Operation Beluga — or how a Soviet ice breaker played music to thousands of ice-trapped whales to save them from starving ZMEScience (Dr. Kevin)
Solid knitting: a different spin on 3D printing that can make furniture out of yarn ZMEScience (Dr. Kevin)
Antimicrobial Resistance On The Rise Due To Wars In Ukraine And Gaza Forbes (Paul R)
#COVID-19
The Indomitable Covid Virus Eric Topol (Paul R)
Climate/Environment
Global Climate Change Impact on Crops Expected Within 10 Years, NASA Study Finds NASA. Paul R: “Potentially 24% less corn and 17% more wheat by 2030. Ouch.”
Greenland fossil discovery reveals increased risk of sea-level catastrophe ScienceDaily (Kevin W)
The Adriatic is becoming tropical’: Italian fishers struggle to adapt to warm sea Guardian (Kevin W)
China?
US expected to propose barring Chinese software in autonomous vehicles Reuters
A good summary of the situation around US control of GPUs, but a lot of confusion remains about this story. A short thread. 🧵 https://t.co/839lBnk7qf
— Paul Triolo (@pstAsiatech) August 5, 2024
Koreas
North Korea’s Kim sends 250 new tactical ballistic missile launchers to border Japan Times
Disguised ships and front companies: how North Korea has evaded sanctions to grow a global weapons industry The Conversation (Kevin W)
Bangladesh
Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh’s ‘Iron Lady’, was the longest-serving female head of government in the world. Then she fled on a chopper ABC Australia (Kevin W)
Bangladesh Army to Install New Government After PM Flees Country Bloomberg
Bangladesh protesters won’t accept army-led government after PM Sheikh Hasina’s exit BBC
Africa
Sudan famine: Zamzam camp starvation is ‘man-made and 100% preventable’, experts say. Sky
Deadlier strain of mpox spreads to multiple African countries Science
Old Blighty
Starmer pledges ‘standing army’ of specialist officers to deal with violent disorder BBC
Rioters throw petrol bombs at police in Belfast in night of disruption Anadolu Agency
Is Britain heading for civil war? Unherd
UK pensioners left on ‘financial cliff edge’ by cuts to winter fuel payments Guardian
Britain’s universities are in financial danger New European
Gaza
Gaza live: Israel bombs Jenin, Gaza and Lebanon in fresh air strikes Middle East Eye
Alastair Crooke: Willful Western Blindness Over Israel Judge Napolitano, YouTube. 17:15: “The West wants war.” Earlier in the interview, Crooke conveys a report from a friend who was in the Iran guest house with Haniyeh and survived (!!!) and confirms the attack was made by a projectile, and not a bomb. Also mentions that Russia electronic suppression systems, with a range of up to 5000 km (no typo) have been delivered to Iran and are apparently being put to work. Other sites have reported on the transfer of this system. Per Crooke, GPS is “not operating properly in Israel.”
“Something came from the outside”: An Eyewitness Account of the Aftermath of Ismail Haniyeh’s Assassination Jeremy Scahill (Robin K)
Benjamin Netanyahu clashes with security chiefs on Hamas deal Financial Times. Completely bizarre. Was this story posted ten days late? There is no hope for a ceasefire now. Misleading mention of the fact that Israel assassinated a, perhaps the chief, Hamas negotiator (his assassination is mentioned well into the piece and his role downplayed). So what disinfo purpose does this serve? To amplify the nutty Blinken talk of needing a ceasefire right after Haniyeh was killed?
Resistance Axis: a calculated, simultaneous strike on Israel The Cradle
10,000 Israeli Soldiers Killed or Wounded – Report Exposes Crisis among Israeli Soldiers in Gaza Palestine Chronicle (Kevin W)
UN reports over 300% increase in malnutrition cases among children in Gaza Anadolu Agency
WELCOME TO HELL: The Israeli Prison System as a Network of Torture Camps B’Tselem
The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories (guurst)Pay attention to that "but world won't let us" bit at the end. Never let anyone tell you that your efforts to oppose Israeli atrocities make no difference. If westerners weren't creating pressure on western governments about this, Israel would be acting SO much worse than it is. https://t.co/KULgcMpkJs
— Caitlin Johnstone (@caitoz) August 5, 2024
#BREAKING: #Turkish FM: #Turkiye will submit its application to join #SouthAfrica’s genocide case against #Israel at ICJ on Wednesday in The Hague https://t.co/IflBrUjlhs pic.twitter.com/7rOTL4yTd7
— Arab News (@arabnews) August 5, 2024
Yemen’s Houthis claim first attack on container ship in two weeks Aljazeera
Syraqistan
‘Several’ US personnel injured in rocket attack on Iraq base CNN (Kevin W)
New Not-So-Cold War
Ukraine war latest: F-16s are being used by Ukrainian Air Force, Zelensky says Kyiv Independent
Ukrainian forces will have to get out of the remaining pocket in the coming days if not hours.
That move to New York from the south with another dare tunnel operation forced Ukrainian forces to hand over the last 2014 heavily enttenchrd front lines in that sector without a fight.… pic.twitter.com/A3hJNMkdDp— — GEROMAN — time will tell – 👀 — (@GeromanAT) August 6, 2024
Who Caused the Ukraine War? John Mearsheimer
Canadian submarine fleet poses new threat to Russia Vzglyad (Micael T)
Big Brother is Watching You Watch
Illinois Governor Approves Business-Friendly Overhaul of Biometric Privacy Law Reuters
Imperial Collapse Watch
The CIA & the 9/11 Plea Deals Consortium News (Robin K)
Preparing NZ for a post-American world Newsroom (mgl)
Kamala
Bill and Hillary’s daughter Chelsea could be angling for a spot in the Harris administration Independent. Paul R: “Can someone call an exorcist?”
War and recession fears test Harris campaign’s momentum Axios
Market sell-off puts Democrats on edge Politico
In Face the Nation interview, UAW President Fain stumps for Kamala Harris’ election campaign WSWS
2024
This obscure crypto super PAC has raised more money in the 2024 election cycle than any other — including MAGA Inc. MarketWatch (ma)
Our No Longer Free Press
Former Kansas police chief to face criminal charge after newspaper raid, prosecutors say Kansas City Star
Judge who authorized Kansas newspaper raid escapes discipline with secret conflicting explanation Kansas Reflector
Mr. Market Has a Sad
Japanese stocks rebound 9% after global rout Financial Times. I said privately last night this decline seemed more like some overdue volatility after too long a period of good times, ex if you were so unfortunate as to hold the wrong tech stocks. Of course if we have a war, that’s massively disruptive on its own and to commerce. But headlines yesterday were all weirdly not giving that risk anywhere near the prominence it deserved, so I don’t see Mr. Market yet adequately pricing that in. But that could change very quickly!
Greg Ip for many many years was the WSJ Fed whisperer:
There are telltale signs of recession, but while the risk has risen, the U.S. isn’t in one now. That means it isn’t too late to head off a downturn, writes Greg Ip. https://t.co/xrhLd1bJ9Q
— Real Time Economics (@WSJecon) August 6, 2024
The American wedding is shrinking Washington Post
Antitrust
BOOM: Judge Rules Google Is a Monopolist Matt Stoller. This is a huge win. We might see a less terrible search experience in a few years. But this story has been crowded out a bit by the Middle East war prospects and the market upheaval.
AI
Video Game Actors Are Officially On Strike Over AI The Verge
Nvidia Allegedly Scraped YouTube, Netflix Videos for AI Training Data 404Media
Silicon Valley Parents Are Sending Kindergarten Kids To AI-Focused Summer Camps SF Standard
The battle over who makes the rules for US companies Financial Times (BC). Important
The Bezzle
Thailand may tell us a great deal about the future of money Financial Times. *Sigh* The Thai government has been trying for years to reduce cash use. There was a marked fall in 2022, but cash still accounts for 50% of all point of sale transactions. On top of that, even though Thais are VERY wired and regularly use phones to make funds transfers, including to each other, performance is so erratic that users are too often forced back into cash. I went to a meeting last week. There was much lamenting by customers of several different major banks. They would attempt to make a transfer, the bank would insist on the customer sending a fresh selfie to verify identify, and the image would be rejected. Marching into the branch would not necessarily solve the problem. No one in the room had any remedies save carrying a lot of currency. “Cash is king” particularly when you can pay utilities at a 7-11 (pervasive here)….but only in cash.
Class Warfare
‘I Feel Dismissed’: People Experiencing Colorism Say Health System Fails Them KFF Health News
Antidote du jour. David E” “Dog, Friday market, Souillac, France.”
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
195 comments
Comments are closed.
THE SINKING OF MIAMI
(melody borrowed from The Rose Of Alabamy by Jack Dorsey, as performed by AmericanZeus)
Built upon an ancient swamp
Where ‘gators used to chase and chomp
A town that loves panache and pomp
The sinking of Miami
Nights are hotter it’s soggy and it’s clammy
There’s too much salty water with the sinking of Miami
‘Twas once a roasty place to be
Till the invention of AC
Don’t turn off our ‘lectricity
The sinking of Miami
Nights are hotter it’s soggy and it’s clammy
There’s too much salty water with the sinking of Miami
Each month they catch another gale
A Rain Bomb floods things off the scale
Huge hurricanes make people wail
The sinking of Miami
Nights are hotter it’s soggy and it’s clammy
There’s too much salty water with the sinking of Miami
Your penthouse condo can’t be sold
For many shekels cash or gold
Within the walls there’s too much mold
The sinking of Miami
Nights are hotter it’s soggy and it’s clammy
There’s too much salty water with the sinking of Miami
You build more houses all in vain
You cannot sell what you can’t drain
You’re stuck with them so don’t complain
The sinking of Miami
Nights are hotter it’s soggy and it’s clammy
There’s too much salty water with the sinking of Miami
DeSantis won’t fix anything
He caters to the right-right wing
Your Governor’s a ding-a-ling
The sinking of Miami
Nights are hotter it’s soggy and it’s clammy
There’s too much salty water with the sinking of Miami
Correct link for the Greenland fossil discovery:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/08/240805164411.htm
Fixing, thanks!
Re: Silicon Valley parents sending their kids to AI camps
I guess coding camps are “out.” Maybe this should be cross-filed under “Guillotine Watch” or perhaps “The Bezzle?”
Indoctrinating malleable minds into the cult of linear algebra anthropomorphism certainly won’t have any negative consequences in the future.
Eigenlife, the new black.
Yeah…until they don’t.
At one time didn’t Silicon Valley parents hype tech in the classroom, only for it later to be revealed they weren’t as keen on tablet teachers for their kids?
I’m leaning toward this as being something more about marketing.
“Operation Beluga — or how a Soviet ice breaker played music to thousands of ice-trapped whales to save them from starving”
This certainly overshadows a joint US-USSR operation a few years later called “Operation Breakthrough which sought to free three whales. One of the two Russian ice-breakers used in this operation was the ‘Moskva’, the same ship which freed those 2,000 whales-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Breakthrough
Obligatory shittalking Rooskies has become comical, considering the state of the “free-world” at the moment of writing:
On the other hand, talking down “savage Indians” is just sad:
Communities that practice subsistence hunting have culture of killing only what they need. Only “civilized” people have interest in slaughtering into extinction.
Depends on whether running herds off of cliffs is considered subsistence. This practice was responsible for the megafauna extermination in the americus. But it was a while back.
Not supported by archaeological data. Yes, humans a contributing factor to megafauna extinction, but other factors important – mostly climate change-related. And it differs by species – Woolly mammoths suffered a reduced usable range AND were heavily hunted. Osage Orange is co-evolved with mammoths – their seeds have a thick shell that must be processed through a mammoth’s digestive tract to sprout – in a nice heap of mammoth poop! Now the osage orange only reproduces through suckering – the seeds fall and never sprout.
It’s clear that mega flightless birds in the Americas were killed off by humans eating their eggs, however, with little assistance from climate change. IN contrast, earlier mammalian mega fauna, megatheria, etc. – vanished due to climate change long before humans showed up.
And when was that?? Human footprints, substantiated at 22-23,000 years old an along side giant sloth tracks at White Sands, NM. Other finds are pushing the date of human activity in the Americas to 30K years and beyond.
Thanks for calling this out. I absolutely loathe the present climate where people feel they can’t mention Russia or Russians without being obliged to say something “bad” about them, even in cases like this where they are in the middle of saying something good about them! Evidently everyone is terrified of being called a Putin apologist or something similar, no matter how ridiculous the charge might be.
Really craven and pathetic. Americans love patting themselves on the back for living in The Land of the Free ™, but are strangely reticent to take advantage of it even in the most trivial situations
Saw a clip of Jon Stewart trashing Tucker Carlson for interviewing Putin. I thought Stewart was better than that.
No, that’s pure John Stewart.
Agree that the FT piece on Corporate Law in DE is important. I am plugged into the D&O insurance underwriting world and I definitely plan to reach out and hear their thinking. I do know one thing, which is insurers hate uncertainty and a mass change of corporate domicile is probably not something they relish. We’ll see what they say.
The Clinton family business…yes please someone make it stop. Good grief, and sadly as well not at all shocking to read or believe is a possible outcome.
re: Clinton nepo biz — I won’t vote for Trump, but tempted…
Wellie, it is Her Turn, or something like that.
Can’t imagine what hoops get jumped where.
Markers called in.
Promises made.
Please somebody make the whole fam damnly go away.
Sec state. Or just deputy to start? Working her way up.
Working link for the Greenland fossil story;
Crooke says to Judge Nap “This means the West wants war.” This being the recent bombings/assassinations in Beirut and Tehran. Here in comments many of us have been guessing that this is how Israel starts the war that the USA is forced to join.
I suppose the technical difference between these would lie in information and approval. But does it make a difference, except in a legalistic way? The West knows what Israel is and therefore the decision to not stop them amounts to the same thing. The only lever the West has is preventing war and if it wanted that it would have done it by now.
I can’t believe I never noticed this before:
When you list the source and the time, it looks a lot like citing scripture.
… war that the USA is forced to join. Forced by whom? Forced like Sheriff Bart in Blazing Saddles? Or is it the world’s “only super-power” like a huge dog being forcibly wagged by its minuscule tail? Oh but ‘something something ‘ in the Bible and its interpretation in the late 19th or was it the early 20th century that attracts the fervent support of many christians, many of whom vote republican. Is that the “…war that the US is forced to join?”
Or maybe it is AIPAC et al and the donors… I can’t figure it out at all. Could someone please explain the place of the National Interest of the US in the “…war the USA is forced to join?” I saw this this morning. from the Times of Israel. “Smotrich: Might be justified and moral to cause two million Gazans to die of hunger, but the world won’t let us.” The US is forced to join a war to allow two million to be starved to death? Seriously? Only monsters would join such a war. Count me out.
The motivating forces in the USA was discussed in Links comments yesterday. Well worth reading through the whole thread. Some very well informed and insightful replies.
https://x.com/RnaudBertrand/status/1820463246551253321
Arnaud Bertrand @RnaudBertrand
Yet another absolutely appalling genocidal statement by Israel’s Finance Minister who says it is “justified and moral” to “cause 2 million civilians to die of hunger” ( as per the Times of Israel )
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/smotrich-might-be-justified-and-moral-to-cause-2-million-gazans-to-die-of-hunger-but-world-wont-let-us/
Smotrich: Might be ‘justified and moral’ to cause 2 million Gazans to die of hunger, but world won’t let us
10:13 AM · Aug 5, 2024
You’d be an antisemitie to think of death camps and holocaust while considering Smotrich’s words.
Unless it’s 6 million you CAN’T compare it to those other guys. Godwin’s law, you know.
Is Madeleine Albright now summoned from the great beyond, where inflation has set in from her measly 500,000 children? /s /:
‘When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time’ – Maya Angelou
All this begs the question of “what is morality?” Most of us assume a kind of neo-Christian morality based on loving your neighbor as yourself and loving your enemies as well. Guess what? Jews have a different moral tradition that is, in a way, more natural.
Remember that Bibi’s speech in front of his minions in Congress described Israel’s struggle as a war of civilization (the West) and barbarism (everyone else). He sees himself as the edge of the the Empire’s sword to continue its project (full spectrum dominance) of creating a global Empire akin to Rome’s (a dream in Western Europe that has never died, just go the Washington and observe the architecture).
I think the Christian ideal of love and compassion is dying out in the West.
What Smotrich says may sound shocking but only because most Western politicians are more dishonest than he is. And I don’t think the Christian ideal of love and compassion is dying out in the West. The West has been amazingly violent for millennia and has justified it with religion. In the 20th c the religion changed from Christianity to Liberal Democracy with its own scriptures and holy centers and hierarchy of clergy but it works much the same. The religion functions to support a core philosophy that is supremacist, not universalist. The inadequacy of another peoples’ democracy justifies punishment up to and including war and extermination. We need only look at the history of the last 30 years for this to be clear. Take a longer historical view and we see these are not mistakes or aberrations.
Germany had to develop the mass extinction gas chambers because they saw that digging trenches and shooting them by the hundreds was making monsters.
Israel has proved the theory.
Monsters. A country of the criminally insane.
Well said.
Here in comments many of us have been guessing that this is how Israel starts the war that the USA is forced to join.
Looking at how the US has been spoiling for another fight in the Middle East, it’s more like the US is the one who conducted the assassinations and Israel is being given credit for them. Look at how the US is war mongering all over the world (Ukraine, China, Syria, South America..). It’s really disgusting.
Agreed. It was Britain’s Ulster. Now it’s America’s.
“Everything was going Kamala Harris’ way. Then came the market sell-off.”
Got that right but it is more than that. Everybody is waiting for Iran to hit back at Israel for those assassinations which may leading to a wider war. Not only will Israel want to hit back, they are already talking about a pre-emptive strike on Iran to put them in their place. Having set this all in motion, Netanyahu and his cronies are now hiding in a bunker to protect their valuable lives. Point is, what is this going to do to the price of oil but more to the point, what will it do to the price of gas in the US? If gas prices sky-rocket, then people will – rightly – blame the Democrats for giving Israel a blank check and non-stop standing ovations instead of putting them on a leash.
Rising energy prices is inflation fuel and the degenerate gamblers are jonesing for easy money.
Smells like a recipe for stagflation for the real economy.
But only months ago it was just “vibes” the pleebs were experiencing.
And now the Harris campaign has to talk about bread-and-butter issues. Other sh– takes a back seat.
And rising energy prices are inflationary while degenerate gamblers are jonesing for easy money.
But that headline and story also reveals how much it seems the campaign didn’t want to have to talk about bread and butter issues. It was so much easier to just call it all “vibes.”
Random questions that intrude into my consciousness:
1. Has anyone seen “Freeze Frame” Mitch, lately? Could he possibly be gone from this world?
2. Is Trump tanking? It’s not exactly 3rd semester calculus to put a campaign together when 64% of the country thinks we’re on the wrong track. Ukraine is looking like a scene from a “John Wick” movie where Putin is John Wick, and there’s an honest-to-God Genocide ongoing that is being sponsored by the incumbent administration.
Just keep talking about the lies, the economy, the inflation, and the endless wars that we lose, Orangeman.
I think it is premature to say anything re Trump. It is bloody August. Everyone but news and political junkies wants to be tuning out.
Having said that, I think the impact of the shooting on him has been underestimated. This would be psychologically destabilizing for anyone. And then he has the second problem that this is very likely to happen again, as in the Secret Service can’t or won’t tighten up operations enough to protect him adequately. He has loved big rallies and the SS has said they can’t protect him if he holds them.
So Lambert points out Trump has probably lost three weeks due to being off his marks, even before getting to the Kamala boomlet.
I think we need to see hard fundraising #s to calibrate better.
Ya, no need to panic, and reshaping “events” look like they may be coming at us fast and furious.
Oh, he could be in real trouble but the MSM braying would make it sound like that regardless until compelling evidence otherwise emerged.
That phrase has surfaced repeatedly in the Twitterverse, so maybe he has an October surprise of his own? There would seem to be enough plausible items like Assange/WikiLeaks information or X archives of past smoking guns, or dementia-hiding enablers. Awaiting any confirmation anywhere so the massive gaslighting charades go away.
“Having said that, I think the impact of the shooting on him has been underestimated. This would be psychologically destabilizing for anyone.”
Totally agree!
I agree.
One additional factor: Lambert has raised the possibility that the shooting, and Trump’s immediate response to talk about unity and let his guard down, might have caused him to question a lot of things in his life and reform–move from Heel to Face, as Lambert put it. I think that may have been true, but the MSM has completely refused to allow Trump to be anything but something (not a person) approaching the Ultimate Evil. It doesn’t really matter to them what he does, because it’s not Trump the person they’re fighting; it’s Cartoon Trump the Adversary. So no one on their side of the fence would even think there’d been a change, if there were one. And his own base would be rather confused if he stopped being combative, including the insults.
That’s a hard row to hoe for anyone, especially someone with a lifetime of actual Heel to overcome and a love of applauding crowds accustomed to the Heel. Nevertheless, he seems to be having some difficulty resuming his old role. Probably because he’s still in a state of shock, but as you say this is a psychologically destabilizing event that may induce a permanent change.
I don’t think it’s likely; it’s more likely that he’ll gradually revert to form, as it’s easier given the universal resistance to him changing. But it’s still possible.
I’ve taken to Nate Silver’s latest projections to gauge how national polling is shaping up. Harris has pulled ahead nationally, and even in swing states one observes a decided shift upward since Biden left or stepped down ( okay probably shoved by his pals ).
I suppose the need to host his campaign events exclusively indoors is a harsh reminder. Can’t give another lone actor a second opportunity.
Is Trump tanking?
Am also wondering this. One possible explaination – loyal Dem voters will swallow almost anything but Trump. That stopped working when Biden’s dementia become too obvious to hide. But not (yet) Kamala. To them, Harris is way better than Trump, and minus the Biden fatal flaw of dementia and “Genocide Joe”. After all, they rallied around Biden less than 4 years ago and frankly Harris might at superficial glance appear much better than Biden 4 years ago. Also many voters don’t know or care about the lesser known details about Harris, that are huge negatives. She does not have the exposure (yet) that a Hillary Clinton had at a similar point in time, and in Hillary’s case the more you saw of her the less likely you liked her. It’s entirely possible Harris will never get to HC level negatives especially w/MSM at her back. That may be true of Harris but it’s too early to know for sure.
Shorter version: the issues many of us see in Kamala are less widely known to many voters. This is her strength against Trump. Will it last and for how long?
Kamala unlike Hillary is likable. She’s also sharper than some of us give her credit for. Trump may have badly mis-underestimated her, to quote the great American President G.W. Bush.
However, one weakness is that she can still be tied to Biden and his policies. Plus by not stepping down immediately, Genocide Joe has left the Dem party vulnerable to accusation of putting us aboard a rudderless ship.
It has been pointed out that Trump should tie Kamala to Biden at every opportunity and as Biden has not resigned, he can rightfully talk about a Kamala-Biden admin. Let Biden be the demented albatross around Kamala’s neck and talk about how Kamala is still keeping Biden propped up to stay as President. Take some of the glitz away from Kamala.
Hold up. Kamala is all the sudden “likable”??? Geez. The mighty Wurlitzer doing its thing.
I’m grading on a curve … I’d rather hang out with Kammie than Angry Joe, or Hillary, or Pelosi (although I could use the stock trading tips.)
Ugh. Is Josh Shapiro invited? If I have to pick a drinking buddy out of this current lot it’s gotta be Hunter.
Seriously, the press minting of a whole new “fun” Kamala has not been subtle.Less seriously but still to the point, If we’re going for drinks, is she buying?
It even made it to the sports radio (which I listen to to avoid politics so “the herd” is off my list of shows) yesterday…”she laughs!” along with a serving of “don’t worry about tomorrow (paraphrasing)” stuff…then I gat some odd yt vid group text from my trump fearing sister with a message everyone watch this, we all need a reason to laugh lately…and I knew it was a thing…”she’s happy! she laughs!” is at least being trial ballooned, and then there’s the coconut thing which “I can’t even…” as the saying used to go…
I’m tiring of her pitch for “just 10 dollars” in I’ve counted 4 different accents/wheedles
Fun girl Kamala is a good persona for her to adopt. She can put it on and off like a costume. Plus, she gives a stark contrast with Fro-Joe (frozen Joe, like Fro-yogurt). And unlike Hillary or Miss Lindsay she hasn’t voiced murderous thoughts against brown people.
I’m admittedly biased as I would like to discuss first-year law school classes with her over a good stout. Does she remember Torts and Contracts?
I’m amazed at how fast the KHive social media team swung into action to turn Their Girl into this season’s prom queen. Let’s dance! Let’s twirl and whirl! I’m dizzy from it all!
According to the Hill Bot Fangirl Club, who seems to have morphed into the KHive, Kamala is not only ‘likable’, she’s ‘young’ (she will be 60 this year), ‘smart’ and ‘strong’, as opposed to Orange Man Bad, who is ‘old’, ‘stupid’ and ‘decrepit’.
Ageism, once taboo, is on full display since Decent Joe from Scranton did the ‘heroic’ and ‘patriotic’ thing by retiring to his basement. Bashing deplorables, who are now known as ‘weird’, never really went out of style and is definitely ‘trending’ among the Cool Kids.
Nothing is mentioned about the lack of substance in the Harris campaign, her mediocre record or the fact that she hasn’t even held a press conference since being crowned.
The fake story about Vance having sex with a couch is still getting traction but the true story about Doug Emhoff having an affair with his then-young daughter’s nanny and getting her pregnant isn’t being discussed at all.
Sex between two consenting adults, even if one of them is the nanny, is apparently perfectly acceptable but nonexistent sex with furniture is just ‘weird’.
If the Harris team is smart (I have doubts), they will pick Walz as VP. Shapiro seems to have a lot of dirt in his background that is already starting to come out.
Two ideas here. Will Kamalalot! the Musical be filling theaters come November? Is gaming Josh Shapiro to the presidency AIPAC’s secret desire?
One more. Can Walz being named as still in the running be considered dog whistling futures?
Kamala is moving up in the world, getting fancier, almost presentable in society.
She, Willie and the polka, replaced by Waltzing.
I thought Kamala and Willie were more into doing the “Hokey Pokey”.
Regarding debates and Trump’s style – I’m thinking in debate settings Trump could be too overbearing towards Harris to the point of generating African American sympathy towards her.
Hillary was different. She was perceived by some as a capital “B” establishment insider known for “I’m in this for myself” offending people and stepping on toes. She was not liked.
Trump overbearing directed at Hillary probably generates a different reaction from observers that would overbearing directed at Harris.
Depends on which room you’re in. I think those Americans among us who are directly descended from slaves see Harris differently than the media is telling us.
Her skin color is literally the only thing about Harris that is remotely ADOS (American Descendants of Slaves). She did maybe one year of US schools before being whisked away to Canada to be raised as a South Asian.
Since we didn’t have many Blacks, my corner of north Iowa was very focused on Catholic or Not Catholic. If your Lutheran son married a Catholic, the children would be raised Catholic. No one would care that their dad was Lutheran.
Kamala Harris is South Asian. She never gets to be ADOS because it’s not about genes, it’s about culture. Among my MN resume service clients, it was very common for out of state ADOS, Jews, refugees and immigrants to all point out to me that the people like themselves who grew up in MN were nothing like them. Jews and Southern states ADOS were the most shocked.
Then add to this Harris’ fatal PMC flaw. Not all PMCs have this but Harris in particular has NEVER done the work. She’s always been in charge of the worker bees and the workers seem to have always had serious issues with her leadership. In truth, Harris appears to be the “Black” Amy Klobuchar.
One is assured that she is as pleasant to work for as is working for Joe Biden. No word if Harris favours the red Swingline though.
Yes, I always vote for racial or ethnic categories. Policy positions mean nothing to me. The important thing is what color team the candidate is in. After all these cultural attributes are what determines peoples loyalties.
That has been one of the most interesting things about this cycle. The whole: “You are not one of us so stop using us to get ahead” has been amazing. I don’t know how deep the sentiment runs within the AA community, but it certainly has a large foot print.
Jimmy Dore did a segment on this a few days ago after Trump’s appearance at the Black journalist meeting. It would appear that all African-Americans are not as easily fooled as Whites are.
If I recall correctly, it wasn’t too long ago that “cultural appropriation” was a thing. According to wikipedia:
I should have added /sarc above. I am probably descended from slaves of the Roman variety.
Let’s face it. Wealth and privileged status has always determined who is on top not who did the work. The reason people hate diversity programs is because it might allow someone in who wasn’t supposed to be in the club.
Kamala is who she is, mostly an empty pants suit. I don’t believe she can articulate a vision for the future. However much everyone seems to long for a leader, the reality is a diversified government is much more likely to be run by the people. The president is in charge of putting together an administration of thousands of people. In less interesting times this is the glue that binds society and lends direction for or against the benefit of the people.
We may like to simplify our hopes and fears into the body of a single person who we can cast identities on but would you rather have a president who can organize people that can do the work or a president who would undermine and divide.
Not saying we have a real choice. The reality is much more complex. It is probably more like will the empire end in a glide path or a civil war or a nuclear war.
The sad situation is that neither candidate for president seems competent in choosing good people to fill their administration much less be capable of organizing them well. As president, Trump had his orders to the military ignored and he wasn’t engaged enough to know it. Possibly Trump does more dividing of the populace, but Harris might do well at that too. Then we must also consider who would be more amenable to waging war with the possibility of using nuclear devices. Both? What choices we have!
The people who don’t think she’s ADOS will be saying Adios to her.
Then there’s Arnaud Bertrand’s view expressed in a tweext the other day regarding one of KH’s word salad disquisitions: “They’re replacing someone who lost his brain with someone who never had one.”
https://x.com/RnaudBertrand/status/1819844366711607651
Not correct to say that Biden ‘lost his brain.’ The only organ that Biden ever had was a killing instinct, to kill America’s enemies wherever they were, and they were everywhere. A viscious, homocidal, self-important, lying f*****.
Enemies of America seeking financial relief through bankruptcy, say.
I understand that you’re talking about Joe’s instransigence with respect to its electoral effects, but I’d like to point out just how remarkable it is that our media/political culture is such that we say he opened himself up to an accusation of something he did, rather than saying he did something.
The Taibbi book Hate, Inc. is a good read.
dem cultists are the worst. They would rally around kamala even if she chose Netanyahu as her VP. 99 Hitlers is way better than 100 Hitlers, or something.
Purity test turtles all the way down.
The real trick is to find a way to intersectionalize and parse enough actual voters to provide cover for the made-up ones.
Voter rolls, shmoter rolls.
Kamala is likely to win because the official State-media is in full-out propaganda mode as much as it was when Trump was POTUS and alt-media does not shape the Narrative–only the MSM can do that. People want to be directed and the MSM because it pretty much speaks with one voice has a consistent message unless you possess analytical skills. The American citizenry are militantly ignorant and in love with appearances and symbolic and fantasy narratives. Kamala is “black”, a woman, not that old, smiles and laughs a lot.
At any rate it doesn’t much matter who wins in my opinion–powerful forces will rule no matter who wins–democracy is mainly as dead as the (old) left is dead.
Anecdote in support of my above:
I have an African American tenant. He has never once texted me regarding politics, until it became clear Biden was out (and logically Kamala Harris in). I overheard a snippet of conversation btwn him and his girlfriend -“…that’s only because people feel sorry for him because he was shot…”.
This is an purely anecdote example that may suggest the traditional huge black support Dems have enjoyed will swing behind Harris.
I replied to his text with quotes from Biden and Putin to the affect “nothing fundamental will change” so what difference does it make? And recommended he read Naked Capitalism and listen to The Critical Hour at Sputnik which is hosted by 2 black dudes I respect.
Hello I’m your tenant please lower my rent you are killing me over here
The gaslighting bill is too damn high!
timbers; This is an purely anecdote example that may suggest the traditional huge black support Dems have enjoyed will swing behind Harris.
Not in the SF Bay Area, among those African-Americans there who actually recall her record as deputy DA in Alameda county, assistant DA and then DA in SF, and finally California AG.
That will not make much difference to what happens in the rest of the country, true. Most people are tribal and most people are sheep.
Just African-Americans? Daniel Larsen is white.
It has always been easy to win an election in the USA: plausibly offer what voters want. Politicians don’t do that because donors. In the last 10 years there were three interesting populist insurgencies. Sanders was two of those, successfully defeated by Party. Trump 2016 was a proper outsider insurgency. We observed Trump develop his “platform” by trial and error in the primary campaign in front of many real audiences and talking to people. That gave him a huge advantage over those who only talk to political and marcom experts. As soon as he got elected he immediately and dramatically reverted to form.
Trump 2024 is very different. (1) He’s not as plausible like in 2016 since we saw what happened in his first term, i.e. in 2016 it maybe made sense to take a chance on the unknown joker but now we have much more information. (2) He’s much more integrated into the party and DC now so his room to say what voters what to hear is much smaller.
I’m not sure Trump did much better than a generic republican as much as Team Blue simply tanked in “core precincts.” The Obama effect can’t be counted on to last forever.
Even in 2016, Trump as a national candidate wasn’t as relevant as the gotv work on the part of Team Blue which is dependent on renters, hence part of the problem with voting or why the gop doesn’t want proper voting cards. Hillary and her brain trust deployed resources to run up personal stats not win the election.
My theory is that most people want to be told what to do and what to think though they will never admit it. The MSM with its consistent Narrative is the “place” to go to be part of society. The MSM (really a division of the State) want Kamala. The question is are there enough people who are willing to go against the grain? I think people are tired of contention and not being able to talk about politics with their friends, family, co-workers and so on without heated arguments of “I’ll never speak to you again if Trump wins and if I know you didn’t vote for Kamala” which is a real threat a friend made.
Harris will do for the sponsors.
Trump will grumble and do!
Didn’t Trump just fill the same Georgia State auditorium that Harris only filled with the help of Megan Thee Stallion? With Harris the media eagerly embrace their accustomed role of shaping elections and therefore the distribution of power and they are going to do everything they can to promote your number 2. The only time in this century that their favored candidate didn’t win was 2016.
Opposed to this will be the things they can’t control including events overseas and the undeniable fact that Trump has a huge media resistant base of support and the still unknown performance of Harris without a teleprompter or ear piece.
So it’s a media driven election versus an events driven election and way too early to say how it will turn out. In the past Trump support has been poorly measured by polls.
Yep I saw Mitch a few days ago. Yelled at him in fact. Youtube link.
Re: the American wedding shrinking: although WaPo reports wedding costs that have gone up an average of about 25% since 2020, young marrieds report in the story spending three times their original budgets. Uhm, that’s a whole lot more than a 25% increase, yet there’s no explanation or comment on the difference in the story.
Spending over budget just means you underestimated or couldn’t resist things that you couldn’t afford. I have a friend who was flabbergasted by quotes for her wedding and was told by a family friend caterer that venues, florists, etc. automatically charge more for weddings because they can. She called and asked for quotes for same venue, food and flowers for a ‘family’ event and rec’d lower quotes across the board! Wedding business is like war – a racket!
Many years ago in England, this guy was having a wedding and knew about these inflated prices. So he told this catering company that he was holding a funeral instead. When the caters turned up, they were very much surprised to see people so happy, joyous and laughing about the whole event until they twigged what the go was.
Wedding bliss contra-indicator.
Price tag of wedding negatively correlated with survivability of said couple qua couple. R^2 somewhere between .5 and .9? /s
In the case of some vendors, I think the extra charges for weddings are a bridezilla tax. Not all brides are bridezillas, of course, but weddings have a much higher rate of involving unnecessary drama and difficult customers than other events of similar sizes.
Goooood Moooooorning Fiatnam!
The decision came from on high, Operation Loanbacker would bond the country back into the stone age, when money was what you made of it. The idea was to so pollute normal channels of commerce with seemingly free money, as to make a mockery of the economy as we knew it.
Imagine yourself a VC (Verified Crony) warrior hidden below the green felt jungle canopy, used to the chatter of a Huey dumping a few million over the skids, when above you, a B-52 opens it’s doors and lets loose with largess the likes of which you’ve never seen before?
Earlier problems with the chopper crew not taking the time to take off the bands holding each bundle intact were now a thing of the past, as the crew of the pressurized goliath was much more professional in their approach, which emphasized flutter tactics combined with release from 30,000 feet.
“Bond the country back into the stone age” I see what you did there, ha!
Is Powell working on a FAFB (Father of all Fiat Bombs)? Could it possibly be stronger than the 3000 pounder that Congress dropped on us during the pandemic? (I’m still thinking I can find a $600 check in the bushes somewhere, if I look hard enough)
PS -meant as a reply to Wukchumni
Speaking of man made famines, Meryl Nass article.
INDUCING FAMINE: Agricultural officials raise concerns over big banks’ ESG & climate agendas/CFACT
From February–but important to know that some of the states are waking up to the scam of induced food shortages and planned hunger in the US and overseas
https://merylnass.substack.com/p/inducing-famine-agricultural-officials
‘US expected to propose barring Chinese software in autonomous vehicles”
I guess that Washington woke up to the fact that even with a 100% tariff, that Chinese cars were still much cheaper than locally-made cars. So now they are going after Chinese cars that use Chinese software – which is all of them. It would not matter if China commissioned US-written software to be uploaded into those cars, Washington would just come up with some other excuse to stop Chinese cars competing with locally made cars. Elon Musk must be very relieved at this. But since the US is meeting with representatives of Australia, Canada, the European Union, Germany, India, Japan, South Korea, Spain, and the United Kingdom, that this is part of an effort to ban advanced Chinese cars from western countries meaning that we will have to pay far higher prices for probably inferior cars.
“US expected to propose barring Chinese software in autonomous vehicles”
This is simply another way to try to undermine the Chinese economy, which has been formal American policy since April 2011 and the signing of the Wolf Amendment by President Obama, followed by policy after policy meant to “contain” China. American policy since Obama has been designed to undermine Chinese economic growth and development, and the Biden administration has sought ways to do this from the beginning.
Chinese cheap electric cars won’t be directly imported from China to the US. But that same technology cannot be contained. It will be copied and show up here. Hyundai/Kia will build them in Mexico. Or someone else.
FWIW, compact sedans are now all made in Mexico (almost) as legacy domestic manufacturers only build SUV’s/Trucks.
A $20,000 compact electric sedan ($20,000 now being $25,000) would be enormously popular. They would compete with good, low milage used cars which don’t exist.
Something like this… https://worldwide.kia.com/int/ev3
The EV3 isn’t quite it, but the future EV2 maybe in a couple of years.
“Chinese cheap electric cars won’t be directly imported from China to the US. But that same technology cannot be contained. It will be copied and show up here…”
I suspect that American producers and unions will do all that is possible to make sure this does not happen. Then too, American oil companies would not find this exciting.
So, recent news stories have Kamala’s VP prospects down to a choice between Josh Shapiro and Tim Walz.
She’s either asking for my vote, or signaling approval for WWIII.
I’m surprised at such a stark choice being laid out for all to see at this point.
Just breaking it reported the choice to be is Walz. From CNBC reports.
Went to Wikipedia to see what they had to say about the guy as I had never heard of him before-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Walz
Frankly the guy sounds better that Harris.
Sort of refreshing to be honest. Went with a person based on merits (based on the little I know about him). We’ll see how he does over the next 90 days!
Rev: “Frankly the guy sounds better that Harris”
Taibbi and Kirn were taking about that last night. Speculating as to whether “he seems better than Harris” might become a widespread idea. Kirn had a fair bit to say about Walz (as Kirn is from Minnesota)
https://www.youtube.com/live/aQPQocsKAwE
VP discussion from roughly 37:30 in
Fascinating reversal of the VP choice paradigm. Harris may want to juice her security.
Here’s a link for Harris’ choice of Walz:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tim-walz-vp-kamala-harris-running-mate-2024/
Thank you, worth reading in full. Despite the usual msm made up crap like
Walz …… was part of a deep bench of potential running mates that included Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear.
There’s more good info than you’d expect like
…policy achievements on gun safety, abortion and paid leave, as well as his background. Walz served in the National Guard and coached football and is a hunter and gun owner.,
and, With Democrats controlling both chambers of the state legislature during his second term, Walz has enacted a number of Democratic priorities, including the protection of abortion access and gender-affirming health care, legalizing recreational marijuana, restricting gun access, providing free school meals to all kids and expanding paid family leave.
I might actually enjoy a beer with this guy.
Does he say oofdah?
Does DNC recognize DFL?
Looks like the word ‘access‘ seems to figure in his priorities. Did he charge for access?
My gut is the process went like this:
-Shapiro was picked early
-they had to go through motions
-Shapiro seems like a jersey who probably rubbed Harris the wrong way
-Holder gave his “okay.”
-Leaks were made to build excitement
-People went hey did you even do an internet search on this guy
-panic
-Harris picked the person she probably likes the most personally as Holder almost certainly did no vetting.. They both are kind of goofy without descending to Tim Kaine in the membrane.
I’ve read that Harris and Shapiro get along famously, and that she’s very comfortable with him. The truth is that the Left was going to go nuclear if Harris picked an IDF veteran.
You can be uncomfortable in Tim Walz’s presence, but he’ll just work harder to find common ground with you. He is the salt of the earth.*
*Salt in high doses kills people. It is also the one substance that instantly renders farmland infertile.
Basic googling should have revealed the outcome of Shapiro. The vetting process should have featured a call with a local apparatik to repeat what they’ve heard. IDF and 20 stab wounds to the back of the head in a suicide, ticking off teachers…yeesh.
Per reports, Harris gets along with Biden too, so I’m just going with styles. With Holder giving it his usual effort, Harris had to go with personality at that point.
Smoke-filled rooms sometimes get a whiff of fresh air, or flatulence, to expose even the heinous, callous and ridiculous excuses and rationalizations!
I always held my breath whenever a door was opened. Fresh air is extremely disruptive. And before you ask, these rooms never seemed to have any windows in them.
I’m still a fan of smoke-filled backrooms but my experience was one in which everyone in the room was thinking really hard about the election, our candidates, GOTV strategy, etc. Same as now but somewhere along the way they lost the “thinking really hard” part and went with what’s best for me but now with a dash of TDS spittle.
Mark, it sounds as if you have some reservations?
Care to elaborate?
They’re all Zionists so not much to say about that. Issues wise Walz reflects current party values. Lots of votes/bills I’m not a fan of but nothing I blame Walz for. In a corrupt party you do what you gotta do.
Pelosi has shown Walz a lot of respect and that would be based on knowing him from his Blue Dog days. I always thought the Blue Dog thing was necessitated by his constituency and Pelosi being friendly would support that.
Of the four he’s my fave. If you could vertically flip the ticket, I’d be thrilled. As veep he’ll do what he’s supposed to do. As POTUS, I’m not at all sure I know what he’d do.
Off the record sources that he’s just as he seems but maybe a bit sharper than the affability suggests. His skills are executive not legislative. I do not know who owns his soul but imo he would rate as the most solid/ethical POTUS/VPOTUS of this new century.
In debate I’d take Walz over Vance if only because Walz is personally tougher than the rest of the field put together. Won’t rattle and will stay focused. Walz vs Trump would be a slam dunk for the Democrats. Walz is the anti-Trump.
Thanks, and I agree, he’d make an interesting president.
Salt is also very bad for Carthage real estate values.
The Left don’t care who Harris picks for VP because they aren’t voting Dem either way
Remember Marion anyone? It took a year, but it looks like former Marion Police Chief Cody is taking the fall.
Fallout from the raid
As negative attention exploded in the days after the raid, Cody tried to defend his actions. He told Marion County Attorney Joel Ensey that the Kansas Bureau of Investigation was “100% behind me.”
A KBI investigator said “he had to live in fantasy land to get that picture.” She went on to describe Cody as “a rabid squirrel in a cage.”
Marion County Sheriff Jeff Soyez reportedly told Ensey, “You’re getting ready to get a big, old, nasty, hairy case dropped in your lap. I would suggest you hire a special prosecutor and just stay away from this entire case.”
Interesting, there’s a lot of “distancing” goin on here. I don’t recall Ensey pushing back much at the time. The KBI, to their credit or not, was very tight lipped during the investigation, at least from what we were able to glean from the newspaper reports at the time. Sheriff Soyez seems to be avoiding any kind of implication even though he had the optics of being involved.
Never the less, if Cody is indeed brought up on charges, and if any of those charges stick, it will pave the way for litigation and further discovery.
I am happy to see that freedom of the press is still an important enough concept that this whole business wasn’t entirely swept under the carpet.
re: Judge who authorized Kansas newspaper raid escapes discipline with secret conflicting explanation — Kansas Reflector
Thanks for the link. This para is interesting:
“The panel members who dismissed the complaint against Viar were Grant County District Judge Bradley Ambrosier; Kansas City, Kansas, attorney Tonda Jones Hill; Rosemary Kolich, of the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth; Kansas Court of Appeals Judge Thomas Malone; and Johnson County Judge Thomas Kelly Ryan.”
Tonda Hill is currently running as a Dem for the DA office in another Kansas county.
Good eye. I’m confident that Viar hasn’t seen the last of the fallout from her participation. Small towns are intimate settings. Everyone knows everyone. Although there might not be any official sanctions, she will feel the weight of her actions. As for Tonda Hill, she seems a star ascending! heh heh heh
Are you certain that all the panel members voted to dismiss? And what about the nun? What office is she running for? Mother Superior?
If you read Flora’s comment you will see that quoted material states “The panel members who dismissed the complaint against Viar were…”. Reading the article and following the links within does not make clear if the decision was unanimous. Perhaps you could do a little digging and let us know the answer to your question.
You will also notice that Flora’s comment clearly states “Tonda Hill is currently running as a Dem for the DA office in another Kansas county.”.
She’s an associate professor of English at my spouse’s alma mater, St. Mary’s in Leavenworth, a school run by the Sisters of Charity.
Thanks for doing my digging, I sincerely hope that you’re feeling better. You’ve been on my mind a lot, HMP, and I’m glad to hear from you. It makes my day go just that much better. And, thanks for that.
Tossing this across the climate office transom. Record emissions from wildfires across the Americas in 2024, Wildfire Today. These are some sobering graphs, and again bring to mind the scale of our folly.
“North Korea’s Kim sends 250 new tactical ballistic missile launchers to border”
I wonder if these were the same type that they sent to the Russians to be used in the war in the Ukraine. The article does not mention the type. The Russians were very impressed with the “Bulsae-4” system and so decided to use it which lets the North Koreans see how it would fare in an actual war. So far the results seem to be good which must be a bit of a worry for the South Koreans-
https://defencesecurityasia.com/en/russia-deploys-north-korean-made-bulsae-4-anti-tank-missiles-in-ukraine/
I don’t have a link but the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies says that “North Korea just held a party to celebrate the deployment of 250 nuclear-capable Hwasong-11 missile launchers.”
Yes, its not a secret, Kim held a huge parade to show his new toys.
They are mobile launchers with seemingly four missiles per vehicle. They seem to be Hwasong-11 missiles, which are basically the NK version of the Russian OTR-21 Tochka, which have been used by both sides in the Ukraine war. They are a step down in range, warhead and size from the Iskander.
‘nuclear capable’ is very questionable. They can carry a fairly substantial warhead, maybe up to 500kg, but nobody has a clear idea of how compact any Korean nuke warheads might be. The Hwa-11 likely doesn’t have a very long range – maybe 250 km at most depending on warhead size. So they could only really threaten Seoul. A few hundred of them fired at once would be very difficult to stop.
Chelsea in the Harris Administration? If she shows up as often as she did for her MSDNC gig, she will double the number of days she has worked on day 1.
NTG that is being unfair to Chelsea, first it wasn’t just MSNBC, it was across all NBC news. I don’t know how often she showed up on MSDNC as you call it, but she made at least three appearances on NBC that I saw. But in one way you are right, all indications are that they realized she was a loser on air and told her to finish off her contract at home and maybe occasionally provide a written statement or analysis for them if needed.
So for me the real question will be how long it will be before the Harris administration asks her to go on extended family leave? Mind you that will probably still annoy Mama and Papa because lets face it this is all about extending the various Clinton ‘charitable’ organizations which really sell influence. But unless she is in some useless ambassador appointment they will need to bench her.
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1946/08/31/hiroshima
August 31, 1946
Hiroshima
By JOHN HERSEY
I—A NOISELESS FLASH
At exactly fifteen minutes past eight in the morning, on August 6, 1945, Japanese time, at the moment when the atomic bomb flashed above Hiroshima, Miss Toshiko Sasaki, a clerk in the personnel department of the East Asia Tin Works, had just sat down at her place in the plant office and was turning her head to speak to the girl at the next desk. At that same moment, Dr. Masakazu Fujii was settling down cross-legged to read the Osaka Asahi on the porch of his private hospital, overhanging one of the seven deltaic rivers which divide Hiroshima; Mrs. Hatsuyo Nakamura, a tailor’s widow, stood by the window of her kitchen, watching a neighbor tearing down his house because it lay in the path of an air-raid-defense fire lane; Father Wilhelm Kleinsorge, a German priest of the Society of Jesus, reclined in his underwear on a cot on the top floor of his order’s three-story mission house, reading a Jesuit magazine, Stimmen der Zeit; Dr. Terufumi Sasaki, a young member of the surgical staff of the city’s large, modern Red Cross Hospital, walked along one of the hospital corridors with a blood specimen for a Wassermann test in his hand; and the Reverend Mr. Kiyoshi Tanimoto, pastor of the Hiroshima Methodist Church, paused at the door of a rich man’s house in Koi, the city’s western suburb, and prepared to unload a handcart full of things he had evacuated from town in fear of the massive B-29 raid which everyone expected Hiroshima to suffer. A hundred thousand people were killed by the atomic bomb, and these six were among the survivors. They still wonder why they lived when so many others died. Each of them counts many small items of chance or volition—a step taken in time, a decision to go indoors, catching one streetcar instead of the next—that spared him. And now each knows that in the act of survival he lived a dozen lives and saw more death than he ever thought he would see. At the time, none of them knew anything…
in the next weeks we might get a glimpse of what 80 years of progress did to the technology. The human experiment is winding down quickly.
Hilariously for the second year in a row the Japanese Prime Minister, when giving his speech dedicated to the anniversary of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima, did not mention once which country actually dropped those bombs but did mention the “Russian nuclear threat.” Comedy gold this.
The Japanese invaded China in 1931, so beginning the World War. There were 20 million Chinese deaths as a result of the invasion, however the Japanese government never apologized to the Chinese, the Japanese government repeatedly memorializes the leaders responsible for the invasion and the Japanese government now is building the military to become part of America’s “China containment” policy.
How many world history texts in the US schools addressed the tens of millions of deaths in China, or even more those in the Soviet Union during the bloody 30s, let alone those in WWII?
“How many world history texts in the US schools addressed the tens of millions of deaths in China…”
Really important question, the answer to which I would expect is “none.” As for my experience, learning was overwhelmingly about the lives of Western peoples. I suppose that was what “Orientalism” sought to make clear to academics.
http://www.nytimes.com/books/99/10/03/specials/said-culture.html
February 28, 1993
Who Paid the Bills at Mansfield Park?
By MICHAEL GORRA
CULTURE AND IMPERIALISM
By Edward W. Said
It is being reported that harris has chosen tim walz.
It’s nice to see Democrats picking a VP who can make pretty speeches again. Sad that we won’t get more than that.
https://x.com/michael_hoerger/status/1820692102080045315
Stay safe, everyone.
Antidote(s):
Watch tiny Simone Biles getting upset at falling on her vault
Simone. Greatest in her field. Strong enough to say No to risking injury, to break the taboo on mental health issues. Tip of the spear against institutionalized sexual abuse.
Humble.
When watching the Women’s Gymnastics, I recall those victims of past abuses and get angry at the whole establishment, FBI, sports federations, universities et al that allowed a monster like Nasser and how many others to unchecked.
That said, or written, the level of performance on the floor or apparatus is supplemented by the level of camaraderie among the participants and their joys and mutual support.
Subediting service: Haniyeh is spelled correctly in links but spelled as Hamiyeh in the discussion of the links.
Bangladesh protesters won’t accept army-led government after PM Sheikh Hasina’s exit – BBC
They don’t want to be Sisified…
– ‘The CIA & the 9/11 Plea Deals’ – Consortium News (Robin K)
I appreciate John Kiriakou for his principled stand against torture and his willingness to face prison time as a whistle-blower. But his commentary has always struck me as analytically shallow. This essay is an example. For an idea of what I’m talking about, *please read the comments*. While every one agrees with Kiriakou on torture and Guantanamo, every one is critical of Kiriakou for ignoring a number of deeper issues. The impression for me is always one of a limited hangout, whether intended or not.
I agree entirely. The article was a bit of a waste of time, as it’s mostly just a lament of KSM not getting the death penalty.
As for the actual 9-11 operation, KSM was at most responsible for mastermining the high-jacking, and even then he had to have gotten a lot of help. The plane high-jacking was only the tip of the iceberg: the most visible but hardly the most important part.
Awaiting more on the record info from the B-side, or the B Thing with those artists and their detonators, as one example.
re: COVID – and you thought that it could get worse?
From the Nassau Daily Voice:
On Long Island, the Republican-controlled Nassau County Legislature passed the “Mask Transparency Act” by a vote of 12-0 on Monday night, Aug. 5. All seven Democrats abstained from voting.
The bill makes it a misdemeanor for anyone 16 and older to wear a face mask in public spaces in the county. It also gives private businesses the right to prohibit masks on their premises.
It grants exceptions for health or religious reasons, though that distinction will be determined by Nassau County Police. It was not immediately clear how the law would be enforced.
Violators could face up to a $1,000 fine and/or a year in jail.
… war that the USA is forced to join. Forced by whom? Forced like Sheriff Bart in Blazing Saddles? Or is it the world’s “only super-power” like a huge dog being forcibly wagged by its minuscule tail? Oh but ‘something something ‘ in the Bible and its interpretation in the late 19th or was it the early 20th century that attracts the fervent support of many christians, many of whom vote republican. Is that the “…war that the US is forced to join?”
Or maybe it is AIPAC et al and the donors… I can’t figure it out at all. Could someone please explain the place of the National Interest of the US in the “…war the USA is forced to join?” I saw this this morning. from the Times of Israel. “Smotrich: Might be justified and moral to cause two million Gazans to die of hunger, but the world won’t let us.” The US is forced to join a war to allow two million to be starved to death? Seriously? Only monsters would join such a war. Count me out.
#BREAKING: #Turkish FM: #Turkiye will submit its application to join #SouthAfrica’s genocide case against #Israel at ICJ on Wednesday in The Hague https://t.co/IflBrUjlhs pic.twitter.com/7rOTL4yTd7
Leads to the article:
“US working ‘around the clock’ to avert Mideast escalation”
-Biden called King Abdullah II of Jordan, whose country helped down Iranian drones and missiles in an attack on Israel in April
-“We are engaged in intense diplomacy, pretty much around the clock, with a very simple message — all parties must refrain from escalation,” Blinken said.
They only “engage intensely” when countries decide to defend themselves against the genocide perps.
It’s so disgustingly transparent.
A rep from Jordan went to Iran to ask them not to retaliate but just to take the hit as are other countries. All of them are oblivious to the fact that if Iran did so, that the hard-right in Israel – and Washington – would take that as a sign of weakness and would feel free to launch further and harder attacks on Iran. If they had hauled up Israel before the UN Security Council or condemned Israel for those murders they might have had a hope but they didn’t. Netanyahu and his cronies have sown the wind and are now about to reap the whirlwind, all in the hope of dragging the US into a war with Iran on their behalf. But suppose that Israel gave a war – and the US did not come?
It’s pretty clear the Iranians politely told Jordan which sent its foreign minister to Iran for the first time in two decades, to pound sand. They are not going to be the “restraint” dupes any more as Israel keeps escalating. But the press is bizarrely repeating the messaging of the US which has no influence on anyone who counts.
The Age of Abrahamic Discords. :(
It might be better if we had a president or something. Wht would anyone listen to Joe Biden, any more than they would, say Andrew Johnson? (yes, I realize the latter is dead, but is he any less dead than Biden?)
-“We are engaged in intense diplomacy, pretty much around the clock, with a very simple message — all parties must refrain from escalation,” Blinken said, adding “Unless you’re Israel,” under his breath.
“Video game actors are officially on strike over AI”
Those video game actors know what the score is. That the studios want to eventually replace them with AI. Noted CIA fanboy Ashton Kutcher was doing a Q & A session with former Google CEO Eric Schmidt recently and he was talking about all the ways that AI could replace whole sections of the move industry such as exterior shooting, stunts, CGI work, etc-
https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/celebrity-life/ignorant-ashton-kutcher-slammed-for-comments-about-making-whole-movies-with-ai/news-story/1d216ec13b729c02f3bdc623c949f4fc
Needless to say, he was roasted by workers in the film industry.
Just think of the increasingly empty vessels that have to be created to pretend to enjoy such creations.
That’s what is scary.
Waiting for Taibbi & Kirn since Kirn already made fun of Walz… but that doesn´t mean Walz is bad. What does his record say?
I don’t know his congressional district, but he didn’t whine about small majorities when he pushed for and signed progressive legislation such as free school lunch. I saw it noted he appears to be what people pretended Biden would be like, a relentless deal maker.
VP might be more likable than the headliner. Opinions vary of course. Its just a change from the usual ticket dynamic.
From politico on harris’s choice of walz:
So, calling people “weird” is what passes for “effective communication” and “clear, cutting criticism” in today’s dem world. I believe Kirn likened walz to a county fair “huckster” last night.
As noted in Water Cooler (I think) the other day, put-downs like “weird” are high school stuff. Seems to me that walz learned his “communication” skills from the kids he “taught” before busting into politics, where such “skills” are now, apparently, deemed valuable.
My PMC friends love him. The Lincoln Project seems to as well. He has a Tweet from Feb 21 saying Minnesota will continue to support Ukraine as they defend freedom and democracy.
Soooo, he might be the best VP pick EVER but we can count on more war. Imagine that.
And speaking of democracy, we have a choice between Trump and two people who never got a primary vote, but we must vote for Harris/Walz to save it.
I’m confused…
A reader´s comment about Walz on RACKETNEWS
“(…)
I am a MN native who left after college (to work as an AMI Montessori teacher on the East Coast…I’ll address Mr. Kirn’s idea of Montessori teacher stereotypes later) My far left brother (don’t know how that happened given the four of us were raised by a hardcore Objectivist) is very excited about the possibility of Walz running for VP. He texted me the following:
“Tim would be great. Very smart. Farmer. Great on TV. Goofy smile. Not afraid to clown around a little.”
“Tim fixing is campaign car from a salvage yard”
My brother is/was a extremely smart autodidoctic but he is what he is now. I follow MN news and politics closely (including, of course, the weather). Walz has been a horrible Governor, typical Blue State policy responses to Covid (check out the state purchase of a warehouse for {if I remember correctly}) ‘neccessay’ medical supplies. He doesn’t have an original thought in his head, just a party guy. Witness his ‘following the script’ throughout 2020 re Covid and the destruction and ill thought out decisions he made after the murder of George Floyd.
I agree with the observations you and Walter made during this evenings YouTube show. Walz, if chosen to run in the VP spot, will be lauded as the most exciting VP pick ever chosen despite having the appearance and IQ of a porato.
(…)”
Walz entered Minnesota National Guard in 1981, enlisted the entire career, in itself a good thing!
Artillery branch his unit was not in Desert Storm and no indication of overseas service in GWOT.
He was appointed Command Sargent Major, highest US Army enlisted achievement!
I was stationed in far north Mn in the last half oc the 1970’s nature abounds!
Due Dissidence, utube, ~10+ minutes.
Kamala Campaign Site Has ZERO POLICY On It
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zb-8foyWEnU
So a Kamala Presidency would end up being a Seinfeld Presidency. :)
Suits the blob just fine. They’re getting everything they want with the country on auto-pilot. Policy discussions imply changes. Keep the beast fed with Moar printing, moar money for Bibi, moar money for Z-man.
Probably in more ways than one. After all, Seinfeld famously took his children to an IDF “fantasy camp” in the West Bank where they got to simulate killing “terrorists” while in a settlement in occupied territory. https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/jerry-seinfeld-slammed-for-visiting-anti-terror-fantasy-camp-in-west-bank
Then there’s his lovely wife, who funded the group who attacked anti-genocide protesters at UCLA. https://www.thedailybeast.com/jessica-seinfeld-and-bill-ackman-fund-pro-israel-counterprotests-at-ucla
Ha! This is a replay of her 2020 primary campaign. I checked out her website early in that process. Nada. Sent an email asking what she stands for other than her own ambition. Not surprisingly, did not receive a reply.
Kamala Harris is Jerry Hall with a sun tan. That deep. (Does KH drink beer?)
We are no longer people/citizens, we are “folks”/consumers. “Folks”.
Here’s for “folks”, get ready for heavy doses of it till November:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVAcvSukfrI&ab_channel=TheRollingStones-Topic
Sung by an LSE student with alfalfa in his hair…
AIPAC then is determined to control the Democratic Party and Congress:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/aug/06/missouri-cori-bush-primary-bell-aipac-israel
August 6, 2024
Pro-Israel groups spend millions to try to oust ‘Squad’ member Cori Bush
Representative faces tough primary after Aipac targeted her as one of first in Congress to call for Gaza ceasefire
By Chris McGreal – Guardian
A prominent member of the progressive “Squad” in Congress, Cori Bush, faces a difficult Democratic primary in St Louis on Tuesday after pro-Israel pressure groups spent millions of dollars to unseat her over criticisms of Israel’s war on Gaza.
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) pumped more than $8.5m into the race in Missouri’s first congressional district in support of Bush’s rival, St Louis prosecutor Wesley Bell, through its campaign funding arm, the United Democracy Project (UDP)…
Today’s offering from Gilbert Doctorow’s blog had quite the revelation:
Why did Belousov phone Austin on 13 July? It’s now official: to prevent a Ukrainian assassination attempt against himself and Putin
That accusation was presented by Russia’s Deputy Minister of Defense Ryabkov and ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova.
Re: Ozempic – massive hunger when people stop taking ozempic
Absolutely exemplary of the mechanistic, symptom-based medicine promoted by big pharma. Ozempic tricks the body into feeling “full” by turning off the hunger feedback loop. Stop taking it, and the body swings right back – Ozempic has actually caused an over-reaction which it masks, and this over-reaction continues when Ozempic is stopped.
Big duh. SImplistically treat symptoms for profit is the model. Actual whole system human health? Not so much.
That’s what Big Pharma is all about. No cures, just cover up the symptoms. Find new ailments to pretend cure with existing drugs and extend their patents. Block other cheaper drugs.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC521592/
A sweet story for bitter times: https://www.openculture.com/2024/08/mark-twain-and-helen-kellers-special-friendship.html
I’ll be calling the California Department of Real Estate in a few minutes to inquire about the legality of selling land in the West Bank and Gaza to Californians.
According to International Law, that land is illegally occupied by the State of Israel and thus Israeli entities can not convey title to the land they are purportedly selling.
I understand this scam has taken place in a number of States as well as some Canadian cities.
As a retired Real Estate Broker (IANAL) these sales appear to be extremely problematic, both for the buyers and the Brokers ( ReMax) involved.
i was on Ozempic for 3.5 years 2mg weekly, accepted it quit working; and reduced intake to Img weekly for its original purpose. Protect liver and kidneys from diabetes No hunger issues.
No surprise, I spoke to two agents at the DRE about the sales of land in Gaza and the West Bank which are taking place at synagogues in California and elsewhere and they want nothing to do with it even though I pointed out that a California Brokerage (ReMax) was selling land on behalf of Israeli entities that could not possibly hold title to the land they were purportedly selling.
Which certainly seems like fraud to me.
I wonder if a news station might be interested…
Democracy Now might be interested
“Now, not everyone reading this has had the ‘pleasure’ of living under totalitarian regimes, as the USSR was. Given that our primary sources for these events were state-controlled — as virtually all official news outlets were — and that states have a vested interest in painting themselves as kind, generous, just, and therefore legitimize themselves, we can assume that certain elements of the story were done up a bit, or that other unsavory details never made it in the published story. So don’t take everything here at face value.”
I resent this presentation and this mindset. I was born and spent my first 25 years of so of my life in a Socialist country and looking back, I wouldn’t change that part of my life at all. My son grew up in Canada and I at times pithied his times, especially since we were dragging our immigrant feet to some modicum of success. People had lives worth living and had meaning outside of politics.
People wanted meaningful lives, doing something they liked (went to forestry), finding love and partners, having children, etc. Politics in fact was absent from people’s minds, as much or more as I see it here in Canada, where in fact is impolite to talk about politics or any contentious issue, especially if what you have to say contradicts the official narrative.
People are people everywhere and it is much more that is common between them than it is different. But the AMerican exceptionalism makes Americans that they are so much better and different from everyone else, and politicizing everything, and in need to tell themselves such things and be mollycoddled (my Canadian wife’s opinion about Americans); that is not normal.
The hunters, the Russians showed what we like to call humanity, and the author is incredulous that such attitude could exist in a socialist state! At a time when Canadians for instance were clubbing up to 300,000 baby seals per year for pelts and for not allowing the seals to eat “their” fish…
“Greenland fossil discovery reveals increased risk of sea-level catastrophe” ScienceDaily
The actual research here features a literal foundational piece of sampling and analysis– if one has the temerity and daring to actually read it. Notice how standard enforcement psychological framing in the lay press title misses the entire point. Adventures in cognition. Get to know the Quaternary. Good luck.
“Plant, insect, and fungi fossils under the center of Greenland’s ice sheet are evidence of ice-free times.” PNAS
>Alastair Crooke: Willful Western Blindness Over Israel
A good one. Google’s (the monopolist) search algorithm (based on my viewing history) works like a charm, and immediately after the Crooke video, brought me to this Middle East Eye piece (preaching to the choir, but as always a good one). Not sure about the title though:
Harris vs Trump: The end of American dominance? | Chris Hedges | Real Talk
Are there dentists, pharmacologists or similar in the NC readership?
Curious about the presence of graphene in dental anesthetics?
What patent and latent purposes might it serve?
Regarding John Mearsheimer good article. I think he misses some points for continuing to put blame on Russia for invading Ukraine, despite the facts.
Historically, Russia is mostly a reactive state while opportunistically at times, when circumstances rose that land grabbing came at very little price. Examples abound.
As such, accusing Russia of wanting to re-establish a lost empire flyies in the face of evidence. The prima facie example is the 2008 war against Georgia, which was started by Georgia, which attacked the separatist areas protected by Russian peace forces. Georgians got a thorough beating, which given recent events in Georgia, the government definitely remembers, and the Russian forces retreated after 2 weeks. As RFL reported, an EU commission on the facts found only that Russians mistreated prisoners, but nothing else to accuse Russians with.
However, the US has learned from that event and in the case of Ukraine, the provocation that was created was easily covered up by the Western MSM.
Professor Mearsheimer contents that Russia is guilty of attacking Ukraine, but fails to provide the full context for it, and the facts on the ground matter:
1. In March 2021, Ukraine passed legislation that demanded the UKR government recovers control over all UKR recognized territory, by any means necessary (that meant not only Donbas & Lugansk Republics but Crimea as well).
2. Follow that UKR ammased troops in Donbas, to which russians immediately mobilized 90,000 troops at UKR border. US panicks and then some discussions take place in Geneva.
3. UKR has not in fact remove troops from the borders with Donbas & Lugansk.
4. After the rejection of RUS strategic negociation package by the West, UKR starts in early February 2022 to massively shell Donbas, as reported by OSCE observers, totally breaching the Minsk Accords sanctioned by the UNSC.
5. Children and women and elderly are moved with hundreds of busses from the proximity of the border.
6. Donbas & Lugansk ask RUS for support.
7. On February 22, RUS recognizes the independence of the two republics, using Kosovo as a legal precedent, signs treaties of alliance.
8. The West immediately sanctions Russia and excludes it from SWIFT banking messaging system.
9. Russia invoques article 51 of UN Charter in support of Donbas and Lugansk and on February 24 attacks UKR.
The legality of Russian actions is really unassailable in any unbiased international court. The fact that immediately wanted to start talks and negotiations with UKR proves that all it wanted was peace and security of its borders.
But as mentioned by Prof Mearsheimer, Russia cannot and will not tolerate an anti-Russia Ukraine, which is how Ukraine has beein slowly defining itself after 1991, and faster and faster after 2014, reaching all aspects of life. That is what Russia means by de-nazification of UKR. Because in the Russian experience, the Third Reich had the same message (see Generalplan Ost), KILL the Russians.
As George Beebe, a former director of Russia analysis at the CIA and special adviser on Russia to former Vice President Dick Cheney said after the war started:
“The choice that we faced in Ukraine — and I’m using the past tense there intentionally — was whether Russia exercised a veto over NATO involvement in Ukraine on the negotiating table or on the battlefield.,” “And we elected to make sure that the veto was exercised on the battlefield, hoping that either Putin would stay his hand or that the military operation would fail.”
https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/russia-s-ukraine-invasion-may-have-been-preventable-n1290831
I think you have misrepresented Mearsheimer’s argument here. He is not putting the blame on Russia, but quite the opposite. And he specifically rejects the Western argument that Russia was seeking to re-establish a lost empire. I think you have taken a few sentences out of context, probably this one:
“This is not to deny, of course, that Russia invaded Ukraine and started the war.”
But almost everything else in the long essay is in support of the *very next sentence*: “But the principal cause of the conflict is the NATO decision to bring Ukraine into the alliance, which virtually all Russian leaders see as an existential threat that must be eliminated.”
And later in his introduction:
“My aim here is to provide a primer, which lays out the key points that support the view that Putin invaded Ukraine not because he was an imperialist bent on making Ukraine part of a greater Russia, but mainly because of NATO expansion and the West’s efforts to make Ukraine a Western stronghold on Russia’s border.”
You add a number of important facts that are not mentioned by Mearsheimer, but they compliment, rather than contradict, his main arguments. I make a point of this because although Mearsheimer is one of the best mainstream “realist” commentators (at least he used to be mainstream), he has been a little wishy-washy regarding some of Russia’s means and motives in the past. But I did not really see that here. In fact I would recommend this piece to those seeking a general understanding of the Ukraine situation.
He still posits every time that Russia is an aggressor state engaged in an illegal war, even though Russia was cornered and provoked.
My point is that Putin crossed the t-s and dotted the i-s to ensure the legality of the war. Of course UNSC would have never approved it…
I’d really like to follow this argument…
Isn’t Article 51 about protecting UN members? Does it extend to internationally unrecognised states?
And what exactly makes our actions legal? The fact that Ukraine attacked (shelled) states that we now recognised and allied with?
If Georgia or Ukraine or Saudi Arabia had recognised and officially allied with the separatists in Chechnya at some point in the 90s, wouldn’t they have had the exact same right to attack us in its defence? Or am I missing something here, as far as international legality goes?
There are some international legal precedents established in relation with Kosovo (ICC or ICJ, don’t remember and I am not going to retreive links now), which opened the door to the legalist Russia on this respect.
Canada is forced by its vessalage to the US to start arming and prepare for war in the Arctic against Russia. Twelve diesel-electric subs are though cheaper than what Australians are going to pay for the USUK subs, and likely will also see them in the end, since the manufacturers are neither Americans nor British.
But it looks to me that the Canadian government would have been wiser to invest money not on F-35s or electric subs, but in fire bombers, given the rapid pace the western forests are burning. The very reactive nature of the Canadian Government came to force and after much dithering, approved the aquisition of a constellation of satellites worth 150 million CAD tasked to provide 24 hour coverage for identifying fires. I was wondering for many years now why Canada has no such tools in place!
And about the subs, it is the US that doesn’t recognizes Canadian sovereignity of the north-western passage, not the Russians. US wants to do the same think it did with Japan, to have some of those straits there declared international waters – through which now Russian and Chinese military ships parade – or does with the Taiwan straits….
Perhaps Canadians won’t have this memory, but reading all this AUKUS China-containment nonsense must be giving certain Australians and Kiwis fits remembering how Churchill and the British Empire talked the Great Game and then abandoned them in Singapore. Many Australians and Kiwis suddenly found found themselves doing work on a certain 1942-45 Asian Belt-and-Road Initiative…
The Damned Paperback – Deckle Edge, Oct. 25 2011
by Nathan M. Greenfield
2011 Governor General’s Literary Awards Finalist – Non-Fiction
“The Damned tells the largely unknown saga of Canada’s first land battle of the Second World War—fought in the hills and valleys of Hong Kong in December 1941—and the terrible years the survivors of the battle spent as slave labourers for the Empire of Japan. Their story begins in the fall of 1941, when almost 2,000 members of the Royal Rifles and the Winnipeg Grenadiers were sent to bolster the British garrison at Hong Kong. In the seventeen-day battle for the colony following the Japanese attack on December 8, the Canadians suffered grievous losses. The second part of their story—how the Canadians survived the horrid conditions of the Japanese POW camps— lasts three and a half years. Despite the circumstances, the surviving Canadians remained unbowed and unbroken. Theirs is a story of determination and valour, of resilience and faith.”
Apparently they were supposed to bear it down, for the Empire…
If you want to know what an effective Trump would look like, see Robert Caro’s latest (Master of the Senate). No amount of vulgarity or obscenity divides LBJ and Trump. Multiple mistresses, betrayals, etc. characterize that “Master” (LBJ). He stole his senate seat. LBJ would literally take a piss in the Senate parking lot if it suited him.
That said, he was desperate for the presidency, and understood clearly he’d have to betray his southern comrades about civil rights to get it. So thanks to him, civil rights legislation got a chance (as did Medicare).
LBJ was a very ambiguous figure. The big distinguisher from Trump is that he grew up poor.
Anyway…it’s a great read, and very illuminating. For example, he predicted that civil rights would provoke violence, and only be implemented under threat.
The link for the Vzglyad article was broken for me, here are some options:
Canadian submarine fleet poses new threat to Russia English, via Google Translate
Canadian submarine fleet poses new threat to Russia Russian original, translatable with Firefox or Yandex browsers
Very nice “Tervuren” in the picture.
And Souillac is known for for an excellent ” vieille prune ” from the local distillery. I buy it every year en route to the Pyrenees.