Caribbean drunken monkeys act surprisingly much like humans ZME Science
This Tiny Fossil Links Wine With The Death of The Dinosaurs Science Alert
A ‘middle income’ or profitability trap? Michael Robert’s Blog
Volcano erupts after powerful earthquake in Russia’s Far East and scientists warn of a stronger one CTV News
Climate/Environment
Logging after wildfires is a hot industry in B.C. Could it do more harm than good? The Narwhal
UK set for ‘enhanced’ sunrise and sunset – before remnants of hurricane bring ‘unseasonably wet and windy weather’ Sky News. The deck: ‘Smoke from North America wildfires has travelled thousands of miles and “could enhance our sunsets and sunrises this weekend”, forecasters say.’
***
Inside Silicon Valley’s Grand Ambitions To Control Our Planet’s Thermostat NOEMA
Meeting 1.5C warming limit hinges on governments more than technology, study says Carbon Brief
Against a Military Transition The Break Down
Capitalism is killing the planet – but curtailing it is the discussion nobody wants to have The Irish Times
Water
US tech groups’ water consumption soars in ‘data centre alley’ FT
Pandemics
Research shows air filters in classrooms improves overall ventilation and air quality 9News
***
US to survey dairy cattle brought to slaughter to study bird flu infections The Guardian
Lisa Jarvis: Bizarre raw milk trend puts kids at risk Twin Cities Pioneer Press
Raw milk linked to outbreak under investigation in Idaho Idaho Capital Sun
Pennsylvania Farm Refuses To Recall Raw Milk Cheese Despite Listeria Concerns Tasting Table
China?
Why China is becoming a top choice mediator for global conflicts South China Morning Post
“How China acquires ‘the crown jewels’ of U.S. technology” Pekingnology
Big Tobacco was forced to stop marketing ‘low tar’ cigarettes. In China, sales are booming. The Examination
Syraqistan
Israeli economy ekes out 1.2 percent growth in Q2 as Gaza war rages on Reuters
Israeli economy contracted in Q2 Globes
Israel’s arms industry profits soar as wars fuel billion-dollar contracts Ctech
Half of Israeli Jews say Israel should not obey international law in Gaza Middle East Eye
Israel ramps up attacks on central Gaza as Blinken arrives in region The New Arab
Senior Hamas official accuses Netanyahu of stalling, sabotaging ceasefire deal The New Arab
Been thinking about this meme ever since I saw it a few days ago. It tells the whole story. pic.twitter.com/eZqrXSYwNO
— Caitlin Johnstone (@caitoz) August 19, 2024
***
Germany was never denazified. That’s why it’s siding with Israel today. Mondoweiss. Commentary:
One the biggest mistakes we all made was to believe that genocide is abnormal, exceptional, outside range of human behaviour and acceptability.
The contrary is true and has always been true. Once we know and accept that, we can try to organise and act to counter it.
Short 🧵
1/ https://t.co/LTRyo5W9qg— Julia Steinberger (@JKSteinberger) August 18, 2024
***
US bolsters military bases in Syria with weapons convoy from Iraq Al Mayadeen
***
Who Benefits From Sanctions? Phenomenal World. ‘On “How Sanctions Work: Iran and the Impact of Economic Warfare” by Narges Bajoghli, Vali Nasr, Djavad Salehi-Isfahani, and Ali Vaez.’
Old Blighty
Prospects New Left Review. “The signs of decline – economic, societal, geopolitical – are clear. If the election was marked by a shrugging acceptance of this, as the neutral background on which British politics plays out, then the next half-decade may thrust it to the fore.”
Misogyny to be treated as extremism by UK government BBC
The Heart of Starmer’s Government The Northern Star. Ukraine.
New Not-So-Cold War
Russian forces continue to advance in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, claiming another settlement Anadolu Agency
Footage Shows Ukraine’s Patriot Air Defence Batteries Destroyed By Iskander Missile’s Cluster Warheads Military Watch
US blocks Ukraine from firing British missiles into Russia The Times
Germany cancels future funds for Ukraine’s war effort Bne Intellinews
***
Italian journalists return home after their report from Kursk angers Russia Reuters. Commentary:
Ilario Piagnerelli interviewed a couple of Ukrainian soldiers in Kursk for the Italian public broadcaster Rai News 24. Both of them are wearing and displaying Nazi symbols. pic.twitter.com/r6Dbdjd7Do
— Dreznica goat (@Dreznicagoat) August 18, 2024
Maria Zakharova:
“As you know, Russian law enforcement agencies have initiated a criminal case against Italian journalists for illegally crossing the Russian border.
In my opinion, this is not the biggest crime committed by the employees of the Rai TV channel. What has… pic.twitter.com/ABvK9dyfNc
— Zlatti71 (@Zlatti_71) August 18, 2024
The Baltic states and Finland are ruled by Nazis Strategic Culture
Becoming the Enemy Gordon Hahn, Russian & Eurasian Politics
South of the Border
Venezuela: Far-Right’s ‘Great International Protest’ Fails, Denting Opposition Narrative of ‘Massive Support’ Orinoco Tribune
Kamala
Universal Health Care Was Big on the 2020 Democratic Platform. Where Is It Now? Truthout
First permitted protest at Democratic convention kicks off in Chicago The Hill
Maureen Dowd gets hate for calling Biden to Kamala shift a coup Times of India
Column: Democrats are embracing that hopey-changey thing again in Chicago. Will it work? Los Angeles Times
libs are willfully stuck in a groundhog day type of situation where every four years they try to relive the feeling of obama in 08, they can’t even move on from the graphic design pic.twitter.com/Z98EZ8CMNO
— Slothrop (@gnocchiwizard) August 17, 2024
Trump
Trump’s ‘nuclear explosion’ on Kemp was months in the making. He could pay a price in November. Politico
He found a Project 2025 duffel bag. Then police showed up at his house. WaPo
AI
Ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt says the Ukraine War turned him into an arms dealer Business Insider
Rejecting Dogmas Around AI, User Privacy, and Tech Policy The Markup
Healthcare?
For-Profit Ownership of Mental Health Centers Rises, Raising Concerns About Quality of Care Mad in America. “In select states, [private equity] penetration exceeds 25% of facilities, suggesting an important new form of behavioral health practice ownership with potentially high market shares and implications for health care prices, utilization, and quality. Given persistent workforce shortages and access gaps, it is yet unclear how PE’s short investment time frame (usually within 3-7 years) and distinct business model could intersect with a national behavioral health crisis.”
Children’s hospitals’ profitability hits 10-year low: Fitch Becker’s Hospital Review
Antitrust
Platform Money Yale Journal on Regulation
Imperial Collapse Watch
Our Famously Free Press
‘Words like Slaughter:’ A comparative study of The New York Times reporting in Ukraine and Gaza Mondoweiss
Supply Chain
Busiest US Ports Absorb Import Surge Nearing Pandemic-Era Frenzy Bloomberg
Deadline set for strike at Indian government ports, say defiant union leaders The Loadstar
CN Rail issues lockout notice to union, Canada-wide freight rail stoppage looms Reuters
Class Warfare
The women of Peterloo Counterfire
Sports Desk
NFL Owners, Executives to Meet on Private Equity Stakes in Teams Bloomberg
Why organised crime puts its money on online gambling Pearls and Irritations
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
HARRIS THE HEIRESS
(melody borrowed from Free Man In Paris by Joni Mitchell, 1973)
No way that she quits she says
She’ll bear and grin it
Her baggage train is gonna cause us pain
Right through the fall
So many hard questions ’bout Willie Brown
And his bequest
She will ask forgiveness
For all the years when she was hard on crime
Idpol will win she said
We must carry her across the line
We’re talkin’ Harris the Heiress
She is so unqualified
She’s such an amateur among real players
With a past she needs to hide
The words she says are things she’s borrowed
Then she turns her salad blender on
She should have stayed part of the scenery
Right where she belongs
Ahoy you schemers
Empire redeemers
She is the vessel that you’re waiting for
She’ll do as you say
Launch lots of foreign wars
Out yonder
Shadow play as reality
The orders for the coming days
We’ll keep her ambitions in line
Especially on Palestine
We’re talkin’ Harris the Heiress
The White House well diversified
Those Idpol privileges come in layers
Kamala personified
You know this whole thing could just implode
Like when our choppers left Saigon
Kamala needs a lot more equerries
Or her words come out all wrong
‘Zlatti71
@Zlatti_71
Maria Zakharova:
“As you know, Russian law enforcement agencies have initiated a criminal case against Italian journalists for illegally crossing the Russian border.’
Those Italian journalists scooted out of Kursk when they realized that they had, in view of the Russians, committed a chargeable offense and if captured may end up in a Russian prison. At this point, western journalist could interview Ukrainian soldiers that had skull badges on their caps and they would remain oblivious to it all. Several months ago they had orders not to point their cameras at any Nazi insignias on Ukrainian gear and would even digitally hide such emblems if they came into view on camera. And now? They are showing you who they are – so believe them.
Not that I am a big fan of RAI, but what exactly is wrong with interviewing Nazis? I do not see what the journalist did wrong (that of crossing the border etc. is nonsense, he was just doing his job).
If anything, the Russians should be pleased. European governments have been rabidly trying to suppress the news about Neo-nazi in Ukraine.
And now everybody can see them, on state tv. Try passing that for fake news now.
‘but what exactly is wrong with interviewing Nazis?’
That is the point. That the west has been hiding the Nazis and pretending that they do not exist. Lots of news articles about the Ukraine’s Nazi problem before 2020 but since then mostly crickets. It got to the point where you could have actual Nazis visit Congress and places like Stanford and people would ignore the Nazi insignia like they would with a guy with an open fly. But now they are simply just showing them. True, it was an Italian mob but it is a start.
“Several months ago they had orders not to point their cameras at any Nazi insignias on Ukrainian gear and would even digitally hide such emblems if they came into view on camera.”
It’s interesting how, if you watch the video, the cameraman zooms in to get the Nazi symbols out of the frame. Just a little late.
Well, there’s a legal way to cross a border and an illegal way to cross a border. What I wonder is what makes you think he suddenly started doing his job, if he has been avoiding doing it for years?
Keeping people uninformed about what’s going on is not what journalists are supposed to do. At least should not be so blatant about it. And they’re not supposed to break laws while doing it.
Russia is pointing out the difference between its border, and the U.S.’ southern border.
Crossing the border illegally is still not legal in some countries.
Couple of different points here.
0. If an action, such as “illegally crossing the border”, is a felony in country A’s legal code, then it is a felony in that country’s legal code. Personal opinions do not matter. This is like Brittney Griner getting caught with some CBD in her bags at the airport – it may not be illegal in some places, and it may seem like a silly non-offence to some individuals based on their personal views, but under Russian law it was a felony, at which point it was really up to the prosecutors as to whether they want to throw the book at her or not (arguably, she got off exceptionally easy by being exchanged). Works the same way in the US as well, by the way.
1. In certain countries, displaying Nazi insignia in most contexts is illegal in and of itself. Specifically insofar as Russia – back in the 2010s, forget exactly when, they passed a law that bans such displays except in strictly “historical” contexts (e.g. photographs in history books). I remember some Russian historians complaining at the time that they had to now clear their “oeuvres” with faceless bureaucrats, or that innocuous historical photos were getting banned on Russian social media platforms. So again, the Italian team, whatever anyone’s personal thoughts on the matter, committed a felony under the Russian legal code by filming these individuals without the obligatory disclaimer, or blurring, or whatever Russian media channels (and even bloggers!) have to do as a matter of course.
Obviously, the Foreign Ministry is going to stress, especially in statements meant to be replayed on domestic TV channels, not only the moral dimension of the matter, but also that the Italians violated numerous Russian laws (which should play as doubly insulting to the average Russian in the street). They’d be foolish not to. Again, just as with Britney Griner, any Russian media reports about her stressed her drug conviction (“oh, another American criminal”) rather than her basketball playing, her loving family, whatever.
2. Technically, Nazi rehabilitation began pretty much at the dawn of the Cold War, and never really decelerated. Remember, Joe McCarthy first made his name by publicly defending the SS men convicted of the Malmedy massacre, insisting these were good little boys whom the Big Bad US Army tortured into confessing to war crimes. Remember Reagan’s speech on the D-Day anniversary at the SS cemetery. I mean, those are just two points on a pretty long line. And once the Soviet bloc went away in 1991, all the Eastern European countries enthusiastically joined in the fun – even Russia gave it a go a few times, including as recently as a year or two ago (via a couple of truly odious big-budget war films made with state financing), though public opinion was decidedly unimpressed by the efforts.
Which is what makes the last couple of years’ worth of Western media coverage of Ukraine so utterly ridiculous. We’ll proudly display Nazis everywhere…but here. Unless they emigrate to Canada and visit the Parliament building, of course.
That said, the broader answer to your “what’s wrong with interviewing Nazis” question is – everything. We shouldn’t have been rehabilitating them since the 1950s, and we certainly shouldn’t be doing TV puff pieces about them now. Arguably, especially the Italians, who have a literal Fascist as their PM…
When i’d travel to Germany in the 1980’s, anything with a swastika had to be covered by law, usually with a bit of sticky tape that practically screamed what was underneath, kinda like when you see somebody drinking a beverage out of a brown paper bag.
Oddly though coins so adorned didn’t have to play along, and at coin shows in the Fatherland, there’d be many thousands of Nazi era coins all with swastikas, out in the open.
That is because when money talks, bs walks. And it does not have to be new money either.
Not to forget some want to ban certain political parties because these look fascist in their view. Unlike those brave Ukrainian soldiers according always to said sensitivities.
Re UK set for ‘enhanced’ sunrise and sunset – before remnants of hurricane bring ‘unseasonably wet and windy weather
The full moon was very red rising over the English Channel last night. I would insert a photo taken by my phone if I knew how to. Any advice welcome
“Red sky at night, shepherd’s delight,
Red sky in the morning, shepherd’s warning”
Is it time to rewrite this classic?
Maybe:
“Red sky at night, the world is alight,
Red sky in the morning, but media yawning”
Shepherds??? Interesting. I grew up hearing sailors take warning. Although mostly in terms of fishing weather, not sailing.
Yes, I come from old Yankee fisherman stock.
Definitely “sailors take warning.”
I think it’s a regional or international difference. A lot of sheep and no ships where I grew up.
From the UK’s Met Office :
The concept of “Red sky at night, shepherd’s delight. Red sky in the morning, shepherd’s warning” first appears in the Bible in the book of Matthew. It is an old weather saying often used at sunrise and sunset to signify the changing sky and was originally known to help the shepherds prepare for the next day’s weather.
Despite there being global variations in this saying such as “Red sky at night, sailors delight. Red sky in morning, sailors warning”, the scientific understanding behind such occurrences remains the same.
—
The bible quote referenced (KJV)
When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red.
[3] And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowring
I had ancestors who worked on the Ohio River going back to the late 1700’s. This is the version I grew up with:
Red sky in the morning, sailors’ warning
Red sky at night, sailors’ delight
Related note: Today’s Full Moon is known as the Sturgeon Moon. It is also the first Super Moon of the year.
Sounds good Lena.
I remember it as: “Red sky at morning – sailors take warning
Red sky at night – sailors’ delight”
No, it was, “Red sky at morning, sailors, take warning; red sky at night, sailors, take fright.” Sailors had a lot to worry about; shepherds, not so much.
Incidentally, the “red sky” refers not to the sunset, but to the sunlight reflected on the bottom of the clouds just before sunset or at sunrise. If they were illuminated in the morning, it meant the clouds were arriving and likely to be around all day. If illuminated in the evening, it meant there was clear air coming in and likely to be around the next day.
NFL ownership meets to discuss how much winning is permitted…and it’s decided that out of the total 32 teams, a vast majority of the owners enjoy the winning! It’s good to be the king and reign at the top of the sports mountain in the USA!
Can’t rule out the one or two owners being a complete buffoon…like for one quick example the Browns being the only team to fully guarantee a quarterback contract. Meh, $230 million isn’t that much after all…as the price kept going higher. Or for my nearby team, the Carolina Panthers franchise, whose owner is an actual buffoon, nearly a cartoon character but a real human. Tepper is a piece of work.
Sorry for your Panther-pain. I’ve quite enjoyed watching Tepper’s path from “wow the smart business guy who will shake up things and use his zippy biz skills to surpass the other crusty old-fashioned franchises” to “this guy is a moron”
DeShaun Watson’s Cleveland contract sparked outrage amongst other owners. Not because of the 24 sexual-assault cases obviously. Rather, the ownership cartel were mad that one of them had given into the demands for a fully guaranteed contract. Order was restored, and a much better player (Lamar Jackson) was snubbed by every team when making a similar request last year.
Well there’s always hope, come September. A young quarterback and maybe any improvement on the worst offense could provide some daylight, in a fairly weak division…maybe some opportunistic changes in coaching will work if ownership stops their damn meddling.
Meanwhile Frank Reich can enjoy retirement and should gleefully anticipate when the monthly or annual remittance from Mr. Tepper arrives…good pay for lasting about 11 games.
https://www.panthers.com/news/panthers-part-ways-with-head-coach-frank-reich
It could be worse for you… being a Long Suffering Bills Fan, where nope springs eternal~
Eh…Detroit Lions anyone? Please, take them…… Occurs to me the Lions and the DNC have much in common–every year, “this time will be different” hopium wafts out to the trusting masses, every year, it is not in fact different. I’ve been in an abusive relationship with both entities my entire adult life!
Bills playoff history indeed, ’tis a tragedy of Greek mythology. Oddly enough, the last competent season of the Panthers where they had success in the post season led directly to the hiring of the current Buffalo Bills head coach ( I’m trusting in my recall, but that 2015 defense for Carolina was incredibly good until SB 50 ).
The Panthers seem to be on a fast track to another top 5 draft position. I could be wrong of course.
Well, I’m in Detroitland, I’ve heard a rumor there is a football team hereabouts, but I really couldn’t say.
What’s that sound? Buddy Parker rolling over in his grave, enough for a first down!
Packers fan and shareholder smugly grins.
Former strong Patriots fan here. That ended this year when Robert Kraft spearheaded censorship at Columbia.
Canadian rail lockout likely (Reuters):
Canada-wide freight rail stoppage looms this week as two firms issue lockout notices
Why Canada is on the verge of an unprecedented rail labor stoppage Brief discussion of issues
One legacy of the PSR troglodyte E Hunter Harrison is many non-union employees were required to qualify as conductors and engineers in order to provide a ready reserve of scabs. We’ll see how long it takes the Librul Trudeau to impose a settlement through legislation, as did the Biden Administration in 2022.
At least one is lying. Or “contraction” is the new growth.
One doesn’t take into account population growth; the contractionary one does (GDP per capita.)
(Hard to believe that Israel is adding population; color me skeptical on that one. No idea on how their version of the BLS games things with statistical legerdemain, either.)
There is a report – unconfirmed – that about half a million people have left the country since the start of the war. Hard to say how many have actually left as this is one story that the Israeli censors will definitely bury. But Israel is only a small country so that’s gotta hurt.
That’s probably a decent estimate. And keep in mind that the people who ar e leaving are likely the more liberal cultural Jews. Leaving behind the orthodox and ultra conservative elements, leading to an even more Zionist state.
Although the counter argument is that the orthodox are resisting the draft and hence exerting a surprise anti-war influence. Either way it looks like either civil war or a complete takeover by the ultra Zionist faction.
Total GDP went from 100 to 98. Contracted.
Population growth was sufficiently negative to make per capita growth positive.
My father: “There are three kinds of liars. Liars, damn liars, and statistics.”
Presumably children are still being born. The number being killed, unlike Gaza, is statistically insignificant. And the large number emigrating isn’t included in the statistics.
It’s not the number of people jumping ship but who they are. I have read that they include a lot of skilled people who cannot be easily replaced. It may even include the brains of Israel for all we know. Remember, Germany lost a key war last century because they chased out a handful of people whose specialty was atomic research.
I agree completely. But none of this is reflected in GDP statistics.
About the Baltics/Finland article:
I take issue with this article. I haven’t been able to find out who published this but the writer doesn’t know about Finland at all (can’t comment on Estonia).
First, yes, Stubb is pro-NATO, a full Atlanticist. But this quote is seriously taken out of context. The CNN interview on April 8 from what this is taken from, states: (https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=960584592144213) “Right now, the only path to peace lies through the battlefield,” which refers to the moment of a peaceful settlement/negotiations and whether it is time to talk to Russia (from around 5:20). Especially in the context of what the war means for Putin (“the war is too important to lose”). Note also the mentions of a peace forum the Ukrains wanted
Second, there was a scandal in the beginning of the governing period of the current government, where indeed the Minister of Economic Affairs attended a gathering of Neonazis and actually spoke there. This unleashed such a backlash from Finnish society and political factions in parliament that he had to resign about a week after that. To be sure, in his party (the FInn party, a governing coalition member) there are quite a few prominent members with links to neonazi groups, but it is way out of scope to state that Finland is led by neonazis. None of the currently functioning Finn Party members have similar neonazi affiliations (contrary to their Parliament members, though, but it is still a minority).
Estonia and the other Baltic states have their own complicated history with Nazi-Germany, but that still doesn’t make them run by neonazis.
p.s. the only sites that have that specific quote seem to be marginal sources: FrontNews, New Voice of Ukraine..
If I may add that Stubb is also extremely stupid person, so he was send to EU rotation by his party. As it turned out, people generally forgot what a catastrophe he was as a foreign and then prime minister. Having been away for years made him the least hated politician from his party giving him the candidacy for president.
As for neo-nazis, Finland has them like any other European country, although the indigenous breed pretty much died off (of the old age) in the early 80’s. The current breed is somewhat imported generic Scandinavian type. The police has been asking for years the parliament to ban any clear nazi symbols, for at the moment police has to use hate-speech laws to confiscate them, and police really doesn’t want to “interpret the law” when in the situation.
tldr; Stubb is a Russophobe, not a neo-Nazi, and neo-nazis in Finland are detested even by most of the police. The article is really hitting off the mark in that regard. Kinda sad, since the Baltic countries do openly have celebrations of Nazi collaborators and local genocidal maniacs.
This is an extremely good addition. In Finland it is indeed the case that the police does not want to interpret the law – if the law is unclear, it should be made better by parliament OR interpreted so by court that it is clear how the police should use it.
As for Stubb, I didn’t remember his PM-ship was that bad. Obviously many politicians get rotated to Europe (or retired to Europe). He also had a period of chief of the European University Institute.
I think it is generally good for the Finnish president to be not that smart/political. A kind of Zaphod Beeblebrox perhaps.
Zaphod Beeblebrox? Yeah, I always remember this description though-
‘He tapped irritably at a control panel. Trillian quietly moved his hand before he tapped anything important. Whatever Zaphod’s qualities of mind might include—dash, bravado, conceit—he was mechanically inept and could easily blow the ship up with an extravagant gesture. Trillian had come to suspect that the main reason he had had such a wild and successful life was that he never really understood the significance of anything he did.’
That description kinda reminds me of Macron or Trudeau.
Somehow Stubb’s smile/grin always reminded me of what I pictured to be the way Beeblebrox grinned :)
An equally telling description of Beeblebrox, the figure-head President of the Imperial Galactic Government:
“Only six people in the Galaxy knew that the job of Galactic President was not to wield power but to attract attention away from it.”
Both current White House occupant and his predecessor leap to mind.
Well, his premiership was short, so only a few minor scandals. But his time as a foreign minister is something the career diplomats are still ashamed of. Unfortunately, the president is in charge of the foreign policy (and not much else), so here we are.
“Misogyny to be treated as extremism by UK government”
As a tool to divide people up and to stop them coming together to fight the government in a common cause, this might be somewhat effective. But the time of Incels and Me Too has come and gone and the landscape has changed a fair bit. So I do not see it as becoming a major tool for the government, especially if some cases are challenged in court. So maybe they should stick to Islamophobia instead. Nothing like the oldies but goodies. /sarc
I think it will become much broader Rev. Misogyny has been in the UK news for years, mainly but not entirely due to lots of rape/death threats to high-profile women like Jess Phillips and the rise of Andrew Tate. So, it’s reasonably palatable to the masses. [Albeit, as Yves noted yesterday, it’s very difficult to “fix” incels]. This is a actually the nice bit of the program.
What else will be added to the list?
The real kicker will be the expansion of “true/legal but harmful” in UK policies and laws. The potential breadth and lack of clear designation about what constitutes “harmful” means it can constantly change. Whatever the government (or a quango they create) decides is harmful becomes verboten. There will be no recourse to the courts, and presumably media will be strongly incentivised (if not legally compelled) to support the program. Otherwise, they too might be accused of doing something harmful and forced into the new version of Prevent.
If you’re interested in how the Muslim only version of Prevent went down you could have a look around https://www.preventwatch.org/
When I worked in the McKinsey London office in 1984 for a summer, I found Brits to be misogynistic.
I hate to tell our lovely UK readers, but most make it pretty clear that they do not like women, or at least the Oxbridge types are not shy about making that apparent. But they also generally don’t like Americans, so American + woman might = woman antipathy x 2 or an even higher multiple. So the underlying distaste is more evident to female Yanks.
Isn’t there an old saying (not sure of the origin): As miserable as a dog in Turkey or a woman in England. (Cats in Turkiye are cherished, as we have seen. Don’t know about dogs.)
Though I seldom encountered outright misogyny when I lived in London, I certainly missed the charming byplay that seems inherent in French culture. Oddly enough, extreme and at the time uncharacteristic heat — was it the summer of 1975? — brought out a different tone. I found to my amusement that British men began openly flirting with me on the street. A great improvement.
I wonder how many of those Oxbridge types had been confined in single-sex boarding schools from age 5 to 18?
Having briefly been in one myself, they are a breeding ground for misogyny among other dysfunctions.
See also Johnson, B.
GB misogyny, what a delicious topic for discussion. Vast.
Having lived in London (Putney) in 1982 with a “public school” (not Oxbridge) Englishman, and in Italy, and France, and Switzerland …
for me, it comes down to something so obscene yet so prevalent in England: the adjective/insult “you cunt” and “you cunting idiot” which applies from man to man. “Stupid cow” is reserved for insulting a woman. Rather odd how GB ‘heterosexualists’ can so readily resemble vicious queens such as Elton John with such ease and acceptance.
Let’s have a pint and talk it over sometime, mate.
I’m distantly related to uncles in the UK who think women shouldn’t be allowed to attend college/university. To date I’ve not encountered anyone else on the planet who holds this view, but then I haven’t known any Taleban either.
I’ve tended to think in the UK there’s a very strong undercurrent of Somerset Maughum types who secretly vacuum.
“I’ve tended to think in the UK there’s a very strong undercurrent of Somerset Maughum types who secretly vacuum.”
S. Maugham never vacuumed. He “hoovered”, secretly or not.
The real concern is if they apply these laws to kids in school. Children will say the most horrible things to each other which is then quickly forgotten. But if the government gets teachers to report misogynistic children i.e. boys, to the authorities, that is when the fun and games begin and will permanently effect those children’s futures. So what I want to know is when the laws are coming out cracking down on misandry. Maybe make a law then that takes into account of misogyny and misandry at the same time. Inquiring minds wish to know.
(Almost always) only one of misogyny and misandry leads to violence. They are not the comparable IMO.
Does this mean that Genesis 2, blaming all the ills in the world to Eve eating the fig (or whatever is was) and convincing Adam to go along, will be banned? If we still want the basic story, we could replace it with the Quran (Sura 20) where they both eat it, without singling out the woman for blame.
One truly wonders, now and again, what abyssal muck these bottom feeders slither out of. “U.S. to fight wars on three fronts,” sez Alex Karp.
Note the complete fusion of Palantir and the national-security state: ‘He told the Times he won’t apologize for what he believes in and whom Palantir supports: “I’m not going to apologize for defending the U.S. government on the border, defending the Special Ops, bringing the people home. I’m not apologizing for giving our product to Ukraine or Israel or lots of other places.”’
Karp mentions the two fronts of WWII that the U.S supposedly fought in, not knowing that the U S of A didn’t bear the brunt of aggression on the European front. No one attacked the continental U S of A.
I find it worrisome that bottom feeders and war profiteers like these also fancy themselves to be strategists. It is more than obvious that the U S of A has no strategy in Ukraine, other than some vague idea of forcing Russia to collapse. Likewise, Syria. Likewise, the remaining troops in Iraq (Iraq?).
And what would the strategy be for a war with Iran? [Crickets.]
Wars always come home. In Karp’s case, he mainly hopes that the war doesn’t come to his gated community.
Bonus: Note the reference to needing a draft. Cannon fodder is lacking.
He was quoted as saying ‘have’ to go to war on 3 fronts. BS it should ‘choose’ to go to war on 3 fronts. Who the hell is pulling the levers? And getting such rubbish published.
Interesting viewpoint from his perch in an ivory tower…I’m sure other important people like those on the Council of Foreign Relations are finding agreement with his thoughts….and oh yeah it’ll be good for his business interests. We must make war. To war with…Persia?
Aside…does Gerard Butler feature in Mr. Karp’s pro military draft agenda, from an advertising perspective ( sarc ). Send the young and very poor, they’ll walk to their doom. Not sarcasm.
Here’s the source article for that Fortune piece: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/17/style/alex-karp-palantir.html
If you didn’t dislike Alex Karp before, then prepare to really dislike him after reading this interview. He called pro-Gaza protesters “pagan” and an “infection inside society”.
His funniest statement was: “Yes, I think the way I explain it politically is like, if fascism comes, I will be the first or second person on the wall.”
Uh no, we’re pretty sure you’ll be picking those on the wall.
… and against the wall.
US/UK/EU have failed to deal with Russia (so far it has no mobilization ) on a single thousand klick line of contact, where all they had to do was deliver several field armies worth of materiel, the biggest burden, manpower was in place.
Russia expected this in 2022 and is right.
Once the western cabal has to send bodies it is over.
The mid East front exists purely to keep the Sunni at the Shi’a. When the Shi’a become bloodthirsty like the Wahabbi, that front is lost.
In the West Pacific, DPRK can shut it all down, singlehanded!
Three front war is marketing for MICIMATT, profitable delusions.
It would quickly go nuke in West PAC, and NATO, anyway.
Speaking of “bottom feeders and war profiteers,” I couldn’t help but think of Eric Schmidt’s noble contribution to the cause in this context. Mass producing AI-driven attack drones for Ukraine when he could have just taken his billions and retired – what a sacrifice for Western Civilization!
Apparently they did move 40 trucks full of soldiers and equipment out of Iraq as agreed previously. 646 km.
That they ended up in Syria is somewhat defensible according to the Washington Generals!. /s
Even the Z man singing this tune: “This includes creating a buffer zone on the aggressor’s territory,” he said in his evening address.
What do you want to bet that the sociopathic Karp would make sure his own kids weren’t drafted?
What really struck me about Karp was this:
which immediately brings to mind:
I attended a talk Eric Schmidt gave last month. He was bragging on having just come from Ukraine doing hush-hush top-secret weapony stuff. Evidently he expected the audience to be impressed. Uh no, that was not the reaction, by most. In the US it is widely thought that having money indicates you have other virtues. I’d love to see the day that this misapprehension is cured.
A three front war? I want some of what that guy’s smoking! The goal during the Cold War I had a bit role in was to be able – barely able – to fight a two front war. That military is gone – ground up by twenty years of endless war, and then enshitified by leadership that runs the DOD just like Boeing leadership ran Boeing – right into the ground:
Here’s DoD’s plan to help the 24% of troops experiencing food insecurity
https://www.militarytimes.com/pay-benefits/2022/07/15/heres-dods-plan-to-help-the-24-of-troops-experiencing-food-insecurity/
Army finds mold in over 2,000 facilities after service-wide inspection
https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2023/03/28/army-finds-mold-in-over-2000-facilities-after-service-wide-inspection/
After missing goal again, Army announces sweeping recruiting reforms
https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2023/10/03/after-missing-goal-again-army-announces-sweeping-recruiting-reforms/
The industrial base that supported it is also gone. The middle class that worked at those factories are disappearing.
I don’t see this guy proposing anything to fix these very real problems. In fact this article looks more like a flimsy excuse for why Palantir is going to get massive funding from the DOD, and it will make little to no difference.
UK set for ‘enhanced’ sunrise and sunset – before remnants of hurricane bring ‘unseasonably wet and windy weather’ Sky News.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Had an amazing enhanced sunrise a few days ago thanks to the Coffeepot Fire, which has gone from 28 acres last week to 733 presently.
In destruction there is often beauty, and this now long-playing fire is not expected to be fully doused until the first substantial storm of the year in October or November, as its in about impossible terra firma, wickedly steep and smack dab in the middle of nowhere, from an ease of fighting the conflagration standpoint.
They reckon it’ll grow to around 5,000 acres by the time it calls it quits on Mother Nature’s terms.
Luckily it looks as if it’ll be in the end a beneficial fire, but for for now and probably in the future, smoke Is wafting into Sequoia NP and all over Tiny Town, making for la vida icky.
https://kmph.com/news/local/lightning-strike-sparks-fire-threatening-sequoia-trees-and-local-community
“The Heart of Starmer’s Government”
I take umbrage at the following section-
‘The economic turmoil of the 1970s forced the representatives of the employers to bring down the post-war order, as it had created ‘a crisis of rising expectations’ among the population, expectations that elites could no longer meet. For governments in Europe and America this meant reducing the burden of the ‘social contract’ and shrinking the range of goods that the state would provide for citizens.’
What actually happened that wages forcibly flat-lined and conditions worsened with the wealth ‘saved’ diverted to the already wealthy so that millionaires could become billionaires. It never had to be this way. It was a forced process done over the past fifty years and now we are in a helluva mess with no clear path out. And I notice that money is always found for the MIC and is never a problem.
But as for the Starmer government wanting to make an eastern European country their main focus rather than, oh I don’t know, maybe Britain I can make one observation. In the end it is all about Russia. Alexander Mercouris has noted this irrational hatred of that country among the British elite that goes back at least to the 19th century so has really nothing to do with trying to please the US. By the mid-19th century the British public were roused to go fight the Russian bear and even sang songs about it which led to the Crimean war. But to be honest, I really do not understand the origin of this hostility among the British elite, I really don’t.
I’m reading “The Genesis of Russophobia in Great Britain”, 1950, by John Howes GLEASON. Heard about it here, got a copy at LibGen. May not answer all your questions but its a start and a nice piece of pre-post modern scholarship. -a.v.
Ah, the ‘…economic turmoil of the 1970s…’
I always enjoy browsing through the charts at https://wtfhappenedin1971.com/
I’ve never worked out exactly what did cause all those inflection points. Coming off the gold standard? A neoliberal political turn? Coordinated back room influence from a bunch of oligarchs?
I suppose there’s an answer somewhere.
Ann Petifor just had an article on the Substack about the issue:
https://annpettifor.substack.com/p/we-can-afford-what-we-can-do
I don’t think there is an hostility among the British élite. I think any hostility is among the Establishment, which is a rather different and unthinking creature. Anti-Russian feeling will be a force of habit, like rum, sodomy and the lash.
“…as for the Starmer government wanting to make an eastern European country their main focus…”
Well, it sure as hell is a lot simpler to cope with than the problems created by the economic, social and political ravages committed against the ordinary “common folk” of the UK over the past fifty years by their alleged representatives in the House of Commons.
It’s so much easier to allow MI6 to have it’s head in the Ukraine, pump in more weapons we can ill afford to the be wasted by the fascists against Russia, and to pass laws criminalising a thought crime, misogyny (a term which covers everything from thinking about offering your seat to a woman on the London Underground to thinking about not offering your seat to a woman on the London Underground), or creating and executing effective policies to re-industrialise and upskill people living in the UK rust belt which begins less than 50 miles from Charing Cross.
And the hell of it is that no MP offered to cross the floor at this basic affront to the people of Great Britain. At least, not yet.
I suspect the original British animus towards Russia stems from fears that it would threaten the jewel in the Empire, India, via an overland route through Afghanistan. Hence “the great game” and the Crimean War.
In their minds the game is still on.
Budanov claims responsibility.
Blinken denies any connection with it.
Zelensky says Putin did it.
@ sarmaT
Budanov, Blinken, Zelensky: Winkin’, Blinkin’ and Nod …
MoA has a good analysis up on the fraudulent, never-ending, groundhog day Gaza talks:
Hamas Rejects Deal that’s not offered
Of course, Blinken will lie, spin, and play his role in the theater of the absurd. Can they keep playing this dirty game through October?
Meta permanently bans The Cradle in latest attack on free speech (The Cradle)
Not a surprise. Details of what type of posts were flagged in the article.
‘“No one can see or find your account, and you can’t use it. All your information will be permanently deleted,” reads the message accompanying the ban on Instagram, where The Cradle had surpassed 107,000 followers and amassed millions of views. “You cannot request another review of this decision,” the message ends, despite the fact the ban came with little warning or any chance for review.’
Yep, not a surprise at all. Always knew that democracy was safe in Zuck’s hands.
The best revenge is to give them some $. I will later when I get caught up. Even $5 will cheer them up.
They also have a newsletter so please consider subscribing to it.
“They also have a newsletter so please consider subscribing to it.”
I’m reminded about the post on NC yesterday from someone who said certain articles they were trying to email to themselves were disappearing.
I wonder how long the knives will grow for The Cradle?
The levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere continue to rise. But we must have economic growth says the WEF and all good little capitalists.There is no alternative to liberalism said Francis Fukayama. There is no alternative said Margaret Thacher. Drill. Drill Drill says DJT … and others say or whisper it. The levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere continue to rise. The smoke of North American fires make for beautiful sunrises and sunsets in the British Isles. Temperatures in Antarctica were recently way above normal. The Northeast and Northwest passages are open part of the year. The warm Atlantic promises an active hurricane season. And so on and so forth, but nevertheless we must have economic growth and “free markets” and deregulation and privatization because that’s capitalism and anything else is unthinkable because there is no alternative. There is no alternative to the continuing positive feedback of adding more and more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere? There is no alternative to the Chicago Boys version of capitalism? There is no alternative to stepping on the gas while approaching the abyss? You want what you want and you want it now because there is no alternative? Then I guess there is no alternative to the Jackpot. What Jackpot you ask? Why the coming series of unfortunate and unavoidable events which are and will be the result of your path to which there can be no alternative.
In answer to your question: No. There is no alternative. The ship has sailed, and no course corrections are possible. It is our nature.
“Inside Silicon Valley’s Grand Ambitions To Control Our Planet’s Thermostat’
Is this wise to let such a group do their science experiments with our climate? Look at weather alone. Until somebody can accurately tell me what the weather will be at about 3 o’clock next Thursday afternoon, then I can say that we really do not understand what makes the weather and at best have incomplete models of it. But to let Silicon Valley sorts try this could result in all sorts of unexpected results. It’s like putting Peter Isherwell-type people in charge and look how well that worked in “Don’t Look Up”-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kq-UwilTarU (3:37 mins)
“Planet’s Thermostat” – as if it can be controlled like central heat and air.
Like selling “AI” BS.
There is a time when a convention needs somebody to talk about
Someone to talk to, somebody who’ll always be there
(All alone) nothin’ seemed to matter
(So alone) doesn’t get much better
(Can’t explain) something that you’re feeling
For the very first time
Then along comes a woman
There’s a change in the way
That run DNC is feeling tonight
Then along comes a woman
And you know that it’s right
There was a time when you needed Joey to count on
You needed someone to count on, somebody to care
(Now she’s here) nothin’ seems to matter
(She’s so near) everything is better
(Can’t explain) something that you’re feeling
For the very first time
Then along comes a woman
There’s a change in the way
That the Donkey Show is feeling tonight
Then along comes a woman
And you know that it’s right
(And you know that it’s right)
Then along comes a woman
There’s a change in the air
That you’re breathing tonight
Then along comes a woman
And Democrats holding her tight
Then along comes a woman
There’s a change in the way
That the Donkey Show is feeling tonight
Then along comes a woman
And you know that it’s right
(And you know that it’s right)
Along Comes a Woman, by Chicago
Interesting Mondoweiss on Germany, Nazism, Israel, Europe and, yes, the United States.
“Nazism is not an apolitical criminal impulse, but a criminal political project built on three foundational pillars: the politicization of identity, colonialism, and capitalism.”
So is there a US political party that seems to be obsessed with identity politics, the needs of billionaire capitalist funders and the financial and ideological colonization of other countries? And is there a second poltical party that largely agrees while tamping down it’s one time racist embrace of white identity politics as no longer acceptable in polite company?
The article slightly embraces the recent theory that Nazi ideology can somehow be blamed on Dixie but one should point out that the American South was itself a product of colonialism and adopted slavery for the same reason that Alfried Krupp did–they needed the labor. At Nuremberg Krupp’s many lawyers used this excuse to keep him from hanging and his prison sentence was commuted after a few years because of Truman’s turn to an anti-communism that wanted a rearmed Germany.
In short this has been going on for a long time and is still going on in Gaza although the carnage of the 20th century has required some tweaking of the rationalizations. Instead of “white man’s burden” we now have “responsibility to protect” and the myth that the US saved Europe in WW2 from the thing that the US itself had always enthusiasitcally embraced. There is only one true principle at work: might makes right.
Plus, the South for more than a century, was solidly Democratic….
https://evonomics.com/free-market-genocide-the-real-history-of-trade/
Free Market Genocides: The Real History of Trade
One reason this hushed-up history matters is that even today economic “rationality” and plunder often remain partners in crime.
———–
Globalization led Hitler to the American dream: hitler clearly was enamored by globalization and free trade, he based Mein Kampf on it, he also based the E.U. free trade zone on on it
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2017/03/nazi-germanys-american-dream-hitler-modeled-his-concept-of-racial-struggle-and-global-campaign-after-americas-conquest-of-native-americans.html
———————-
https://consortiumnews.com/2023/10/11/its-happening-here-a-us-version-of-fascism/
“The root cause of our political distress lies with a liberal class that places corporate and personal profit above the common good. Liberals have conspired, since the presidency of Bill Clinton, to strip the country of manufacturing, and with it, jobs that sustained the working class. They have been partners in the transformation of democratic institutions into tools to consolidate the power and wealth of corporations and the ruling oligarchs.
——————————
FDR understood how free trade drove fascism,
FDR imposed protective tariffs immediately to favor agro-industrial recovery on all fronts ending years of rapacious free trade.
https://matthewehret.substack.com/p/how-to-crush-a-bankers-dictatorship
How to Crush a Bankers’ Dictatorship: How the Great Reset of 1933 Was Thwarted by FDR
Matthew Ehret
Feb 21
9
…
the founding fathers of the free trade E.U. included former Nazis, an Italian fascist, and a French collaborator
https://jacobin.com/2022/05/eu-perry-anderson-ever-closer-union-book-review
———-
meet the WWII german nazi, the father of the modern day free trade movement, Hermann Abs who said free trade was the “CAPITALISTS MAGNA CARTA”: this system is enshrined in free trade agreements, WE NOW HAVE THE COMPLETE LINK FROM THE FASCIST WOODREW WILSON, to HITLER the NAZI HERMANN ABS to BILL CLINTON
free trade agreements should be called corporate rights agreements
https://popularresistance.org/silent-coup-how-capitalism-defeated-decolonization/
…
————–
https://thetyee.ca/Culture/2022/01/19/System-That-Drives-Our-World/
free trade is built on 4 principles: white supremacy, genocide, war and trade
“The Nutmeg’s Curse asserts that the modern world order, what I call the System, is built on four principles that guided the Dutch takeover of the Banda Islands in Indonesia in 1621: white supremacy, genocide, war and trade.
…
—————-
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-bill-clinton-legacy_b_106089
The (Bill) Clinton Legacy
Free trade, democracy promotion, and use of force comprised the core of Clinton’s foreign policy — and Obama falls squarely within this tradition. Yet these positions will be even harder for him to maintain.
Jim Goldgeier and Derek Chollet
By
Jim Goldgeier and Derek Chollet, Contributor
…
———————-
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/10/how-democrats-killed-their-populist-soul/504710/
“When Bill Clinton took office as the 42nd president, the Watergate Babies would finally have their chance to govern. Clinton wasn’t in public office in 1975—he lost his first political election in 1974, a close race in Arkansas for a congressional seat—but he was in all other respects a Watergate Baby. Like the Watergate class, Clinton had worked for McGovern. He avoided service in Vietnam due to higher education. He was featured in Rothenberg’s The Neoliberals for his work on education reform. He read The Washington Monthly. ”
“Despite this prosperity, in 2000, the American people didn’t reward the Democrats with majorities in Congress or an Oval Office victory. In particular, the rural parts of the country in the South, which had been a traditional area of Democratic strength up until the 1970s, were strongly opposed to this new Democratic Party. And white working-class people, whom Dutton had dismissed, did not perceive the benefits of the “greatest economy ever.” They also began to die. Starting in 1998 and continuing to this day, the mortality rate among white Americans, specifically those without a high school-degree, has been on the rise—leaving them scared and alienated.
Old problems also reemerged. Financial crises unseen since the 1920s began breaking out across the world, from Mexico to East Asia, prompted by “hot-money” flows. Deflation, rather than inflation, and a capital glut, rather than a capital shortage, started to concern policymakers. And it turns out, according to a McKinsey study, that a disproportionately large amount of the productivity gains from the remarkable computerization of the economy were the result of just one company: Walmart, the new A&P.
The mega store’s economic influence “reached levels not seen by a single company since the 19th-century.” The gains of the 1990s, it turns out, were not structural, but illusory. Early in Bush’s term, the stock-market bubble burst and wages collapsed. A few years later, a global banking crisis, induced by a financial sector that had steadily gained power for 40 years, erupted. Concentration of power in the private sector, it turned out, had its downsides.”
I thought there were some very good points made in the article, but as often happens with me one passage completely threw me off. The passage is this one, particularly the last sentence:
“The failure to depoliticize identity in Europe has also enabled wars, including civil wars, based on the assumption that identity should determine what borders one lives in, meaning that states and societies should ideally be monoethnic. The fragmentation of Cyprus along ethnic lines or that of Yugoslavia into Muslim Kosovo, Catholic Croatia, and Orthodox Serbia are salient examples. More recently, Russia invoked East Ukrainians’ ethnicity to justify its war there.”
When I read that last sentence it pretty much negated the rest of the article for me. To reference Ukraine with *that* sentence, in an article about the failure of de-Nazification and the construction of national identities around ethnic demonization and exclusion, is about as strikingly oblivious as one could be. I often have the same reaction when reading Chris Hedges’ heart-felt and eloquent pieces on Gaza. I’ll be nodding along in complete agreement until he makes one of his genocide analogies to the Serbs in Bosnia. Then, no matter how authentic his own experience and emotions, I’ll remember that we all have our biases and blind spots.
agreed, that last one was bogus for sure.
“US tech groups’ water consumption soars in ‘data centre alley’ ”
You will know when the water wars turn deadly serious in the US when you have small drones bombing places like this. A reader reported how in his area the local authorities pleaded with residents to cut back on their water usage so that more could be sent to the local data centers – so he went out and turned on his sprinklers. But what happens if, through climate change, that there is not enough water for residents and data centers and so local authorities sends that water to data centers because of contracts, legal threats or just straight up bribes? That is why I think that in not too many years we will read of the first drone strike against these places. I am not proposing it. I am just noting what will probably happen.
“But what happens if, through climate change, that there is not enough water for residents and data centers and so local authorities sends that water to data centers because of contracts, legal threats or just straight up bribes?”
It’s a win-win for these tech groups…they will blame ALL of the problems for people’s thirst on climate change.
Julia Steinberger’s thread is good. In other words it took only three generations for the lessons of the first half of the 20th century, of Europe’s intrinsic blood-lust multiplied by modern industry, to fade away as real memory. The USA has its own history of mass killing sprees but something happened in this century so that now Europe is back on board with the blood-lust. During the W admin there was still some resistance. Now when I express that Europe has no choice but to live with Russia and that it would be better if that’s peaceful, I get yelled at. I can find some people who accept my views about Israel but few are ready to concede Steinberger’s point that Israel is us. The only difference is that some of their politicians and government staff don’t feel the need to varnish themselves all the time with all the arguments that explain how the bloodbath is really freedom, liberal democracy, human rights and international law in action.
Wow Dowd calls the Kamala apotheosis a “jaw-dropping putsch.” Even if Dowd then says it was sadly necessary because Trump such plain talk must surely be repressed lest the bubble burst. After all anyone capable of a coup might abuse their power in other ways???
Meanwhile this all started when George Clooney said Biden had to go and Biden has said he is “running the world.” So if Clooney had the power to get rid of Biden does that mean Clooney is running the world? And will he be wearing his rubber bat suit while doing it?
Here’s a humble suggestion that there are stranger things than Trump and we are about to find out what they are.
Clooney can’t even run Russia, They just gave the Clooney Foundation the boot on the grounds that they are an ‘undesirable’ organization-
‘The word ‘undesirable’ is a legal term applied to foreign organizations deemed to pose a threat to Russia’s constitutional order, defense, or security. Organizations given the label are banned from holding public events and distributing promotional materials in Russia, and face heavy fines or criminal charges if they breach the terms of their designation.’
https://www.rt.com/russia/602786-clooney-foundation-undesirable-russia/
We Southrons regret that Clooney is a turncoat like his friend Julia Roberts whose picture is in the high school yearbook of some Atlanta people that I know.
But then Kentucky was a border state with a leg in both camps. His aunt Rosemary was a higher talent, at least as a singer, but I don’t mind Clooney’s acting although we shouldn’t wait for him to do Shakespeare.
Still, a barefoot Kentucky boy running the world is scary. For that you need some came over on the Mayflower Northeasterners.
Eh, Lincoln? Or, is he an Illinoian as far as y’all are concerned?
Abraham Lincoln: He was born in Kentucky, grew up in Indiana (“Lincoln’s boyhood home”) and moved to Illinois as a young man. All three states can claim him and they do.
Although Abe’s parents were from Virginia, the Lincoln family can trace its roots back to Samuel Lincoln (1622-1690) who was born in England and settled in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Clooney can’t even run Russia. They just gave the Clooney Foundation the boot on the grounds that they are an ‘undesirable’ organization…
[ This however has become the point, US foundations abroad are repeatedly dangerously subversive. Now, we have a precedent for such danger domestically. ]
Yes he will go full regalia – in his anatomically correct rubber batsuit.
https://www.batman-online.com/forum/index.php?topic=2625.0
This unprecedented United States coup, makes it all the more likely that the US will repeatedly attempt coups abroad no matter the repeatedly damaging effects:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/17/opinion/election-dnc-convention.html
August 17, 2024
The Dems Are Delighted. But a Coup Is Still a Coup.
By Maureen Dowd
We head to Chicago on a wave of euphoria, exuberance, exultation, excitement and even, you might say, ecstasy.
It’s going to be a glorious coronation — except that everyone’s mad at one another.
Top Democrats are bristling with resentments even as they are about to try to put on a united front at the United Center in the Windy City.
A coterie of powerful Democrats maneuvered behind the scenes to push an incumbent president out of the race.
It wasn’t exactly “Julius Caesar” in Rehoboth Beach. But it was a tectonic shift and, of course, there were going to be serious reverberations. Even though it was the right thing to do, because Joe Biden was not going to be able to campaign, much less serve as president for another four years, in a fully vital way, it was a jaw-dropping putsch.
Dowd wrote
“More moderate”? In what way is Harris immoderate?
What does moderate mean in this context?
A less polarizing laugh?
The article about listeria in raw milk illustrates how the state is toothless and can only ask for a ‘voluntary recall’. This is the state of PA but I’ve read similar complaints about federal agencies with the same limitation.
Listeria is of special concern because it can cause miscarriages.
It also ignores that it is possible to run a raw milk dairy to high health standards. At least when I was a kid, California had one, Altadena (or Altadeena), and it met all sorts of certifications. The foodie mother of a college roommate bought pretty much only their milk and butter and cream…for the taste.
I am quite tired of all these articles about the dangers of raw milk, as if big ag and all its milk processing are the only answer. Like most of these hit pieces, this one too mentions that the “dangers” aren’t really all that great if you bother to read enough of the article.
Pasteurization was developed to deal with filthy farms. If you run a clean farm, there is no problem with raw milk. I drank it exclusively for the first 18 years of my life.
If congressional/big ag policies hadn’t put my family’s small dairy farm out of business last year after a 100 year run, I’d go chug a glass right now.
Say cheese.
In France the cheese is made from unpasteurized milk, cow goat or sheep. Benign microbes crowd out any pathogens, same as in wine fermentation, and the cheese is glorious. The cheese ripens naturally with age as opposed the US where the (phony) cheese rots. As far as I know we only have problems related to raw milk products in the US. I don’t recall ever hearing about raw milk disease problems in Europe. Those Europeans must be stronger stock.
“Volcano erupts after powerful earthquake in Russia’s Far East and scientists warn of a stronger one”
In a way this is not surprising as a map will confirm that this region is on the Pacific Ring of Fire-
‘The Ring of Fire The Kamchatka Peninsula is the northern link in the 2000 km Kuril-Kamchatka island arc. This region contains 68 active volcanoes, over 10 percent of the total found on land anywhere on Earth. This arc is part of the “Ring of Fire,” a string of volcanoes that encircles the Pacific Ocean.’
https://www.pbs.org/edens/kamchatka/ring.html
Still, it’s not good if you happen to live there.
Becoming the Enemy – Gordon Hahn, Russian & Eurasian Politics
“This devolution of virtuous thought into absolutist self-righteousness and antagonism towards alternative views is sadly all too human and is the result of the power of the absolutist temptation in humankind’s hubris and conceit. Many great thinkers have warned against the dangers of absolutism, ideology, or ideological fanaticism, and the like…”
I notice that here in the USA, this seeps through to other aspects of life outside of religion and politics.
People can’t just have a lifestyle…they have to evangelize about it. They can’t just do or not do something…they have to try to make life harder for people that don’t have the same behaviors.
They conflate taking things to extremes with commitment.
libs are willfully stuck in a groundhog day type of situation where every four years they try to relive the feeling of obama in 08, they can’t even move on from the graphic design – pic.twitter.com/Z98EZ8CMNO
They can’t move on from that any more than the party can move on from his campaign fundraising list.
COVID chronicles
My niece is a schoolteacher and posted on social media that she is out with COVID after one week of school.
Also:
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/entertainment/tv/edinburgh-festival-fringe-show-about-viral-willy-wonka-experience-hit-by-covid/ar-AA1oXZji
Edinburgh Festival Fringe show about viral Willy Wonka experience hit by Covid
Pardon my tinfoil hat, but per the Reuters report on the attempted “terrorist attack” in Tel Aviv on Sunday:
Hamas, Islamic Jihad claim responsibility for bomb blast in Tel Aviv
a number of things strike me as fishy. What does Hamas have to gain by this? Why now? Why only a single attack? How precisely were Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades and the Al-Quds Brigades* cooperating on this? How was this joint statement received? Have these two organizations ever issued joint statements in the past? More than ten months after the commencement of the Al-Aqsa Flood operation and this is the first such attack I can recall since then (although it is possible I missed such reports, or other attempts have been thwarted.) This occurred during a time of presumably heightened security in Israel. The bomb just happened to go off prematurely.
The assailant is referred to as a 50 year old man but investigators are still trying to identify him. On what basis are they assessing his actual or approximate age, then? He is “believed to be a Palestinian from the West Bank”.
The fact that the attack (on whatever the presumed target was) failed seems awfully convenient as well.
Admittedly, reporting on this is scant so far, and the official line can’t be completely ruled out, but to my mind (protected by tinfoil) some skepticism seems warranted.
* Some of this info is from a SouthFront article (itself citing other sources) that I will not link to here due to graphic content.
Additionally, why would you take credit for a failed attack? Just to show that you are trying? Note also this occurred during the Blinken visit to Israel, and that Netanyahu has told Blinken that Israel will send negotiators to the “ceasefire” discussions in Egypt this week, implying, “We are the reasonable ones seeking peace; they are the terrorists knowing only violence!”
If this indeed was a Hamas/al Qassam operation (maybe there is some disagreement or infighting between the political and military wings?) it would seem to me to be a self-defeating miscalculation.
“Capitalism is killing the planet…..” – duh, ya think? Naomi Klein wrote a great book back in 2014, “This Changes Everything – Capitalism vs The Climate” – read it about 5 years ago – Ms Klein nailed it imho – apparently there is a documentary based on the book, will have to see if it is streaming somewhere –
He found a Project 2025 duffel bag. Then police showed up at his house. – WaPo
“…Harris said he would never speak to the police without a lawyer, since both his wife and sister are criminal defense attorneys.
“If I talk to the police without a lawyer, I’m in way more trouble with my family,” Harris said.”
This is a PSA.
thought the same thing – indoctrinated my daughter with that knowledge – here’s Ray explaining it –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ul5oC-F-IF0
I love the almost shit eating grin poker face
I count it as a strike against police investigations in TV shows and the movies where they spread the narrative in some way that getting a lawyer during questioning (in a police station no less!) makes one look guilty. If they can’t ask you the questions outside the station, you haven’t been ruled out as a suspect.
Police can lie during questioning about evidence they have, but a lawyer can get discovery.
RIP Mr. Donahue, and pro-peace coverage on MSM.
From 2013:
Phil Donahue on His 2003 Firing from MSNBC, When Liberal Network Couldn’t Tolerate Antiwar Voices
I think what happened to me, the biggest lesson, I think, is the—how corporate media shapes our opinions and our coverage.
https://www.democracynow.org/2013/3/21/phil_donahue_on_his_2003_firing
Telling the truth is bad for business.
The first obituary I saw earlier today attributed his cancellation from MSNBC to low ratings, which was a bald faced lie. I’m sure the misinformation types are already correcting the record on that one. Or not.
My response on that, even at the time, was to note in that case MSNBC needed to cancel their entire line up as Donahue had the highest rated show on it. Oh and to tell them where they could see the numbers.
I then followed it up with the reminder that the network, NBC and Universal was owned by GE whose biggest business was as a defense contractor. They wanted and needed war for corporate profits.
Sad to hear that. During the lead up to the Iraq war, he told how if you had on an anti-war person on your show, that you had to have on at least two pro-war people on at the same time. Those were the rules back then. Now they only have on pro-war people. RIP Phil. He was one of the good ones.
Matt Taibbi and Walter Kirn are livestreaming the Dem National Convention this evening. No paywall.
ATW Monday Livestream: Democratic National Convention, Day 1
Uninvited, but unbowed: Walter Kirn and I recap day 1 of the DNC, with duck-ins to coverage from both left and right
https://www.racket.news/p/atw-monday-livestream-democratic
Thanks for the link, Flora. Due to the convention I won’t be watching any MSM news tonight, that’s for sure. I was resigned to reading the rest of my library book but there are only 25 pages left.
The sight of the Dems building a wall around their convention site runs true to their nature. No border wall but have to protect the elite from the unwashed. It reminds me of that old Jimmy Rogers song The World’s All In A Tangle where he sings “That;s why I’m gonna build myself a cave, move down in the ground. When I go into the army, babe, won’t be no more
HamasReds around me.” Fleetwood Mac version in Chicago with Otis Spann on piano.#KittitianDrunkenMonkeys
> There’s another twist. The more alcoholic the monkey, the more likely it was to become a leader and followed by the others. That’s not really that similar to humans, is it?
::chortles-in-Churchill::
#Kamala #TheCoup
#MoDo committed the cardinal sin of using #OrangeManBad’s language … ;-) Trump was the first to call it as he saw it. Love when the tone police semantics squad chime in on social networks to remind people Merriam-Webster style of the real meaning of the word coup … LOL
#WhateverHappenedToMetaphor
#Kamala #VibesAndVapor
From the LA Times (via Yahoo!) article:
“She, and Democrats generally, must continue to take back the flag and “freedom.” Might Beyoncé appear to sing her song of that name? Stay tuned.”
What a perfect example of tribal virtue signaling! Let’s get Beyoncé to sing “Freedom” at a Kamala rally! That’ll take back freedom (whatever the familyblog that’s supposed to mean, ugh)!
#HookedOnObama
I used to tweet about “letting go of Obama” in the manner some would describe a twelve-step program to overcome addiction. Since his double-term has ended, many have continued to believe what he purported to be, but I’ve been heartened to see a non trivial number of people who have come round to the truth as well. So in 2024, complete with her own graphic by the same artist, Kamala now follows suit, as described by Adolph Reed (about Obama) in 1996:
“In Chicago… we’ve gotten a foretaste of the new breed of foundation-hatched black communitarian voices; one of them, a smooth Harvard lawyer with impeccable do-good credentials and vacuous-to-repressive neoliberal politics, has won a state senate seat on a base mainly in the liberal foundation and development worlds. His fundamentally bootstrap line was softened by a patina of the rhetoric of authentic community, talk about meeting in kitchens, small-scale solutions to social problems, and the predictable elevation of process over program—the point where identity politics converges with old-fashioned middle-class reform in favoring form over substance.”
Emphasis mine.
re: Musical accompaniment at the Chicago Dem Show 2024:
I won’t be watching/listening to any of it, I just can’t take any more US melisma, I simply cannot. Will never forget Trump’s successful run, he used, of all things, Bowie’s ‘Station to Station’!
When Kamala Harris goes live from Gaza City in September I’ll watch and listen, oh hell, even just from Rafah; Israel might just give her that much. Never.
I feel so nasty tonight I could scream, the 2023/2024 USA billionaire shit show has really hit new heights. Truly.
In the meantime, this is the only song for either wing of The One US Party:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBeXF_lnj_M&ab_channel=MehdiCapsII
Someone wrote ” Bach always makes the world seem a safer place.” … perhaps he (Bach) was ‘just’ honest, with cosmic ambition?
Watched the full moon come up, all orange.
Lord have mercy, indeed … Cheers.
#EricSchmidt
Sigh … is there some kind of permanent, year round Burning Man, or some such, that someone can create? Maybe in Dubai or Abu Dhabi … where we can send Eric to live out his days as a lotus eater?!
#FFSMan
In Vino Veritas?
meant in reply to ChrisRUEcon:
#KittitianDrunkenMonkeys
> There’s another twist. The more alcoholic the monkey, the more likely it was to become a leader and followed by the others. That’s not really that similar to humans, is it?
::chortles-in-Churchill::
> In Vino Veritas?
Semper … ;-)
Yves gets a big shout out at Moon Of Alabama today for her article on Washington Post Report on . . . Russian Long Term Weakness. You can find the commentary at Moon Of Alabama
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/19/business/economy/fed-labor-jobs.html
August 19, 2024
Warning Signs Flash in a Labor Survey as Fed Officials Watch for Weakness
The New York Fed’s labor market survey showed cracks just as Jerome H. Powell, the Fed chair, prepares for a closely watched Friday speech.
By Jeanna Smialek
Americans are increasingly worried about losing their jobs, a new survey from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York released on Monday showed, a worrying sign at a moment when economists and central bankers are warily monitoring for cracks in the job market.
The New York Fed’s July survey of labor market expectations showed that the expected likelihood of becoming unemployed rose to 4.4 percent on average, up from 3.9 percent a year earlier and the highest in data going back to 2014.
In fact, the new data showed signs of the labor market cracking across a range of metrics. People reported leaving or losing jobs, marked down their salary expectations and increasingly thought that they would need to work past traditional retirement ages. The share of workers who reported searching for a job in the past four weeks jumped to 28.4 percent — the highest level since the data started — up from 19.4 percent in July 2023.
The survey, which quizzes a nationally representative sample of people on their recent economic experience, suggested that meaningful fissures may be forming in the labor market. While it is just one report, it comes at a tense moment, as economists and central bankers watch nervously for signs that the job market is taking a turn for the worse.
The unemployment rate has moved up notably over the past year, climbing to 4.3 percent in July. That has put many economy watchers on edge. The jobless rate rarely moves up as sharply as it has recently outside of an economic recession…
Another highly important data source was released today, showing that the US has now completed 12 and a half years of declining manufacturing productivity rates. The US has not experienced this before, while this tells us that government incentives to increase manufacturing production have had no effect on labor productivity. This represents a severe economic policy failure since 2011.
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=m2mB
January 30, 2018
Manufacturing Productivity, * 1988-2024
* Output per hour of all persons
(Indexed to 1988)
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=m2mx
January 30, 2018
Manufacturing Productivity, * 1988-2024
* Output per hour of all persons
(Percent change)
The salvage logging article is filled with a lot of hedged speculation but does get to the crux near the end. Timber is a business and forestry is not pretty, but requiring the leaving of seed trees and/or trying to effect shelterwood cuts where possible are known to work.
But the fact is that no one — above all the supposedly wise aboriginals who environmentalists tend to use as ornaments in these debates — has any idea how to actually “bring back the best forest” because no one really understands all the processes involved in producing anything more complex than a tree farm.
Letting nature take its course on a landscape in which natural processes have been interrupted is no guarantee of anything. One of the reasons that half of Jasper was wiped off the map was the unwillingness/inability of the Canadians to do anything about the large stands dead trees on every slope surrounding the town.
Universal Health Care Was Big on the 2020 Democratic Platform. Where Is It Now? Truthout
Where it always is — in the Green Party platform.
The stupidity – it burns! So Czech President Petr Pavel suggested that NATO could admit Ukraine with “temporary” borders because after all, what could possibly go wrong? Just forget the requirement that a new member not be in the middle of a shooting war or have major territorial disputes with a neighbouring country-
‘ “I don’t think that the full restoration of control over the entire territory is a prerequisite. If there is demarcation, even an administrative border, then we can treat this administrative border as a temporary one, and accept Ukraine into NATO with the territory that it will control at that time,” Pavel told the news website Novinky.cz on Monday.’
https://www.rt.com/news/602823-ukraine-nato-current-borders/
No way would the Ukrainians ever rig things so that NATO would get into a full-fledged shooting war with the Russian Federation so that they could get their territories back again because that might lead to a nuclear exchange and nobody wants that, amiright?
Is that the guy that had a cunning plan to get one million artillery shells for Ukraine (out of his rear end probably)?
That’s him alright. Paid top dollar on black markets around the world for shells, only got less than half of what he wanted, and then found out that a lot of them were duds. If I were him, I would be avoiding being near any large windows-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defenestrations_of_Prague