Links 1/31/2024

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1. Antifa January 31, 2024 at 7:03 am

   UP ON THE GAZA WALL
   (melody borrowed from You Make My Dreams Come True by Hall & Oates)

   My best shot?
   I got some Arab kid in sandals
   Up here that ain’t a scandal
   It’s just a sniper’s game, yeah, yeah

   We all talk
   A lot our thoughts may seem like chatter
   We get bored up here together
   We shoot kids to ease our pain

   Oh yeah, we get blue (Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh)
   Guarding this wall for Jews (Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh, ooh)
   Well every Jew (Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh) Oh, yeah!
   Survives by what we do (Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh, ooh) Well, yeah!

   That kid I shot — I got him in the femur
   He was quite a lively screamer now he’ll be a cripple case
   There’s no doubt about his date with amputation
   Or he’ll martyr for his nation — I sleep soundly all the same

   Oh, yeah me and you (Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh)
   Keep them away from Jews (Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh, ooh)
   Well well every Jew (Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh)
   Survives by what we do (Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh, ooh) Oh, yeah!

   We shoot ’em like this . . . Owww!

   They’re a terrorist regime
   But enough shop talk between snipers right now — let’s go!
   Every Jew Yeah-yeah yeah! yeah!
   Survives by what we do (Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh, ooh) Oh, yeah!

   Aiming for, aiming for children Oh, yeah!
   Defending every Jew (Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh, ooh)
   Me you you me
   Aiming for, aiming for journalists
   To stop the things they do (Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh, ooh)

   Aiming for, aiming for, aiming for, aiming for, aiming for, aiming for . . .
   We make ’em scream!

   We keep aiming for children
   We make ’em scream!
2. Jake January 31, 2024 at 7:20 am

   Somehow I missed this whole thing. https://www.emptywheel.net/2024/01/24/boeing-737max9-the-comment-heard-around-the-world/
   1. Eric Anderson January 31, 2024 at 11:09 am

      Interesting stuff. Thanks for the link.
      I’d moved on from Marcy. Could no longer stomach all her Russia! Russia! Russia! nonsense. She probs owes Aron Mate an apology. Glad to see she’s applying herself to more productive pursuits.
      1. Stubbins January 31, 2024 at 10:30 pm

         Subsequent commenters to the original commenter being highlighted warn him that Boeing will be coming after him, and to ditch his computer NOW (!!!) lest his cookies/browser ID prove he broke his NDA.
3. The Rev Kev January 31, 2024 at 7:20 am

   ‘Jonathan Cook
   @Jonathan_K_Cook
   UNRWA is separate from the UN’s main refugee agency, the UNHCR, and deals only with Palestinian refugees.
   Although Israel does not want you to know it, the reason for there being two UN refugee agencies is because Israel and its western backers insisted on the division back in 1948.’

   Israel wants the UNRWA gone because they are Hamas and is even demanding that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres must resign from the post because the UNRWA is under his control so he is linked to Hamas as well – along with the United Nations as well. Perhaps it would be better to wrap up the UNRWA and immediately have the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) take over. Israel gets what they want and the Palestinians go under the control of the organization that they should be under. I’m sure that they will be very pleased.
   1. Jabura Basaidai January 31, 2024 at 11:02 am

      some excellent points about UNRWA in this interview with Mouin Rabbani and Norm Finkelstein yesterday
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3z7xT8AGko8
4. JohnA January 31, 2024 at 7:21 am

   Re To beat Trump, we need to know why Americans keep voting for him

   The author, Monbiot, usually writes on environment and ecology issues, but is as Green party as Baerbock in fanatically supporting bombing Iraq, Syria, Libya, and supplying arms to Ukraine. And like pretty much all Guardian staff, he is hysterically anti Corbyn, anti Trump, anti Maduro etc.
   1. Michaelmas January 31, 2024 at 7:59 am

      Monbiot’s a Brit, too.

      All they understand about Trump is what they’re told in their media, which is that the segment of the US population potentially voting for Trump will do that because they’re composed of racist, deplorable populists.

      Not that when Trump says ‘I am your retribution’, the vast mass of Americans has every reason to want retribution on the kleptocracy that’s systematically immiserated and worsened/destroyed the lives of most Americans for the last 40-50 years while enriching themselves.

      I lived in the US as a green card holder during those decades, conversely, and saw it happen.
   2. Colonel Smithers January 31, 2024 at 8:16 am

      Thank you and well said, John.

      Monbiot and I went to the same school. He left a couple of years before I arrived. We have met, including at last year’s 100th anniversary celebrations.

      Monbiot is typical of most, but not all, Grauniad hacks, wealthy, well-connected and often with Tory connections. His father, uncle and grandfather were Tory officials. He and his Lawson cousins, Nigella and Dominic, are heirs to what remains of the J Lyons fortune. They leveraged Nigel Lawson’s media connections after Oxford and joined the BBC (Monbiot), Spectator (Nigella, as food critic) and Daily Dreadnought, aka Torygraph, (Dominic).

      Do not trust any of them, including on the environment!

      Fun fact and what may explain Nigel Lawson’s progress under Thatcher: Thatcher worked as a chemist for Lyons, trying to preserve ice cream.
      1. Revenant January 31, 2024 at 9:05 am

         Mrs T allegedly worked on Mr Whippee soft ice cream, the kind extruded from machines into cones. Sadly, I read recently that this cannot be verified, unlike many of her crimes, and may be an urban myth. She supposedly worked on stabilising “foods” like minimal-dairy ice cream like Mr Whippee with cellulose-derived polymers.

         It was seemed a delicious irony that Douglas Hurd’s spitting image puppet had a Mr Whippee hairstyle. :-)
         1. Terry Flynn January 31, 2024 at 10:11 am

            Margaret Roberts (as she was before marriage) was the friend of my gran-aunt in Grantham. My paternal grandmother’s family were the “other” Roberts family there. (Extensive genealogical research has established we are NOT related).

            In the 1980s when my political antennae were growing, I never understood why my gran (arch tory) obviously hated Thatcher. Later I learnt that her younger sister, being same age and surname, was sat next to the 1980s Prime Minister at school. My great grandmother lived long enough for me to know her. She said nothing. My great grandfather died before I was born. By all accounts very gentle man…. Except when it came to the subject of “the other Roberts family”. All very curious…..
      2. PlutoniumKun January 31, 2024 at 9:07 am

         I met Monbiot a couple of times in the 1990’s when I was involved in the grimier side of campaigning. I was always impressed – he was very well known at the time, but he didn’t do the ‘look at me, I’m a celeb’ type thing when he arrived at a protest or meeting – he was always willing to muck in and was quietly earnest, although it wasn’t unnoticed that there were always some rather gorgeous women hovering around in his presence. He also didn’t make his presence into fuel for his articles (despite some claims).

         At the time, I believe he held the record for having prison sentences against him in absentia in various parts of Asia due to his reporting there, which it has to be said, is impressive if you want to judge people by their enemies.

         He still does some really good reporting – he is nearly alone in trying to hold the Water Companies to account. But his lurches into defending the worst excesses of the Guardians betrayal of its supposed founding beliefs is really hard to stomach.
      3. JohnA January 31, 2024 at 9:11 am

         Thanks Colonel. As a chemist, Thatcher was only ever selected as a prospective parliamentary candidate in hopeless for Conservative party seats. Then she met oil company family rich Denis, went back and studied law, and through his connections, got selected for a safe Tory seat. The rest is history.
   3. ex-PFC Chuck January 31, 2024 at 9:09 am

      Re Yves’ remarks about the PMC in this regard, an informative, biting short book (80 pages in a 5×7 paperback) about the PMC is Catherine Liu’s Virtue Hoarders: The Case against the Professional Managerial Class. You can read it for free online at manifold.umn.edu* after finding it using the site’s Search function. The author is a professor of Humanities at the University of California Irvine.
      *For reasons unknown the NC Link function will not accept this URL, so enter it manually.
      1. hemeantwell January 31, 2024 at 9:56 am

         Thanks for that, looks to be a very good. e.g. this on creating passive clients instead of supporting a capacity for independent action.

         The PMC is deeply hostile to simple redistributive policies that a Bernie Sanders
         presidency would have implemented: it is against the idea of building solidarity among the
         oppressed. It prefers obscurantism, balkanization, and management of interest groups to a
         transformative reimagination of the social order. It wants to play the virtuous social hero, but as
         a class, it is hopelessly reactionary. The interests of the PMC are now tied more than ever to its
         corporate overlords than to the struggles of the majority of Americans whose suffering is merely
         background décor for the PMC’s elite volunteerism. Members of the PMC soften the sharpness of their guilt about collective suffering by stroking their
         credentials and telling themselves that they are better and more qualified to lead and guide than
         other people.
         1. Feral Finster January 31, 2024 at 10:55 am

            TL:DR: “Poor people are often fat (and not in a transgressive intersectional way, they’re just fat), have poor taste and are generally just icky. They should be happy we help them at all!”

            Year ago, a friend pointed out that one reason that the PMC love them some third world oppressed minorities is that those minorities can be trusted to keep a safe distance. For liberals do love humanity – it’s people that they don’t have much use for.
            1. playon January 31, 2024 at 1:58 pm

               Those “third-world” people do tend to be skinny.
      2. playon January 31, 2024 at 1:57 pm

         Thank you for this!
5. GM January 31, 2024 at 7:37 am

   Already more people have died of COVID in January of 2024 than normally die of influenza in an entire year

   Officially died.

   Multiply that number by at least 5x, perhaps more, for the real one.

   Due to delayed reporting (or suspended altogether in some places), lack of testing, ideologically filled death certificates, etc.
   1. t January 31, 2024 at 9:35 am

      Indeed. The “just a cold” nonsense really has a hold. FOX and that ilk were promoting that line ny summer of 2020 and no amout of facts seems to shake it.

      I believe that after the first winter, we made it to March before we outpaced the flu.
   2. kareninca January 31, 2024 at 10:00 pm

      Thank you, that is a very good and important point.

      Too bad I won’t be able to convince anyone of it; no-one at all.
6. none January 31, 2024 at 7:39 am

   I hang out on an outdoor forum. I’m an urban leftie but lots of people there are rural. They are decent and they aren’t MAGA but it’s palpable how much they hate the Democrats. They see the Dems as wanting above all else to protect criminals and control the populace by banning guns and putting remote kill switches in cars, etc. No idea why the GOP gets a pass on some of that.
   1. Pat January 31, 2024 at 8:29 am

      Floating this as a possible answer to your question. Both parties practice bait and switch. Just as the Democrats say one thing but do another and on certain subjects just mount platitudes but do nothing, so do the Republicans. Giving you a few Democratic examples, Obama and his Democratic Congress protected and advanced many Bush2 policies that were counter to the stated Democratic Party policy. No Democrat has run on or publicized that. Can you imagine a Schumer ad proclaiming we made the Bush tax cuts permanent? Each Party has had various talking points for their campaigns and platforms. It isn’t until you apply the what did you do standard does that get challenged and then you have to know a lot of arcane information to get that the excuses aren’t even as good as the dog ate my homework level.

      And I hate to say it, but Republican voters have managed to disrupt this kabuki better than the Democratic ones have. So they really do have a couple people working on some things not just proclaiming how they are “fighting” for you. This is a double edged sword in that it allows for limited change, but it can also hide how little the important things do change. For instance the gridlock in the House might look like it is for rural Republicans, but is it? Either way it does complicate realization that they could be complicit.

      In other words, they are just like most suckers on the other side. It is easier to see how others are misguided then on’s self.
      1. Christopher Smith January 31, 2024 at 9:33 am

         My experience is the same. Among my friends and family, the ones who vote Republican are far more willing to vote their preferred candidate in primaries and sit out (or vote 3rd party in) general elections. The Democrats I know are more fear driven, and more than willing to get behind the established candidate as a “pragmatic choice” choice to prevent “a worse outcome.”

         I’ve also noticed over the years that Democrats have become much more intolerance and obnoxious, whereas Republicans have mellowed out since the W years. My hypothesis is that will flip when power shifts back to the Republicans.
         1. lyman alpha blob January 31, 2024 at 1:19 pm

            My theory for your observations is that many of the Republicans of the W years now are the Democrats of today. Just ask Chuck Schumer.
            1. Cassandra January 31, 2024 at 1:28 pm

               Indeed. Just look who have been the honored guests at the last two Democratic conventions. A not-so-hostile takeover.
      2. Carolinian January 31, 2024 at 9:38 am

         Or, to put it another way, both parties–but especially the Dems lately–want to ensure there is no alternative whereas the whole premise of democracy is that there is an alternative. The reason they are always going on about democracy is because they are so very much against it, and need the counter branding. Never eat at a place called Mom’s.

         Of course our complicated world needs smart, trained people but inevitably this leads to an inbred privileged class with born on third base offspring who prefer their comfortable station over solving any larger social problems in ways that might threaten their status. It could be our American experiment, like so many of our leaders, is simply suffering from old age.

         By this theory it is populism, not Trump, that they truly fear and any manifestation of it must be stamped out even if advocated by a plutocrat like themselves.

         If you read history you know that the Founders spent time worrying about “the mob” and “levelers” but they themselves read history and believed a social contract was needed to ensure the consent of the governed., Our current elites however think themselves smart enough to reinvent the wheel and discard all that. Perhaps the biggest problem is that they believe their own bs. This is where he mob have a leg up. Nothing beats experience.
      3. t January 31, 2024 at 9:48 am

         As a horse person and a dog person, I spend so much time in these environments- never mind my own family- and I think the loud and proud on the red side are mostly larping and really don’t have much sense of self. Similar to teens and teens who are ferociously Swifties or constantly trying to keep ahead on TikTok in the hope that by displayinga persona they’ll be someone. I don’t think I see as much of this on the blue side – most of the obnoxiously unrelenting MSNBC side seem to be about sneering. And of course most just go along to get along with whatever group they generally fall in and have some vague ideas about freedom or fairness they imagine is supported.

         I’ve been trying for years to figure out if there’s a dem behavior similar to the truly insane gun worship on the R side. I’ve never been in a beer garden full of PMCs and wondered how many of the idiots around me were concealed carry loons with loaded, safety-off guns that could kill a toddler with one drunken stumble.
         1. Retired Carpenter January 31, 2024 at 1:54 pm

            re: how many of the idiots around me were concealed carry loons with loaded, safety-off guns that could kill a toddler with one drunken stumble.
            “t”;
            Could you tell us how many drunken bums killed how many toddlers as a result of drunken stumbles in the last decade, or the last century? Please quote a verifiable source.
            Asking for a friend.
            Retired Carpenter
         2. Adam Eran January 31, 2024 at 6:14 pm

            From Shankar Vedantam’s The Hidden Brain

            [Gun laws – after a discussion which revealed that people’s unconscious bias is that guns protect them, even though the facts say otherwise. For example, when Washington D.C. banned handguns, the suicide rate fell 23%… so the feeling of safety is belied by fact]

            People feel safer barreling down a highway at seventy miles an hour-without seat belts-than they do sitting in a passenger plane going through turbulence. The fact that we are in control of the car gives us the illusion of safety, even though all the empirical evidence shows we are safer in the plane.

            Suicide rates in states with high levels of gun ownership are much higher than in states that have low levels of gun ownership. Alabama, Idaho, Colorado, Utah, Montana, Wyoming, and New Mexico have twice the rate of suicide of Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Connecticut, Hawaii, and New York. The United States as a whole has a very high suicide rate compared to other industrialized countries. Researchers working for the federal government once examined the suicide rate among children in the United States and twenty-five other
            industrialized countries over a single year. The suicide rate among American children was more than twice the average suicide rate among children in the other twenty-five countries. The homicide rate among children in the United States was five times higher. Guns were responsible for much of this. If you measured only gun-related homicide and suicide, American children were eleven times more I likely than children in the other twenty-five countries to commit suicide by shooting themselves, were nine times more likely to be killed in
            accidental shootings, and were sixteen times more likely to be murdered. There were 1107 children shot to death in all the countries; 957 of these victims-86 percent-were children in the United States.

            The researchers Arthur Kellermann and Donald Reay once examined all gun-related deaths over a lengthy period of time in King County in the state of Washington. They were trying to find evidence for the common intuition that gun owners are safer because they can protect themselves and their families should someone break into their homes. Kellermann and Reay identified nine deaths during the period of the study where people shot and killed an intruder. These are the stories that gun advocates endlessly relate to one another. In the same period,
            guns in people’s homes were implicated in twelve accidental deaths and forty-one homicides–usually family members shooting, one another. The number of suicides? Three hundred and thirty-three.
            1. retired Carpenter January 31, 2024 at 7:05 pm

               Mr. Eran,
               Very enlightening. Now, how about “drunken bums killed how many toddlers “?
               Retired Carpenter
               1. turtle January 31, 2024 at 8:18 pm

                  I think it’s much easier to find examples of toddlers killing both other kids and adults with guns.
                  1. Retired Carpenter January 31, 2024 at 8:45 pm

                     Turtle,
                     .No dispute. Your statement is the Truth..John 8:32…
                     Retired Carpenter
      4. britzklieg January 31, 2024 at 9:56 am

         Parry, riposte, touché!
      5. Feral Finster January 31, 2024 at 11:00 am

         “Giving you a few Democratic examples, Obama and his Democratic Congress protected and advanced many Bush2 policies that were counter to the stated Democratic Party policy. No Democrat has run on or publicized that.”

         If you are looking for a Team R example, for eight years, Team R promised to repeal Obamacare, we just need Congress and the White House. Come 2016 and they had solid majorities in both houses of Congress and the White House, and they failed.

         Since then, Team R have treated the subject like an embarrassing incident that need be mentioned again.
         1. Feral Finster January 31, 2024 at 12:10 pm

            “need NOT be mentioned again.”

            Ick.
   2. NotTimothyGeithner January 31, 2024 at 9:48 am

      What does Team Blue run on? Team Blue drones about messaging but they have no positive message. Last month their messaging apparatus wasn’t about what they want to do but how you are a dummy for not worshipping Bidenomics and not understanding econ 101 definitions, the rate of inflation. Russian and now Chinese agents are at fault.

      Republicans don’t get a pass or Team Blue would get 20% in an election.
7. The Rev Kev January 31, 2024 at 7:41 am

   ‘David Sheen
   @davidsheen
   Uzi Sharbaf, convicted terrorist murderer who shot and bombed to death Palestinian college students in Hebron, led a conference of Israeli government lawmakers and ministers calling to complete the ethnic cleansing of the country, starting with the strip currently being genocided’

   Came across a short video with this Rabbi saying how the attack on Gaza is great as being a chance to continue liberating Israel-

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vNM-zxUdos (33 secs)

   But then he went on to say that they needed to keep going and take over the entire Sinai right up to the Nile River as this region is an integral part of Israel. I guess that if Egypt fights this, then Israel will threaten to bomb the Aswan dam like they have in the past. So I suppose that there is no point evacuating the Gazans to the Sinai if the Israelis are only going to take it over then.
   1. undercurrent January 31, 2024 at 8:31 am

      Reminds me of a line in an old Doors song, I can’t remember which one: We want the world, and we want it now.
      1. Mark Gisleson January 31, 2024 at 9:13 am

         When the Music’s Over

         [Intro]
         Yeah, come on

         Yeah!

         [Chorus]
         When the music’s over
         When the music’s over, yeah
         When the music’s over
         Turn out the lights
         Turn out the lights
         Turn out the lights
         Yeah

         [Chorus]
         When the music’s over
         When the music’s over
         When the music’s over
         Turn out the lights
         Turn out the lights
         Turn out the lights

         [Post-Chorus]
         When the music is your special friend
         Dance on fire as it intends
         Music is your only friend
         Until the end
         Until the end
         Until the end

         [Verse]
         Cancel my subscription to the Resurrection
         Send my credentials to the House of Detention
         I got some friends inside

         The face in the mirror won’t stop
         The girl in the window won’t drop
         A feast of friends, “Alive!” she cried
         Waiting for me outside

         Before I sink into the big sleep
         I want to hear
         I want to hear
         The scream of the butterfly

         Come back, baby
         Back into my arm
         We’re gettin’ tired of hangin’ around
         Waitin’ around with our heads to the ground
         I hear a very gentle sound

         Very near yet, very far
         Very soft, yeah, very clear
         Come today, come today

         What have they done to the earth, yeah?
         What have they done to our fair sister?
         Ravaged and plundered and ripped her and bit her
         Stuck her with knives in the side of the dawn
         And tied her with fences and dragged her down
         I hear a very gentle sound
         With your ear down to the ground
         We want the world and we want it
         We want the world and we want it
         Now
         Now?
         Now!

         Persian night babe
         See the light, babe
         Save us
         Jesus
         Save us

         [Chorus]
         So when the music’s over
         When the music’s over, yeah
         When the music’s over
         Turn out the lights
         Turn out the lights
         Turn out the lights

         [Post-Chorus]
         Well, the music is your special friend
         Dance on fire as it intends
         Music is your only friend
         Until the end
         Until the end
         Until the end
         1. Lena January 31, 2024 at 9:50 am

            From Song of Songs 8:8-9

            “What shall we do for our sister
            on the day she is spoken for?
            If she is a wall,
            we will build towers of silver on her.
            If she is a door,
            we will enclose her with panels of cedar.”
         2. Martin Oline January 31, 2024 at 11:09 am

            If you listen carefully to the song you will find that Jim sings “Save us, Mithras, save us” although the ‘official’ lyrics on the sheet music has it as Jesus.
         3. undercurrent January 31, 2024 at 11:34 am

            Thanks for the help. Another Doors song, appropriately titled “The End,” was used in the beginning of “Apocalypse Now” as the US was igniting the jungles of Vietnam. The extremely pertinent line “The west is the best” must be heard, and understood, with the participation of the US, and the western bloc, in the genocide in the Middle East, and the carnage in Ukraine. Kinda funny how a single line often sticks with you, for years and years.
            1. John Wright January 31, 2024 at 5:07 pm

               It is notable that Jim Morrison’s father was a Rear Admiral in the US Navy during Vietnam.

               Per Wikipedia “Morrison held significant commands of United States naval forces during the Vietnam War.”

               The social protest in the pop music of the 1960’s has largely disappeared in my lifetime as protest songs have morphed into soft rock.

               Maybe the artists are still out there, but cannot get traction without a palatable commercial message.
               1. Jabura Basaidai January 31, 2024 at 5:37 pm

                  well good golly maybe Ms Swift or Ms Gomez will do a protest song for the Palestinians now that they went to a humanitarian fundraiser for Gaza – and of course Ms Swift now is considered antisemitic –
                  https://twitter.com/ThePopFlop/status/1733652752994009407
               2. JBird4049 January 31, 2024 at 10:47 pm

                  >>>Maybe the artists are still out there, but cannot get traction without a palatable commercial message.

                  Yes. When I saw Clear Channel absorbing and transmogrifying into clones all the local radio stations it was obvious what was happening. This was thirty years ago. Tickmaster was doing the same with tickets at the same time. Two hegemonic companies controlling almost all of their respective I industries. Not all because that would be a monopoly and illegal, but oligopolies where almost all is in one company.

                  Like much else, the MBAs and investment firms have taken control of, poisoned, and are sucking what fluids remain from the corpses of the recording labels, radio, and live entertainment. Anti-war and anti-genocide songs don’t have a chance unless you are like Taylor Swift
      2. Lena January 31, 2024 at 9:28 am

         I keep being reminded of Leonard Cohen’s “You Want It Darker”. The man was a poet and a prophet.
         1. s.n. January 31, 2024 at 10:20 am

            a poet, a prophet, and a great supporter of the Israeli Defense Forces in the Sinai during the Yom KIppur war
            1. Lena January 31, 2024 at 10:32 am

               He was definitely not a perfect person. Deeply flawed in many respects as most artists are.
   2. JohnnyGL January 31, 2024 at 9:28 am

      Part of me is tempted to become a kind of ‘Israel accelerationist’, even though I know it’s a terrible idea.

      I’m so sick of this ridiculous little country with suicidal tendencies dominating our government.

      They would kill so many people in the process of destroying themselves. Worse is just NOT better, as it usually isn’t.
      1. NotTimothyGeithner January 31, 2024 at 10:37 am

         The danger is no one knows what Biden will do. He’s clearly irrational, and his foreign policy team is full of people who might have learned about the world via putting a USA Today on their forehead while they napped.

         My gut is the Israelis dramatically overestimated US capability and world support. Now, they are worried Biden will leave randomly, so they need to threaten Lebanon to threaten the US. We are getting new stories about how frustrated Biden is every day. It’s an election ploy, but at some point, he is going to get desperate. Unless Israel can get a funding situation similar to the one Western Ukraine has enjoyed, standards of living are going to tank for a long time. The Israeli population may be genocidal, but their leaders know they didn’t sign up for not being able to go to the mall. They already loathe Netanyahu.

         I feel like the rabbi in the video is promising more beachfront properties to keep the population going on hope. The tourism industry is dead. Shipping costs are going to be astronomical. Every pending internatuonal business deal is dead. And the US is a disaster.
   3. NYT_Memes January 31, 2024 at 4:27 pm

      Saw a video in late 2023 of some settlers saying “From the river to the river”, and they actually said from the Euphrates to the Nile. Supposedly that’s the whole of the biblical King Solomon empire. I am not an expert on biblical history, so just stating what I saw. It’s really shocking what Israelis are actually saying on their own media, which exposes what they say on our MSM as a total con. The most vile statements are usually only in Hebrew, but they are captured and translated, as we see at NC. Just a reminder for the NC crowd.
      1. turtle January 31, 2024 at 8:24 pm

         Of course, what a great idea – why doesn’t the whole world go back to political/cultural boundaries from thousands of years ago? Easy peasy, no complications at all with making that happen!
8. Terry Flynn January 31, 2024 at 7:46 am

   Re Guardian Trump article. Occasionally someone attacks NC for linking to something deranged and rightfully gets shot down because these “once bastions of free speech and progressive politics” have sunk so low that they absolutely must be called out.

   This is one of the best examples. I read the Guardian merely for some of the more obviously fact based news and the now vanishingly small number of reporters who really understand “we the people”. 95+% of it is pure trash…. And they keep spamming me with pages asking for money. (Yves has on several occasions pointed out that the Daily Heil is actually pretty OK on health reporting…. At least compared to the tragically dire standards across supposedly better newspapers).

   Why would I pay for trash? Maybe that should be a headline. Betcha the click rate would be huuuuuuge.
   1. PlutoniumKun January 31, 2024 at 8:07 am

      Its particularly sad that this was written by Monbiot, who for all his faults (he has dug himself into some very strange holes intellectually) is by far one of the best and last real journalists in the G (John Harris is maybe the only one left).
      1. Colonel Smithers January 31, 2024 at 8:25 am

         Thank you, both.

         Please see my reply to JohnA if / when it comes out of moderation.

         I’m not sure about Harris.

         Aditya Chakrabortty and Larry Elliott are probably the last real journalists left there. The pair are tolerated to keep the left inclined readers interested, the role reserved for John Prescott under Blair and, perhaps, Angela Rayner under Starmer, not that Rayner is left wing.

         Fun fact #1: The Grauniad is owned by a consortium of City and Cayman banks, who took over after a debt for equity swap in 2008. Donations, including from Bill Gates, go to their “tax efficient” charity in Delaware.

         Fun fact #2: Amelia Gentleman is Boris Johnson’s sister in law. She does her best to get his coverage toned down.
         1. PlutoniumKun January 31, 2024 at 8:55 am

            Ah yes, thanks Col., Chakrabortty still does some good reporting, although Elliot seems increasingly lazy to me, its a long time since he has written anything new or interesting, unless I’ve missed something.
            1. Colonel Smithers January 31, 2024 at 9:00 am

               Thank you, PK.

               You’re right about Elliott. Also, a bit naive about Brexitannia. It’s not 1992.

               He’s been there since the late 1980s and should be coming up for retirement, which may explain.
         2. Revenant January 31, 2024 at 9:12 am

            Maybe William Keegan, if he is still allowed in the City office?

            I actually found myself developing a soft spot for Polly Toynbee in the first years of the pandemic. Perhaps I needed to get out more or it was just stopped clock syndrome. Zoe Williams occasionally writes something based in reality too. Marina Hyde gives good polemic but that’s not reporting.

            Talking of polemic, John Crace was brilliant a few years ago but he is struggling with this fag-end Tory government to say anything new, particularly because since the SMO began so many of the governments’ crimes re in support of the New Things and he’s not allowed to attack those so he sticks to a narrower and narrower rut of critique.
            1. Colonel Smithers January 31, 2024 at 3:29 pm

               Thank you.

               Poll literally dials it in from Tuscany, one of the last comments that I made BTL before I was banned from the Grauniad.

               Hyde is an upper class Tory.
         3. Terry Flynn January 31, 2024 at 9:25 am

            Thanks Colonel (and PK). I had Harris in mind as the “one saving grace” of the Guardian/Observer but I’m now curious as to whether there are skeletons in *his* closet.

            It’s profoundly depressing and what with increasing use of paywalls I’m wondering if I’m actually going to be able to maintain access to remotely unbiased media, given increasingly bad financial circumstances (something I’m sure more and more readers are encountering).
            1. JohnA January 31, 2024 at 10:23 am

               Meanwhile, the Guardian’s Swedish Doppelganger, Dagens Nyheter, published a leader column today arguing that attempts to get Israel banned from the Eurovision Song Contest ‘show how embarrassingly one-eyed the cultural left is’.

               The Swedish media are certainly embarrassingly blind-eyed when it comes to the government actions of Ukraine and Israel, both of which they stay in total lockstep with.
            2. ambrit January 31, 2024 at 12:45 pm

               The “increasingly bad financial circumstances” you mention is an increasing ‘fact of life’ for the “non-wealthy” in general.
               Following this line of thought, one is led to the realization that reliable “news” is becoming increasingly a perquisite of membership in the “elites” of the society. So far, a generally available alternative to “reliable news” is not on offer.
               Film at 11.
         4. Hastalavictoria January 31, 2024 at 1:19 pm

            Colonel

            Colonel

            If I remember correctly MediaNews dugout the Guardian stats, Anti- semitism v racism,
            at the height of the a.s campaign against Corbyn. 1450 v 450.

            Never a day goes by without the word Holocaust appearing some on the sliderbar.
         5. skippy January 31, 2024 at 2:40 pm

            Thanks Col …

            Made a comment on fun #1 years ago on NC, during the L/R camps link wars to branded media.

            Its quite obvious when looking at all the majors – how financial deals – completely changed everyone of them over decades. Once reasonably functioning journalistic media devolved into polemic tribalism spewing propaganda barges. In this way the unwashed was split into two camps that would regurgitate approved talking points and underpin them with links …

            Best bit is it was all identity piffle completely detached from the shared core macro economic future being foist on everyone regardless of identity.

            Heaps of behavioral studies on endlessly stressed out rodents and how that effects them … looks out window …
   2. Jason Boxman January 31, 2024 at 8:37 am

      They’re always begging for money at the end of every story, and then I recall the continuous attacks on Sanders’ campaigns, and I refuse to ever give them any money. Oops.
      1. Colonel Smithers January 31, 2024 at 9:01 am

         Thank you, JB. Please see my comments above.
      2. Russell Davies January 31, 2024 at 11:34 am

         Last year, while having nothing better to do, I collected some of the Guardian’s more egregious begging, as below. Self-important, self-righteous and self-deceiving are just three of the terms that can be applied to the Guardian’s fantasy version of itself.

         “The free press is in peril the world over. We must protect it, revive it. To let it die is to let people like Putin, Trump, Erdogan and Xi spread their toxic version of reality. Let’s stop the rot. Support the Guardian’s independent, quality, robust journalism that is free for everyone to read. Armed with accurate information, we can stand in solidarity against propaganda, censorship and misinformation.”

         “A decade ago, we published the Edward Snowden revelations that forever changed our relationship to our privacy and to our governments. Since then, we have defied the powerful by landing scoops on everything from Big Tech to surveillance, offshore banking to cellphone spyware. We find out things that are wrong with society, so that the public can start putting them right.”

         “Support our reporting on Ukraine. From day one, the Guardian has covered every twist and turn of this savage conflict. We’ve dedicated formidable resources to our daily effort to help readers understand the war: frontline reporters, translators, photographers, drivers, filmmakers, editors, security experts. At this crucial moment, with Russia’s own future in the balance, we need readers to support this expensive work.”
         1. playon January 31, 2024 at 2:10 pm

            Something like 90% of Snowden’s files have never been published…
9. Richard H Caldwell January 31, 2024 at 7:55 am

   Boeing: face it — it’s time to nationalize it.
   1. The Rev Kev January 31, 2024 at 8:02 am

      No matter how you cut it, it is pretty sad reading how a once great business that built imaginative jetliners that dominated skies around the world because of their technical expertise and solid work force, is now struggling to hold their heads above water through letting the bean counters run that business into the ground. Since I have read nothing about massive reforms, changes and overhauls in how they build their jets, I am going to assume that they are going to just flounder while they wait for the US government to bail them out on the grounds that they are Too Big To Fail.
      1. ambrit January 31, 2024 at 12:47 pm

         Boeing may be ‘Too Big to Fail,’ but their aircraft are not “Too Good to Crash.”
   2. Jessica January 31, 2024 at 8:11 am

      Yes, and find engineers with integrity to put in charge.
      1. ilsm January 31, 2024 at 8:55 am

         “Loyalty” to the specification is a defining trait of an engineer!

         I am retired. Been away from dealing with Boeing (for USAF) for several decades. At that time I was confident with their integrity!

         An engineer w/o integrity is not an engineer.
   3. Trees&Trunks January 31, 2024 at 8:16 am

      Why? Just let it die and take the shareholders with them.
      1. JBird4049 February 1, 2024 at 12:52 am

         All those American jobs and a company that still has some of the people with the skills needed to build big planes. If the financial weasels can be defenestrated, maybe it can be saved.
   4. PlutoniumKun January 31, 2024 at 8:36 am

      It is an interesting question as to what could be done with Boeing if it was to collapse. The usual US move is to force a merger with someone else (Lockheed?), but of course it was the McD-D rescue that caused much of the problems in the first place. Plus the US is rapidly running out of any meaningful internal competition in defense aerospace. Maybe Musk would to a takeover, oiled with a few tens of billions of grants.

      Most likely I think it would have to be broken up into civilian aerospace, military, and space tech companies, and these either set off independently or merged elsewhere (the latter two would no doubt have many takers). Attempts to refinance the civil aviation side could run into big trouble under trade agreements, which would be ironic seeing as how Boeing used these rules so successfully to destroy Bombardier and Embraer and hamstring Airbus in the US. Given the links with Japan, its possible that some sort of Japanese/US alliance could take on the civil side (the Japanese would be keen considering their own failures to compete – but they do have a very large subcontracting input to Boeing).
   5. jhallc January 31, 2024 at 9:58 am

      While the crapification of Boeing may have been in the works before he left in 2006, Alan Mulally’s departure to Ford may have been first nail driven in.
   6. Cat Burglar January 31, 2024 at 1:32 pm

      It is hard to see any way Boeing could reorganize production under financial market discipline. Any longer range investments and plans will mean short-term losses that the market will punish. If not nationalization, they are going to need federal help of some kind.

      CEO Calhoun has admitted that the 2005 spinoff sale of Spirit Aerosystems was a mistake. L.J. Hart-Smith must be tasting revenge again.
   7. Altandmain February 1, 2024 at 12:57 am

      It may simply be too late.

      The US economy is too financialized and focused on short term profit. Another company that takes Boeing over isn’t going to magically fix those problems.

      A far more likely outcome, especially as energy costs in Europe keep rising, is that the Chinese or another nation will take over the world of aviation.
      1. Carla February 1, 2024 at 8:04 am

         Re: Boeing debacle — “the Chinese or another nation will take over the world of aviation.” Sadly, you’re probably right. I thought this article about the ownership of Airbus was interesting:

         https://simpleflying.com/europes-manufacturing-juggernaut-who-owns-airbus/
10. Wukchumni January 31, 2024 at 8:07 am

    A couple of atmospheric rivers are about to bear down on Cali over the next week, with a foot of rain possible in the City of Angles down south, which is seriously no bueno and would be quite the test of the Sepulveda basin to contain and ferry the largess into the ocean.

    It’s a bit of a pineapple the first storm with high snow levels, while the 2nd one coming down the pike should be a bit colder.

    The Sierra Nevada right behind me, ought to pick up oodles of frozen white water, a fair amount and then some.

    So much for our winter of missed content, game on.
    1. skippy January 31, 2024 at 2:59 pm

       https://www.thenewdaily.com.au/news/2024/02/01/another-cyclone-threat-looms-queensland

       Some places in SEQ have had it worse than in the epic 2011 weather event … heaps of time for more …
    2. JBird4049 February 1, 2024 at 1:13 am

       >>>So much for our winter of missed content, game on.

       This is California. Drought followed by floods. We still have another month or two for heavy rains if past seasons are followed.

       I remember the 1982 Bay Area floods. Thirty plus days of nonstop rain with the peak rainfall during a very high king tide. Maybe, I should runout during the break in the rain and stock up although if the power goes I can’t cook. But sandwiches are good. Time for bread making.
11. John Crea January 31, 2024 at 8:14 am

    re: Apple Vision Pro

    Pearl-clutching from WaPo:

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/shopping/apple-s-vision-pro-is-the-most-data-hungry-gadget-i-ve-ever-seen/ar-BB1htNmk
    1. The Rev Kev January 31, 2024 at 9:06 am

       I wonder if this is how the Borg started out-

       https://monster.fandom.com/wiki/Borg
       1. Christopher Smith January 31, 2024 at 9:40 am

          There was that Doctor Who episode a decade or so ago where the Cybermen started out as humans on an alternate earth with earpieces that gradually turned them into a collective. I think of that episode every time I see someone walking around in public with earbuds of some variety jammed into their cranium. That episode was particularly creepy in that everyone froze in place once a day as their earbuds received updates.

          Do our Tech Overlords watch dystopian sci-fi and say, “I bet I could do that! What a great idea!”
          1. samm January 31, 2024 at 2:50 pm

             I think I saw this link here on NC not long ago:

             https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/tech-billionaires-need-to-stop-trying-to-make-the-science-fiction-they-grew-up-on-real/
12. Wukchumni January 31, 2024 at 8:23 am

    A “Doomsday” prepper and his teen son were busted Tuesday with a terrifying stash of weapons — including ghost guns and even rocket-propelled grenades — after the boy threatened to shoot up his California high school.

    Neil Anders, 45, and his son, an unidentified Rancho Bernardo High School student, were taken into custody after cops found multiple unregistered, un-serialized firearms at their San Diego home, authorities said.

    They also had manufacturing supplies to make the so-called ghost guns — as well as a large stash of explosives and rocket-propelled grenades, according to cops.

    The raid came after the teen had allegedly told several classmates Friday that they planned to shoot up the school on Tuesday, the day they were arrested, police said.

    https://nypost.com/2024/01/30/news/doomsday-prepper-son-arrested-after-school-shooting-threat/
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    My sister e-mailed me in a bit of a panic, as the high school is where my 16 year old nephew attends, and frankly looks more like a prison, just add guard towers near the high fences around the periphery.
    1. Carla January 31, 2024 at 8:44 am

       … so it took from Friday until Tuesday for rumors to reach authorities and arrests to be made? What if father and son had decided to attack on Monday instead?
       1. Wukchumni January 31, 2024 at 9:02 am

          Father-Son activity then: Building a soapbox derby car

          Father-Son activity now: Shooting up a building
          1. JBird4049 February 1, 2024 at 1:44 am

             >>>My sister e-mailed me in a bit of a panic, as the high school is where my 16 year old nephew attends, and frankly looks more like a prison, just add guard towers near the high fences around the periphery.

             I had to go to my high school for some paperwork and it has changed. Same buildings, but walled windows, nor greenery, with nobody walking around during school hours. Certainly no smell of the cigarettes and weed being smoked in some hidden spot, which everyone including the administration knew about. Forty years ago it was wide open, green, and friendly. Not perfect, but with no sense of this fear? Or need for control? Certainly the glass doors could all be locked even then, but now the lower windows are walled, which is just wrong.

             I truly believe that some of the anger and violence, including with guns, is a creation of the very measures used to “protect” us. Really, they are meant to control us. Hell, two-third of gun deaths are suicides.
             1. Wukchumni February 1, 2024 at 9:02 am

                I’m not too worried about inconsiderate louts who leave a gawdawful mess behind for others to clean up when they shoot themselves, its the galoots that feel its important to kill innocent people along in the bargain, in particular at schools full of youngsters.
       2. t January 31, 2024 at 9:52 am

          And what if the neighbor boy who was kinda sorta thinking that way decides might as well go now before they raid my house? So very sad.

          Perhaps I’ll go rewatch the I Did a Thing/Boy Boy video about a day with an American gun nut cheer myself up.
    2. lyman alpha blob January 31, 2024 at 11:29 am

       Similar thing happened near me – high school kid monitored by the FBI and then busted after making a school threat, and found with all kinds of gunz in the house. The father is a bit of a piece of work too. Kid was put into juvie pending a trial, but for some reason has been let out and has been seen all over town, including near the school he threatened to shoot up which my kid attends. I’ve lost count of the number of lockdowns my kid has been put through due to all this – I think it’s three so far. Local authorities are short on explanations for all this – got to protect the minor’s privacy. Normally I would agree, if this were for some small infraction, but not when it comes to murder. More disturbing is that I happen to know one of the defense attorneys dealing with the case, who assures me the kid is going to get put away eventually. So why is the kid out walking around after getting caught? Prosecutors office doesn’t want to say. Something really stinks and I’m not amused that my kid thinks lockdowns for a potential shooting are just run of the mill events.
13. PlutoniumKun January 31, 2024 at 8:25 am

    Sinn Féin says united Ireland ‘within touching distance’ as Stormont deal agreed Guardian

    A lot of the media are a bit puzzled by this story, hence the odd headline. In essence, undeclared, London has surrendered to the EU. They have promised the DUP there would be no Irish Sea border, and the only way they can deliver this without new negotiations is to quietly concede that they have to follow EU rules on pretty much all trade matters. So, as they were warned years ago, the UK is now essentially a ‘rule follower’, they implicitly must follow all EU trade rules. How they can reconcile this with recent deals signed with other countries such as Australia now is anyones guess (no doubt they’ll try to fudge this, but the EU is in no mood to allow fudges in crucial trade items).

    Its also an almost complete surrender by Northern Ireland Unionists. They were genuinely stupid enough to support Brexit despite it being entirely obvious that it would make a United Ireland more likely (which is why many Irish Republicans voted for it, despite being ‘asked’ by Sinn Fein to do otherwise). They tried to collapse the power sharing structures to hide their folly, but now have no choice but to rejoin, because Northern Ireland is rapidly falling apart, mostly because London is starving it of money, and the Unionist parties are rightly getting blamed for this.

    So Brexit has now handed a huge victory to Sinn Fein, which is set to clean up in elections north and south over the next year or two. Northern Ireland Unionism has been hung up to dry both by the Tories (Sunak neither knows much nor cares much about Northern Ireland) and their own stupidity. Ironically, the only thing that might save them is a Labour government, as Labour are (despite appearances), Unionist to their core and will not want the Union to break up on their watch. The Tories would walk away from Northern Ireland without a second glance – I doubt this applies to Labour. They could well make things much worse.
    1. The Rev Kev January 31, 2024 at 8:43 am

       ‘because Northern Ireland is rapidly falling apart, mostly because London is starving it of money’

       Is this because so much money and resources are being sent to Project Ukraine?
       1. PlutoniumKun January 31, 2024 at 8:48 am

          Its mostly because London doesn’t give a toss.

          But since the Stormont structure has certain spending powers, it hasn’t been able to negotiate the required extra funding to just stand still since the Unionists were boycotting it. In simple terms, it wasn’t getting any money because there was nobody in charge to ask for the money. Hence the NHS, among other bodies, is in every worse shape in NI compared to the rest of the UK. Unionists voters were finding it hard not to notice the broken roads and hospital queues, and even harder to avoid noticing that it was their own politicians who were directly responsible. Hence the DUP found itself having little choice but to declare victory and retreat.
    2. Terry Flynn January 31, 2024 at 9:43 am

       Thanks. I waited for your take on this. Despite my name I have no Irish views whatsoever – my grandpa was a toddler when immigrated to England.

       My only view – and perhaps that of most Brits these days that I encounter – is “can’t we just be rid of the whole lot of them? The only good they’ve done is get James Cameron to bring a seemingly large but in hindsight trivial amount of money which collapsed mainland production for hit shows like Line of Duty…. But give us small scale hits to make us laugh like ‘Derry Girls'”

       PS If Star Trek TNG has it right, we’ll get shot of them this year ;-)
       1. The Rev Kev January 31, 2024 at 9:50 am

          Shhhh! You are not supposed to talk about that episode. That was why it was banned in the UK and the Republic of Ireland back in 1990-

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiaUusr7YdY (1:05 mins)
          1. Terry Flynn January 31, 2024 at 10:28 am

             Wow. I knew the UK banned it but didn’t realise Eire banned it as well!

             In that pre-internet age I knew of the existence of the episode….. Which of course led to friends with PAL-readable copies from other countries sharing it with us.

             Gotta say it was far less memorable than the half Aussie school friend who spent his UK summers down under and brought back videos of Neighbours (TWO YEARS ahead of UK transmission) showing us that everyone’s crush (Daphne) was dead!
       2. c_heale January 31, 2024 at 11:24 pm

          That’s been the views of many English people for a long time. Ironic since England created the problems in the first place.
14. timbers January 31, 2024 at 8:27 am

    China ignores US entreaties of mediation (Regarding Iran-Yemen) ********* One COULD fault China if one was is in a nit picking mood for missing an opportunity…because China might have replied “Absolutely! We’d love to help! As soon as you withdraw US troops from our soil in Taiwan and cancel all military contracts and sales…Absolutely! We’d love to help you!” If the US complies, China then decides to change its mind. It’s only fair.
    1. PlutoniumKun January 31, 2024 at 8:44 am

       Strictly speaking, the US has less than 40 troops in Taiwan, and most sales are pretty much restricted to largely out of date weaponry, so that wouldn’t actually be much of a stretch.

       For all the noise and fury, real US support to Taiwan is minimal.
       1. timbers January 31, 2024 at 8:52 am

          “most sales are pretty much restricted to largely out of date weaponry” … I recommend you also use Wikipedia to lookup “rules based order” for what it is worth. It’s only fair.
15. The Rev Kev January 31, 2024 at 8:35 am

    “Biden Owes the Country a New Vice President”

    I’m guessing that Biden will still stick with Kamala. If he chooses someone even halfway competent, then he knows that in a short order of time that he will be given the old heave-ho with the new VP becoming President. Having Kamala as VP spikes their guns then as she is even worse and nobody wants her as the President. He would have chosen Annalena Baerbock if he could but you have to be a natural-born American to be the VP.
    1. Wukchumni January 31, 2024 at 8:53 am

       Wash away my troubles
       Wash away my pain
       With the short reign of that sham, Kamala
       Wash away my sorrow
       Wash away my shame
       With the short reign of that sham, Kamala

       Ah ooh yeah
       Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
       Ah ooh yeah
       Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah

       Everyone is helpful
       Everyone is of like mind
       On the motivation to get rid of that sham, Kamala
       Everyone is lucky
       Everyone is so kind
       On the road to to a new Veep other than that sham, Kamala

       Ah ooh yeah
       Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
       Ah ooh yeah
       Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah

       How do your polls shine
       In the absence of that sham, Kamala
       How do your polls shine
       In the absence of that sham, Kamala

       I can tell Jill i’ll never again suffer her word salad disguise
       On the road to getting rid of that sham, Kamala
       I can tell Hunter i’ll never again suffer her word salad disguise
       On the road to getting rid of that sham, Kamala

       Ah ooh yeah
       Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
       Ah ooh yeah
       Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah

       Shambala, by Three Dog Night

       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlWrMpV1vy0
    2. Kengferno January 31, 2024 at 10:35 am

       Any conclusion that an article that has the words “Kamala Harris” and “progressive values” in the same sentence comes to, is obviously 3rd rate horror fiction.
    3. Dr. John Carpenter January 31, 2024 at 10:49 am

       My question is, at this point, who would want the job? I’d think it would be better for one’s long term prospects the less association with this administration they have.
       1. Screwball January 31, 2024 at 11:12 am

          I can’t imagine what it’s like to be press secretary for this version of the Keystone Cops. Then again, what kind of person wants a job as paid liar for a bunch of psychopaths? For that answer, I guess all we have to do is turn on the TV.

          Speaking of TV, has it been reported how much trouble Joy Reid got into for her hot mic problem the other day?
          1. JTMcPhee January 31, 2024 at 11:40 am

             Lift corner of rug, sweep under…
    4. Ranger Rick January 31, 2024 at 2:01 pm

       This trend of VPs being “assassination insurance” is worrying.
16. QuarterBack January 31, 2024 at 8:44 am

    Re the Biden administration proposed reporting of foreigners building AI,

    “Hey, hey, you, you, get off of my cloud!”
    1. ambrit January 31, 2024 at 12:54 pm

       D—! You have the Stones to bring up that reference? You win the Internet for today!
17. bassmule January 31, 2024 at 8:46 am

    “…loneliness was never the core problem. It was, rather, the sense among so many different people that they’d been left to navigate the crisis on their own. How do you balance all the competing demands of health, money, sanity? Where do you get tests, masks, medicine? How do you go to work — or even work from home — when your kids can’t go to school?

    The answer was always the same: Figure it out. Stimulus checks and small-business loans did help. But while other countries built trust and solidarity, America — both during and after 2020 — left millions to fend for themselves.”

    Why America Can’t Recover From That First Awful Covid Year (NY Times, no paywall.)
18. russell1200 January 31, 2024 at 8:47 am

    The upgraded Hornets (but not Super Hornets) are not junk. There are a lot of reasons you might want to use them. But there are also a lot of costs; costs toward a platform that is good, but not cutting edge.

    The Ukrainian General was rude: a jerk.

    https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/aviation/a44226958/should-australia-give-ukraine-fa-18-hornet-jets/
    1. Feral Finster January 31, 2024 at 12:02 pm

       In other words, the West is nowhere near done doubling down, while Russia continues to dither and wish that this war would just go away.

       It will not.

       In fact, even if Russia were to withdraw from every square meter of the former Ukraine today, the West would demand more, more, more.
       1. eg January 31, 2024 at 11:08 pm

          I see no evidence that airframes of any configuration are of significant value against the prevailing air interdiction in theatre.
19. Jason Boxman January 31, 2024 at 8:50 am

    Students Are Making a ‘Surprising’ Rebound From Pandemic Closures. But Some May Never Catch Up. (NY Times via archive.ph)

    Elementary and middle-school students have made up significant ground since pandemic school closings in 2020 — but they are nowhere close to being fully caught up, according to the first detailed national study of how much U.S. students are recovering.

    Overall in math, a subject where learning loss has been greatest, students have made up about a third of what they lost. In reading, they have made up a quarter, according to the new analysis of standardized test score data led by researchers at Stanford and Harvard.

    Surprise.

    The students most at risk are those in poor districts, whose test scores fell further during the pandemic. Though the new data shows that they have begun to catch up, they had much more to make up than their peers from higher-income families, who are already closer to a recovery.

    The result: Students in poor communities are at a greater disadvantage today than they were five years ago.

    Never anything about absences or ventilation.

    Take Massachusetts, which has some of the nation’s best math and reading scores, but wide inequality. The recovery there was led by wealthier districts. Test scores for students in poor districts have shown little improvement, and in some cases, kept falling, leaving Massachusetts with one of the largest increases in the achievement gap. (Officials in Massachusetts hope that an increase in state funding for K-12 schools last year, as part of a plan to direct more money to poor districts, will help close gaps.)
20. PlutoniumKun January 31, 2024 at 8:53 am

    Yes, they are actually a pretty good option for Ukraine (better than F-16’s) as they don’t require such good quality airfields and have decent range. I think the key reason Ukraine can’t make use of them is that they would struggle to make the long range stand-off missiles they need compatible with the Hornet. The only way Ukrainian aircraft can damage Russia is with the very latest long range strike and air to air missiles. Without them, any aircraft are just shooting practice for the Russians.
    1. ilsm January 31, 2024 at 9:18 am

       FA-18A/B was selected by US Navy over F-16 (any single engine fighter) because at sea a single engine flame-out would lose the aircraft. Two engines more “return to base” reliability, and early F-16’s became lawn darts too often. Two engines however are a cost burden with a double engine failure rate over single engines.

       A caveat about both F-16 and F-18 donations, neither have “latest” (F-22) air to air engagement radars. The non US F-18’s are likely less easy to upgrade than F-16.

       Newest F-18E/F is a much different aircraft. larger, than F-18A/B
       1. JTMcPhee January 31, 2024 at 11:23 am

          Gotta love the desiccated fascination with the details of implements of war. Us mopes now pretty much uniformly believe war is the natural state and hence inevitable. “Popular Mechanics” is the war pron addicts’ “Playboy.”And if only the right weapons are “deployed,” we gonna win! Ford versus Chevy, Yankees v. Red Sox, F-16 v. F/A-18, this “block” v. that “block,” which one is best for UkraineIsrael, let us show off our informed justification for our preferences and disdains, when for Pete’s sake, the only way to “win” is not to play the game… except of course it’s a multi-player game, and LockheedMartin and Boeing and Raytheon and such are the dealers and hold the bank.
    2. Feral Finster January 31, 2024 at 12:05 pm

       “The only way Ukrainian aircraft can damage Russia is with the very latest long range strike and air to air missiles. Without them, any aircraft are just shooting practice for the Russians.”

       As long as they soak up Russian munitions before NATO decides to intervene directly and openly, then they have done their job.
       1. eg January 31, 2024 at 11:10 pm

          NATO is going nowhere near Ukraine.
21. zagonostra January 31, 2024 at 9:08 am

    “In 2004, the average insured family of four paid $11,192 in health care costs; by 2022 that amount was $30,260. That increase in cost for a family of four is the price of a small car, every single year.”

    As Michael Hudson has pointed out, this de facto makes the U.S. uncompetitive in the global market. Even if a person were to work for free, a country like Vietnam or other parts of the world, would have a lower labor cost. Our elected officials and the ruling elite that control them have failed the American working people. That the latter is in a stupor and unable to mount a political realignment is nothing less than tragic.

    It’s a “republic if you can keep it,” I think in 2024 that question has been answered and and as Moon of Alabama quoted Gramsci the other day, “The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born: now is the time of monsters.”

    https://www.moonofalabama.org/2024/01/war-on-the-middle-east-the-time-of-monsters.html#more
    1. Neutrino January 31, 2024 at 10:01 am

       Add non-healthcare insurance costs and the monthly burden on people grows. Dwelling, car, liability up. Time for a closer look at just what those insurers are up to, how they are organized and who controls what in the states. Are the numerous insurance commissioners part of a regulatory capture apparatus, too?
       1. lyman alpha blob January 31, 2024 at 11:44 am

          I bet that most of those insurers are up to running Ponzi schemes, which is essentially what a lot of “insurance” is. Maybe not home and auto, but a lot of it.
    2. tegnost January 31, 2024 at 10:54 am

       Our elected officials and the ruling elite that control them have failed the American working people.

       They didn’t fail themselves…
22. The Rev Kev January 31, 2024 at 9:25 am

    Just Foreign Policy
    @justfp
    ‘Venezuela bans opposition candidate’

    US: “We’re revoking sanctions relief”

    ‘US ally Pakistan bans opposition party, jails top candidate’

    US: “It’s not for the United States to dictate to Pakistan the exact specifics of how it conducts its election”

    You can’t help but wonder what that White House spokesperson would say if there was a way found to stop Trump from running for President. Then it would be a matter of the Rules Based Order coming home.
    1. Cristobal January 31, 2024 at 11:10 am

       For a clue as to why this sort of thing happens so often, it might be useful to take a look at the National Endowment for Democracy website. You can search by country for the grants given out. Nearly all are for things like ¨ Enhancing Democracy,¨ ¨Improving Human Rights¨, etc etc. Can´t say as I blame the countries taking action against the recipients of such largess. Sounds like rampant cases of ¨Amerugate¨ to me.
23. CA January 31, 2024 at 9:28 am

    https://twitter.com/RnaudBertrand/status/1752493438149480850

    Arnaud Bertrand @RnaudBertrand

    “Japan, Germany sign military supply-sharing pact amid China rise”

    Getting the band back together… You know the world can only get better when Japan and Germany form a military alliance

    https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2024/01/f4dbfe9cbad4-japan-germany-sign-military-supply-sharing-pact-amid-china-rise.html

    Japan, Germany sign military supply-sharing pact amid China rise

    TOKYO – Japan and Germany on Monday concluded a military pact to facilitate exchanges of supplies and logistical support, as the two countries aim to strengthen their defense ties in the face of China’s growing maritime assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific region.

    7:46 PM · Jan 30, 2024
    1. The Rev Kev January 31, 2024 at 10:01 am

       I guess that this time round the Italians do not get a look in-

       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEZetR_moA0 (3:16 mins)
       1. CA January 31, 2024 at 10:53 am

          https://twitter.com/Jingjing_Li/status/1749730596304441353

          Li Jingjing 李菁菁 @Jingjing_Li

          A European viewer said I should stop talking about Imperial Japan’s war crimes in #China since it was 80 years ago.

          So I made another video about it.

          For Europeans, #WWII started in 1939 when Germany invaded Poland.
          For Americans, WWII started in 1941 when #Japan attacked Pearl Harbor.
          For Chinese/Asians, WWII started in 1931 when Japan invaded Shenyang.

          WWII lasted for 14 years for people in Asia.

          https://twitter.com/i/status/1749730596304441353

          4:47 AM · Jan 23, 2024
24. FreeMarketApologist January 31, 2024 at 9:33 am

    Re: LONG LIVE THE SNAKE: CLEOPATRA’S POISON:

    Terrific article, though if you have a strong aversion to snakes, you may want to skip some of the pictures. I’m ok w/ the critters, but the image of the Saharan horned viper is a bit unsettling, and at some point may well slither into a darker element of my dreams.

    My view is that Cleopatra’s story endures as it gives license to artists to paint pictures of women showing their breasts (tastefully, as the article’s illustrations show).
25. Trees&Trunks January 31, 2024 at 9:45 am

    New Zealand and forever chemicals-ban in make-up
    Let me guess, NZ is also a neoliberal economy, meaning that any ban that may hurt business will most likely not be monitored, less enforced and never punished when companies do ignore the ban. Right?
26. The Rev Kev January 31, 2024 at 9:59 am

    ‘Historic Vids
    @historyinmemes
    Grable, the only nuclear artillery shell ever fired by the U.S.’

    I think that these things were really only for showing off. Only 20 of them were ever built and in only a few years they were obsolete. They weighed weighed 83.3 tons each so would not have been that much good in mobile warfare. They would have been as useful as atomic hand grenades. But they must have really impressed Congress critters-

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M65_atomic_cannon
    1. Wukchumni January 31, 2024 at 12:51 pm

       A fellow in town has 3D printed an M65 atomic cannon, and with a little help from ChatGPT might be able to 3D print the shells, heavens to murgatroid, or perhaps Tooleville.
27. Lefty Godot January 31, 2024 at 10:14 am

    One way to get better government is to refuse to allow them to meet in DC. Senators and Representatives should have to stay in their own state and district

    Not only does this concentrate Congress-critters all physically for lobbyists to access, the whole government is concentrated in one spot and vulnerable to a single terrorist attack now.

    To me it seems like the Congress, Supreme Court, and Executive branch should be in three separate locations in different parts of the country, just to enhance disaster survivability. And Congress should be limited to sitting in session no more than six months out of the year, to keep them out of mischief and closer to constituents. They can do emergency sessions remotely. And if they fail to pass a budget for the new fiscal year, the previous year’s budget should be used for all continuing programs (those with no set delivery time limit). Get the preening and grandstanding out of the whole legislative process.

    Of course, it would also help not to have hopeless mediocrities in so many top positions, but that’s another issue.
28. Alice X January 31, 2024 at 10:15 am

    >Must We Limit the Wealthy’s Wealth? Counterpunch

    hmm…

    From each according to their ability, to each according to their need.

    A child with a severe disability will need a lot, an able bodied person will not need so much, certainly not five million dollars.

    Maybe that’s just me. Anyway, it’s a good piece, only two libraries in Michigan have Ingrid Robeyns’ book yet. It will be a while before I can get it, but it’s on my list, it’s right down my alley.
    1. Vandemonian January 31, 2024 at 1:15 pm

       It is available for download, Alice, if you’re OK with reading an electronic version:

       https://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0130
       1. Alice X January 31, 2024 at 2:03 pm

          Thank you so much! Ingrid Robeyns seems to have some genuine insight, though actually your link is to an earlier work (2017): Wellbeing, Freedom and Social Justice, which I have downloaded and will joyfully look into. The Sam Pizzigati piece is on her latest: Limitarianism: The Case Against Extreme Wealth which I will get from my library when it is available!
    2. GF January 31, 2024 at 6:26 pm

       >Must We Limit the Wealthy’s Wealth? Counterpunch

       No. Let them make as much money as they can; then tax them at 92% on the total money inflow with no deductions.
    3. alfred venison January 31, 2024 at 8:04 pm

       its at Libgen.rs
       just looked.
       -a.v.
29. antidlc January 31, 2024 at 10:19 am

    https://marshallallen.substack.com/p/your-money-or-your-life

    Your Money or Your Life
    Insured patients are showing up for medical appointments and being told to pay the ENTIRE BILL up front or they won’t get treatment. What should they do?

    An insured cancer patient showed up for chemo and was told she would have to pony up $14,000 before they’d administer her life-saving medication.

    An insured heart surgery patient got turned away when he couldn’t pay the entire cost in cash up front.

    A cancer center told an insured brain cancer patient his family would have to pay in full for the initial treatment.

    I’m hearing more and more about patients with health insurance arriving for appointments where they are told that they won’t be treated until they have paid the full price out-of-pocket — including the insurance plan’s portion — before any claim has been sent to their insurance plan. In other words: pay up now or you don’t get the medical care you need.

    This happened to a family member.
    Went to see a specialist. Paid the co-copay.
    Provider submitted the bill to insurance company.
    Insurance company didn’t pay.
    Went for a follow-up visit to the same specialist and was told on the day of the visit to pay for the visit up front because the insurance company hadn’t reimbursed for the first visit.
    Six months later it still has not been resolved after numerous phone calls to the provider and the insurance company, appeals, registered letters to the insurance company and the provider.
    The provider won’t even return phone calls.

    Welcome to health care in America.
    1. Penny January 31, 2024 at 11:16 am

       “List persons responsible for payment.”

       Just and only write the name of your health insurance corporation there.

       If the staff question that when reviewing documents, (they usually never even look at them), just tell them that

       “corporations are people now according to the U.S. Supreme Court.”
    2. IM Doc January 31, 2024 at 1:43 pm

       This is known as “access” to health care.

       Not actual health care, mind you.

       So you ingrate, you just need to shut up and stand in the corner. Your thousands in monthly premiums is allowing you to have “access” to health care…..what else do you want?

       And it is getting worse with each passing month.
       1. Mel February 1, 2024 at 7:44 am

          Cory Doctorow famously calls it “enshittification”.
          First the insurance companies used the fact of expensive treatment to lock in patients who would be ruined if they got sick without insurance.
          Now that lock-in is established, and patients’ insurance is the sole way that hospitals and practices get paid, insurance companies are squeezing the hospitals and practices. The H&P don’t like it, but what are they gonna do without income?
30. none January 31, 2024 at 10:30 am

    I just noticed that okdoomer.io hasn’t been updated in 2 weeks. I’m not a regular reader but had been looking at it now and then. No idea what is going on or if anyone else here cares.
    1. AndrewJ January 31, 2024 at 3:17 pm

       I’ve enjoyed her writing. I hope she’s OK and just out there living.
    2. Sub-Boreal January 31, 2024 at 3:42 pm

       Wildfire X-eeted this on Jan. 19th:

       I’ll have a new article up soon. Been wrapped up in a project plus storm/childcare stuff. Water heater back on but now we have some kind of gas leak.

       17 hrs ago:

       My other project is taking longer than I thought but it’s finally getting off the ground. I’ll be back soon. In the meantime, it’s been kind of nice to just get lost in making stuff. It’s the closest thing I’ve had to a break in…four years.
31. Tom Stone January 31, 2024 at 10:32 am

    I’ve been thinking a bit about the PMC’s religious bigotry, the superstious peasants “Clinging to their Guns and Bibles”.
    While I am not familiar with the midwest “Flyover” country I have spent a fair amount of time in California’s Central Valley, the monolithic “Godzone”.
    Where I have encountered Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Episcopalians, Methodists, Seventh day Adventists, Mormons, Christian Scientists Doukhobers ( My Aunt Mabel, Gunnery Sergeant USMC WW2 married into a Doukhober Family), Sikhs ( The first Gurdwara in the USA is in Stockton, built in 1912), Scientologists, Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, and a whole slew of differing Baptist Congregations.
    There are plenty of loud Fundamentalist Xtians there, just as there are Fundamentalists wherever Poverty and Injustice intersect with any organized religion.
    IMO a little humility and tolerance are in order unless you are one of the few Human Beings who can comprehend the infinite.
    1. Lefty Godot January 31, 2024 at 12:07 pm

       In the more “woke” genres of literature and the publishing houses that sponsor them, having a “diverse” cast in your fiction book that includes “representation” for “marginalized” groups is considered very important. But somehow ordinary, devout religious believers do not feature in the genre books, as a rule. Fanatical, hypocritical, crooked, abusive religious believers are not so rare, on the other hand. It always amazes me how “diverse” has come to mean a narrow selection of predefined categories that excludes much of the population, yet calls itself “inclusive”.
    2. Feral Finster January 31, 2024 at 12:08 pm

       The first mosque in the United States was build in 1929 in Ross, North Dakota.

       The oldest standing mosque in the United States was built in 1934 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
    3. Thomas the Obscure January 31, 2024 at 9:04 pm

       Tom, this lack of humility regarding the limits of, well, ontological possibility has also struck me as oddly pervasive lately amongst the PMC. In my reading, the hubris of this class, in its liberal atomistic worldview and technocratic focus on instrumental reason, seems to have forgone any sense of the real limits of human knowledge – to permit oneself to know that one does not know – as well as any sense of a totality that this human, epistemic incapacity to grasp intellectually belongs to.
       I have noted a tendency in some successful scientists to refer, when speaking of their atheism, to their early teenage scientific-logico ‘revelation’ that Abrahamic style revelation and the biblical worldview is inconsistent. The hubris for this lot is not in the initial neonate thought, but in the fact that 40 or 50 years later and after a life of theoretical physics or biology they still hold to and are proud of this teenage atheism. Meanwhile, dark matter is awaiting its Michelson-Morley moment, the quantum theory and relativity remain incompatible and the fundamental ontological explanations of basic concepts of mass and energy amount to ‘we know what they do and how they transform and conserve, but not what they are in themselves’ (the Higgs condensate just adds another explanatory function). In short, as is common knowledge in the philosophy of physics, to quote Eliot –

       ‘All our knowledge brings us nearer to our ignorance,
       All our ignorance brings us nearer to death,
       But nearness to death no nearer to God.’

       A tad further along –

       ‘Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
       Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?’

       The latter is the nub of what is the matter with the PMC and their ‘flyover country.’
       The strange technocratic trust in instrumental reason, such that 70 yo scientists working in ever more deeply specialised fields believe that, in matters of religion, the wisdom accrued in the logic of a 13 year old is still considered true 50 years later, very much belies the narrow, reiterative worldview of liberal existence. I expect similar insights are not uncommon among the late childhoods of members of the ascending PMC. Ignoring the limited nature of instrumental knowledge when faced with falsifying evidence and broad ignorance (which cannot be admitted – the PMC still mocks Rumsfield’s ‘unknown unknowns’, which is a legitimate proposition in the sort of strategy the PMC fails at) is the calling card of the PMC: the way they think of flyover country accords with the flyover quality of their strategic thinking.
       1. c_heale February 1, 2024 at 12:06 am

          The PMC believe themselves (humans) to be gods.

          This is why they are busy destroying the planet – because they are the only important thing on it.
32. KD January 31, 2024 at 10:34 am

    To beat Trump, we need to know why Americans keep voting for him. Psychologists may have the answer

    There has been a politicization of “rationality” which has been on-going since at least the 60’s, whereby people who think like me are “rational” and people who disagree with me are “irrational”. This intrinsic to therapeutic culture, and social dominance through a therapeutic modality is justified by the irrational subject.

    Before the current wave, it was more focused on “normality” and “deviance,” we are “normal” they are “deviants” and we will reform them through therapy. Obviously, with a shift to Id politics and defending the rights of social deviants, you can not chop things up like they did in the Fifties.

    The bottom line is that “rationality” in modern Western society represents a cluster of beliefs and values akin the way “normality” used to function (although slightly different). Anyone who disagrees is “irrational” and they can be reached if you only come up with the right therapeutic technique. This is in stark contrast to rationality as a process rooted in empirical evidence and the exercise of critical thinking skills.

    In terms of sociology, you have conflict based descriptive sociology like Marxism, where society is struggle between classes, and each class adopts self-serving ideologies, and the PMC who prefer cooperative descriptive sociology where everyone plays fair and the problem is irrational people who won’t play fair and need therapeutic intervention.

    In sum, it goes to the heart of the PMC as a class, and the ideological justification for their exercise of power as a class, and is more than just condescension. Which explains TDS because the issue is not Trump, its the social legitimacy of the PMC.
    1. Jason Boxman January 31, 2024 at 11:51 am

       This is Hilary Clinton’s forced reeducation camps for Trumpers!
    2. ilsm January 31, 2024 at 12:58 pm

       Put the deplorables in over long dunce caps, and have them laughed at in the square.

       Nothing less will save “our democracy”.

       Who decides whom is luny.
       1. zach January 31, 2024 at 11:00 pm

          When i was a kid i got my hands on a dunce cap (i think it was a sheet of construction paper i rolled up during arts and crafts at school). I wore it proudly during class, the teacher got a kick out of it as I recall, my mother, when she was informed, not as much…
    3. Don January 31, 2024 at 7:53 pm

       Interesting, and it makes sense. When I suggest that HRC/Biden is no better or worse than Trump, I am derided as irrational (illogical, absurd, ridiculous, stupid, etc…), but with a degree of venom and disgust that suggests what is really meant is deviant. Irrational as a neoliberal, anodyne form of deviant?
    4. Thomas the Obscure January 31, 2024 at 9:11 pm

       This is also why the PMC increasingly target the ‘character’ of those with arguments or politics that they disagree with, rather than debate them. Use lawfare as a slur against political opponents, call anyone who disagrees with policy ‘Putinist,’ etc. etc.
33. Feral Finster January 31, 2024 at 10:45 am

    “Pakistan just convicted the main opposition leader on totally bogus charges and has mostly banned his party. State Dept calls that an internal matter for Pakistan.

    Maduro does similar, citing a coup attempt, and State instantly dishes out sanctions.”

    Of course what Pakistan did was a pretext, doubtless urged on by the United States. What is Imran Khan going to do about it?

    Of course the US State Department are raging hypocrites. Yes, they know it. Unless and until someone can force them to act otherwise, they don’t care.
34. Feral Finster January 31, 2024 at 10:46 am

    “Idaho Senate passes bill to define ‘domestic terrorism’ as activity associated with foreign groups Idaho Capital Sun (furzy)”

    That surely includes Israel, right? Right?
    1. ambrit January 31, 2024 at 1:13 pm

       Get “Greater Idaho,” (theme song, “My Own Private Idaho,”) up and running and the category of “foreign groups” will include anyone associated with Washington, DC.
       Hear, (the B-52s,): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxHyliIspkA
    2. c_heale February 1, 2024 at 12:08 am

       Does it include George Soros too?
35. SufferinSuccotash January 31, 2024 at 10:47 am

    Reading Monbiot’s piece on “intrinsic” and “extrinsic” I’m forcibly reminded of that Chinese “encyclopedia”( Celestial Emporium of Benevolent Knowledge )so memorably described by Jose Luis Borges. The entry on types of animals is especially illuminating.
    1. those belonging to the Emperor
    2. embalmed ones
    3. trained ones
    4. suckling pigs
    5. mermaids (or sirens)
    6. fabled ones
    7. stray dogs
    8. those included in this classification
    9. those that tremble as if they were mad
    10. innumerable ones
    11. those drawn with a very fine camel hair brush
    12. et cetera
    13. those that have just broken the vase
    14.those that from afar look like flies
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celestial_Emporium_of_Benevolent_Knowledge
36. s.n. January 31, 2024 at 10:52 am

    the backround to yesterday’s Ibn Sina Hospital murders:
    https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-mustaribeen-undercover-agents-history-dressing-arab-palestine
    Mustaribeen: The Israeli undercover agents with a history of dressing like Palestinians
    

    “…Mistaarivim started as an undercover unit in the Palmach division, which was part of the terrorist militia of Haganah, the core of the Israeli army,”…”They were made up of mainly Mizrahi Jews, coming from Arabic-speaking countries,…One of the most well-known units, the Duvdevan, was formed in the 1980s by former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak. The unit is still operational today, and one of several undercover Israeli units. …”Their use during the first intifada was particularly prominent. They were often either Druze, or Arabic-speaking Jewish operatives of Shin Bet,…
37. Penny January 31, 2024 at 10:58 am

    “Biden Owes the Country a New Vice President”

    How’s that border she was sent to fix doing?
    The Border Czarina is a floating turd in the political punchbowl.

    She may be actually a Trump plant, because there is no one,anywhere, better suited to help elect DJT to a second term.

    What a pathetic embarassment that woman is and has been, from the first office that she held in San Francisco, and was reelected to, running unopposed, now in ruins, thanks to her as the alleged district attorney.
    1. JTMcPhee January 31, 2024 at 12:42 pm

       My guess is that Volodymir Zelenskyii is a Russian plant. I mean, is there any choice or policy he’s effectuated that does not aim to destroy Ukraine as a Nazi nest, and NATO and its member states as Nazi-adjacents and catalysts and havens? Feeding the population into the meat grinder, sucking money and materiel out of the diseased West, accelerating its decline and bankruptcy? Remember the guy whose d/ck could find middle C, who played President on TV and promised pan-Slavic comity with Russians, at home and abroad?

       The guy sure seems to have actually earned that Oscar — best performance as a Fifth Column head of state. Applause! Putin for the win!

       Will the real Z please rise and come forward for your well-deserved acclaim?

       “Wheels within wheels, bendreth…” https://everything2.com/title/Wheels+within+wheels%252C+Bendreth
38. Wukchumni January 31, 2024 at 11:12 am

    My Joey said, “Protesters, you’re gonna’ drive me to drinkin’
    If you don’t stop deridin’ that Hot Rod Antony Blinken”

    Have you heard this story of the Hot War phase
    When Bibi & Blinken was settin’ the pace
    That story is true
    I’m here to say
    They was drivin’ that Model A-bomb talk our way

    It’s got Bibi & Blinken motives
    And it’s really souped up
    And that Model A body makes Fat Man look like a pup
    It’s got a bullet trigger; uses 20,000 tons of TNT to nuke them all
    It’s got fission overdrive, just won’t stall

    With a 10 megaton blast as the cost
    With fallout for a year
    You can really get Gaza lost
    It’s got repercussions, but they ain’t scared
    For the state of Israel, more settlements there

    Pulled out of Eilat late one night
    The moon and the stars was shinin’ bright
    They was cruisin’ down
    Towards the southern bight
    Passing future beachy lebensraum settlements in sight

    All of a
    Sudden in a wink of an eye
    A Hezbollah missile passed them by
    They said, “Boys,
    That was meant for me!”
    By then the end of an era was all you could see

    Now Bibi was ribbin’ Joe for armaments shipments bein’ behind
    So he thought he’d treat Blinken unkind
    Put his foot on his arse and man alive
    He shoved chutzpah into overdrive

    Wound it up to 25,000 dead
    The UN said that this genocide had to end
    Bibi said, there’s a bunch more to exterminate
    If we let them squirm, they might reciprocate

    Now most every other country all thought they’d long lost any sense
    And a 2-state solution looked like it had no chance hence
    They said, “Slow down! I see Hamas hiding spots!
    The bodies on the road just look like bots.”

    Bibi took a corner; sideswiped the Republican cucks
    Crossed his fingers just for luck
    Our ambassador was twiddling @ his embassy post
    Bibi was beside himself-not much of a host

    Steam was comin’ from out of his ears
    When everything wasn’t as it appears
    Knew no ruling could catch him, with a long lapse
    Don’t you know by then he’d be having lack of ammo gaps

    They had flames comin’ from out of the Israeli owned tanker’s side
    Feel the tension. Man! What a ride!
    The Houthis said, “Look out, boys, I’ve got a license to fly!”
    And that missile flew over and let friendlies by

    Now all of a sudden the tanker started to knockin’
    And down in the dips she started to rockin’
    I looked in the distance; a red flame was big-not shrinking
    Diplomacy wasn’t meant for Hot Rod Anthony Blinken!

    This arrested him for a second, how could he fail
    And called in favors to the press to make a tall tale
    And Biden said, “Bibi, you’re gonna’ drive me to drinkin’
    If you ever stop boasting about that Hot… Rod… Antony Blinken!

    Hot Rod Lincoln, performed by Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBUfNxfc2w4
    1. ChrisFromGA January 31, 2024 at 1:27 pm

       Brought a smile to my face … a diplomat, you’re not, Mr. Stinken Blinken.
39. Katniss Everdeen January 31, 2024 at 11:41 am

    Agree completely with the Lisa Pease tweet about “requiring” reps and senators to stay home among their constituents and conduct their congressional business using (endlessly sanctified) “technology.”

    They’re rarely all together in the same room anyway, and the current setup just makes it more convenient for congresspeople to auction themselves off to the highest bidders.

    I’d imagine the thought of actually having to live with their constituents–breathe the air in East Palestine, OH; drink the water in Flint, MI; have a medical emergency in any of the rural areas in america today; or dodge poop and bullets on the streets of LA (lookin’ at you, maxine waters), for instance–causes levels of anxiety and depression that even pfizer has no drug for.

    And while we’re at it, I’d move the prez to the middle of the country–I’m thinkin’ the Black Hills of South Dakota. Keep him safe from all those “insurrectionists”…

    The more I think abut this idea, the better I like it.
    1. Laura in So Cal January 31, 2024 at 3:26 pm

       Wasn’t the original thought behind the location of Washington, D.C. was that is was centrally located? 200+ years later, maybe we should we should recalculate centrally located?

       https://www.geographyrealm.com/what-is-the-geographic-center-of-the-united-states/
       1. jrkrideau January 31, 2024 at 9:07 pm

          I thought it was because it was about 20-30km from Mount Vernon.
40. Carolinian January 31, 2024 at 11:42 am

    The latest construction Physics is about the business of building airliners.

    https://www.construction-physics.com/p/a-cycle-of-misery-the-business-of
41. s.n. January 31, 2024 at 11:48 am

    powerful piece by Chris Hedges issued in the last few minutes
    https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/the-silence-of-the-damned
    The Silence of the Damned
    

    There is no effective health care system left in Gaza. Infants are dying. Children are having their limbs amputated without anesthesia. Thousands of cancer patients and those in need of dialysis lack treatment. The last cancer hospital in Gaza has ceased functioning. An estimated 50,000 pregnant women have no safe place to give birth. They undergo cesarean sections without anesthesia. Miscarriage rates are up 300 percent since the Israeli assault began. The wounded bleed to death. There is no sanitation or clean water. Hospitals have been bombed and shelled. Nasser Hospital, one of the last functioning hospitals in Gaza, is “near collapse.” Clinics, along with ambulances – 79 in Gaza and over 212 in the West Bank – have been destroyed. Some 400 doctors, nurses, medics and healthcare workers have been killed — more than the total of all healthcare workers killed in conflicts around the world combined since 2016. Over 100 more have been detained, interrogated, beaten and tortured, or disappeared by Israeli soldiers….
    1. zagonostra January 31, 2024 at 1:39 pm

       Lost track of how many journalist have been killed/targeted. But hey, most Americans seem to be cool with it, not much impacting us, gas not too expensive, cable bill could be lower, no massive lay-offs (yet), just insouciantly chugging along…[truly a disgusting, abhorrent, nightmarish situation]…I will never ever support any U.S. politician that went along with this and I’ve already lost some friends who were stalwarts against CV19 and questioned official 9/11 narrative because, well you know, it’s Israel and they have a “right to defend themselves.”
42. flora January 31, 2024 at 12:20 pm

    Tucker Carlson and Russell Brand. utube, ~46 minutes.

    Russell Brand Responds to Coordinated Smear Campaign Against Him

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VnNf0azNTQ
    1. Rainlover February 1, 2024 at 12:43 am

       Thanks for this Flora. I wish I had half the vocabulary and ability to speak extemporaneously as Brand. Tucker says at the end, “You are not broken.” Indeed. Brand sees the coming catastrophe as an opportunity for new vision. Kick it up to the links.
43. Anon January 31, 2024 at 12:48 pm

    If the *checks notes* Idaho Senate is thorough in their witch hunt, AIPAC is in for trouble, eh?
44. zagonostra January 31, 2024 at 1:45 pm

    Welcome to the Machine: Roger Waters Faces Axe by Record Label Over Defiant Israel Stance

    I’ll drink piss before buying another Starbuck latte and I’ll be damned if I’ll ever patronize an artist that is with BMG.

    Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) is reportedly planning to axe its 2016 publishing deal with 80-year-old rock legend Roger Waters over his “inflammatory comments” on the crises in Israel and Ukraine, and his outspoken criticism of the United States.

    https://sputnikglobe.com/20240131/welcome-to-the-machine-roger-waters-faces-axe-by-record-label-over-defiant-israel-stance-1116515758.html
45. Albe Vado January 31, 2024 at 3:10 pm

    “I have yet to see a media piece mention that ~10% of the population does not have binocular vision, so all of this 3D wonder tech at best under-delivers to them at at worst gives them headaches.”

    None of this applies to VR. All VR does is change the position of the camera in the 3D world and makes it move when you move your head. It isn’t 3D in the style of the various gimmicks applied to film over the years, or like how the Nintendo 3DS worked. Those are stereoscopic techniques that some people can’t see. If you can see a flat panel display, you can see a VR headset.
    1. Laura in So Cal January 31, 2024 at 3:30 pm

       I tried my son’s VR system and it both freaked me out and made me nauseous. I do have a tendency to motion sickness so YMMV.
       1. Albe Vado January 31, 2024 at 4:47 pm

          The quality of the implementation varies massively from game to game. Things are also very dependent on maintaining a performance level of at least 90 frames per second. Things can get very unpleasant if that threshold isn’t maintained.
46. ddt January 31, 2024 at 3:47 pm

    Biden finding his way around those “Russia-loving” Republican obstruction re Ukraine using the current US ass-kissing Greek government. We’re also looking to lead the euro armada against the Houthis too so that’s fun. Maybe include in tomorrow’s links…

    https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2024/01/30/joe-biden-is-arming-greece-so-greece-can-arm-ukraine-and-pro-russia-republicans-cant-stop-him/?sh=2b768d5424ea
    1. lyman alpha blob January 31, 2024 at 4:56 pm

       Thanks for that one.

       I wonder if they’ll store all the armaments in the Parthenon, like the occupying Turks did back in the day, making for a marble shattering kaboom. Maybe the Turks will be the exploders rather than the explodees this time.
    2. Feral Finster January 31, 2024 at 5:49 pm

       The point is that the Administration is determined, creative, and not unduly burdened by laws when it comes to getting what it wants, and what it wants is for Ukraine to get more arms.

       And yes, the seizure of Russian assets is baked in the cake.

       Russia needs to stop kidding itself. Victory will not come through waffling or half-measures, but only by taking it.
       1. jrkrideau January 31, 2024 at 9:26 pm

          Essentially, they already have victory. Things like complicated swaps for old Soviet era weapons is just posturing by the US/NATO.

          At the moment, it is more likely a debate of what oblasts they think they need and how to really de-nazify what’s left of the Kiev Gov’t and military.

          Kiev-controlled Ukraine has population of 18-20 million people, at best, and devastated economy. It has been surviving on NATO handouts, money and material, since, probably, May of 2022.

          As a retired Canadian colonel said n CBC in the first week of the “SMO”, ‘Zelensky’s lost. He will have to negotiate, not right away but eventually’.

          It’s just taken longer than I think the colonel expected.
       2. zach January 31, 2024 at 11:24 pm

          A certain Moscow correspondent has graciously translated to English and posted to his site developments as reported in Vzglyad that, if true, will soon enough vindicate your bloodlust.
47. playon January 31, 2024 at 7:45 pm

    There has been some discussion here recently about internet searches becoming increasingly crapified.

    After an online argument (I know, I know) about the actual efficacy of the Pfizer & Moderna jabs, I went looking for articles that dealt with the subject. The search results were all Pfizer and mainstream media reports as to how the efficacy was 90%. After the third page of this stuff I gave up. Searching again using the word “questionable” as the first word I found only one hit on the first page — an Israeli study showing efficacy to be 39% (Israel was the most vaccinated country in the world). It is becoming more and more difficult to trust searches, I recall seeing more information about this at one point.

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