Links 10/13/2024

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1. Antifa October 13, 2024 at 7:00 am

   BOMBING BEIRUT
   (melody borrowed from No Roots  by Alice Merton and Nicholas Rebscher)

   Pray for martyred souls ‘neath all the smoke and mayhem
   Israeli misanthropes make bloody pieces of them
   Bombs from overseas—what gives America the right?

   The bombs that they create for the Jews to toss around
   The impact shakes and shocks us—death with the next one coming
   Check your extremities! Look see your children are alright!

   Drop two thousand pounds of TNT—for lust and lies!

   Bombing Beirut! Leave your home before they knock it down!
   Bombing Beirut! Flesh and bone the Devil’s come to town!
   Bombing Bei roo oo oo oo oo oot!
   Bombing Bei roo oo oo oo oo oot!
   Bombing Beirut! Leave your home before they knock it down!
   Bombing Beirut! Flesh and bone the Devil’s come to town!
   Bombing Bei roo oo oo oo oo oot!
   Bombing Bei roo oo oo oo oo oot!

   This time it’s not a drill—Oy! Get Grandma to the van!
   Our neighbors want to come—go give them both a hand!
   No more pleasantries—we are two families in flight!

   Hezbollah’s in their bunkers, their missiles taking aim
   They’ve got the target ranges, they’ll set them all aflame
   And the Yemenis—they’ll set the Haifa port alight!

   They took vows and they will lock and load for Jewish crimes!

   Bombing Beirut! Leave your home before they knock it down!
   Bombing Beirut! Flesh and bone the Devil’s come to town!
   Bombing Bei roo oo oo oo oo oot!
   Bombing Bei roo oo oo oo oo oot!
   Bombing Beirut! Leave your home before they knock it down!
   Bombing Beirut! Flesh and bone the Devil’s come to town!
   Bombing Bei roo oo oo oo oo oot!
   Bombing Bei roo oo oo oo oo oot!

   Pray for martyred souls ‘neath all the smoke and mayhem
   Israeli misanthropes make bloody pieces of them
   Pray for martyred souls ‘neath all the smoke and mayhem
   Israeli misanthropes make bloody pieces of them

   Bombing Beirut!

   Beirut!

   Bombing Beirut! Leave your home before they knock it down!
   Bombing Beirut! Flesh and bone the Devil’s come to town!
   Bombing Bei roo oo oo oo oo oot!
   Bombing Bei roo oo oo oo oo oot!
   Bombing Beirut! Leave your home before they knock it down!
   Bombing Beirut! Flesh and bone the Devil’s come to town!
   Bombing Bei roo oo oo oo oo oot!
   Bombing Bei roo oo oo oo oo oot!

   NO!
2. The Rev Kev October 13, 2024 at 7:16 am

   “Two weeks later. Taking stock of storm recovery across Western NC, county-by-county.”

   I have no idea what it is like in the US news but for the news here in Oz, information & videos of the hurricane that hit Florida has entirely pushed off any news from places like South Carolina from any sort of mention, even though that later was hit much harder and over a wider region.
   1. ChrisFromGA October 13, 2024 at 7:56 am

      This part has me a bit suspicious:

      (Number is for Buncombe County, not the entire state)

      As of 4 p.m. on Thursday, 42 deaths as a result of the storm have been confirmed in the official tally. Sheriff Quentin Miller was reporting a death count as high as 72 people last week, before the county started deferring to DHHS’s official count. The reason for the difference in the counts remains unclear.

      (I’m going to presume that the acronym DHHS stands for the North Carolina Dept. of Human Health and Services.)

      Thankfully, I’ve never been in the body counting business, so I have no inside knowledge or “competency” to offer here. But my ability to think does remain intact. There are certainly innocent explanations, like a number mistyped into a spreadsheet. However, it seems to me that a local sheriff on the ground would have a better handle on the number of bodies recovered than a state government bureaucracy would.

      As we have seen in the Russo-Ukraine war, both sides use body counts as propaganda. It seems at least plausible that somebody in power decided to keep things under wraps for a while, in terms of the true number of deaths from the storm. Maybe, until after a certain event in early November?
      1. dougie October 13, 2024 at 8:36 am

         You are correct to trust the numbers from the sheriffs office, IMO. They will be closer to the truth, and also a bit low when all is said and done. After 2 weeks, officials need to start calling a spade a spade and the “missing” what they are……DEAD and buried, unrecoverable.
         1. Carolinian October 13, 2024 at 9:03 am

            A story said that many of the missing in Hendersonville below Asheville had been accounted for. Loss of cell towers and other means of communication undoubtedly contribute to the fuzzy statistics.
            1. dougie October 13, 2024 at 9:16 am

               Let’s hope so. We housed some friends from Hendersonville for a week after they escaped the area the day after the storm. The pictures they shared with us were almost beyond belief.
            2. ChrisFromGA October 13, 2024 at 9:20 am

               Silly me would think that no sheriff would want to or even be legally allowed to declare someone dead until a body is located. So, that’s good news that a lot of the missing are being accounted for, but that ought to be irrelevant to a body count suddenly going in reverse.
               1. KLG October 13, 2024 at 11:57 am

                  Haven’t seen much about this in the news, but unidentifiable bodies are still washing into the downstream lakes in Western North Carolina according to people I know who have second houses in WNC. One colleague said it will be two years before she and her family get in the water at their lake house near Asheville (which survived intact).
                  1. ChrisFromGA October 13, 2024 at 2:51 pm

                     I’m afraid that Hurricane Milton and now the home stretch for Decision 2024 will sweep this whole tragedy under the rug, as far as national media attention goes.
   2. Carolinian October 13, 2024 at 8:43 am

      Here in Upstate SC life has returned to a seeming normal other than piles of wood everywhere and complaints about the slow return of cable internet. Even the recently built walking/biking trail system has been cleared enough to be used. All of which is to say that the storm was catastrophic for some of our wooded areas which the real estate developers were in the process of cutting down anyway.

      But they, and the weather, have a long way to go to eliminate our many many trees.
3. ilsm October 13, 2024 at 8:00 am

   US Ambassador to Lebanon.

   The US “intelligence” establishment thinks that 80 bunker busters constitution crushing a Tet offensive……..

   Second THAAD (first one damaged?) transportable radar for Israel, will be operated by the US Army deployment “package”, that is US soldiers and contractors.

   History rhyming.
   1. Nordberg October 13, 2024 at 10:24 am

      I read on moon of Alabama that the Iranians are claiming they took out a THAAD radar. So maybe damaged.
      1. ilsm October 13, 2024 at 11:42 am

         Could be a material failure, the set has been in use a lot for a long time and things break.
         1. jsn October 13, 2024 at 12:38 pm

            yep, it wore out right after the Iranian missile attack…
   2. Young October 13, 2024 at 3:00 pm

      Tit for Tet

      Or

      THAAD for Tit

      Rhymes either way.
4. The Rev Kev October 13, 2024 at 8:15 am

   “Navy SEAL drowning deaths were preventable, military probe finds”

   Lots of tap dancing in this article, check this bit out-

   ‘But both sank quickly in the high seas off the coast of Somalia, weighed down by heavy equipment they were carrying and not knowing or disregarding concerns that their flotation devices could not compensate for the additional weight. Both were lost at sea.’

   In other words it was all their fault. No it wasn’t. Those waves were crazy high and those men should never have been told to board that ship. It could have waited for better weather but a gung-ho, can-do Navy officer overrode the Seals concerns and ordered them to board that ship. One was taken by the waves and his buddy went to his aid and both died. And then there was the other bit of tap dancing-

   ‘Both were wearing body armor, and Ingram also was carrying radio equipment that added as much as 40 more pounds. Each of the inflatable floats can lift a minimum of 40 pounds in seawater, the report said.’

   Nowhere in that article does it list what weight they were carrying. One guy had 50 pounds of gear so the other guy was carrying then about 90 pounds. They never stood a chance.
   1. Paleobotanist October 13, 2024 at 3:20 pm

      Seals are expendable. My brother was one. He watched two buddies die before his eyes. Three of them were deep diving on hoses. Some idiots up top screwed up their hoses. Mike managed to climb his hose and lived. His two buddies couldn’t. Mike got into trouble for attacking the idiots who messed up the hoses. Lots of young men buy the machismo and so-called glory of being in the special forces, but it’s a lie and they are meant to be disposable.
   2. Bill Buxby October 13, 2024 at 4:06 pm

      > It could have waited for better weather but a gung-ho, can-do Navy officer overrode the Seals concerns and ordered them to board that ship

      With luck he’ll get promoted and kill more Seals.
5. Ben Panga October 13, 2024 at 8:18 am

   Now that’s a meeting!

   From the Indian Punchline article:

   Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi was in Riyadh on Wednesday and was received by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The Saudi readout said they discussed bilateral relations and regional developments as well as the “efforts exerted towards them.” The meeting was attended by Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman, Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah and Minister of State and National Security Advisor Dr. Musaed bin Mohammed Al-Aiban.
   1. The Rev Kev October 13, 2024 at 10:14 am

      Serious people from serious countries having serious meetings. It’s kinda refreshing to see that it is still happening.
6. Lena October 13, 2024 at 8:22 am

   RE: Anxious Democratic voters

   Democrats I know here in the Ohio River Valley are definitely more anxious about the election than Republicans. They are convinced the world will come to an end if Trump wins. They are having trouble sleeping and experiencing a variety of other stress related symptoms. A lot of them are on antidepressants, antianxiety or sleep medications.

   Republicans I know seem a lot more calm. One reason for this may be that they are very religious people. Does their faith act as a buffer to stress? Do they believe God is in control, and therefore whatever happens, it is in God’s hands? None of the Republicans I know are End Times Christians, yet perhaps they do think if the end comes, it is God’s plan. I am speculating here.

   I am anxious no matter who wins. We live in dangerous times. I am a spiritual person but have always struggled with having faith in a benevolent higher power. I have seen few signs over the course of my life that such a power exists.
   1. The Rev Kev October 13, 2024 at 8:32 am

      The fun and games start if election night next month is like election night back in 2016-

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHG0ezLiVGc (5:36 mins)

      Those people should remember to control what they can and live with the rest. Less stress that way.
      1. Hank Linderman October 13, 2024 at 9:19 am

         Words of wisdom.

         Best…H
   2. Randall Flagg October 13, 2024 at 8:37 am

      >I am anxious no matter who wins. We live in dangerous times. I am a spiritual person but have always struggled with having faith in a benevolent higher power. I have seen few signs over the course of my life that such a power exists.

      Signs on a lager scale? I would tend to agree.

      I wonder if those signs of a higher authority are most visible in the very small everyday occurrences. The things that happen in people’s everyday lives that appear to be miracles of some sort. If that makes any sense.
      1. Lee October 13, 2024 at 10:13 am

         A definite yes to all small good things.
      2. LilD October 13, 2024 at 4:11 pm

         I prefer signs on a Pilsner scale but hops is hops
   3. ChrisFromGA October 13, 2024 at 8:41 am

      I’ve come to terms with the fact that either of the two major candidates means more suffering.

      I’ve gone back and forth on which one is more likely to get all of us killed in a nuclear war. Some days, I think its Harris, as she lacks any foreign policy chops, has shown zero evidence of understanding the issues in Palestine and Ukraine, and will get carried away by the neocons like flotsam and jetsam on a raging river. It wouldn’t surprise me if she keeps Biden’s foreign policy team of Blinken and Sullivan intact.

      On the other hand, Trump is unpredictable and prone to impulsiveness, not characteristics you want with the guy with the nuclear football in these times. I can see him going even further in support of Israel than Biden, if that is even physically possible (I don’t think Biden has done a single thing to restrain Netanyahu, other than utter a few remarks indicating frustration with him.)

      Obviously, foreign policy is my number one issue, and it’s a random coin flip on which of these two jokers is more likely to wake up one day to a big “flash” followed by incineration. So, putting your faith in a higher power makes a lot of sense, IMO.
      1. schmoe October 13, 2024 at 9:51 am

         I agree with everything you said, but wonder if either VP will be sidelined or have a seat at the table. I perceive both VP candidates as more knowledgeable than the Presidential candidates for foreign policy, although Walz is more of a blank slate but could not be less knowledgeable than Harris.
      2. ilsm October 13, 2024 at 9:55 am

         In the sole debate Trump referred to nuclear weapons 3 times, in the thread about Ukraine.

         Harris said Ukraine SSR borders are a test of US’ “norms”.

         I would worry more about the one who does not say anything about nuclear war.
         1. CA October 13, 2024 at 12:45 pm

            In the sole debate Trump referred to nuclear weapons 3 times, in the thread about Ukraine.

            Harris said Ukraine SSR borders are a test of US’ “norms”.

            I would worry more about the one who does not say anything about nuclear war.

            [ Perfect, especially since US norms evidently meant moving NATO and NATO missiles ever closer to the borders of Russia while canceling arms treaties with Russia.

            US norms evidently meant arming Georgian forces so that Russian peacekeepers along the Russian border could be attacked. US norms evidently even mean expanding NATO and NATO weapons beyond Russia all the way to China. ]
            1. ChrisFromGA October 13, 2024 at 3:09 pm

               Well, the optimist in me (not much left of him) says that Trump as a business man at least understands that global nuclear war isn’t great for business. Kind of hard to make a deal for commercial real estate when downtown just got pancaked and the gamma rays are still nowhere near their half-life for decay.

               I’d say that is marked to zero.

               As a practical matter, this isn’t a choice worth losing a lot of sleep over. I always fall back to reason, and let’s do a thought experiment that requires assuming 1 miracle:

               Jill Stein wins and is our next President

               AIPAC still owns Congress, and the neocons will still be in positions of power. Her first act is to veto any bill that appropriates one more dime for Israel or Ukraine. Yay! Well, there is still the problem of a 2/3rds majority overriding that, or playing shutdown games and making her into the evil witch who shutdown the government over the Chosen/Zelensky.

               I don’t feel great about how public opinion would fall on that one.

               Long story short, our problems are too deep and we’re too far gone to be saved by one candidate, let alone a single election cycle. A hard rain is gonna have to fall, as Dylan might say.
               1. juno mas October 13, 2024 at 5:38 pm

                  [Verse 5]
                  And what will you do now, my blue-eyed son?
                  And what will you do now, my darling young one?
                  I’m a-going back out ‘fore the rain starts a-falling
                  I’ll walk to the depths of the deepest dark forest
                  Where the people are many and their hands are all empty
                  Where the pellets of poison are flooding their waters
                  Where the home in the valley meets the damp dirty prison
                  And the executioner’s face is always well hidden
                  Where hunger is ugly, where the souls are forgotten
                  Where black is the color, where none is the number
                  And I’ll tell it, and speak it, and think it, and breathe it
                  And reflect from the mountain so all souls can see it
                  And I’ll stand on the ocean until I start sinking
                  But I’ll know my song well before I start singing

                  [Refrain]
                  And it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard
                  It’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall
                  1. Jabura Basaidai October 13, 2024 at 11:53 pm

                     thx
               2. juno mas October 13, 2024 at 5:42 pm

                  Oh, what’ll you do now, my blue-eyed son?

                  Oh, what’ll you do now, my darling young one?

                  I’m a-goin’ back out ’fore the rain starts a-fallin’

                  I’ll walk to the depths of the deepest black forest

                  Where the people are many and their hands are all empty

                  Where the pellets of poison are flooding their waters

                  Where the home in the valley meets the damp dirty prison

                  Where the executioner’s face is always well hidden

                  Where hunger is ugly, where souls are forgotten

                  Where black is the color, where none is the number

                  And I’ll tell it and think it and speak it and breathe it

                  And reflect it from the mountain so all souls can see it

                  Then I’ll stand on the ocean until I start sinkin’

                  But I’ll know my song well before I start singin’

                  And it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard

                  It’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall
         2. JMH October 13, 2024 at 9:24 pm

            Do you see any evidence that Harris has a clue about the issue of your choice? Mine is foreign policy and I have zero confidence in her. One commenter made the suggestion that she might keep Blinken and Sullivan. Now that would be both stupid and terrifying. Those two are died in the wool neocons. Neocons never have a good idea, never admit their failure, and follow up with another even worse idea. Harris with those two whispering in her ear is a nightmare.
            1. ChrisFromGA October 14, 2024 at 8:02 am

               Oh, I commented about Blinken and Sullivan, and no, there is zero evidence that Harris would understand the complex crises (Plural!) we’re facing in the wars in Ukraine and the ME.
      3. anahuna October 13, 2024 at 10:40 am

         Ruminating this morning, it came to me — as it has to so many of you — that concentrating on the “choice” is illusory. One major candidate is (projects the image of) a complacent narcissist whose only interest is basking in adulation, the other endorses genocide while prattling about joy. Barring assassination, choking on a canapé at fundraiser, a giant meteor strike, or nuclear holocaust, we will end up with one or the other That makes all talk of policies or tactics look irrelevant.

         Instead, spurred by Aurélien’s essay on the often irresistible course of human events and also by hurricane Helene, I’ve begun to think that the best analogy is a natural disaster. We are caught up (some shielded, some unmercifully exposed) in something like an earthquake or a hurricane, past the point where human agency can interfere. At most, stand by to pick up the pieces, if any are left, offer what aid we can, and perfect the art of scavenging.
         1. CA October 13, 2024 at 12:17 pm

            “Ruminating this morning, it came to me — as it has to so many of you — that concentrating on the ‘choice’ is illusory…”

            Please do not insult readers.

            I, at least, find a Vice President “endorsing genocide,” beyond comparison with a supposed narcissist. Genocide, at least for me, is beyond moral-ethical comparison.
            1. MaryLand October 13, 2024 at 12:33 pm

               Trump’s son-in-law is a rabid Zionist who could have influence. Either candidate equals more genocide.
               1. anahuna October 13, 2024 at 1:13 pm

                  Thanks for that accurate observation, MaryLand.

                  I was in fact flattering the readers’ intelligence by assuming that everyone knew of Jared Kushner’s role in the Trump White House, his and his father-in-law’s all-out support for Israel, Trump’s promises to his chief donor Miriam Adelson, the fact Trump had withdrawn the US from the JCPOA, and recently, his threat to bomb Iran “to smithereens” for any assassination attempt.

                  If the above list doesn’t give you pause…
               2. Young October 13, 2024 at 3:18 pm

                  On one hand, we have a VP, at least implicitly, supporting genocide. She could resign to express her opposition to genocide.

                  On the other hand, we are supposed to “assume” that Trump, will take SIL’s advice to continue to support genocide.

                  In terms of supporting genocide, maybe Trump deserves a benefit of doubt .
                  1. CA October 13, 2024 at 3:39 pm

                     “On one hand, we have a VP, at least implicitly, supporting genocide. She could resign to express her opposition to genocide.

                     On the other hand, we are supposed to ‘assume’ that Trump, will take SIL’s advice to continue to support genocide…”

                     I very much appreciate this explanation, and am reminded how many Lyndon Johnson administration officials chose to oppose Vietnam War policy. I am also reminded that Ronald Reagan and administration officials worked decisively to stop Israeli attacks on Lebanon.
               3. fringe element October 14, 2024 at 7:23 am

                  Kamala’s husband is another rabid Zionist.
            2. anahuna October 13, 2024 at 1:36 pm

               CA, if I thought that there was even a remote chance that Trump would stop the genocide by any means except assisting the Israelis in completing it, I would become a fervent supporter.
               1. CA October 13, 2024 at 3:25 pm

                  Thank you so much.

                  I simply repeated the comparison that was set down: there being no choice between a Vice President “endorsing” a terribly frightening policy and a supposed “narcissist.” I failed to understand the comparison.

                  I appreciate the explanation.
            3. Anonted October 13, 2024 at 3:09 pm

               Technically, the vice president doesn’t acknowledge the genocide, so there has been no endorsement of it, and that position, however disingenuous, is no less tenable than Trump’s. If you prefer Trump that’s fine, but to gauge him superior on this issue is an act of self-delusion.
            4. JMH October 13, 2024 at 9:30 pm

               Each endorses genocide either explicitly or implicitly.
               1. Jabura Basaidai October 13, 2024 at 11:59 pm

                  absolutely
      4. Dr. John Carpenter October 13, 2024 at 10:08 pm

         Though I really can’t say Trump will be any better, I can say Dick Cheney’s endorsement of Harris should quell any doubts about what her foreign policy will look like.
      5. eg October 13, 2024 at 10:37 pm

         Only one candidate has children and grandchildren whose fate might actually influence behaviour in a way as to fend off extinction …
   4. mrsyk October 13, 2024 at 9:33 am

      I am anxious no matter who wins. We live in dangerous times. Me too, Lena.
   5. Lee October 13, 2024 at 9:35 am

      I am anxious no matter who wins. We live in dangerous times. I am a spiritual person but have always struggled with having faith in a benevolent higher power. I have seen few signs over the course of my life that such a power exists.

      Have you considered non-theistic religions that would seem to rest upon something akin to what the atheist Camus called “certain strange feelings of [existential] fidelity”? Sometimes that’s all one has to go on in the absence of external signs and wonders deemed by one to be positive.

      You might find this little parable by Robert Louis Stevenson of interest. XVII. – Faith, Half Faith and No Faith At All.

      As to the end, it is not to be taken in a literal physical sense but as a positive psychological orientation that carries on in the face of adverse circumstantial vagaries.
   6. Screwball October 13, 2024 at 10:07 am

      Democrats I know here in the Ohio River Valley are definitely more anxious about the election than Republicans. They are convinced the world will come to an end if Trump wins. They are having trouble sleeping and experiencing a variety of other stress related symptoms. A lot of them are on antidepressants, antianxiety or sleep medications.

      I’m in NW Ohio and I can say it is the same here. I have a hunch it is like this all over America. That has been the narrative for a long time and it works. Reading my Facebook page and some local/regional social media sites confirm this.

      When Trump first got elected some local democrats formed a “support” group. They became very politically active, but also had regular meetings. They were like AA meetings for TDS sufferers. They even adopted a stretch of highway to clean, complete with a sign with their group name on it.

      Picking up trash along a busy highway while dodging drivers distracted by phones – what could go wrong – but that sure will show that Trump guy. I couldn’t believe it, and my X was one of them.

      She, like many others, got on the “happy” pills due to Trump. It was his fault, along with all those deplorables who voted for the Orange Hitler, and continue to drive them nuts to this day. Their life revolves around the hate for him and his voters. They are the reasons for everything bad in this world.

      Their (an her) Facebook pages were filled with Trump hate. When the George Floyd thing happened, she got in trouble at work for posting “burn it all down.” This from someone who was known as the sweetest, kindest, and loving person you would ever meet. Not anymore, she turned into a vindictive, hate filled, activist for team Blue. We lost so many friends I couldn’t count them all. It became embarrassing to go out if public. People thought she lost her mind – including me. I was afraid to take her anywhere because she might go off on someone wearing a MAGA hat.

      It is all so crazy. And so sad. Political hate is ripping the social fabric of this country apart. Friends, families, co-workers, you name it. All over a bunch of sleazy, slimy, BS spewing chameleons promising things we will never get.

      Where does it all end? I have no idea, but I have a hunch at some point many people aren’t going to like it.
      1. Lee October 13, 2024 at 11:31 am

         Your X could move to my town and fit right in. I have a good friend who has been in these last several years in the grip of severe TDS, and sees the Democrats as a bulwark against the howling void. I chip away at that and he will occasionally concede a point. For example, he agrees that our political system is a plutocratic oligarchy. Fortunately, our friendship bond is stronger than our political differences. I may yet convince him to vote for Jill Stein if for no other reason than because we live in California and can register our electoral protest without risking that the state will go for Trump.
      2. Chris Cosmos October 13, 2024 at 2:36 pm

         Nice post. It has been so sad to see what has happened to “once leftists” who invented a new left that is actually to the right of the Republican Party. I think, in terms of your X and some of my friends, whose focus has been to “do the right thing” and help others TDS has opened these people up to a dark side they may have had all along but repressed somehow and is only now getting a chance to come out just like the Israelis, once fairly civilized have now become monsters howling for the blood of their enemies. This is why Jesus said “love your enemies” because he saw, as Martin Luther King saw, that hate destroys not the enemy but oneself.
         1. johnnyme October 13, 2024 at 8:40 pm

            I couldn’t agree more.

            “As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn’t leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I’d still be in prison.”

            ― Nelson Mandela
            1. JMH October 13, 2024 at 9:51 pm

               I would not be happy were DJT to win the election. I would not be happy were KDH to win the election. One or the other will do so … at least I hope that is the outcome. Each camp predicts the virtual end of the world, end of democracy or is it “our democracy should the other triumph?” He with do this. She will do that. With DJT you can be sure of some degree of chaos or if you prefer unpredictability. He learned his lessons well from Old Fred and from Roy Cohn. Attack, attack attack. Deny, deny deny. Always claim victory. The others cheated. You know the drill. KDH? Who knows? She is the tabula rasa. Could be anything. I am quite certain the slate is and will remain blank until her handlers write upon it. Who might they be? Obama? Hillary? Others of their ilk? Terrifying thought. Live life one day at a time and this too shall pass.
            2. NoOneFromNowhere October 13, 2024 at 10:51 pm

               ‘Always love – hate will get you every time.’ – Nada Surf
            3. MFB October 14, 2024 at 4:45 am

               I’m afraid if old Nelly had retained at least some of his bitterness and hatred, he’d have been a better President.
   7. Jackiebass October 13, 2024 at 10:13 am

      I used to get stressed out and concerned about who won an election. Experience over the years told me in the long run it really doesn’t matter that much. Things seem to just continue without drastically changing my life. To me there are a lot more important things that effect me than who won an election.
   8. Chris Cosmos October 13, 2024 at 11:07 am

      This “nervousness” has been a constant for some time. Democratic operatives always seemed stressed and “closed” like they were up to something. Republican operatives were more gregarious and articulate. This was back in the eighties and nineties–since then I’ve had little contact with those kinds of people. But, as for ordinary voters, I see intense tension on both sides but the Democrats seem more scared. I avoid talking about politics with everyone–it’s not worth the upset.
   9. wol October 13, 2024 at 11:59 am

      I keep in mind the Einstein quote that the universe is benign.
   10. Mark Gisleson October 13, 2024 at 12:03 pm

       In election years I simply stop speaking to people I disagree with. Holdover from working elections when a buddy would join the other side; no point in ending the relationship, we’d just put it on hold until after the election.

       We routinely grant waivers to relatives (and make an effort to avoid them when tempers are running hot), pausing other relationships makes just as much sense.

       After the election if they can’t let go, well, then you don’t bother to renew the relationship.

       For me, at least, principles and beliefs are more important than friends if only because I cannot imagine enjoying hanging out with people who refuse to engage with the real world and the consequences of forever wars.
   11. flora October 13, 2024 at 12:39 pm

       Meanwhile: the Team Harris memes aren’t working to their advantage.

       From Times of India.

       ‘Disgusting’: Gretchen Whitmer says sorry for Dorito-feeding ..

       https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/disgusting-gretchen-whitmer-says-sorry-for-dorito-feeding-video-after-catholics-say-zero-votes-for-harris/articleshow/114193478.cms
7. Terry Flynn October 13, 2024 at 8:31 am

   Using methamphetamines or their relatives is surprising to me only because it has taken this long for it to become an issue. Let’s be clear here. You do not need to go in search of possibly dodgy “mainstream meth” to enable workers to do the things reported in this article. Get the right physician and you’ll get a nice cheap prescription for an anti-depressant that although now is not thought to metabolise to an amphetamine derivative, it definitely mimics meth in terms of hypomania, particularly when used in conjunction with everyone’s favourite “nasty drug of the early 2020s” Pregabalin.

   I personally “yellow carded” Pregabalin+the MAOI in question to UK authorities when I realised what was going on. Drug induced Hyperthymia has been observed and the hypomania has been proposed to result from monoamine hyperactivity but research is ongoing.

   Patient forums on the web used to astonish me (and yes I’m not afraid to reveal I am speaking from personal experience, coupled with pharmacological knowledge from colleagues): The UK NHS has a very conservative maximum dose of the MAOI I was on at the time; Australia allowed doses that definitely caused interactions with other drugs to induce hypomania whilst the claimed dosages of many USians made my eyes water. I’d always thought this would be an uncommon issue because the MAOI is mega expensive in UK/Australia but I did some digging and found out that in other places like the US it is literally 10% of the price elsewhere, using purchasing power parity. Mental health drug cocktails are becoming too numerous to keep tabs on so I’m guessing these problems of inducing permanent hypomania so as to “work til your heart gives out” will only get worse.
   1. mrsyk October 13, 2024 at 11:44 am

      St Vincent ”Slow Disco”

      I sway in the place to a slow disco
      And a glass for the saints
      And a bar for the road
      Am I thinking what everybody’s thinkin’?
      I’m so glad I came, but I can’t wait to leave
      Slip my hand from your hand
      Leave you dancin’ with a ghost
      Slip my hand from your hand
      Leave you dancin’ with a ghost
      There’s blood in my ears
      And a fool in the mirror
      And the pain of mistakes couldn’t get any clearer
      Am I thinking what everybody’s thinkin’?
      I’m so glad I came, but I can’t wait to leave
      Slip my hand from your hand
      Leave you dancin’ with a ghost
      Slip my hand from your hand
      Leave you dancin’ with a ghost
      Don’t it beat a slow dance to death?
      Don’t it beat a slow dance to death?
      Don’t it beat a slow dance to death?
   2. flora October 13, 2024 at 12:46 pm

      DARPA has a history of trying to scientifically expand and enhance soldiers’ war fighting capabilities. The idea the SEALS could have been overloaded with hardware (or chemicals, or even implants (yes, DARPA is experimenting with things like neuralink tech)) is plausible to me.

      https://futurism.com/neoscope/darpa-nanoparticles-brain-neural-signals

      https://www.darpa.mil/program/next-generation-nonsurgical-neurotechnology
8. mrsyk October 13, 2024 at 8:32 am

   Alex Salmond. Always My Hero. Craig Murray
   1. The Rev Kev October 13, 2024 at 8:40 am

      He never lived long enough to see Scottish independence but when it happens, they will all acknowledge that he set it all in motion.

      RIP
   2. britzklieg October 13, 2024 at 8:48 am

      Sad and depressing news indeed. RIP Alex Salmond.
9. The Rev Kev October 13, 2024 at 8:53 am

   “AH had ‘some good ideas’, a fifth of Gen Z Americans believe according to Daily Mail poll”

   This poll missed a great opportunity by not asking follow up questions. So what were his good ideas? Become a vegetarian? Be kind to animals? Ensure your country has a good highway system? But they never asked. But they did note this-

   ‘A Pew Research poll in 2020 found that while half of U.S. adults knew what the Holocaust was and when it happened, but less than 50 percent could answer how many Jews were killed and when Hitler came to power.’

   Yeah, that kinda does not surprise me at all-

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fA9HHhNHto (2:53 mins)
   1. Chris Cosmos October 13, 2024 at 11:11 am

      Hitler started the autobahn system and VW. He brought people together–however for a kind of messed-up reason, i.e., being against Jews. However, as time as passed his anti-Jewish feelings, widely shared in many cultures at the time, are beginning to resonate considering the Israeli state mimicking the Nazi regime by endorsing, enthusiastically, genocide.
      1. ArvidMartensen October 13, 2024 at 8:04 pm

         Yes, the more the Israelis act like the monsters they complain about, the less sympathy for their genocide in WW2.
         They must feel untouchable. But then most cult members do. It is never a pretty ending. Perhaps their prophecy of the end of times will come true, but not in any way they were expecting.
10. GrimUpNorth October 13, 2024 at 8:54 am

    COVID definitely effects the ability to drive. I caught it and had mild cold symptoms. My driving was no longer risk-averse. Thanks to Lamberts Water-Cooler I knew about cognitive damage so I tested when I forgot my four digit PIN
    I now drive overly cautious, to the point that it annoys other drivers, which has caused some to overtake badly. I have no idea if I’m now OK, but I quite like the cautious driving style, plus my fuel economy has increased.
    1. midtownwageslave October 13, 2024 at 9:34 am

       Anecdotally, this change in driving behavior has been noticible. I find that drivers these days have issues staying within their marked lanes at speed and disregard roadway safety in ways that would happen less often in pre-pandemic times.

       I wonder if autonomous driving systems can compensate…
       1. midtownwageslave October 13, 2024 at 10:30 am

          Speaking of…

          https://x.com/OMG_SillyHumans/status/1844932691726070217
    2. gamesjon October 13, 2024 at 10:38 am

       I think that study is seeing a connection, not between getting Covid & car crashes but of getting Covid & being out of your house more. Since the primary means of going places in the US is by a vehicle & because there are so many deaths from vehicle crashes the group that is out of the house more is going to have more deaths in car crashes.
    3. Des Hanrahan October 13, 2024 at 12:15 pm

       I had to give up driving after Covid . I found myself getting dizzy spells , sometimes with blurred vision . They are less frequent now but I still feel that it is too dangerous to drive .
    4. playon October 13, 2024 at 6:22 pm

       It is definitely a thing. I’m pretty careful now after multiple infections… thankfully I haven’t gotten into any accidents other than slightly denting my car when parking by a wall.
    5. SocalJimObjects October 13, 2024 at 8:33 pm

       This might be more prevalent in places where driving is relatively easier to do. Driving in a third world country where you have to share the road with all sorts of vehicles (scooters, etc) and pedestrians for whom traffic laws are merely suggestions is a lot more challenging and you don’t see traffic accidents spiking up in any noticeable manner.
11. mrsyk October 13, 2024 at 8:55 am

    The Waltz “hunting video”, is damn close to a Dukakis “tank” moment. (That one silly black lab saves it, IMO) Where’s Rove when you need him?
    1. The Rev Kev October 13, 2024 at 9:00 am

       At least he didn’t shoot anybody in the face and had them apologize after nearly dying. There is that.
       1. tegnost October 13, 2024 at 9:41 am

          the modern version of if a tree falls in the forest is if a dem politico shot someone in the forest would the censors let you hear about it…
    2. NotTimothyGeithner October 13, 2024 at 9:41 am

       This campaign is such a joke I suspect it’s gone beyond the usual Team Clinton incompetence to sabotage to keep 2028 open for Mother.

       Also, what is the current obsession with guns?
       1. mrsyk October 13, 2024 at 9:54 am

          Gunz! Current obsession or ongoing, or both? What’s up with campaigning with a gun in hand, more to the point. It seems like Waltz is not very comfortable holding a shotgun (maybe a reason to vote for him?).
       2. Katniss Everdeen October 13, 2024 at 10:42 am

          I don’t believe for a nanosecond that this “race” is “incredibly tight” as we are incessantly propagandized that it is.

          I think Trump is going to blow her away.
          1. mrsyk October 13, 2024 at 11:08 am

             Looks that way to me. There’s a whiff of panic coming from the direction of team blue.
             1. ilsm October 13, 2024 at 12:24 pm

                They repeat 2016, under estimated the amount of cheating.

                2020 they over estimated the ballots printing…..
                1. mrsyk October 13, 2024 at 2:01 pm

                   ….Didn’t they now.
                   “I See Georgia” (Drivin n Cryin)
             2. Michael Fiorillo October 13, 2024 at 2:32 pm

                You can’t beat Somebody with Nobody.
          2. Screwball October 13, 2024 at 11:11 am

             You are not following the narrative. :-)

             Just before I read this I saw a Tweet about the New York Times. Someone named Ezra Klein, who I know nothing about, other than my PMC friends love him, has an article in the Times opinion called “Ignore the polls.”

             Fitting for team Blue, create your own reality.
          3. IM Doc October 13, 2024 at 12:22 pm

             This is purely anecdotal – may just be a local phenomenon – but what if just a share of this is going national?
             I live in a blue hive. I am a Sunday School teacher. I teach the high school up to 30 year old single men. All young men – 18-30. There were 37 of them there today. About half white, half other minorities with a preponderance of Latino. We have been working the past few weeks on citizenship, what it means to be a man, a father, a husband, etc. What are the roles we should fill as young men. What do the historical teachings of the Gospels, St Paul, and 2000 years of church history have to say about these issues. One of those things I am really working on with them is just the simple act of PARTICIPATION. This is very difficult – their world is completely different from mine when I was 20. The most fundamental aspect of this is VOTING. We talk all the time about voting being important but to really impact their world they have to engage it. But with regard to voting and much to my surprise – a few of them this AM wanted to do a mini straw poll of what they thought as a group – completely anonymous. So we did.

             Only 6 of them had voted in 2020 – it turns out 5 Biden 1 Trump.

             For this year – 2024 – all but 11 had already registered to vote. Those 11 were roundly chastised by the others – who knew – it is now the important thing to vote. The completely anonymous straw vote for those 37 young men – 31 Trump 6 Harris. I would say that more likely than not – many, certainly not all, are motivated and will show up. Unlike most years, these kids seem truly motivated. They are living in the world that has been a served up shit sandwich for them and it has gotten their attention.

             Are these kids who have never voted before being counted in these polls? Is this going on everywhere else? Not sure – but this could be a wild card in this election.

             Interestingly with much fanfare this week was released the Weekly Reader straw poll – somehow just for the State of California – the numbers were in the ball park of Harris 65 Trump 35. I cannot remember where I read this – but it was in an article whose basic premise was YOU SEE, HARRIS WILL WIPE THE FLOOR WITH TRUMP.

             A quick look back for the past 2 cycles reveals that Trump got about 12-15% of that vote. All that tells me is the kids have been listening to Mom and Dad – and even in bright blue CALIF there is a fairly significant erosion for Team Blue.
          4. XXYY October 13, 2024 at 4:06 pm

             The truth is, campaign leaders always claim the race is incredibly tight, regardless of the reality. If you are losing badly, you don’t want to discourage your donors, volunteers and supporters, and if you are way ahead, you don’t want them to get complacent.

             I have worked on campaigns where the leadership knew from internal polls we were going to lose by a mile, but they needed to keep everyone working up to election day so we were always told it was too close to call. Maybe if you are good at reading the campaign’s body language, or know an insider high up in the campaign, you may suss out what’s really happening.

             I would say if the candidate pretends to go hunting the third Saturday before the election, that’s not a good sign.
             1. Stubbins October 15, 2024 at 12:32 am

                I can confirm this phenomena.

                I worked on a local campaign that only started to privately express some confidence that we were way ahead and likely to win a week or so from the vote. I was one of perhaps 8 in the innermost circle, and even I wasn’t told how favorable the polling was until it was almost election day. We won by a double digit percentage.
          5. ArvidMartensen October 13, 2024 at 8:15 pm

             My theory is that the people ‘managing’ the voting machines need to say it is tight, even though it isn’t.
             Because if the current strategy is to have a “computer glitch” that gives it to Harris round 11 pm or so, then it will only be believable if the polls say the race is “tight’. Fiji was a test bed.
             If the current polls rather give it, say, 54 to 46 for Trump, then flipping the results round 11 pm would look just like it is. Oops.
             Also, I think if there was a miracle and Trump were to both survive and win, then the narrative could be that the Russians hacked the voting machines and so the result is null and void. And since it would take 4 years to get to the bottom of it, then Harris could be a caretaker Prez for the allotted time.
             Living in interesting times.
    3. Katniss Everdeen October 13, 2024 at 10:36 am

       The more things change, the more they stay the same. From 2004:

       John Kerry brought his campaign for president to a duck blind here in far eastern Ohio Thursday morning, and while he did manage to clip one goose, he was really aiming for undecided voters in this battleground state.

       Senior adviser Mike McCurry was quite direct this week in saying that the two-hour predawn hunting trip was another attempt to get voters to know Kerry, who has had some issues with his so-called likeability factor…
       —
       On Thursday morning, in fact, he happily emerged from the blind wearing a camouflage jacket and holding on to a 12-gauge shotgun — but somebody else toted the dead goose.

       “I’m too lazy,” Kerry joked.

       Didn’t work for him any more than the tank fiasco did for dukakis if I recall.

       https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A50527-2004Oct21.html
       1. Mo's Bike Shop October 13, 2024 at 2:26 pm

          Geez, hunt the ducks with the tank.

          These people have no imagination.
          1. maria gostrey October 13, 2024 at 7:58 pm

             i give you arturas zuokas, the mayor of vilnius, lithuania, who won the 2011 ignoble peace prize for demonstrating that sometimes the best solution is, in fact, a tank.

             https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=V-fWN0FmcIU
       2. bertl October 13, 2024 at 4:22 pm

          And just what the world expects and trusts: an American with a loaded gun ready to kill anything which moves on sight.
    4. Socal Rhino October 13, 2024 at 11:00 am

       Contrast this with Vance taking interviews from hostile venues. On the same day Walz was receiving ridicule for his apparent unfamiliarity with his firearm, Vance was explaining his perspective on the decline in labor force participation among domestic working class members.
       1. mrsyk October 13, 2024 at 11:10 am

          Lol! When’s brunch?
       2. IM Doc October 13, 2024 at 1:25 pm

          And just have a look at this one today – straight from the Trump campaign –

          Raddatz was really trying hard to let him have it………

          And then this

          https://x.com/TrumpWarRoom/status/1845463966782230686

          “Do you hear yourself?” –

          He is not really my cup of tea…..but that is a question that has gone through my mind repeatedly while watching our media. And give him at least that credit – he has the gumption to ask it.

          It is now really beyond a shadow of a doubt – Trump made a much better selection than Harris.

          Someone who can at least think on his feet – vs a combo of Elmer Fudd/Uncle Fester/Fred Mertz
          1. Pat October 13, 2024 at 2:26 pm

             And this pick is the one with the highest odds of becoming President. If Trump is elected, the odds are high that he won’t make it through his term. And Walz will have been part of the team that lost to him. Anyone heard from Tim lately? If Harris wins, Walz will still be in a good position to challenge her in four years. And not for nothing I think once Trump is not a possibility, the absolute shit show that has been the Biden administration and that the Harris admin would be will be utterly apparent to everyone even if the media keeps cleaning up on aisle 3, 5, 7…. Walz will be toast either way. The sad part is that if he had the smarts to step away from the offer, he probably would have been a contender in 28 or 32.

             I dread the coming years for so many reasons, but the truth is that if I had to pick a President from the four people from the major party tickets while I might think both from the undercard were more palatable but I would probably go Vance in a squeaker. And I still wouldn’t be happy.
             1. Pat October 13, 2024 at 4:49 pm

                Never write while also listening for timer buzzers…
                That should be ‘anyone heard from Tim Kaine recently’, ‘Vance will still be in a good position to challenge her in four years’ rather than Walz. And most importantly ‘while I think both from the undercard were more palatable I would be hard pressed to vote for any of them” and ‘but I would…’ should be a whole new sentence.
                That post was as bad as a Harris word salad.
          2. marym October 13, 2024 at 3:32 pm

             Someone really thinking on his feet would have suggested deporting all the slumlords!

             https://apnews.com/article/venezuela-immigrants-aurora-colorado-police-37acd4e064347d51808cb244117ac21e
             1. IM Doc October 13, 2024 at 4:02 pm

                As usual, I remember just a few short weeks ago, when the media was telling us all that this Aurora situation was a total lie – that anyone making this up was a conspiracy nut.
                Kind of like your article – which stands in direct opposition to the statement the Aurora made a few weeks ago.

                Why would Raddatz even say this today – if this was all being made up?

                As has been usual with this narrative shifting over the past several years, we have now entered the phase of the narrative, usually step 3, where “oh well, it is happening, but it is just a little bit.” Look at the clip, this is exactly what Raddatz did. If things continue as they have, the next step will be “of course it is happening – and aren’t you happy – it is going to do wonders for the diversity in our community. If they are destroying your community, so what, at least it is diverse.”

                This narrative shifting has gone on far too long – and it has been used to literally hasten the deaths of so many of my patients with COVID – and literally tears the fabric of our society to shreds. Some people still do live by truth.

                To actually have someone on live TV call out the nonsense is refreshing. I may not like him, I may not agree with him – but about that I have the utmost in respect and gratitude.

                There are zero slums in my little town. But it did the sanctuary thing long ago. This was all well and good until we have now begun to have multiple incidents – illegal immigrants – one of which was from Venezuela – literally let loose from prison in their home countries and crossed our border without a care in the world. They have now caused very unfortunate events. It has been the talk of the town for months and not in a good way for the Biden administration.

                I do not believe anyone I know is opposed to immigrants if they are vetted screened and made sure they are not hardened criminals from back home. My own wife is an immigrant for God’s sake. But that is clearly not what has been done the past few years.

                Minimizing this from the media is just among the most reckless things I have ever seen. Thankfully, someone is standing up to the arrogance. Of that I am most thankful.

                And I have family members in that city. It is apparently well known that this has happened. The lying from the media is so intense that again – who am I to believe – my family members or the media……the same media that said the COVID vaccines were safe and effective, that said the laptop was not real, the same media that has promoted and championed unsafe medications for decades, the same media that was Russia Russia Russia – the same media that was telling us that inflation was under control?

                Who are we to believe? – I have gotten to the point where I believe people who are on the ground……the media not so much.
                1. marym October 13, 2024 at 6:52 pm

                   The link I posted was from a few weeks ago, just after Trump’s remarks about immigrants at a Fox Town Hall.

                   Vance has said that he kept up the Haitian story as a way to talk about the border. There are serious issues at stake regarding “the border.” We should talk about them. I’ve moved to the right myself from “in this house liberal” toward something like what you describe as not opposing “immigrants if they are vetted screened and made sure they are not hardened criminals from back home.” Talking about immigration in a way that moves people toward that position (from either direction) won’t be accomplished by demonizing entire demographics with false or exaggerated stories.

                   I don’’t agree that putting arguably important issues on the table in Trump’s or Vance’s individual styles of vilifying major groups of largely ordinary people, and fantasizing ways to control, harm, or eliminate them, is a productive way to address those issues. It would be like saying there’s a path to some socially or economically beneficial outcome in considering an entire segment of the population as deplorable
                   1. IM Doc October 13, 2024 at 7:22 pm

                      I agree – and unfortunately – the media is just as likely to be putting out false and misleading stories – maybe more so.

                      That is the entire root of the problem. When you have the media putting out all the lies they do, no one knows who to believe anymore. When my family members in that area of the world know there is a problem – and that the problem is happening in multiple other areas of the country – who do they believe? Their own eyes or the media that has lied to them repeatedly. And when Trump takes up the mantle, all the media lying and distortion add credibility to his statements.

                      This is an extremely dangerous time. We cannot proceed anew until the lying and exaggerations stop in the media now.

                      I understand today that massive layoffs are coming to ABC and CBS. It cannot happen to a better bunch of people.
                2. KLG October 13, 2024 at 6:54 pm

                   Speaking of undocumented immigrants from Venezuela, there was this atrocity recently. Let us just say that the local government fell flat on their faces making excuses for their “sanctuary city” trope. A university student is murdered in Athens about once every 25 years. This made a deep impression on the perceived lack of control of the southern border of this country.
             2. flora October 13, 2024 at 4:02 pm

                That’s a New Deal Dem idea. Man, I miss the New Deal Dem party.
                1. JMH October 13, 2024 at 10:03 pm

                   So do I. It was in the hands of adults.
          3. Randall Flagg October 13, 2024 at 8:28 pm

             >Raddatz was really trying hard to let him have it………

             And then this

             https://x.com/TrumpWarRoom/status/1845463966782230686

             “Do you hear yourself?” –

             That was the beauty of that reply and it completely highlights how out of touch the MSM is with the average person with their cheerleading, “fact checking” and other nonsense. According to Raddatz, it was only a handful of apartment complexes. Like it’s no big deal. To which I would respond ( And I Wish Vance had also mentioned), “Of course, unless you happen to live in one of those complexes. Then everyday is a mystery as to if you or your kids going to make it through the day unharmed.”
             Sweet Jesus they ( the MSM lackeys) won’t get it until they themselves are harmed by all this. When their gated communities or high rise are invaded.

             Cue the media whining, why does no one trust us?

             Like someone once said, “who are you going to trust, me ( the MSM), or your lying eyes?
             And everyone can see with their own eyes ( and video, Tic Tok, X, you name it), what the hell is going on around here.
    5. ilsm October 13, 2024 at 11:49 am

       I would rather hunt with Dick Cheney
       1. flora October 13, 2024 at 4:12 pm

          I watched those several Walz ‘governor’s opening day hunt’ videos, (it’s a thing in the Midwestern pheasant hunting areas), and thought to myself, “No wonder no hunter is walking in front of him.” / ha. Guy does not know how to handle the shotgun he’s using by all appearances, ( a very good, well balanced shotgun by descriptions).
          1. flora October 13, 2024 at 5:13 pm

             adding: hunters comfortable with other hunters’ skills walk in a line. The young or new or questionable hunters walk in front of the line. It’s a matter of experience and hunting safety.
             1. JMH October 13, 2024 at 10:06 pm

                I was taught to stay out of the line of fire when I was maybe 8 or 10. The army reinforced it. Doesn’t matter if its guns or bows or spears or rocks. You stay out of your side’s line of fire.
    6. Jason Boxman October 13, 2024 at 2:30 pm

       Heh, I was just old enough to remember that commercial, that it happened, at least, and I thought it was awesome there was some dude in a tank. None of it otherwise made any sense to me at the time.
12. Psyched October 13, 2024 at 8:55 am

    I read the news here everyday and I am constantly nagged by the question, with all of these calamities, what is the one thing we should be focused on that is the root of all of these problems (climate change, corruption, economic inequality, war)?
    1. Butch October 13, 2024 at 10:21 am

       Economic inequality impairs the ability to adequately prepare for tomorrow, let alone whatever future may exist beyond that.
    2. Katniss Everdeen October 13, 2024 at 10:30 am

       Corruption. Of galactic proportions.
       1. LifelongLib October 13, 2024 at 3:05 pm

          Corruption is bad, but would our system in the U.S. be good if it were functioning completely as legally mandated? I have to say no. Our problems are more fundamental than that.
          1. JMH October 13, 2024 at 10:29 pm

             Had it been functioning as legally mandated many, if not most, of the problems would have been mitigated if not prevented and those responsible would have paid the price, fines(?) prison(?) businesses broken up (?) Education might be less enshittified. The social democracy of the 30 years after the War might not have been allowed to devolve as deeply into neo-liberalism or as I think of it parasitic capitalism. (A re-run of the the Gilded Age, the era of the robber barons, is not a positive.) Yeah … All things considered I would take the system functioning as it is supposed to and as it did to a great degree during those 30 years. I know it seemed better to me … with all the problems.
    3. mrsyk October 13, 2024 at 11:19 am

       Instinctual behavior of advanced primates?
       Cat videos?
       Bono?
       Edit, Dominion is my final answer.
       1. Keith Newman October 13, 2024 at 2:06 pm

          I hope you’re not dissing cat videos! I love cat videos!
          1. mrsyk October 13, 2024 at 5:45 pm

             Me too! I once saw an exhibit at the museum of the moving image dedicated to the craft. Morris (“time for dindin”) got star treatment, as did Naru.
    4. Chris Cosmos October 13, 2024 at 11:27 am

       A culture that becomes more and more narcissistic every day. Our political problems are old ones–but our cultural disintegration in terms of morality, meaning, and hyper-materialism/consumerism is still the main reason for our clear decling. Remember, in the US lifespans have been going down for some time. This is undereported and seldom talked about. We are the only country that I know of that does not have guaranteed health-care for citizens and the only country not at war with declining lifespans. This “malaise” is reflected by the fact we are the cause, around the world, of almost all global problems particularly war, war, war and intimidation, threats and bribery because of cultural narcissism.

       All we can hope for is that we can have the freedom to grow as a society rather than be stuck in this selfish anti-social cultural environment.
    5. wol October 13, 2024 at 12:15 pm

       I commented to the Ms that TDS sufferers (and likely most people) hadn’t done their Jungian ‘shadow work.’ Synchronistically this showed up in my utube feed last night: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdpmRowl-jc (20:27) Orwell + Jung. Good graphics, FWIW.
    6. Jeremy Grimm October 13, 2024 at 2:22 pm

       I read the news here everyday, but instead of looking for the root of all these problems I try to gauge what outcomes the many problems forebode and how can I avoid being caught in the blowback. I believe knowing the root of any of these problems would offer little solace or aid to surviving what the future holds. I have no power to change what is to come.
    7. flora October 13, 2024 at 3:12 pm

       My 2 cents? There is an ideology behind everything you mention; an ideology that hides itself from the wider public very deliberately.

       This from Philip Mirowski in the spring 2018 Ameridan Affairs Journal.

       Neoliberalism: The Movement That Dare Not Speak Its Name

       https://americanaffairsjournal.org/2018/02/neoliberalism-movement-dare-not-speak-name/

       adding: “The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their proper name.” – Confucius
    8. Psyched October 13, 2024 at 3:41 pm

       Thank you. All very helpful answers.

       I agree for the most part that we are left to just protecting ourselves, but that seems incongruent with my empathy. So I will keep harping on climate change and neoliberalism as well has having people look inward.
    9. aletheia33 October 13, 2024 at 4:10 pm

       hubris.
    10. ArvidMartensen October 13, 2024 at 8:37 pm

        A society that has evolved to reward the sociopaths and narcissists with most of the money and all of the power.

        They lack a theory of mind and so this makes them dangerous to all other creatures, and the planet.
        They lack empathy and this frees them to do horrific things to further their own dominion. Israel.

        The capacity for empathy and love should be the mandatory qualities in leaders.
    11. Jonathan Holland Becnel October 13, 2024 at 9:24 pm

        Bankers.

        Finance Capitalists.

        Make the Public Great Again!
    12. Henry Moon Pie October 14, 2024 at 3:22 am

        This is an excellent subthread with lots of good nominees.

        Where do you look if you’re living in a system that’s behaving poorly, even destructively? Donella Meadows argued that the second most powerful leverage point is the goal of a system. I don’t think it’s very hard to determine what the goal of our system is if you evaluate the choices made in various contexts ranging from Covid to climate to housing to food production. The goal of our society is to maximize profit, or more accurately in a financialized system like ours, to maximize return on capital. That such a goal serves a tiny minority of powerful people is obvious, yet the goal seems impermeable to change or serious challenge.

        What does Meadows argue is the most powerful leverage point? Paradigm. Paradigm is the worldview that most people hold. In the U. S., I think one-who-dies-with-the-most-toys-wins sums it up pretty well. That makes us a culture that obsessively competes at an individual level to acquire and consume, and it makes challenging that profit-uber-alles goal all but impossible.

        Donella Meadows, Thinking in Systems
        1. Jonathan Holland Becnel October 14, 2024 at 3:06 pm

           Thank you for this comment, HMP!

           Hold you’re holding up, big dawg!
13. The Rev Kev October 13, 2024 at 9:32 am

    ” ‘Prepare for post-Hezbollah phase’ US envoy tells Lebanon as Israeli massacres intensify”

    ‘US Ambassador to Lebanon Lisa Johnson has asked political forces in the country to “prepare for the post-Hezbollah phase, where its control over the state and its institutions and the state’s border crossings is no longer permitted.”’

    Say, does anybody remember that time during the Blitz in WW2 when London was being bombed by the Luftwaffe, how the US Ambassador to the UK ‘asked political forces in the country to “prepare for the post-Churchill phase, where its control over the state and its institutions and the state’s border crossings is no longer permitted”? ‘ Even the US War Department thought that the British would break.

    This is just wishful thinking on Lisa Johnson’s part as the Lebanese know that the Israelis want to push them out of the southern half of their country and bring back the settlers again to stay this time. And to the Israelis, the Lebanese are just more subhumans.
    1. Mikel October 13, 2024 at 10:12 am

       Some of the other things I see and hear in various media:

       As the war continues to expand in the Mid-East, the line from various govt officials on all sides is that they are trying to stop the wars from expanding.

       In MSM: Anything Israel does is not treated like an expansion of war by officials in the West, only other Mid-East countries responses (especially Iran’s) are considered to be a threat of expansion of war. Thus, the US, Israel and associates can expand war in the region as much as they want and Iran (and other countries) can only respond “legitimately” when they are attacked directly.

       Iran has allies, however, as a bloc their primary concern at the moment is getting together a payments system that helps their corporations and elites avoid sanctions from the West.

       Israel has more financial and military support from around the world than Ukraine (who is fighting a more powerful military), however, one of the narratives making rounds is that Israel will collapse from within and by that time (after suffering years of destruction, death, disease, and population loss) the other countries will rise from those ashes. Then, there is some assumption that all the countries that helped Israel will then be gung-ho about helping the other bombed out countries for the benefit of the people they previously watched (and helped) get bombed to hell.

       I suppose there is no better way in the minds of other govts to ensure they determine the future of the countries in the Mid-East. Imagination appears to be lacking among too many global leaders and institutions to consider any other alternative.
    2. NotTimothyGeithner October 13, 2024 at 10:25 am

       -the US is likely paying for “intelligence” and more accurately paying for what they want to hear.

       -this seems like a less ambitious version of the dead Abraham Accords that American dimwits were still discussing earlier in tge year. If Beirut surrendered and follows Israel dictates, profit!
    3. danpaco October 13, 2024 at 11:57 am

       Headlines like this put the pager bombings into perspective.
       If regime change is the goal then prevent the regime from delivering civil services when the bombs really start falling.
       The civilian corp of EMTs, doctors, firefighters, etc, seems to me to have been the real target.
       1. hk October 13, 2024 at 1:22 pm

          They’ve already succeeded at destroying those services at home…
    4. ilsm October 13, 2024 at 12:16 pm

       Israel had a U.S. puppet in Beirut in the ‘60’s long difficult evolution to overcome.

       The PMC thinks Lebanon will go back to that.

       Different world.
    5. JBird4049 October 13, 2024 at 12:20 pm

       >>>Even the US War Department thought that the British would break.

       Thinking back on this, my British grandmother was a raging pacifist of the no war with anyone for any reason variety because of her experiences starting with the Blitz, but the idea of giving up, of not fighting the people dropping bombs on the hospitals, schools, apartments, and homes up and down western England, including those she was living in at the time, never, ever seemed to have occurred to her, I would say.

       I never talked about this when any of them, but I get the impression that the worse things became or the more that was discovered, from the bombings to fighting up through Italy, France, even to parts of Eastern Europe, to personally finding some of the work and/or exterminations camps, the less forgiving, the more determined, and the more ruthless they became.

       That I can say that I personally knew, hell, was raised in part, by such people, and yet we have these elites doing what they are doing today, pretending, maybe even believing in a world without consequences for themselves excepting more wealth and status is horrifying and yet so insulting. It mocks.

       Truly, we need another Nuremberg along with hangmen, and I do not speak in hyperbole for we truly need a reckoning of court, judge, and jury; anything to unmask all the filth for whatever the shame I might feel for my country, I would welcome and even be proud of it if it does so.
14. Katniss Everdeen October 13, 2024 at 9:44 am

    This Tucker Carlson interview is an eye-opening deep dive into how kamala got where she is.

    Harmeet Dhillon is an Indian American lawyer who ran in the same SF circles as kamala when k was “coming up.” Interesting commentary on SF politics and california politics generally.

    Long, but can be listened to in shorter, very interesting pieces.

    https://rumble.com/v5ibbnx-harmeet-dhillon-the-shocking-origin-story-of-kamala-harris-and-all-the-crim.html
    1. Butch October 13, 2024 at 10:29 am

       Thank you Katniss. Here’s the transcript https://www.happyscribe.com/public/the-tucker-carlson-show/harmeet-dhillon-the-shocking-origin-story-of-kamala-harris-and-all-the-crimes-she-s-committed
       1. The Rev Kev October 13, 2024 at 10:56 am

          Thanks for those links, Katniss & Butch. I’m about halfway through it and find it incredible that she is where she is. A career of failing up every step of the way.
          1. Chris Cosmos October 13, 2024 at 11:29 am

             This “failing up” is not uncommon in the corporate and political world in the US.
          2. Tom Stone October 13, 2024 at 12:24 pm

             In SF it’s easier to Fail up if you are really good at going down.
             1. flora October 13, 2024 at 1:57 pm

                an aside: in the cringe ‘I’m a man for Harris’ video on twtr-X the young guy sitting on the pickup truck’s tailgate says something like “I’ll open my mouth up wide for Harris to say….” Lemme tell ya, that has not gone unnoticed in the meme-o-sphere. / ;) (I’m bad.)
    2. Mark Gisleson October 13, 2024 at 12:11 pm

       I listened to the whole thing and had to correct some of my thoughts about Harris. I keep forgetting how old Willie Brown already was when they hooked up, and that it wasn’t really what most folks would call a long-term relationship. Just a useful one.

       Dhillon came across as the person Harris wants us to believe that Harris is: sober, serious, well-informed and competent. All areas in which Harris is noticeably deficient.

       It’s a very long interview but it backgrounds well. More proof that when it comes to Harris, there is no there there.
    3. flora October 13, 2024 at 12:55 pm

       Thanks for the link.
    4. Screwball October 13, 2024 at 3:37 pm

       Worth a listen or read. I did the transcript. I found the conversations about the political machines and how it all works quite interesting. And of course Harris sure knew how to play that. I guess we have to give her credit for that. /s

       She is the perfect candidate for the disgustingly corrupt machine we have running this country.

       Carlin was spot on – they don’t give a **** about you.
15. mrsyk October 13, 2024 at 9:47 am

    Israel Data Show Hundreds of Structures Damaged in Iran’s Attack, (Bloomberg). “Tax authority says a total of 2,500 claims filed so far Many private homes, apartments damaged in missile barrage”
    Seems like Iran scored some hits “in the vicinity of north Tel Aviv”.
    1. The Rev Kev October 13, 2024 at 10:25 am

       There was an article in the Guardian about a week or two ago saying how life was normal in Tel Aviv and the people just living their lives and not noticing the war. I guess things have changed. Wouldn’t want to work for an Israeli insurance company right now. They could get very busy.
       1. hk October 13, 2024 at 1:51 pm

          I wonder if they could cite Israeli government spokescritters and refuse to pay up, while condemning those who filebinsurance claims as Hamas-Hizb’ullah-Iran agents. (Not sure if I’m being snarky or serious.)
16. The Rev Kev October 13, 2024 at 10:04 am

    “Milley calls Trump ‘a fascist to the core’ in new Woodward book”

    ‘Former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair and retired Gen. Mark Milley has called former President Trump “a total fascist” and believes he is the most dangerous person to the U.S., according to excerpts from the forthcoming Bob Woodward book.’

    Can’t Milley just learn to ‘fade away’? He and Woodward are doing election interference less than one month out from the elections. He always was a political general who would suck up to whoever was President. If when he served under Trump he realized that he was “a total fascist”, then he should have resigned his commission at protest over Trump but he didn’t. He said he did once think about it when Trump went across the road to St. John’s church ‘because his presence created a perception of military involvement in domestic politics.’ But if that was true, why did he wear Army fatigues instead of a business suit?

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Milley#Unsent_resignation_letter

    At least since then he is doing very nicely thank you very much. He joined the faculties of Georgetown University & Princeton University, became a senior adviser to JPMorgan Chase bank and joined the Harry Walker Agency, a speakers’ agency.
    1. lyman alpha blob October 13, 2024 at 11:29 am

       I may be mistaken since there is no shortage of high ranking, bloodthristy military types for whom war is no personal threat, but I believe it was Milley who told us a few years back how much better sex is right after you’ve murdered some people.

       I’ll take my cues on who’s a fascist from someone a little less vicious and a lot more peaceable, thank you very much.
       1. steppenwolf fetchit October 13, 2024 at 7:52 pm

          I’ve never heard that about Milley. Is there a link to that?

          I found a link about a police trainer saying it to some police trainees.
          https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/police-trainer-best-sex-killing/
       2. The Rev Kev October 13, 2024 at 8:17 pm

          That might have been said by US Marine General Jim Mattis.
    2. Carolinian October 13, 2024 at 12:37 pm

       Can’t Woodward just fade away? He was always the reputational button man for the fake liberal DC establishment. A recent book on Pat Nixon suggests that even back in the Watergate era he was making shit up with the more salacious bits in The Final Days.

       But then “too good not to print” was the watchword for Nixon as it is now for Trump. The most delusional thing about our Press Corpse is not their roster of “bad guys” but their self righteous certainty that they are the good guys. Apparently the yellow press days have been forgotten and respectability acquired via journalism degrees. The old timey apprenticeship system was a lot better.
       1. Carolinian October 13, 2024 at 1:24 pm

          Speaking of bipartisan hackery (Woodard was once a Republican) Gilbert Doctorow links this new piece by the great Ken Silverstein. It seems Blinken, co founder of WestExec Advisors, is deeply in bed with the arms makers.

          https://www.washingtonbabylondc.com/p/recent-hiring-spree-westexec-advisors

          “Among the senior WestExec executives who went on to take jobs in the new administration were incoming Secretary of State Antony Blinken, one of the company’s four co-founders who’d been Obama’s principal deputy national security advisor and whose family name will forever be stained due to his central role promoting Israeli genocide; Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, who during her years as CIA Deputy Director “was sometimes summoned in the middle of the night to weigh in on whether a suspected terrorist could be lawfully incinerated by a drone strike,” Newsweek wrote in 2013; and David Cohen, her replacement as Deputy Director who previously worked at the Treasury Department where he helped write the section of the USA PATRIOT Act and subsequently became known as a “financial Batman.”

          WestExec is often described as a Democratic firm, but Crouch is a dyed-in-the-wool Republican. He worked at the Pentagon under Presidents George W. Bush, George H.W. Bush, and Ronald Reagan, and was a military advisor to former Wyoming Senator Malcolm Wallop.”

          Silverstein says there’s not a dime’s worth of diff between the Dems and Trump on this and that may be true but surely ejecting Biden and his veep protege will be worth it and send a message. Keeping them says they can truly get away with anything including a demented president and a tongue tied incompetent with a PR department to sub for a resume.
17. SocalJimObjects October 13, 2024 at 10:09 am

    Indonesia is proactively banning Temu from the country, https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/indonesia-asks-apple-google-block-chinas-temu-protect-small-merchants-2024-10-11/.

    On one hand I support the move because small and medium merchants are indeed the backbone of Indonesia’s economy, but at the same time the country does not have a coherent digital strategy other than “forcing” foreign companies to bail out under performing local champions like Tokopedia. In the end nothing is going to fundamentally change in Indonesia as long as the old dinosaurs are not broken up, although one of them i.e. Djarum Group certainly does not seem to mind throwing money year after year into their loss making e-commerce unit, Blibli.
    1. The Rev Kev October 13, 2024 at 10:31 am

       I’m expecting calls in countries like Oz to ban Temu because all that information goes back to China which is a “security threat”. Just like they said with Tik Tok. My wife and daughter use Temu not only because it is so cheap but the stuff they sell you cannot literally find in any store. It’s just not on the shelves.
       1. eg October 14, 2024 at 7:16 am

          My experience with Temu has been mixed — good for clothing but the razor blades have been terrible.
          1. The Rev Kev October 14, 2024 at 7:29 am

             The blade sets for shaving the fur of our dogs have proven great quality at a real cheap price but clothing from Temu can be a bit of a hit or miss affair they find.
18. Terry Flynn October 13, 2024 at 10:35 am

    When I use the Android YouTube app (as opposed to the web version on my Linux laptop with all the extensions doing their job) Temu is ALL over the place with ads. That is enough for me to never ever touch it.

    I’ve just unsubscribed from a couple of channels that started promoting that it’s-not-really-vaping-honest FUM. Thankfully I see I am part of a large contingent of viewers who vocally call out Better Help’s latest attempt to return and immediately unsubscribe from any channel promoting it.

    TL;DR If your YT channel promotes anything, then I’ll assume it’s ineffective and/or am watching for research to emerge concerning whether it is dangerous. Though my suggested YT videos are now 50% variations on “Why YouTube is dying” which I find deeply ironic. YT seems to have run out of crap to suggest to me and is instead trying to prompt me to just p*ss off.
19. JW October 13, 2024 at 10:44 am

    ‘Taiwan, Japan and ASEAN member nations deliver a diplomatic broadside to China’ bne Intellinews
    The only other ASEAN members who joined in the ‘broadside’ were S Korea, Philippines, and their instigator US. All the other members were fed up of the US and its triads/quads trying to interfere with normal ASEAN business. They are far more interested in developing trade with their biggest partner, China.
    1. CA October 13, 2024 at 2:16 pm

       “Taiwan, Japan and ASEAN member nations deliver a diplomatic broadside to China” bne Intellinews

       “China’s Nuclear Shadow Reaches Europe” The Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies

       “An Alliance to Counter China’s Aggression: The U.S. and its allies can isolate Beijing economically by forming a new trade-defense coalition” Wall Street Journal

       Good grief.
20. Not Again October 13, 2024 at 11:03 am

    Looks like we’re going to have another January 6th in 2025.
    We could do them like Frbruary 29ths. Every fours years and it doesn’t matter who the VP Is.

    https://www.axios.com/2024/10/11/house-democrats-jan-6-election-trump-raskin

    ” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the House Oversight Committee ranking member and former Jan. 6 committee member who objected to Trump electors in 2017, told Axios in an interview that if Trump “won a free, fair and honest election, then we would obviously accept it.”

    However, Raskin said he “definitely” doesn’t assume that Trump would use free, fair and honest means to secure a victory.”
    1. Screwball October 13, 2024 at 12:30 pm

       I am already hearing chatter from my PMC friends on how Trump is going to steal the election. They are already convinced of that. Partly, I think, because they can’t imagine Harris losing because Trump is so bad. How can anyone vote for him – so they must have cheated.

       And if people like Raskin are saying that, they will be fully on board. They think Raskin is the greatest thing since sliced bread and whatever he says is the gold standard.

       We have already had elections one side or the other didn’t believe. This one will be no different, other than the mayhem that follows. This one could be a doozy.
       1. hk October 13, 2024 at 1:20 pm

          If Jan 6 committee pulls a Jan 6th in 2025, should they be charged with insurrection?
          1. Pat October 13, 2024 at 11:34 pm

             Not possible. I don’t think there is a faction in Congress that feels that Biden must be impeached at all costs. You might not need the FBI instigating the protesters but must have the Speaker and the Senate leader in Congress with the National Guard, DC Police and the second in charge of the Capital police making sure they aren’t cauldronned so they are able to reach the Capital, that the Capital police are on their own and ill prepared, no backup is available and to heighten the stakes everyone “important” is escorted from the building in as terrifying a way as possible.
             Nope, there will be no confrontations on the Capital steps. If there is an insurrection, my bet is it will be quiet, non violent and will include faithless electors and refusal to count the votes of those that do remain faithful. IOW Harris will do what Gore and Pence didn’t with the clear knowledge of which Republicans are joining the Democrats to do this.
             There will be riots, but they will be after the coup and happen in the streets far from those doing this. And for people going that isn’t Democratic, just remember how we got the campaign of Joy. The people who have been screaming the loudest about Trump bringing the end of democracy were clearly fine with jettisoning it when they didn’t like Biden anymore. If the great Orange Satan wins count on an openly scorched Constitution.
21. hk October 13, 2024 at 11:06 am

    Just what is today’s antidote? It looks like a jellyfish that ate an octopus.
    1. caucus99percenter October 13, 2024 at 11:56 am

       The clue is in the very first link, the one to Defector — it’s an “argonaut octopus [that] has mastered the free ride.” In the case of the photo, a ride on a jellyfish. But, as the article points out, now that we’re in the Anthropocene, a candy wrapper would do as well.
22. hamstak October 13, 2024 at 11:14 am

    So we have Biden ordering enhanced protection for Trump, and also warning Iran that knocking off Trump would be considered an act of war. Then we have Israel (Gallant) saying that their response to Iran’s recent attack would be “lethal, precise, and surprising”.

    That would be thinking outside the box, wouldn’t it.
    1. ambrit October 13, 2024 at 3:11 pm

       My first thought here is that Biden et. al. are setting Trump up for a Huey Long style assassination. Long was supposedly shot to death in a hallway of the Louisiana State Capitol Building by a “disgruntled” former associate. However, it has generally been accepted by Louisianans that Long was shot by one of his bodyguards.
       Phyl has wondered why Trump has not brought in his own security teams.
       1. flora October 13, 2024 at 3:18 pm

          Part of me thinks you’re right. Another part of me wonders if there’s real infighting between the B and KH team. Several indications there is infighting.
       2. ChrisRUEcon October 14, 2024 at 12:28 am

          Concur. The hapless telegraphing of Iran as the perpetrator out of nowhere screams “set up”.
    2. bertl October 13, 2024 at 4:10 pm

       More specifically according to RT, “The message that the US president wanted to be relayed to Tehran was that Washington would treat any attempt on the life of his predecessor, or on that of any other former American official, as an act of war, the paper wrote on Friday.”

       ANY attempt? ANY OTHER former American official? Seems to be nothing less than incitement to murder, or even pretend to attempt to murder pretty much any American official, at home or abroad, by any clown annoyed by the existence of Iran. Ideally, I suppose, the White House is preparing the way for war with Iran by offering an open invitation to off President Trump. But, just the Amercan way, I guess.
23. Young October 13, 2024 at 11:49 am

    Are we there yet?

    Based on unverified documents, WP and NYT reported that Hamas asked Iran to join Oct. 7 event,

    Remake of Saddam-AQ connection from twenty years ago.

    They say sequels are always worse than the orginal.
24. Tom Stone October 13, 2024 at 11:52 am

    Were those minutes taken of Hamas’ meetings found in a Pumpkin patch?
    Asking for a friend.
    1. lyman alpha blob October 13, 2024 at 12:37 pm

       C’mon man, let’s be serious. I heard they wafted down through the debris right after the IDF vaporized a hospital full of Palestinians and landed intact at Netanyahu’s feet.
    2. hk October 13, 2024 at 12:49 pm

       Maybe Giligan had them (next to Zaluzhny, eh, the Skipper.)
    3. Big River Bandido October 13, 2024 at 3:11 pm

       They were on microfilm.
25. TiPs October 13, 2024 at 12:14 pm

    Well, there certainly is significant grist for my conspiratorial mill with Biden’s remark about Iran and Trump. Quite the October surprise by the fascists in power as they can literally kill two birds with one stone if Trump is assassinated by an Iranian-linked patsy. Trump gone, bomb Iran, and suspend election.
    In the “old days”, this would sound crazy…
    1. ChrisPacific October 13, 2024 at 5:01 pm

       I confess that was my thought as well.

       Not that I’d go as far as to suggest Biden or the Blob would actually do it, but, well: it does seem like everyone’s taking pot shots at Trump right now. Naturally they would never wish for that to succeed, but… why not lay in some plans to take advantage, if it were to happen? Never let a crisis go to waste, after all.
26. Tom Stone October 13, 2024 at 12:19 pm

    I’ve been thinking about what American “Civilization” has brought to the World that is of real and lasting value.
    1) Jazz.
    2) the “Twelve Steps” of recovery.
    I can’t think of anything else off hand.
    1. hk October 13, 2024 at 1:16 pm

       Elvis!
       1. Big River Bandido October 13, 2024 at 2:43 pm

          Most musicians I know would disagree. Elvis Presley’s actual *music* (which he did not write himself to begin with) has simply not aged well, particularly when compared to “authentic” artists of his own time. Examples abound, but an excellent case in point:

          Big Mama Thornton, Hound Dog (1952)

          I won’t link to the Presley cover of this because doubtless you’ve heard it and I cannot stomach his superficial reading of it.
          1. amfortas the hippie October 13, 2024 at 4:54 pm

             yeah,lol.
             ilike 2 elvis songs, as done by elvis:love me tender, and love me.
             the rest is ovrplayed, overhyped and overblown as far as i am concerned.

             interestingly,perhaps, our neighbors where i grew up…the husband was 4th cousin to elvis. grew up doing family reunions, etc.
             them and their eventual criminal kid(my first friend,lol) were down at my grandads place at matagorda with us…mom and his wife and i were at the little dinky grocery store/bait shop when news came over the transistor behind the counter that elvis was dead…and the wife went into meltdown mode right there in the parking lot.
             1. LifelongLib October 13, 2024 at 6:54 pm

                I was working in a small town in central Washington State at the time Elvis died. The only radio station I could get was a talk radio one out of California, and I recall listening to several hours of call-ins about him. Unfortunately I can’t remember what anybody said…
                1. NotTimothyGeithner October 13, 2024 at 8:36 pm

                   Elvis was the Boomers Taylor Swift.
                   1. The Rev Kev October 13, 2024 at 9:07 pm

                      Is there a present day analogue for the Beatles? Can’t think of one.
                      1. Anonted October 14, 2024 at 12:16 am

                         The Arctic Monkeys; their first two albums, circa mid-to-late aughts are truly fantastic rock and roll. They beat Oasis for me at a minimum.
                      2. NotTimothyGeithner October 14, 2024 at 9:07 am

                         Not in the modern music industry.

                         The Beatles represent quantity, quality, and diversity. Even their solo stuff produced bangers.

                         There are 4 tier one talents. Getting that kind of arrangement is nearly impossible. Most bands have 1 A talent, maybe a B then their friends or studio picked individuals meant to accent the star. My dad has one music opinion which is Brian Wilson is better than any Beatle but the Beach Boys are a garage band.

                         A mother of a successful band that formed from outside the usual spots told me the success wasn’t due to the star but that his band mates were all second tier, moving the band out of garage tier status. A local performer was being compared to her son, and she favored the comparison except the local played with his middle school friends. She said he needed to go to Seattle or Nashville to break out.
    2. Pat October 13, 2024 at 2:29 pm

       I’d throw in Mark Twain, George and Ira Gershwin and Georgia O’Keefe.
       1. alfred venison October 13, 2024 at 5:21 pm

          Ezra Pound,
          ok and T.S. Eliot, dot, dot, dot.
          1. amfortas the hippie October 13, 2024 at 6:59 pm

             jimi hendrix, the beats, bluegrass, june carter, johnny cash.
             soundgarden. willie nelson.
             smashing pumpkins. ella fitzgerald(under jazz, deserves own category)
             glen miller.
             a prairie home companion.
             1. ambrit October 13, 2024 at 7:19 pm

                The Warren Commission.
                DARPA
                The Authentically Antithetically August American Association of Asymmetrically Associated Associates.
                Medicare Advantage Plans (Including MK Ultra Plus+ Therapy Solutions.)
                1. Wukchumni October 13, 2024 at 7:27 pm

                   Designated hitter
                   Hidden ball trick
                   Suicide squeeze
                   Base on balls
                2. Michaelmas October 13, 2024 at 8:00 pm

                   John Cheever.
                   Saul Bellow.
                   Robert Stone.
                   Philip K. Dick.
                   Stanley Kubrick.
    3. Jonathan Holland Becnel October 13, 2024 at 9:39 pm

       Dune.

       Checkmate, World.
       1. JMH October 13, 2024 at 11:02 pm

          All things considered not bad lists at all.
    4. SocalJimObjects October 14, 2024 at 1:54 am

       American Breakfast and Cinnabon!!!
27. Glen October 13, 2024 at 12:38 pm

    Watched the SpaceX launch and booster catch just now (didn’t watch live), and that’s very impressive:

    Blastoff! SpaceX Starship launches on 5th flight, nails ‘chopsticks’ booster catch!
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b28zbsnk-48

    As to whether this is an world changing event, I’ll leave that debate to others (my two cents – no).
28. antidlc October 13, 2024 at 1:22 pm

    from fortune.com:

    https://fortune.com/2024/10/11/covid-19-heart-attacks-strokes-death-long-after-infection-new-study-health/
    COVID-19 raises the stakes for heart attacks, strokes, and even death long after infection, new study finds

    https://fortune.com/well/article/how-to-report-home-covid-test-results-positive-negative/
    54 million COVID cases went unreported in 2022, study says. Here’s how to make your at-home test count
29. Jason Boxman October 13, 2024 at 1:56 pm

    I know Lambert often takes about voter registration as not being a core Democrat Party project, so I looked briefly into Voter Formation Project since it is mentioned in the TNR story. What do they do?

    It reads like a MarCom (market communications) company. It does identify as problem number one:

    Lack of long-term, multi-year digital civic engagement campaigns

    However, “the solution” is:

    Shifting the narrative through sustained digital presence of pro-democracy, pro-civic engagement messages

    (bold theirs)

    So, Facebook ads!

    They do mention in “the work”:

    – Long-term pro-democracy, pro-civic engagement messaging
    – Voter registration
    – Voter mobilization (GOTV or “get out the vote”)

    So there’s a claim that the work involves voter registration, but they do this with online “targeted” advertising.

    They have annual reports starting in 2021 posted. What did they do in 2023?

    In years without national elections, Voter Formation
    Project focuses our efforts on states with important
    local and statewide contests. As always, we use
    digital advertising campaigns to encourage people
    of color to register and vote. These smaller elections
    also give us the opportunity to run experiments in a
    more contained environment.

    So, digital ads.

    And they make stuff up, probably based on unique ad impressions or something similarly meaningless:

    Our program mobilized 238,491 Virginians to vote

    They raised through 92% grants over 2.5 million dollars in 2023. That’s a lot of walking around money, no? What a great grift.

    If all the Democrat Party aligned NGOs are like this, Trump has nothing to worry about.

    Someone could make a job of just going through these trash organizations reports and then trying to see if they actually accomplish anything or are just appropriating donor money and crowing about dubious achievements. Would probably annoy a lot of NGOs.

    And from TNR:

    Last month, several Democratic groups circulated a memo warning that Trump is peeling off support among those constituencies. The memo concluded that underinvestments in digital communications with those groups was a major problem.

    LOL, not enough digital ads? It’s like the entire liberal Democrat campaign apparatus is rotten. Another reason to fight for real to block ballot line access to other parties. So much grift to go around!
30. Not Again October 13, 2024 at 1:58 pm

    I know everyone is mocking the “I’m a man (sort of) for Kamala” but is it any worse than having Hillary as your grandmother?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoKet1PuT6A

    Maybe the Democrats need three times as much campaign money to win because two-thirds of their ad budget is wasted.
31. Jason Boxman October 13, 2024 at 2:27 pm

    The Secretive Dynasty That Controls the Boar’s Head Brand (NY Times via archive.ph)

    The deli-meat company made its owners fabulously wealthy. But they have remained silent, even as the company faces the biggest scandal in its history.

    Why not? The Sacklers have done well.

    In May 2022, the chief financial officer of Boar’s Head, the processed meat company, was asked a simple question under oath.
    “Who is the C.E.O. of Boar’s Head?”
    “I’m not sure,” he replied.
    “Who do you believe to be the C.E.O. of Boar’s Head?” the lawyer persisted.

    LOL, wow.
32. Big River Bandido October 13, 2024 at 2:36 pm

    Could Trump Win? Yes, and Some Dems Are Quietly Saying They Know Why [The New Republic]

    Clicked on this expecting at least *some* depth of reporting, or some insight into what the Democrats are getting wrong. Silly me. This article seems to put all the blame on a single PAC misallocating its advertising dollars. This article probably only saw the light of day because it hits Joe Biden’s consigliere, Anita Dunn. In other words, just some petty turf war. As far as their actual political problems (not covered in this article, oddly), for Democrats it’s always just a flesh wound “messaging problem”. Actually this isn’t even about the messaging, but the medium, so it’s even more meta and irrelevant to reality.

    Meanwhile, some Democrats say that the PAC didn’t put enough resources into early ads defining Trump—and reminding voters about the disasters of his first term… Meanwhile, Trump’s persistent advantage on the economy—especially with critical non-college white voters—does suggest a failure to remind people of his first-term economic catastrophe. “We missed the early window to adequately define his economic failures,” the Democratic strategist at another group says.

    Besides the writer needing a thesaurus, this is the prattling of a political imbecile. You cannot “define” an opponent who has spent 35 years in the public eye, who has defined and re-defined himself many times over. You *especially* can’t define your opponent when you yourself are an empty suit, no matter how well-tailored.

    As for “defining his economic failures” (again, putting aside the substance of, say, rates of child poverty in the US) — what’s shocking is how Democrats don’t even try to conceal their own attempts at gaslighting. Part of their contempt for “the deplorables” registers as somehow believing that average voters cannot remember what their own lives were like 4 years ago.

    These people just aren’t serious.
    1. Michaelmas October 13, 2024 at 7:54 pm

       These people just aren’t serious.

       They think they are, though. And that’s the comedy.

       I opened that link expecting to see some hint that reality was finally getting through that — after the Clinton years and GATT and NAFTA and Glass-Steagall repeal, so 4 million American jobs were offshored; and the Obama years as the rich and Wall Street were bailed out and 10 million homes were foreclosed on; and the Biden years, and the massive inflation in rent and food, and the foreign policy disasters — the vast mass of Americans have registered that the Dems are about nothing but enriching the 10 percent and don’t like it.

       But no. Never that.
       1. eg October 14, 2024 at 7:27 am

          Of course not — it’s why Thomas Frank was banished from American corporate media organs years ago.
33. Jeremy Grimm October 13, 2024 at 2:37 pm

    RE: On Millennial Snot
    I am not sure what to make of this link, though it was an interesting read. It did call attention to the strange evolution of language and advocacy that characterizes much of what passes for communication. I am old. The new language impresses me for its insularity and lack of precision. I feel the new language serves less as a means of communication and more as a barrier to outsiders and those who are not in insider-know.
    1. JBird4049 October 13, 2024 at 3:12 pm

       ” …less as a means of communication and more as a barrier to outsiders and those who are not in insider-know.”

       It is both propaganda and used car salesman’s pitches made into normal, everyday writing.
34. Tom Stone October 13, 2024 at 2:38 pm

    I wonder if the Cackler is experiencing post Covid neurological difficulties, this is not the same Woman Willie Brown squired around town.
    That Woman was articulate and sharp as a tack as well as being corrupt.
    Now it’s all word salad with Bernays sauce.
    1. Big River Bandido October 13, 2024 at 3:06 pm

       Do you have links of her pre-Covid articulateness? I’ve never seen any evidence of her having better speaking skills than, say, a high school cheerleader. I recall a clip from Iowa 2020 with CNN’s John King, and she was a blithering idiot.
    2. JBird4049 October 13, 2024 at 3:08 pm

       Having seen videos of Harris giving public speeches when she was county DA and state attorney general, I would have to say that something happened to her brain. It exacerbated all her vices and defects. I understand that her standard approach to problems is to abusively blame it all on her staff, first and last, meaning she not only burns through them, she has none both loyal and willing to help her personally.

       That would explain our current leadership’s decline in competence, if backstabbing for power and cruelty for ego protection and gratification is your default setting, when things go wrong, there is no one willing to help you. After all, being willing to own up to mistakes, and then apologizing for both the mistakes and abusive behavior means that people are very likely to be willing to help you, even if they do not personally like or agree with you.
       1. NotTimothyGeithner October 13, 2024 at 9:50 pm

          My gut is Harris is susceptible to flattery. On her own, she isn’t as godawful as her staff, but she’s surrounded by too many doofuses. She’s not clean as she hired them, but at some point, she was bright enough to not pick Shapiro. At the same time, one of the staffers she supposedly yelled at was Karine Jean Pierre. Team Biden tried to get her to resign because she can’t bother to read the briefing before going out. I’m not sure its “abusive” behavior as much as its her staff not doing the basic job.

          Walz, supposedly not a great debater, looked confused by a VP Presidential debate. He does have a command of facts. So what happened? He was prepped by Pete Buttigieg and other Clinton acolytes. Right now, those two should be interviewing potential staff and being carted around to campaign events not worried about the campaign. They are likely just being fed gibberish by morons who believe James Carville is a super genius.
    3. Cassandra October 13, 2024 at 10:13 pm

       That Woman was articulate and sharp as a tack as well as being corrupt.
       Now it’s all word salad with Bernays sauce.

       Well, Tom, she was not notably sharp and articulate at the primary debates in 2019. I was never really exposed to her prior to her brief moment as the DNC’s next Great (non)White Hope. But there was gossip four years ago which I would have dismissed as bog-standard factional backbiting, except that I have had personal experience of watching an alcoholic disintegrate…
    4. Pat October 14, 2024 at 12:00 am

       Was at a book event in 2019, while she had some clearly rehearsed moments that weren’t bad, she didn’t handle the questions all that well (and her really pushy staff really didn’t like that it wasn’t all set before hand). She just said a lot of nothing without doubling back. Less of a word salad, but equally vacuous. The staff, who were excited before the event were not excited after. IIRC, Buttigieg actually scored a couple of possible votes which was not the case for Harris.
35. AG October 13, 2024 at 3:25 pm

    btw: what IS Trumpism?

    short comment:

    Is Kamala 2024 Clinton 2016?
    By Branko Marcetic
    https://jacobin.com/2024/10/kamala-harris-hillary-clinton-2016
    1. NotTimothyGeithner October 13, 2024 at 5:26 pm

       Yes, but on a shorter time line.

       Hillary is your abeula!

       We get the extreme conservatism and the stunts at a faster rate. They barely have enough time to be criticized before they do or say something stupid.

       Her twitter defenders are screaming about how they are trying to win the non MAGA Republicans like Lynne Cheney. The hits keep coming they can’t even see what a waste that it.
       1. ChrisRUEcon October 13, 2024 at 9:25 pm

          I’m way less of a Twitter/X denizen than I was last election cycle, but will concur here – Kamala = HRC2.0.

          While Harris may not have HRC’s unfavorables, and may not be as divisive, Kamala more than makes up for that negativity with her own empty-suited-ness. Whereas HRC actually won the popular vote but lost the electoral college, a Harris loss is likely to be complete on both fronts. Just logged on to X to see the latest celebrity endorsements rolling in – Julia Roberts and Jennifer Garner. Dems absolutely tone deaf comme d’habitude on this, and being rightly called out on it. They really think suburban Never-Trump Republicans and celebrity-obsessed PMC and PMC-adjacent voters are going to win it this time. They hae learned nothing from 2016, and can’t ride Obama’s coat tails like Biden did in 2020. We can look forward to four years of blaming Jill Stein, Arab-Americans and African-American men.

          #Joy
          1. AG October 14, 2024 at 1:10 am

             This delusional self-centeredness by entertainment folks is in fact scary. I don´t know who came up first with the idea that actors are educated in politics. It must have been an actor. Because most actors are idiots.This comes with the absolutist nature of the trade (artists in general). Imagine you do four movies a year. 18 hours a day(not the stars but everyone else on set.) When on earth will you find the time to really study the events? But the media public for some reason goes along with this shit.

             p.s. And Jennifer Garner and Co. couldn´t care less. Nothing changes for them whoever wins. After all they could give up their careers or riches and go DO something.

             btw Chris Hedges with Jimmy Dore on this very subject:
             
             “The Liberal Class’s Ultimate Betrayal (w/ Jimmy Dore) | The Chris Hedges Report”
             https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/the-liberal-classs-ultimate-betrayal
36. AG October 13, 2024 at 3:28 pm

    Chris Hedges in a “tour de force” interview with Christian Parenti on the political economy of “Woke-ism”

    How Wokeness Kills Class Politics and Empowers Empire (w/ Christian Parenti) | The Chris Hedges Report
    25/9/24
    54 min.
    https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/how-wokeness-kills-class-politics
37. Tom Stone October 13, 2024 at 7:31 pm

    I doubt that many here are familiar with just how “Out there” SF political events can get, one I read about which was attended by many of SF’s political luminaries involved two gay Men and a bottle of Wild Turkey which they were not drinking.
    Coverage of the event in the local paper was matter of fact, no big deal, nothing unusual about it.
    This is the Milieu that spawned Harris.
    1. Ana October 15, 2024 at 3:28 am

       I have been trying so hard not to poke (ahem) this topic. So since Tom and I both remember the Thursday Moose Milk in Sacramento at the then Senator Hotel, I will just put this here.

       The Mitchell brothers of San Francisco had a theater with an old fashioned stage and had an old fashioned business as well. And they loved to party mixing the theater, stage, and business. Many luminaries were reputed to attend.

       Anyone can get an idea of things via a search engine. The actual story is much more complex than can be found online though. All the exploits were pre internet and cell phone cameras. Our fearless leaders have behaved badly for a long time

       Ana in Sacramento.
38. Tom Stone October 13, 2024 at 8:12 pm

    I find the Walz “Hunting” commercial and the remark by Harris that she owns a Glock quite odd.
    I wonder how her SS Protection detail feels about it…
    And Walz was clearly not comfortable with his weapon and the earlier remark about advancing in line ( To avoid being Cheney’d) is consistent with my experience.
    These are not serious people.
39. Jason Boxman October 13, 2024 at 10:36 pm

    So the The Mountaineer has detailed the response to date in their 9 October print edition of the paper, and from the pages, they report that there has been a competent response by FEMA. They were on the ground in Haywood county prior to the storm. The biggest relief effort has actually been out of the faith community, and they’ve been able to mobilize and distribution tons of supplies.

    The paper itself is not nationally owned, and seems to be locally held.

    So the lambasting of the response might simply be a tempest in a teapot on Twitter, or maybe it’s real. I don’t know. I don’t see any stories here criticizing the response effort.
40. Anonted October 13, 2024 at 10:57 pm

    Well, I guess the Ukrainians aren’t White after all, eh? The media will have to revise the narrative.
41. michael99 October 13, 2024 at 11:25 pm

    Have there been any protests on college campuses against Israel’s genocide this fall? I haven’t heard of any.

    Almost daily I see headlines in mainstream media about Israeli atrocities in Gaza and Lebanon. One would think this would have an effect on public sentiment. I searched for public opinion polls and there is clearly substantial opposition to what Israel is doing, even possibly a majority going by a Gallup poll in July.

    It would be good to see more organized protests. Probably best to ditch the camping and just have regular 1/2 day or 1 day events. Maybe in public spaces off campus where it is more open to the general public.

    The authorities don’t like the camping.
    1. michael99 October 13, 2024 at 11:58 pm

       Evidently there was a protest on the University of California, Davis campus on 10/7. The student newspaper published a photo gallery of the event; no story with it, just captions.

       Most of protesters are wearing masks or other face coverings.
    2. CA October 14, 2024 at 12:09 am

       How many days did it take for Lawrence Summers and Bill Ackman to force the President of Harvard to resign simply for allowing a peaceful voicing of protest? A Black woman president of Harvard ruined in a matter of days, and there were more, and there were such examples in Europe:

       https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/sep/04/greta-thunberg-arrested-at-gaza-war-protest-in-copenhagen

       September 4, 2024

       Greta Thunberg arrested at Gaza war protest in Copenhagen Climate activist one of six detained by police after students block university building in Danish capital

       https://x.com/GretaThunberg/status/1843930080847790376

       Greta Thunberg @GretaThunberg

       After almost 4 months of encampment, the student Palestine encampment in Dortmund were forced by German police to take down the camp and leave, and police said they would arrest me if I went there. All this just because the students had invited me to speak at their event and I had been to a pro Palestine protest in Berlin the day before that police has stormed.

       4:22 AM · Oct 9, 2024
42. Alice X October 14, 2024 at 12:54 am

    Perhaps a head start, or a heads up if you will; this is from TRT World, Türkiye (reading TRT’s wiki page is like undergoing a dimensional shift into çˆå [mis]inventions of reality). An interview with Finkelstein. I value NF’s perception and this is an expansive illustration of it’s predicates:

    Palestine Talks | Norman Finkelstein
    1. Alice X October 14, 2024 at 1:44 am

       An hour just, well worth the ride to understand more of NF.

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