired. But who wouldn’t be exhausted at this point after inheriting this shitshow clusterfuck dumpster fire from Donald Trump and his children?

But in closing what I would have had Joe Biden say was something like, “Folks—this is one of those rare precious moments as Americans where we have the shared opportunity to show the world why it is indeed special to be an American. To show the entire world the American Dream is still intact and breathing.”

I’d have had him pause, have a tear coming down one of his cheeks like William Hurt in Broadcast News and close with, ” This is our moment as one to show the world America isn’t for sale to one family or governed for just the inherited elite or upper one per-cent. This is our moment as Americans to conquest tyranny and oppression as one America. A moment to show America has returned to being the aspirational leader of the free world.”

“God bless, America.”

Joe Biden to Give First SOTU Address

Don’t we all wish we were Joe Biden right now.

He inherited a Civil War instigated by our village idiot. He inherited a pandemic where half of Village Idiot’s followers refused to get vaccinated and instead opted to use various horse remedies to protect themselves from Covid.

It gets better.

Village Idiot then cozied up with Putin at Helsinki in an attempt to dismantle the World Order of Dwight D. Eisenhower and George Marshall with the hopes of putting the U.S. in the same sphere as that of Putin and Bubble Boy from North Korea.

Somewhere in there he fired Bulldog Mattis, Reince Priebus, General John Kelly, General McMasters, Jeff Sessions, Rex Tillerson, and accused both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama of multiple felony offenses.

And, of course, he completely dissed American intelligence which has to date nailed every bit of the intel leading up to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

Whew…that’s a lot of accomplishments for just your basic run of the mill pathological sociopath.

I need to exhale and catch my breath.

Now…where was I?

Village Idiot had a really busy four years there packaged in between chasing eastern Euro escort tail, modifying FLOTUS 45’s prenup monthly, cheating at golf, tweeting with his tweet soulmate/driver Danny Scavino, and basically setting the United States back at least fifty years.

But, you know, otherwise it was fairly uneventful.

Oh, I forgot, Village Idiot set the North American record by getting the most blow jobs ever from Lindsey Graham. That’s 1,460 blow jobs if you need me to do the math.

So… Joe Biden…while I’m fervently praying for the Ukrainians…I’ve got you right there next to them in my 24/7 prayers.

Joe Biden…you need a momentum changing song. Trust me on this.

Thunder Reach a New Low With Sitting of Josh Giddey

If the events in Ukraine were not as they are currently, I would absolutely be ripping the Oklahoma City Thunder. But given that would be completely inappropriate as a human being…I’m going to pass.

The Thunder are not worth writing about at this juncture. I’m not sure Oklahoma City deserves to have an NBA team, and I know for a fact charging people to watch this bullshit is borderline commercial fraud…but I’m not going any further than that.

It’s not worth wasting the energy when I could be praying for the Ukrainians in what will surely be a very tough next couple of days.

Clay Bennett, dude…if this is your prism of sustainability, do yourself a karma and move the team back to Seattle. There’s no real window here because no one wants to play here except Nick Collison and Kenrich Williams. The analogy is you in essence have a college football team which will be on NCAA probationary sanctions with scholarship limitations forever which will always keep the team-looking ahead to the next tank.

If you were black, would you want your son raised here? I’m almost white and I encouraged my son to not raise his children here. Dude…not everyone aspires to live in a private school sperm bank paradigm where the hard-core stark truths about American society are brazenly shielded by the entrance gates to Casady and Heritage Hall. Truth hurts.

You gave it a shot. I admire that.

Read my lips…. NBA players don’t want to be here.

I tried watching ten minutes of the Thunder’s game versus the Sacramento Kings and said, “No, Mike…you’re better than this.” If the Thunder screw around and miss on Jabari Smith…I’m not really sure what I would do at this point looking at it from a pragmatic standpoint.

I’m not even sure what I would do calibrating the usage between Shai and Josh at this point.

Baylor was at Texas last night in a real basketball game. I settled in on that game as we’re not all that far from March Madness. Lest we forget…Scott Drew’s Bears are the defending national champions, and they looked every bit the part as they pulled away from Texas on the road.

Baylor went through a few bumps this mid-season with some injuries, but as we near the goal achieving portion of the season…Baylor is trending upward again with a dangerous team.

From the Big 12 heading into March Madness…I see three maybe four teams who could make a run in this order…1 Baylor, 2 Texas Tech, 3 Kansas, and 4 maybe Texas. But Texas is just soft. We’ll see. I don’t think Chris Beard has really instilled in them that same West Texas toughness his Texas Tech teams had in the past.

I still love Texas Tech as a sleeper pick. Mark Adams is my Big 12 Coach of the Year as well…. not really even close. I’d have Jaime Dixon at TCU as second in that category. Coach Adams looks like a preacher, but can flat out coach on the defensive end.

OU hosts West Virgina tonight in what is their next elimination game if the Sooners want to dance in March.