San Diego Closes Point La Jolla Beach to Protect Sea Lions From People New York Times (furzy)
Magpie swooping: How polarising bird terrorises suburban Australia BBC
Hailsondes Launch Into Thunderstorms to Sound Them Out SpectrumIEEE (Chuck L)
Sitting all day increases dementia risk — even if you exercise Washington Post (Dr. Kevin). Just puts “exercise” in one big lump when for a lot of health benefits, intensity matters. The plural of anecdote is not data, but my mother proudly declared herself to be the original couch potato and was sharp until 92. And the nurse who was in charge of patient assessment for one of her home health care aide companies called what happened: “When they start watching TV all day is when they decline.” My mother had read a book a day plus did crossword puzzles plus played solitaire. Then she refused to get cataract surgery and found it too hard to read and started to only watch TV…which indeed was when her cognitive decline started. So I wonder if the degree of mental passivity while sitting counts (I would score meetings where you don’t participate as passive, and driving on familiar routes might be). And I wonder if there are easy remedies, like standing once an hour and bending forward so your head way below your hips for a minute to get more blood into your brain would be a big offset.
Live Nation Launches Program For Smaller Bands To Drop Merch Cuts & Help Pay For Their Travel Metal Injection. Micael T: “Background: Why touring bands struggle to make money on merchandise BBC.”
Ah, that’s better Colin Burrow, London Review of Books. Anthony L: “Orwell again, interestingly viewed.”
#COVID-19
From GM, who identified the speaker as Peter Collignon
Oh boy.
This video is stunning.I’m a priest, so I’m an expert in wishful thinking. This guy… he’s living in fantasy land.
😮”the reason I want to believe that”
Who said science is rational… 🙄 pic.twitter.com/GuZjh8fQC2
— tern (@1goodtern) September 27, 2023
Climate/Environment
Deforestation Comes to the Hundred Acre Wood. Winnie the Pooh’s world is transformed. Newser (Dr. Kevin)
Britain to Allow Big North Sea Oil Field, Despite Climate Concerns New York Times. Kevin W: “Related article Oil surges above $94 a barrel for the first time in a year as stockpiles shrink at
China?
China Says NSA Surveillance Is Intensifying Forever Wars (Micael T)
Why Xi Jinping Doesn’t Trust His Own Military Foreign Affairs (furzy). I can’t even.
US accuses China of launching global information war Financial Times
What China’s economic problems mean for the world BBC
Reminder that the United States could have been the world leader in 5G technology instead of China if we had just given *one guy* a green card when he needed one pic.twitter.com/MTXvs27sYz
— Alec Stapp (@AlecStapp) September 27, 2023
TSMC to help Europe break its Asia chip dependency Asia Times (Kevin W)
The level of ambition in China’s vision for a new world order is absolutely stunning: in short they want to radically change international relations, get rid of hegemonic designs (including by them) and double standards in order to bring about sustainable world peace.
And what’s… https://t.co/TiDHbywe80
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) September 27, 2023
On 26 September, the 🇨🇳State Council issued a white paper on the Global Community of Shared Future (GCSF)
It is the most comprehensive document on 🇨🇳’s vision to reform the global order &
BJ’s most serious attempt to define the GCSF.What does it say?
Why is it relevant?
🧵 pic.twitter.com/zHhw8wEcW5— Moritz Rudolf (@MoritzRudolf) September 27, 2023
Full Text: A Global Community of Shared Future: China’s Proposals and Actions PRC Gov. Chuck L: “The English text of China’s Global Community Shared Future vision, the subject of the Bertrand/Rudolf thread links sent earlier”.
German Dependence On China Ian Welsh
Smartmatic implicated in alleged bribery scheme involving top Filipino election official CNN (BC). From earlier in the week, still germane.
Debt and the Crisis of Survival in Sri Lanka and the World Eastern Angle (Micael T)
European Disunion
Ambassador Gerard Araud: Europe is fading International Affairs (Micael T)
First of all, ironic coming from her…
Secondly, the obvious question is, once a country is home to large communities of people from different cultures, what is the alternative to multiculturalism? You cannot go back in time.
So if you’re against multiculturalism you’re left… https://t.co/MKutSXsMOS
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) September 27, 2023
From Politico’s morning newsletter. Note various pundits predicted Orban might lose his last election when he won in a romp. Of course, polling data may be much better in Slovakia:
ORBÁN COPYCAT FACES UPHILL BATTLE IN SLOVAKIA: It may not be Europe’s biggest country, but Slovakia’s election this weekend could see another pro-Russian, Euroskeptic join the leaders’ table alongside Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
New Not-So-Cold War
The Promise and Peril of EU Expansion Foreign Affairs (furzy). “The Bloc Must Add Ukraine—but It Won’t Be Simple.” Talk like that assures there will be no Ukraine. Alexander Mercouris in recent days has discussed remarks by a key member of the Duma, Lavrov, and Defense Minister Shoigu, that all point in the same direction: that Ukraine will need to capitulate or else it will cease to exist as a state. The Russians have the means to do it. Simplicius the Thinker has recently said that he has reports that only 25% of the grid damage of last year’s missile strikes has been repaired. Even if the figure is actually 50%, it says Russia has the means to de-electrify much of the country.
A Few Important Points From My Friends. Andrei Martyanov (guurst). Confirming commentary above and then some.
I have the impression that it does not even occur to this Tweeter that this outcome from the Russian perspective is a feature, not a bug:
Millimetres on the map for the number of lives you could populate a city with. https://t.co/3y0yKUKcUI
— Leonid ХВ Ragozin (@leonidragozin) September 28, 2023
Bound to Lose John Mearsheimer (Chuck L). From early Sept, still germane.
It’s All About Them Aurelien
A Year of Lying about Nord Stream Eastern Angle
The House of Anti-Communists, and the Nazi Monster it Spawned Canada Files (Micael T)
The Zelensky lie is coming to an end Thierry Meyssan (Micael T)
Armenia-Azerbaijan
Ethnic cleansing of Armenians from their historic lands and Israel’s Fingerprints Are All Over the Ethnic Cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh Defend Democracy
versus The Artificially Manufactured “Ethnic Cleansing” Of Karabakh Is A Political Ploy By The Diaspora Andrew Korybko
Big Brother is Watching You Watch
U.S. Spying Law Threatens Privacy, Needs Restrictions, Watchdog Says Wall Street Journal (BC)
Missouri mom, 52, says her life has been ruined since she was wrongly declared dead in 2007 due to social security error Daily Mail (BC)
Imperial Collapse Watch
Reforming the UN: Possibility and Necessity Valdai Club (Micael T)
The Eastern Mediterranean quartet: big talk, less action The Cradle (Micael T)
Even I am surprised. wow wow wow
China, Saudi Arabia to hold joint naval drill in October https://t.co/R08doSCGsA
— Kris 📿🇨🇦 🇦🇱 🇺🇦 (@ektrit) September 28, 2023
Biden’s Belt and Road counter needs an eastern extension Asia Times (Kevin W)
Tortured Guantánamo Prisoner Ramzi bin al-Shibh Unfit for 9/11 Trial, Says Military Judge Common Dreams
Trump
Trump suing ex-MI6 officer who alleged he was ‘compromised’ by Russian security service Guardian (furzy). Christopher Steele.
Biden
FBI Arrests Air Force One Stairs For Plot To Assassinate Biden Babylon Bee
How Joe Biden’s Kin Profited Off the Family Name. ‘The Big Guy Is Calling Me.’ Wall Street Journal
Shutdown scramble, Biden impeachment inquiry set to collide: live coverage The Hill
Election workers have gotten death threats and warnings they will be lynched, the US government says Associated Press (furzy)
The Retail Theft Rampage Gets Worse Wall Street Journal (furzy). The fact that this is a right wing trope does not mean it is not happening. The highlighted incidents sound like a form of organized crime. The same thing took place in NYC during the George Floyd protest. Groups that had not been part of the protests would show up in the early evening as the marches were petering out and smash store windows and steal in bulk.
What’s Driving Oakland’s Crime Wave? Public (furzy)
GOP Clown Car
Our No Longer Free Press
UK Journo Arrested for ‘Malinformation’ After Exposing Trudeau Applauding Nazi Sputnik (furnce)
AI
Beducated has a new AI sex coach Mashable (Dr. Kevin)
Meta announces AI chatbots with ‘personality’ BBC. Kevin W: “Zuckerberg’s personality?”
Top financial regulator seeks global clampdown on hedge fund borrowing Financial Times
Class Warfare
Sorry, You Matter Too Much to Make a Living Wage OK Doomer (Dr. Kevin)
Antidote du jour:
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here
200 comments
Comments are closed.
From GM, who identified the speaker as
Who is the speaker?
I think the name is cut off.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Collignon
I want to know when Peter Collignon delivered himself of this lesson.
It’s a good demo of the kind of thinking I imagine must be widespread in senior management positions in all sorts of public and NGO organizations. e.g. a US strategist reasoning about the NATO/UA/RF war: “Since we lost the ground war and the economic war we therefore have to negotiate pace because if we can’t negotiate peace then, … well, … just imagine the consequences. So that’s the strategy, we negotiate peace. Next question: who do we give that task to since Z doesn’t seem the right choice.”
Link to full lecture. His discussion of various transmission routes starts at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4RJ9QFgyAo&t=2306s.
Thanks. Just under a year ago. That he doesn’t know it’s airborne should have been disqualifying.
Oops. I see the gun may have been jumped! No worries!
Correct link for “Bound to Lose” John Mearsheimer.
fixed it. Thanks!
Yves! Thank you for giving us tomorrow’s news today! Now, (and I know it is an assignment, but you seem to be the only one capable of fulfilling the task,) could you do tomorrow’s stock reports? Inquiring (and greedy) minds want to know.
Thanks, and where do we send the 10% “finders fee?”
Following the Alchemist’s Creed, (“As above, so below,”) if the Politicos can do it, so can we!
And the lottery numbers while you’re at it?
Nice to know I’m not alone in those little mistakes.
Could we characterize that Mashable “Headline” as ‘lick bait?’
“What’s Driving Oakland’s Crime Wave?” I know that when I still lived in Austin, most of our neighborhood came to an agreement that we would stop calling the police and take matters into our own hands. Constant crime in our area and police were not allowed to do anything about it. If they ever did, like the guy threatening people with a chainsaw, the DA would always refuse to press charges. It quickly becomes a very dangerous situation for everyone when something as simple laws against property crimes are no longer enforced. But the big problem is that people stop reporting crime, which enables corrupt DA’s and politicians to claim crime rates are falling. The push by the radical left to decriminalize everything is one reason republicans are still able to win elections, IMO.
“The radical left.” Those darned reds. Next they’ll be getting white girls hooked on marijuana.
Identitarian neoliberals, I think is what they’re referring to. But “So-shull-ism” is, to many, a catchier snarlword.
Radical left? Where?
Under every bed in every closet.
Right and Left have long ago stopped being a linear continuum, but has become spherical. Go far enough left, and you’ll become the Radical Right.
Or at least that’s what it seems like nowadays, all of the attributes have become jumbled.
Just remember no bird can ever fly with just one wing, and both wings are useless without the heart.
To answer the question about what might drive a crime wave, I usually turn to the inimitable UB40:
The lesson is learned
There’s nowhere to turn
And it’s no use waiting for help.
When you’re left on the heap
There is nothing to keep
you from going and helping yourself.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMBEMLn0Rx0
your nom de plume is so lyrical, love it – you write Right and Left have long ago stopped being a linear continuum, but has become spherical. Go far enough left, and you’ll become the Radical Right – believing socialism is not a dirty word but is considered far left by many, i consider it sanity, wondering how to modify your true statement to identify the left as psuedo-left of the pmc –
I want social relations to be based on need rather than profit so bad, that I’m willing to genocide 12 million people to do it.
That kind of sphere?
Left-of-center-labeled Anarchism (as used by the 19th-century Anarchists) isn’t really much different than reft-of-center-labeled Ayn Randism.
If you take away private property, eliminate the State as Capital’s enforcer and turn over management of productive enterprises to the workers.
I think there are no “solutions” only predicaments to be endured. Entering the bottleneck is no fun, but passing through it, I imagine will be harder. Harder to retain first principles, harder to practice the best of what humanity has demonstrated in the past, etc.. All of the old systems of organization are not going to solve our problems or be acceptable to a large enough portion of the population to be effective/practical/useful going forward. Time has an arrow, entropy never sleeps. Back to the bottleneck, we yeast are almost out of sugar, the bubbles are less plentiful. God Bless All.
my kinda language HMP – in the true-ist sense private property is theft – just ask the indigenous population from prior to 1492, whatever remnants left after their genocide –
I mean- sure. If you ignore the fact of that tiniest of differences where Anarchists would never allow capitalists to exist in any polity where they had sway. The Randroids worship capitalists to the degree where they would basically reproduce a feudal society.
Not much different at all!
Birds of prey don’t need to exist.
Right-wing means “supporting Capital.” Left wing means “supporting labor.” That’s been the definition since the French Revolution. I don’t think one can help tenants so much that one winds up helping landlords. One can’t support shareholders so much that one winds up helping workers. One can’t be on the side of both the exploited and the exploiters, that just doesn’t happen.
The Open Society foundations are radical left? who knew? / ;)
5 months ago friends were in a rental car in Capetown getting on an onramp to a freeway, when the passenger side window was shattered by a crowbar and a hand thrust in and snatched the smartphone in the cradle and made off with it.
Oakland hasn’t reached the point where this is happening, only unoccupied vehicles, right?
Pamela Price is the real deal. She has fired a lot of crooked attorneys from the department and the right is aiming for her.
Why the “crime wave”? Economics in the whole Bay Area and the targeting of Blacks in the East Bay. She really is working to send kids home and not just lockmup, and of course they were black.
Sure there is organized crime in Oakland just like in every big city. Pamela has a lot of backing and will overcome the recall that the Police union supporters are backing.
Now a Cop City hub is being planned for a small section of the East Bay called San Pablo. This would be a huge hub to attract all the thugs that like to be police so they can beat and shoot people. Berkeley had a cop shoot someone dead this week. They are trigger happy here. At least there is some push back with people like Pamela Price being elected as the county DA.
Yeah, the current violent crime rate is bad in Oakland (1,545 per 100K of the population), But a decade ago it was 1,993 per 100K, and not to mention if you go back three decades, ouch! Add a thousand to this year’s rate.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/oakland-bay-area-rates-18259788.php
Of course it’s awful, but also transparently political to blame it on a couple of politicians a blogger doesn’t like. Of course it’s the same where I live: our commentators keep shouting there are no social causes to our crime problems, just the lack of virtue in atomized individuals. And politicians who seek social solutions are the most to blame. They say more cops, more invasive laws, and more prisons can be the only solution.
Since it’s tomorrow, i’m moving up my plans for a pre-wake party for My Kevin (since ’07)… any last words?
“Evergrand Bargain.”
I was rode out of The District, going, southwest towards Mexico
I was, running dodging danger, left the, gavel that I loved so
Far behind lay the lectern and the, past that I had earned
15 notches on my dais marked the, lessons I had learned
Many times I sold my reputation for a, place to get in their head
Till the, nights began to haunt me by the, populace i’d misled
Couldn’t, stand it any longer with the, life that I’d begun
So I, said good-bye to the Speakership and
Became the last of the Young Guns
I had barely left the seat and my foot just touched the ground
When a cold voice from the shadows told me not to be around
Said he new about my being the last of the Young Guns
Knew the price paid by the draw
Challenged by a motion to vacate, no way to get around the law
I knew someday I’d meet him for his hand like lightning flashed
My own staff stayed together as this news tore it’s path
As my strength was slowly fading, I could see him walk away
And I knew that where I lie today, he to must lie some day
Now my strength is slowly fading and my chances are growing dim
And my thoughts return to leading
and the House that we had planned
Oh please tell them won’t you mister
Be thankful the term was a shortlived one
But not everybody’s time was wasted with the last of the Young Guns
Running Gun, by Marty Robbins
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnJqQrsCgAQ
unsure of the etiquette, here, since its tomorrow…but i’m pleased Yves hit the button too soon..that PRC white paper will take some rumination(“cud chewing”).
Do ruminants ruminate?
Well, I’ve never been to Ukraine
But I kinda like the money
Say the business is insane there
And they sure do think it’s funny
It’s looking sunny
Don’t be a dummy
Come get some honey
Well, I’ve never been the Big Guy
But I like to be a Biden
Just be careful with your laptop
And whatever else your hidin’
Can you feel it?
Must be near it
Feels so good
Oh, it feels so good
Well, I’ve never been a Nazi
But I tried to help the Azov
Oh, they tell me I got rich there
But I really don’t remember
In the Crimea, not gonna see ya
What does it matter?
What does it matter?
Well, I’ve never been to Ukraine
But I kinda like the money
Say the business is insane there
And they sure do think it’s funny
They sure abuse it
Never gonna lose it
I can’t refuse it, oh, oh
Well, I’ve never been a Nazi
But I tried to help the Azov
Oh, they tell me I got rich there
But I really don’t remember
With your charisma, maybe Burisma
Are you a prisoner?
Are you a prisoner?
LilD – Thank you for your contribution to the next volume of the Naked Capitalism Songbook.
Is there music to accompany this poem? Or, is this just a stand alone poem? Whichever it is, it will be included in the next volume of songs.
You can reach me at zelnickertaxservice [at] comcast [dot] net if you have questions or have more songs or poems to contribute.
I believe it’s “Never Been to Spain,” a Hoyt Axton song covered by Three Dog Night.
Never been to Spain by Three Dog Night
Hoyt Axton?
Hoyt Axton also wrote Jeremiah Was A Bullfrog, an anthem of my high school days.
Hoyt’s mother co-wrote “Heartbreak Hotel” which was Elvis’ first national hit.
Trivial trivia dept.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dm6qw_yeo6o
Thanks to all for the information. This is truly the best, most knowledgeable commentariat.
What about:
I’ve been to Canada
But I’ve never been to me?
Yesterday just flew by. / ;)
I met my wife on the international dateline.
On a date, no doubt.
As a practicing xmas curmudgeon, my shining moment came 20 years ago getting on a big jet airliner in LAX on December 24th and landing in Auckland on December 26. effectively whisking Santa et al into the scorned field.
I was once stranded in a place with only a calendar with me. So I lived off the dates but at least once a week I treated myself to a Sunday.
{golf-clap}
As a teenager I spent a couple of summer months homeless but living on the back patio of a house that was for sale. I had no mirror, that is the main thing I remember about the experience. Ah to be young!
Brilliant! If the Fed will ever stop making me poorer, maybe some day I can do that. SO hard to find a place to be where you can skip Christmas. Even boondocking out on the open range, people decide you HAVE TO participate. Cruises in tropic seas? Nope, the cruise lines make sure you can’t escape.
An additional citation, on WHY we’d got a senile kleptocrat & Ukrainian oilgarch’s puppet-show kabal’s orchestrated WAR, to save “our” party’s planet-destroying fracking Ponzi scheme. Obama’s insidious bridge fuel’s methane release, certainly affected ice-cap melting, AMOC slowing & complicit media’s simply ignoring how side-drilled methane fracking/ ethane cracking and forced pooling affects air, ground water, streams, crops, livestock, dairy (as exponential bore/ casing failure ensues).
https://twitter.com/SStapczynski/status/1706077911877640284
https://www.fractracker.org/map/us/pennsylvania/
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2023/09/hersh-reveals-us-motive-for-destruction-of-nord-stream-pipelines.html
U.S. Spying Law Threatens Privacy, Needs Restrictions, Watchdog Says Wall Street Journal (BC)
I know in advance my thoughts WILL NOT be well received so I’ve slipped on my flame proof coat.
First, I vehemently disagree with those who say, if you’ve nothing to hide, blah, blah, blah. Why? Because I think it’s wrong for the FBI, NSA, et al to read my communications. Why? Simple, privacy, and yes, I know the Constitution doesn’t speak to it explicitly, but parts of the First, Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Ninth Amendments, create an implied right.
Second, we’re in a whole new world. Domestic and foreign terrorism, and wackadoodles planning to shoot up schools change the calculus. This is no longer about protecting my private love letter to my wife, or what deals I’m making in the business world, this is life and death. Whose? Yours, mine, friends, and loved ones.
Means – while I hate it – I also grudgingly accept uncle snooping as . . . ‘needs must’.
With all due regard, if you do not have the right of personal privacy, then none of the others really matter. If, as you say, giving the government the ability to read your personal mail or business transactions is a small price to pay in a dangerous world, then I might say perhaps you are right. But that is in theory. In practice the government will weaponize your private letters and business transaction against you – as you are seeing with Trump the past coupla days. So far as the government are concerned, they do not care about a terrorist attack or a school shooting as it does not effect them. They literally do not care and to them it would be merely a cost of doing business. If they did care about people, then they would have gone all in on helping the people of East Palestine or Lahaina in Hawaii. But when those people rioted at Capital Hill, as they were under threat they threw the rule book out the window and went ape****. That they cared about. So put not your faith in princes, especially national security princes.
aye.
either everybody has Rights(including Due Process)…even the worst child molesting, brain eating elite….or Nobody has Rights.
as for FBI, et alia…what are they doing with all that jack in their budgets…and for the CIA, with all their Black Budget money, and profits from the drug trade?
hell, FBI has created more erstwhile terrists than they’ve caught in the wild.
and remember…every terrist action…whether grass roots, ferrin inspired or cooked up at langly…is an opportunity to bulk up the Police State.
ie: give them even more money and power…ostensibly, so they can create more terrists and gain more power and money.
i’ll keep all my Rights, thank you…including the various and sundry that are currently not Enumerated…and i’ll defend them, tooth and claw, as best i can.
it is wholly unamerican to do otherwise.
its by far bad enough as it stands right now…4th amendment eviscerated by the drugwar…cameras everywhere…ones car and washing machine watching you…wholesale public/private datamining partnerships(to get around the Bill of Rights)…but the fear engendered in Us by media, selective, hyperventilating reportage and a dumbed down polity in regards to history, etc….is just too much for some folks, i guess.
As it happens, TRK, I can walk and chew gum, and thus, I totally understand where you’re coming from but the lack of another 9/11is down to FBI and the agencies realizing the real scope of the task and doubling down. Are there (will there be) abuses? Sure. But riddle me this; what’s the alternative? Accept the next 9/11 as a cost of business as usual?
there are several alternatives:
for the foreign threat matrix, simply stop screwing up other people’s countries, and mind our own bidness,and at least try to be fair and above board with the rest of the world.
for the domestic threat matrix…well, a living wage, honest BLS, and Fed numbercrunching, universal healthcare, and essentially a New New Deal…rather than continuing to blindly follow Mises, Hayek and the rest in their drowning the helping parts of the state in a bathtub.
Capital Controls and some rational Industrial Policy might be cool, too…as would removing Money Creation from Banks.
the USA only looks like a wasteland because we let it.
…rather, we let the greedheads run roughshod over us to make it thataway.
And now the Chinese (mainland, not the Kuomintang fascist thugs who invaded and subjugated Taiwan)) have published a plan for an actual comity-based revision to everything. Who knows if it’s just smoke like our rulers blow? It’s at least a hopeful sign that humans can step off the current path to perdition. May change the world conversation, if the Fokkers who rule the West and Israel don’t pull the place down on us with a nuclear blowout.
JB—You don’t know that. You are just asserting it. You could also say that the spying you applaud makes it much harder for whistleblowers to expose war crimes and helps create an atmosphere of McCarthyism and militarism. The war on terror according to the Cost of War estimates killed millions— roughly 1000 times 9/11. Once you put that much faith in the National Security State you lose a lot of power to question what they do. They have all the information and can say what they want and blackmail or arrest who they choose.
I think plenty of people are fine with this, figuring that the bad impacts will only hurt other people they don’t care about.
That’s how Israelis used to treat cafe bombings. Fix em up quick and back to normal asap. Guess robot machine gun checkpoints are better.
Thing is, 9/11 was totally avoidable. But what made it possible was that the CIA and the FBI were having their usual d***-waving competition and so refused to talk to the other or swap info. Also, when a field agent reported a number of people from the Middle East – mostly Saudis – undertaking flying lessons but refusing to learn about how to land a plane, none of his superiors cared or sent in an investigator. The Israelis seemed to know what was going down but kept that info from the US to benefit themselves. And after the attack was over and all planes were grounded, Bush had a special plane go around the US to pick up all members of the Bin Laden family to fly them back to Saudi Arabia so that the FBI could not interview them. So 9/11 had more layers in it than an onion and parts of that story are still classified to this day. But hey, the government got the Department of Homeland Security and the PATRIOT Act out of it so it was a win for them.
Actually, when looking Al-Qaeda/ISIS attacks in USA and in Europe (in Spain, in France, in Belgium, in the UK, in Austria…), your remark “it was totally avoidable” also applies, since in practically all cases:
(1) the perpetrators were known by the security services, which had compiled entire files about them — but they did not notify judges or request arrest/investigation warrants;
(2) they were under surveillance, sometimes by more than one police/intelligence service, but the various services did not communicate information to each other;
(3) they had been expressly warned (often repeatedly) by colleagues from other countries or by people personally knowing the culprits that these intended to commit a terrorist action — but they simply sat on the information and did not intervene.
So when governments, intelligence services, or police loudly demand more surveillance powers, more recording gear, more data storage capacity, and more possibilities to snoop into people’s devices, homes, cars and data tracks, my reaction is simple: they already had all that in ample sufficiency 20 years ago, but were inept at using it. They do not need more facilities, they just need to act upon what they already have.
LIHOP? HIHOP? MIHOP?
” America wants to know”.
Another conclusion is that we didn’t have another 9/11 is because they didn’t need one — “mission accomplished”. Instead we got Russia Russia Russia and now Ukraine uber alles, social media pogrommes — I mean, programs, and where govt couldn’t/didn’t enforce, say, vax mandates, they turned it over to The Private Sector and sure you could not take the vax, but you couldn’t work, travel, or visit your dying best friend in the hospital. When people tell me (which they don’t do often, but still, occasionally), that if I have nothing to hide, I have nothing to fear, I wonder aloud at at them, “Gee, do you think Anne Frank’s parents thought they had anything to hide?”
Don’t mention 9/11/2001. That story remains to be told and is nowhere near settled as you likely think.
Indeed. I believe the best detective work has been done by Jonathan Michael Goldliner, aka Michael Azaziah. Here are the main players, their priors, and how they did it:
http://www.maskofzion.com/2010/09/911-israels-grand-deception.html
Interestingly, “Azaziah” means “Yahweh is powerful” in Hebrew.
I must disagree with you. The “temporary” Patriot Act was sold as a safety policy for our own good. It was about the govt having greater control, not our safety. If they cared about our safety and health they would have cleaned up the water in Flint, Michigan; they would not have deliberately released giant clouds of toxic smoke in East Palestine, eastern Ohio, and western Pennsylvania; they would have turned on the warning sirens and the fire hydrant water in Lahaina. After watching increasing fed control chipping away at our Constitutional rights for 20+ years “because emergency”, sold with the “for your safety” sales pitch, I no longer believe them. It’s chipping away our rights bit by bit and increasing fed govt control over our lives ,(while lessening fed govt regulatory control over giant corporations). Who can forget Ah-nold’s notorious “Scr*w your rights!” or Chomsky’s “send them to camps.”
No, this is not for my safety. I cannot comply my way out of the direction these “safety measures” are going. / my 2 cents
in total agreement ‘f’ – there is no “temporary” when it comes to government’s actions, Bill Burroughs taught me that decades ago – it’s an addiction of control that is greater than H – the whole internet/cell phone situation has been a wet dream for the oligarchs – a knife with 2 sharp edges – utilizing tools built on the Bernays foundation on one edge to keep us at each other’s throat and consuming, and the other edge the free source of information, and there are always attempts to chip away at that free source edge by the other edge – the “because emergency”, sold with the “for your safety” sales pitch reflects the misattributed quote to Goering “…..All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger…..” – and i disagree with JB about the need for the FBI and CIA, they have always been scurrilous agencies which their histories of action attest to year after year – but here we are –
You may not have anything to hide now but as laws change what you’ve done in the past may become retroactively illegal. Think of all those people in California who bought guns legally only to have them declared “assault weapons” later making their owners felons. You may send an e-mail to someone agreeing with people breaking into the Senate building only to have that become evidence of your complicity later. You may not have anything to hide today but you may have something to hide yesterday, when it’s too late.
The 29th is good for me but then I live in the “lucky country”.
Pip-pip!
BIDEN ISN’T RIGHT
(melody borrowed from Strangers In The Night as performed by Frank Sinatra)
Biden Isn’t Right
Obtuse finances
Hidden out of sight
Odd circumstances
So neglectful of
Internal Revenue
Hunter’s suing folks
He’s nail biting
Trying to conceal
His Dad’s moonlighting
Congress picks apart
Their every switcheroo
Biden wants to fight
To run again
He wants to be our shining knight
Except nobody
Thinks he can get up and go
He’s moving way too slow
With so much cerebral decay
He’s useless to the USA . . . and
Someone must step in
Stop Joe’s endeavor
Before election night
He must be severed
Biden Isn’t Right
Who’ll save us from his plight?
musical interlude
Send him off on holiday
Well past Inauguration Day!
Stop his foolish plans
Of hell for leather
Joe has wandered off
Into the heather
How can we vote or fight
When Biden Isn’t Right?
I’ve got you in on the skim
I’ve got you, deep in the heart of me
So deep in my heart that you’re really a part of me
I’ve got you in on the skim
I’d tried so, not to give in
I said to myself this CCP affair never will go so well
But why should I try to resist when baby I know so well
I’ve got you in on the skim
I’d sacrifice anything come what might
For the sake of having you near
In spite of a warning voice that comes in the night
And repeats, repeats in my ear
Don’t you know, little fool
You never can win
Use your mentality
Wake up to reality
But each time that I do just the thought of you
Makes me stop before I begin
‘Cause I’ve got you in on the skim
I would sacrifice anything come what might
For the sake of having you near
In spite of a warning voice that comes in the night
And repeats how it yells in my ear
Don’t you know, little fool
You never can win
Why not use your mentality
Step up, wake up to reality
But each time I do just the thought of you
Makes me stop just before I begin
‘Cause I’ve got you in on the skim
Yes, I’ve got you in on the skim
I’ve Got You Under My Skin, performed by Frank Sinatra
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1AHec7sfZ8
Bravo to both of the above parodies!!!!!
I agree. Great lyrics!
Indeed!
“UK Journo Arrested for ‘Malinformation’ After Exposing Trudeau Applauding Nazi’
‘Thornton confirmed to Sputnik that officers from the regional Cyber Crime Unit “invited” him to be “interviewed”. When he declined, they put him under arrest and drove him to a police station in Bristol, many miles from his home.
There they attempted to serve him with a formal caution for ‘malinformation’ in relation to 16 videos he had posted on social media.
Thornton said the officers interrogated him became “flustered” when he asked which videos in particular they objected to. He added that his lawyer “ripped them to bits” and demanded the police “charge him or release him.” ‘
I can understand the confusion on the part of the officers from the regional Cyber Crime Unit. Obviously they thought that they could operate under the same rules that YouTube uses to punish people for letting slip the truth. A very easy mistake to make. Having provable allegations is so 20th century.
Russell Brand and Glenn Greenwald on Rumble, the second part of the show. Starts at the 34 minute mark.
https://rumble.com/v3lkyqz-clinton-claims-putin-will-do-what-in-2024-stay-free-212.html
Thanks – Haven’t gotten to GG yet but so far Russell has not lost his edge.
Excellent discussion. I was glad that Assange came up. It would have been nice to have had him as a third participant.
Thank you, Yves.
Further to Ukraine, my UK government official mum reports that many Ukrainian mums who accompanied their children, more often than not boys who will be of military age in the next couple of years, in the big waves of migration in May and August are returning to Ukraine and leaving their children in the care of British or other Ukrainian families. It seems the mums wanted the children to be housed and settled before returning. Schools and carers say this is upsetting the children and causing disruption.
Schools also report that Ukrainian children, not just this year’s cohorts, are struggling with study and integration. Therefore, a lot more support, financial and professional, is required, but central and local government budgets are under severe strain. There aren’t enough education and welfare professionals. Ukraine related expenditure is ring fenced and not subject to austerity and even audit / oversight, but it’s not enough.
Thank you, Colonel. Any idea why so many women feel the need to leave their children behind to go back to what is essentially a war zone? I can’t see them getting much help from the government there in regards to social services and the like. To be near their partners perhaps?
On a related note to your second paragraph, I was just reading that Natalia Naumenko, the head of Ukraine’s State Migration Service, was telling European countries not to consider the Ukrainian refugees as, well, refugees. She added ‘Fortunately, my colleagues from migration services of other countries also support me when I ask them not to consider our citizens refugees and not to create programs for their integration in the host country.’ So, no integration as they want their people back-
https://www.rt.com/news/583759-ukraine-refugees-west-naumenko/
Thank you, Rev.
I wonder, too, and will ask.
Mum has rarely direct contact with the refugees.
The social workers and teachers are rarely likely to wonder. Just not the type in the main.
Ukrainians are not lumped with other refugees as they get treatment, at least in Blighty, that other refugees (often dehumanised as bogus asylum seekers and economic migrants) don’t get. Dad’s younger sister is married to a German and teaches near Duesseldorf. She reported similar in August.
my colleagues from migration services of other countries also support me when I ask them not to consider our citizens refugees
Guess what? She (they) are technically correct.
International treaties, implemented in national legislations, distinguish between two types of asylum seekers:
a) those fleeing persecution directed against them because of their political opinions, religion, ethny, etc;
b) those fleeing a conflict that endangers their life.
People recognized to fall under category (a) are refugees proper, with the right of a permanent residence, work permit, social security, integration services, etc. People falling under category (b) are persons under subsidiary protection. They have similar rights to those of refugees, but these are not given in view of an integration; they must return to their country of origin once the conflict is over or danger has subsided.
Being recognized as a refugee is generally a long process, which countries make as stringent and discouraging as possible. The formalities to be recognized as a person requiring subsidiary protection are much less onerous (which also incentivizes countries to handle all asylum seekers as refugees, so as to be able to turn them away when they cannot prove they were personally persecuted).
In the case of Ukraine, it is pretty clear that the asylum seekers are persons asking for protection from a conflict, not fleeing persecution — although the latter case may concern those trying to escape the tender mercies of the
nazifascistnationalistmilitiasmovements incensed by their “russian” inclinations.I don’t think that those countries want to send those Ukrainians back as they want them for their own work force. That is why when Zelensky was demanding that those countries return militarily age men recently, most of them refused point blank. I guess that it was always part of the plan. Just before the Maidan blew up in 2014 they were interviewing people on the (better) streets in London and one guy in a suit was saying that he was looking forward to have the Ukrainians in as they would then be able to access a plentiful, cheap work force. And so it has come to pass.
Thank you, Rev.
Just one example: The hourly rate for the class known as elite courtesans has nearly doubled in the past 18 months.
re: “The hourly rate for the class known as elite courtesans has nearly doubled in the past 18 months.”
Of course. They are no doubt considered “essential workers.” / ;)
Um, how do you know this?
It’s a well known index. Like how in New York the people on Wall Street noticed that the harder the real economic times, the prettier the waitresses were to be found working.
With all due respect, you don’t have this right.
Zelensky was completely and utterly out of line. No country deports people on a mass basis except ones openly in the ethnic cleansing business. His demand was wildly outside any even semi-civilized legal system.
He could try to get them extradited. That is done individually through courts. Would take forever (even assuming Ukraine could identify which citizen was in which EU country) and totally tie up the court system.
Zelensky could ask for all support for military aged adults to be withdrawn to encourage them to return.
“There aren’t enough education and welfare professionals.”
long ago, when my wife was getting teacher certification…her whole class in the private,proprietary testing place kept on failing the spanish cert test….untill their last chance at it, when every one of them passed(thus earning that company $150 for every failed chance).
some of her cohort gave up…couldnt afford either the test or the trip to take it or both.
wife’s last go at it, i’m sitting in the parking lot, reading the austin papers…and there it was: Texas has a severe shortage of spanish teachers…so we’re attempting to import a bunch from places we’ve destroyed…like Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, etc.
UK gov just needs to cast a wider net…all over the third world…for these needed caregivers and such.
as luck would have it, many of those sh8thole countries used to be socialist…or near enough…and may therefore have a ready and desperate workforce in the caring industry who can be imported on the cheap.
Thank you.
These caregivers are also in demand in the EU, so there’s stiff competition.
If the caregivers don’t look like they are from an Aryan breeding programme, that’s not going to work with Ukrainians. You should see where, how and by whom they are housed, educated and entertained.
yeah,lol…i hadn’t considered the ukronazt aspect…
perhaps a test for blood quanta or something, in addition to the pigment test(do they have swatches for that, like for picking paint?)…just to be sure.
forgive me,lol…i’m feeling quite surly…largely due to an extended twitterwander in canadian media yesterday…looking for articles about hunka…and especially for public comments thereafter(the articles themselves generally dont have a comments section, notably).
particularly,that one CBC article someone linked yesterday with all the obscurantist blue and yellow smoke issuing forth really got my dander up.(“us feting a real live nazi was actually russian psywar”)
so just mentally put a /S after everything i say,lol.
I hear ya. Freeland is my MP. Getting started on my Waffen SS banner for this year’s Remembrance Day service at City Hall. In the meantime I am wearing the only orange garment I own today for National Oopsie Who Did We Kill This Time Day (officially tomorrow)- it’s a Tony Stewart No. 20 Home Depot shirt- but, as with all things Canada these days, it’s the utter lack of thought that counts. The comments on the CBC make the tar sands sludge look like crystal clear spring-fed elixir of the god(s) of your choice.
Sitting all day increases dementia risk — even if you exercise
from the letters:
A few points before readers start becoming unhinged about this report. The JAMA article makes several important points that this WaPo article neglects to explain.
First, the results are nonlinear. For example, 9.5 hours of sedentary behavior has zero risk, but 10 hours is somehow a problem. That suggests there might be some inherent weaknesses with the methodology.
Second, as the JAMA article explains, more research is needed before we can know whether sitting is causal. For example, people who sit more may be sitting because they have a condition or illness that predisposes them to dementia. Or there is a selection bias here that correlates with sitting.
Third, the risk at 10 hours is eight percent higher. So, not a big number at all. But then if you go to “at least” 12 hours, the risk rises dramatically to 63%. This makes it seem like adding two hours (from 10-12) has enormous health risks. That seems pretty odd.
Lastly, these results are based on data derived from wearing a wrist worn accelerometer for just one week. So, not an actual long term measure of behavior at all, but just a one week snap shot.
The actual JAMA paper is very clear on these points, but as is often the case with health reporting, results are presented as though this is the final word. It isn’t. These results are thought provoking. But they are far from definitive.
Appreciate those points, thank you.
One obvious question is, if there was correlation between long periods of sitting and dementia, wouldn’t it be more useful to analyze study groups by occupation? E.g. office workers and truckers versus trades such as carpentry and plumbing? It seems a bit off to go by wrist worn accelerometer, bypassing obvious occupational groups.
One small anecdote – my friend who lives in a small village 50km south of Dublin told me a few months ago the local school just took in three Russian children. Their parents are long time residents in a town 10km away but they had to be moved as there were ‘problems’ with the influx of Ukrainian children in the schools so it was considered wiser to relocate the Russians.
The only case I know of an Ukrainian mom with two boys (one of them already 18yo and the other soon to reach that age) they are all staying and planning for long term stay (years to come). From Odessa they are and I am wondering whether they will ever go back while it remains under Ukrainian control. In their case I suspect there is something more than avoiding conscription.
They have adaptation problems too. The cultural shock is indeed large.
Re: A Global Community of Shared Future: China’s Proposals and Actions
Haven’t had time to read the 30-page doc yet, but scrolled to the bottom and noticed this:
Copyright©1998-2014, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the People’s Republic of China
i havent had time, either, but i look forward to it.
of note, the verbiage and overall philosophy goes at least as far back as Zhou Enlai and his:http://ir.china-embassy.gov.cn/eng/dtxw/201407/t20140702_1894012.htm
and i get that…well…the Bill of Rights sounds, nice, too,lol….but i’m willing to extend the benefit of the doubt, and also consider that China(as well as most of the Rest of the World) haven’t really been allowed to do their own thing…USA has been all up in their bidness from the get-go.
Gooooooooood Mooooooorning Fiatnam!
Operation Loan Backer was our attempt to bond the Fiatnamese into the stone age where the only Law was John’s, and even if you didn’t make bank on the Mississippi Bubble, it made for one hellova liar’s poker word, so there’s that.
Jet ink printers would take off on bonding runs and occasionally we’d run out of toner or somebody would set it on sepia-ruining the look of the promise sorry notes, but this was the cost of doing business.
That last bit reminds me of Chief Inspector Morse’s observation on Australia-
‘A promised land full of promissory notes.’
The pending shutdown has a different feel than past epochs stopped in time for no real lasting damage done.
Benedict Donald wants to tear it all down. ‘Perishstroika’ if you’d like.
The Neo’s will use this as an opportunity to enforce the new National Motto: “E Pluribus Denarii.”
I’m wondering how long this next Shutdown will last.
I’m also wondering if the Democrat Party is ready to “capitulate” on the Grand Bargain this time?
The Donkey Show charges for admission, amigo.
If so, go long on can-openers and tins of cat food. But if they actually do it, go long tinned-food and shot-guns.
The US moved closer to a government shutdown on Thursday, with House Republicans braced to oppose a last-minute proposal forming in the Senate.
Congress faces a deadline of midnight on Saturday to pass a new budget, before thousands of federal employees are placed on unpaid leave.
The Senate has forged ahead with plans for a temporary funding agreement – which House Republicans will oppose.
But House leader Kevin McCarthy said time remained for a late agreement.
“I wake up every day optimistic,” Mr McCarthy, 58, said when asked about the odds of a deal being reached. “I’d say put your money on me. We will get this done.” (BBC)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Watching the NFL game yesterday, I was almost overwhelmed by commercials exhorting me to wager $5 to get $200 worth of free bets, and the thought occurred why not allow Fan Duel et al to offer wagering on politicians?
If My Kevin (since ‘07) was a craps table, i’d bet the farm on the don’t pass line as the goods are odd but odds are good.
Are DoD people and the military federal employees?
“FBI Arrests Air Force One Stairs For Plot To Assassinate Biden”
On a related note, Axios reports that Joe Biden’s staff are working on plans to try to stop him tripping ever since he tripped over a sandbag during an Air Force Academy ceremony in June. This includes him wearing tennis shoes more often and using the “short stairs” to ascend the steps of Air Force One which have proven themselves to be loyal American stairs and not affiliated to Donald Trump at all. Biden has also been working with a physical therapist to improve his balance and recommended exercises for him. Of course this happens with every President that has ever been in the White House-
https://www.rt.com/news/583611-biden-trip-fall-mitigation-reelection/
Deforestation comes to hundred acres wood happened to us recently (last few years). When we move here 20 years ago there was a 250 acre piece of land across from us. It was nice. Few years ago it sold to a developer and approval for 877 homes was obtained. They’re about half built out now and the nice woods are no more. Am I angry? Nope. Why not? Some family owned that land, paid taxes on it, and finally decided to cash out and sell. We’re in Florida, and many in the nation move here, we did ourselves. We sit on 5 acres, our neighbors on this side of the street do as well (5-10 acre plots predominate). Developers are calling. My next door neighbor with 15 acres said yesterday he’s fielding 5-10 calls a day. I’m not getting any. Doesn’t bother me as I’m not interested in selling (nor is my neighbor). Not a matter of money for either of us, both just too old to want to move and set up again. Same on my other side, (widow) doesn’t want to sell up either. Too much trouble. Anyway, I don’t resent those who moved here to what amounts to a $400k tract home, gotta live somewhere. After all, we were interlopers, too, when we arrived because the 5-10 acre plots were once part of a several thousand acre dairy and celery farm. As was where most others live. Part of life. Those who get upset need to chill, or get off their wallets and buy the land and pay the taxes year after year and let it sit fallow.
Tiny Town is about 1/11th size of the City of Los Angeles @ 44 square miles with less than 2,000 residents… and it’d be a developers whet dream if it weren’t for all those pesky trees that nobody wants cut down, so neat cookie cutter cubicles could be inserted in their place.
The only danger really would be baums away, if AirBnB et al had their way, in carpet bombing runs.
What saddens me is surveying has always been good enough to plan around trees (and GPS makes it too easy), but no, they’re all knocked down, huge burn piles are approved and scatter ash everywhere for weeks on end then they begin bringing in dirt to build up the land above surrounding neighborhoods. Speaking to that, water run off is not the property owner’s problem so the last guy-in sits highest and the problem becomes the neighbor’s. Anyway, the homes, sitting in a barren area when trees could have been left with just a bit of planning, are sad to see. But perish the thought of thinking ahead and creating a nicer looking neighborhood.
Everybody freaked out over a Sycamore near Hadrian’s Wall a few hundred years old that a teenager cut down, and i’ve got dozens of Sycamores that age by the river, and truth is they are aqua alcoholics-the amount of water they each consume.
I’m starting up my Ryobi 40 volt 18 inch chainsaw, waiting for daylight to appear so I can show them whose boss.
Maybe a gracefuller word for that would be . . . ” aquaholics ” ?
Sometimes the land has expansive clay, etc. and has to be excavated, compacted, and graded so the foundations for streets and buildings will be sound, which is sad but necessary. I hope that was the case in your area, but if not, yes, it’s an awful way to proceed, and leads to excessive erosion for years til the lots are built out.
Yup. When it comes to Florida development, Carl Hiassen was a Communist. It’s a very comfortable feeling to know I’ve got mine.
i am torn and conflicted on this topic.
on one hand, like you say, folks gotta live somewhere.
on the other…one of my biggest fears since i moved here(20 acres) 30 years ago was that my 4 neighbors(one widow, an old couple at the end of road, an absentee landlord, and my rancher friend who has the 1000 acres that surround us on 3 sides)…would sell, and a bunch of tickytacky barndominiums would sprout up right across the fence.
(and suck the water table dry)
Wife and i had a plan for this eventuality: if realtors ever showed up, we’d get naked and shoot guns and generally be bad prospective neighbors..until we could finagle a way to buy the property in question ourselves.
i know, i know…nimby…and those neighbors have the right, and all…
still.
Don’t worry too much Amfortas. In fifty, a hundred years, a half of the world’s population will be “gone,” and the Club of Rome Zoning Department will be ‘on the case.’
[The real problem will be finding enough labour to clean up the ‘surplus’ infrastructure from the “Age of Silicon.”]
20 years ago, somebody put in a cell tower about 3 miles to our north…since disused(!?)…and the boys eventually asked what it was.
I said, “welp…that’s a vertical, above ground steel mine, just in case”
If it’s really “surplus” goods, then it would make a dandy SSB radio antenna site.
“CQ, CQ, anybody out there listening? If you can hear me, come on over and we can smoke some cobalt cigarettes!”
East Germany is already facing this problem. I haven’t followed what their solutions are.
If SHTF does happen, how many of the former East Bloc Germans would return “home” to farm? There has to be lots of empty arable land left. There is the North German Plain after all.
Braverman on multiculturalism’s failures would be funny if not sad. She, herself the product of multiculturalism, speaks out and the irony is overwhelming. So what’s the solution? Why ethnic cleansing, of course! AfD doesn’t speak this out loud but what else do they have in mind, if not repeating what Germany did to the Jews with the Turks and the rest of Middle Eastern imported labor? There are French very tired of their banlieues populated by North African blacks as well as Middle Easterners. Did you know that President Lincoln once proposed the colonization of the Chiriquí Province, then Colombia and now Panama, to create Linconia? My point? It’s not a new thought. Will it arrive in America some day? Wouldn’t surprise me it’s already here with the skin head groups. Especially as enclaves form here, like cites in MI where Muslim citizens control government and make the rules. Me? I’m a live and let live kind of guy. Not just that I don’t care, but more like why should I get worked up because someone is a different color and prays to a different God? We’re all going to die some day (and pay taxes along the way), and when we do, if needs be, then God can sort us out. Put another way, saying the ‘issue’ is above my pay grade. Anyway, I sure hope Ms. Braverman fails to get traction in the UK, that AfD falls out of favor in Germany, that Marine falls short, and such – but – I’m not holding my breath. Why not? It’s because economic problems tend to result in folks pointing their fingers at those who are different and casting blame. Some see economic trouble brewing. So do I, so I’ve been battening down our family’s economic hatches. You may should consider it, also. Sigh.
there is no one universal definition of “multiculturalism” for everyone to fight about.
You may say Braverman benefited from “multiculturalism.” — i bet Braverman would say that she “integrated.”
I got no dog in this fight, except preferring that everyone agree on the terms before arguing about it.
I bet Braverman would say that she “integrated.”
Are you sure she is not longing for “foreign elements” to become “assimilated” rather than just integrated?
I think what she is referring to is “multiculturalism” in the literal sense, ie a country in which there are a number of different cultures living side by side, but not necessarily mixing, and where successive governments have avoided putting pressure on new immigrants to integrate by, for example, learning English, or allowing women to work. Census forms and leaflets available in different languages reinforce these divisions. This is, of course, the technique pioneered by the Ottoman Empire (and if you glance around the Mediterranean you can see the results) and subsequently adopted by the British in their colonies. The result has been the growth of cultural blocs, generally in specific geographical areas separate from, and generally hostile to, each other. Racial tensions between immigrant groups in Britain, as in most countries, have been a taboo subject until recently, but are now being acknowledged.
For instance, Liberia, the only never-colonized country in Africa. Founded by a bunch of white guys who figured the best thing to do with free Blacks was send ’em back. More here: https://www.britannica.com/topic/American-Colonization-Society
My worry here is that the real agenda is to remove the UK from international agreements relating to human rights. This, I think they assume, can be sold to the UK electorate on the basis that this way foreigners will no longer have their human rights protected, not noticing that this will also apply to UK nationals.
The slide to a police state in the UK continues. Restrictions are being imposed on the right to vote, to protest and to strike. Recently there was news about a court case where the defendants were instructed by the judge that they were not allowed to disclose certain information in their defence to the jury. If they did, they would be guilty of contempt of court, with automatic imprisonment the consequence. Some people started standing outside the court with placards reminding jurors that the decision to convict or not was theirs (not the judge’s). The judge’s reaction? To propose to hold these people in contempt of court as well.
The far right – which the Conservative Party have now become after Brexit – is well in the saddle for now. It would be nice to think Labour will be able to reverse at least some of the damage but I would not hold my breath. The way the current trend is going it seems they are likely at most to provide a breathing space of a few years before the far right are back and resume their march towards what I fear is their objective: the irreversible establishment of a far-right state in the UK.
Citizens of EU member states be warned – this is the real objective of the shadowy figures who stand behind those who call for your country to leave the EU.
And down goes DiFi. I guess the arguments against resignation are for nothing.
I’m sure her list of accomplishment such as being a senator will be remembered.
The best laid plans…
Wonder if “Just say ‘Aye’ ” will still work. I’m sure it’s in the constitution somewhere.
Thought for sure they’d do a Weekend at Bernie’s and prop her up for a while longer.
The DNC needs somewhere to put the Kamala.
“Look darling, it’s like this.”
“How dare you speak to the Vice President like that?”
“It’s either Senator Harris or you get to do an “official” visit to Camp X-Ray, as Veep of course.”
“Wait. Do I get to fly Air Force Two?”
“Uh, that’s in the hangar for repairs. We have Air Force 19 available.”
“Air Force 19? Never heard of it.”
“Yeah, you’ll love it. An old Air Force T-6A. Two seat prop plane. A great view!”
“Do I have a choice?”
“Always! Senator Harris again, or Fly the Friendly Skies!”
“Who’s going to replace me?”
“We haven’t figured that one out yet.”
“And that old bat told me that drinking the baby’s blood for breakfast was a proven therapy!”
“What?!”
“Yes Mr Know It All. The Davos Rejuvenation Cocktail.”
“How does that work?”
“First, you have to have “friends” in Immigration.”
“Say no more. I get the picture.”
“Bye the way, can I bring my own parachute?”
“You don’t trust us?”
“Remember, I came up through California State politics.”
“Oh, right. We’ll supply the parachute.”
“Well then, I guess it’ll have to be the Senate again.”
“We knew you’d understand Madame Vice President.”
Kamala problem could be resolved though…….
BIDEN/FEINSTEIN 2024!
that’s some dark stuff ‘D’ – love the gallows’s humor –
Early in the evenin’, just about supper time
Over by the Feinstein’s, Dianne startin’ to unwind
Four ambulances on the corner, trying to bring her back up
Willie Brown picks a tune out and he blows it on the harp
Down on the corner
Out in the street
Willie, Ayatollah of the Assembly playin’
Bring a new piece, tap your feet
Opportunity knocks and people just got to smile
Blinken thumps Ukraine impasse and solos for a while
Newsom twangs the rhythm out, on his spiffy do
And Willie Brown goes into a dance, doubles on whose who
Down on the corner
Out in the street
Willie, Ayatollah of the Assembly playin’
Bring a new piece, tap your feet
Down on the corner
Out in the street
Willie, Ayatollah of the Assembly playin’
Bring a new piece, tap your feet
You don’t need a Kamala, just to hang around
But if you’ve got a Newsom, won’t you lay your stable down
Over on the corner, there’s a happy noise
People come from all around to watch the pretty boy
Down on the corner
Out in the street
Willie, Ayatollah of the Assembly playin’
Bring a new piece, tap your feet
Down on the corner
Out in the street
Willie, Ayatollah of the Assembly playin’
Bring a new piece, tap your feet
Down on the corner
Out in the street
Willie, Ayatollah of the Assembly playin’
Bring a new piece, tap your feet
Down on the Corner, by CCR
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WP49V7LZP4
yep ‘p’ thought the same thing since that is pretty much what they were doing with her anyway – Weekend at Diane’s – poor old girl deserved to be retired rather than a clueless pawn – she sure didn’t seem too aware of what was going on around her –
NYC and the boroughs and Long Is and Hudson Valley under water and still raining – only the beginning of hurricane season – tough luck
DiFi started off as young, idealist “progressive” (before the political term progressive existed), then turned into an intellectually ossified pillar of the Establishment.
Need a political cartoonist to make William Hogarth-like version of “Gin Lane” using DC money instead of gin.
But don’t cry for Diane, folks—her presumably enormous estate will be handed down to her heirs at a lightly-taxed rate.
https://x.com/LACaldwellDC/status/1707744832246997200?s=20
Sen. Feinstein worked in her last hours. She voted yesterday in the Senate. on the motion to proceed to the CR.
Geez…..
Said a long time ago that the only way she would leave office is feet first and so it has come to pass – as has she. Somebody should check to see if AOC has not already moved into her office-
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/dianne-feinstein-rcna18010
Saddest person in DC today is horrid Adam Schiff. We’ll see if Newsome carries out his promise to appoint a black woman. Get out the popcorn!
My mother foolishly donated money to some Dem group and gets emails asking for donations literally every day from candidates all around the USA. On my latest visit I went through her inbox to clear out the spam (she gets all those Geek Squad and Amazon scam emails as well, alas) and there were 3 recent ones from Schiff asking for donations for a Senate run.
We’ll see if Newsome carries out his promise to appoint a black woman.
Oh please, let it be Kamala! Two problems solved.
Harris can only be replaced as the running mate or impeached. She ran for president on the platform of being Kamala Harris, nothing else. That kind of entitlement is expected of people who run for president, but they have to be defeated to accept something less. Biden isn’t FDR either.
Chief Justice? Maybe, but they don’t go on TV regularly. This is why I think Ignatius attacked Biden. They know they can’t get Harris to step down, and with Biden’s standing with African Americans, getting rid of Harris will only hurt with Biden’s supporters.
i’m pulling for Angela Davis.
>>>i’m pulling for Angela Davis.
That is a name I have not heard for a long time. If they thought AOC was bad, cue the collective freakout on the criminal, socialist-communist-anarchist, terrorist, Black Pantherite being a senator by the establishment.
I would be so happy, if only for the popcorn value.
AtH that is one damn good idea – just finished up with my volunteer work with the Conservation District plant/tree sale and came home to such a menagerie of chaos – what a treat – and i bet there is more in store – ain’t enough popcorn so break out the cognac
from her wiki page:
“She completed work for a PhD at the University of California – San Diego around 1970 but never received a degree because her manuscripts were confiscated by the FBI.”
i mean, damn! whats not to love about that woman?
she was charged with murder for supposedly providing a gun for the breakout of Soledad Brothers from a court venue which turned messy and everyone including the judge held as a hostage were killed by cop frenzy – she was acquitted by an all white jury – seems George Jackson’s little brother stole her legally registered gun for the escape attempt – a very intelligent and strong lady – she would defintely be a radical progressive and AOC would pee her pants if she had to face that woman –
Here’s the DemoDesperation plan;
Newsom appoints the Kamaleon to the Senate, as an emergency stopgap.
Biden appoints Newsom to the V.P. position.
Biden resigns.
President Newsom appoints some other unelected cutout to the V.P. position and then pardons all the Bidens.
Impossible? Didn’t that happen with Leslie Lynch King? (Gerald Ford)
Don’t pull crap like this ever again. I take umbrage at having to waste time correcting reader disinformation that you could easily have checked before posting.
The President cannot remove his VP. A VP can only resign or be removed by impeachment. Kamala was a Senator before, she would not agree to a demotion.
The President cannot appoint a VP either. He can nominate a replacement but that pick has to be approved by a majority of both Houses of Congress.
Since I proposed this scenario just yesterday (though admittedly somewhat tongue-in-cheek), I feel obligated to offer some defense of Harkness’ (also tongue-in-cheek) suggestion.
As you say, all parties would have to agree (including Harris). But certainly not impossible (as Harkness says). The VP replacement would have to be approved by Congress. But it could be just a placeholder. Biden could choose a new running mate for 2024. Not only did Ford get to be VP (and thus President) after Agnew resigned, but he was pressured by the right into making Rockefeller a lame duck VP and promising to choose another VP candidate for 1976 (which he did – Dole). Biden could choose someone non-controversial to finish out Harris’ term, or maybe even let it drag out.
Again, I’m not saying this is going to happen, or even that it is likely. But is this scenario really any crazier than the stuff we’ve been watching for the past seven years?
The Republicans in the House would not lift a finger to help Biden. And Harris will not be humiliated that way. And black Democrats would not accept it either.
> DemoDesperation plan
I think it’s worth speculating on some late Roman Republic-style shenanigans… but this ain’t it.
Certainly remember this one!
Feinstein and school kids.
Just announced– Senator Feinstein will continue to serve after her death. AI will be used to determine her probable actions and votes.
Come to think of it, are they sure she is dead? Back in France before WW1 broke out, they too were chocked with elderly politicians who refused to go. It was said at the time that if it was announced that one had died, it was best to push the old boy over just to make sure.
Morning Commentariat! Just in:
Sen. Feinstein has died at the age of 90, per Punchbowl. I wonder if she could’ve had a tiny bit more time before passing if they didn’t rush her back? What will her legacy be?
There will be some thumping of chests, but she’s been a titan of Team Blue during a period where nothing good happened. Al Gore Sr. is basically forgotten, and that guy was involved in every piece of good legislation for a decade.
DiFi’s wiki has a quoted claim about her achievements, goes into the assault weapons ban in 94, and then moves to the torture investigation and her old age. 30 years.
Then Sacramento and a host of other smaller California cities beat San Francisco to the punch of having a woman mayor. In the end, she was a nothing but an emodiment of Team Blue coasting on inertia and past accomplishments. Torture is a stain on our values, but Nancy Pelosi is still in Congress.
Time for the Hagiography. :-)
>”What will her legacy be?”
And will she lie in state? No, she already prevaricated in California.
Those Californians! Can’t wait to see what Gov Newsom decides.
1. Push Kamala to Senatorship
2. Get, uh, drafted into the Veep spot.
3. Feign surprise when Biden resigns.
4. Voilà, instant US President, at least for remainder of term.
Then figure out his rump Cabinet. Time for a new sit com.
An AppleTV exclusive!
“Reforming the UN: Possibility and Necessity”
Does the writer understand the import of what he writes? Check this section out-
‘The United Nations is the institutional embodiment of the West’s desire to preserve the international order in which it has played a leading role for more than 500 years. That is why it is fundamentally important for the United States and Europe to maintain their majority in the Security Council.’
So how would you reckon that that reads for the other 160 counties in the world? Because the west could not always get their way in the UN, they have tried to create a parallel institute of sorts which they call the ‘Rules-Based Order’ but that has also proven problematical with those 160 countries. So now the Valdai Club is discussing reforming the UN – to the benefit of the US and EU I would say. If the UN system is in crisis, it is because the west has been trying to bypass it for so long. The article talks about the mismatch in present powers and the organization as it was set up in WW2 but the real thing that the Valdai Club wants to do is to get rid of the Security Council as the west cannot control it to rubber stamp what they want to do. It’s all in the last paragraph.
“The Retail Theft Rampage Gets Worse Wall” Street Journal
Some arrests have been made and:
Interim Police Commissioner John Stanford said police are looking into whether “there was possibly a caravan of a number of different vehicles that were going from location to location.”
Somebody is organizing groups with cars.
And hasn’t their been a social media aspect to some of the mob smash amd grabs?
So the organizers have to have gas money and probably bail money too.
The state of the investagtion – so many people that can roll over on their accomplices – would be much more interesting to hear about that progressive vs conservative BS. The focus on that instead of a case that has leads everywhere you look also bears investigation.
To clarify my morning mumbo jumbo…solve the crimes, get to the root of it all…instead of worrying about the politics.
I wonder what adds up to more money: the occasional smash and grabs of products from the shelves and maybe on pallets in storage, OR, the everyday wage theft of workers as overtime is routinely dismissed and nonexempt staff misclassified as exempt.
If indeed it’s organized and large quantities of goods are being fenced, where are they being fenced? Amazon? Asia?
For the high-end stuff, like Chanel and Louis Vuitton, the goods have unique IDs and are trackable (some digitally via RFID and QR codes, some with engraved numbers).
So there’s a story here that is, perhaps, more interesting than aghastitude about “mobs” of young, non-white men in hoodies, as seen in countless viral videos. A story oddly uncovered by the business press, since I’ve been seeing these videos forever, it seems.
‘Sitting all day increases dementia risk’
Husband has one of those fitness trackers that tells him to get up if he sits for more than 20 minutes. He turned the function off, saying it didn’t help. It was the collective time sitting at a desk that bothered his low back, worse with age of course. Eventually, our ‘nasty habits’ catch up?
At some point sitting became ‘nasty’. It used to be a privilege much to be desired*. Like most privileges, we may have taken it a little too far. Dementia seems like a steep price for physical passivity and yet… if someone smokes a pack a day for 50 years (fairly passive) I just feel like the diagnosis of lung cancer is righteous. Any other form of death for them instead is somehow cheating.
I knew a woman who died of an aggressive form of lung cancer, still in her early 50’s, who had never smoked. I’ve had three cancers, never smoked. My mother smoked all her adult life, probably smoking when she had that final heart attack, (I don’t know for sure but the image pleases me), no evidence of cancer in her coal black lungs. Where’s the ’cause and effect’, people?
‘Dementia’, much like those diagnosed with it, seems to be a catch-all for ‘I’m not entirely sure any more’.’.
*So, before there was the ‘privilege’ of sitting all day, there was no dementia? It’s an entirely modern diagnosis?
Sitting all day at a desk was not always so. In the 19th century standing desks were often found-
https://www.btod.com/blog/history-of-standing-desks/
But I don’t think that would help your hubby’s back at all.
Several people on our campus, including one of my coworkers, have adopted sit-stand desks. They are easily adjustable in height. She has severe back problems (has had at least two back surgeries) and definitely finds that alternating between sitting and standing at her desk throughout the day is helpful.
Get him a bicycle. On;y feed him after his daily bike ride, starting at 5 miles and working up to to 10 miles..
Snow and Ice are exceptions. Pass him the shovel for Snow, No exception for Rain is.
From comments on Sitting all day increases dementia risk — even if you exercise, here is an excellent critique:
“A few points before readers start becoming unhinged about this report. The JAMA article makes several important points that this WaPo article neglects to explain.
First, the results are nonlinear. For example, 9.5 hours of sedentary behavior has zero risk, but 10 hours is somehow a problem. That suggests there might be some inherent weaknesses with the methodology.
Second, as the JAMA article explains, more research is needed before we can know whether sitting is causal. For example, people who sit more may be sitting because they have a condition or illness that predisposes them to dementia. Or there is a selection bias here that correlates with sitting.
Third, the risk at 10 hours is eight percent higher. So, not a big number at all. But then if you go to “at least” 12 hours, the risk rises dramatically to 63%. This makes it seem like adding two hours (from 10-12) has enormous health risks. That seems pretty odd.
Lastly, these results are based on data derived from wearing a wrist worn accelerometer for just one week. So, not an actual long term measure of behavior at all, but just a one week snap shot.
The actual JAMA paper is very clear on these points, but as is often the case with health reporting, results are presented as though this is the final word. It isn’t. These results are thought provoking. But they are far from definitive.”
“Unhinged”? I think the commentariat of NC could be best characterized by their skepticism and level-headedness, regardless of the subject. If you see so much as a single exclamation mark, it was put there to express some level of amusement or exasperation… that’s light years from ‘unhinged’.
You are welcome to test that assertion. Please announce your intentions a bit in advance… I’ll bring the popcorn and a comfy chair… no, maybe standing would be better. I’m old.
Dr. Smith reposted a comment from the Post, verbatim, whose commentariat is not generally characterized by skepticism or level-headedness.
Perhaps I should have included an exclamation mark, Chevy?! (I noticed the exclamation marks.)
Nevermind.
In happier news, the pool for who will be the 12th bitten by the First Dog is building, with the aspect of just asking for it in order to win the sweepstakes arousing suspicions of other secret service agents.
Or what insurers refer to as a Risk Pool.
I’m waiting for the headline: “Gallant Secret Service Agent bites White House Dog in Bid to Protect President!”
Torture victim at Guantanamo has been diagnosed with “persecutory delusional disorder”. Medical files detailing his “treatment” have been sealed by the judge.
Shining city on a hill.
Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you?
> Torture victim at Guantanamo has been diagnosed with “persecutory delusional disorder”.
Here’s the link for that. Lots of useful precdents being set at Gitmo.
I’ve become curious as to what is making pooch so cranky… so many possibilities. I pride myself on being the kind of person dogs just seem to understand like them, even from a distance. Yesterday out on the beach, an off-leash dog turned to look at us and got a sudden case of the zoomies, after two passes came to a sand-spraying halt at my feet, and dropped his ass like I’d said ‘sit’. He had gone into ‘beg’ mode… it might have had something to do with the biscuits in my pockets, but I prefer to call it ‘animal magnetism’.
I suppose therefore there are ways of hedging one’s bet.
>Sitting all day increases dementia risk
Whew! I’m relieved that the study doesn’t say anything about the dementia risks of lying down. Because I usually watch TV and read lying down—several hours at a time.
Many years ago in university I read an article that held that the supine position increased comprehension and retention. Better blood circulation to the brain? Regardless, I didn’t follow the advice and studied at my desk. Dropped out after two years. Anecdotal confirmation of the theory?
I suppose hanging upside down by your ankles in one of those gravity inversion contraptions is out? Think of what might be accomplished with that much cerebral blood flow.
the folks of a buddy of mine in high school had one of those things in their living room…we all tried it out, of course.
but that was before my wreck…and about 20 years before i might need such a thing.
i think about that contraption when hurricanes enter the Gulf, and all my bones are suddenly in invisible vices.
and…like Mildred, when i aint shuffling and staggering and lurching around doin farmer things, i’m in my bed…although not supine unless i’m asleep; i build a nest each day of the 25 pillows in order to prop up my mortal remains.
only chair on this place that’s comfortable to me is the bar stump(actual stump), which somehow, seems good for my back.
i dig the big clawfoot tub in the little greenhouse, too(liberated from being a water trough)…but one can only spend so much time in there.
My inversion table did not agree with my surgically repaired knee. Same for the vibration plate Janet loves.
Gravity Chairs came along after I stopped using the table, some of the benefits with less trauma. I use ours occasionally, tho I only sit still for long when I’m smeared out watching sports. I should try it with some Delta 8 gummies, could be a good match.
Bring back the Hula Chair! “If you can sit, you can get fit.”
Selling points included “stimulating body awareness and verve while massaging inner organs.”
https://collection.museumoffailure.com/hawaii-chair/
Re The Canada Files–so, step aside South America and The Boys From Brazil should really be called The Boys From Ottawa? The article makes a convincing case that ex-Nazis were allowed and even encouraged to find rescue in Canada but to my reading is vague as to who was making these decisions. Of course the year 1947 was kickoff to a wave of anti-Communism in general with the US being red baiting central. We imported plenty of our own Nazis and one of them helped us land on the moon.
But this latest episode does put paid to the notion that the great white north is a hotbed of liberalism and enlightenment as opposed to yet another example of being me too to big southern brother. That said, here we do try to draw the line when it comes to tributes to ex Nazis. Even Von Braun has his own satirical song.
Kept out of the Kamloops is no excuse, even if you politely accuse Russian propaganda of being Indian givers.
We got all the practical Nazis. I’ve been to the rocket center in Huntsville where they had a little display of what Von Braun’s office looked like. The Redstone was a V-2 in disguise.
Of course when it came to the slave labor rocket factories during WW2 he, in the words of Sgt. Schultz, knew “nothing, nothing! [add German accent]”
There are several members of the commentariat who know China better than I do, but I have worked on books with authors who know China well, and I find the Foreign Affairs article a tad fishy (phishing?).
Foreign Affairs. Xi Doesn’t Trust the PLA.
Sheesh. This spook / commentator, Wuthnow, from the National Defense University is over-egging the pudding, as Yves Smith often writes.
There may be tensions between the communist party and the Peoples Liberation Army, but the PLA has always been controlled by the communist party. How does Wuthnow think that Chairman Mao and associates won the war against the Kuomingtang and Chiang Kai-shek?
Misleading: “Although Xi has established himself as a powerful CMC chair, the PLA is still at its core a self-governing institution. Unlike Western militaries, there are no external checks and balances, such as congressional oversight, an independent judiciary, or investigative reporters.”
Wuthnow keeps mentioning the Central Military Commission without understanding what it is: It is the way for the party and government (and party as government) to control the military, that is, oversight.
Further, given how little oversight the U.S. Congress gives the U.S. military, am I to take the terms “congressional oversight” seriously here? Project Ukraine consists of the U.S. Congress (plus Canadian fanbois and fanchicks) shoveling money into the Most Corrupt Country in Europe. Meanwhile, all of that oversight hasn’t amounted to anything as we discover that the U.S. weapons don’t work and that repairs can’t be made because software is proprietary. Let alone that the U.S. government is allowing the soldiers to subsist on a diet of on-base Taco Bells.
Further, the U.S. military (like most militaries) has its own judicial system. Military cases don’t go to the federal district courts. Even the whole “don’t ask don’t tell” controversy didn’t go through the civilian district courts.
Further, further, Wuthnow bumbles into his own answer: In a 2014 landmark speech at Gutian, the site of the famous 1929 Party Congress that established the principle that the “party commands the gun,” Xi exhorted the virtues of proper discipline among PLA officers, whom he accused of being “too lax” in their duties and too focused on personal aggrandizement over their professional responsibilities to “fight and win wars.”
Who at Foreign Affairs benefits from publishing misguided tripe like this? Or is this foray one of the first attempts to heat up “regime change” in China? Military coup in China? Oh, that’s what is needed.
Ask Chiang Kai-shek how that worked out.
I assume anything in Foreign Affairs to be dangerously wrong unless there is a reason to think otherwise. But it is the US foreign policy rag, so it bears watching.
Ha!
yeah i read it when they let me, just to keep abreast of whats on the Blob’s hive mind.
but i find i hafta keep such perusal down to once a week, lest i get too far above my usual, background level of ire and disgust.
its almost like a reverse weather rock…when its wet, it aint raining…and so on.
and, i note, that after many, many years of reading such things…they’ve gotten much, much worse.
Reminded of an old yarn diagram from the Daily Bell which was anti AET libertarian blog just post GFC and wowzers at the Lippmann press web of interconnected media orifices used to spew mind think like Temple Grandin wrangling cattle so the herd is not spooked before slaughter and the meat is not only more tender – but tastes better … man its so broad and varied and sophisticated from a marketing/Bernays PR methodology.
They can compartmentalize vast swaths of humanity into little pigeonholes via countless ideological axiom cornerstones, from whole cloth, and simultaneously having them infighting over minutia, whilst inexorably driving the whole herd in the same direction.
I was lucky mate, informed about all that style of mental manipulation around the age of 6th grade, sorta like elite families don’t let their kids have the same digital toys, sometimes called educational devices [lmmao] thingy … rots your brain … that is for the herd and not us …
> People are done accepting praise as a form of compensation. [okdoomer]
> The second is what I call the Credentialism of Status… there are those who believe that their very individual status entitles them to be heard, even if they know nothing about the subject. Fame, or at least being tolerably well known, entitles you to be listened to. [Aurelien]
Howard S Becker in “Art Worlds” elucidates how an artist gains status, and it’s much about having a wealthy patron who can confer that status through showings (Follow the Money, and didn’t Anne Hathaway look marvelous at the Albies as she ‘is stepping out to support defenders of justice.’) Status can also confer status, contagion-like, having been conferred upon.
The cooperation equation for Reputation involves the likelihood of the person having heard of the person they’re being asked to cooperate with. Taken as the particular, it goes from a personal recommendation and expands to fame (No-Tippin’ Pippin). The point is that the recommendation is a form of praise.
In FlexNet scenarios it acts as a currency, but at a subsistence level it’s not worth much, and Pandit et al suggested that half the population needs to be at subsistence for a class system to form. If the percent population at subsistence levels expands (as happens when living costs increase ex wages), fewer are able to work for praise.
> The first, I suggest, is the belief that there are fields of expertise called “strategy” or “geopolitics” which enable those who are members (or see themselves so) to hold forth on any issue.
Strategos originally meant battlefield command, which would now be considered tactical, with Grand Strategy meaning the person is beyond directly dealing with the consequences of failure. I’m entering my autumn abstraction phase and was looking at film genres, and I was struck by how much genre is constructed to widen the audience (Follow the Money). Romantic Comedy, Action Comedy, Space Opera, Cowboys in Space, all are designed to pull in different demographic/interest groups to the same theater.
Likewise, at a level above subsistence, someone can make a living slapping categories together if someone buys it. (@PeterZeihan: Geopolitical strategist, speaker, author.) But it takes being at a class level above subsistence, and another level above ‘where you do actually have to know something.’
I think that’s an excellent point. Also, a lot of high-intensity activities (lifting, for example) train neuromuscular efficiency – generating power in the big compound lifts requires a lot of coordination from your nervous system (as I’m sure you know from personal experience).
Intensity matters in weight training (if you want to grow muscle mass) because you have to stress all of the muscle at once to activate the growth process. That means moving (with good form) heavier and heavier weights. But that is just the beginning. You need a good diet with sufficient protein to allow muscle to grow during the rest/repair period.
There are health benefits from a modest pace (non-intense) activity (running, stretching, yoga), but it is not usually going to improve muscle mass or some other physical capacity.
This is huge. Signals Russia considers nuclear risk now not just a theoretical probability but crossed over into being an imminent threat that requires in practice simulation. Prior to this, WW3 threat more huff & puff but not anymore. I suspect Russia intends to take Ukraine (only leaving 5 western oblasts) and Putin is preparing for likely escalation from US/UK which will be nuclear.
https://metro.co.uk/2023/09/29/russia-putin-to-stage-first-nationwide-nuclear-attack-exercise-19576216/
Similarly, America is going to do a Civil Defense communications drill on Oct. 4. So, both sides are preparing.
See: https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/4222446-test-of-fema-emergency-alert-system-planned-for-early-october/
If the Government does “shut down” on Oct. 1…..
We live in interesting times.
with regard to nazigate.eh :- the university of alberta has today returned a 2019 donation from hunka’s family directed to the canadian institute of ukrainian studies at the university, and closed an endowment in his name. -a.v.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/yaroslav-hunka-endowment-closed-1.6980882
Mistakes were made …