Dear patient readers,
This post launched a bit light. Please come back at 7:45 AM EDT for a full ration.
#Sakurajima Volcano #Kagoshima, Japan, 29.07.2024, 16:46 local time
cam streamed by ZAIHO
Source: https://t.co/4jKC0AxMgJ pic.twitter.com/5oCDg0AQPF— Rita Bauer (@wischweg) July 29, 2024
A Fossil Named Tina May Rewrite the Story of Human Evolution Popular Mechanics (Chuck L)
Near-Grounding Incident in Great Barrier Reef Attributed to GPS Malfunction GCaptain (guurst)
#COVID-19
COVID surging in California, nears two-year summer high. ‘Almost everybody has it’ Los Angeles Times (Paul R)
Climate/Environment
How Soon Might the Atlantic Ocean Break? Two Sibling Scientists Found an Answer—and Shook the World Wired (Dr. Kevin)
Park Fire is now one of California’s largest wildfires on record, burning area nearly half the size of Rhode Island CBS (Kevin W)
Is Japan nearly cured of its nuclear allergy? Asia Times (Kevin W)
China?
US hands $500m military aid boost to Philippines amid China tensions Aljazeera
Justice Dept. Says TikTok Could Allow China To Influence Elections Fortune
Chinese EVs and the race for autonomous AI Asia Times
India
Winds of change in India-China relations Indian Punchline
India deploys army, air force as death toll due to landslides in Kerala climbs to 57 Anadolu Agency
South of the Border
Elon Musk had, out of his nearly 50k tweets, zero about Venezuela prior to April.
Now he’s tweeting non-stop about the “dictator.”
When I said Twitter is going full-circle back to the days of the Arab Spring, as a tool for toppling governments, this is what I meant. https://t.co/uFaNnk10em
— Alex Rubinstein (@RealAlexRubi) July 30, 2024
Venezuelan Guarimbas: 11 Things the Media Didn’t Tell You Venezuelanalysis (Chuck L)
Olympics
Olympians called the food in Paris a ‘disaster’ — and one team is flying in its own chef Business Insider (Kevin W)
French Internet Lines Cut In Latest Attack During Olympics Bloomberg
European Disunion
Eurozone economy grows 0.3% over second quarter Financial Times
Säpo should be made responsible for censorship – that’s not very smart Aftonbladet via machine translation. Micael T: “SÄPO = Swedish Security Service”
Old Blighty
Winter fuel payments scrapped for millions BBC (Kevin W). Note his is a subsidy for pensioners and the poor.
Gaza
‘Operation al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 297: Israel and Lebanon brace for new escalation after 12 Syrian residents of the Golan Heights were killed by a strike Mondoweiss (guurst)
* * * Patrick Lawrence: No More Silence ScheerPost (Robin K). Important. Key point: “….join me in asking what we are not supposed to ask: Is what Israel is doing in Gaza worse than the Holocaust? ” I brought this up with Lambert a few days ago, and not as a question.Up for discussion in the Israeli parliament: the legitimacy of raping prisoners pic.twitter.com/9KuqCW9ntK
— Hamza M Syed (@HamzaMSyed) July 29, 2024
“Dedicated to all partners in the purchase of our drones”
Israeli soldiers from the 5280 Battalion of the Alexandroni Brigade filmed the detonation of Palestinian homes in Wadi Salka, east of Khan Yunis, as a dedication to Israeli occupation army donors who provided them with… pic.twitter.com/O08M3ezd55
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) July 28, 2024
Erdogan Says Turkiye Could ‘Enter’ Israel To Help Gazans Sputnik. Erdogan has been all hat, no cattle but he might settle on a lower-risk way to assist.
At rowdy cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said to condemn mob breaking into IDF bases, but compare it to anti-government protests Times of Israel
New Not-So-Cold War
Putin warns US against deploying long-range missiles in Germany Guardian
Ukrenergo not planning power supply restrictions in Ukraine on Tuesday Interfax. Some improvement in operations.
Big Brother is Watching You Watch
China Ponders Creating a National ‘Cyberspace ID’ The Register
Why the left should care about privacy Current Affairs (Paul R)
2024
America’s New Political War Pits Young Men Against Young Women Wall Street Journal. So all this political divisiveness is now hitting the gender divide among the young. At the margin, not very pro-reproduction.
Biden
Biden decries ‘extremism’ on Supreme Court, details plan for term limits, ethics code for justices Associated Press. Has he not gotten the memo that he is a lame duck?
Most Americans want Biden to resign now – poll RT. Rasmussen is a right wing pollster. Even so, gap between approval v. disapproval of Biden continuing suggest there would still be way more nays than yeas even with different question phrasing.
Kamala
Kamala Harris, triumphant cat lady: The political family has lost its sparkle Unherd
Harris Puts Abortion, a Weakness for Trump, at Center of Campaign Wall Street Journal. This sort of thing infuriates me. The women’s rights movement and their presumed ally, Team Dem, did absolutely nothing to secure abortion rights, which would not have been hard during Peak Feminism, the 1970, before the religious right had much clout. In most nations, abortion rights have come about via legislation, not court rulings. The Dems continue to be merely performative on this issue. There is no way a Harris Administration could get any meaningful legislation passed. Yet this is why voters should prefer her? Seriously? Because she is selling an empty bag? I could see abortion as on the list since pro-abortion voters are mad at the Republicans for rolling back abortion rights, but the lead when the Dems have nothing real to offer?
Kamala Harris Collapsed in 2020. Here’s How to Avoid a Repeat. Politico
Exclusive: Internet Star Estee Palti’s Humorous Take On Kamala Harris Cackle India Today Global, YouTube. Li: “Estee goes global!”
Trump
Donald Trump Backs ‘Strategic Bitcoin Stockpile’ in Speech to Crypto Faithful Wired (Dr. Kevin). Kill me now. US continues its slide into third-worldism.
Our No Longer Free Press
The most chilling words today: I’m from NewsGuard and I am here to rate you Jonathan Turley, The Hill. Obviously retaliatory. Disappointing that Turley does not seem inclined to sue, but perhaps he does not want to signal that’s an option until they dig their hole with their “report”.
Copyright Strikes Silence Paris Olympics Critics Reclaim the Net (Micael T)
German Publisher Stops All Printing of JD Vance’s Book Hillbilly Elegy Jonathan Turley
YouTube Escalates War on Ad Blockers Mashable
Woke Watch
Here’s Proof That Woke Capitalism Is in Retreat Crisis Investing (Micael T)
Mum jailed for forcing daughter into fatal marriage BBC :-(. But a reminder that “woke” is not always bad.
AI
Faisal Mahmood: A.I.’s Transformation of Pathology Eric Topol (Robin K)
From Sci-Fi To State Law: California’s Plan To Prevent AI Catastrophe ars technica
McDonald’s hit by first global sales drop since 2020 Financial Times
Crowdstrike 404
Delta Seeks Damages From CrowdStrike, Microsoft After Outage CNBC. I love these Godzilla v. Mothra fights.
The Bezzle
Sen. Cynthia Lummis announces bill for US Treasury to buy 1 million bitcoin worth $68 billion The Block (UserFriendly)
Trump Media Stock (DJT) – The 2nd Quarter Earnings Report Needs Explanation Forbes (furzy)
Tesla’s dismal results draw the shorts, and the tipsters, back out of the shadows Francine McKenna. The preview is informative.
News Site Says It’s Using to AI to Crank Out Articles Bylined by Fake Racially Diverse Writers in a Very Responsible Way Futurism (Paul R)
Class Warfare
Living through another great transformation… Branco Milanovic (Micael T)
Low-Income Homes Drop Internet Service After Congress Kills Discount Program arstechnica
John Deere under fire for laying off hundreds of American workers as it shifts manufacturing to Mexico New York Times (Kevin W)
CBDCs are a Threat to Liberty Reclaim the Net (Micael T)
Antidote du jour (Alena S):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
UKRAINIAN AIR FORCE
(melody borrowed from Wild Blue Yonder by Robert Crawford, 1938, now the Anthem of the U.S. Air Force)
(July 29, 2024 ~ Only six Ukrainian pilots have finished their training on F-16 jets, which jets will be delivered in August. Because these planes can carry nuclear weapons, the Russians have repeatedly warned that they will be taken out immediately. Imagine being one of these six pilots, out on the runway, ready to go . . .)
Takeoff time this is no time to ponder
What the hell is it I’ve done?
Climbing fast I cannot help but wonder
Flying east into the sun
Satellites that we are flying under
Tell the Russkies our track and more
It’s not the same this ain’t no game
I think I’d like a refresher course!
Six brave men sent to pull off a blunder
F-16’s can carry nukes too
Mister Zee wants to impress his funder
Mom and Dad I will miss you!
My brief life soon will be promptly squandered
For an un-winnable war
One thing’s sure we’re all done for
The Russians say that we’re the main course!
We are thinking the most of the Holy Ghost all six of us will die
Lady friends this portends a last farewell we’ll meet you in the sky!
This task we chose means we shall turn to mold
What we die for is more or less a centerfold
We’d float in a boat but that’s all she wrote for the Ukraine Air Force!
F-16’s one by one torn asunder
Missiles flash out of the blue
All at once there will be blood and thunder
Tally-Ho! So much for you!
I should fly to the Moldovan border
There’s a world for me to explore
Where life goes on I’ll greet the dawn
I’m starting to feel a lot of remorse!
To hell with this I’ll go open-source!
«Lady friends this portends a last farewell…»
Very apropos today’s WSJ on ‘Amerika’s latest political war pitting young men against young women’. Sending young men off to war against Putin makes the Karens I know feel so much safer.
‘Alex Rubinstein
@RealAlexRubi
Elon Musk had, out of his nearly 50k tweets, zero about Venezuela prior to April.
Now he’s tweeting non-stop about the “dictator.” ‘
Musk is going back to his 2020 days when he tweeted ‘We will coup whoever we want! Deal with it’ about the coup in Bolivia. Is there Lithium in Venezuela as well or something? But he got too quick on his fingers when he linked to a video showing how Meduro ‘Colectivos’ gangs were stealing ballot boxes only it wasn’t. It was looters stealing aircom units instead. Idjut.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55aot1LZJug – at the 25:5 min mark
Venezuela is blessed with huge reserves of heavy crude oil, that is it gives a lot of distillate fuel, good for those power plants going off coal. And we get to reset a lot of refineries once we decide we can profit off their oil.
The irony is that Venezuela used to send free oil to the US for poorer people to use but Washington eventually put a stop to that. They could simply buy the oil from Venezuela for a market price and maybe send technical experts there to improve their production methods so that more could be sent to the US. Not good enough and instead they want to own it directly and ship it to the US for a lower price – with some skimmed off for the right people. And that is what it is all about.
If I remember, RFK Jr. was at the head of an organization that helped distribute that cheap oil to low income homes, especially in the northeast.
Here it is:
https://www.masslive.com/news/2014/01/no_oil_for_citizens_energy_yet.html
Working long for (gag) cat lady:
https://unherd.com/2024/07/kamala-harris-triumphant-cat-lady/
What a friggin insult to cats. One would think a person would have to like cats in order to be a cat lady.
That was the only thing I looked for in the article, and it was not there.
I’ve noticed that many more women who give up on men and family are dog lovers.
same here, waste of time!
Fixing….thanks!
So the Bitcoin faithful cheer a Presidential candidate who proposes to make their libertarian and anti government fantasy currency a government backed and controlled currency.
A surveillance currency at that.
Not secret/anonymous to begin with.
And store of value my @$$.
Same type of bansksta bros from previous crashes who are looking for a bailout. (Exotic financial product headed nowhere without attaching itself to the govt teat). They just sold a BS story it was something different.
>Low-income homes drop Internet service after Congress kills discount program
Well, that $30/mo was helpful to me, but after it was initiated my ISP raised its rate, so it was also an invitation to the corporations to up their looting game. States often forbid local jurisdiction broadband, which when done right can be better and a much cheaper service, like even free (except for taxes, which I don’t pay much of). How about Congress restricting State’s authority there? Oh wait, markets! For now, I just have to bite the bullet, or the cable, or my cat lady tale… or something…
what happened to all the free municipal wi-fi ideas from 20 years ago? wi-fi infrastructure on light posts—maybe a “freemium” service, free for basic, $ for streaming 1080p video.
At the very least it should be a no-brainer experiment for a square mile of a US city.
If Democrats can’t even deliver on this basic idea, no hope for health care.
The piece says the Reptiles cancelled the program since most of the folks already had broadband prior to its initiation. It does not mention how many providers raised their rates after the program began. Mine went up $10, so a $30 credit actually turned into $20 net.
America’s New Political War Pits Young Men Against Young Women So the WSJ would like one to believe. And why not? Our political theater displays the intellectual capacity of an eighth grader. Never the less, only had to go four comments in for “These sample sizes are really, really small. I’m not buying the results.”
“Near-Grounding Incident in Great Barrier Reef Attributed to GPS Malfunction”
The Great Barrier Reef has been eating ships since Captain Cook ran aground way back in 1770. Would it be too much to ask to have ships keep lookouts until they are out to sea and clear of those reefs? For those interested, here is the official report on this near collision-
https://www.atsb.gov.au/publications/investigation_reports/2022/mair/mo-2022-005
The International Rules for Preventing Collision at Sea (COLREGS) require that all ships maintain a lookout by sight and hearing at all times (rule 5), but in this case, the pilot and bridge team of the Rosco Poplar were slacking – relying solely on their electronic charts and GPS. Not only that, they failed to configure their navigation to use multiple GPS inputs and have the system automatically compare them to identify errors and faults.
Back when I went to sea, reliance on electronic systems was a well known hazard and we trained against it, but it is a constant battle because ECDIS (electronic charts) is so easy when all systems are working right. Right as I was leaving, the USCG and USN were dropping the requirement to carry paper charts – this might be a mistake.
Not sure what the environment is in civilian maritime industry, but I bet it’s similar or worse since they are more minimally manned.
I understand that at one stage, the US Navy stopped teaching their officers how to use a sextant to ‘shoot the sun’ because everything was digital. But then they re-introduced it when it was realized that if GPS went offline, US Navy ships would be literally lost at sea with only the sun and starts to go by for directions-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sextant
Healthcare
Wikipedia and other sources rank American life expectancy at 56th or there about, meaning 55 nations have longer expected life than Americans.
I noticed this and was shocked. I knew it was bad, but that bad? After having exchanges w/my Republican sisters, who occasionally mention the evils of “free government socialist” healthcare, I noted most governments with free health care live longer healthier lives that we do. That didn’t work with them.
The conversations went like this:
“Canadians live longer with better healthcare” – “I know someone who’s 5 children with cancer were put on a waiting list. All the children died because they waited too long. People can’t get healthcare in Canada.”
Explaining to them USA has a waiting list of 30-40 million people with no healthcare who are on a permanent waiting list – a number greater than the entire population of Canada – didn’t register with them.
“UK and Europe have free healthcare and live longer.” – “That’s not what I heard. We know someone in Britain who says the waiting list is long and they can’t get health care.”
Later I looked up national life expectancy and sent her the list. As I said, I was shocked how bad it was. Besides how low the US ranked vs other nations, what stood out was Puerto Rico which I expect is lower income and thus many more qualify for Medicaid (“free government socialist healthcare”) has higher life expectancy than those of in the States. So a simple not extravagant free access to health care in a poorer nation beats Exceptional America’s for profit health care. That really says something.
I sent my sisters the Wikipedia list, asking them if they knew anyone or have friends who have died due to being on waiting lists in each of the 55 nations with free government socialist healthcare, 55 nations with free government socialist health care, who live longer lives than we do in the USA?
I also sent them to start researching what health care they want when they reach 65, noting they must choose 3 months before reaching 65, explained the issues with Medicare Advantage and how even MSM is beginning to reports problems with it, and how it takes away their access to Traditional Medicare.
They probably won’t listen but try these two links. The first compares healthcare in Maine and New Brunswick-
https://x.com/CallForCongress/status/1516427312530608137
The second link is from 2019 and shows the reaction of the British to the costs of American healthcare-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kll-yYQwmuM (5:04 mins)
>Harris Puts Abortion, a Weakness for Trump, at Center of Campaign – Wall Street Journal
A “liberal” friend sent me a link to the John Stewart clip below that attempts to counter all the Republican criticism of Kamala. This friend, I don’t know if “liberal” is the correct term to describe her, is pro-abortion and she will vote for Kamala solely on that issue. I didn’t even know the Democrats rolled John Stewart out of retirement.
Based on the clip I watched, you can tell he has some good writers. Personally, I find JS repugnant, almost as much as I do Stephen Colbert, it was a challenge just getting through first couple of minutes, but I felt a need to find out what makes some people tick. The clip is instructive in demonstrating political rhetoric pulling out all the stops in defending/justifying the undependable/unjustifiable. It’s done masterfully, the comedic/endearing patina JS provides is effective, especially for those who need a “logic” that allows them to vote for Kamala based on that single issue, abortion.
That “logic,” twisted logic, is necessary to assuage the cognitive dissonance from the Biden/Kamala;s complicity in killing thousand of innocent women and children in Gaza. To re-elect those responsible for allowing/abetting genocide takes a real skill set. That “skill set” is on full display at the Daily Show. That I enjoyed watching JS during the Bush the Lessor years, makes me wonder at the changes both in me and America.
https://youtu.be/YNu_Q11QFWY?si=v5DvR4H1Yhs_zkut
Malcolm X coined the term politricks. True then, true today.
Stewart has returned to Comedy Central for one night per week only. The rest of the time he has some kind of website. Back in the day he made much sport of Trump which didn’t prevent Trump from getting elected then and doubtful the snark explosion that Lambert talked about will have much effect this time either. It will take more than jokes to fill Kamala’s empty suit, but we shall see.
Harris Puts Abortion, a Weakness for Trump, at Center of Campaign Of course she has. The issue of abortion is a/the key fundraising tool. I’ve come to the conclusion that the business of elections has become more important than the results. The vast sums of money, siphoned off the public and redistributed to the political class has made winning irrelevant.
The Democrats may think that this will be the killer issue – abortion – that they can nail Trump to the wall with but I am not so sure. If he was half smart, Trump could easily reply that the Democrats could have codified Roe vs Wade anytime in the past half century as it was passed way in back in ’73 when Nixon was still President but they just never got around to it.
not a duopoly voter here — but it would be delicious to see Trump do that
‘epic trolling’ as the kiddies say, informative too
Wrong Rev. Pointing this out to a single-issue pro-abortionist minded person is futile, I’ve tried it. Trump is more than “half smart”, to know this. A “rational” rebuttal is not the basis that will lead to victory, though it may be useful, the battle will not be won by appeals to logic or historical facts, it will be conducted on the rhetorical/emotional battle field.
Working through the Politico article on Madame VP and highly presumed nominee for President, there’s a killer quote from the piece. Harris is giving a speech recently in Wisconsin.
“As attorney general of California, I took on the big Wall Street banks…held them accountable for fraud. Donald Trump was…found guilty of fraud”. I will concede to any speechwriter that would convey really well, but that’s the red meat she can offer to her base and any voters on the fence.
Added, it’s a speech that works better than say, “my opponent kicks puppies and pushes old ladies when he thinks no one is looking..”
Trump and his crypto boosting. Pandering to the Horowitz and the Winklevoss wings of the Bitcoin realm, I do suppose. I did find a part of his speech interesting, or the video clip of him saying “on day one I will fire Chair Gensler…”. Gary Gensler is the SEC chairman, whom I think is well qualified at the role. I will also add, Trump could also be tossing some red meat, to draw more support to his ticket. Perish the thought of doing so, in an election year.
CNBC yesterday interviewed a former SEC Chairman, Jay Clayton who served under the Trump administration. His comment was yeah it doesn’t actually work this way in reality. I’m still not involved in any crypto investing, and have no immediate plans to do so.
Hilariously, 2 days after T’s bitcoin boosting the B admin moved to sell off US govt’s seized bitcoin assets, causing bitcoin prices to drop.
https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2024/07/29/bitcoin-tumbles-below-67k-as-us-government-moves-2b-of-silk-road-tokens/
So bitcoin are like company shares then? That when a bunch of shares in one company is released on the market, this drops the price for all of them?
RK,
Perhaps you’re thinking of BitchCoin, whose value goes up every time you complain about the man not having enough strategic deposits of ether and/or in Humordor.
It’s an “asset” with limited supply and relatively shallow liquidity.
Increased supply leads to lower price.
This hyper-financialized economy has to have a bubble asset – or more than one – always going.
It’s. all. they. got.
It bears mentioning that KH fervently wants to be more “pro-crypto” than Trump. Not looking good for Lina Kahn.
The Consortium News article on Israel by Patrick Lawrence is very good. It speaks with the necessary moral clarity, eschewing the ambiguity and “both side-ism” that much of modern media aspires towards. Palestine is the most urgent moral question of our lives. In no uncertain terms, I echo Lawrence’s call that, even if the genocide were to end tomorrow, Israel must end, more definitely than Nazi Germany, which wasn’t completely de-nazified.
The Notsies will never give up their aircraft carrier in the Middle East.
They never will.
Nonetheless, it shall be taken from them, just as Germany was taken from Hitler’s hordes.
7 Oct, al Aqsa Flood, is the replay of the Warsaw ghetto rising.
IDF showing a lower level of effect than the wehrmacht.
Yes, it’s an excellent piece. I feel humbled by it. I was struck by a lot of ideas in it but want to single this out:
I resemble that. I remember an Adam Curtis short I think titled “Oh Dearism”. I think it was played on Charlie Brooker’s show. I bet it’s on YouTube.
I agree, vidimi. The Lawrence article is startling in its clarity. He says the, up to now, unsayable. And, he will probably pay a price for that.
Daniel Davis on his Deep Dive Intel Briefing 7/28/24, (it says much about the realignments going on, that I have become almost addicted to an ex-military guy’s YouTube interviews, but that may be because I love the way he and John Mearsheimer interact) gives an eloquent and heart-rending plea to end the slaughter of the Palestinians and speaks of his shame at being a citizen of a nation whose Congressional Representatives give multiple standing ovations during the speech given by the leader of a country committing the acts of which Israel is culpable. Again, he speaks with moral clarity, calling out the action of Israel for what it is.
“Copyright Strikes Silence Paris Olympics Critics”
This would have to be a reaction to the stuffed up Opening ceremonies. Nothing to do with them mocking the easy target of one of the world’s largest religions. So I’ve got an idea. Just to prove that they are really into diversity and are not mocking just Christians alone, how about this. Come the Closing ceremony they have a bunch of drag queens doing a tableau of the life of Mohamed. They could have the person that did the part of JC do Mohamed as well. It’ll be great as after all, what could possibly go wrong?
one minor detail that stood out for me in the article was the claim that, and I paraphrase, rain risked disrupting Lady Gaga’s performace. Except it didn’t, hers was pre-recorded…because they were worried about the rain.
Patrick Lawrence. No More Silence.
This piece is a polemic, a call to peaceful arms, by a writer at the height of his powers. I am impressed.
Some quibbles: One must be opposed to war and genocide all around, everywhere, just as one must always oppose torture and mistreatment of prisoners, no matter who they are.
So the moral crisis of our times isn’t only Israel and its policies of religious/ethnic/supremacy (sound familiar? Ask the American Indians…)
The crisis also consists of Ukraine and how the Western elites lied their way into a conflict that they had not even thought through. It is a conflict to satisfy bourgeois fantasies of investment opportunities. Likewise Iran. Likewise China.
We cannot chop up peace: When there is no peace, there is no civilization.
And that also means contradicting the very idea that something is unspeakable. As a writer, I know that there is almost nothing in existence that qualifies as unspeakable or ineffable. Things have names.
And it also means going to demonstrations. Whether you enjoy demonstrations or not. One must speak. One must manifest oneself in public for the powerful to see.
We must march, my darlings, to quote Walt Whitman.
If a march rolls through the streets, and there is no MSM camera there to record it, does it make a sound?
We are cast in the role of GABAergic interneurons, outnumbered 10:1, sabateurs of a march to Armageddon.
re: Harris Puts Abortion, a Weakness for Trump, at Center of Campaign Wall Street Journal.
I don’t think anyone can call themselves a feminist if they are supporting genocide and a Jewish-only ethnostate, which is to say they do not support equality and equal rights. In effect, in supporting Israel she is conceding to the pro-life movement that there should unequal rights and, further, along biblical/religious grounds. And in supporting Zionism, which in Israel is right wing religious conservativism, and in effect is state religion, she’s agreeing that men should be the heads of households.
Her stance has a major logical hole which deserves to be exploited, she is no feminist as long as she supports Israel.
A lot of feminists can’t support genocide.
This is the DN Headlines for July 26, 2024 with a brief bit on her meeting with Netanyahu. There is a photo of the two shaking hands [03:40 going forward]. I don’t know if boa constrictors smirk when they have caught an antelope (just for an example), but if they do, that is what Bibi looks like. Harris is not smiling, I’m sure she knows there are thousands of words to follow. This is the text:
That’s all I have. On Palestine, she could not be worse than Biden, but DT could, maybe. If she is elected and does much against Israel, and Mike Johnson is still speaker of the house, the first thing he will do (after visiting Israel of course) is try to impeach her. We’re family blogged.
The situation has since escalated. Considerably.
https://x.com/MaxBlumenthal/status/1818152941804470725#m
https://x.com/BarakRavid/status/1818093987724496948#m
https://x.com/MouinRabbani/status/1818144763524047001#m
https://x.com/ireallyhateyou/status/1817990464198558140#m
https://x.com/ME_Observer_/status/1818032302091297014#m
https://x.com/ME_Observer_/status/1818036049706369145#m
Right wing protestors joined by Knesset politicians, IDF reservists, and apparently serving IDF members have stormed the Sde Teiman base/prison camp to protest the arrest of several camp guards on charges of torture including rape of prisoners. The protestors stormed gates and were threatening to kill the remaining prisoners. There are also reports of a second protest at the military court/base in Beit Lid where the arrested soldiers were taken to.
IDF command has reportedly stopped Lebanon war planning to deal with the issue. Very frankly, it appears that GHQ officers have been drafted in to help man the gates against the protestors. IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari can be seen at a gate in one clip above. General Halevi is onsite in another. Reportedly frontline units have been diverted from Gaza. The prison is run by Ben Gvir’s interior ministry, as are the police who have been in no hurry to intervene. Though apparently the area has now been placed under full military control and protests have abated.
This is beyond extraordinary and can only be compared to 1930s Europe. This can only point to a complete collapse of discipline in the armed forces, and on the eve of a major war with Lebanon besides. Maybe late imperial Russia is a better comparison. One of the army’s largest issues is that it is receiving little support from politicians for punishing soliders involved in torture. Perhaps US forces will be on the ground in Israel sooner than expected.
There is only really coverage of this on twitter. To fully report this, the MSM will have to own up to the torture at Sde Teiman which they’ve already denied/buried.
Holy crap.
Balan Aroxdale. Quite a roundup.
Torture undermines the legitimacy of the government.
After the 2014 coup in Ukraine, the current form of the Ukrainian government engaged in torture and disappearances, turning a blind eye to the Right Sector and Azov Battalion and other neoNazi gangs. Hence, the government of Ukraine has little moral authority.
When politicians in the Knesset are praising torturers, the government has no legitimacy.
When the U.S. government sponsors still another speech by a supporter of torture, it has lost legitimacy, tattered as it was.
Will this cause Israeli society to collapse? Will it end the war effort? No. Torture can go on for years and years — because right-thinking citizens are not bothered by mistreatment of others.
After all, Kamala Harris told us that bringing up genocide at demonstrations is “unpatriotic.”
What is wrong with Israel? One tweet said-
‘Pelham
@Resist_05
Israel could be the first country in history to start a civil war over the right of its military to rape prisoners…’
https://x.com/Resist_05/status/1818074767452422352
Harris and the cabinet have been neglectful of their duty under the 25th Amendment!
Biden unfit for quite a while.
Harris’ “our democracy” is okay with a vapid president as long as the checks go out! The bombs fall…..
And yet Biden publicly proposes major revisions to the Supreme Court, as a lame duck dementia president. Every day brings new wonders.
If Netanyahu really does start a war with Lebanon and then Iran what then? Can a clearly spent Biden go on TV and croak out the decisions made by his aides?
Trump has been testing a new line “vote for me or World War 3” which, being Trump, is much too crude but heading in the right direction. The Biden foreign policy disaster is far more relevant than the much chewed over abortion issue.
yes, this is an interesting point. Over the last 20 odd years, congress has been more than happy to relegate its unique right to declare war to the president. Were Israel to tangle itself up with Iran and Lebanon, Biden no longer has any legitimacy to make such a decision given he is finally and correctly recognised as senile. This would force congress into resuming their responsability.
“vote for me or World War 3”
Catchy. But, even though most voters don’t want more money going to foreign wars, it’s not at the same level of bringing them out to the polls as abortion. They don’t seem to think it’s a problem that Congress is waving Ukranian flags on the floor or giving Netanyahu about 70 standing Os on the same floor.
>Patrick Lawrence: No More Silence ScheerPost
“Anyone watching this spectacle could only conclude that the United States of America has ceased to be a respectable independent state, as, indeed, it has been for many years already, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the State of Israel, with shared values rightfully rejected by the overwhelming majority of mankind.”
“All of the disasters I’ve seen, combined — 40 mission trips, 30 years, Ground Zero, earthquakes, all of that combined — doesn’t equal the level of carnage that I saw against civilians in just my first week in Gaza…. I’ve seen more incinerated children than I’ve ever seen in my entire life, combined. I’ve seen more shredded children in just the first week … missing body parts, being crushed by buildings, the greatest majority, or bomb explosions, the next greatest majority. We’ve taken shrapnel as big as my thumb out of 8-year-olds.
And then there’s sniper bullets. I have two children that I have photographs of that were shot so perfectly in the chest, I couldn’t put my stethoscope over their heart more accurately, and directly on the side of the head, in the same child. No toddler gets shot twice by mistake by the ‘world’s best sniper.’ And they’re dead-center shots.”
It is time to say certain things, readers. It is time to put aside the policing and self-policing of our views of the things we see and hear. Time to make good use of language to say what we mean. It is time to see in ThePryingEye all those “good Germans” who saw what was going on around them during the 1930s but turned the other way and went about their business. Time to say, “Actually, what we need to survive is to utter the truth and determine to act on it.”
This is the first thing we can do. Much stands to come of it.
It is time to say certain things, but not in “polite” company. Please don’t bring up politics at the dinner table, you’re going to upset your sisters. Make good use of language to say what we mean? I wish, most people I talk with when it comes to politics and current events, have pre-formulated, ready-made words which some neuro-linguistic script writer spent a lot of time refining, and which if successful ends up introduced to a gullible public by comedians like John Stewart. If what we “need to survive is to utter the truth” then we’re all sunk. The truth is dangerous as Nietzsche said long ago, and not too many people want to live dangerously.
High levels of PFAs found in condoms and lubricants.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/jul/28/condoms-pfas-forever-chemicals
The article notes a recent study showing PFAs are absorbed through the skin at much higher rates than originally thought and that the penis and vagina have thin skins and lots of blood vessels. Also:
Gooooooood Moooooorning Fiatnam!
The platoon had only recently begun training for the jumping to conclusions event in Paris, and only having watched a night of women’s beach volleyball, it was obvious that tattoos weren’t cool anymore, as none of the participants had any, that is to say, no dragons crawling up an arm, no pidgin Japanese on a shoulder blade, or anything on the oh so athletic small of their backs.
Do you suppose they (Olympic athletes) have to cover their tattoos? This is going to require extensive research…
They couldn’t well call it womens’ scantily clad & barefoot volleyball in an area the size of a kitchen, because that would be sexist.
That said, a hidden tat underneath their skimpy bikinis & 1-pieces would be way tiny.
While diligently researching the topic, I’ve discovered the existence of spray-on tattoo cover.
Or perhaps even more inksidious, similar to how the adverts change on the boards in an NHL game, or behind the plate in a MLB game, maybe the tats have been airbrushed out digitally?
There is also such a thing as a spray-on tattoo. What’s the difference between love and a tattoo? A tattoo will last forever. :)
Reminds me of anecdote from best friend from my undergrad days. Thoroughly Nipponised, Japanese wife, translated his (English) PhD on Japanese war memories into Japanese himself, is now a very very senior academic in Tokyo.
Early in his career he had to stifle laughter when the Vice-Chancellor of his uni in the sticks of Japan invited him over for BBQ. Wife of VC wears t-shirt with English writing “cause it’s trendy”. I don’t recall exact wording but it was akin to “I love to suck cock”. She had no idea what it meant. And she was never told.
Fast forward 10 years and VC breathlessly calls my friend in to tell him “hey I’ve discovered a way of surveying that won’t put us at risk of weird biases in answers…..it’s by one of you Brits…..guy called Terry Flynn”. That turned into the most amusing conversation my friend ever had with his Japanese boss ever. It also explained why google scholar has been giving me almost daily updates of citations to my work from Japanese articles that I could not read (pre-google translate days).
Dare I say it? In Japan you are in like Flynn. (For those not familiar with this phrase)-
https://www.gingersoftware.com/content/phrases/in-like-flynn
Haha, yeah I first heard that phrase as an undergrad in the early 90s. Back in those days I could avoid spelling my surname on the phone by saying “Flynn, as in Errol” and they would know it.
These days practically nobody in a call centre knows or cares who Errol Flynn was so I have to spell it out. Plus I get annoyed that once upon a time “Terry” meant male and “Teri” meant female but these days it’s mix and match….but now I definitely sound like archetypal old man shouting at clouds! ;)
hahaha. Dad.
quite a lot of athletes, from archery to swimming, have openly displayed their tattoos.
This is why I think I’ll be on the podium in the jumping to conclusions event, only having watched unillustrated women knocking a ball around.
Re Newsguard. There is an advertiser that pops up regularly (when I use my tablet YouTube app rather than my PC ad-free sponsorship-free tab in Firefox) that purports to give you unbiased news or a “judgement” on the veracity of the story: GroundNews.
It claims to rate stories according to whether they are being pushed by “right wing” or “left wing” media outlets. That very wording is enough to make me click “skip” at the 5 second mark. I don’t need to know what this company purports to do. My default assumption is that 99.99999% of ads and sponsorships on YouTube are grifters. Eff you.
I am perfectly capable of getting bias-free takes on practically any major story by myself, thank you. I don’t need another corporate shill to dull my sensibilities. And what makes it doubly funny? I’ve just used google to try to find the name of the company. I can’t, despite using all the tricks at my disposal. You can’t even FIND the offender to name and shame them unless you encounter them as an ad and make note. I simply, when writing, had a “Eureka moment” in remembering the name of it. There are several YouTubers who accept sponsorships from this company….people I previously thought had critical faculties. Nope. Unsubscribed.
re: Here’s Proof That Woke Capitalism Is in Retreat Crisis Investing (Micael T)
Decline in number of ESG mentions in earnings calls is not what I would consider proof of ESG decline.
Also, the author doesn’t realize ESG is in large part generationally driven. Younger folk care more about corproate responsibility and are driving it, it’s also more relevant for them especially with climate change for example, and there is an urgency to refactor the economy. Meanwhile older folks who don’t care are scheduled to move out fo the workforce.
Even before ESG was a thing, we in the fintech sector heard seminar after seminar from McKinsey, Deloitte, PwC, Edelman, Gartner, etc., showing endless stats about how if we didn’t adjust for the needs of the incoming Millennial and later generations, who studies were showing cared about XYZ, we would no longer be competitive. The point was made that these weren’t just the next generations of workforce but also the next generations of consumer.
And by the way, the same went for women – as more women became financially more affluent or independent we heard that if we didn’t adjust our products, offerings and approach accordingly, and more importantly gain a workforce that reflected more women, we would lose a large chunk of that market.
And it’s true. A woman doesn’t want to go to the bank about opening an investment account and hear from a middle-aged white male financial advisor, “this type of account is higher risk, does your husband approve?” Middle-aged men with antiquated views REALLY do have to go, they’re a serious liability.
Sounds like ESG is a top-down push from marketing advisors. Also, in terms of corporate responsibility, I see nothing about better wages for the workers or safer working conditions “cough – amazon warehouses – cough” . / ;)
‘does your husband approve?’
Things have not really changed since the 50s, have they? There is a documentary about the history of Tupperware which is interesting-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhrRRjgVfxU (58:33 mins)
The point being that when those women became highly successful, they could not go to a bank for a loan to finance any expansion of their business as banks would have rejected them on sight. So what they had to do was to go with their husbands to the banks and have them pretend that they were actually running the business in order to get a loan.
Thanks for the link CBDCs are a Threat to Liberty – Reclaim the Net.
Right on all points about CBDCs. Neel Kashkari, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, says the same things.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnIVbVLAehk
Sen. Cynthia Lummis announces bill for US Treasury to buy 1 million bitcoin worth $68 billion Here’s a quote that seems explanatory, “Lummis has been a long-time supporter of bitcoin — reportedly buying her first tokens in 2013…” Ok then. Forgive me for thinking the good senator would like to execute a $68B pump and dump.
An Interior Department appropriations bill passed by the House of Representatives contains deep cuts for the National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Environmental Protection Agency, and rolls back wildlife protections, according to advocacy groups.
As passed out of the House late Wednesday, the bill would cut the Park Service main budget by $210 million, or more than 6 percent, and the agency’s budget for maintenance and repairs by more than $22 million, according to the National Parks Conservation Association. The agency’s historic preservation budget would be cut by $20 million.
https://www.nationalparkstraveler.org/2024/07/house-appropriations-bill-contains-deep-cuts-national-park-service-wildlife-protections
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Went ‘Cloudchasing’ giant towering Hiroshima or Nagasaki-like mushroom clouds in Sequoia NP last week with a buddy, and happy to report no casualties were incurred in the chase, which abated at the Lodgepole market where my parched partner went in and bought a Coors tall-boy for $2.39.
Our NP’s are no different than a cloistered audience at the stadium or a concert, where said barley soda beverage magically is now valued @ $23.90.
You get the idea is to starve the crown jewels into becoming more in line with what you’d pay @ a Taylor Swift concert, not the liquor store around the corner.
The bookend to that legislation will come in a few years from now when those parks and services are run down and derelict. At that point these same politicians will then say that the only way to save America’s Parks is to privatize them and make them run on a for-profit model. I’m sure that a nice private equity corporation is more than willing to buy or lease Redwood National Park, Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park, and Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. Which billionaire can resist buying furniture made of one of the last of America’s redwoods? I wish I was joking.
Most all of the infrastructure in the NP’s dates from the Mission 66* era, meaning it was built in the later 50’s to early 60’s and is pretty tired and hopelessly outdated.
At the Ash Mountain visitors center in the foothills, there is one urinal and one toilet, up in the main part of the park @ the Lodgepole visitors center, you get 2 urinals and 1 toilet.
We get about 2 million visitors, half of which are reliably male and if you can somehow find a parking spot if you gotta go while driving around fruitlessly, things may have gone south in searching for a resting place for four wheels good.
Without exaggeration, most of the buildings in Sequoia NP are tear downs~
* the idea was to have all new infrastructure for the 50th anniversary of the National Park Service in 1966. In stark contrast, if you were in Sequoia NP on the centennial day of the founding of the NPS in 2016, you got a 1×1 inch piece of cake and a round commemorative decal, boy howdy!
Re: Why the Left Should Care about Privacy
TOO LATE.
TOO LATE. Indeed. Put it on a t-shirt. It’s “inclusive and intersectional”.
This sort of thing infuriates me. The women’s rights movement and their presumed ally, Team Dem, did absolutely nothing to secure abortion rights, which would not have been hard during Peak Feminism, the 1970, before the religious right had much clout. In most nations, abortion rights have come about via legislation, not court rulings. The Dems continue to be merely performative on this issue. There is no way a Harris Administration could get any meaningful legislation passed. Yet this is why voters should prefer her? Seriously? Because she is selling an empty bag? I could see abortion as on the list since pro-abortion voters are mad at the Republicans for rolling back abortion rights, but the lead when the Dems have nothing real to offer?
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There is a rationale for not doing anything. If it becomes law – then what will be the reason for those who want to see legal abortions come out and vote for the Democrats?
If it’s not law – then they have to come out and vote for you at every election. :D
Cynical, I know!