How Scientists Tracked the Movements of a 17,000-Year-Old Woolly Mammoth Smithsonian
How Far Can Sharks Smell Blood? Field & Stream
“Techno-optimism” is a sign of V.C. crisis Read Max
Who You Calling Dumb Money? Everyday Investors Do Just Fine WSJ
These lawsuits could upend the real estate market Axios
An economic warning sign that preceded two past recessions is flashing ominously red again Bloomberg
Climate
The 2023 state of the climate report: Entering uncharted territory BioScience. Handy, readable compendium.
New study shows Hunga-Tonga Hunga-Ha’apai eruption depleted ozone layer Phys.org
Central Africa Forest Initiative (CAFI): A classic case of climate funding fraud in Africa MR Online
Giant ‘Gravity Hole’ in the Ocean May Be the Ghost of an Ancient Sea Scientific American
China?
Politics poses the biggest threat to economic growth in China Martin Wolf, FT
Removal of Li Shangfu as China’s defence minister ends stratospheric career in space, military and government Channel News Asia
Chinese lawmakers review proposed changes to state secrets law amid national security push South China Morning Post
China says US ‘exaggerates’ its military threat in new report Al Jazeera
Between the US and China Asia Media Centre
Dear Old Blighty
High noon in the Commons on Israel and Gaza Politico. “[I]t’s not just Muslim MPs who have been raising concerns with the leadership. A shadow minister said: ‘It’s united MPs on the left, right and center of the party … There’s no recognition that we are haemorrhaging Muslim votes massively, enough to lose seats if there was an election tomorrow.'” Starmer owes his prime ministership — and the PLP their power — to an intervention by the spooks, the press, and Israel’s embassy. Will they stay bought? Commentary:
NEW: Entire Leicester City Council Labour group has unanimously called upon party leaders, including Keir Starmer, to call for a ceasefire and the end of collective punishment in Gaza. This after senior members including David Lammy held talks with them to address their concerns pic.twitter.com/Aro2E3JlZn
— Darshna Soni (@darshnasoni) October 24, 2023
Woman slams selfish paragliders who ‘made her think Hamas were invading Doncaster’ The Mirror
Syraqistan
Now freed, an Israeli hostage describes the ‘hell’ of harrowing Hamas attack and terrifying capture AP. Video:
In the last second, 85-year-old Israeli hostage released from her Hamas captors reaches her hand back to the terrorist who kidnapped her and says “shalom” – meaning both goodbye and peace in Hebrew.
That’s the difference. pic.twitter.com/KucQQQ7oLt
— Lior Hamovitz 🌍 (@LiorHamovitz) October 23, 2023
Israeli army targets military infrastructure in Syria Anadolu Agency
US moves to deter Iran ahead of Israel’s invasion of Gaza FT
Saudi crown prince tells Biden that military escalation in Gaza needs to stop Anadolu Agency
US resists ceasefire call in UN Security Council debate on Israel-Gaza war Al Jazeera
In Hours of Israel/Gaza Crisis Coverage, a Word You’ll Seldom Hear: ‘Ceasefire’ FAIR
* * * ‘It’s like being underwater’: What Israeli soldiers will face inside the labyrinth of Hamas tunnels NBC
U.S. Raises Concerns About Israel’s Plan of Action in Gaza, Officials Say NYT. The deck: “The Pentagon has sent officers to help the Israelis with the challenges of fighting an urban war.”
This Will Be Worse Than Iraq Compact
* * * Thoughts on Israel and Gaza Barack Obama
Israeli think tank lays out a blueprint for the complete ethnic cleansing of Gaza Mondoweiss
Israel’s military tells UN in Gaza: ask Hamas for fuel Reuters (Furzy Mouse).
The ‘godfather of human rights’ criticized Israeli ‘apartheid’ — now he’s calling out the left for making excuses for Hamas (interview) Kenneth Roth, Forward. Interestingly:
[ROTH:] Even before this latest conflict, the two-state solution was dead. I took an interesting tour with Breaking the Silence (the human rights group composed of IDF veterans) and saw a quasi-aerial view of the West Bank. By the time you consider the settlements, the outposts and the bypass roads, what you’re left with is a Swiss cheese of Palestinian enclaves, but nothing that would allow a contiguous, viable state.
I was left with the sad conclusion that the relentless settlement expansion pursued by various Israeli governments (not just Netanyahu) has pretty much killed a two-state solution. I think that is why more and more observers have begun to call the situation a one-state reality between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. That’s just all that’s left.
Given that reality, one has to ask, “What is life like under that one-state reality?” The conclusion that every serious human rights group that has looked at the issue has arrived at is that this is apartheid. The answer to apartheid is equal rights.
* * * Chartbook 248: “American leadership is what holds the world together.” Joe Biden October 2023 … just let that sink in. Adam Tooze, Substack
Biden Urges Americans Not To Let Dangerous Online Rhetoric Humanize Palestinians The Onion
* * * National self-determination is a vicious idea Steve Randy Waldman, Interfluidity
A Coup d’État in Israel? The Anarchist Library. From March, still germane.
Israel-Hamas Conflict: What Young Palestinians Think About Four Key Issues That Affect Their Lives Madras Courier
Doomsday Diaries The Baffler
New Not-So-Cold War
Russians try to encircle Avdiivka, attacking near Klishchiivka and Andriivka − General Staff Ukrainska Pravda. I assume this means Avdiivka is already encircled. Indeed–
SITREP 10/24/23: Avdeevka Victories Confirmed as Mid-East Continues Slide Toward War Simplicius the Thinker(s). The “Slag Heap” seems like a fine metaphor.
* * * Ukraine exports 700,000 T grain via new Black Sea corridor – minister Hellenic Shipping News
* * * Russian morale has broken against the steel hearts of Ukraine The Telegraph
Ukrainian spies with deep ties to CIA wage shadow war against Russia WaPo
Republican Funhouse
Mike Johnson wins House GOP’s latest speaker nomination Politico. Meanwhile, inside the Republican caucus:
Super snarky McClintock letter to the 8 who voted to oust McCarthy… “we truly don’t deserve you.”
Notes the world burning too pic.twitter.com/2qgK668ikJ
— Olivia Beavers (@Olivia_Beavers) October 21, 2023
Surely “Dear Wayward Colleague” deserves a place in The Salutation Pantheon beside “My Brother in Christ.”
Digital Watch
Exclusive Data: Twitter Is Shrinking Under Elon Musk Big Technology. “Power users — the top 10% — account for 72% of all time spent on the app, slightly more than the 70% they spent inside X in October 2022. This indicates that either a new group of power users replaced those who left or that power users and casual users left in consistent numbers.” Also, Threads is nowhere. What a shame.
Inside the deranged mind of Twitter’s ‘For You’ algorithm Nate Silver, Silver Bulletin. My experience is that the algo is actually better under Musk than before (although “better” isn’t the same as “good”). Presumably the algo has enough information on my preferences to deviate from the “bro-y” defaults Silver encountered.
* * * Artists Can Now Sabotage AI Image Generators to Fight Art Theft Daily Beast. Now do text.
Decentralized Matrix messaging network says it now has 115M users Bleeping Computer
The Internet Could Be So Good. Really. The Atlantic. Interesting:
Through all of this work, we came to a big realization about what our conversations had that many online conversations do not: clear roles for key participants. We had conversation organizers, facilitators, curators, prompt designers, and analyzers to find and make sense of patterns of experience that emerged across conversations. Inviting individuals to play these roles in a social dialogue network is an opportunity to participate in civic and democratic processes. Some online spaces already have moderators or admins, but we began to wonder what it would look like if we built a platform that resembled the conversations we had around our digital hearth. And that is the path our teams at MIT and Cortico are now on.
Obviously, such an approach requires participants to have shared values and commitments. Many of today’s trolls and fly-by meme makers aren’t really looking for civic discourse.
The Bezzle
California orders Cruise driverless cars off the roads because of safety concerns NPR
Our Famously Free Press
Interesting:
Interesting https://t.co/4Iva1v41SO
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 23, 2023
Healthcare
Supply Chain
Port of Los Angeles ready for bountiful container volumes Freight Waves
The dark side Splash 247
Class Warfare
Americans Continue to Back UAW’s Negotiating Stance and Strike Morning Consult
What The UAW Strike Looks Like, From Deep in the Heart Of Anti-Union Texas Texas Observer
St. Lawrence Seaway strike leaving goods, ships stranded at Port of Thunder Bay CBC
A family portrait of human brain cells Science
Antidote du jour (via):
Bonus antidote:
We are all familiar with the saying, ‘it takes a village to raise a child.’ This adage applies equally to elephant society! Juvenile females learn vital mothering skills by taking care of the calves, a behaviour that is referred to as allomothering. #TheElephantEthogram pic.twitter.com/RqHbuhtQXe
— ElephantVoices (@elephantvoices) October 19, 2023
Double bonus antidote:
The bond between a mother elephant and her calves is one of the most remarkable and heartwarming relationships in the animal kingdom. Here's a glimpse into this incredible bond:
1. Unbreakable Emotional Connection:
– Mother elephants, also known as cows, form incredibly… pic.twitter.com/xB3JcsmiMf
— Intriguing Stories & Facts (@CSF_i7) October 19, 2023
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
125 comments
Comments are closed.
>Thoughts on Israel and Gaza Barack Obama
I fully support President Biden’s call for the United States to support our long-time ally in going after Hamas, dismantling its military capabilities, and facilitating the safe return of hundreds of hostages to their families.
I was debating with myself if I should click on the link, I couldn’t help myself. The word ceasefire did not appear once in the article. At the end of his essay, he links to a Thomas Friedman article in the NYT as a suggestion for further reading. He also warns us that “In an age of constant rancor, trolling and misinformation on social media…” we should “at least make the effort to model, in our own words and actions, the kind of world we want them to inherit.”
I’m glad I wasn’t disappointed, it was what I expected.
The Mendacity of Dope/Nope was always perfect to describe Obama.
On the other hand, this is possibly the boldest and most intelligent set of points he’s ever made. He cowers by supporting the White House with the “now is not the time for a cease fire line.” (Can you imagine the Team Blue pr types who came up with that?)
My guess is Obama doesn’t want of be associated with the genocide.
Your last point: exactly!
From the perspective of the Zionists I had lunch with last Sunday, by pointing out a distinction between Hamas and Palestinians, Obama is siding with the Nazis, but from my own perspective, falling back on the patently impossible “two state solution” leaves the big O tangled in the razor wire the fence.
Obama, who bragged about being good at killing people, begat Biden.
You wonder where the Nobel peace prize is displayed.
Touché
The advertising line is “Hamas”; the tactical target is any human not bugging out of Gaza.
This is “Israel versus Palestine”, any use of words that divert against the real target is not helpful to humans.
I noticed Saint O. decided to speak up about Gaza… just around the time that FOIA info spilled concerning his former cook’s death.
Shiny Object or coinkidink ?
Link?!!
They are talking about the article in Links today-
“Thoughts on Israel and Gaza” at
https://barackobama.medium.com/my-statement-on-israel-and-gaza-a6c397f09a30
“Condemn murder. Condemn violence, imprisonment, all forms of oppression. But if your shock and distress comes only at the sight of certain brutalized bodies? If you speak out but not when Palestinian bodies are besieged and murdered, abducted and imprisoned? Then it is worth asking yourself which brutalization is acceptable to you, even quietly, even subconsciously, and which is not.
Name the discrepancy and own it. If you can’t be equitable, be honest.”
Why Must Palestinians Audition for Your Empathy? (NY Times!)
“Woman slams selfish paragliders who ‘made her think Hamas were invading Doncaster’ ”
Wasn’t this the same women who saw a weather balloon a while ago and started to scream about Chinese balloons spying on her. You would have to be a pretty hysterical sort of person to believe in the later.
In no way shape or form does that resemble old men who shake tiny fist on cloud!
I’ve tandem paraglided a few times in NZ, its so quiet up there once you leave the burden of gravity behind. I was in charge of the LAWS rocket on one occasion in the south island.
We had a dog who did the same thing, freaking out whenever a hot air balloon or a hang glider was visible in the air.
Seemed kind of lame even for a dog.
I LOLed because of the Avdeevka comment attached to the Pravda link. It is not, but the situation is growing dire for Ukrainian forces there. Some TG rumors that Zelensky is demanding it be held at all costs.
Zelensky, Biden and Netanyahu (along with their subordinates) are all making the same mistakes. They talk a lot and make extraordinary bold claims without the apparent means to execute those claims. From we’ll liberate Crimea to we can fight two wars at one time to we’ll exterminate Hamas. They’ve adopted the Clausewitz maxim of war as a continuation of politics by other means and made it fully post-modern by attempting to apply post-modern political technique to war. A bold but futile strategy.
Military Summary says after several ill fated attempts, Russia appears to have a small solid toe hold in Adviika which will likely be a slow fatal sign for Ukraine there. His comments on Russian use of drones suggests massive use.
Things are really going bad for the Ukraine, especially as Zelensky is throwing every force that he has into battle to save his hide. Recently they ordered in Mig-29 fighters to the front and in a space of only 10 days, the Russians shot down 17 of them which is totally not sustainable. The Polish and Slovakian air forces have been giving the Ukrainians their older fighters but the problem for the Ukrainians is not the loss of the planes themselves but the loss of all those pilots whose skills take several years to replace. Just another needless waste of lives-
https://sputnikglobe.com/20231024/ukrainian-mig-29-losses-spotlight-superiority-of-russias-air-force-1114457048.html
MoA is speculating a new air-to-air missile explains the recent increase in Ukrainian air losses.
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2023/10/ukraines-sudden-high-air-losses-likely-caused-by-new-russian-missiles.html
Military Summary also mentioned that a couple days ago. Apparently the added range has caught the AFU by surprise.
I’m confused. I thought Ukraine had no air force left for some time. And, where are these jets kept and maintained? Wouldn’t those air fields be targets? Hard to hide.
Probably in Poland, that at least has been talked about for quite a while.
To the degree they are inside Ukraine itself they are apparently constantly being moved from airfield to airfield (the airfields themselves being huge and almost impossible to make unusable for long).
They are apparently also parking them underground whenever that is possible, with the Russians only being to effectively hit then when they are actually in the air (of course they did destroy a great many right at the start but the Ukrainians of course adapted as well as possible) and flying over ukrainian territory.
A new and superior air to air missile type could easily make a big difference there, but it seems likely that the Ukrainians also have been “helping” the Russians by perhaps trying to increase air attacks (which by itself would probably a sign that things ain’t going that well?).
According to the MSM, Ukraine has managed to restore around 20 Mig-29 air frames from the old Soviet era storage, and has received about 30 from Poland and Slovakia.
It’s a plane they have experience with, and it’s a plane that was designed to operate from roads and fields. The older models are also relatively simple machines, meant to take off, dash at mach 2 towards the enemy, release the payload and return.
That means they can be “maintained” in field conditions for quite long periods of time. Especially assuming the Ukrainian pilots are taking off with machines in less than satisfactory condition.
Interesting take in the Simpicius dispatch today, that full mobilization, at this point, still hasn’t happened, but, more startling, is that Kiev is like a little island/bubble with citizens strangely detached and ill informed about this war. Explains to me how NYT pundits can arrive in that city, have a few nice meals, look around, and report back to the readers that the Ukranians are so brave and resilient! They forge on, into a peaceful, democratic future! But, take away the force shield of tens of billions of dollars feeding the illusion, and it will quickly turn into chaos in the streets. And pitchforks and torches at Zelensky’s door.
They’ll just use sheep-dipped western pilots when it comes time to fly F-16s, Gripens, etc..
This is floating up today as well:
Russia employed the latest S-400 air defense system in conjunction with an A-50 flying radar in the special military operation in Ukraine, a source close to the Defense Ministry told TASS on Wednesday, commenting on the defense minister’s words that over 20 Ukrainian warplanes were downed by new weapons lately.
https://tass.com/politics/1696579
At least that’s the published claim. Using A-50U AWACS for launch-on-remote at under-the-horizon targets. The missile goes on inertial navigation with course corrections, then activates its own radar seeker near the interception point.
I saw some unverified claims that the modernized A-50U can actually take control of the missiles and do the midway corrections.
There are a lot of speculations around. Maybe the MoD will tell us. In some 20 years.
Anyway, that’s pretty big. The tallest masts for S-300 and its successors are something like 40 m, with the 25 m ones being the most common. (https://www.ausairpower.net/APA-40V6M-Mast-System.html) Normally, that means that anything flying below 1000 m at a 200-something km distance does it with impunity.
What happened to “Speak softly and carry a big stick”?
“We truly don’t deserve you…”. Wow; a poor, beleagured, and beset-upon Republican U.S. Representative is a victim! Like all who see themselves as victims, this reflects an abnegation of personal responsibility. I say, where were you and your party members during the Trump impeachment votes? Where was your voice when Trump knowingly and fraudulently claimed the 2020 election was stolen? How did your colleagues vote in Congress on January 6th? Where were Republican leaders and primary voters in MO and elsewhere when these 8 vipers you disclaim responsibility for were still in the egg? You are deluded individually and collectively, and are personally responsible for that state of delusion. Republicans, anyone who identifies with that label, are complicit, particulaly including those who decry Trump, MAGA, and the Gang of Eight while remaining in the party. I invite you to wake up from your delusional sleep and take responsibility for what you have become. Nothing will change until you see and acknowledge your own role in creating this situation.
Wow, a poor beleaguered and beset upon Democratic tribal member is a victim of all those horrid Republicans who first didn’t rid them of Orange Man Bad, but now also a victim of the Republicans who have seen your wisdom but aren’t wrecking enough punishment on those that haven’t torn their tunics asunder in an act of repentance for not bowing to Biden or at least not keeping their actions to undermine an election on the downlow like Democrats did with Russiagate. Even worse those anti abortionists didn’t rip those eight vipers from the womb. (I did love how you worked that in there without being as obvious as I am so you could deny that implication.) I don’t suppose I should point out to you the Democrats could have kept Kevin as Speaker if they had just taken it on the chin and picked a dozen or so reps from conservative districts to vote for him. But then they would have to take responsibility for what THEY have become.
Gotta love it,
Sincerely,
An old school hippie Democrat who is appalled those eight have more balls and in a sense integrity to stand up for what they believe in than the supposedly liberal gang did. Holding Pelosi to the fire to require some concessions and consideration might have actually meant Democrats wouldn’t be the most corporate supplicant majority House of Congress in my lifetime. But no they are just as bought and deserving of being ripped from the egg in primaries as the rest of the Democratic Congress. (Since the primaries were fixed for Biden that just wouldn’t have been possible as much as it is to be wished.)
I think of this all the time “The Democrats could have kept Kevin as Speaker if they had just taken it on the chin and picked a dozen or so reps from conservative districts to vote for him.”
A unanimous party vote for denying McCarthy House leadership. Who will they blame if no leader is selected before the end of the year, if the government shuts down, if no aid package goes to their beloved colonial project in Israel? Not themselves, of course, they are utterly
cluelessblameless.“A house divided against itself, cannot stand.” I believe this government cannot endure permanently half Jekyll and half Hyde. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved – I do not expect the house to fall – but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other.
Its fascinating the amateurish way Jordan went about trying to procure opus dais with anonymous threats to Congress members & their families. (hey nice life you got going on there, it’d be a pity if something were to happen to it if you didn’t vote for Jim…
When Mark Meadows missives were released, I couldn’t believe what I was reading in regards to the Freedom Caucus & Benedict Donald, these knaves weren’t even up to Keystone Kop standards, comical and not in a laugh out loud manner, more of a ‘what if they got in power?’ nervous giggle.
Ds should have voted to keep Kevin? Yeah! Imagine if things were the other way around, moderate (?) Rs could have helped Ms Pelosi stay speaker by voting with Ds to prevent AOC and her compatriots from unseating her.
Bwahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ds aren’t going to interrupt Rs while they are self destructing. And Rs wouldn’t do the same if the shoe were on the other foot. For all you partisans, the only party you MIGHT be able to change is your own. So get on with it!
Peace y’all.
Best…H
Ds aren’t going to interrupt Rs while they are self destructing.
Because it’s all about “party.” The failing government of a failing country is just an annoyance that must be tolerated so that “party” loyalty can be relentlessly indulged.
For all you partisans, the only party you MIGHT be able to change is your own.
That’s what the republicans are doing and, IMNSO, it’s high time. What you disparagingly call “self destructing,” others call reconstructing.
If you like your democrat party, you can keep it. Nobody else wants it anywayzzzzz….
The paradox that so many believe that we are in such horrible straits and yet virtually no onw can agree to make even minor changes from the status quo is mind boggling to me. Personally I believe that the major reason for TDS is the idea that he is one of very few who actually may be able to implement some changes. Hate the system but defend to the death any changes. Brilliant!
Agree with regard to the reasons for TDS.
And…”we” have a new speaker–Mike Johnson.
Serious question – in your opinion – who are the good guys among the R House members? And where does this lead? What Rs are doing in the House is indeed self imposed destruction, spin it how you like, none of them seem to be happy about it. I’m not disparaging or criticizing it – just observing the weather. As you say, it might lead to reconstruction, like after an earthquake or a fire. Is there a shining goal you see off in the distance? What does it look like? Looks to me like the House battles are really about Trump. Again, just observing. It’s up to R House members to choose their path.
Both parties are family blogged up, I’m more familiar with the foibles of Ds, and that’s the party I am working on changing. I have found that D complaints about Rs are as useless as R complaints about Ds. No one cares. Wait – except the fundraisers…
So again – if Rs are your party – what do you hope to see out of this?
Best…H
“Who will they blame if no leader is selected before the end of the year, if the government shuts down, if no aid package goes to their beloved colonial project in Israel?”
They’ll blame Team R in general and “dangerous isolationist elements in Team R” in particular.
But Team D can always unite with most of Team R to pick a compromise speaker if their imperial project ever are seriously threatened.
Which pretty much means within the next month. The team D partisans will play it as a courageous act by Democrats to save the union and the country, but the real issue will be that too many of their post Congressional sinecures will be threatened if they don’t make nice and keep the government monies flowing to the various industries that are benefiting from the imperial project. The fact that more and more Americans get every day that the country really isn’t helped by it will mean nothing to these heroic Democrats.
And they didn’t have to. Whee. We’re about to see how much agreement there is about dismantling the public aspect of the government.
My retiring D congressman got set up with a $618K/yr. non-profit sinecure. Plus he gets to keep all the cash in his campaign war chest…raising the white flag. Ka-ching!
Well said!
The Gang of Eight show just how ineffectual “the squad” are.
Nothing will change until you see and acknowledge your own role in creating this situation.
Absolutely.
Personal Responsibility!
These recalcitrant 8 need to join the real republican party, Team Blue!
Well said. I bow to your sharp brevity.
Results from searching two news websites for particular words: (Israel, Gaza, Palesti, Ukraine).
10/22: CNN: (11, 10, 1, 0). Foxnews: (16, 5, 2, 0).
10/23: CNN: (11, 9, 1, 0). Foxnews: (11, 0, 2, 0).
10/25: CNN: (8, 7, 2, 0). Foxnews: (14, 7, 0, 0).
This is how public relations drives the memory hole. Flood the news with high-attention stimuli (massive explosions, dead babies) and attenuate what is to be forgot.
Ukraine we hardly knew ya.
You would have thought that the $2.3 Trillion spent in Afghanistan would have led to some outcry against the political class, but nah, “public relations” buried it and it’s long forgotten.
For the U.S. war moves ever onwards, past Afghanistan, Ukraine is in the rear view mirror, Iran and the Middle East here we come…
I would have thought that other than a win in a brief skirmish with Iraq back when Bush 1 was in office that not winning a war in half a century would lead to a huge outcry when any political leader talks about multiple fronts. Even though it would mean having to ignore the illusion of being the greatest, the fact that you, your children or even your grandchildren might have to be sacrificed to their delusions should make a dent in support for war mongering being the go to. Not that we couldn’t have done much better things with the money.
I do believe that the $2.3 Trillion spent in Afghanistan that you mentioned is not a complete picture as I think that it leaves out things like the cost of replacing all that equipment expended as well as the healthcare needs of all those veterans for the rest of their lives and other expenses. Back in ’21 Brown University estimated the cost of the 20 year war on terror – or whatever they call it these days – is about $8 trillion for the US so you would expect a big chunk of that would have been for Afghanistan and not just the $2.3 trillion stated-
https://www.brown.edu/news/2021-09-01/costsofwar
Joe Lieberman was on Fox News calling for the US to attack Iran. /oy
Glenn Greenwald is outraged at the sensor ship campaign in the US.
Back to 2002: Israel Dissent Cast As “Pro-Terr****st,” While Mass Firing Campaigns Consume These Israel Critics | SYSTEM UPDATE #169
https://rumble.com/v3rg2nj-system-update-show-169.html
It’s all PR all the time now, with a few exceptions, like NC.
On a related note, somebody said that Lindsay Graham is America’s Benjamin Netanyahu though I myself would have said “Glitch” McConnell. But whenever somebody demands a major war like Joe Lieberman did, one should always check to see if they have a season-pass to a government nuclear bunker before listening to them, especially if they are old and decrepit.
Freeze-frame
I could see it was a rough-cut Wednesday
Slow-motion weekdays stare me down
His lack of reflex got around
There were no defects to be found
Video image froze without a sound
Thursday morning was a hot flash-factor
His frozen face still focused in my mind
Test-strip, proof of senility is hard to find
By Friday the spotlight will no longer grind
Stop-time for Kentucky if he lost his mind
Freeze-frame (freeze-frame)
Freeze-frame (freeze-frame)
Freeze-frame (freeze-frame)
Freeze-frame, now freeze
Now I’m lookin’ at a flashback Wednesday
Zoom lens feelings just won’t disappear
Close-up quiet, no sweet-talk in my ear
His bot-spot moment was so strong
This freeze-frame moment can’t be wrong
Freeze-frame (freeze-frame)
Freeze-frame (freeze-frame)
Freeze-frame (freeze-frame)
Freeze-frame, now freeze
Freeze-frame (freeze-frame)
Freeze-frame (freeze-frame)
Freeze-frame (freeze-frame)
Freeze-frame, now freeze
Freeze-frame
Freeze-frame
Like a freeze-frame (freeze-frame)
Freeze-frame
It’s like the freeze, he’s a quiet breeze
Freeze-frame
It’s like the freeze, he’s
Freeze-frame
Freeze-frame
Freeze-frame
Freeze Frame, by J. Geils Band
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yk27lbGNwes
Lovely! That will be going through my head all day…
Funny how bipartisan war mongering is.
I personally want to give them whatever their age, plus all of their military age relatives, a ticket to the front lines. I figure wiping out the war mongers can only lead to faster ending of the insanity. Although letting them know this front row view will be their reward might also be the fastest and only way for them to shut the hell up and work for diplomacy and peace.
And lord knows McConnell, Lieberman, Graham, Biden, Obama, everyone named Cheney, Clinton, the Kagans, Blinken…being wiped out in a barrage of artillery is too good for them but would be a boon to the world.
Nikki Haley said she wanted to change the name of the Defense Department to the Offense Department. No word on whether this provoked cheers at her rally–or if anyone was there.
But of course the intended audience for all this Chickenhawkery is not voters but funders just as newspapers are printed for advertisers, not readers. Nik did have a cush position on the Boeing board after all but not at the moment.
Trump has done more than his share of chest thumping but Haley probably means it.
Really should go back to being the War Department, which it was for many years.
One of my least favorite things about Trump’s Presidency was his appointment of Haley as ambassador to the UN. Her war mongering was on almost constant display. She and Blinken are cut from that same cloth when it comes to being “diplomatic” and have about the same level of knowledge about geography, customs, and current affairs elsewhere.
Mind you some newspaper just gave her an endorsement and seems to think she can beat Trump. So delusional doesn’t just describe her.
On SU #169 GG had a clip of some pundit talking about possible Palestinian civilian casualties of 100k, without the slightest sense of aghastitude.
Meanwhile, Gaza is still cut off from water, food, fuel and medicine. Or did I miss something. Definitely on the way to that 100k, or more. How long will the world permit this to go on?
Who remembers the Ukrainians?
Hunga-Tonga Hunga-Tonga
Hunga-Tonga Hunga-Tonga
Hunga-Tonga Hunga-Tonga
Hunga-Tonga Hunga-Tonga
I can’t stop this feeling
Deep inside the sea
Earth, you just don’t realize
What you do to me
When you blew up in the sea
{Hunga-Tonga Hunga-Tonga}
Into the atmospheric bight
{Hunga-Tonga Hunga-Tonga}
You let me know
{Hunga-Tonga Hunga-Tonga}
Everything’s not alright
I’m hooked on a feeling
I’m high on believing
That you’re gonna mess with me
Submarine volcano eruption disruption
It’s case is on my mind
Earth, you got me wondering
If you want a population decline
Got crop failures because of you
But there is no cure
I just stay a victim
If I can endure
All the good above
When in the ozone
Took it out clean
Yeah, you spurn us on
I’m hooked on a feeling
I’m high on believing
That you’re gonna mess with me
All the good above
{Hunga-Tonga Hunga-Tonga}
When in the ozone
{Hunga-Tonga Hunga-Tonga}
Took it out clean
{Hunga-Tonga Hunga-Tonga}
Yeah, you spurn us on
I said I’m hooked on a feeling
And I’m high on believing
That you’re gonna mess with we
I’m hooked on a feeling
Hooked on a Feeling, by Blue Swede
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bo-qweh7nbQ
Lol! Perfect pitch and everything, heh heh.
In the 3rd para of Capitalist Realism, Mark Fisher writes … “Watching Children of Men, we are inevitably reminded of the phrase attributed to Fredric Jameson and Slavoj Žižek, that it is easier to imagine the end of the world than it is to imagine the end of capitalism.”
Can you help me with the genealogy of this idea?
There’s a moment in The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology that includes it so striking I quoted it on my blog. I remember trying to find the original back then and failing. For some reason I am pretty sure it’s not Žižek’s idea.
Here is a Reddit discussion about this phrase that might help you-
https://www.reddit.com/r/zizek/comments/w0u7ca/who_actually_said_its_easier_to_imagine_the_end/
Thanks. Looks like Žižek got it from Fisher who got it from Jameson who was inspired by a 1979 essay about J G Ballard by H. Bruce Franklin.
Thank you! I’m a big Ballard fan. The problem with this essay is that nowhere does he describe Ballard’s singular childhood: at 9, he and his family were interned in a Japanese prison camp in China, after they stayed in Shanghai for too long. He witnessed a lot of brutality there. The Japanese abandoned the camp and the members carried their belongings for miles to be rescued.
All of his “apocalypse” novels are obvious recastings of this journey.
The book and Spielberg movie “Empire of the Sun” were his autobiography of those years. Someone asked him about the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, and he said, “How anybody see them as a bad idea?”.
Jameson says “Someone once said…”
More of a genealogy here:
http://qlipoth.blogspot.com/2009/11/easier-to-imagine-end-of-world.html
And a biting rebuttal of these cultural critics. Nice find, thanks.
Thank you, Lambert.
Further to the turmoil in the Labour Party, one wonders why the party leadership and MSM think the loss of support over Palestine is limited to Muslims. Many of the ethnic minorities are outraged by Labour’s stance. A fair number of other supporters are, too. It’s not just Muslim councillors resigning the Labour whip. Nearby Oxford city council no longer has a Labour majority after a variety of councillors stepped away.
There’s an Israeli arms factory in rural Leicestershire. The firm had another near Manchester, but that was closed. The factory is often picketed, not just by Muslims. The protests have been going on for some years.
BTW the string pullers behind Starmer have their candidate ready. Wes Streeting. Some Blairites would like him in charge sooner rather than later.
Thank you Colonel.
Starmer is really between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea here, is he not? At present, if he moves away from the line that what Israel is doing is justified, he will be hammered by the newspapers as an anti-Semite. If he stays with that line he suffers a serious internal split. Either way he loses.
I guess if he is lucky there will be enough movement elsewhere away from total support of everything Israel does to provide him with cover to adjust his position.
Life in the UK really is not fair, especially for anyone who takes on the Tory newspapers.
Poor him? But didn’t he ride the anti-Semite line into his current position? Perhaps the correct decision would be for him to go away.
It is discouraging to hear that UK politics are even more hopeless than ours. We also have Tory newspapers but woke and without the nudie pictures (do they still do that?)
Even so, looks like Starmer will be the next PM because the Conservative Party is essentially falling apart, according to The Duran. We’ll see, I guess.
Rishi Sunak’s time as UK PM is running out
https://rumble.com/v3rfyvy-rishi-sunaks-time-as-uk-pm-is-running-out.html
He surely did. Perhaps poor Keith can go cry on Jeremy Corbyn’s shoulder.
The people in the UK to feel sorry for are the British public who have been duped into voting in ever more extreme right wing governments since 2010, not to mention Brexit. A likely prospect is that Labour get in but as they will have the worst position a new government has faced in at least fifty years, they will flounder and be voted out after one term, making way for a really extreme right wing government which may extinguish what little is left of British democracy.
People should be very worried.
Thank you, Colonel. I was reading the Wikipedia entry for that Wes Streeting that you mentioned and also found his name has been floated since last year as a possible candidate. I will say one thing though. Reading his Wikipedia entry raises several red flags but the whole page was too well crafted. As if a team had put together that page and edited it to how they want him seen-
‘Is Wes Streeting the saviour Labour desperately needs?’ at https://www.ft.com/content/9f846dcf-68f7-4b21-864d-070de48eaea7 (from May of ’22)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wes_Streeting
Thank you, Rev.
Streeting is Mandelson’s protege and was possibly more.
After Cambridge and the students union, where his patrons discredited his opponents with ritual smears of anti-semitism, he went to Stonewall, advocating, amongst other things, the gelding of male toddlers, which I exaggerate only slightly. He was then parachuted into Price Waterhouse Coopers, a consultancy / professional services firm, as a public sector reform specialist, something his prior experience suggested nothing of the sort. That was a favour to get him some experience before parliament. PWC had former Labour minister Patricia Hewitt as a partner for public policy / affairs. Streeting was then parachuted into a safe seat not far from where his London gangland relatives held sway. The guy is a serious piece of work. Not just God help the UK, but God have mercy on the UK.
Streeting is zionist, neo con and neo liberal to the bone. However, he has said he will run to the left for the Labour leadership and tack to the right immediately after. Labour’s pitiful rabble of a membership has been warned, but does not pay attention One day, I may feel sorry for Labour.
re: “However, he has said he will run to the left for the Labour leadership and tack to the right immediately after. ”
This sounds exactly like the last 30 years of US Dem presidential winning nominees: Clinton, Obama, and Biden. They all ran as FDR-type New Deal Democrats when campaigning. Biden was touted as the next FDR when campaigning. They all instantly dropped their New Deal campaign masks upon election.
Thank you, Flora.
Streeting has links to the Clintons, which may explain the playbook.
It does not excuse the Labour Party from falling for that, though, but the British left is quite something.
Trudeau.
That has been the acknowledged mantra of the Liberal Party of Canada for decades: Campaign from the left; govern from the right. Seems to work, “speaking moistly”.
The Empire doesn’t much care whether Starmer or some Tory corporate imperialist muppet sits in Number Ten, as long as a corporate imperialist muppet sit in Number Ten.
Starmer has been backtracking on lots of promises in the past few months. The last was yesterday, on an Engllish “right to roam” law for walkers.
I can see a lot of potential Labour voters not turning out for him now. I know some (not Muslims) that would not vote for him due to his stance on Gaza.
“Now freed, an Israeli hostage describes the ‘hell’ of harrowing Hamas attack and terrifying capture”
The Israeli government was seriously unhappy with what she had to say, especially when she criticized them, but as she is 85 years old, they could not just take her out the back and threaten her like they might have done with a younger person. While in captivity Hamas treated her respectfully and they not only sent a medic to check her out but later a doctor. When Lifshitz was asked why she shook hands with the Hamas fighter before her release, she replied ‘They were gentle with us, our needs were supplied.’ In contrast, the Israelis have been taking their rage out on the Palestinian prisoners that they have so new punitive measures include daily beatings, daily raids, limiting food and access to medical clinics, cancellation of family visits, not releasing prisoners who have served their term, etc.
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-war-captive-description-officials-unhappy
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-war-anger-directed-palestinian-prisoners
The way most of the propaganda organs have been playing it is that this good Jewish woman turned the other cheek to treat her captors better than they treated her. This has meant burying the quote you cite, but they can use her daughter’s that that was just who her mother is to sell it instead.
It was weird watching this one play out. I’m going to have to take a break from news coverage again but it was fascinating.
The interview with Mrs. Lifshitz and her daughter was shown on BBC News. When they started speaking positively about her captors, the BBC abruptly cut them off in mid-sentence and switched to a picture of Macron and Netanyahu.
In repeats of that segment, the BBC only showed interview clips about the beatings she had received on her way to Gaza. The ticker tape showed her “it was hell” statement all evening.
In short, if all you did was watch BBC News, you only learned that Mrs. Lifshitz was beaten on the way to Gaza, and heard nothing about the fact that she went out of her way to speak well of her captors in Gaza.
It is so bizarre. The Times of Israel actually quoted Lifshitz in full, including her comments on the Israeli government and the kindness of her captors.
Speaking of Macron, he came out with a bright idea-
‘French President Emmanuel Macron was in Israel on Tuesday and said the US-led anti-ISIS coalition based in Iraq and Syria should also fight Hamas.
“France is ready for the coalition, which is fighting in Iraq and Syria against ISIS, to also fight against Hamas,” Macron said alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.’
https://news.antiwar.com/2023/10/24/frances-macron-says-us-led-anti-isis-coalition-should-fight-hamas/
So I would guess that that would be Coalition of the Willing 2.0 maybe?
Reminds me that I haven’t heard much about the latest happenings in the Françafrique. Will have to check around for updates…
Macron wants to show Master what a loyal little lackey he is.
I think that the current government of Britain and the Biden administration went all in too quickly and now are deeply threatened by anything that portrays Hamas and those in Gaza (can’t say Palestinians) as human and not monsters. It saddens me that the BBC is as captured as our public broadcaster. They need support for more military action, not more people calling for a ceasefire.
Here it was interesting viewing various local and national coverage. Nothing quite as blatant as what you saw. But with few exceptions it was deeply edited and was meant to fuel anger and desire for revenge and thus support for Biden’s ill considered policies.
The push back has already started with pro-Palestinian demonstrations around the world and especially in the UK. I saw in the news tonight that a major Sydney council decided to fly the Palestinian flag in solidarity with the people suffering in Gaza. As they had an Israeli flag displayed on both the Sydney Opera House and Canberra’s Parliament House, it is only fair-
https://www.9news.com.au/national/bankstown-council-to-fly-palestinian-flag-after-randwick-council-uturn/801ae2a5-4fab-4290-b622-a68e22f5fe12
The good news? Media outlets around the world have disgraced themselves so bad calling openly for genocide, who is going to listen to them anymore?
I dunno. Here in Germany, due to history — and victor-imposed post-WW2 neurosis, perhaps? — not just media outlets but all institutions see it as their duty to go 100% hasbara anytime Israel-Palestine is mentioned.
https://www.dw.com/en/israel-and-germanys-reason-of-state-its-complicated/a-67094861
The Powers That Be here say openly that prioritizing Israel’s interests is an absolute moral obligation. Fairness, objectivity, even their own people be damned. Especially their own people be damned. As reparations and atonement for 1933–1945.
I don’t see that changing any time soon.
Yes, it seems the Germans are desperate to prove that they are “the good guys” this time round. Of course, in the process they risk cheering another genocide of a people with mediterranean roots.
Plus ça change …
Well, media outlets around the world continue to promote the idea that the pandemic is over and people should just get back to work, go shopping, and get on with their lives (however long those lives may be).
In my opinion, that’s pretty disgraceful but yet, they persist. I ventured into Costco last weekend to restock the freezers. It was pre-Christmas crowded but I saw no one else masked. Perhaps the usually sensible Asian and South Asian contingents got their shopping done midweek.
“Gravity hole”
Thanks for this link. When the phenomenon was noted a few weeks ago, I was skeptical.
I am now informed.
‘How Far Can Sharks Smell Blood?’
‘In almost all cases, sharks are not attracted to human blood, since humans are not on sharks’ natural prey menu. It is likely sharks attack when mistaking humans for seals or sea lions. The first bite, while often very damaging, is simply a taste-test. Since humans typically do not pass the test, far fewer are killed compared to the number attacked.’
So in summary your odds are low (not zero, just very very low) of being bitten by a shark in the first place, and the first chomp is a taste-test that any reasonable shark would recognize as not on the menu. This is a case where telling someone the odds is of little comfort, especially while you’re being eaten. ‘But the odds are low! Why doesn’t this shark understand I’m not on the menu?! Back off, I’m not a seal, you dumbass!’ Followed by drowning and death. Being eaten alive is high on my list of terrible ways to go.
Q: If the first bite of a human should tell the shark ‘not prey’, why come back for the second?
2nd Q: Has evolution taught sharks that humans are a too problematic nutritional source? I find it hard to believe we lack enough nutritional value, but maybe we’re too hard boned, difficult to pass through and poop out. Maybe we give them indigestion… burp.
We may well not have enough fat. Seals and similar animals have a lot of fat.
Important video analysis from the New York Times:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/24/world/middleeast/gaza-hospital-israel-hamas-video.html
Finds that the much-publicized Aljazeera video showing the break-up of a rocket the IDF said was responsible for the al-Ahli hospital blast in fact shows the break-up of an *Israeli* rocket two miles away and unrelated to the hospital explosion.
Quote:
The Times’s finding does not answer what actually did cause the Al-Ahli Arab hospital blast, or who is responsible. The contention by Israeli and American intelligence agencies that a failed Palestinian rocket launch is to blame remains plausible. But the Times analysis does cast doubt on one of the most-publicized pieces of evidence that Israeli officials have used to make their case and complicates the straightforward narrative they have put forth.
Pretty much a shocker that the NYT published the first story about Israeli responsibility, then doubles down. The only thing less likely than a true NYT story is an NYT story that questions Israel. Will we just hear crickets from Taibbi?
“Techno-optimism” is a sign of V.C. crisis” Read Max
The writer forgot to mention the main support for the super-hype that is now floundering: their central bank fantasy financiers have been attempting to tighten purse strings.
But the monsters that have been nourished…well that is the legacy that has to ne dealt with.
The article mentioned Warwick University and CCRU. This university is in my home city of Coventry (and predates the current Coventry University) so I had to look it up, and lo an behold: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cybernetic_Culture_Research_Unit
Seemingly there are many youngish people with tertiary education who are so mentally invested in fantasy in their earlier youth that they are unable to disconnect from it, hence efforts in the vein of Musk’s mission to Mars.
It reminds me of dispensational premillennialism , the rapture and the land of milk and honey.
Pip-pip!
Moon of Alabama speculates that the unusually high losses in AFU aircraft claimed by RF MoD in recent days is due to employment of a new RF model of air-to-air missile with much greater range. This might be the disclosure of a new capability; one wonders at the timing as RF is not seriously threatened by the remnants of the Ukrainian air forces.
The accelerated losses started in mid-October, after the outbreak of hostilities between Hamas and Israel.
The thought occurs that if this is an intentional disclosure of capabilities, it might be intended as a warning to US (and perhaps Israel) to not tangle with RF air forces in the region.
Look at the bright side. Perhaps a Ukrainian Mig-29 will manage to return to base with one of these new Russian missiles stuck in it’s fuselage for the Pentagon to analyze. Don’t laugh. That actually happened once when a Chinese Mig-17 returned to China with the most advanced Sidewinder air-to-air missile stuck in it’s side. The missile was soon sent to Russia who reverse-engineered it and made their own version-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=oBJjMZJWSBI (16:40 mins)
I mean, it is not like somebody mailed a Sidewinder missile to Russia after stealing one and having the end stick out the back of their car as they drove off with a red flag hung from it. Wait…that actually happened too.
Seems very likely to be a message to the US and NATO indeed, kinda like detonations of Fat Man and Little Boy were a message to the Soviets instead of a true necessity in the war against Japan.
Only at least this time without atomizing huge amounts of civilians.
I cannot agree strongly enough with the national self-determination article. I would only add that there is no contested region on Earth where everyone would “self-determine” in the same direction if asked – unless that region has been very thoroughly cleansed first. In some detached moral sense, the wish for self-determination seems reasonable. As an applied political principle it is absurd and undermines itself even when it does not cause catastrophes.
Without having yet read the article, in general I think that would depend on the size of the group, and the principles around which they organize. I do believe that people should get a chance to organize and live by whatever principles they believe in.
At sizes like most nations, perhaps that’s too much, but in smaller groupings of the past, before many arbitrary national borders were drawn according to the whims of warlords claiming everything in sight, I think that it was the way of things.
Now reading it, it seems that the author and I may be in agreement. I specifically called out “arbitrary national borders” drawn by powerful warlords, and it’s this that he targets.
Once those arbitrary territorial lines are drawn, and attributed to the false groupings that the warlord claims sovereignty over, the propaganda starts, that defines those both inside and outside of said borders.
While objectively this doesn’t seem inherently wrong, historically it always seems to end up being used psychopathically, for the aggrandizement of this warlord.
So I guess I think that small-scale, ground-up self-determined groups are perhaps desirable, I agree with Mr. Walkman on the larger, top-down nation-state.
I’m curious if the likes of IM_doc, etc have been following this story of plasmid contamination of mRNA vaccines (in this specific case Pfizer) including with SV40 (simian virus 40) promoters.
RFK Jr,’s org put out an article about the Canadian government admitting to the adulteration as well as being misled by Pfizer during the regulatory review phase. Confirmation of the validity of these charges by a national government does seem like a big deal, but could also be the proverbial tree falling in the forest.
https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/canada-dna-contamination-pfizer-covid-vaccine/
I know that various “anti-vax” personalities, some of whom are obvious grifters, have been leading the charge into investigating this, which initially began with revelation that various batches a vax lead to different adverse event outcomes in people, which strongly signaled that there was something seriously wrong with QA of the vax makers.
The notion of plasmid contamination is quite troubling because plasmids can be incorporated into DNA and offer a plausible explanation for the so-called “turbo cancers,” at least from my own whited sepulcher of ignorance.
And there’s always the strong possibility that this could become a legitimate campaign issue in RFK’s favor, since both Biden and Trump promoted these vaccines.
New site address for BAR.
https://blackagendareport.org/
Yes, I noticed this also after not seeing any updates for two weeks. Was getting worried.
Thanks also.
Let’s get right to it then–>
CA in a nutshell.
BTW Maxine Waters is 85
Over the last few hours, since Olivia Beavers posted the McClintock “we don’t deserve you” letter with the appellation, “super snarky”, dozens if not hundreds of people who worked for, with, around, and against McClintock have rushed to reply:
“Tom? ‘Snarky’?! Never!!”
Trust me on this.
One of the first hydroelectric projects in California was right here in 1898…
As you drive through Atwell Mill and environs there are enormous stumps of Giant Sequoias felled and milled to make planks for a flume that starts a dozen miles down the road, in the days of horse and buggies.
Sequoia wood doesn’t rot so it was the perfect thing to run water through at the time, and probably the noblest purpose the harvested wood was good for… fence posts, grape stakes, matchsticks and pencils being other typical finished products.
The Sequoia planks were replaced with metal in 1947, and instead of 12 foot wide trees, this is what you see now:
https://www.outdoorproject.com/united-states/california/atwell-mill-campground
The flume and power plant down below in Three Rivers was decommissioned a few years ago, a long run.
In the end, a combination of prolonged drought and costly repairs on the flume put paid to clean power.
https://mineralking.org/mk-road-corridor/the-flume/
“Israeli think tank lays out a blueprint for the complete ethnic cleansing of Gaza’
Of course this think tank has ties to Netanyahu. That is why what they say makes no sense. Lemme start-
‘In 2017 it was reported that in Egypt there were 10 million available apartment units, of which half were built and half under construction. For example, in two of the biggest Cairo satellite cities, “October 6” and “Ramadan 10” there is an immense number of built and empty apartments under governmental and private ownership as well as empty lots for building that would in total suffice the housing of about 6 million residents.
The average cost of a three-room apartment of 95 square meters for an average Gaza family of 5.14 people in one of the two mentioned cities stands at $19,000. In calculating the total population that resides in the Gaza Strip, which stands between 1.4-2.2 million people, it is possible to assess that the amount that would need to be transferred to Egypt in order to finance would be around $5 to 8 billion.’
So Egypt is supposed to take in all those people, including the entire Hamas organization – who are mortal enemies of the Egyptians? I have a better plan. House them in all those settlements that the Israelis are building. It would be on their land anyway. I have another question. Who is going to pay that $5-8 billion? S&G have just downgraded Israel’s credit outlook to ‘negative’ so they won’t have any money. You guessed it. Good old Joe. But that is just the initial cost of moving them. What about all the billions and billions for ongoing social services for those people? The Egyptian economy is not that good either. They can’t do it. There has been mention of having Qatar paying all they money but I think that they will refuse, especially if it is an ongoing expense. And what about demographics? Those 2.4 million Palestinians could be 10-20 million in twenty years – all sitting on Egypt’s border.
Re A Coup in Israel–worth a read.
and
Of course the propaganda line from our media is that Israel is the democracy twin of the United States but it is the opposite of that since the creators of this country–whatever their flaws–were utterly against the union of church and state. The US was born in the Age of Reason and Israel the long tail of the Age of Colonialism with all of its rationalizations and excuses (founders like Jefferson at least acknowledged that slavery was wrong even if they personally did nothing about it). The Israel founders like Ben-Gurion may have claimed they were only using colonialism to create their liberal “villa” but that’s where smart becomes not smart enough if you want your state to last more than 75 years.
As the article points out rich American plutocrats are driving this “coup” in Israel so our tragic flaw–the love of money–also comes into play. But the US isn’t nearly so much of an extreme case.
“Ukrainian spies with deep ties to CIA wage shadow war against Russia”
Stuff like this always seems a good idea in Washington and some there have an obsession with the thought of Russians in body bags going back to the days of the Syrian war. But you only have to flip this idea to show that it is really a bad one. So imagine Russian special forces training and equipping Mexican Cartel soldiers in assassination & sabotage so that they can cross the border and start a campaign of terror in the States. People would flip out if this happened. So all I am saying is that actions have consequences – always. The US helping send terror teams and missiles into Russia will not be forgotten and will come back to haunt the US when they least expect it. And nobody will believe all those protestations that the Ukrainians did it and they could not stop them.
Dairy Workers on Wisconsin’s Small Farms Are Dying. Many of Those Deaths Are Never Investigated.
Because markets.
A wire service photo of Macron and King Abdullah immediately suggested a sequel to the Truss vs. lettuce contest.
Macron is calling for humanitarian aid after his trip to Cairo and Amman. My guess is his trip didn’t go as planned.
Newsguard Case Highlights the Pentagon’s Censorship End-Around – Racket News (Taibbi)
On September 7, 2021, the U.S. Department of Defense gave an award of $749,387 to Newsguard Technologies, a private service that scores media outlets on “reliability” and “trust.”
Does this not violate the 1st Amendment, does it not clearly “abridge the freedom of speech and press” by interfering in how the “press” functions?
https://www.racket.news/p/newsguard-case-highlights-the-pentagons
Banana Republic of the Un-United States. I don’t know what country I live in anymore. This is not surprising, but still ticks me off. There is no good thing that comes out of censorship like this. Even more distressing, so many cheer for this crap. Yes, I hear it all the time. “The government needs to stop all this mis/dis-information.” Why? Because these people think the government is the end all fix all to our problems, and even more disturbing, they worship them for being so. What is this fixing? The Russiagate BS that has been pushed for 7 fricken years? LOL! The truth about the wars? LOL again.
No, they are one of the main institutions that can “un-fix” things – and this is part of how they do so – yet many want more of it. No again. Actually, I’ve had quite enough of government, including Brandon, Hillary, Obama, O’Connell, Pelosi, Schumer, Schiff, Nadler, Haley….STOP. I can’t type them all – let’s just say the entire lot of these disgustingly smelly creatures who inhabit the cesspool of corruption and incompetence known as DC. Something about you and the horse you rode in on.
*spit* /rant
But with foreign countries, they can ask for censorship openly and are doing so. Blinken admits he asked Al Jazeera to change its coverage of the ongoing conflict – does that make it better?
https://www.yahoo.com/news/blinken-says-asked-qatar-change-143059612.html
But they hate us for our freedoms!
Thank you for the multiple elephant-themed antidotes. Elephants are such wonderful and intelligent animals. If we as a species don’t take all the other species with us when we wipe ourselves off this planet, maybe they can take over.
So in the US House of (mis) Representatives, remember them? Me either.
NYT:
Johnson Elected Speaker of the House, Ending Weeks of Chaos
It would be deliciously ironic if Kier Starmer, who has relentlessly purged the party on the basis of dubious claims of Anti-Semitism is taken down by issues related to the Gaza war.
A young influencer claims he was offered $5000 to say good things about Israel.
https://twitter.com/davenewworld_2/status/1717245789167083869
War in Middle East over Gaza has huge implications for US’ ability to confront China. Both Malaysia & Indonesia control Indian Ocean access to the Pacific. US playing checkers while Russia & China play chess.
“Malaysian PM doubles down on refusal to condemn Hamas”
https://www.theage.com.au/world/asia/malaysian-pm-doubles-down-on-refusal-to-condemn-hamas-20231025-p5eewy.html