New Zealand to nearly triple tax on international tourists Aljazeera
#COVID-19
Covid levels right now: pic.twitter.com/8jYtjUyTAJ
— Pat Just Pat 🍉 (@PatTheSocialist) September 2, 2024
Beyond Paxlovid: The Urgent Need for Better Meds Jessica Wildfire (fk)
If you get challenges about mask wearing, this offers an alternate response to “It’s an asshole detector”:
You can always start masking again, especially on planes, in trains and in classrooms. Back to school is a great time to! https://t.co/0VWM2nshPz pic.twitter.com/wUgEDYikat
— 🍉 Dr. Thrasher still cares about Covid & Gaza🔻 (@thrasherxy) September 2, 2024
Climate/Environment
Carbon projects are projects of death World Rainforest Management (Micael T)
Pilot plant demonstrates iron-based hydrogen storage feasibility TechXplore (Chuck lL)
China?
Taiwan to purchase over 1,000 additional Stinger missiles amid increased Chinese threat Economic Times
China’s bulging commodity stockpiles show depth of economic woes Mining News
Record Rainfall Spoils Crops in China, Rattling Its Leaders New York Times
Myanmar
China Faces Fierce Online Backlash in Myanmar After Threat Against Ethnic Army Irriwaddy
South of the Border
Major power outage hits Venezuela; Maduro government blames ‘sabotage’ Associated Press
Exclusive: US seizes Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro’s airplane in the Dominican Republic CNN
Africa
Africa’s forever war: how Sudan descended into hell — again The Times
Floods in Nigeria kill hundreds and wash away farmland, as millions face famine South China Morning Post
European Disunion
Battered and unloved, Germany’s coalition likely to hang on after regional losses to far right Reuters
State elections in Thüringen and Saxony deliver another humiliating defeat for the sclerotic and incapable German political establishment Eugyppius. Micael T: “Symbolic humiliation yes, but will this be felt around the kitchen table? See France and U.K. for examples how the real powers make sure nothing gets better.”
Nothing new in the East Nachdenkseiten via machine translation (Micael T)
Volkswagen warns of plant closures in Germany, citing ‘extremely tense’ situation CNBC (Kevin W)
The German problem? It’s an analogue country in a digital world Guardian (Kevin W)
Macron sweats under growing pressure to appoint prime minister Politico
Poland’s Call for Reparations: A Continuing Debate with Germany Poland Daily 24
Gaza
Striking unions join protest as thousands take to streets for hostage deal Times of Israel. But: “…court rules strike is political in nature and must end at 2:30 p.m.”
Israel’s Blood-soaked Cabinet Won’t Stop Unless Sunday’s Powerful Protests Continue Haaretz
Israeli Air Force Official: Without US Aid, We Couldn’t Fight Gaza Beyond Few Months Haaretz (Robin K)
UK suspends 30 arms exports to Israel over Gaza war crimes concerns Middle East Eye. Symbolic but better than nothing
Houthi drones, missiles strike 2 ships in Red Sea, maritime agencies report Arab News
Look how Israeli settlers send their children to take over the Ibrahimi mosque in Hebron, the same mosque that the deranged settler Baruch Goldstein went into twenty years ago and opened fire at worshippers as they prayed dawn prayers.
They’re literally sending their kids to… pic.twitter.com/siiZqZIAT3
— Mariam Barghouti مريم البرغوثي (@MariamBarghouti) September 2, 2024
New Not-So-Cold War
Beluga whale alleged to be Russian ‘spy’ found dead in Norway Guardian
The Ukrainian Armed Forces began to retreat from the Nevelsky cauldron! Marat Khairullin
Ukraine – U.S. ‘Experts’ Throw The Towel Moon of Alabama
Ukrainians Flee – Russia Storms Pokrovsk Daniel Davis, YouTube. Good battlefield wrap with a lot of attention to strategic implications.
WHY THE LACK OF TRAINING IS UKRAINE’S ACHILLES HEEL Larry Johnson
Russia to revise nuclear doctrine amid Western actions in Ukraine conflict TurkiyeToday
Footage Shows Russian Army Capturing Leopard 2A6 and M1A1 Abrams Tanks Near Avdiivka Military Watch
No arrest for Putin as he arrives in Mongolia Euronews (Kevin W)
Syraqistan
Pakistan’s Malnutrition Crisis: Costing GDP And Impacting Health Amid Economic Struggles NewsX
New allegations against MbS go unchallenged by the west The Cradle
Turkiye
Turkey Bids to Join BRICS in Push to Build Alliances Beyond West Bloomberg
But: Geopolitical Developments: Middle East, Russia Mark Wauck. Micael T: “It is a bit convenient that Turkey applies when Russia has proposed a halt to new members. Another Erdogan-stunt to squeeze F-35s out of the US?”
Big Brother is Watching You Watch
Dutch prime minister bans wireless devices from meetings to ward off espionage Intelews
Imperial Collapse Watch
Trickle Down BRICS Rachel Donald (Micael T). *Sigh*. BRICS cheerleaders continue to show a lack of understanding. The use of a blockchain system is a gimmick. This scheme is bilateral trade, which all of these countries can and are engaging in now. The issue is that the result just about never winds up being balanced trade. The country running a trade surplus winds up holding currency of the deficit country, which winds up being an economic deadweight if the surplus cannot find or does not want to hold much in the way financial investments in the deficit country. Would you want to hold a huge stash or Turkiye lira or Bangladesh taka? This is why Michael Hudson keeps stressing that it’s critical for these countries need a mechanism for addressing trade and currency imbalances, and advocates for a Keynes bancor type system.
On top of that, discussions like this greatly overstate the importance of trade in the US reserve currency status. The overwhelming majority of foreign exchange transactions, over 95%, are investment, not trade related. Yes, steering clear of dollar transactions for trade is critical for escaping the abusive US sanctions regime. But that is not tantamount to dethroning the dollar.
EU Commission chief pledges to accelerate EU enlargement Anadolu Agency
Trump
RFK Jr.’s name on ballot poses danger for Trump in key states The Hill
Kamala
Harris doesn’t get convention bounce, but widens gap with women: POLL ABC
Kamala Harris woos Savannah, but can she win Georgia and Harris rally stories: Personal missions, reflections and inspiration and Slideshow: Harris rally at Savannah’s Enmarket Arena The Current. KLG:
The cities of Atlanta, Savannah, Macon, Athens, and Augusta will vote Harris-Walz. Also Brunswick, which is on the coast, and Albany in the rural deep southwest Georgia. Yard signs are popping up. Biden-Harris would never have gotten this level of apparent enthusiasm. Previously I had seen only one Biden-Harris sign in my bluest-of-blue island precinct surrounded by a sea of red. Now there are a dozen Harris signs in the neighborhood. The question is whether this will be enough to counteract votes from the northern arc of Greater Atlanta, most of the outlying southern Atlanta suburbs, all of North Georgia, and the bulk of South Georgia where the largely Black/African American majority and near-majority counties are small in population but large in land area.
Kamala Harris is called out for sneaky tactic to avoid answering questions as she boards plane Daily Mail (Li)
Kamala STUMBLES Again After HUMILIATING Misstep at Rally Devory Darkins, YouTube. Biden looks like he got some fresh Botox or filler…..
Biden
Hunter Biden’s addiction to return to limelight in second criminal trial The Hill
Our No Longer Free Press
U.S. universities spent the summer strategizing to suppress student activism. Here is their plan. Mondoweiss (guurst). Important.
Why Musk’s Lawsuit Against Media Matters . . . Matters Jonathan Turley
This is an utterly shocking account from journalist Sarah Wilkinson of her recent violent arrest by 16 counter-terrorism police, several masked, at 7.30am.
They smashed up, or stole, many of her belongings; emptied an urn of her mother's remains over the floor; have denied her…
— Jonathan Cook (@Jonathan_K_Cook) September 2, 2024
AI
AI lending could make finance deals even more unfair for women—here’s how this can be avoided TechXplore
California lawmakers approve legislation to ban deepfakes, protect workers and regulate AI Associated Press
The Bezzle
Governments often struggle with massive new IT projects Iowa Capital Dispatch (Robin K). Private sector too. The rule of thumb I heard from two regarded as top Wall Street CIOs back in the day was 80% of large IT projects fail. But they are killed before officially failing so generally not registered outside the tech community.
Class Warfare
Concern over housing costs hits record high across rich nations Financial Times
Meat and Poultry Is Wildly Expensive Now — and It Could Be Due to Price Fixing Angry Bear
Dollar General warns poorer US consumers are running out of money Financial Times. From over the weekend, still germane
How a leading chain of psychiatric hospitals traps patients New York Times (Dr. Kevin). Paul R flagged:
Acadia Healthcare is holding people against their will to maximize insurance payouts, a Times investigation found…. Acadia has lured patients into its facilities and held them against their will, even when detaining them was not medically necessary
The Economist just published a deeply-researched story about car bloat, and it's very, very damning:
"For every life that the heaviest 1% of SUVs and trucks save, there are more than a dozen lives lost in other vehicles."
Well worth your time: https://t.co/eHalcNkiBX pic.twitter.com/1RBfAooX6V
— David Zipper (@DavidZipper) September 1, 2024
Antidote du jour (Ann M). That goose is a natural. Knows to pose in the hot spot.
And a bonus:
Such a cute smile!pic.twitter.com/ai0Z1kuMzL
— aww (@omgaww) September 2, 2024
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
STRANGERS IN MONTANA!
(melody borrowed from The Rose Of Alabama by Jack Dorsey, as performed by Tom Roush)
There’s now a modern Bozeman Trail
And our whole state is up For Sale
A ranch here is their Holy Grail
There’s strangers in Montana!
Californians have ruined our Montana
They’re pushy and they’re nosy in new boots and a bandanna
What makes them all suppose we needed commies in Montana?
They land with millions in the bank
And sip on Sovietgnon Blanc
They wear short shorts and think they’re swank
There’s strangers in Montana!
Californians have ruined our Montana
They’re pushy and they’re nosy in new boots and a bandanna
What makes them all suppose we needed commies in Montana?
Our quiet towns transmogrify
The local folk are mystified
Our shepherds can’t afford their pie
There’s strangers in Montana!
Californians have ruined our Montana
They’re pushy and they’re nosy in new boots and a bandanna
What makes them all suppose we needed commies in Montana?
They bring that Democratic sleaze
And sixteen kinds of sex disease
They move in anywhere they please
There’s strangers in Montana!
Californians have ruined our Montana
They’re pushy and they’re nosy in new boots and a bandanna
What makes them all suppose we needed commies in Montana?
They marvel at a mountain spring
They marvel at most everything
Their politics is too left wing
There’s strangers in Montana!
Californians have ruined our Montana
They’re pushy and they’re nosy in new boots and a bandanna
What makes them all suppose we needed commies in Montana?
I’m born and raised in Kalispell
The Flathead country I know well
My hometown’s now financial Hell
There’s strangers in Montana!
Californians have ruined our Montana
They’re pushy and they’re nosy in new boots and a bandanna
What makes them all suppose we needed commies in Montana?
They can’t square dance and do not pray
They ask us why we stack up hay
We tell them about Paraguay
There’s strangers in Montana!
Californians have ruined our Montana
They’re pushy and they’re nosy in new boots and a bandanna
What makes them all suppose we needed commies in Montana?
As a Montanan, I’ve got pretty mixed feelings about this one. Are you from here? The Kalispell/Flathead reference makes me think maybe so. But then, an actual Montanan would be aware that we’ve always had one Dem and one Repub Senator, and that we’ve passed the Governorship back and forth between the two parties – meaning your line about bringing the “Democratic sleaze” is fairly nonsensical. We banned cyanide heap-leach mining and legalized recreational marijuana via Citizen Initiative, both of which are pretty “left-wing,” so tarring us as a bunch of conservative reactionaries is pretty off-the-mark. We do, however, have no use for Californians. That part is entirely accurate, but it’s not because of their politics, it’s because they drive up everyone’s property prices, and therefore taxes, and because they drive like a-holes and fill up all of the rivers and trails that used to be places where you could be relatively alone with Nature. They are gentrifiers, in a word.
Am I going way to deep on the lyrics to a silly parody song? Probably, but I get pretty defensive when people from other places look at the electoral college map and think they understand the politics of my state.
Silly? Silly, you say? I’ll have you know this is the anthem of the Butte-Silver Bow Continental Divide Division. Sacramento is doomed . . .
Of course we always knew the Medicare negotiations for prescription drugs was a sham. And this is limited to 10 of the 200 most often prescribed drugs and won’t take effect until 2026.
US will still pay at least twice as much after negotiating drug prices
“The U.S. sees value” why doesn’t Stacie Dusetzina say “Pharma and their paid off politicians see value? I wonder who is funding her “research”? And Kamala is campaigning on this rubbish.
Nice goose!
‘Mariam Barghouti مريم البرغوثي
@MariamBarghouti
Look how Israeli settlers send their children to take over the Ibrahimi mosque in Hebron, the same mosque that the deranged settler Baruch Goldstein went into twenty years ago and opened fire at worshippers as they prayed dawn prayers.
They’re literally sending their kids to annex and takeover Palestinian spaces, even the most sacred- places of worship.
Here are soldiers also participating in the forcible takeover of the mosque which has been closed off from Palestinians at gun point for the last days.
What a deranged society.’
There are several reasons to send kids. Kids are stupid. By that I mean that they do not question what they are doing and only want to look good in front of their friends. For the settlers that sent them, this is teaching them what to do when it comes time to take all of the West bank. I have no doubt that they are ready to commit violence against others, especially unarmed Palestinians. But will these kids be serving in the IDF when they get old enough? Or will they say that they are too busy studying. That is, when they are not raiding mosques under the protection of the IDF.
Sparta and Helots. We’ll see if that model still works.
It’s kinda like watching an episode of Peaky Blinders, here’s how intergenerational family crime becomes legitimized.
The German problem? It’s an analogue country in a digital world Guardian (Kevin W)
You can always trust The Guardian for bringing the wrong analysis in timely fashion. Don’t you?
The first problem Elliot identifies in Germany (hence the most important) is, apparently some propensity to vote for “extremist parties”.
The second line of the argument has some more truth to it, yet with what in my opinion is a wholly erroneous analysis on the causes, hence mistaken on the solutions. Elliot says with good reason that the German economy relies heavily on heavy energy-intensive industries and is it so loosing competitive advantage because the Ukraine war-induced energy shock and because China (not to mention the US where many companies might supposedly migrate). Thus Elliot’s solution would be to stop being sclerotic and move all business to AI, as the UK is doing.
It is interesting how the author forgets all about the US, the main culprit of the Ukraine war (almost certainly of the NS2 sabotage too as per Sikorsky) and the beneficiary from both energy exports and possible relocation of some German industries. An alternative solution for Germany might be for those extremist parties (this explains the mention of these in the first place) to normalize back relationships with Germany and return to business as usual instead of a very lousy AI shift which brings very little on added value and cannot replace stuff (the real things). But this is of course the unthinkable and Elliot is not going to suggest such a thing.
It’s also incredibly stupid. I mean, isn’t running the policy of shifting “unprofitable” manufacturing to China and other countries how West ended up in the place where it is now? But I guess we will double down, as always.
I almost did a spit-take with my coffee when the author recommended that Germany follow the example of those two shining models of 21st century economic development – the UK and the US!
There are a number of laugh-out-loud “analyses” of what’s wrong with the West in today’s Links. Very entertaining.
These guys and gals want us all in their road to Perdition and if someone disagrees is labelled extremist if not sent straight away to prison.
> Pilot plant demonstrates iron-based hydrogen storage feasibility TechXplore (Chuck lL)
>> However, there’s also a downside to using hydrogen: its production and conversion are inefficient compared to other sources of energy, as up to 60% of its energy is lost in the process
As Don Lancaster said, Water is an ash. Un-ashing ash to refine resources seems pretty particular, especially for energetic needs.
That being said, I like the storage technique. Rust is a surplus resource in Indiana, and I know of no better way to store surplus elemental hydrogen, if you’ve got it.
* I just learned that Don Lancaster died last summer. Here’s his piece I shared the most: https://www.tinaja.com/glib/energfun.pdf
His later work on hanging canals was both practical and fascinating, and the website is worth a wander:
https://www.tinaja.com
Greased AI:
Thanks for the link on the California bill to regulate AI. The ban on government agencies using AI to replace call center workers will definitely make the hair on the back of PMC necks stand up. As California goes …
Will Gruesome Newsom sign it?
The Politico story on France misunderstands and misrepresents the situation. Macron is under no particular pressure to appoint a Prime Minister: indeed, he could theoretically carry on with the outgoing government until next year, or even 2027. There is no legal or constitutional requirement for him to respect any particular timetable, nor to turn first to any particular party or grouping. (The “Left” did not “win” the election, it was just the least unsuccessful of the main groups, and since 7 July has thrown away whatever moral advantage it may have had.)
Under the Constitution, Macron can appoint anyone he likes as PM, including Asterix and the Count of Monte Cristo. That’s not the problem: the problem is that that individual will then have to put together a government, and that government will have to survive an initial vote of confidence and get a budget passed. So far, no possible PM has been mentioned who would be able to do that.
If anyone is interested, I have an essay in progress for publication tomorrow which goes into this in more depth.
Good points. The Belgian scenario looks like it may be the most likely until the next presidential elections.
Alexander Mercouris has some good analysis on the situation and his scenario of appointing Lucie Castets as PM after the NFP falls apart and ditches Mélenchon is plausible. The only thing that I don’t fully agree with him on is that the latter is the big loser. It’s still not clear to me that that’s true and the fact that Macron is double crossing JLM may actually turn out to be in his favour. It would seem more damaging to me if Castets were approved now, continued with the Neoliberal status quo and forever discredited JLM and Les Insoumises as the new Syriza.
Thank you, Aurelien. Waiting for it!
As it was the case with Belgium and others it is possible to manage a country without a Congress-validated Government as we know. I believe this might be the option that Macron will choose.
Looking forward to reading your essay. Macron sounds like a bit of a Netanyahu. What I mean by that is that he is willing to cause all sorts of chaos and damage to his country just so long as he and his friends can remain in power. They guys at The Duran reckon that he will get his way as a large part of the so-called left in the coalition opposing Macron will in the end let Macron will have his way. The only thing that held the coalition together was opposing Marine le Pen during the elections but now that they are well and truly over, they will revert to form and sell out the people that voted for them.
I am no lover of Macron, but I suspect the majority of French citizens are quite happy that no-one is actually ‘running’ France. It gives everyone time to absorb the conveyor belt of changing rules and regulations that seem to cascade from Paris in never-ending rivers. If nothing else happens before 2027 it might just be time for the backlog to dry up.
The UK will have to get used to the same thing now that Fawlty ( h/t David McGrogan) has assumed power.
This will surely scare China.
Ukrainians Flee – Russia Storms Pokrovsk Daniel Davis, YouTube. Good battlefield wrap with a lot of attention to strategic implications ****** “the Dnipier is the largest natural defense barrier..” Bingo. I’m sold on the idea Russia should take the coast and everything to the Dnipier, and not confuse what is best by thinking about winning the peace because there is no peace for Russia to win. Therefore she must focus what is militarily most befendable and proceed on re-establishing deterence and that must include if need be direct nuclear responses upon The West. That must be made extremely clear by Russia.
I suppose that the NATO plan for after the war is to use the rump remains of the Ukraine as a base for sending in sabotage and assassination teams into Russia as well as a place to launch drones from to blow up anything from refineries to schools. But I agree with your idea of Russia needing to take the coast. If they do not, it will just be a place to launch seagoing drones against the Russian Black Sea Fleet and to terrorize the inhabitants of Crimea. The west knows that militarily they have lost this one so will fall back on what they normally do – send in terrorists proxy groups like they did and are still doing in places like Syria.
Dividing Ukraine by the Dnieper is impractical for both Ukraine and Russia for reasons argued here by PK and YS. For instance the most important cities are located in both banks of the river.
That may be true but Russia could, essentially, raze those cities to the ground on the wrong side of the river. We have to remember that we are in a true world war now. Russia will need a DMZ of sorts whether it starts west of the Dneiper or somewhere else.
‘Jonathan Cook
@Jonathan_K_Cook
This is an utterly shocking account from journalist Sarah Wilkinson of her recent violent arrest by 16 counter-terrorism police, several masked, at 7.30am.’
The UK is really being pushed into a “V for Vendetta” future it seems. High Chancellor Starmer anyone? All it needs is some sort of terrorist incident like the IRA repeatedly did many years ago and then Starmer could bring in all sorts of Enabling laws. It used to be thought decades ago that the British Army might be used to take control of the UK but that is not likely as you only have about a 75,000 strong army versus a population of 67 million. The British police on the other hand have a storied history of being biased and heavy-handed – if not brutal – as seen for example in this raid on Wilkinson. It was brutal and it was designed to terrorize and silence her and her family. And it may very well be a sign of the future.
According to Craig Murray, the thugs that raided Sarah Wilkinson’s home demanded to know the exact geolocation of fresh water wells her organisation had developed in Gaza. Clearly such information would only be of benefit to the IDF to then bomb these wells and deprive the Palestinians of fresh water along with the famine and disease tactics to destroy the Gazans. More evidence of deliberate intent to create even more war crimes.
In the meantime, in response to Labour suspending less than 10% of war material to Israel, the chief rabbi of Britain has stormed into Downing Street demanding to know how could Labour do this to its staunch ally in the face of unending terrorism against the poor innocent Israeli army and population.
Is that the same chief rabbi that was part of the plot to remove Corbyn from his leadership of the Labour Party with bs accusations of antisemitism? In America they might call that electoral interference that.
it’s easier to believe that we live in a simulation and those stormtroopers were actually NPCs than human beings being that evil as to help a foreign government destroy water wells to exterminate other human beings faster. I can’t fathom how these people would live with themselves if they weren’t NPCs.
I think we need to understand that we are in WWIII or at least the introduction to it. The current trend is to arrange the battle lines between “them” and “us” and the start the fireworks. For the West to get into the proper spiritual state for supporting brutality in all its forms, democracy must be eliminated to fight “for” democracy. Britain, the home of Orwell, is showing us the way.
As Chris Hedges wrote:
” We don’t fight fashism because we can win, we fight fashism because it is fashism.”
From today’s edition of JVL:
Sarah Wilkinson in her own words
Tue 3 Sep 2024
https://www.jewishvoiceforlabour.org.uk/article/sarah-wilkinson-in-her-own-words/
Re; China
Ignore the saffron skulduggery at your peril:
China-linked ‘Spamouflage’ network mimics Americans online to sway US political debate
As voters prepare to cast their ballots this fall, China has been making its own plans, cultivating networks of fake social media users designed to mimic Americans…
“One of the world’s largest covert online influence operations — an operation run by Chinese state actors — has become more aggressive in its efforts to infiltrate and to sway U.S. political conversations ahead of the election,” Jack Stubbs, Graphika’s chief intelligence officer, told The Associated Press.
Several of the accounts linked to Spamouflage remain active on TikTok and X.
https://apnews.com/article/china-disinformation-network-foreign-influence-us-election-a2b396518bafd8e36635a3796c8271d7
The sick men have set their eyes to swaying susceptible citizens in the upcoming presidential selection– check your facebook feed for more details!
Oh god, if Russiagate was not bad enough, now they are going to go with Chinagate? Really? Wait! They should foil the Russian and Chinese plots for disrupting the election. They should go back to paper votes hand-counted in public so they those damn commies can’t hack the US elections. Sounds like a plan to me.
“They” first need to “go back,” or more accurately just “go,” to an electoral system that produces real popularly selected choices for paper-ballot voting. After, of course, destroying the spoils system and corporate personhood and parties as private corporations and knackering the oligarchy and “getting money out of politics” and instilling commensalism in place of “rigged (/ s) individualism” and defenestrating the PMC in favor of a dedicated civil service immunized against regulatory capture and feudal impulses and instituting national health care and killing off the Fed and financialization and pulling in the imperial forever-global-war and MICMAC.
Maybe then paper ballots, hand-marked and counted in public, might make some utility.
Meanwhile, these kinds of operations really do exist but they’re Israeli and don’t get publicized much
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/15/revealed-disinformation-team-jorge-claim-meddling-elections-tal-hanan
I can’t imagine who China might even prefer in the US elections. They’re all equally horrible on the issues that matter to Beijing. Maybe Trump because he’s more transactional? Who even cares!
I suppose Harris. The US is lost in the short term, so as far as foreign policy, she belongs to that divine right crowd. She simply won’t be able to build alliances of any kind. The US will simply shed members or wind up with severely weakened vassals. Trump is transactional and understands deals sometimes need to have winners on both sides. Though he has doofuses who think they can separate Russia from China in favor of the US. That won’t happen for decades.
But I think she will simply appear more out to lunch as the walls close in on vassals.
She might just do a Biden and hang out at the beach for much of her term. I heard a report today – unverified – that Biden has spent over 500 days away from the White House during his term in office. You’d think that he would have more of a suntan from all that time at the beach.
He’s got that thin, pasty Irish skin, don’tcha know? Tanning not a good look, when showing skin cancers.
I don’t think that China is under any illusions that the US is a democracy and that whoever is the president changes much of consequence.
– ‘Battered and unloved, Germany’s coalition likely to hang on after regional losses to far right’ – Reuters
I had to laugh at this Reuters article warning of the dangerous “far right” uprising brewing in Germany’s East. It’s “far right, far right” etc. all the way down, in barely concealed “Nazis are coming” rhetoric. Then, in paragraph 17:
“A populist leftist newcomer, the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), founded by a former member of the old East German Communist Party, did better than all of three Berlin coalition partners in its first state elections, coming in third place.”
The remaining few paragraphs described the foreign policy position of this “former Communist,” ending with this gem:
“Half the people in Germany are scared of being drawn into a big war,” she said of her demand that Ukraine stop receiving German weapons to defend itself against Russia’s invasion.
“Two thirds of easterners oppose U.S. missiles,” she added – remarks that seemed to reflect Kremlin talking points.”
“Kremlin talking points”! Commies and Nazis comin’! Teaming up against the forces of Enlightenment and Civilization! Like the governments of France, Britain, and the US, German leaders are going to have to stifle “democracy” in order to save it. It’s unfortunate, but when the Kremlin controls the minds of two thirds of your electorate, it’s for their own good.
The Washington Post went overboard with these election results. Their headline was “Far right set to win in a German state for the first time since WWII” if you can believe it. It was like a headline saying “The Nazis are back again in Germany”
They are, but most of them speak “Ukrainian” as their mother tongue. The rest are, of course, the end state of “Western liberalism.” Or the living residue of the Third Reich, paper-clipped onto the levers of power, and their offspring.
It seems the students this year are about to get an education more valuable than what they would otherwise receive from studying their chosen majors.
Here’s to a new generation of Sophie Scholl’s and White Roses.
A university was once a community of scholars, at least that was the ideal. It has devolved. Bloated administration of what amount to hedge funds dominated by donors who run the tuition and fees cash cow while dispensing as little as possible and only approved content … none of that humanities crap. Neo or is it techno-feudalism here we come. And of course bring on the whips and knouts to keep the rabble in line.
Re: New Zealand to nearly triple tax on international tourists :
Meanwhile, Greece, Spain, and Italy (among others) are overrun with tourists, and local governments and residents are pushing back: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/02/travel/europe-tourism-backlash.html?unlocked_article_code=1.H04.scrJ.LevT_H6hhMct&smid=url-share (unlocked article)
Re: signs
Signs don’t vote. I did notice at the UVA football game that the register to vote tablers were greybeards. To me that indicates no enthusiasm and limited coordination.
The structural problem Harris has is none of the early gotv work was done from May through August because of the genocide. Abrams was behind a drive which won the senate seats, but she went all in on Clinton style politics and stumbled instead of adding to what she built. My gut is nothing has been done in Georgia to move the needle.
I saw about a million Harris ads this weekend on various streaming channels. They are spending crazy money apparently.
Two observations; she continues to have that strident, one note tone of voice that I don’t think works well. Also, she says all these things she stands for and what she’ll accomplish, but where has she been for the last 3.5 years? I know the VP has very little power, but she seems to have made no impression as VP. Other than being someone who sort of fell into power.
I can’t believe these are our candidates.
I thought it funny her talking about fixing the border when she has been the Border Czar the past three years – and which is now being denied by Democrat supporters. At least she hasn’t been as bad as Veep as Pete Buttigieg has been as SecTrans.
The VP, as demonstrated by Dick less Cheney, has such power as s/he fronts or can grasp. Even Al Gore did some stuff. The Kam is just knee pads and chair sitting and lashing about.