A Heartwarming Compilation Showing the ‘Cat Distribution System’ in Action Laughing Squid
10 Geopolitical / Financial Risks to the Global Economy Charles Hugh Smith, Of Two Minds
Remittance flows to low-middle-income countries moderated in 2023, reaching $656 billion: World Bank Middle East Economy
Climate
The Real Reason Tree Planters Work Like Demons The Tyee
* * * Cleantech has an enshittification problem Cory Doctorow, Pluralistic
Rondo Energy funding shows a new way across the climate startup ‘valley of death’ Tech Crunch
Syndemics
JGV: H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b Avian Influenza Viruses Replicate in Differentiated Bovine Airway Epithelial Cells Cultured at Air-liquid Interface Avian Flu Diary
DR Congo grants emergency use for 2 mpox vaccines Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy
Water
Malign Neglect: What Calgary’s Water-Main Break Reveals About The Failure Of City Government C2C Journal. Commentary:
The #yyc water crisis has taught me that it’s doable to use a lot less water but if you’re very constrained it takes extra time and is incompatible with our current way of life. It also shows me how water insecurity is oppressive in another way: keeps people too busy to organize
— Amanda Hu (@amandalhu) June 26, 2024
Food
WHO Reports Hundreds of Thousands of Annual Deaths in Europe Linked to Ultra-Processed Food Olive Oil Times
The world is farming more seafood than it catches. Is that a good thing Grist
The Promise of Precision Agriculture Is Slowly Coming to Fruition Undark
China?
Keep faith in China, Li Qiang tells business at ‘Summer Davos’ FT
Why China’s latest corruption probes hint at fury, betrayal over political disloyalty South China Morning Post
A Deed of Eternity Poetry Foundation
World’s largest maritime drills begin in an increasingly tense Asia Pacific Al Jazeera
Philippines Must ‘Do More’ on South China Sea, Marcos Says The DIplomat
Myanmar
Thousands Mourn Buddhist Abbot Killed by Myanmar Security Forces The Irrawaddy
Syraqistan
Israel brings in military service for ultra-Orthodox Jews Deutsche Welle. Commentary:
🚨BREAKING: Ordinary Israelis brutalise ultra-Orthodox Jews protesting against forced conscription into the IOF. A police officer makes feeble gestures but does little to protect the victims. This is Zionism against Judaism. This is antisemitism. This is Israel. #Gaza #Israel pic.twitter.com/jLyt9OqAeE
— Dr Lens Veritatis (@LensVeritatis) June 27, 2024
UN criticizes Israeli soldiers for unleashing dogs on detained Palestinians Anadolu Agency
* * * Biden’s Phony Saudi-Israeli Peace Deal The Tablet
* * * Bringing the war back home:
LA City Councilmembers Katy Yaraslovsky @CD5LosAngeles and @BobBlumenfield are moving to give city funding to Magen Am, an armed Zionist paramilitary force comprised in large part of Israeli soldiers.
Read their new motion: https://t.co/wTtp2Pebxb pic.twitter.com/3lvNcUDF3x
— Stop LAPD Spying Coalition (@stoplapdspying) June 27, 2024
* * * Iranians head to the polls to replace president killed in helicopter crash France24
Two hopefuls quit Iran’s presidential race BNE Intellinews
Africa
Nigeria destroys 165 illegal oil refineries in one week Anadolu Agency
‘Not afraid to die’: Kenya tax protests inspire broader demand for change Al Jazeera
European Disunion
Macron’s presidency — a tragedy in four acts FT
French far right dominates polls three days ahead of snap elections France24
Bulgarian President won’t attend NATO summit due to disagreement over support for Ukraine Ukrainska Pravda
Joachim Nagel: The digital euro – unifying and trustworthy Bank of International Settlements
Dear Old Blighty
Starmer says he meant no offence to Bangladeshi community over deportation comments Sky News. Commentary:
George Galloway: "When Britain arrived in Bengal, it was the richest place in the world. When Britain left Bengal, it was the poorest place in the world." pic.twitter.com/fwt66W6BuN
— COMBATE |🇵🇷 (@upholdreality) June 26, 2024
New Not-So-Cold War
US in talks to send Israel’s Patriot systems to Ukraine FT
Russians strike Kharkiv with FAB-500 unguided bombs for first time ever Ukrainska Pravda
Biden Administration
Biden’s Inept Diplomacy Has Led To A Russia-China-Iran-North Korea Axis Madras Courier
Supply Chain
Global freight rises but shows signs of weakness in US Hellenic Shipping News
Railway faces supply disruption of forged wheels amid Red Sea crisis Business Standard
Antitrust
NFL Ordered to Pay $4.7 Billion in Sunday Ticket Trial Verdict Sportico
Supermarket Economics Phenomenal World
Apple crippled watchOS to corner heart-tracking market, doctors say The Register
The Supremes
‘Devastating Blow’: Divided Supreme Court Says SEC Cannot Seek Fines In-House National Law Journal
Purdue Pharma Decision: a Big Win for Mass Tort Victims Credit Slips
2024
Debate takeaways: Trump confident, even when wrong, Biden halting, even with facts on his side AP
Democrats may want to replace Biden, but it’s his call Axios
Election Countdown, 130 Days to Go: A Bad Night for America James Fallows. Breaking the News
‘A turning point’: US allies wince at Biden debate performance Politico. “‘Enormous lies by Trump,’ one Western diplomat said. ‘On the other hand, at least we understood what he says.'”
Spook Country
Zero Progress on Zero Days: How the Last Ten Years Created the Modern Spyware Market (PDF) Nebraska Law Review
Assange
Assange: I Broke the Law But the Law Is Wrong Consortium News. Commentary:
"Anybody who believes that Assange should still be in prison is the enemy of human freedom. The guy who discovers the crime doesn’t go to jail. It's the guy who commits the crime that goes to jail, and that's been inverted in his case."
~ Tucker Carlsonpic.twitter.com/Af2TrxYoss
— James Melville 🚜 (@JamesMelville) June 27, 2024
Assange Plea Deal in Full (PDF) Scribd
Sports Desk
The perfect penalty Understanding the Unseen
Class Warfare
Viewpoint: If the AFL-CIO Gets away with a Vermont Purge, It Won’t Stop Here Labor Notes
Labor Law’s Political Analogies On Labor
On Day of Fatal BP Refinery Blast, 3,712 Safety Alarms and One Unsent Email WSJ
Inflation is Obvious But Wage Gains Seem Invisible Barry Ritholtz, The Big Picture
Precision ultrasound could treat deep parts of brain without surgery New Scientist
Jazz Remains the Sound of Modernism The Millions
Antidote du jour (Sara&Joachim&Mebe):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here
CHOPPED LIVER (melody borrowed from Moon River by Henry Mancini, with inspiration from Allan Sherman)
Chopped liver, our nation has become
With candidates as numb, as they.
Two deep fakers and deal breakers
Wherever you’re going, just please go away.
Two grifters who could destroy the world
And all the lovely things we see.
We’re looking at the empire’s end,
Just around the bend,
Two knuckle headed men,
Chopped liver are we.
After the 4 minutes I spent last night my view is: who is running the US today, and who will Trump hire to ignore in Jan 2025?
The officer carrying the nuclear football has it rough!
Maybe the “officer” is the one in charge? Been hard to figure out who’s in charge here for a stretch now.
“Forget it, Jake, it’s Chinatown”
marvelous.
Lambert, thanks for the Food Section category in Links. Hope it will be a daily addition.
YOU TALK SMACK
(melody borrowed from Do It Again by Steely Dan)
You’re a polished politician
Leading lambs unto the slaughter
Quite the poppycock magician
Dancing on a teeter-totter
You solve nothing by haranguing
On the sins of the elite
All those pots and pans you’re banging
Just a script that you repeat yeah
You talk smack and show ’em your grin
It’s just another town
If your facade cracks you’ll never win!
Even with crippled cognition
From dementia or Alzheimer’s
Give free rein to your ambition
It’s a mountain you’re a climber
We’ll do focus group profiling
You must memorize your phrasing
Then we’ll get our people dialing
And the money’s just amazing yeah
You talk smack and line up your kin
It’s just another town
If your facade cracks you’ll never win!
(musical interlude)
All your rivals will do research
To expose your private vices
They’ll do anything to besmirch
And to cut you down by slices
Kiss more babies at each rally
Shake a thousand filthy hands
Carry on to the finale
While your donors make demands yeah
You talk smack, man, everything’s spin
It’s just another town
If your facade cracks you’ll never win!
in the land of milk and honey
you must put them on the table
Excellent!
“Democrats may want to replace Biden, but it’s his call”
Jill’s call?
Jill already made her call and boy was it a mistake. When Biden announced he said that he and Jill had talked it over and he would run again.
But then Jill is a doctor of education and not, as many think, an actual doctor.
Perhaps Melania will suggest replacing Trump with his lookalike and equal in blowhardiness, Dominar Rygel the XVI.
I would much prefer voting for the muppet than either of the two clowns on offer.
I do wonder what Fauci, Cohen and Walensky think about Biden’s prognosis. Unlike Jill, they are actual doctors.
If only we were a monarchy and Prince Regent Hunter could take over the reins…
In all seriousness, that would be an improvement and he would probably be better behaved in the White House than Bill Clinton. Certainly it would be better to have Prince Hunter than Prince Harry.
Prince Valiant? “Ours is not a serious country” sings the choir.
I’m not one for cracking a joke so early in the day, but it would be a risible charge ( most but not all jurisdictions ) in the court of public opinion to let a golden opportunity pass by…
heavy on the sarcasm! The dashing prince rising to his role as rightful heir.
Careful what you wish for. It’s what daddy wants, although the idea of exhuming Beau’s corpse and running that is probably being reconsidered as no longer a crazy idea.
Weekend @ Beau’s?
Night of the Living Dread.
Beau is now in the body of Commander, his bite being worse than his bark?
Master and Commander, a story about a boy and his dog?
I live in a monarchy. We would not expect this level of insanity in an election.
God Save the King!
Comes a day when you have to make the decision to ‘take away the keys’ from your aged parent (or uncle, in my case.) They protest and it is painful, but after the second ‘fender bender’ in three months, you realize that leaving him with the keys, just to save his dignity, places others in jeopardy.
So, Joe, we need to ‘take away your keys.’ Unfortunately, as regards your opponent, criminality, constant mendacity and sheer glass bowlery, does not, in our society, warrant the withdrawal of driving privileges. God help us all.
Also, unfortunately, the Dem estab bench is thin to non-existent. Newsom, Hills, Michelle, one of the Cuomo’s, Pritzker, Buttengeig, ???? None of them would govern any differently policy-wise than the B admin, imo. And heaven forbid they let RFKjr run on the Dem ticket.
It ain’t just B’s faltering age, it’s the whole Build Back Better program across the West that’s in trouble. Trudeau in Canada, Macron in France, Sunak in the UK, Scholtz in Germany, et al are all in deep, deep trouble with their citizens. The neoliberal and neoconservative projects have hit a wall. / my 2 cents.
I see it as rather fortunate. Let them implode into nothingness.
After all, we know the uniparty cannot be reformed.
The sooner it’s gone, the better.
Letting them implode of course sounds good in theory, but it’s probably underestimating the determination of the uniparty to cling to power. It’s more likely that they will continue their race to the bottom with increasingly flawed and incompetent candidates buoyed by tribalistic voters who believe the party leadership and corporate media rhetoric that every election constitutes an existential choice between good and evil, and that voting for a third party will lead to the end of our (make believe) democracy which has already effectively been destroyed by the uniparty and their corporate beneficiaries.
Check out “the Iron Law of Institutions.” I don’t worry much about “damaging democracy,” since we’ve never had much of that in the U.S., but a lot of people are going to get hurt when the uniparty is destroyed.
True, but I think the current Dems like the slick empty suit character of a Newsom or Buttigieg. Biden won’t step down. Even if there’s some way to force him out, skipping over Harris would look bad. Dems painted themselves into a corner.
Agreed 100%. And I’d add anyone with half a brain would be wise to steer clear of the mess that taking the position would be.
It’s the 1936 election in Germany. Unfortunately, we don’t have the luxury of letting any semblance of organized opposition to Trump implode. And no, JFK Jr doesn’t count.
The fundamental problem is that decades of malicious neglect and predatory compromise have left the Democrats with an extraordinarily weak bench. It’s telling that flora didn’t even mention Harris.
re: “It’s the 1936 election in Germany.”
Not quite that. The US dollar is still the world’s reserve currency, unlike the German 1936 Deutsche Mark which was still trying to dig itself out from the WWI Treaty of Versailles economic international debt demands. The US still has economic room to move.
As for Harris, she did not win a single primary contest in the 2020 Dem primary, not even her home state. What did she bring to the table? Not sure what that means.
Most of the PMC like them a slick cypher in a nice suit and good shoes, not just in politics but in the workplace too. I’ve been retired for a few years now but I’d say the last 10 years of my working life saw the rise through management of more well dressed, know-nothing, grifting arseholes then I could ever have imagined to be in existence. I worked at a community college for goodness sake. I think they believed they were running MIT, they certainly acted like they were doing something full of status and prestige. I and a handful of others often felt like the kid who could see that the emperor was naked. I dunno how people can vote for most politicians these days. Although if I could I think I’d vote for George Galloway! What a breath of fresh air. I want to say what the hell was Starmer thinking but I’m sure he knows that the PMC and his loyal boot lickers won’t see anything wrong with what he said, they’re loyal to their people regardless of said people’s words or actions.
What if, just what if genocide Joe tripped over and fell on Kamala’s noggin and they both went into a coma? And Trumpie had a heart attack?
Yes. This complete absence of anyone capable of taking on Trump is why they stuck with ol’ Joe so long, until it was too late. The Democratic party turned itself into a neoliberal technocracy in the service of global capital, driving out anyone with any mass appeal as they demonized anything smacking of “populism.” B Flat is quite right about painting themselves into this corner.
They lack new ideas because they had no need to have them–already occupying the catbird seat. As Ann Richards said most of them were born on third base. Hereditary privilege was what America was supposed to solve but power has its own agenda.
Fortunately there’s always the proles to take the blame. You simply have to stand between the wealthy and those pitchforks (may not work long term).
There is also no young blood on the Donkey Show, as anybody in their 30’s or 40’s has had almost 30 years to write something self-disqualifying on the internet…
My youthful indiscretions are under lock & key in my cranium~
A. Richards on Dubya – “born with a silver foot in his mouth.”
Oh yes! Ann Richards was one sharp person! I still miss her and Molly Ivins.
Awesome.
It may well be Whitmer. Here in Michigan, at least the Dembots got rid of the Right to Work bezzle that the previous regime had instigated, so I give her that. Winning MI would be high in the DemLizards calculus, but to win the state she would have to cross the Zionists and that is a tall order. My view, which isn’t worth 2¢.
I recently read from a trusted author that in the spring of 1948, when Truman was falling in the polls and donations, a donor with Zionist interests came forward with a $million and saved his !@#$. He then recognized Israel immediately after it was proclaimed, bucking his own State Dept. The office has long been for sale.
Thus denying the presidency to a Mid- Michigan native. And embarrassing Col. McCormick. O seem to remember Politico giving Gretch the epiclesis of “Michigan’s popular governor.” I don’t see too much evidence of that popularity, though I don’t think she’s awful–I too commend the end of RTW legislation–but she angered many rather indellibly in 2020. Karl Manke the barber-martyr (uh, sarc?) Is perhaps the best known Owossonian from Thomas Dewey’s hometown. Unless your tastes run to Grand Funk.
Bottom line I dont see Whitmer getting elected señora la Presidente.
Serious inside Michiganisms there! Barber-martyr! Lol! I didn’t support Gretch due to her BCBS linkage. She isn’t terrible. As Lena noted, never underestimate the hawt, though that fades away too soon.
hope Gretch stays here – really want Line 5 out of the Straits, Nessel brought the fight back to Michigan courts and our senators and Reps in Fed-land are silent about that disaster that will(not if) happen if not removed – not thrilled about Palisades either – Jenni was worthless – Snyder sucked – now with Stabenow going and handing the reigns to ex CIA Slotkin – Peters a vassal to banking – time to take Mose Allison’s advice –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNsdOJ5rhbw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZYu6AWr65o
Yeah, flora, we’re down to Maggie Thatcher’s, TINA. There is no alternative … to Biden, to Trump, to whomever the Uniparty ultimately props up to be the figurehead running the country (and the West?). Democracy, shmokracy. We will tug our forelocks, shuffle our feet, and, like dutiful little peasants, go out in November and pretend that we are being given a choice. (OK, some of us will: others will vote, in a futile gesture, for a third party candidate. Or, just refuse to vote.)
And, what kind of sociopaths deliberately expose an obviously faltering human being to the ridicule of the entire planet, for Pete’s sake. (Remember Mayor Pete?)
Mayo Pete is coherent albeit in a fashion where you completely forget what he uttered 20 minutes later, and it seems to me that the Donkey Show is crying out for coherency, and Pete has shown to be quite capable of falling upwards and ticks a lot of woke boxes.
The Tree Planter piece is relevant-
A competitive work environment is there because people in charge tend to focus on getting the better of others, and a bit of gasification to trick people into doing more for less.
Even the most yay teamwork and we’re a family meetings I’ve been to were fundamentally reminding the troop to fight with each other for favor and reinforcing the 🪣 of 🦀 🦀 🦀 mindset.
Honestly, I think if it wasn’t for the legions who are just there to do their jobs and get home, nothing would get done on modern society. And D & R politics are just about winning.
I found a job at West Marine, a company founded by a recreational sailor who couldn’t get the kind of rope and pulleys and paint he needed at a reasonable price. Filling that niche (less than 10% of boaters are sailors0 and expanding into general boating supplies over time, he steered the company pretty well. It was pretty well managed. The management philosophy when I first worked there was taken from “ZAPP! The Lightning of Empowerment: How To Improve Quallity, Prioductivity, and Employee Satisfaction,” a silly little tale of how encouraging people and giving them the tools to to their jobs kind of led to better outcomes. That was the text for the management training course I took, and I eventually became an assistant store manager. A lot of upper management came from the ranks of the worker bees. The program led to pretty satisfied workers, paid a little better than other retail chains, and corporate growth based on an increasingly popular and trusted brand. The store staffs were mostly boaters, who knew the products in the catalog from actually using them. The product lines were generally the best available. Employees worked flexible hours, to leave time for boating, and enjoyed a pretty substantial discount on purchases (25% originally,) and if you worked more than 30 hours you got full benefits, including health care, paid vacation, the ability to move from store to store if you were cruising and wanted to stay with the company, and stock options. Markups were honest. Not to industry standards.”
Step forward a bit, and the founder started to hand off the operations to “experts” in “retail operations.”
No surprises that, over time, the screws were tightened. “Sales” expert consultants were brought in, suckering management into paying them millions of dollars for complicated “metrics programs” and vastly increasing the paperwork and reporting load for store managers.
And slowly the management training program disappeared the “ZAPP!” mentality for a more “rigorous” model. We were all forced to undergo “sales training,” which emphasized all the little tricks like up-selling and cross-selling and grabbing a cart and the customer’s elbow as you probed for weaknesses and steered the customer up and down the aisles, overcoming resistance and shoving product into their increasingly reluctant hands. Told to do little tricks like the “180 degree turn” where you walk past a browsing customer, wheel around, and find some pretext to engage them, to start your spiel on the “features and benefits” of various products they might be interested in. And you were followed by managers, and scored on your adherence to the model. What had been a pretty collegial relationship to customers, many of whom we knew personally and boated with, became an assault on the citadel of the customer’s charge card. “Overcome resistance” by sales force.
Most employees when I started, all the way up the chain of command, were boaters, and had good product knowledge and awareness of the boating community. But the old timers, beneficiaries of a progressing wage increase, were gradually replaced by minimum wage ciphers with little to no knowledge of product or boaters’ interests other than the “sales program” bullshit brochures on product lines.
And wages went down, along with the employee discount, and to get benefits (which also eventually disappeared for all but upper tier) you had to work 35 hours, no exceptions.
The district manage adroitly adapted to the new style, adding his own reporting demands to the fixed ones coming from California. He expected “his” store managers to bolster sales by going, on their own time, to boat ramps and marinas and club meetings to pitch the products and draw in sales, making it a 60-to-80-hour work week, once you added in all the hours of filling out and filling reports on all the metrics. Which included workload modeling, with the goal of keeping employees below the cutoff for benefits and absolutely minimizing employee hours. To the point that a 10,000 sq ft store had only one employee present a lot of the time, to run the registers, guard the door, and do stocking and ordering. “Shrinkage” became a problem, but the manager had to make it up to meet the store’s monthly “contribution” to coprporate, beyond its sales targets.
My district manager once sai right out loud that the company now practiced “management by intimidation.” Shortly anfter that, he offered me a job as a full time store manager, salaried rather than my hourly gig as assistant manager. He got all huffy when I declined, especially when I told him the store manager position was like the space between the face of the hammer and the head of the nail. No thank you.
The founder had literally sailed off into the sunset, even giving up an emeritus position as chairman of the board. The whole hierarchy was filled with “experts,” many of whom were total failures as C-suite managers of other retail chains, sending them into decline or bankruptcy. But these types thrive in the toxic waters of upper management.
I was demoted from assistant manager, hours cut to where i no longer qualified for any benefits. The one reason I remained, the employee discount that helped me afford to live on a wooden sailboat for twelve years, all but vanished.
By great good luck, I decided to try another career switch and found a federal program that paid tuition for men going into nursing. Which I moved to for twelve years, retiring just in time to avoid becoming one of the “indispensable workers” in the advent of Covid.
And now West Marine, once aspiring to become a “category killer,” is nothing more than a small brand in the portfolio of some careless private equity monster.
So now I live in a little house on a survivable fixed income, waiting on the west coast of Florida for “the big one,” weather or health.
It could all be different — maybe it might, before the “managers by intimidation” that constitute the ruling elite and those of us unaware of anything outside the cave, fuck it all up finally for all of us…
wow! wow, wow! What a great, encompassing comment on our neoliberal age about overtaking great stores and hollowing out the store’s employee expertise and customer service that made the stores once great. Thanks so much.
When the US Teamsters president asks to speak at this year’s GOP convention in addition to asking to speak at the Dem convention that’s a sea change in politics. When has a big union president ever asked to speak at a GOP convention? Why does he think speaking at the GOP convention is worth doing?
just a thought, but a lot of the teamsters I knew were Republicans. It might be a new form of outreach to the membership.
As a former IAM* union member from 1986 to 2000, what have the National Democrats ever delivered for union members? Always fighting?
* The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.
The Teamsters have endorsed quite a few Republican Presidential nominees over the decades.
Flora here is why, it was never stable to begin with, and was doomed to failure.
https://direct.mit.edu/isec/article/43/4/7/12221/Bound-to-Fail-The-Rise-and-Fall-of-the-Liberal
“Indeed, Bill Clinton made it clear when he ran for president in 1992 that his predecessor’s concept of a new world order was not ambitious enough.26”
“This hyperglobalized world economy was intended to be much more ambitious in scope than the economic order that prevailed in the West during the Cold War.”
“The 2007–08 global financial crisis not only did enormous damage to many peoples’ lives, but it also called into question the competence of the elites who manage the liberal international order.47 In addition to the deterioration in relations between Russia and the West, there are worrying signs of potential conflict with China, which is determined to change the status quo regarding the East China Sea, the South China Sea, Taiwan, and the China-India border. Unsurprisingly, the United States is now more interested in containing rather than engaging China. In fact, the Trump administration recently said that admitting China into the WTO was a mistake, as Beijing’s protectionist policies clearly show that it is unwilling to play by that institution’s rules.48”
“Creating a liberal international order involved three main tasks. First, it was essential to expand the membership in the institutions that made up the Western order, as well as erect new institutions where necessary. In other words, it was important to build a web of international institutions with universal membership that wielded great influence over the behavior of the member states. Second, it was imperative to create an open and inclusive international economy that maximized free trade and fostered unfettered capital markets. This hyperglobalized world economy was intended to be much more ambitious in scope than the economic order that prevailed in the West during the Cold War. Third, it was crucial to vigorously spread liberal democracy around the world, a mission that was frequently shortchanged when the United States was competing for power with the Soviet Union. This goal was not the United States’ alone; its European allies generally embraced this undertaking as well.27”
“Furthermore, the liberal order’s tendency to privilege international institutions over domestic considerations, as well as its deep commitment to porous, if not open borders, has had toxic political effects inside the leading liberal states themselves, including the U.S. unipole. Those policies clash with nationalism over key issues such as sovereignty and national identity. Because nationalism is the most powerful political ideology on the planet, it invariably trumps liberalism whenever the two clash, thus undermining the order at its core.
In addition, hyperglobalization, which sought to minimize barriers to global trade and investment, resulted in lost jobs, declining wages, and rising income inequality throughout the liberal world. It also made the international financial system less stable, leading to recurring financial crises. Those troubles then morphed into political problems, further eroding support for the liberal order.”
…
Thanks for the link and quotes, from 2019 by John Mearsheimer.
Bet you the Chcago mob run a Prizker.
It’s not Biden’s call. I believe one of the revelations from the class action filed against the DNC was that the DNC does not have to observe the results of the primary, it can simply choose the candidate.
Court Concedes DNC Had the Right to Rig Primaries Against Sanders
https://observer.com/2017/08/court-admits-dnc-and-debbie-wasserman-schulz-rigged-primaries-against-sanders/
From the article:
“On August 25, 2017, Federal Judge William Zloch, dismissed the lawsuit after several months of litigation during which DNC attorneys argued that the DNC would be well within their rights to select their own candidate.”
Taibbi’s latest, public excerpt:
The Democratic Coup
While Joe Biden struggled onstage, party plotters scripted his premature exit
https://www.racket.news/p/the-democratic-coup
Tom Friedman in NYT “Joe Biden Is a Good Man and a Good President. He Must Bow Out of the Race”
https://archive.ph/2024.06.28-104014/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/28/opinion/joe-biden-tom-friedman.html
Looks like Tom’s cabby was taken in by those Cheapfake™ clips of Biden at the ‘debate’.
Genocide Joe has claimed to read Friedman’s four rotating columns. Biden is going to be devastated if he accidentally sees this.
I’d hate to find out that if you’ve lost Friedman, is our Cronkite moment~
Brilliant comparison. Though Friedman has none of the stature of Cronkite.
On Democrat panic…
When you’ve lost the faux contrarians on Slate :/
“Democrats may want to replace Biden, but it’s his call”
For four years now Democrats have told people that old Joe is in the same league as FDR and is one of the best, union-friendly Presidents ever. Readers have mentioned before too how they know hard-core Democrats who believe this message without a single doubt clouding their minds. Well old Joe did a demolition job on those myths and all those true-believers saw it up close and in colour and know that he is not up to the job. Angry grandpa just won’t cut it. So maybe that was the whole point of that debate. The Democrats want to replace him but had the problem of all those true-believers who would resist that move which they themselves created with all their messaging. So maybe now there won’t be that much resistance to replacing him now courtesy of old Joe’s performance at that debate?
You don’t switch hoarses mid-race, but if you did…
RFK, Jr. is the obvious choice
political dad joke of the week!
caught me off guard for a sec, lol
The party wanted this early debate. It was timed so that they choose the candidate rather than the primary voters, rather like in 2020 and 2016.
Yep. That’s my take as well.
So to recap the current state of play, “Re-elect Biden to save Democracy! Unless he decides on his own to step down. Undemocratically. ”
Okay then.
When you think about it, who really asked for Biden four years ago? He got stomped by Kamala Harris in the debates who in turn got eviscerated by Tulsi Gabbard. And yet both got resurrected from the dead to become the Democrat nominees for President and Vice-President. The Donors had spoken.
The dude who led him off the stage at the Hollywood fundraiser.
Ha!
WTF is he thinking??? How did they think this would play out? Harris would grow into the role and gracefully replace him?
To them it is “our democracy”, a vague subset of “democracy”.
While neither is apparent for a “republic” like US.
The immediate aftermath of the debate with the CNN panel and subsequent media response gave the game away to me. No one who had been paying *any* attention over the last several years could have been that shocked by Biden’s performance. The debate itself actually went about how I expected it to go if Trump remained half-way disciplined, and he did. Biden got a few talking points in but looked old and weak and got lost several times. Trump just made s**t up, but then so did Biden. What else is new? But the unanimous, totally freaked out reaction by that CNN panel struck me as a staged event. Maybe not; I’ve underestimated the sheer obliviousness of the liberal intelligentsia many times before. But it sure looked coordinated to me. The Dems have cooked their own goose. Now they risk splitting what’s left of their rapidly shrinking constituency over kicking ol’ Joe to the curb. What follows will be quite interesting.
I think the shocking thing is that Biden didn’t just look old…. He looks like he’s dying. Like my mom did the last couple of weeks before she died.
Inshallah
Kamala!
It’s more a matter of health than of age, imo. I know vigorous 70, 80 and even 90-year-olds, still “sharp as a tack” as they say. I’ve also known a few health compromised 50 and 60-year-olds suffering early onset Alzheimer’s or vascular dementia or Parkinson’s disease. Nobody deserves these maladies. As you say, B’s appearance was a bit shocking, maybe because he’s been kept out of the public eye for the most part, imo.
When was the last time B gave a press conference?
This has been bothering me (and many others) as well. There seems to be a level of preparedness to the reaction. I believe we are seeing a “soft” coup in real time. I also believe this will not be the only effort at sliding in a candidate. I’d wager the “uniparty” is about to reveal some of it’s power structure as well as fissures between. Pass the popcorn.
Biden is a long time Russia hawk but who has now let it become personal for him. I would expect the next candidate to be a China hawk for sure as they are going to be gunning for them after November.
As for Biden, on his deathbed he will not be muttering ‘Rosebud’ into the dark but ‘Putin.’
Maybe. There are some serious rice bowls in Ukraine. I expect that we will see some “divisions” emerge within team blue’s power structure. Also, what does Israel want? This matters, although it shouldn’t. Team blue’s brand of “unity” has a null and void clause triggered by “evaporation of all chance of success”, heh heh. We’re in an “keep your eyes open” period. I expect a few secrets to be revealed, priors to be stroked.
Good times.
Heads of State are not allowed the luxury of making it personal. Should they do so, it is time to replace them with someone able to see beyond the end of their own nose.
Rev, love your comments. However, while I can mock and criticize the B admin’s policies, after what I saw last night I cannot mock B himself at this point, at this point. He is too frail.
As my mom used to say when we young kids might mock a poor person, a poor kid, or a down on their luck person in town, she’d say “There but for the grace of god go I.” When she said this she’d fix us with a look, pinning us against the wall so to say, with her ‘mom’s disapproving glare.’ As in, don’t kick someone when they’re down.
When I say this, and when the fellow who investigated B’s illegal holding of classified info in his garage said ‘yes, it was illegal, but he’s old and has a poor memory so we aren’t going to prosecute’, well, there ya go.
Normally I would agree with you. But Biden is such a vicious character who has destroyed so many lives, I do not think that he gets a pass simply because of his age. As evidence, I would point to his 1994 Crime Bill and its effects.
I had the same thought listening/reading twtr comments by Kristoff, Yang, et al, and columns by VanJones, Friedman, and others. The comments/columns sounded like what they’ve been hinting at for some time. B promised in 2020 he wouldn’t run for a second term. For the past year there have been many Dem voices suggesting he should not run again. Last night’s event made clear how frail he is both physically and mentally.
I stopped watching the debate after a half hour because it was painful to watch B. I’ve known 2 other elderly people who reached that point of decline, both in their 90’s. Whatever I think of B as a politician, I’m very sympathetic and sad to see anyone appearing to suffer the declining state that he appears to be in.
Watching him also made me wonder who exactly has been running his admin until now?
adding: if WaPo and NYTimes writers feel free to say B should step down that means the WaPo and NYTimes editorial boards think the same, imo. And does that mean the intel agencies think the same? Interesting question.
And does that mean the intel agencies think the same? Interesting question. I will argue that the default answer is “yes”, the burden of proof falling on those that disagree. IMO, we’ve moved to a paradigm where this is unspoken but accepted.
Watching him also made me wonder who exactly has been running his admin until now? Me too, and I’ve been wondering for some time now.
Who will last longer in office: Zelensky or Biden?
Why doesn’t the Democrat party drop the pretense and both nominate Trump as the candidate? Then they can say “Our candidate won”. And the TPTB will be happy. But wait! How can they collect the $$$$ for the elections?
Here’s an article claiming the NYT had pre-written a “poor debate performance” op ed earlier this week: https://scnr.com/article/new-york-times-runs-seemingly-pre-written-op-ed-calling-for-biden-to-drop-out-of-presidential-race_3cc82a21350d11ef9c930242ac1c0002
agreed. i was completely unshocked by the debate. all my friends and family were, but i assumed it was just because they don’t follow the news as closely as i do. but professionals? people whose jobs are to pay attention to these things? it would be impossible not to see it. or maybe everyone is just more inept that i can fathom.
Gooooooooooooood Mooooooooorning Fiatnam!
Even though our methodology in the platoon was strictly unorthodox, we welcomed them into our ranks and promised we’d come up with camo that befitted their chosen black & white wardrobe, and even though penguins are seldom seen in the holy land, we bestowed that moniker on them-and nobody expects that color scheme in the desert, the element of surprise being on their side.
Headgear was problematic, but we solved it by creating a shtreimel helmet made out of kevlar with mock fur covering the outside, you wouldn’t know the difference.
Jheri curls was where we had the biggest issue, as how can you sight an Uzi when ringlets get in the way all the time and a hairnet just won’t encompass them?
Solved that one by just letting ’em spray & pray…
Well, I did not watch the debate; have read a couple of recaps and seems it went pretty much as people expected. So I’m stocking up on N95’s. Not sure why I’ve waited. Maybe the debate is that loud clap that startles me out of a slumber. Take care, everyone.
When it degenerated into old men disparaging one another over who was the best at whacking off repeatedly while trying to fit the object of their desire into a recessed hole… was my favorite part
…a couple of duffers duking it out mano y mano
The game of golf has taken a lot of hits lately: Saudi money buying a tour and luring top players away, Tiger in his sunset, and a bunch of phlegmatic dudes who I can’t name at the top of the leaderboard.
But this might be the topper. Kind of like me topping a 5-iron from 150 yards off the green and throwing it into the woods.
Love the phrasing.
I didn’t know Joe golfed until now. I know he mountain biked a little, but he gave up two wheels at the same time he should have given up politics.
Now his main two wheels don’t move!
>Debate takeaways: Trump confident, even when wrong, Biden halting, even with facts on his side AP
The headline told me everything I needed about AP’s “unbiased” reporting. I did manage to read the first couple of paragraphs when I figured I wasted enough time.
Biden was often halting, his voice raspy, even when he had the facts on his side. He had difficulty finishing his arguments and marshalling his attacks.
Trump’s supporters have seemed unconcerned about his relationship with the truth
Biden…trailing off and looking down at his lectern before mumbling briefly and saying “we finally beat Medicare.” When he tried to finish his point, he was cut off because of the time limits.
Trump was cruising through the opening of the debate when he suddenly stumbled …He continued to engage in denialism
“Charlottesville” was one exchange that bothered me a lot. I think Trump is right about that one — bad journalism effectively slandered him on that, reporting not what he said at the time accurately, but reporting instead a polemical critique of what he said and how quickly he said it. Biden’s “take” on Trump and Charlottesville was the distilled impression that polemic was meant to create.
That CNN moderators felt no obligation to referee that dispute — or many others — is an indication of how much political media are at fault for the emptiness of our political disputes and divide.
I think this is the correct link for “Cleantech has an enshittification problem” Cory Doctorow, Pluralistic:
https://pluralistic.net/2024/06/26/unplanned-obsolescence/
The entire “top of the fold” in Politico this morning is one huge wail of distress over last nights debate. Axel Springer’s minions must be having a nervous break down.
Yay!
We need a media regime change even more than the presidential. Taibbi and Kirn, who make this topic their beat, recently talked about a NYT editor who came out and warned that the Times must return to the more newsy, fact-y paper of the good gray Times era. He was then widely attacked for saying so.
The NYT always prided itself on being an elite paper but with a national reach and you could even get home delivery here in the boonies. At one point they owned our now more or less defunct local newspaper.
Now it has retreated into a silo that still appeals to the elites but as a glorified website. With the help of investment angels they saved themselves financially but sold out journalism in the process.
In short the country’s leadership deficit is not just about Biden and Trump.
Thr silo effect hit terminal velocity with Trump and their move to a subscription revenue model.
NYT could be activists and make money for the Sulzbergers.
NYT only had to sacrifice its credibility with Normie-America, forever.
Turley: what I said.
https://jonathanturley.org/2024/06/28/post-poll-more-citizens-trust-trump-over-biden-to-protect-democracy/
>From League of Women Voters to Blackrock/CNN
Yet as Neuman hinted, candidates sought control over their images even on the debate floor. In 1987, the chairpersons of the Democratic and Republican parties announced their intention to sponsor their own debates. They encouraged the League – and its nonpartisan, third-party perspective, by affiliation – to stand aside.
The League was explicit in its opposition to this move. How could an organization set up by political parties offer an unbiased, nonpartisan forum for debate?
You have to ask yourself why they had this debate so early in the election cycle, in a CNN moderated venue with no people present. Biden’s handlers know exactly what his cognitive state is, why did they put it out there for all to see? Forget the contents/style of the debate. What’s the metadata? What is really going on? I think I need to revisit the works of Peter Dale Scott on “Parapolitics.”
https://www.lwv.org/blog/leagues-history-sponsoring-presidential-debates
https://commonreader.wustl.edu/how-a-company-called-blackrock-shapes-your-news-your-life-our-future/
Peter Dale Scott interviewed in January of this year:
https://thekennedybeacon.substack.com/p/peter-dale-scott-on-trump-the-deep
Thank you for the link, great interview of Scott, at 95!
From the link:
Dylan’s song “Murder Most Foul” (released in 2020) was elliptical, of course. But it told us the truth about the Kennedy assassination.
I had a friend who came to Berkeley in the ‘70s to work with me on the JFK assassination case and he went insane. Somebody else committed suicide. And some people who were looking down that dark well in the past were murdered, but that’s a whole different story. The deeper into it you get, the harder it is to keep balance. I take long breaks — I’ve actually retired (from giving interviews on this subject). I’m doing this for you.
Anyway, that’s my message – search for balance in your life. Take a walk, listen to music, savor a glass of wine.
I miss the LWV activities I remember from my youth. Like going to the library to pick up a copy of their Voters Guide, which covered -all- of the candidates for each position. And the debates which featured -all- of the candidates on the ballot.
In a nation of over 300 million citizens, this is the best we can do? I weep for what my country has become. I will be voting in the elections, but there is not a Republicrat or Demican anywhere on the ballot who will get my vote. Not one. Both parties have colluded for far too long to get us to this point, and I’m done with them.
I’m an atheist, but yeah, #godhelpusall
Zappa said:”The illusion of freedom will continue as long as it’s profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theater.”
Bungle in the Jungle
Talking like dullards who’ve long passed their sell date
We’re stuck with two flunkies, our country’s now third-rate
We’ve gone down a rabbit hole, drunk on Hell’s highway
Our leaders are nuts, they’ve screwed us six ways to Sunday
Liars and shysters, who wait in the shadows
Their brains are all moldy, like rotten tomatoes
Well Joe bungled in the Jungle
Well, that’s must-see TV!
Well Trump’s a liar, and he wants blood
And we’re a laugh for Kim and Xi
Just say the word, and the boys will call AIPAC
With clauses they’re back to send the Congress a fat check
Is it so frightening to be under new owners?
With speed that’s like lightning, they’ll call up their donors
They’ll write on your tombstone and have you for dinner
This game that these animals play is a winner
Well Joe bungled in the Jungle
Well, that’s must-see TV!
Well he’s a liar, and Trump wants blood
And we’re a laugh for Kim and Xi
[Musical interlude]
The rivers are full of crocodile nasties
So bring us back “Mittens” and warm up the Hillary!
A lover of life but a player of pawns
Yes, the King in his sunset lies waiting for dawn
To light up His Jungle as play is resumed
The monkeys seem willing to strike up the tune
Well Joe bungled in the Jungle
Well, that’s must-see TV!
Well Trump’s a liar and he wants blood
And we’re a laugh for Kim and Xi
Melody:
Bungle in the Jungle, Jethro Tull
The melodies today are outstanding.
Close your eyes and picture Trump singing the bit (from the original)
Is it so frightening
To have me at your shoulder
Thunder and lightning
Could’t be bolder….
Gotta take a shower now.
Trump riffing on Jethro Tull lyrics. That’s an amusing thought.
“In Joe’s shuffling madness …”
btw, good call on having “my three phase plan for Israel” on your bingo card.
Joe as Aqualung?!?
“Sitting on a park bench
Eyeing little girls with bad intent….”
Was going to type out some lyrics, but not going there. Nevertheless less, if the shoe fits….
“US in talks to send Israel’s Patriot systems to Ukraine”
‘Former officials and analysts said the Israeli systems would most likely be sold back to the US, which could then send them on to Ukraine.’
The US is giving munitions to the Israelis by the thousands of tons gratis. So what is the bet that the US will pay top dollar for those Patriot systems, even though they are thirty years old. The article also said ‘Crucially, Israel has also ample stocks of interceptor missiles — which Ukraine also needs — to go with the batteries, according to one person familiar with the size of Israel’s arsenal’ but I find this questionable. Israel supposedly shot off half their missiles to try to intercept that Iranian attack a few weeks back. So just how many missiles do they have to send? Russia won’t be happy but as Likud has declared Russia to be an enemy, will not be surprised. So I guess that Israel’s enemies are all due an upgrade to their armouries pretty soon.
If Israel does this, they’re not serious about fighting Hezbollah.
Hezbollah doesn’t play fair. They shoot back!
Israel decided in April to deactivate the Patriot systems.
This way they can sell them.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/patriot-air-defenses-to-be-mothballed-after-decades-of-mostly-gathering-dust/
Maybe they are, but with one big missile, when the wind is blowing north.
> Israel supposedly shot off half their missiles to try to intercept that Iranian attack a few weeks back
My understand that this was half of the missiles loaded onto launchers, ready to be fired. It was not half of the total inventory of interceptors. There are numerous reloads. An interesting point is that the reloads are not much use without undamaged launchers and other support systems, and that Iranian strike suggests (to me; perhaps I am mis-interpreting) that the Patriot systems could be overwhelmed to the point that the systems themselves, if targeted, could be destroyed in Israel as has been routinely happening in Ukraine.
As that Iranian attack was in several waves, you would assume that there would be some reloading going on meaning that they had to dig into their inventory some. I wonder if the missiles for those Patriot systems is also 30 years old. Might explain why they want to dump them.
Waves were coordinated for maximum effect. Reloading a Patriot is not like reloading a Glock.
The new military funds from U.S. to IDF included $5 billion to restock/improve missile defense.
Patriot is point defense, Ukraine much more area!
IDF Patriots likely kept up to improvement with Israeli add ons as well.
That said Patriot may be less effective
To speculate; Maybe the Patriots are only effective against airplanes. The Israelis don’t seem to be under threat from any traditional airforce at the moment and the sale back could certainly plug a hole in their budget.
In the older versions the main issue is that the battery only has one radar, which doubles for search and fire-control. Moreover, in order to control the missile, it’s necessary to launch the missile over the radar, so that it can capture it in the fire-control mode. This makes it quite difficult to cover all directions effectively.
And, needless to say, while the radar is engaged in directing the missile to the target, it’s capability to scan for new targets and track the old ones is rather limited. For example the Russian Tor missile system has – in the same vehicle – a target acquisition radar, a fire-control radar and a missile controller antenna (max. eight missiles to four targets in the latest model).
Also, Tor can engage targets- WHILE THE VEHICLE IS IN MOTION. I’m not aware of any western system with that capability.
Israel decided to invest in “David’s Sling”, no doubt with an eye towards helping Rafael. To that end, they haven’t spent on upgrades to Patriot which their version is well behind current PAC-3.
Yesterday, all our troubles seemed so far away
Now it looks as though they’re here to stay
Oh, I couldn’t believe what I saw yesterday
Suddenly, Joe’s not half the man he used to be
There’s a shadow hanging over he
Oh, yesterday came suddenly
Why he had to go on & on I don’t know, he wouldn’t say
There seemed to be something wrong, now I long for the day before yesterday
Yesterday, diagnosis was such an easy game to play
Now I need a place to hide away
Oh, I couldn’t believe what I saw yesterday
Why he had to go on & on I don’t know, he wouldn’t say
There seemed to be something wrong, now I long for the day before yesterday
Yesterday, diagnosis was such an easy game to play
Now I need a place to hide away
Oh, I believe in the day before yesterday, mm
There’s a shadow hanging over he
Hahaha!!! Too good… So much dem angst, so little time to savor it.
The elder abuse bothers me
The Rondo Heat Battery
https://rondo.com/how-it-works
LOL, these tech bros have just “invented” storage heater, and called it a battery.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storage_heater
That’s more than number of deaths linked to wars.
We eat like we think, (your punchline goes here).
I’m anticipating that Biden at some point will announce his withdrawal from the race due to Parkinsons and we’ll end up with RFK Jr vs Trump? Is that how it works or will it be Kamala?
Trump won’t be able to hold against RFK, at this point even Trump fanatics will be so starved for coherence and any sign of mental competence. All RFK needs to do is connect to Trump’s base, just say “drain the swamp” a few times or something, make anti-immigrant noises, some photo ops with the local KKK dragons and a few police chiefs should do it, bonus points if they wear cowboy hats?
Sooooo….who is this RFK Jr and what can we expect?
Who is this RFK Jr.?
He is someone who supports Zionist genocide in Gaza, that’s all I need to know to not vote for him. Sad, because when he first launched his campaign I was very interested in supporting/donating to his campaign. Ever since I donated to Bernie Sanders, I’ve taken a harder look at the candidate before loosening my purse string.
He’s a longtime grifter who seems to get off on actually causing harm while women with disposable income fawn over his “heroics.”
Haven’t seen any cowboy hats, but he’s covered that checklist!
As Vice President, Kamala Harris is in position to become President by succession, or Acting President according to the procedures of the 25th Amendment. The few PMC acquaintances I have scoff at this possibility, but it might be what happens, and depending on when such a transfer of power occurs it may affect who the nominee is.
We can be quite confident based on what we have seen that Biden will not be re-elected – there is still a non-zero chance that Trump might not be either.
What I don’t understand is how anyone could be surprised, never mind “shocked” at Biden’s debate performance. It was apparent to anyone paying attention during primary debates in 2019 he had early dementia, though non professionals can be forgiven for missing it. Then. But we have had four years watching progressive dementia, obvious to anyone living in reality. And I avoid him, as much as I avoid Trump, so far less exposure than many. It baffles me that I have conversations with people claiming he is “articulate”. It baffles me the DNC pushed him on us in 2020 when they had plenty of other compliant options, even more perplexing now. They had to know it would be a train wreck.
I have to wonder what kind of feedback Barack Obama is getting. He, after all, was the architect of the 2020 Democratic primary that shoehorned Joe into the presidency, and it is well known that he does not like bad publicity. There must be a lot of “you broke it so now you own it” going on right now.
I think we are going to be hearing a lot about Pritzker in the next few weeks, whether we want to hear it or not.
Obama didn’t want to be outshined, hence Hillary and his tacit support for O’Rourke. As dumb as Biden is, a failed Biden would be better for Obama’s legacy than a non godawful president. There was seven months where Biden was on pace to just outpace the Obama presidency within the first year.
Obama knows his record is Clinton 2.0, and no one praises Bill. The best.thing that happened to Bill was Shrub.
After the first 10 seconds of that “debate,” how obama was taking it was my first thought.
Best laid plans and all that. There is no number of unverified mail-in “ballots” that’s going to fix this.
Prizker. OMFG.
For him, it’s better than public discussions about Obama care being a bailout of health insurers.
Pritzker, seems Fetterman would be a more suitable replacement.
If Fetterman becomes President, will he fly an Israeli flag over the White House like he does his home?
Especially interesting given the crucial role played by the Pritzkers in Obama’s career. They do represent the non-Clinton faction of the corporate Dems. But Pritzker has no name recognition outside Illinois. I don’t think there’s time for the Establishment to adequately launder him through the media as they did Carter or Clinton, or even Obama. On the other hand, it would be two fat-cat billionaires squaring off, Pritzker could do a lot better against Trump in a debate, and he may come off as less “pointy-headed liberal” to the general public than the other Democrat pretenders.
This is getting to be entertaining; it’s like a game show and we’re trying to guess what happens next.
No kidding.
I have to believe that all this “shock” is just as dishonest as all the bullshit they’ve been pushing since Trump came down the escalator in 2015 and biden “campaigned” from his basement in 2020.
Nothing but CYA. Whocouldanode?
Next up is an answer to the question asked on cnbc this morning–Who’s been running the country for the last 3 and a half years?
So, they (CNBC) are just waking up to this sad state of affairs now? i guess in fairness they’ve been too busy cheerleading an AI bubble and counting their gains in the “Magnificent Seven” (as opposed to the Malificent Six of Barrett-Coney, Kavanaugh, KBJ, Roberts, Kagan, and Sotomayor.)
It used to be just Russian disinformation that there’s a “physical Biden” and a “collective Biden”. The latter is “running” the country, but it’s really hard to get in contact with them. Nobody really knows who they are, and quite obviously they don’t listen to anyone outside.
Team sports and the reality many if these people were simply never serious.
The DNC didn’t have other options. Biden existed as a name from the glorious past. Everyone else gets screened. No one else has that kind of profile. A proposed alternative is Newsome. The dude dated one of the Trump kids’ squeezes. His approval rating is in the tank.
Can you imagine O’Rourke playing the steady hand? Or Buttigieg doing hard work? Whitmer is nothing special, and Hillary had the blind Fandom of women now over 45. That is not transferable. In an open field, they might compete and make promises, but that is all they would be, promises from otherwise empty suits as their records are the records of caretakers at best.
FWIW not buying into the “Replace Joe to save democracy” shtick. As a longtime Biden observer the narrative will be crafted that “Biden bravely fought against the naysayers to win the election” (which he will actually in fact lose decisively). Then we will be subjected to post election reality distortion that will make Trump seem reasonable.
The US primary system is terrible but it probably would have derailed this train wreck months ago.
Denial + Trump-hate is a helluva drug.
“The Real Reason Tree Planters Work Like Demons”
Highballing’s downside: fixing a too-competitive work environment starts with tackling masculine norms in management Huh? There I was thinking the real reason was getting a nickel a tree.
All those trees they plant in interior B.C. are just going to be gobbled up in the next wildfire…
Ever read The Understory? It’s (this type of tree planting) performative greenwashing covering the slaughter of old growth forest (if Richard Powers is relating that accurately).
I have not but it’s now on my list! I’ve already known these mass plantings are greenwashing, but a treatment of the subject is always welcome.
Based on the article, it still looks like they’re suckering in young people hoping to make a difference.
It’s fiction, a well told story centered around trees and “saving the old growth” tree activism is one of the major sets. The author also wrote “Cloud Atlas”. I could not put it down.
Stupid article. While it might peddal on “toxic masculinity”, it is the corporate greed and profit rates that is the driving factor at play here, trying to make all workers some western versions of stachanovism.
Still not large enough to dare sail past Houthis.
Re aquaculture–PBS just did a good show on this. The takeaway was that the fish farming is both labor intensive and needs to be technologically precise. Both suggest higher costs than simply letting cows graze the plains (and then feedlots) but still a way forward that is more environmental.
“…still a way forward that is more environmental.”
Maybe not so much:
Tasmania’s toxic secret
https://archive.md/UO35x
‘Dr Lens Veritatis
@LensVeritatis
🚨BREAKING: Ordinary Israelis brutalise ultra-Orthodox Jews protesting against forced conscription into the IOF. A police officer makes feeble gestures but does little to protect the victims. This is Zionism against Judaism. This is antisemitism. This is Israel.’
No, this is a bunch of self-entitled jerks getting what is coming to them. The first guy was pointing at his watch and then to the side of the road as if to say ‘Look pal. I’m running late for work because of you and I know that you don’t work. So haul your a** off this road before I drag it off for you.’ And why should that cop try to stop those guys? Many times I have seen those ultra-orthodox attacking cops. When this war is over, there may be a reckoning between secular and ultra-Orthodox Israelis.
the most fascinating thing about Twitter is that you get insights into people’s “inner monologue”…
Ultra-orthodox are (arguably) one of the most privileged classes in Israel—but they are tone-deaf to the resentment of that privilege from other Israeli Jews.
I’m not surprised that someone has the “Ultra-Orthodox are oppressed” take, but still…reading it aloud. wow.
Once it becomes crystal clear to Normies that Israel has been/will be inflicted a historic, strategic defeat by Hamas, the Houthis, and Hezbollah…..yes, there will be a intra-Jewish sectarian reckoning.
Secular Jews or Orthodox….one of those groups will be emigrating from Israel in droves when the dust settles.
An exodus? *ducks*
When this war is over Many have noticed that it is far easier to imagine a chaotic collapse of late neoliberal capitalism than to imagine any reasoned fundamental change. So with the Palestine/Israel conflict, I see only a problem with no solution. Intermittent war has persisted there since at least ’48. Like much else, it stands to be subsumed by population collapse attendant upon climate disaster. But deep-rooted hate is immortal.
Gotta admit, despite my enthusiasm, my popcorn started tasting off while watching this, and now I’m just sad. Between Keith’s comment below, the debacle last night, and our current trajectory, I’ve lost the taste for seeing the deserving getting roughed up.
Kev, there are ultra-orthodox Jews who are anti-Zionist. There are many sects. Some of them are pacifists.
I would hesitate to suggest that anyone “deserves” to get beaten up for making a peaceful protest, especially a protest against being forced to participate in a war.
On a different note: when watching the clip, I was wondering why a police force would ever permit officers to leave their hair loose.
Also, safe and effective.
Gonna be bedlam here next week on a long-ish July 4th on a Thursday, turning it into a 4 day weekend.
We had a record backup to get into Sequoia NP on Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, it snaked over 5 miles into Tiny Town from the park entrance station.
The solution so far is to ‘flush’ a bunch of vehicles through the park entrance to push things along, and this means free entrance to the park and a loss of revenue for Sequoia NP for say 50 cars at one go x $35 a vehicle, and they do this repeatedly.
The main ranger for Sequoia NP related that 40% of the full time positions in the NP are unfilled, there’s nothing to rent locally because of all the AirBnB’s-so prospective hires shun it.
There’s a major giddy-up though for Independence Day, it is supposed to be 108 to 109 degrees each of the 4 days in the foothills, and if we get another car conga line on July 4th, well a lot of people are gonna be stuck in purgatory.
Had a public meeting yesterday in regards to options in the future, and we could well go to a reservation system on holiday weekends-but its only in the talking stages, and one of the issues with so much visitation here, is that Yosemite NP requires reservations at certain times, and we get the overflow.
If there was ever a lake on the edge of forever, that’d be Moose Lake, our next backpack trip in Sequoia NP.
It’s a trippy place where weird things have happened, such as a UFO sighting in 1955, and 25 years ago a very experienced friend in things wilderness was there by himself and saw lights he couldn’t explain that scared him so that he up and broke camp at midnight to go elsewhere.
When you are in the Tablelands to the east and look westward, Moose Lake looks tilted, and ideally I want my lakes to be on the level.
My favorite feature is a series of granite slabs underwater that allow you to walk about 150 feet into the lake with the water only up to your knees, be the Jesus!
Not sure what would be a rarer sight @ Moose Lake, a moose or a UFO, or both?
The lay of the land:
https://www.laurenwallacewx.com/moose-lake-take-three/
1955 Venusian visit & UFO account:
https://www.phantomsandmonsters.com/2017/12/the-kenneth-arnold-files-part-ii.html
Bruce Babbit said that Americans are willing to pay to get into Disneyland so why not the national parks (or words to that effect). So yet another part of Clintonesque “reinventing government” was turning rangers into ticket takers. Perhaps the next move is to start charging as much as Disneyland which will probably cut down on the crowds.
There’s always the option of taking all that money we send to Ukraine and spending it on the national parks for more rangers and more parks. Of course this mentality of opening up the “commons” was exactly what the Third Way Clintons didn’t have in mind.
One should also say that many of the parks are not necessarily more special than adjacent areas that are not parks. So the NPS is also suffering from its own mystique (thanks Ken Burns). This brings in overseas visitors who may find themselves awestruck but sometimes not so much. Times Square crowds make for a limited wilderness experience.
One Patriot battery with a reload of missiles would be about half of the whole budget of the US National Parks. You wouldn’t need take all that money, just the crumbs…
Or we could have really awesome parks! I’m picturing teams of enthusiastic well paid citizens decked out in climbing gear picking the bark beetles off the sequoias. Wildfire control. Fuel collection and removal scales with enough labor. It could be done.
Where is the moose? Abducted?
And by unguided they mean guided (ФАБ-500 з УМПК).
Obviously there’s the Truth and then there’s the Ukrainian Truth…
There’s the Ukrainian Truth for foreign consumption and for domestic one, both on the same page. Right below the English part there is the Ukrainian one where even non-speaker can see what’s going on. They contradict the main point of article in the article itself. Journalism.
P.S. For those that don’t understand the importance of this, Rusians dropping regular bombs on Kharkov would be big news, because it would mean that Ukrainian air defences are completly gone. They would not risk losing an expensive airplane (and crew) just to drop a few bombs.
Re: 2024 Election
World’s largest prediction market shows Biden tanked -14% after the debate:
https://polymarket.com/elections
And “Biden drops out of presidential race” up 23% following the debate.
Burgum leads the GOP VP nomination at 37%.
Well it appears that Grover Cleveland will have to share his only President in history record:
“…the only President to leave the White House and return for a second term four years later.”
Whitehouse.gov
Democrats really are fools. This mess could have, and should have been avoided.
Malign Neglect: What Calgary’s Water-Main Break Reveals About The Failure Of City Government C2C Journal. Commentary:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A number of numismatists I knew used the services of Angie-a Guatemalan* import, whom I christened ‘the queen of clean’. Every fortnight she would clean your house to a sparkle in about 3 hours flat.
I turned her loose on my mom’s place and she and Angie had a nice relationship going where they socialized a bit and mom would always make lunch for her, and one time i’m having lunch with them and my mom mentions that we have land with river access, and Angie says that is so important, let me tell you why…
She was in Guatemala in 1976 when a very shallow 7.5 earthquake ruptured all the pipes that delivered water, and as if the earthquake wasn’t bad enough, people had a great thirst with nothing to quench it. Only those in proximity to surface water were ok.
* under the old rules of politics, i’d be instantly disqualified from running, with the skeleton of an undocumented alien in my employ, had I no shame!
* under the old rules of politics, i’d be instantly disqualified from running, with the skeleton of an undocumented alien in my employ, had I no shame!
—————–
no idea where people get this idea. All the rich people I know, of both stripes, love using undocumented because they work harder, charge less and behave way better.
they work harder, charge less and behave way better.
Yawn…and all homeless are addicted to meth…
They charge less, full stop, the other two claims are what you say to justify the inner scrooge.
Biden’s Inept Diplomacy Has Led To A Russia-China-Iran-North Korea Axis Madras Courier
————–
The headline is deceptive. There is no “ept” diplomacy possible (by anyone in US Admin of any stripe) because the wants of the USA are incompatible with the needs of the rest of those countries.
My predicted Team Blue is that the performance will be hailed as Reaganesque.
“A Heartwarming Compilation Showing the ‘Cat Distribution System’ in Action”
They do have a way-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuIgNxt4x0Y (1:29 mins)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJvl1PorYgc (3:28 mins)
Sometimes they do not care whose home they move into-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVBcbe_0Wj8 (1:39 mins)
The CDS is apparently attempting to deliver a black kitten to me. It’s apparently hanging out around my house and I’m worried that a hawk, dog, or owl will get to it first.
Unfortunately two cats are my limit and I hope to give it to the shelter delivery system if I can’t find its ppl.
PBS News post analysis of Presidential Debate
I haven’t watched PBS news in many years. Growing up it used to be my stable go-to news source, along with NPR. Last night I decided to stream the debate on their platform since I don’t have TV. My, my, my how they have fallen from the perch I put them on when I was a younger man. The first analyst (women, young, ethnic) reported results of what people in a viewing room were registering on various dials and buttons that they were hooked up to.
That’s right, no individual thought or analysis, just initial results from the wired viewers turning a dial this way and that when Trump said this or Biden said that. Maybe when Elon has enough people wired to his neurolink they can have them prepped to watch the next presidential debate.
‘A turning point’: US allies wince at Biden debate performance” Politico.
Biden came across as feeble, while Trump lied and promised the impossible.
My before the debate comment on yesterday’s post “Rumble in the Jungle: Biden v. Trump Presidential Debate Live Blog”:
the Foreman Grill era George Foreman (the salesman) vs. brain damaged Ali rumble.”
I tried to save you all some time…
Joe’s sorry performance reminded me of a punch-drunk Ali pitching bug spray…
‘d-CON kills bugs!’
“Biden’s Inept Diplomacy Has Led To A Russia-China-Iran-North Korea Axis”
More likely American diplomacy itself over the past thirty odd years. The Russian Federation right now is the most heavily sanctioned country on the planet after edging out North Korea and also Iran. Who would ever think of the possibility that these heavily sanctioned countries might not come together to pool their resources? China may not be sanctioned yet but just wait until next year. The payoffs are spectacular. I was listening to Scott Ritter talking about North Korea and he says that this changes the whole geopolitical situation. Suddenly the US-South Korea-Japan axis does not look that mighty anymore. For North Korea, the starvation blockade is over and never again will their people go hungry. Their country will develop and the place will be lit up like a Christmas tree at night. With all these countries, agreements between them and the US were broken or reneged upon. The intent was that each of these countries would be subordinated to the US but it never happened. And now it is time to pay the piper.
the NK arm is 100% due to the efforts of Kishida (JP) and Yoon (KO).
the leaders of Japan and Korea just couldn’t help themselves and threw their lot in w/the Trans-Atlantic neoliberal-neocon alliance instead of staying strictly neutral.
JP/KO are too naive that they too are trans-Atlantic pawns to contain Russia and China.
The Japanese/Koreans have a dated view of American hegemony—to Japan and Korea, China and Russia are issues but the USA still has 1999-like hegemony.
In Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, the court rules 6-3 that courts may not defer to an agency interpretation of the law simply because a statute is ambiguous. This case is ENORMOUS in terms of changing 40 years of precedent. Previously, when an agency (think OSHA, or the Department of Labor with overtime rules, or the EEOC and discrimination) interpreted an “ambiguous” law, the Courts have said you must defer to the agencies “reasonable” interpretation.
That has been cast aside, and now one goes to strict “textualism” over the statute language. It will throw out 40 years of agency made laws/regulations/interpretations.
Get ready to see a lot of “job killing” regulations bite the dust! Life is about to become more like the 19th century.
Combine that with it now being legal to jail the homeless and put them to work in private jails.
Why stop at the 19th century, the Constitution was adopted in the 18th.
In the Loper case, it really was a job-killing unfunded federal mandate. **ducks***
In a normal world, the plaintiff of this case—literal US buy-your-food-local fishermen—would be poster boys of the pro-labor Democratic Party. The fishermen were wholly bearing the brunt of a federal regulation.
We are not talking Exxon. For a literal rounding error of US Ukraine funding (which was needed to fund federal fishing monitors), the fisherman would have dropped his case.
Totally stupid own-goal by DC Dems and an environmental movement that doesn’t understand the logistics of environmental law compliance.
If only there was a time when a Democrat was in the WHite House simultaneously with complete Dem. control of Congress.
Might the court’s ruling affect the IRS interpretations of ambiguous tax laws?
Heh heh heh, my black heart approves this comment.
Or Congress must do it’s job and pass clear and well drafted laws, and the Agencies must do theirs by issuing clearly drafted lawful rules and regulations.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cw00eqqk4dro
How bees could help war-hit families in Ukraine
Beeswax could be crucial to help preserve food in war zones like Ukraine, according to researchers.
UK scientists have been helping beekeepers in the besieged country to develop new wax wrappings for perishable foods amid Russian attacks.
Russia has targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in recent months, causing blackouts, meaning there may be no refrigeration in some areas during the summer.
Ukraine is the largest producer of honey in Europe and researchers based in Cardiff have been analysing individual beehives to decide which could offer the best protection.
“People will know Ukraine is not in a great place at the moment,” said Professor Les Baille, from Cardiff University.
…
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You tried to find: cleantech%20has%20an%20enshittification%20problem
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Brethren and sistren: A respite.
The essay, A Deed of Eternity, by Eha, about the life and works of Tu Fu, is quite wonderful.
It is also a reminder of how much, how successful, how opulent, how “thick” Chinese civilization is. (This is something that Americans don’t get about Iran or Italy, either.)
One insightful quote, if I may:
But it is in these dire straits that Tu’s voice towers up from his hiding place, answering barbarity with the formal perfection of “Spring Landscape,” a poem in what is called Regulated Verse—eight lines in four couplets, the first of which is one of the most famous openings in all Chinese poetry:
The country in ruins, rivers and mountains
continue. The city grows lush with spring.
Blossoms scatter tears for us, and all these
separations in a bird’s cry startle the heart.
Beacon-fires three months ablaze: by now
a mere letter’s worth ten thousand in gold,
and worry’s thinned my hair to such white
confusion I can’t even keep this hairpin in.
So:
Take a few moments to meet some remarkable and interesting people, especially Tu Fu, with mentions of Li Po and Wang Wei.
NC does songs, why not poems? My Tang poem.
Day of Fragrant Jade
Take a drink
– I shall –
sad willow
Take a drink
tomorrow is a day
of fragrant jade
not stove worn ashes
worn string gold
Come, half measure
midnight candle and wine
You know the finger limit
a cock’s cry
the spring wind comes
from the east
and quickly passes
Take a drink
– I shall –
sad willow
Take a drink
today is a day
of fragrant jade
War is a disease and will spread without treatment: 6mn Speech in English by Dominique de Villepin about peace.
Wife now hopes they draft Michelle. On the plus side, blacks would likely be ok with dumping Kamala.
RE: Jazz Remains the Sound of Modernism
Interesting article. Much of the discussion is coherent and accurate.
I don’t see Jazz music as ‘Modernist’. Jazz is a musical style evolved in America (1900) by inventive musicians using a tonal scale (Mixolydian) that uses the flatted 7th note in that octave to create a tension in the harmonic sound. (Most notable on a piano.) Combining this tonal tension with a “swing beat” (rhythm) allows for highly skilled musicians to create melodies that interact with the harmonic sounds of other musicians in the group. The result is a vibrant, propulsive music that allows for different musicians (instruments) to move to the front and invent a solo melody on the spot. Musical creativity is highlighted.
In that sense, Jazz will always be Modern (in different ways).
Mixolydian with blue notes. Bird invented the altered dominant (locrian with a flat four, sometimes called super locrian, the primary functional related mode is the lydian dominant on the flat second degree). Neither are actually dominants, they supersede the classic augmented sixth.) This is a basis of bebop. Later players go beyond this.
The article was pretty lightweight, imo.
Yes, Jazz musicians added the blue notes and transformed the Mixolydian (Church mode) diatonic scale into a chromatic tonal scale that is much more complex (compliant?) with their tonal inventions.
The article doesn’t go into any real Jazz musical theory, it’s mostly about historical events and Ellington getting his due for formalizing much of early Jazz (ragtime, etc) into a formal theory (up till the 30’s).
While the Duke deserves major credit for his Jazz innovations, Jazz as a genre is open to continual innovation by talented, creative musicians (Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, and many others).
Why does Tesla have a “secret” emergency door handle for when people get locked out of their car?
Who designed that crap? A gamer???
Or the person who thought it would be a good idea to put the delete button next to the power off/on button on a laptop keyboard???
The ghost of Steve Jobs designed that. It’s form over function, until death.