Links 7/24/2024

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1. Antifa July 24, 2024 at 7:03 am

   BIBI’S SPEECH TO YOU
   (melody borrowed from Electric Avenue  by Eddy Grant)

   Israel’s Prime Minister, Bibi Netanyahu, will address a joint session of the American Congress this evening. The stated goal of Republicans in Congress is to give Bibi even more than the 55-standing-ovations-in-45-minutes that he got last time. The Democrats will keep pace with them. Only a reggae song can capture this historic moment.

   OY!   OY!

   In the American Congress
   Our money flows to every one
   We do our best to brainwash ’em
   A bit of blackmail gets the job done

   (Oh no!)
   Make all our dreams come true with Bibi’s speech to you
   Like you he is a liar
   (Ohh!)
   You’re gonna give our guy a hot hullabaloo
   He’s feared and he’s admired

   We need more tanks and more soldiers
   We’re neck deep in shit you can see
   Few freighters come to our shore, ya
   We’re tryin’ to draft the Hasid

   (Good God!)
   Our Bibi comes to you for bombs and revenue
   Our country is on fire
   (Ohh!)
   High time for each of you to stand up for the Jews
   Or we’ll get you retired

   Let’s go!   Let’s go!
   Let’s go!   Let’s go!

   (Oh Lord!)
   Make all our dreams come true with Bibi’s speech to you
   Our situation’s dire
   (Ohh!)
   He will tell you true it all depends on you—
   The world occupier

   Zionists throughout your country
   They all want Ar-ma-gedd-on
   We’ll start with standing ovations
   ‘Cause we all think genocide’s fun!

   (Oh no!)
   Make all our dreams come true with Bibi’s speech to you
   Like you he is a liar
   (Oh no!)
   You’re gonna give our guy a hot hullabaloo
   He’s feared and he’s admired

   (Ohh!)
   Stop the Houthis!
   Iran to their knees!
   This isn’t play time!
   Our final fight!

   (Ohh!)
   Our Bibi comes to you for bombs and revenue
   Our country is on fire
   (Ohh!)
   High time for each of you to stand up for the Jews
   Or we’ll get you retired

   All our conceit
   Theft and deceit
   Our foes have now found
   How to cast Zion down

   (Ohh!)
   Make all our dreams come true with Bibi’s speech to you
   Like you he is a liar
   (Hey!)
   You’re gonna give our guy a hot hullabaloo
   (Oh yay!)
   He’s feared and he’s admired

   (Help us make it Nuke Time!) Bibi’s speech to you
   (How else can we fight?) Like you he is a liar (Bibi’s speech to you)
   (Nukes will bring the End Times!) A hot hullabaloo (Bibi’s speech to you)
   (They will know we won!) He’s feared and he’s admired (Bibi’s speech to you)

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2. Bugs July 24, 2024 at 7:25 am

   Epic troll from Trump to Bibi, posting the letter from Abbas. You gotta hand it to the guy, he has no fear.

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   1. Samuel Conner July 24, 2024 at 8:19 am

      I think that it may have been politically necessary, too, as a counterpoint to the JRB/KH snub of Netanyahu.

      If “push comes to shove”, I suspect that DJT would “revert to type”, continuing the JRB policy of “no restraints on Israel” in its activities in Gaza. IIRC, he said as much in The Debate, criticizing JRB not for his unconditional support after the Israel/Hamas conflict began, but rather for an implausible DJT theory that JRB failed to restrain Hamas from attacking Israel by being soft on Iran.

      DJT is plainly politically highly skilled; this looks to me like a low-cost gesture that may earn some points in electorally significant communities in swing states, but that does not reflect a substantive policy stance meaningfully different from that of JRB.

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3. Jeff V July 24, 2024 at 7:43 am

   “(NATO) Military Intervention in Ukraine is now essential.”

   There’s absolutely nothing in that article to explain what the author means by “military intervention” or how he thinks it would achieve victory for Ukraine and restore NATO’s credibility. Let alone any consideration of the possible consequences of declaring war on the country that holds the world’s largest arsenal of nuclear weapons.

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   1. furnace July 24, 2024 at 7:49 am

      What’s up with pundits and nonsensical saber-rattling? The UK has no real army to intervene with. Is he proposing a general NATO-wide war against Russia? The Baltic States might have enough of a desire for self-destruction to agree, but I don’t see others wanting to be de-electrified as well. Was punditry always this incompetent?

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      1. GM July 24, 2024 at 8:06 am

         Neither side needs a big army for a NATO-Russia war.

         It’s why the whole mobilization in Europe talk is so baffling.

         Such a war will last 72 hours at most and will be fought with missiles and aviation.

         It is also why the Kremlin’s posture is so inexplicable — right now it is allowing NATO to stage the relevant weaponry right at the Russian border. What happened to never again (allowing a repeat of June 22 1941)?

         The Baltic States might have enough of a desire for self-destruction to agree, but I don’t see others wanting to be de-electrified as well

         De-electrification is the least of one’s worries here.

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         1. Benny Profane July 24, 2024 at 8:38 am

            “Such a war will last 72 hours at most and will be fought with missiles and aviation.”

            Are you talking about a nuclear exchange?

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         2. Samuel Conner July 24, 2024 at 8:50 am

            Perhaps there are sotto voce military-to-military contacts taking place.

            I don’t think that the senior uniformed leadership of Western militaries want any kind of direct conflict with RF; they know that they can’t win. I think (perhaps I’m mistaken) that it’s the civilian leadership that is talking brave.

            Given that JRB may not be fully in control of USG, perhaps things are less dire than they appear in your analysis, on the theory that the military chain of command would disobey civilian orders that would precipitate RF strikes on NATO states as response to the crossing of RF “red lines.” Such disobedience would not be unprecedented; DJT experienced this repeatedly, IIRC.

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         3. Michaelmas July 24, 2024 at 9:05 am

            furnace: What’s up with pundits and nonsensical saber-rattling?

            Nothing baffling about it.

            G. Orwell: –

            ‘War is a way of shattering to pieces, or pouring into the stratosphere, or sinking in the depths of the sea, materials which might otherwise be used to make the masses too comfortable, and hence, in the long run, too intelligent.’

            ‘War against a foreign country only happens when the moneyed classes think they are going to profit from it.’

            More specifically, the EU has deep economic problems.

            So, like FDR’s USA was able to during WWII and as Putin’s Russia is doing now, it hopes war and militarization will create a large economic stimulus to help solve those problems.

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      2. Amfortas the Hippie July 24, 2024 at 8:20 am

         wandered thru the guardian a while ago…to wit:
         https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/24/i-know-we-will-win-and-how-ukraines-top-general-on-turning-the-tables-against-russia
         “…One initiative is taking shape in neighbouring Poland. Ukrainians abroad will soon be invited to join a new legion there. Training will take place in Poland itself, building trust between men and officers. Later the legion will transfer to the frontline. Syrskyi credited Zelenskiy with this “different approach”. One senses relations between them are harmonious, helped perhaps by the fact the commander has zero political ambitions and a lower profile than Zaluzhnyi. Syrskyi is celebrated in a cat meme, though….”

         falling anew from the turnip truck each morning.

         https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/24/putin-lies-russian-economy-eu-ministers
         “It was imperative, they said, that western democracies turned the screw amid fears that if there were a ceasefire in Ukraine tomorrow, Russia would spend the next few years regrouping its weakening economy for a second attack on Europe.“By re-Sovietising the Russian economy, Putin has put it on a path towards its own decline. Now it is time for the west to up the pressure even more. Supporting Ukraine and undermining Russia’s capacity to wage war at every turn should be the top priority of every democratic country,” they said.

         “President Vladimir Putin and his authoritarian regime are peddling the false narrative that the Russian economy is strong, and that its war machine is unharmed by western sanctions. This is a lie that must be refuted.

         “In fact, there are many signs that the Russian war economy is deteriorating. The sanctions and other measures to weaken the Russian economy are effective, but even more can be done. We must continue to increase pressure against Putin’s regime and support Ukraine.””

         sigh.
         its just not worth arguing with the folks i know(almost all of them) who believe all this.
         the righty leaners who are die hard old style gop believe all this, too.
         the more trumpy gop are skeptical of ukraine(thanks, JD) but still think the ussr needs to be defeated(sic).
         the local dems are still hiding in their hillforts, i suppose….although i do not come down out of the hills that often, these days…and dont frequent the winebars,lol…

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         1. mrsyk July 24, 2024 at 8:37 am

            falling anew from the turnip truck each morning. heh heh.The Ukrainian Expat Legion. Going to be light on troops seeing as they fled to avoid the violence. Small and agile I guess.

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   2. GM July 24, 2024 at 8:18 am

      Nobody will declare war.

      The missiles will fly, disguised as yet another “Ukrainian” cruise missile attack. But this time they will reach very deep into Russian territory.

      We haven’t gotten to that point of boiling the frog yet — that will come after the Kremlin has agreed on ATACMS, Storm Shadows, JASSM-ERs, and eventually even Tomahawks, flying deep into pre-war Russian territory. At which point early warning systems might as well be non-existent, because you are supposed to launch on warning the moment any such missiles fly towards central Russia, as you don’t know what their targets are and what warheads they carry.

      This is the big questions right now — will the Kremlin allow that. So far it has sheepishly watched as every rung of the escalation ladder that leads to that point has been climbed. Thus, given that past behavior is the best predictor of future actions, one has to take very seriously the possibility that the Kremlin will continue with its herbivorous behavior even when those things start happening.

      At the moment we have only seen ATACMS strikes on Rostov and many HIMARS attacks on Belgorod and Kursk. Including an attempted HIMARS hit on the Kurchatov NPP (!!!), which was intercepted. Why on earth would you try that??? But overall there has been considerable “restrain”. The “permission” to launch Storm Shadows on pre-war Russia with no limits was given by the British monts ago, and in principle those have the range to hit even Moscow. Yet we know of not a single attempted such strike.

      Also, Global Hawk drones stopped flying in the Black Sea after the Sevastopol attack and after one of them was allegedly brought down by a MiG-31 that flew close to it causing turbulence.

      So maybe a red line was finally drawn. But that was not done publicly, and escalation can resume at any moment.

      And then we get back on the previous trajectory. Which, to remind people, leads to first normalizing cruise and ballistic missile strikes, and then eventually the warheads get swapped with nukes and a decapitation strike is carried out with early warning systems having been trained to ignore such threats.

      Again, nobody will declare war, it will be just done. It’s on the Kremlin to stop it.

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      1. Yves Smith July 24, 2024 at 8:30 am

         You greatly underestimate Russian missile defenses. The West has already thrown its various missiles at Russia and Russia has learned their profiles and so brings down >90%. Longer transit time = longer time to intercept. The West does not have the showstopper of hypersonic missiles and won’t for many years.

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         1. GM July 24, 2024 at 8:39 am

            When nukes are involved, it doesn’t really matter if you are intercepting 90%.

            Again, the point is to have them accept those being fired at them in the first place. Which should be absolutely unacceptable, yet here we are.

            Also, you underestimate the fact that airplane-sized drones have flown repeatedly more than 1000 km from the Ukrainian border. So clearly there is a serious issue with low-flying objects not being detected. Which is exactly what the cruise missiles will be — low flying and terrain hugging. And we know what the issue is — the Kremlin allowed the oligarchs to spend countless billions on megayachts, limousines, and real estate in the West (as if they could ever actually truly own that real estate without the Russian army controlling the territory physically), while not a single new AWACS plane was built in 30 years (they only restarted production very recently) because there was no money in the budget for that. So there is no 24/7 coverage of what flies in terrain hugging mode where, and in fact there cannot be even if you get all the available planes up in the air in the same time, as the territory is so huge.

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            1. Yves Smith July 24, 2024 at 8:59 am

               The low flying drones have not done serious damage. The worst has been hitting a fuel storage tank or two at refineries. Impressive-looking explosions but refineries are massive complexes and the impact on supplies and production have been nada.

               And if you are talking nukes, please. The US can launch them from subs, so this is an existing concern if that is where you think this is going. I have talked repeatedly about the US getting too cute and hitting Siberia with a tactical nuke from a Pacific sub. The Baltic is already a NATO lake.

               Any nuclear strike = end of world as we know it. Russian doctrine is immediate and massive retaliation.

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         2. scott s. July 24, 2024 at 9:14 am

            Your assumption seems to be that Russia “has learned their profiles” but the West has learned nothing about Russian air defense. You might be right, but considering what appears to be significant ISR assets from the West, I would consider that low probability.

            The question if both sides are learning becomes who can gain an advantage.

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      2. Aurelien July 24, 2024 at 8:56 am

         I don’t understand your argument. It might be possible for the West to assemble a limited number of aircraft in Ukraine without having them destroyed, and it might be possible to send them on a mission to launch missiles against targets in western Russia. Some of the aircraft might get through. Some of the missiles might get through. Some of the missiles might do some damage. In return, the Russians could, if they wished, devastate targets in western Europe (and even the US) with hypersonic missiles, whilst the West would have lost a good proportion of its air power.
         How is this a good idea? How does it even equate to “war,” and what possible political objective could it serve? I suppose that if there was some absolutely overriding imperative on the West to strike a symbolic blow against Russian territory, then that would be the only possible method. But I see no sign of such lunacy.

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   3. Samuel Conner July 24, 2024 at 8:27 am

      I confess that I gave up reading partway through the first paragraph, when I encountered the claim that RF does not negotiate in good faith. This looks to me like “projection” — interpretation of the other in terms of what one knows to be true about oneself — and I find that very tiresome to wade through.

      It’s actually kind of funny — VVP does a lot of speaking, and a theme in his speeches, abundantly illustrated with examples from recent history, is Western bad faith in negotiations. I can’t think of a single public address by a Western leader that makes similar substantive claims, backed up with evidence from history, about RF. (This is not to assert that there are no such substantively justified claims by Western heads of government, but it certainly doesn’t seem to be a theme.)

      IMO the “bad faith” charge is pure projection.

      Or maybe it’s COVID-induced brain damage.

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      1. Amfortas the Hippie July 24, 2024 at 9:02 am

         that the amen choir keeps insisting that the ussr(sic) is hell bent on taking over europe is my favorite.
         when i ask where’s the evidence…well…there aint any…its just a truth(“it is known”)
         of course, this being a red county, the bigger worry is those dern Chi-Coms.
         (an hypothesis: beginning in the 80’s a bunch of korean war vets moved to the texas hill country to die….beginning with kerrville(once a redneck hippie enclave)…and their kids followed with them.)

         and speaking of commies:
         https://x.com/jacksonhinklle/status/1815602590509678754

         and here i though hinkle was a rabid righty,lol.
         Haz al-Din is the Lenin/Mao figure in this outfit…which at least lends some credibility to the effort…i only started reading him when i got on X…dont know who he is, where he comes from…but he talks a consistent game.

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4. griffen July 24, 2024 at 7:46 am

   Humpback whale video is making the rounds. Any fans like me of the original Jaws…

   You’re gonna need a bigger boat. Big fish, 3 tons…

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5. zagonostra July 24, 2024 at 7:55 am

   Surreal Normality. That’s what I experience traveling, at work, and interacting with friends. Assassination attempt with potential complicity of the Deep State and Democrat’s defenestration of Biden and selection of Kamala without any participation of voters, all just another blip in the headlines.

   Recent picture of Biden, first in several days, has people speculating that it was a double. Deep Fakes, memes, proliferation of podcast, pundits, and TwitterX feeds. A kaleidoscope of “news” that keeps me confused and outraged with no hint that there is any self-correction in sight for a gov’t that Kevin Philips warned was out of control almost 30 years ago.

   https://www.amazon.com/Arrogant-Capital-Washington-Frustration-American/dp/0316706027

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   1. Ben Panga July 24, 2024 at 8:27 am

      There’s video of Biden from yesterday:

      https://edition.cnn.com/2024/07/23/politics/video/biden-video-withdraw-election-digvid

      My 2c: he was so mad for 24 hours he couldn’t have been civil in public. He seemed to manage that at least.

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      1. zagonostra July 24, 2024 at 8:42 am

         With regard to that video you linked to, it raised questions of whether it was really Biden. He had only one reply to reporters. When asked how he was feeling he said, “Well.” Then he proceeded to climb the stairs leading to the Airplane more spritely than any recent video. An interesting TwitterX I watched breaks it down and makes me question what I see as a potential “deep fake.” New territory for me…

         How are you sure what is real anymore?

         https://x.com/cancelcloco/status/1815880883993497605?s=51

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      2. Benny Profane July 24, 2024 at 8:44 am

         Much like HRC after she lost in ’16.

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         1. Neutrino July 24, 2024 at 8:58 am

            Next come the long walks and glasses of Chardonnay, with a side of cabbage. /s

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   2. Bugs July 24, 2024 at 8:28 am

      There’s a glitch in the Matrix but tech support is hard at work deploying a patch. Stay tuned.

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   3. vao July 24, 2024 at 8:45 am

      In fact, Joe Biden was replaced with a robot a couple of years ago. What was present so far during press conferences, official celebrations, and the infamous debate with Trump was not a human being, but an android, programmed with a LLM — the combination of the latest from Boston Dynamics and Open-AI.

      Consider:

      1) That frozen face with the fixed stare, with lips barely moving? Typical of a robotic head.

      2) That stiff demeanour, the rigid movements, the short, mechanical steps, the difficulty to maintain balance, those full-body turns instead of head or torso flexions, those unnatural movements to sit down and stand up? Typical of a robot.

      3) Those declarations starting correctly and then veering off into a confused jumble of garbled mutterings? Typical of a LLM that has been parameterized with insufficient original input and fed back too much of its own production, ending up uttering grammatically passable, but semantically meaningless sentences (“We beat Medicare”).

      4) Sissi president of Mexico? Calling Harris “vice-president Trump”? Zelenski mixed up with Putin? Confusion about time (e.g. when was Biden vice-president)? Just the typical “hallucinations” which LLM are prone to and (in)famous for.

      5) The incredibly long breaks during which Biden is not working, day after day? That’s because a whole overworked team of technicians is frantically trying to correct bugs, reprogram the android, refresh the language model, clean up the electro-mechanics, and replace overheating processors.

      6) The Covid infection that kept Biden incommunicado? An effect of the Crowdstrike bug that put the android completely out of action for days.

      We must face the reality. The Biden is an android, not a very good one at that — but technology is progressing apace and the Deep State will soon have much better robots to take the exalted position of President of the USA while it pursues its nefarious activities hidden from public view.

      A pity I am not in twitter/X, telegram, reddit, bitchute, or any of those controversial social networks…

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6. Balan Aroxdale July 24, 2024 at 8:22 am

   They will do anything to win back world opinion, they’re desperate

   As low as my opinion of the IL government is, I disagree here as I don’t think IL cares about international public opinion anymore. Witness the ambassadors floucing attitude at the UN or the total lack of appeal for the plight of Israelis displaced by Hezbollah or indeed the rather muted coverage of the Houthi attack on Tel Aviv.

   As long as the IL state lobby has supremacy over the US/EU political class, I think they have decided to concede the moral front. PR from now on is to be managed by a media apartheid, inconvient stories and websites corralled in censorship ghettoes, while an insipid gloss is painted over eventually by the occupation– excuse me mainstream– media. It has become too hard to face the Gaza coverage head on and the spin masters aren’t up to selling a naked genocide in public anymore.

   Expect Xanaxed olympic coverage of the Israeli olympic team, with any protestors being discretely headbagged off camera.

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   1. Louis Fyne July 24, 2024 at 9:18 am

      Media has sowed infinite negative karma covering for Israel’s genocide.

      To wit, yesterday’s Tom Friedman column headline stood out: “Netanyahu looks like a Small Leader at a Historic Moment”

      https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/23/opinion/netanyahu-israel-gaza-congress.html

      When Panem Capitol District collapses, I will roll in the schaudenfraude

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7. Wukchumni July 24, 2024 at 8:42 am

   Ooh, Bibi, I love your way, every day, yeah
   Ooh, Bibi, I love your way, every day

   Shadows grow so long before my eyes
   And they’re moving across the page
   Suddenly the day turns into night (ooh)
   Far away from Jerusalem city

   But don’t, oh no, hesitate
   ‘Cause our lovefest just won’t wait, ayy-yeah

   Ooh, Bibi, I love your way, every day, yeah
   I wanna tell you I love your way, every day, yeah
   I wanna be with you night and day

   The Houthis appears to shine and light the sky
   With the help of some Persian fireflies
   I wonder how they have the power to shine, shine, shine
   Well, I can see them under power combined

   But don’t, whoa no, no, hesitate, la-di-da
   ‘Cause our lovefest just won’t wait, ayy-yeah

   Ooh, Bibi, I love your way, every day, yeah
   I wanna tell you I love your way, every day, ayy-yeah
   I wanna be with you night and day
   Whoa Bibi, oh Bibi, please, address us every day

   How I love, how I love you, oh
   I love your way
   Ooh, Bibi please

   I can see the sunset in your eyes
   Flag of white and blue besides
   Drones are stalking Tel Aviv in the sun
   They seem out of season

   But don’t, whoa no, no, hesitate, la-di-da
   ‘Cause your testimony just won’t wait (ayy-yeah), just won’t wait

   Ooh, Bibi, I love your way, every, every day
   I wanna tell you I love your way
   (I wanna tell you, how I love your little ways)
   I wanna be with you night and day (every day and every way)

   Billi-aboo-dee-dee-da-di-do-sta-da-Bibi-yeah

   Ooh, Bibi, I love your way (ooh Bibi)
   (How I love your little ways, yeah)
   I wanna tell you I love your way (I wanna tell you how I)
   (I wanna tell you how I love your little ways)
   I wanna be with you night and day
   (Bibi-aboo-see-da-ja-bee-da-di-yeah)
   Ooh, Bibi, I love your way (ooh, Bibi, Bibi, Bibi)

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8. GramSci July 24, 2024 at 8:43 am

   Re: pension fund meddling

   Somebody has to help me with that story. It seems to imply that some Ohio officials are messing up the Minnesota system because Ohio pays 0.1% in fees when it should be paying 1%. It then seems to blame the NEA for being part of this “team” of Ohio officials.

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