10 micro-exercises that are as effective as a 20-minute walk The Telegraph
I tried to train my color vision. Here’s what happened Sequencer Mag
Climate/Environment
Dual power and climate breakdown Ecologist
Smoke, out: cities discuss fossil fuel ad ban, echoing tobacco fight The Narwhal
Pandemics
California, Washington report more suspected H5 avian flu cases CIDRAP
Bird Flu Cases May be Spreading From Cat Owners to Their Pets Newsweek
***
Long COVID and recovery from Long COVID: quality of life impairments and subjective cognitive decline at a median of 2 years after initial infection BMC Infectious Diseases
Africa
Carbon markets and the new scramble for African land Review of African Political Economy
The US pivot to Africa is not working Erik Prince, Asia Times
India
Through Their Strike, the Samsung Workers Brought the Question of Industrial Democracy to the Fore The Wire
The Koreas
S. Korea stages live-fire missile interception drills after N.K. missile launches Yonhap
US approves potential sale of early warning aircraft to South Korea Channel News Asia
China?
Foreclosures in China soar, threatening to choke off bank profits Business Times
Meng Xiaosu on China’s real estate policy conundrum: too little socialism The East Is Read
China must open up further to combat rising unilateralism: premier Business Times
China’s provinces push personnel to meet targets as end of year approaches South China Morning Post
Workers at Henan Foxconn reportedly fainted after being scheduled to work 20 consecutive days with only one day off China Labour Bulletin
US election could shape China’s long-awaited fiscal stimulus package: analysts South China Morning Post
***
Fear and Admiration in Communist China Landmarks: A Journal of International Dialogue
Intelligent China Policy: An Interview with Paul Heer Un-Diplomatic
US’ pro-Taiwan policy to continue regardless of election outcome: NSB Focus Taiwan
Harris or Trump, Philippines sitting pretty with America Asia Times
Old Blighty
UK budget: a pittance for crumbling, asbestos riddled schools WSWS
Sinking Ship New Left Review
How Trump victory leaves Starmer isolated on the world stage The Independent
Boris Johnson ‘fired’ from US election show for plugging his book Politico
O Canada
Liberal poster boy goes full Zionist Counterfire
List of 900 alleged Nazi war criminals won’t be released by Ottawa The Globe and Mail
European Disunion
Germany: Avalanche of Layoffs, Tens of Thousands of Workers Plunged into Poverty Pluralia
Syraqistan
Israel’s rightist government celebrates as Trump claims victory Reuters
The maneuver orchestrated by Netanyahu to bring down Gallant: Maariv Al Mayadeen. Commentary:
On this occasion as well it appears that Gallant’s failures as defense minister were not the reason for his dismissal. Rather, Netanyahu’s primary motivation appears to be Gallant’s role in drafting members of the Orthodox Jewish community known as Haredim, measures which he and…
— Mouin Rabbani (@MouinRabbani) November 5, 2024
Who is Gideon Sa’ar, Israel’s new foreign minister? The New Arab. Commentary:
Here’s who he’s been replaced with: https://t.co/DIvoCObQTv pic.twitter.com/paon6XfSHv
— Hamza Yusuf (@Hamza_a96) November 5, 2024
Police probing ‘criminal incidents’ from start of Gaza war linked to PM’s office Times of Israel
***
Israeli settlers acquire hundreds of high-caliber rifles to ‘prepare for war’ in West Bank The Cradle
Israel pulls several brigades out of south Lebanon after destroying dozens of towns The Cradle
IOF strikes Syria’s al-Qusayr in new aggression Al Mayadeen
***
New Not-So-Cold War
Trump Vows to ‘Stop Wars,’ Makes No Mention of Ukraine During Victory Speech Kyiv Post
Ukraine War well beyond Trump-Harris election Responsible Statecraft. Commentary:
Official Kremlin comments:
– A phone conversation between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin is possible; the Russian president is open to contact and dialog;
– The Kremlin will draw conclusions about Trump’s presidency from his first statements in the context of Russia and… https://t.co/DzQFos35mE
— Russians With Attitude (@RWApodcast) November 6, 2024
Stalemate over, Russia advances, EU war economy The Duran (Video). Mercouris and Christoforu discuss how Trump will be blamed for Ukraine.
Neocons Circling Trump Campaign Consortium News. From October. 22, still germane.
How the War in Ukraine Could Go Nuclear—by Accident Foreign Affairs
***
Ukraine reports first clash with North Korean troops Deutsche Welle
***
The commander of Azov criticized Zelensky: We do not have access to Western weapons, we are defending the country with blood Telegrafi. Speaking of Azov:
Azov set an example for all far-right on how to preserve “values” and sit at one table with powerful decision-makers who promoted “defending democracy” political discourse during the biggest war in Europe since 1945. In order to be a respected participant of “democracy talks”,… pic.twitter.com/nc2ZvyM7zS
— Marta Havryshko (@HavryshkoMarta) November 5, 2024
Film Review: How the CIA Threatens and Terrorizes Children — “A Vaccine Against the Pandemic of Lies” —
The Caucasus
Russia warns against ‘hasty’ Armenia-Azerbaijan peace deal promoted by West Bne Intellinews
2024
Trump wins presidency for second time, completing improbable comeback The Hill
Big red shock: Takeaways from Trump’s election night romp Axios
Republicans win Senate control. What that means USA Today
Dow futures soar more than 900 points as Trump closes in on victory and GOP flips Senate Fortune
***
The Billionaire-ification of the U.S. Election Atmos
***
Project 2025 Is Even More Radical Than You Think The Lever. Commentary:
Also lost in the controversy is the fact that the Democrats have already implemented elements of Project 2025 including the Willow Project and rolling back NEPA via the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 – and they aren’t done yet with NEPA.
— Dubbs4ClimateJustice (@ArogersWright) November 3, 2024
***
A couple charts to explain a Harris loss Polygraph
Harris wins Jewish vote, loses in America’s Arab capital Ynet. Commentary:
The ultimate in karmic justice: https://t.co/pc4taqjPDw
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) November 6, 2024
***
WHY U.S. FOREIGN POLICY IS UNDER FIRE FROM THE POPULIST RIGHT Foreign Policy in Focus
Russia has declared war on US democracy Foundation for Defense of Democracies
***
What the US Air Force Doesn’t Want You to Notice on Election Night Common Dreams
***
Israel, Blackmail and the Presidents husseini
Democrats en Déshabillé
Dejected Democrats look to House as ‘only hope’ The Hill. Commentary:
🇺🇸 Democrats spent 4 years desperately trying to get “moderate” Republicans to break from Trump.
The result? 94% of Republicans voted Trump – exactly the same as in 2020, while Democrat vote dropped.
(Via @CNN) pic.twitter.com/3ZakCLOC1p
— Stats for Lefties 🍉🏳️⚧️ (@LeftieStats) November 6, 2024
2:
Economic insecurity + total absence of analysis of current system + total lack of radical comprehensive counter program = far right victories. Everywhere, not just US.https://t.co/OTyxCPNvM1
— Julia Steinberger (@JKSteinberger) November 6, 2024
3:
Kamala lost almost all the university towns in Michigan… I wonder if tear-gassing all your student voters effected the election 🤔
— General Strike 🍀(Terrence Daniels) (@Terrence_STR) November 6, 2024
US elections 2024: After not endorsing Harris, Rashida Tlaib secures win in Michigan Middle East Eye
Abortion
Six states expand abortion protections as Florida ballot fails BBC
Groves of Academe
Universities in Dark Times: Beyond the Plague of Neoliberal Fascism Counterpunch
AI
Pentagon confirms erasure of Project Maven-related contract records All-Source Intelligence
The Vatican’s Anime Mascot Is Now an AI Porn Sensation 404 Media
Antitrust
Yes, There Are Antitrust Voters in a Swing State BIG by Matt Stoller
Class Warfare
Slavery, labor, and the origins of computation The Tech Bubble
To Whom Do Children Belong? Archedelia. Well worth a read.
How Should One Mourn the Death of a Person Who Served a Repressive Regime? The Wire
Henry Kissinger Requested a Monument in Arlington National Cemetery. He Won’t Get One. Politico. (Kevin W): “How about a Memorial Toilet Block instead?”
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
349 comments
Comments are closed.
LICKSPITTLE CONGRESS
(melody borrowed from Pink Houses by John Mellencamp)
Well the game plan—invade Iran
Everyone has understood
A tiny Jewish state, but they go no holds barred
They like to claim they’re misunderstood
And their scripture, their religion,
Tells them they must never stop
From Baghdad to the Suez
Their scripture says that’s a gift from God
They get bombs from America, endlessly
Bombs from America, ASAP lately
Bombs from America—from their devotees— (yeah)
Lickspittle Congress up in DC
(Ooh yeah up in DC)
U.S. Congress loves their pay dirt
Money gets their adulation
Life is sleazy there, it’s so mercantile
SuperPACs bring stacks of fresh donations
Each seat is sold, see, the money hunger
Makes sure that every deal and bill gets bent
They won’t tighten their belts—that cash money stream
Might make you President!
They get bombs from America, endlessly
Bombs from America, ASAP lately
Bombs from America—from their devotees—
Lickspittle Congress up in DC
(Oh, yeah waiting up in DC)
(musical interlude)
It’s all legal though it’s fecal
Empires must grow grow grow
Make the whole world Westernized
Stick all us terrorists in Guantanamo (Ooh yeah)
We get thinner—their maneuvers
Take away our meals
If we dwindle then maybe
We’ll head for the hills, we’ll let them steal
Those bombs from America, endlessly
Bombs from America, ASAP lately
Bombs from America—from their devotees— (yeah)
Lickspittle Congress up in DC
(Oooooh! Ooh, yeah)
With bombs from America, endlessly
Bombs from America, hey ASAP lately
Bombs from America—from their devotees—
(Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!)
Lickspittle Congress up in DC
(Ooh yeah) (Ooh yeah)
“List of 900 alleged Nazi war criminals won’t be released by Ottawa”
Nazi Lives Matter? Or is it that after establishing themselves safely in Canada, that more than a few rose high in Canadian civil society earning themselves high positions and perhaps even knighthoods. Why not? Those doctors from Japan’s Unit 731 who weren’t captured by the Russians returned to Japan and went on to have successful careers and became very influential people. So maybe Canada is protecting the names of those Nazis as there would be very recognizable names there. Those names may never be released.
Besides that sorry episode in the Canadian parliament, I think there was another SS alumni, Peter Savaryn, who rose to become a chancellor of the University of Alberta and was also awarded the Order of Canada
There’s also a few monuments to the 14th Wafen SS division here too
Chrystia Freeland, the deputy PM, is also descended from people that share the exact same ideology
Given how high placed these people or those related to them are, the names will never be released
Further, Chrystia Freeland’s Mother erected a monument to the Galician Brigade (in Edmonton) – which was an ultra-nationalist brigade fully integrated into the Wermacht. Nazi’s, in other words. Responsible for multiple massacres of Poles, Jews, Roma, and allies of the US, USSR, and western europe. Nice folks. Freeland’s maternal grandfather was a Nazi collaborator and editor of a Ukrainian-language Nazi newspaper. This I think explains young Chrystia’s approach to governing, I think, imposing the war measures act on peaceful protesters and freezing the bank accounts of anyone who dared give the protesters money. Fascists do as fascists do. It’s truly terrible how low the “Liberal” party has fallen.
Further still.
I wonder how much the present-day events in Ukraine feed into the decision to protect the Nazis of old.
One, if you submit these Nazis to public inspection and discussion, you might prompt some questions regarding the present Ukrainian regime, which pretty much deified them. After all, there are no Nazis in Ukraine.
Two, if the gameplan for the Azov people and such is to, should the Russians continue to grind down the Ukrainian army, scamper off to Canada, much as their historical idols had done, one might not wish for any Canadians to draw any historical parallels.
Of course, I could be just overthinking it, and this is more of a reflexive action. Or even a political one, I believe Troudeau was dealing with a minor party uprising a week or two ago, and it would not do to reveal that just now that his daddy had covered up the presence of real Nazis – I personally view the present Ukrainian incarnation more as pathetic cosplayers than the original genuine article – in good old Canada…
A bigger cause for Canadian embarrassment is that the inauguration of the much ballyhooed “Memorial to the Victims of Communism” arguably a celebration of fascism in and of itself, has, blessedly, again been delayed due to the discovered presence of hundreds of Nazis on the list of “victims”.
Re: Neocons circling Trump campaign
Have a cigar
Sung to the tune of, “Have a Cigar” by Pink Floyd
[Musical intro]
sorry Kammy, sorry Kammy (sung to melody from synth line)
sorry Kammy, but, we need to get Don on the killing train!
[Verse 1]
Come in here, dear Don, have a cigar, you’re gonna go far
You’re gonna fly high, you’re never gonna die, you’re gonna beat every rap they’re gonna love you
I’ve always had the most respect I mean it quite sincerely
Your tan is just fantastic, that is really what I think, oh by the way, what’s that Donkey stink?
And did we tell you the name of the game, boy?
We call it changing your mind on Ukraine ….. ay-ay-aine
[Verse 2]
We’re just knocked out
We heard about close-out
You gotta get an album out, you owe it to the people, Cramer’s so happy he can hardly count
Every Elephant is just green, have ya seen the stock charts?
It’s a helluva start, it could be made into a monster, if we keep pumping up the ponzi scheme
And did we tell you the name of the game, boy?
We call it changing your mind on Ukraine ….. ay-ay-aine
[outro]
Michael Tracey just before the big victory.
“Also making a special appearance at the rally was Mike Pompeo, whom Trump curiously decided to put front and center on the final day of campaigning. Trump called out to Pompeo by name, and had him stand up for a round of applause. Later, Pompeo spoke at Trump’s rally in Pittsburgh, reminiscing fondly about how he was Trump’s most loyal confidant in the first Administration, and expressing conspicuously direct knowledge about what policies would be undertaken in a second. Is Pompeo now part of the heroic Deep State Avengers squad that we’re told by the likes of RFK Jr. are getting ready to dismantle the Deep State?”
https://www.mtracey.net/p/happy-election-day
Perhaps Tracey is being a little too cynical. Yesterday was the right result in that we have at least a chance of pulling back from the brink while–seemingly–almost none from Harris and the Dems.
And thanks to NC for last night’s coverage. Almost 500 comments–wow.
I am watching Morning Joe now just to watch the reaction. Mika has been almost catatonic.
However, 2 things of note – and maybe I am just a bit hopeful – and also a bit very concerned – they still do not seem to get big things.
The panel several minutes ago was discussing the fact that ceasefires in both Palestine and Ukraine may be a reality before Thanksgiving much less Inauguration Day. They are decrying the effect all of this will be having on Zelensky, etc.
Secondly, Chris Matthews is back. The one who was fired several years ago for saying things against the narrative. Without apology, he is back telling the others at the panel that they are full of crap. The summation – “The progressive era needs to be over if they want to win again”. And by progressive – they are seemingly mainly referring to all the transgender issues and drag queens, etc. Hoo boy. This is going to be a fascinating month to watch the implosion occur. Also a topic of discussion – “Where did all the young women bringing their girls to the polls go? That just did not happen”…….I cannot say it enough times – when eggs are 4 dollars a dozen – and rapes by illegal immigrants released from prison in their home country become the news repeatedly – people have other priorities. I am just shocked they cannot even begin to comprehend this even after the blowout last night.
MSM media anchors still have no idea that their audience is literally going to die off. Compare their Nielsen numbers to, at one-end, Joe Rogan and then at the other end, the aggregation of all the micro podcasters/content creators on Tiktok (who double as political pundits every 4 years).
Mika got lost in her own Kafka-esque hall of Narratives. Good riddance.
Do they really think that they lost over drag queens, and not the half a million body count in Ukraine and Gaza? Or $15 fast food meals?
If so, they have a lot of soul-searching to do.
Evangs hate trans people with a burning passion, and having Kamala on Trump telly commercials continually saying in regards to potential penitentiary prospects ‘you get an operation, and you get an operation, and you get an operation, etc.’ was aimed at far right dogma, in particular.
The answer is no. They want to blame the weak on the outside to protect the courtier class. Joy Ann Reid has already proclaimed Harris ran a flawless campaign as she Taylor and Beyoncé!
One narrative is it’s the voters fault, but as long as the donors, some are believers, don’t catch on that they shouldn’t take a closer look at the Team Blue courtiers all will be well.
The Team Blue courtiers are very much a GOP Log Cabin type outfit. They are Republicans who are aware of a personal (to them) concern that may not play well with the fundies or otherwise they would just be Republicans.
Team Blue should have been fighting tooth and nail on student debt relief not rolling over for the Supremes or at least pushing the restart of payments until after the election, but it’s not an actual concern to the courtier class
I am afraid you are right. So much easier to blame the loss on “deplorables” who hate trans people than to admit your policies sucked.
I also suspect a big campaign is coming to call out voters as misogynists for not voting for the woman candidate for the second time. Personally, I loved Harris’ personality and would have enjoyed seeing how she handled the job. But part of me couldn’t vote for someone who never uttered a single word about Genocide.
I voted for Jill Stein because I promised I wouldn’t let feelings rule my ballot box behavior. Objectively, she was the only alternative that didn’t seem likely to end in canned sunshine. I am hoping that the Scott Ritter argument is right, and Trump is able to fight off the neocons just enough to keep us from glowing.
But I’m not giving in an inch to fear
‘Cause I promised myself this year
I feel
Like I owe it
To someone.
CSNY
I felt pretty damn good writing in Stein’s name..
“I also suspect a big campaign is coming to call out voters as misogynists for not voting for the woman candidate for the second time. ”
Just based on what little social media I’ve partaken this morning, it’s already here. But you also get a side of homophobic and transphobic with some racist on the top. No consideration that there could be any other possible reason for not voting for Harris an definitely no words on genocide or even war. People who didn’t vote for Harris are racist, homophobic, transphobic, misogynists and that’s all there is to it.
It really feels to me like the support for genocide is the 700 pound gorilla in the room. All the stuff I’m seeing, you could substitute genocide and aim it right back at the Harris voters. Not that I expected any nuance or introspection, but even aside from the genocide, they’ve tried the whole “deplorables” bit before and it didn’t work.
But does Kamala get a $12 million advance on her sure-fire upcoming bestseller:
Strength Through Joy
With a forward by Hillary Clinton!
“Snide and Prejudice”?
“Tuesdays With Béarnaise”?
“Kafka by the Crore?
I await their shared work describing how they are so over losing to Trump. Perhaps Kamala will join Hillary walking the trails of the Hamptons…
That might be the best opportunity for reflection that we’ll get.
The No Luck Club.
The No Joy, No Luck Club
>>>Strength Through Joy
Sometimes I despair over this ignorance of history Strength Through Joy that the “educated” American class shows.
Kamala who? Hillary was a Senator, but the money didn’t roll in until 2008 appeared to be open after the Kerry loss. Then we saw a similar rerun as Obama floundered and Hillary seemed inevitable.
Allowing student loans to be eligible for bankruptcy and a small bump to the min wage along with a little lie about gaza and they would have been fine, but no…
The tweet you posted at 9:56 tells the whole story, imo
>>>Allowing student loans to be eligible for bankruptcy
This is a no-brainer for Trump and the GOP, particularly as (Big Banks are not GOP-friendly, Jamie Dimon’s wife publicly canvassed for Harris)….
and so much of student debt is on the government books and unrecoverable that someone might as well get a political benefit from it
Obviously not holding my breath given the heavy strain of debt repayment = good mortality among many in the GOP
Good mortality?
Chomsky said that even dictators need the consent of the governed. What’s scary about the Dems is that they think half the country can be marginalized and controlled by whatever means necessary. And the media most especially are a huge part of the problem. Among the press the previous cult of “high Broderism”–bipartisanship–has been replaced by this us versus them attitude toward the public.
Perhaps if nothing else the turn toward the unlikely Trump is a public turn away from the out of control divisivemess. The civil war seems to be off.
When will there be media resignations and recriminations at the failed mind-control and hectoring? Voters I’ve talked with in person and online were sick and tired of being told what to think and how to act. That media bubble is shrinking and all it needs is a little prick. Maybe vacations, followed by sabbaticals, followed by expatriation? Will local media get a relative boost in popularity and perceived credibility?
Same with entertainers, and Ricky Gervais tried to tell them during that famous Golden Globes spectacle. Now back to daily life, like being concerned about that grocery bill.
“all it needs is a little prick”
Joe Scarborough?
Naaah. Steven Miller. There is a prick.
“Bipartisanship” isn’t as high-minded as it’s made out to be.
Even now, after a billion here and a billon there has been spent trying to keep voters from looking at anything on the table but the two political wings with the gravy (the ones that get served), we’ve kept alive a dozen-year streak of telling pollsters we identify more with neither of “the two” parties than with either:
https://news.gallup.com/poll/15370/party-affiliation.aspx
I wouldn’t hold my breath. The obvious example is second Bush term. After arguably stealing the election in 2000 and starting the various War on Terror fiascos, he won the popular vote in 2004 and Republicans increased their control over Senate and Congress. Yet the reaction of Democrats was to pull Obama, and he even wasn’t their initial choice, which was Hillary. So the safe bet to me is that Democrats will turn further right, only question is if openly, or they will be able to again find someone able to fake some sort of moderation.
The Democrats very much deserved to be voted out. The Republicans did not deserve to win. Americans deserve better choices.
Maybe, but continuing to vote for garbage candidates like T and H which is what happened en masse yesterday isn’t going to make that happen.
Re: Charts to explain a Harris Loss
«there are people out there who would see the poverty rate of 7.8% in 2021 and the 12.9% rate in 2023, and say there was a negligible 5% increase — not an alarming 65% jump — in poverty during that stretch.»
‘People’ as in all of DC.
Yeah, my first thinking was: How might Harris win after the nothing will fundamentally change disaster?
Old Babylon Bee (satire) says it all:
‘We Can’t Afford Another Four Years Of This!’ Shouts Running Mate Of Candidate Who Has Been Leading Country For Four Years…..
https://babylonbee.com/news/we-cant-afford-another-four-years-of-this-shouts-running-mate-of-candidate-who-has-been-leading-country-for-four-years
corporate profits as a % of GDP (and nominally) actually went up under Biden!
at the worst of it, real income went down ~3% (assuming you agree w/the hedonic adjustments used by BLS), effectively taking away one+ week’s of pay from regular folks
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CP https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/GDP https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LES1252881600Q
RE: How Trump victory leaves Starmer isolated on the world stage The Independent
Disappointing article that gives a few bites of information but sticks with the obvious. The biggest fail is to keep a right-left narrative that doesn’t hold resemblance with political realities. Go and read at least the last para of the previous link: Sinking ship.
Certainly Starmer will be in Trump’s gun-sights. Sending over a Labour team to influence the US elections and throw the win to Harris will not be forgotten by Trump. If Starmer needs a lifeline down the track and the UK economy starts to flounder, Trump is more likely to throw Starmer an anvil. I have heard that Starmer’s position of PM is not that guaranteed in the coming years and we have all seen UK PMs come and go at a rapid pace. It may be that Trump will throw the UK a lifeline if asked, so long as Starmer is replaced. For the UK, that would be a bargain.
Thank you, both.
Trump and Starmer have common ground to build on: Both are philanderers.
I love how a classical term makes anything sound respectable. Although of course, philos and andros means love+man, which potentially doubles their chances.
BTW, it has all gone quiet on Guido Fawkes at order-order.com and his birth certificate proof of Baby FitzStarmer…. Superinjunction?
But Trump is an above ground, open door, flamboyant philanderer and it adds to his authority as a bad boy who stabs his enemies from the front with his switchblade which he then uses to cut out more rotten wood, and his openess and courage gives him tremendous moral authority with his base (and beyond), while Starmer is just a sleazy, legalist, lying, know-nothing stumblebum of a spook who used – and continues to use – his hirelings to stab Labour loyalists in the back if they (1) supported his former leader, Jeremy Corbyn, the only UK politician to have a programme of economic growth, social regeneration and a re-casting of interational relations in the past fifty years, (2) are Jewish anti-Zionists, or (3) have even the most minimal tangential respect for truth and political decency. Comparing Trump and Starmer is like asking someone to choose between a Big Mac with fries and a turd sandwich during a lunchbreak on a wet Wednesday in Scunthorpe, IMHO.
Agree with your recommendation of Sinking Ship at Sidecar. The author did a good job of drawing out how the Treasury throttles planning and spending in the various ministries and steadily pushes “public-private partnerships” to make up for service shortfalls. Above it all there’s the discipline of international finance, which organizes attacks on the pound when government finances threaten austerian limits. I hope Corbyn and his allies can fight this effectively, perhaps more possible now that Starmer has lost Washington.
“The Vatican’s Anime Mascot Is Now an AI Pron Sensation”
Obviously the Vatican was never informed about Rule 34.
They were informed, and decided not to make mascot a boy, in order to reduce interest for viewing of those inside Vatican.
>Russia has declared war on US democracy- Foundation for Defense of Democracies
As we speak, they are working around the clock, deploying information operations aimed at interfering in US elections. Russia…is sowing chaos and undermining American citiz3ens’ faith in their institutions, democracy…blah, blah, blah…you get picture.
The author:
Ivana also serves as a special correspondent for KyivPost. Before joining FDD, Ivana worked as a visiting scholar at Harvard University and a lecturer for a variety of universities, including the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, and as a Jeane Kirkpatrick fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
The organization:
The Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) is a Washington, DC-based nonpartisan 501(c)(3) research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy..
“Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD)” … yeah, more like F.U.D.
Arguably, the US (select parts) has declared war on US democracy. No help needed.
Seventy six days left in the big parade
With a historic defeat close at hand
They were followed by rows and rows
Of the finest glad handers
The cream of a not so famous brand
Seventy six days left in the morning sun
With the Donkey Show left behind
There were over a thousand ironclad deeds
Springing up like weeds
There were armaments of every shape & kind
There were many megatons in nuclear platoons
Thundering, thundering, all along the way
Double plus good, could lead us to our doom
Each device having its big, fat say
There were less than fifty Senators in the D battery
Thundering, thundering, less louder than before
Schiff types of every size
And Trumpers who’d improvise
They know the score!
Seventy six days left to hit an axis of evil
While the THAAD kept incoming missiles away
To the rhythm of Harch! Harch! Harch!
All the IDF began to march
And they’re marching still right today
76 Trombones (Full Scene) – The Music Man (1962)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdd6q0pW4DM
And what’s a parade without the clowns?
And an EV Clown Car!
Too few people riding cars?
went to the NYT first. lol. you are not going to find circumspection there. same tropes as during the campaign.
Garbage in (pundits, editorial column, journalists not being hard on Dems, Dem. surrogates, being a stenographer for military-intelligence complex) = garbage out when it comes to NY-DC’s worldview and predictions.
Never thought that I would think this 16 years ago….but Dems. are going full-Whig!
If the Green Party had any sense (nope, like herding co-opted cats in my neck of the woods), they would be building their infrastructure for 2028. but I thought the same in 2000 after I cast my vote for Ralph Nader! lol
Greens do not build infrastructure.
But they do have high fiber, so there is that.
Yeah. Which means they are not serious about power, which makes me wonder to what extent they are useful idiots vs actual plants by TPTB, designed to act as spoilers and to neuter leftists.
That’s because the U.S. Greens are stupid and refuse to take corporate money. Exxon would love to help them win.
I don’t think they are stupid. Greens have a low ceiling, I don’t believer there are more than 20% who share the Green agenda thus are not a “big tent” party. In the same way neither is the Libertarian party.
Don’t need to be a big-tent party to win the few seats needed to take the balance-of-power in a legislature that has been more often than not close to gridlock over the last 20 years. That’s how you build a powerbase, not with vanity runs for the Presidency.
That’s what you get with PR. FPTP at least makes you think about coalition building.
With you on this one ; )
Selling out has always been the path to more donations.
I went there almost first as well. Hubby and I watched “Night on Earth” last night instead of the news (great film). But his the headlines this a.m. and this was in one of the NYT versions. Fairly level headed, considering the source. The writer said this: “Mr. Trump’s enemies are as certain as his supporters are that he could be a force for radical change. Yet both the pro- and anti-Trump camps are prone to exaggerate what this once and future president wishes to do and can accomplish. Even Franklin Roosevelt, with unlimited terms in office and an overwhelming popular mandate, found his power as president frustratingly limited. The Constitution is not weak, regardless of whether a Roosevelt or a Trump sits in the Oval Office.”
I thought that was spot on. We voted against Harris (we discussed our votes with each other) and are glad she lost. We’re just hoping for a bit of change…… but it’s hard to get around the constitution when people are watching. The Dems tried it and just got spanked.
>Israel, Blackmail and the Presidents husseini
I get the sense that most people have already processed this if they are familiar with Whitney Webb’s work. Those who are not up on the details and nexus between Epstein and Blinken, etc…also have processed this via the “black pill.” The sentiments of most people I talk to is that politicians are self-serving, opportunist, in their sexual as well as economic interest, they are predatory by nature, with few exceptions, and that the details would just confirm what they already know/feel to be the truth.
From Bill Clinton’s blue dress to Obama’s putative sexual predilections, and Trumps “pussy grab.” it has all been processed and compartmentalized in people’s thinking. There is little that surprises and shocks anymore after having seen some of the images on Hunter’s non-existent lap top.
Yes, and that the Epstein recordings a few days ago were a nothingburger means having Roy Cohn as his lawyer prior to Pisar more or less inoculated Trump on this front: he’s still in the business while Epstein got suicided.
Who’s got what on whom in the Bibi Donald nexus will be interesting to see in the coming months.
Thank you, Conor.
with regard to the Blighty links, readers may be interested in: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/nov/06/labour-budget-repackaged-tory-ideas-economics. At breakfast today, Edgerton tweeted how the Dixiecrat defeat holds lessons for Starmer. One wonders if the Labour team in the US, including the new chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, will learn the lessons. I doubt it.
I wonder whether the Guardian will let it grow, the idea that Labour only repackages Tory policies, and insist on that or if it will dutifully forget it because markets.
Some ppl seem to be really losing it:
oh dear someone needs a valium…..
As I suggested to IMDoc on another thread; we need Thorazine, and lots of it.
Or some vigorous outdoor exercise with an aerobic component, working up a sweat before a healing shower.
how about “go unto where the poor are and do what you can to help them get through their day.”
Valium, vigorous exercise or a look at this:
https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/esov0j/just_a_boy_and_his_hound_dog_puppy_not_ready_for/#lightbox
If the link works, that is…
Great pic,
could maybe be an antidote
A great suggestion every day!
My daughters really lit into me for voting for a racist, misogynist, fascist, anti-gay candidate. How can I answer that? The “left” (which is not the left) has been using hysterical epithets and hate to win over the American people–thankfully that failed. Not that Republicans haven’t done some of that as well but I’ve never seen such hysterical and visceral hatred for any candidate or POTUS as I’ve seen against Trump.
It may cause yet more trouble but perhaps you should ask your daughters why in all those decades since the Roe vs Wade decision, that the Democrats never legalizing abortion on the federal level, even when they had super majorities. Remind them how Obama said that he was going to do it when running for office but when he was elected, said that it was no longer a priority.
I’m sorry you’re getting so much grief, Chris. The “racist candidate” made historic inroads among Latino, black, and Arab-American voters. Pollsters never pay any attention to the Asian-American vote, but that, too, has been trending Republican for the last several cycles.
Yes, all poorly deluded people who refuse to follow established direction for people like them, and so, have internalized so much hate that they are now considered white./sarc
Clearly, the help got uppity and doesn’t understand that their masters want only the best for them :/
Um, maybe this isn’t relevant, but…. You remember that “emotional contagion” experiment the govt/CIA/intel agencies ran on Facebook users about 10 years ago? The one where some uni scientists devised a method to send only certain kinds of news stories to some unsuspecting people’s FB news feeds and then measure the recipients following texts to others to measure the kinds of emotions triggered by a combination of some kinds of news feed stories? There are links to stories about this.
I wonder if your daughters are big FB users? Not a joke. Two links:
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/06/everything-we-know-about-facebooks-secret-mood-manipulation-experiment/373648/
and
https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1320040111
My family (and daughters) think I am an eccentric due to my anti-war obsessions. Stemming from events during the Vietnam War time period. I let it go at that, since they are locked into the anti-Russia narrative. The ironic thing is they are highly educated and even familiar with John Mearsheimer, for example. But they don’t really want to sort things out. So we just avoid the subject.
They have been slightly red pilled by some of the trans excesses … specifically the Lia Thomas debacle. With female competitive swimmers being forced to compete with a former male built like a linebacker. They would never commit a micro aggression deliberately, but insist on fair play. They have also felt coerced by the ‘cancel culture’ and its demand for conformity.
They are smart girls and will come around…but I refuse to let these things interfere (any more than I can help) with my personal relationships.
I knew this was coming –
I walked into my office this AM – my MA has informed me there are already about a dozen people calling for acute anxiety, etc. The MA informed me they are literally tweaking out on the phone – they can barely get through a sentence without sobbing. The speech is unintelligible, etc.
I am going to put on my grandpa – pat the shoulder hat – I just do not know what else to do. This is going to be my life for the foreseeable future.
It is that bad. I have written in the past that these people are cult members – It is going to be like reprogramming. I only wish I was kidding or exaggerating. I have already seen 2 of them – it is not just that Trump won – it is the blowout – and the betrayal they feel – Interestingly, both of these first patients have mentioned the Iowa poll over the weekend. There was a huge double digit miss – there is no way that happened other than intentional tinkering or complete negligence/incompetence – there is just simply no other way. I wonder if she was a silent agent for Trump – that is how bad the miss was. But that ecstasy over the weekend and this devastation are going to be difficult for many people.
God help this country.
I saw a television commercial this morning on one of the local broadcast TV stations from one of our regional health insurance companies (UCare) with the most adorable slow-motion kitten and puppy interaction you can imagine and a tagline about mental health.
I’ve been digging on the interwebs for it without success and If it shows up on yootoob, I’ll post a link to it.
I doubt it will make any difference to those most affected but it did warm things up for me a bit.
Ah yes, the tv commercial works every time!
From France to you: Clue, “oh no, not up on the couch…”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vkae7-WCJMc&ab_channel=Let%27sJustTalkwithHammi
Listening to the first hour of 1A on public radio ( with a bit of glee to be honest, and I voted green), there were a number of callers that were having a tough time getting through their comment.
The host and some guests still could not get through their head all the reasons Harris got beat. Nazi, Fascist, you get the idea.
Laugh out loud when they talk about how divisive Trump was on the trail yet no thought of all the harsh language Harris used to describe Trump. No thought that while many of the issues they feel are the most important, and they are, they don’t get that putting food on the table and a roof over their families head “trumps” all the others. The pandemic caused all the inflation, no thought about insurance and food companies bending people over because they can.
Just heard a caller express her disgust over the misogyny that elected Trump without thinking of all the inroads he made with females in this election. All the women he had working at very high levels in his campaign.
I really feel bad for IMDoc having to deal with this.
I hope he keeps the reports coming in. I find them fascinating.
So sorry you are having to deal with this but at least you are prepared.
The Iowa pollster Seltzer HATES Trump. Lotta bile on her Twitter account. So she either conned herself big time or thought it would help.
I want to say something to you and Lambert, Yves.
This site, the links and the commentary have made me able to get through the past several years. No BS allowed, anyone and everyone can chime in to any topic with their comments and expertise, and no one really gets away with making stuff up or faulty thinking.
Because of that, people who read this blog and comments are among the most correctly informed on this planet. I know time and time again my eyes have been opened to other ideas.
The Iowa poll is but one of untold numbers of examples. Anyone reading the threads on this past weekend came away realizing the severe problems that existed with it. This level of being informed is not what happened to the vast majority out there.
I know the level of work you all do behind the scenes. I for one am very appreciative of your efforts.
And you’re part of the reason! Thank you for your informed commentary, I always look for it.
I will add that for many years I rarely read many books. When I “discovered” the Naked Capitalism website a few years ago I found the commentariat very well informed and recommending countless great books which I have made a strong effort to read as many as possible. I have now become an inveterate book reader. I thank NC and the commentariat for this.
I have to add your comments and postings were crucial to explaining the uneasy feeling I was getting about the cheerleading of the “vaccines” for Covid, ultimately declining them. Beyond your comments about the daily and historical ins and outs of the medical field and your practice, I’ve always appreciated the snippets of your homesteading efforts.
Thanks to you and the entire site for being a beacon of reason and sanity in an unreasonable and insane world ( to steal a line from the late radio host Allen Combs).
So highly deluded that the chosen figure, quickly thrust into the role a mere few months back, was outright rejected by many of their “fellow Americans”….
As a physician, you must have the patience of Job to proceed apace. This country could use a few million MD just like you, always appreciate your insight and comments.
I wonder if there is one prominent Democratic household that is delighted with the outcome.
That being Joe Biden’s family who watched his Kamala gambit crush the Democratic Party that pushed him out.
Biden did not suffer a humiliating loss to Trump, his replacement did.
Biden needs to pardon Hunter for any crimes before he drops the White House keys off.
A good election outcome for Biden.
I wonder if Biden voted for Harris?
There is speculation around the dress Jill Biden wore when she went to vote. From the Times of India. / ;)
Did Jill Biden ditch Kamala to vote for Trump? Jill’s MAGA red while voting sparks speculations
https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/world/did-jill-biden-ditch-kamala-to-vote-for-trump-jills-maga-red-while-voting-sparks-speculations/ar-AA1tBBaj
Today, a French tv news channel was also speculating on Dr. Jill’s choice of a red suit…
The AI Trump/Musk “Saturday Night Fever” dance was also featured on the same channel today.
I wonder if Hillary Clinton might not have similar feelings right now? She clearly viewed becoming the first woman President in history as being her own personal God-given right. That didn’t work out for her, and then this giggling airhead of an upstart, cocktail in hand, saunters along to snatch Hillary’s prize without so much as a by-your-leave. I’d be wiling to bet Hillbot isn’t exactly broken up by what happened last night: “If it wuz me I woulda won!!!”
We are not prominent, except in our local circles and have been lifelong Democrats. We are both elated and excited beyond belief. Go RFK Jr, Gabbard, Carleson, Shannahan, Weinstein, The Duran, NC, etc Go team Go!
Oh, and good luck Trump.
Overnight my concerns went to ‘what if Trump dies early, Vance takes over and turns out to be a CIA embed?”
Which is so much better than my previous worst case scenarios!
Presidents are largely figureheads. The men in dark suits carrying briefcases make all of the important decisions, not POTUS. This is why POTUS comes and POTUS goes, but the song remains the same.
Sorry, but God has His hands full at the moment helping Israel.
His hands are so full, that he does not even answer calls from the Pope.
what is the status of Trump’s open criminal & civil lawsuits? I read there are 80ish charges. Even if some are bogus lawfare, I would guesstimate some are legit crimes.
When is the sentencing for 1/some of his convicted felonies? I recall hearing this was probable soon/within a few months after yesterday’s election.
Will Trump just pardon himself, and the SCOTUS will rule in Trump’s favor if the self-pardon legality case is elevated to them for judgement?
Perhaps some of the R-supporting oligarchs/megafunders would be happy if Trump is imprisoned because they would prefer Vance over Trump anyways?
There seemed to be hope among the NBC talking head last night/early this morning that Judge Merchan will now sentence T in Stormy Daniels case he lost. Merchan delayed sentencing this summer. “And that might change evverrry thing.” Hope springs eternal at NBC. / ;)
I’d short the Dow Cornings index
Sure, why not? They could move the entire staff of the White House to Leavenworth where Trump would be running the country. There is nothing in the Constitution that says that a sitting President has to be sitting in the White House. And the Press Pool would have to go to Leavenworth for interviews and press briefings with maybe invasive searches every time they went in, especially for NBC staff. It would be funny if he pardoned himself first though.
Attica!!! Attica!!! Attica!!!
This is hoping on my algos right now, DOJ moving to wind down Trump criminal cases before he takes office, (NBC News).
The lede,
The step complies with longstanding Justice Department policy that a sitting President cannot be prosecuted, two people familiar with the matter told NBC News.
DA Alvin Bragg and Judge Juan Merchan are likely rethinking their life choices right now, as well as their country of residence.
Awaiting next opining by AG Garland. He has to answer for much, too.
It also makes me wonder whether Jack Smith will be fleeing to distant shores without extradition, or simping for a position to use his “talents” to persecute Trump’s enemies.
Maybe he’ll go back to the Hague and the ICC. After all, they brought him in to do a “Milosevic” on Trump. But they didn’t get Trump into prison in time, so he’d better cut his losses if he knows what’s good for him.
So far he hasn’t been convicted of federal crimes. For those maybe he will preemptively pardon himself, or step aside and have Vance do the pardoning. For the rest, SCOTUS is probably creative enough to find that state courts can’t hold a sitting president, president-elect, candidate for president, or former president (of whom they approve) accountable for anything ever.
Vance in charge is a further nightmare. Thoughts and prayers for Trump’s health.
Could you elaborate? I’m not saying having Vance in charge is necessarily desirable, but I keep hearing this line – this is the third time I’ve heard it just today. I’m interested in your version. Who is the *real* Vance – or his controllers – in your view?
The thing about lawfare is that the losers go to jail. Trump can just drop the Federal cases. State charges he can’t do directly. The state stuff either won’t withstand Federal appeal, or they just drop it. How would a state criminal charge be enforced? The purpose was to ruin Trump politically. It didn’t work, so why bother now. Trump is done with elections.
The Democrats got him elected through these excesses.
After all the bloviation over Jan 6th, can the Dems get away with the anti-Democratic optics of trying to overturn an election now? They tried to jail a political opponent and then carelessly almost got him assassinated. Maybe I am being naive about the ‘careless’ charge.
If they could, they would. If it was one or two swing states, funny things could happen. But this debacle is over.
I beg your pardon
I never promised you a Presidential pardon
Along with the sunshine
There’s gotta be a little refrain sometime
When you take you gotta give so live and let live or let go
Oh-whoa-whoa-whoa
I beg your pardon
I never promised you a Presidential pardon
I could promise you things like Kamala coming through
But don’t expect anything after yesterday, if I was you
So you better think it over
Well, if by sweet-talkin’ word salad you could make it come true
I would run the world right now on a silver platter
But what would it matter
So smile for a while and let’s be jolly
Jail shouldn’t be so melancholy
Come along and share the good times while we can
I beg your pardon
I never promised you a Presidential pardon
Along with the sunshine
There’s gotta be you doing some time
I beg your pardon
I never promised you a Presidential pardon
I could sing you a tune and promise you the moon
But if that’s what it takes to hold you
I’d just as soon let you go
But there’s one thing I want you to know
You better look before you leap, still waters run deep
And there won’t always be someone there to pull you out
And you know what I’m talking about
So smile for a while and let’s be jolly
Jail shouldn’t be so melancholy
Come along and share the good times while we can
I beg your pardon
I never promised you a Presidential pardon
Along with the sunshine
There’s gotta be you doing some time
I beg your pardon
I never promised you an ironclad Presidential pardon
Rose Garden, by Lynn Anderson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXHsWBKKNbI
Good morning fellow parody maven. We should ask dear hostess for a special thread so you, Anfifa, and others can riff freely.
PS – it’s looking like the Bills jinx worked, but we should probably not do the final dance until we’re sure the refs don’t call a penalty after the game ended and the Bills emerged victorious, taking away a touchdown.
…a Long Suffering Bills Fan wouldn’t have it any other way, not that you have any say in the matter
I’ve not watched an NFL game in a month of 4 Sundays, beisbol been berry berry good to me.
You’re missing some good Bills football – Josh Allen looks like a MVP candidate.
The defense is a worry, though. The playoffs and the dreaded Chiefs loom large, not to mention the Ravens. For comic relief, we have Kaaron Rodgers and the Jests.
Kamala as Scott Norwide.
Yes. Exactly–wide right. Her holder was Liz Cheney.
Permit me to offer for your consideration a variation on ‘She’s Lost Control’, by the aptly named Joy Division, repurposed for Kamala’s very own loss of control.
A deadness in her eyes that says it all
She’s lost control
And she’s laughing at the voters in the hall
She’s lost control
And she tossed away Joe Biden from her past
And said, “I’ve lost control again”
And heard Obama tell her when and where to act
She said, “I’ve lost control again”
And she laughed while taking Timmy by the hand
And said, “I’ve lost control again”
Now Walz just does not know why or understand
She laughed, “I’ve lost control again”
And Cheney was sticking to her side
She said, “I’ve lost control again”
She seized up on the stage, she thought she’d died
And laughed, “I’ve lost control”
She’s lost control again
She’s lost control
She’s lost control again
She’s lost control
Then the polls began to really state their case
And say, “She’s lost control again”
And she compounded all the errors and mistakes
And laughed, “I’ve lost control again”
She laughed some more in thirty-two daily ways
Until she lost control again
And waltzed at last to the end of polling day
And laughed, “I’ve lost control”
She’s lost control again
She’s lost control
She’s lost control again
She’s lost control
excellent!
Well timed. I listened to all of Peter Hook’s post-JoyDivision/NewOrder “album” concert recordings last week. He put together a band, The Light, just to do new versions of all his old songs with more of a rock edge to them. Probably not news to you but for others here’s Hook’s Wikipedia page.
Seen them a few times when they pass through town. Great show!
Middle East Eye on Rashida Tlaib’s victory for a fourth term.
First, congratulations to Tlaib. She’s one of the few critters in Congress who isn’t, as the young-uns say, cringe.
Of course, they are cringing because they have made everything about money and subservience.
Second, the article lists the crap she has had to put up with. Truly disgraceful — although it may be liberating for her to have adversaries who are so deluded and craven.
Third, I have watched much of Rania Khalek’s focus interview (in three parts) with a group of Arab Americans in Michigan. They are eloquent. They are angry — justifiably so. They are radical in their insights and analysis. Yet the whiffy Democratic Party elites thought that they could get away with torturing citizens in public. How could that possibly go wrong for the Dems?
The first part of Khalek’s interviews:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Q3hs_677rQ
Thanks for the link.
Also, the Dem estab has been telling itself for decades it can ignore its voters concerns because “where else can their voters go ?” The Dem estab just got the answer, not the answer they were expecting.
Belated Thanks! Love Rashida! And she is, as you said, the only one that ain’t cringe!
McCaskill 2028
Clare?
Does she have a granddaughter that’s running for something? Maybe someone less than 80 next time around.
Missouri usually runs only undead Democrats, but they did once run a real corpse. He beat John Ashcroft.
Yep. Mel Carnahan.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000_United_States_Senate_election_in_Missouri
I remember that one, LOL. Let the Eagle Soar …
McCaskill?
Only Democrats can be this masochistic.
And now for a lick of sadism:
McCaskill / Buttigieg
McCaskill / Behar
McCaskill / Cheney, Liz
But there is no joy in Mudville
~mighty Kamala has struck out
Thx for the pun!
McCaskill / Tester
Republican Tim Sheehy wins Montana Senate race, unseating Dem. Sen. Jon Tester
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/republican-tim-sheehy-wins-montana-senate-race-unseating-dem-sen-jon-tester/ar-AA1tBQZv
(And to think I sent both their campaigns a small donation in their first run. Live and learn.)
I remember Tester in his first election campaign (2006?) saying that The Patriot Act should be repealed.
2006 called yesterday.
Tester was mentioning campaign finance reform last night, He has several bills he was co-sponsoring… good luck with that.
Carpetbagger mendacious Sheehy heading to the swamp for a long soak in money, tell lies with Trump. Heady times!
I saw a Buttigieg-Cheney bumper sticker on a car in the grocery store parking lot last month. At first I couldn’t tell if it was snark or legit, but leaned towards legit because there was no sign of snark. Looked serious.
Surely better doomed and voter repellent candidate can be found (isnt that what Dems specialize in?)…does Kamala have any children? One of them could team up with Chelsea.
Book deal for her, and yet another by Killary? Who next in the self-flagellation display?
Or skip the grift-lit and just maybe engage somebody with new ideas that the voters can understand and embrace? Listen again, and again.
“The US pivot to Africa is not working – Asia Times”
‘Russia has been aggressively pushing into the region, using both private military companies such as the notorious Wagner Group’
Coming from Erik Prince – the founder of Blackwater – that is hilarious that. Africa is pushing out the French as Prince noted but that is because the French have been ruthlessly exploiting them. So why would they replace the French with American colonizers? Especially if the US demands that those African nations will only be allowed to have relations with the US but not with other countries that the US does not like? It was that demand that got the US kicked out of Niger it should be pointed out. But with the focus of the US on China, maybe Africa will be put on the back burner. Fortunately the US State Department has expert people that can go in and fill the gap. /sarc
“The US pivot to Africa is not working” Erik Prince
Coming from a specialist in social destruction, what this represents about a supposed US pivot to Africa is only frightening. Fortunately, Africa is too many countries for such a US to pivot to.
After the dust settles, the dnc needs to be completely dismantled down to the desks they use.
I never want to hear another word from
The Obamas, Clinton’s, Pelosi, Schumer, harris, Biden and add all you want.
Not another word and I hope they all quit or be fired are the pundits, from John Oliver to msnbc, cnn, npr
Not another word from the pollsters unless they got things correct the last 3 cycles.
The only tiny sliver of hope is that like what team R did after the huge loss in 2008, they built anew and it worked team blue needs to do starting this morning.
Yes it’s a really small sliver.
add the DC Dem. love of celebrity endorsements. Normie-Americans do not want to be lectured about politics from a milionaire entertainer (even if they like the celeb’s songs or films)
I came across a video yesterday saying that a lot of these celebs were being pressured into endorsing Harris or else they would lose work in the industry. i could believe that happening.
look what happened to Gina Carano or Tim Allen. Cancelled. black listed.
Allen wasn’t canceled by Disney. The network didn’t own that show, and the viewers switched to fox 10 o’clock news instead of staying on which means they received way less than a show with poorer ratings they outright owned (it’s why NBC loves Friends but has no attachment to Seinfeld; they own one.). Most likely Disney cooked up the canceled story to support someone they intended to bring back.
Disney hasn’t exactly refused to hire Allen either.
I suspect you are correct. The music industry is far worse than the old studio system in the movie industry of the 1920s.
Of course, now that Swift and, to a lesser extent, Beyoncé, stuck their necks out for the Democrats, the industry will not protect them — nor, I think, can they. Celebrities used to stay the hell away from politics, knowing that it ends careers.
Ricky Martin’s popularity tanked after he sang at George W. Bush’s inauguration.
Entertainment needs a cleansing from all the clouds and stench of suspicion from Diddy and others. Corporate layoffs at Disney, Warner and others were a good start. Those celeb endorsements for Kamala looked forced and cringe, so toss in some therapy.
I kind of wonder if Beyonce’s performance at kamala’s rally was actually to shank her
There is always far more talent (and I do mean real talent) than their are positions to fill in the music business.
That’s true, I suppose, when your “product” is completely manufactured and phony.
The Republican reorganization, whatever combination of grass roots and elite pressures brought it about, serves the oligarchy. One glitch in the scenario of the disintegration of the Democrats leading to a regrouping oriented even slightly toward the people is the commitment of the Republicans in positions of power to closing any path to anything of the sort.
I dunno, marym. Last night crystallized a trend in politics that has been in flux for several cycles in a row. I think this election may have been the tipping point of a political realignment. The Democrats in New York State pulled their worst percentage in a long, long time. Working-class, latino, black, and young voters — the Democrats’ historic “base voters” — deserted them in droves.
The current Democrat regime will never get those people back. The Republicans have an opportunity here to remake the political map. If they focus on economics, they may very well succeed.
They may succeed at building something better if the focus on economics were to actually serve the economic interests of the “working-class, latino, black, and young voters” and not that of the donor class; and also, if they can prevent the various forms of harm they gleefully propose for many segments of the population from blowing back on some of those voters. Seems doubtful to me.
Pigs will fly someday.
Peace to you.
A pipe dream! They are the best at fundraising and are the connection to sacred corporate cash. We will now be told that the Harris campaign was too far left. They should have brought in Count Dickula himself, not his spawn. Oh and Shapiro should have been VP.
I had a Trumpeter pal mention that Harris would have won had she picked Shapiro. Say whaaaaa?
I don’t see it- not that it matters.
Pollsters, ha. Monday night’s ATW showed a clip of reporter Mark Halpern interviewing some supposedly great pollster who said KH was polling 3% higher than T in Iowa on election eve.
Walter Kirn scoffed at the idea that KH could have made that miraculous leap in so short a time. Walter was right. T won Iowa with 55% to KH’s 42% of the vote.
So much for famous pollster’s predictions. / ;)
The pollster is Ann Setzer, who has run the vaunted Iowa Poll for decades. She just destroyed her cred with that poll.
Rich Baris of The People’s Pundit said it was reported that Ann said in phone calls “I’m gonna drop a bomb in that SOB’s lap.” It looks like that bomb exploded prematurely. He also reminds us that pollsters are running businesses and sell their product to others. Sometimes they may not care as much about the process of polling as the marketing of the finished product. It turns out the other poll released that weekend by Rasmussen (ignored by the media) was pretty accurate with a projected 3% national lead by Trump.
The thing that bothers me more than any Lawfare antics is what the minions at the White House will cook up in the next 75 days. Remember how Obama had the Russian Consulate raided and shuttered in San Fransisco after Trump’s win in 2016? I believe he also had a number of diplomats(?) expelled. I wonder what executive actions will occur before Jan. 20.
The last two cycles were close elections. This one was not only decisive, but a clear repudiation/punishment of the governing party.
Hard to avoid sounding chirpy and formulaic but, to draw on Jane MacAlevey much depends on the unions and their organizing efforts. Successful organizing drives, well-embedded in communities, not only derive material benefits but also provide a social grounding for the development of activists who are potentially social democratic in an organic kind of way.
Relatively speaking, the abject failure of KH’s campaign and the electoral hucksters who backed her, provide an opportunity. In his a questionable article encouraging disgusted support for Biden that he wrote for the Nation this March, Adolph Reed put this part of the situation well:
“Boris Johnson ‘fired’ from US election show for plugging his book”
‘Johnson refused to follow orders, stating: “There’s absolutely nothing you can do to stop me … I’m allowed to plug my book.” ‘
He still sounds like a petulant child but one that is money grubber. He has never changed. He was like this before he was PM, was like it when he was the PM, and is still acting like this. But the British establishment will always find a way to support him and see that he never goes without. He’s in the club that Carlin talked about.
and we ain’t in it RK – and to MicaT’s post of hope in dismantling the DNC, just don’t think that’s possible – the strength of the oligarchs is omnipresent in politics that buys the best in class thanks to Citizens United or AIPAC – and agree with marym that the Republicans will be committed to closing any path to anything of the sort that would indicate the Dems are taking seriously the real reasons they lost, beyond the war in Ukraine or the genocide in Gaza – but don’t think the Republicans have too much to worry about in that regard since the loss provides fodder for fund raising and obfuscation for the midterm elections – TDS will continue, like long covid –
To Whom Do Children Belong? Archedelia, Matthew Crawford, Jeff Shafer.
Complicated. Timely. Another case where technology has made exploitation so much easier. (Hey, it isn’t just Unsubscribe buttons that don’t work.)
The article is timely because the right-wing coalition of the Italian government just passed a law banning all surrogate pregnancy / adoptions. The right-wing expression is banning “wombs for rent” — which some feminists (usually church-y) have also accepted as a practice to be avoided / limited.
The dilemma here is that privacy and personal choice usually mean that we tend not to want to interfere in others’ arrangements. On the other hand, the photo up top in the posting at Archedelia of babies “in the inventory” in Ukraine reminded me of the exploitation. A couple of years back, when the conflict broke out in Ukraine, I did some research about the assertions that it is the poorest country in Europe. I discovered that it was the capital of surrogacy. Either Ukrainian women are naturally oh-so-generous, or big money is changing hands.
A dilemma. Shafer points out that the practices are in widespread use. In Italy, the assumption seems to be that only gayfolk use surrogates. So why shouldn’t the government interfere, eh? The law does allow married couples (or those in civil unions) to adopt — although for gayfolk things are extra-complex.
As Conor Gallagher notes above, the article is definitely worth a read.
The question is this: What do you accept about its assertions? What implications does the article lead to?
The Italian law covers everyone though. The further I look into commercial surrogacy the more a dystopian horror it seems. Reading surrogacy contracts is quite the eye opener, far from the romantic, generous act we think of among intimates. Here, the woman assumes all the risk for using her 24/7, for pennies at that. I recall a Houellebecq character saying exploiting people in poor countries is a benefit to them.
I think the article goes to far in claiming the current familial order as “natural”. While a family structure is a constant in human societies, its structure differs. And wouldn’t a matrilinear be more “natural” and demand less of the state? The mother is easy enough to assertain (unless the child appears at a doorstep), and in a matrilinear society the mothers brothers are typically the men in the childs life. No need for government decisions in paternity suits, so more “natural”. (In quotation marks, because adopting different familial structures are apparently quite natural for humans.)
When it comes to the politics of the current development I think banning commercial transactions is only the beginnings. I think a crucial thing is to decide who is the parents if there is disagreement, and I think the important perspectives are power based. The one with least power is the child, the child’s right to at least one parent is paramount, therefore there must be at least one legal parent at all times. When it comes to the involved adults, the one carrying the child puts in the most labour. Therefore my starting point would be that the one carrying the child is the parent unless and until the child is adopted by someone else. And then go on from there.
The title reminded me of a band (and a song).
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark – Enola Gay
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5XJ2GiR6Bo
P.S. Enola Gay is the name of the plane that dropped Little Boy on Hiroshima.
and it ain’t over until the Fat Man sings? No travel in the Levant for a while.
Well, I didn’t watch it, but there was a fat man ‘dancing’ and listening to his playlist for 45 minutes a couple weeks ago. Not singing, as far as I know.
Fat Man was the other nuke, bound for Nagasaki.
Wait till we come upon the crossroads.
(NB: Operation Crossroads was a big atomic weapons test at the Bikini Atoll in 1946, when two atom bombs were dropped on a bunch of surplus warships from the war, and yes, the first atomic bomb detonation after the Fat Man.)
It should have stayed home that day.
“US ambassador warned of ‘consequences’ for enacting Occupied Territories Bill – 90 minutes later Micheál Martin said it would be reviewed rather than passed”
‘On 22 October US ambassador to Ireland Claire Cronin sent an email warning of “consequences” for Ireland if the Occupied Territories Bill proceeded.’
I’m going to assume that US ambassador to Ireland Claire Cronin also sent an email warning of “consequences” for Ireland if they did not allow military gear to stage through Ireland on it’s way to Israel.
Speaking of US ambassadors…
I wonder how many of them will get the boot when Trump is sworn into office.
I parsed that wrong…
I read “released” as released from prison. It seems the list will not be released, not prisoners.
Oopsie!
If Joe is a Lame Duck, does that make Kamala a Lame Dud?
Kamala didn’t have the courage to face her own supporters last night (best case)
worst case, all the rumors are true and she has an awful temper and/or is a functioning alcoholic and/or on some meds.
She just got beaten like a drum – give the poor gal a break. She actually thought she would win and now she has to a) stand up in public and eat crow……or b) have another cocktail and cry on her pillow. Understandable she picked b).
Box whine
Look at the upside, she’s Generation Jones very own Alf Landon.
Kammy is not quite a Gen-Xer but I can give her an honorary membership.
As a fellow Gen-Xer all I can say is she forgot the first rule of Gen-X: rebel against your boomer parents. Genocide Joe is a boomer … she had to do something to separate herself from the old man, and instead, she sheepishly followed his every genocidal move.
If I could I’d smoke a cigarette w/ her and say, better luck next time, kiddo. You still have that beautiful laugh, and a J.D. can’t be voted away (but you can get disbarred.)
Biden’s 1942 birth year would make him a Silent Gen person. Too bad he didn’t remain silent.
Thanks, Joe. /s
And because it never goes out of style, Thanks, Obama. /sss
My mom and dad were also born in 1943. So, yeah, he isn’t a boomer but he’s old enough to be Kamala’s dad (shes 60, I believe.)
Like Kamala, Joe is a cusp guy. Technically Silent Gen if he was born in 1943. The baby boom officially started in1946. I believe Kamala is my age 63. Born in 1961, we are tail end boomers. I have never felt any kinship with the boomers. My outlook on life has always been very Gen X. Kamala, well, she reads boomer to me. But really bubble residing, tone deaf Democrat describes her best IMO
Late Boomers are sometimes categorized as “Generation Jones”
Biden is not a member of the Silent Generation cohort. Having been born in 1942 he was too young for both WWII and Korea, and too old for Vietnam (the average age there being 19). Biden is one of those dudes who skated through life with nary a care. Just like Barack Obama.
She was a mediocre party hack who got a Cinderella ride to the VP job after earning no delegates in any primary, and should be like any contestant on AGT; grateful for the opportunity. She was allowed to rise 6 levels above what she earned, only to find out people knew that.
The thing I never understood…
In 2020, Biden and Harris were selected to stop the Democratic primary and preclude Bernie Sanders from winning. Part of the deal was to select a one term slate…eg Biden/Harris who might beat Trump, save the party from disaster, and provide an open field in 2024. Both were weak primary candidates, and presumably wouldn’t be a factor in 2024, thus appealing to the viable candidates who were having trouble with Sanders and predicted trouble with Trump. The democrat field dropped out based on this deal. Joe didn’t get the message. Why he wasn’t forced out before his debate performance that ruined him is beyond me. Biden was so mentally compromised he used to occasionally blurt out the truth.
They coulda read Biden the riot act at any time. Why the last nanosecond?
when one is a supposed leader, the buck stops with you.
and one owes it to one’s base to thank them for their unpaid sacrifice and hold your base blameless.
imo. ymmv.
And she can’t just slink off, she still has to play able VP to the disabled prez. Joe needs to stumble aside and give her a consolation prize.
I feel like that is a war gamed out response that is already being discussed.
Here’s how I think it could go… Joe steps down due to “health” issues. Kamala assumes the presidency in the interim. Then Trump does something Trumpy, and Kamala gives an emergency press conference where she declares, sadly, that Trump is a threat to the nation and she must treat him as a domestic enemy.
Chaos and violence ensue.
Harris doesn’t have the chutzpah to pull off something like that. Dick Cheney she is not, despite receiving his endorsement. Trump may not last four years, but that would be more likely due to health issues or the very bright light followed instantly by the multi-million degree fireball.
“We bring heat and light” the Russian Strategic Missile Force?
Harris hasn’t been doing anything here. If this were to happen, it would be because of the “Collective Biden” wanted it.
Biden should hand the reigns to Harris the morning of the inauguration. How shitty would that be for her as she stands there while DJT is crowned yet again; all the while JB is watching the spectacle in the comfort of his home.
Politicians lose races all the time. Gerald Ford’s voice was gone by Election Night and he had to ask his [drunk/drugged] wife to read his address. But he stood by her side while he read it, and his face told the whole story. Ford’s loss was far more painful because he’d been rising gradually in the polls and the end result was extremely close. Another week or two and he’d probably have won re-election.
Even in that moment of bitter defeat, he retained his dignity. I’m not sure that political hacks like Harris have any.
Ford took one for the team, that team that appointed him to the Warren Commission. Poor Betty.
/:
My recollection of Trump in 2020 was that dignity was sorely absent. So, the Political Hack moniker in all fairness can be ascribed to a big pool, apparently infinite.
Big Tent Writ Large.
I’m trying to decide whether to take SS early. Im 20 months ou from max benefits.
The economy is about to take off to Mars with Elon, and I will be busier than ever.
The tax cuts and budget… if it were up to Trump, might go full MMT— plenty of fiat for all policies. I don’t believe congress will be in accord… so tax cuts and program cuts.
Sorry darlin, cat fud again. (hat tip to gary larson)
>>I’m trying to decide whether to take SS early. Im 20 months ou from max benefits.
IMO. unless one has a known physical conditions (and/or bad family medical history) or really needs the money, max out SS.
If you do the math, the “net present value” of waiting is worth it, especially if one has a spouse who will get survivor benefits.
Thank you for this. Precarity is tiresome. I did work for a veterinarian for six months trying to determine if I reallllly wanted to be a vet, and picked up a LOT of dog shit. I can do anything for 20 months.
And the headlines will be so much diversionary fun entertainment!
There are as many good reasons for taking SS early as there are for taking it later. It truly is a very personal decision. Waiting until 70 makes sense for a relatively small number of people.
Most financial advisers and actuaries would give the opposite advice. The UK has a similar system that rewards delay in taking pension entitlements (but recently made much less generous…). The advice has always been to take them because if you don’t need them, you can save them and if you die unexpectedly, you can leave them; whereas if you defer, you are increasing the mortality cross-subsidy in the system for those who outlive you.
Run some basic numbers to check (and if you have an unusually long or short life-expectancy or a niche situation where additional income or capital could destroy your eligibilty for benefits or tax planning, then you should make a very careful calculation) but most people would be better off taking the money early and saving the excess. From a big picture perspective, the difference between the money being compounded in your hnds and in theirs should be minimal unless there is a free lunch in the system.
I don’t mean to seem to come down on you, but stop this.
Until WOMEN nominees, every Prez loser acted like a grown-up, gave a short, gracious concession statement (presumably prepared before election day), thanked their peeps for their valiant effort, and then went to bed. This idea that women get to act like sore losers and emotional cripples is lame.
It is because she and Hillary were assigned the female gender at birth, or because they and their bubble of personality cultists were so isolated from reality, and so intoxicated on their own narrative, that the loss was an unbearable, reality-breaking shock. What if there weren’t two speeches prepared?
“You won’t have _____ ______ to kick around any more!”
>She just got beaten like a drum
You could say she got bitch slapped by the voters like her husband allegedly did to his girlfriend…
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/25/doug-emhoff-slap
This should not be considered an endorsement of violence against women.
How did “beech slapped” get through moderation? Hmmmm, come on now children.
Please read our Policies. You should know by now most comments are not moderated.
Regarding eating crow there is a restaurant in Stockholm that serves crow in spring. So maybe Kamala could try to look at it from a delicacy point-of-view? Optimist and growth mind-set is very much spoken about today in order to handle adversity.
… but where is the US Gov’t in all this? There seems to be no statement from the dems, Biden, Kamala, or the white house and we’re what, almost lunch time the day after?
It is ”after”, right? Isn’t it?
What an apropos antidote. That otter’s face says it all, doesn’t it? LOL
Good point but I’m pretty sure it’s a seal…..
Ughh, you’re right of course. If only you could see my face right now…
I think that it is asking if it is safe to come up again.
I was going to comment the same thing… that
otterseal and I have been watching sea surface temperatures this season and are bug-eyed about itEdit: ya it’s a seal l m a o
Yes a seal. Anyway the first comment was good. The ears, watch the inconspicuous ears, definitely a seal.
What did the Montanan say when he saw the Navy Seals?
Barf Barf
That picture reminds me of a seal or sea lion who floated offshore from us at the Point Reyes beach one day in the ’80’s. He followed us up and down the shoreline while we walked the deserted sands.
Re: Kamala lost almost all the university towns in Michigan
It would be interesting to see a good analysis of just how much the pro-Israel, pro-war, pro-genocide policy cost the Dems.
I doubt much – it’s zionist one v. zionist 2.
True, but I think that was always priced in with Zionist #2, whereas the actual Zionist #1 was defenestrated by his former boss and then as a replacement his sidekick was slotted in by the inner party. The sidekick then had a chance to change course a little bit — to at least take a stand against the genocide —, but instead she kneeled to the inner party and said she would be absolutely no different from Zionist #1.
I believe that for many anti-war and anti-genocide voters, that could have just been the last straw. That was the point at which they said “fuggit” and decided against voting for the sidekick.
Upshot: Zionist #2’s base was largely unaffected, while Zionist #1 alienated a number of the people who formerly belonged to his base — enough to lose the election? good question —, and was then replaced by the sidekick who alienated them even more.
Thus my interest in the aforementioned analysis.
Maybe. But zionist one actually doing the genocide. If a message is actually being sent here, will it have any impact on zionist 2? Doubtful.
People vote with their feet as well as their hands. Undoubtedly there were plenty of students pissed off enough at the Democrats to vote Republican. Undoubtedly there were a lot of them who voted for Stein. Undoubtedly there were a lot who simply stayed home, and that’s just as much a Republican victory as the other two scenarios.
Exactly this. The Dems did everything possible to piss off the anti-war vote that was more or less reliable for them in the past. Pro-genocide? Tear gassing your own college-age voters? Licking Netenyahooooos anus at every opportunity even though they are openly salivating at getting Trump back in?
And as if that wasn’t enough, rehabbing the Cheney’s??!!!? I mean good LORD, what possible constituency were they courting with that dumb move?
This loss is entirely on the ShitLibs who run that feckless party.
Re rehabbing the Cheneys (as if one could polish that turd enough to get shinola), my take on it is that is to be viewed as one side of the PMC reaching out to form a coalition with another side of the PMC. They’re so out of touch and tone deaf the PMC Dems thought it would make them look good.
My car insurance is up another 20% this year and I have an immaculate driving record. If that is in part due to greed, increased medical bills, and increased cost of vehicle repairs and replacement, how did bridging the gap with the Cheneys change any of that for me?
I’m sure they thought they were being super clever, courting Republican voters or some such garbage along those lines. Too clever by half, because the constituency they were courting was the Jeb! vote.
It’s honestly mind boggling. I can’t wait for the even more ret***ed spin we’re about to be subjected to for the next few months mythologizing what went wrong.
The election had many more choices than that, including the options of voting third party or staying home. No doubt many young people chose one of those options, and no doubt some of those students decided the Democrats needed to be put down regardless. Students are no different than all those other demographic slices the pundits like to dissect; they calculate their own interests and vote accordingly.
Lots of people who hated the two uniparty candidates, shrugged, and voted for Orange Man Bad. They hate both parties, but they hate the Democrats more. Hell hath no fury…
Voting for candidates of a party whose economic and foreign policies one by and large disagrees with is part of US political pathology.
I’d like to see the detailed stats. I’m pretty sure I saw Ann Arbor and Lansing as blue last night. In my experience, the smaller MI college towns tend to be much more conservative… so maybe by number of counties, but probably not by population.
Un-Official Election Results Washtenaw County
November 5, 2024 General Election [Ann Arbor]
Harris by 70%
NYT Michigan Election Results
With a map, Ann Arbor was the deepest blue.
I am interested in the effect of Trump down ballot in Ohio, and also nationally.
In short, it looks like people who voted for Trump voted ‘team red’ on the rest of the ballot in Ohio. This may not be surprising to some, but there had been some evidence for split ticket voting in 2023.
In 2024, Trump currently has 55% of the vote in Ohio and an 11 point lead over Harris.
Downballot, incumbent Democratic Senator Brown has 46%, not much better than Harris’s 44%. The Republican and Libertarian candidate combined for a bit over 53%.
Then there are two sets of contests that had a pro-choice vs pro-life angle. For Ohio Supreme Court, three of three positions were won by the Republican candidate by 55%.
And Issue 1, a proposed amendment to the Ohio Constitution to change the redistricting process lost 54 to 46. ( This proposed constitutional change would have removed elected politicians from redistricting and might have benefited Democrats long term ).
In 2023, two consecutive votes on a constitutional right to ‘health care related to reproduction’ ( abortion ) were won 56 to 44 for the pro-choice side.
I had thought from the 2023 results that there were some Ohio votes ( perhaps 1 in 10 ) who would vote for a Republican candidate but were also pro-choice when given a direct vote on the matter. However, I see no evidence of this in the 2024 Ohio results. For what it is worth, abortion was a major issue in the ads for the senatorial candidates.
fun fact: Harris only got 55.x% of the vote in New York State.
NYS is officially as red as Ohio. Thanks Obama and Michelle for your relentless lecturing of black folks!
https://apps.npr.org/2024-election-results/new-york.html
I’m reliably informed that they have both had to retire to one of their mansions to recover from the RSI of their fingers.
Other commenters have already said so already — the Democrat Party as a whole owns this loss.
Reformulated by party hacks: They just didn’t vote hard enough!
I don’t think the abortion issue works very well for Democrats anymore in states like Ohio and Arizona, where people figured out the Democrats were not actually going to protect abortion rights and took matters into their own hands by passing state initiatives. The hard core abortion vote still wants to elect federal candidates to dictate abortion rights for other states, but the swing abortion vote is satisfied with establishing their own state law.
Nevada passed an abortion rights amendment by 63% while the senate race looks to be decided by a margin of a couple thousand votes, if that.
In Nevada, the sitting Dem senator Rosen is doing only slightly better than Harris and may lose by a hair. Nevada allows voters to explicitly choose “none of these candidates” on some races and that option was more popular down ballot than in the presidential (1.2% for presidential, 2.9% for the senate race).
I didn’t see this on today’s links European Disunion section.:
Germany’s awkward coalition faces make-or-break moment.
This one looks more serious than previous make-or-break moments it seems.
Good catch. For some strange reason — a big thank you to reporting by Sarah Marsh, Andreas Rinke and Christian Kraemer — there’s no direct reference to Wagenknecht’s party as the author goes over the electoral forces in play.
Question: I believe it was last week that a meeting between representatives of German and Russian capital was to occur, and there was a hint of a thaw about it. Anyone heard anything since?
An RT article says-
‘The German parliament must pass the 2025 budget by the end of this month. The legislature’s Budget Committee is scheduled to review the final draft on November 14. However, the government’s draft budget still has a deficit of “several billion euros” and the coalition partners are struggling to agree on how to overcome this shortfall, according to DW.’
https://www.rt.com/news/607061-german-government-crisis-budget-coalition/
I bet that they are thinking about all those tens of billions that they sent to the Ukraine right now.
Looks like you were right about that! Just coming in now:
German chancellor Olaf Scholz sacks his finance minister
Christian Lindner is out as Finance minister. So much for the coalition.
So, Israeli settlers did not acquire hundreds of high-caliber rifles, because doing so would not make any sense, not to mention that you can’t buy hundreds of those for that amount of shekels.
DOD discount?
The weapons are coming from the Israeli Ministry of Public Security (Ben Gvir’s), probably via private arms sale contracts.
Of note here, The US Congress passed a bill requiring the Department of State to ensure prompt delivery of all private commerical arms sales to the Ministry of Public Security within 15 days of sale. I consider this the “Machetes to Rwanda” bill, and likely Ben Gvir thinks the same. If pogroms erupt in the West Bank it will get an awful lot worse than Yugoslavia.
It makes sense to me. Unfortunately, I don’t think Democratic Party leaders will take any lesson from this but, ‘more censorship, more propaganda.’
Where did the 81 million voters go? Projecting, looks like Harris will end up barely cracking 70. And Trump looks to finish in the mid 70s about where he did last time. Harris breaking 70 would still be 2nd best all time for a Democrat, behind Joe, who evidently was just that wildly popular. Previous record holder was Obama with 69 million. So that’s roughly 10 million D voters, never seen before 2020, who dropped off the face of the earth just as quickly.
This is what I am tracking as well
Call it Bernie’s Last Revenge, if you like. When the DNC stabbed him in the back and installed their insider picks, including the underqualified Ms. Harris, some people gave up on the process right there and then. I for one really don’t care if the insider taking orders from moneyed interests wears blue or red, so I am no longer going through the kabuki theatre of voting.
Hard to say, what if the Donkey Show ran Bernie in 2020… who got squashed like a bug run over by a 53 foot long semi, and we had to deal with Prince Regent Eric?
The 2016 Michigan Democrat primary results undercut the probability of that suggestion.
How are u tracking this? Be interesting to see a geographic table with discrepancies by county and/or zip, might tell us more about 2020 results.
Too early for that yet,
I’d be curious to know how many folks left the presidential line blank. In Nevada, where they have a none of the above option, it suggests it was quite a few. You would need to determine the total number of voters to do that.
Once again, in writing in my preferred candidate for the 3rd straight Presidential election, I cast my vote for Wink Martindale, in that you get a game show host and an NFL defensive coordinator all in the same name.
Wink Martindale is no longer a coach in the NFL as of 2024. He is now the defensive coordinator at the Univ. of Michigan.
CA Trump 5.6M Harris 3.9M 57.3% reporting
Obviously I reversed the individual totals. Sorry.
I scanned through some of the other states. Most seem to be nearly done counting. AZ and CO at about 61%, but their total numbers are much smaller.
81 million votes for Biden always did seem a bit janky, no?
Hillary was a loathsome candidate. Obama had 70 million already in 2008. That kind of growth is reasonable in 12 years especially with millennials still going through. The US population grew by 27 million in the same stretch. Combined with results in California and the opening up of states like Georgia, it’s perfectly reasonable. Hillary Clinton shouldn’t be used as a baseline.
So where did they go? They didn’t come over to Trump, and they didn’t turn out for H or K. Evidently they were Biden Only voters.
Satellites reading car licence plates from orbit have nothing on Ukrainian artillery that can tell your nationality while shelling you.
In Ukraine, shell game plays you.
“Tell me now Ivan. For five rubles, under what bunker are the Ukies?”
US/EU send billions of their long lead to replace critical war materiel, and Kiev wastes it shooting up DPRK troops in Kursk where they are stuck in a kessel that would make Rommel smile…..
Why send the stuff when it is not used for a strategy?
Ukrainians have been fighting “Koreans” practically since day 1, in a manner of speaking: Col General Alexei Kim, #3 man at the Russian General Staff, is a Korean Russian, who, presumably, has ancestry from the North like most other Korean Russians.
The “I’m Speaking” Podcast, coming to the lower reaches of an iTunes chart near you March 2025
In non-election news, a friend of mine teaches at a state university. He and his colleagues have been told that all cars must be off campus and that afternoon courses should be taught remotely today. The reason? Because ESPN is broadcasting from the campus.
That might sum up the entire problem with college athletics, especially football, as well as the priorities of the higher education system.
The school may(?) be getting a boatload of money for this, in which case they figure it’s a savvy business decision.
LSU (I assume) would have happily canceled classes for a week if that’s what ESPN demanded. Maybe even a month.
Can confirm.
– LSU grad 👨🎓
P.S. We would just skip classes anyway.
Clip from utube, ~26 seconds
ON COLLEGE FOOTBALL- Marx Brothers “Horse Feathers”- 1932
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OJqlXtyk3M
“Israel pulls several brigades out of south Lebanon after destroying dozens of towns”
After getting down into the dirt with Hezbollah the past few weeks with a massive force of five divisions, the Israelis are now trying a time-honoured military tactic-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FPELc1wEvk
But of course before they left they ticked off one more item from their Geneva checklist – scorching the earth. Could Hezbollah do the same for those Israeli settlements in northern Israel? Sure, but they seem to be saving their ammo for hitting Israeli formations like seen in that tweet showing Hezbollah hitting Israelis with ATGMs.
I didn’t even need to click the link to know which military tactic you meant; but I did anyway, to confirm my biases.
Thanks for the laugh.
#MeToo
Let’s count the losses/gains:
Wins:
1. Blinken, Sullivan, Kirby are soon to be fired. Don’t let the door hit you in the rear end on the way out. Blinken in particular deserves extra Bronx cheers on the way out of the arena for the way he shamelessly faked negotiations with Bibi. Bye, bye, Charlie Brown.
2. We might get a ceasefire in Ukraine and Gaza. I say might because the neocons are circling.
3. Joe can sleep better and his life expectancy just went up like the Dow futures did last evening.
Losses:
1. Lina Khan? Rut roh.
2. The notion that defamation should be a problem for a candidate.
3. Expect to hear the term “job killing regulations” a lot more over the next 60-90 days.
Winners (gains): Wall Street and finance and the asset class – how long will it take for Trump to reprise his badgering the Fed back towards Eternal ZIRP when the economy does not perform as he thinks it should?
I doubt Harris would have kept Lina Khan, either, so that was going to be a loss either way.
This. Reid Hoffman hates Khan as much as Musk does.
just for yucks I checked the Dow…up 3% right now, 1,200 odd points
It’s a crack up boom!
Krakatoa, east of Jersey
As versus Krakatorah, East of Haifa?
“And then Chaim went and slew his brother Achmed.”
Dow Jonestown cocktail:
43 thousand shots of Kool-Aid
The oligarchs funding Harris didn’t care for Khan any more than the ones funding Trump do. Andfor someone who couldn’t think of a thing she’d change from Biden’s administration, she sure was cagey when Khan’s name was mentioned.
The oligarchs closest to her, family ties even, were never going to let Khan stay.
Khan was clearly toast if Harris won. Her odds may not be good with a Trump administration but considering she is appreciated by a surprising number of Republicans including Vance, and that some of her biggest adversaries are Tech companies that have targeted Trump, I put her odds at about 40% of making it at least halfway through Trump’s four year term.
What I can only hope is that Trump has realized that neither the Post Office or libraries are the losers his class believe and he will give them the same kind of odds. Less likely but one can dream.
Sad to say, I see the reverse as more likely on your point #2:
A) Palestine is toast. Israel will take the opportunity to finish off Gaza and the West Bank.
B) Russia falls for another bad peace in Ukraine. NATO survives to fight another day.
Cats and H5N1? Why aren’t infected birds the more likely vector since their predation on the bird population is well established?
So here we are discussing fomites. Put another way, hand washing dogma writ large all over again. When will we learn? If you hear hooves, to think horse not zebras.
Occam had it right.
Einstein (brains of the outfit) is the point man when out on patrol and eat what he kills, be it a lowly lizard or small to medium sized birds and specializes in eating greasy grimy gopher guts, leaving the intestines for yours truly, thanks.
I’m as near to the 600,000 Bessies in the Central Valley as anybody, we’ll see how the hair’m fares.
https://x.com/JStein_WaPo/status/1854168624119877887
“Its the economy, stupid.”
I hate quoting Carville, but wealth inequality is a major structural issue. Being able to buy a better tv than imagined by a 90’s scifi show is great, but that isn’t helping.
I’m totally not surprised by the results of the election and rather gratified to see the Dems eat s*it.
The Cheneys have finally, once and for all, been sealed away behind the Vault of Nine Hells.
Here’s the story of this election, which the media usually tries to explain with stuff that doesn’t matter or matters marginally (like campaigning):
My sister in law texted the family requesting that we not do our usual secret santa thing this year (where we buy one gift for no more than $50 for our recipient) because she’s so tight on cash. This same woman reported that she broke down in tears buying groceries for her and her young son because it was so expensive.
The Biden Economy = The Economy of High Prices.
These prices are great for the rich, who are mostly money capitalists and thrive off of asset inflation.
However, anyone who lives off a wage and owns no stock/bonds or has no savings is in a world of hurt. That’s most people in the United States.
Thus, Trump wins.
The Cheneys are toxic. Kamala should have listened to Britney Spears:
Baby, can’t you see I’m calling?
A guy like you should wear a warning
It’s dangerous, I’m falling
There’s no escape, I can’t wait
I need a hit, baby, give me it
You’re dangerous, I’m loving it
Too high, can’t come down
Losing my head, spinnin’ ’round and ’round
Do you feel me now?
With a taste of your lips, I’m on a ride
You’re toxic, I’m slippin’ under
With a taste of a poison paradise
I’m addicted to you
Don’t you know that you’re toxic?
And I love what you do
Don’t you know that you’re toxic?
Britney Spears, “Toxic”
Yeah, I keep coming back to that.
Last night while we were shopping at the much less expensive grocery store, my wife turned to me and said, “I don’t know how a single mom with kids can do it with these prices.” (She was a single mom with a son when I met her over 35 years ago.) And yet she’s spending way too much time at daily kos (I gave up on that place watching Obama bail out Wall St in 2009) and so she is mystified as to how the election went. Yet she’s totally aware that rents/home prices are through the roof, and that job pay hasn’t kept pace with any of it, and just seems to think that doesn’t matter.
How can you campaign about lowering prices when you’re elected, but you’re already the VP? Maybe you should actually do something RIGHT NOW?
Whatever, it’s water under the bridge except I’m sure the Dems will decide they need to go further right. (Heck, I think Biden was to the right of Ronald Reagan on most issues already, how much further could they go?)
Time to share one of my favorite articles from shortly after election day 2016.
Corey Pein in The Baffler wrote
Round-up of Recriminations
https://thebaffler.com/magical-thinking/round-up-recriminations-pein
It took a while for Team Blue to settle on The Kremlin as object of blame and vengeance for losing in Nov 2016. It may be a week or two before it is clear who will be chosen this time. But rest assured The Party will not blame itself, as it should. A half-way plausible progressive-populist agenda would have won them a landslide. But they instead chose to propose changing nothing (in a nation that strongly agrees that the country is on the wrong track) and scold anyone who doesn’t agree with that.
https://www.politico.eu/article/pentagon-north-korean-troops-pornography-vladimir-putin-russia-war-in-ukraine/
US can’t confirm Putin’s North Koreans are ‘gorging on pornography’
The Pentagon late Tuesday said it was unable to confirm reports that North Korean troops are taking advantage of their more expansive internet access in Russia to consume copious amounts of online pornography.
I found a silver lining. There will be no personal changes at the Post Office!
And you have an office!
Congrats.
Thank you for that! I laughed out loud. Our local post office distribution is a total dumpster fire. Mail gets lost, undelivered.
From A couple charts to explain a Harris loss
Yep. Remember that time when we had Pandemic aid, and then Democrats let it all expire, especially the aid for children, and we had a doubling of childhood poverty, the largest in history?
I guess some voters did remember that, and voted accordingly, even if they didn’t know why they’d gotten the shaft.
And media don´t understand the connection there between what the Covid intrusions did to peoples´ economic situation and radicalisation of sentiments on immigration (this however being more true for Germany I guess.)
Welsh is correct,
https://www.ianwelsh.net/
“Don’t expect Trump’s policies to improve the economy. Tariffs can work, but they require industrial policy and other steps he won’t take, as we’ve discussed often on this blog.”
smoot hawley would not have worked without the new deal, and the new deal would not have worked without smoot-hawley.
real workable industrial policy recognizes that a great manufacturing economy, makes all sorts of things, little and big.
foaming at the mouth over china’s industrial policy so far by the white tower types, completely misses the point, that china makes all sorts of things, big and little, and its all of those little things that support the value added supply chains, and higher wages.
so go ahead white tower types, pour billions into the big things, we lousy results. if the dim wits cannot find all of those little things to complete the big things, you just exposed yourselves as towering intellectual midgets.
Towering intellectual midgets!!! I hope you don’t mind me stealing the term in the future!
The intellectual “LEFT” with its tradtions has a serious issue with language. I am trying to understand why.
The term “fascist” is one of the strongest our discourse knows and oldest. Yet its application on the musings of Trump in the big picture of national elections did NOT help to prevent that what they intended to stop.
That should make em think.
Also when a couple of years ago after the Paris Climate Agreements Chomsky made his comparison to Hitler I tried to tell friends how he truly meant it (they rejected it but misunderstood it as Germans – of course) – and yet I was sure it was wrong and NOT helpful.
I am quite sure a lot of discoursive overdrive came from rather somber sources as Chomsky (or Hedges). (Which might have been a reason why Chomsky was reluctant to speak about certain issues sometimes.) But when he made such Hitler comparisons thousand would adopt.
With that the difference in judgement of the same subject, Trump campaign(s), among a similar group of people is striking: How is it that Patrick Lawrence, Chris Hedges, Matt Taibbi, Walter Kirn, Michael Albert, Branko Marcetic (all white all male all older), all share same similiar world views but are so contradictory on this issue of Trump/”fascism”.
the F-word, the other F-word, the N-word…..even *that word* have been used so often in today’s discourse that it has zero shock value, this isn’t the Age of Carlin or “2 Live Crew”.
You can open TikTok and laugh at a clip of a 3 y.o. inadvertently dropping the F-bomb like it’s a scene from “the Exorcist”. You had Robert Mapplethorpe putting a crucifix in a jar of urine in the 1980’s. Humans have a finite “shock frontier” and we hit it years ago
No shock value, no use as a rhetorical tool. This is linguistics 101. why don’t credentialed people get this?
Mapplethorpe (vile vile man) and Andres Serrano were both the targets of the anti-NEA crowd during Bush 41, but it was Serrano who perpetrated Piss Christ (I believe it’s actually titled “Immersion.”) Around that time there was a New Yorker article on Mapplethorpe describing matter of factly how he starved a monkey to death and chronicled it with his camera. Just because Jesse Helms hates you doesn’t mean you’re not evil.
Michael Flanders had that pegged, about as long ago as I’ve lived: “When all of these words come into everyday use, we shall have nothing left for special occasions.”
Technically, Taibbi is half SE Asian–Filipino, I believe, although he was adopted, IIRC.
I thought this too! But I checked last week – it was bugging me – and it is his *father* who was adopted, by Italians.
Any reports on turnout numbers yet? I’m not seeing much at all yet.
I looked briefly. They seem to be lower than 2020. I assume due to discouraged Dems staying home.
Also first time more independents voted than Ds or Rs.
Hmm! I’d like to find out the source of that last. But I’ll look for myself first . . . ah — is this your card, madam?
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/first-us-independent-turnout-tops-democrats-ties-republicans-edison-research-2024-11-06/
A huge difference in numbers and turn out overall. It looks like 10 million less people voted in 2024 compared to 2020. I can’t wait to see a state by state and county by county analysis.
From AP
p.s. this Trump win seems to help German advocates of rearmament, for the moment
the right-wing Kiel Economic Institute, very short statement:
Trump victory economically most difficult moment in the history of the Federal Republic
(no translation available you have to do it yourself)
https://www.ifw-kiel.de/de/publikationen/aktuelles/trump-sieg-wirtschaftlich-schwierigster-moment-in-geschichte-der-bundesrepublik/
Moritz Schularick, President of the IfW Kiel, comments on the results of the US election:
…
It was short-sighted and irresponsible to make our own security dependent on swing voters in the USA, and that is now coming back to haunt us. We must invest massively in defense capabilities in the short term and work with France and other willing European partners to build a European defense. The democratic parties in Germany should come together and exempt defense investments from the debt brake so that Germany and Europe can act geopolitically.
The Trump win is great news for Rachel Maddow and the NY Times, WaPo and the daily Kos.
Somehow I don’t think a Harris Administration would be suffused with Joy and Trump is MUCH more entertaining.
He earned his place in the Wrestling Hall of Fame on merit, if that’s the right word.
Stay safe and enjoy the show.
Great news for the Dems too! They get another four years of fundraising off the orange menace and they don’t have to deal with cleaning up Biden’s mess!
Don’t forget the ACLU as well.
When Trump was in, I got fundraising letters every few months. After Biden got in, none. I expect that to change very soon. And I’ll keep mailing them back in the postage paid envelope ( without my name on it of course).
Unless they become the ACLU that I remember as a youngster. But I’m. It holding my breath.
favourite German header:
“The US Vice President has not yet appeared in public and has not admitted her defeat to Donald Trump. Where is she?”
You know, she’s supposed to be presiding at the big hubbub Jan 6, 2025. I wonder what she’ll do then…esp if she refuses to recognize the election results.
If the MSM has any guts, she should be pilloried with this question over next two months.
Taibbi and Kirn, ATW, right now, live, no paywall.
ATW Live : Election Recap at 12 pm ET/ 11 am CT today
It was a tight race until it wasn’t.
https://www.racket.news/p/atw-live-election-recap-at-12-pm
Can´t they just stop? I have work to do, ffs…
p.s. apparently ATW episodes are being taken down on YT fb (for different reasons)
It was never tight (see the shellacking that Harris got in NY and CA, worst performance in at least 16 years)—-media chose to trust the Narrative instead of getting their hands dirty by talking to deplorable garbage or turning on their TikTok app and listening to a range of ordinary people.
In my opinion, your mileage may vary.
https://apps.npr.org/2024-election-results/california.html
https://apps.npr.org/2024-election-results/new-york.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_elections_in_California
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_elections_in_New_York
Just finished the live stream. Not essential but enjoyable for people for their fans.
They showed lots of Democrats acting very badly on social media today. My timeline is acting quite civil, even the Kamala supporters who are tacitly admitting they got taken for a ride.
The bar graphs showing the impossibly high vote tally for Biden in 2020 is my main takeaway from this election. Yesterday and last night Republicans were watching the voting places like hawks and I do believe that made a big difference.
We desperately need honest election. Handmarked ballots, hand counted. Lambert has taught us well.
As someone here posted last night: how were elections even possible before there were computers???
The ancient Greeks used an even more durable, preservable, verifiable medium than paper — the pebble, or psephos. That’s the root of the word for the study of elections, psephology. And when Italians shifted to using little colored balls, thatgave us the word we use today for the same tool in elections — “ballot”.
https://www.historicalindex.org/what-is-psephology.htm
https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/word-history-of-ballot
I’m reading 15 to 20 million people didn’t vote. I am sad that they did not think their voice should be heard. I voted Green Party. I always voted third party since Obama’s hope and change was proven a lie at the end of this first term. If those 15 to 20 million people voted third party there would be alarm bells going off in Democratic and Republican Party head quarters.
I don’t get it either, it’s either blind loyalty or getting demoralized and not showing up to the polls. Even just a couple million more votes for the Green party would kick off interesting developments.
If the American people keep pinballing between team R and D, well… we might deserve this hell.
I would phrase it more strongly: if you voted D or R, you must WANT this hell. Thinking things will be different this time is simply delusional thinking at this point. They could have all voted third party or not at all, but they didn’t.
We are stuck on the Titanic with these people. No amount of screaming “Iceberg!” is going to change their thinking or behavior.
When I ran for local office, for the most part if people cared about anything it was potholes and taxes. However negligible the tax on time to vote, it was still a suckers bet in terms of benefiting their lives, less than doing the dishes.
On the other side of the equation, standing in the dragons fire to talk about the more generalized issues (a toxic waste incinerator, in our case), has two problems. The first is that your opposition has good points, which undercuts your sales pitch. The second, and it’s cold and hard, is while you’re trying to land a big fish the easy ones are on the move. At which point not pissing off people enough to vote against you means you quickly move on from friction. And look for a nursing home to bus people in, the local Democratic machine tactic.
The aspect of not signing up someone who will vote against you can slippery slope into voter suppression. And thus the discourse degrades.
I am not surprised that people don’t vote. I have to force myself to vote. I guess it is mostly because I feel a sense of civic duty. It has been a long time since I believed that voting one party or another in or out makes a difference. As long as the billionaire donors and corporations are in charge there really isn’t much point. Is there?
The civic duty of an informed public. That informed part can be tricky, even locally.
Our new mayor was formerly head of the local Habitat For Humanity. Our heavily PMC voters brought her in, hoping she would clear up the tent cities mucking the view. They didn’t realize she’s a hard core Fundamentalist of the type where ‘God gives you what you deserve’, and *surprise* was okey-dokey with sniper rifles pointed at the heads of students in our Big State University town.
As a polling/survey person (although mostly a user rather than a creator of data), I’m really curious as to the future of the industry. Third time in a row that pollsters blew themselves up, with one of the old timey (methods wise) pollsters who specialize in a particular locality (Selzer) going up in smoke. What really has been going on with polling in the past couple of decades (especially with so many people being beyond pollsters’ contact) is that polilng has been increasingly “de-scientizing”: you collect the data that you know is partial and incomplete, overpoll the potentially interesting demographic groups to see if trends you suspect are in fact true, then project turnout patterns on all sorts of conjectures and guesses. The last step is basically a crapshoot–you either do it on what is really just a hunch or are trapped by past data that you have to realize (if you learned your polling history) is basically wrong.
This is actually deeply rooted in polling history: In 1936, the Literary Digest, with decades of good polling results, confidently predicted Alf Landon landslide, because they got millions of obs from “good” sources–except, after the disruption from years of Great Depression, the data they had was horribly biased. A young George Gallup called BS on their big data driven prediction, using only several thousand obs, because he was sure, based more on gut than data, that the turnout patterns would look very different from the people LD was polling. Common sense beat good data in 1936, bigtime. A tragedy is that Selzer is, in a way, old school per the young George Gallup–she comes out of “knowing” the turnout patterns in her area based on not-quite-scientific clues than what “data” tells us, or so she used to anyways. But, it is clear that she let her own biases (and desire to not join the herd, possibly) take over, and she’s an experience professional who’s been in the business for decades. Without “science” to back you up (that is, the data that you might be sure is wrong), you only have your gut to go on (for all the herding patterns, the “sciency” people got IA right), and who’s to say your gut is that much better?
I tend to think, incidentally, that she got the patterns of gender gap right, at least for the demographics she was focusing on–and I think this is important. It just so happens that the turnout didn’t follow her guess. Naturally, we’ll throw the baby with the bathwater, because we always do.
A gem from Walter Kirn: in an era of lawfare, only convicted felons are worthy of leadership (I think this is the exact quote). This is something that we have seen in pretty much every “democratizing” country–every “leader” that came out of these regimes after the old regime fell was a “dubious” and “marginal” person who was a “criminal” of some sort. I got flak earlier by using Nelson Mandela (and Jesus Christ, literally) as examples of this, but this is literally true–it wasn’t because Mandela was universally respected in SA that he spent decades in jail: he was literally a terrorist and violent criminal in the eyes of the SA government and his conviction was “just” under SA law of the time. That we have come to regard the SA government and its law as unjust underscores the point about the problems of “lawfare.” Some people are more right than the law and that is not obvious until a long time later, especially if you are inside the polity where the law holds sway (after all, all laws have some basis on what the people (with political rights) in a given country are interested in. Trump has, for years, looked like a classic political dissident in authoritarian regimes, much more than people realize (especially when they look at the famous dissidents with rose colored glasses).
Yeah…but I don´t share or understand Kirn´s enthusiasm for Vance. And how was he and Trump´s team “seriously threatened”?
Granted DNC committed to lawfare to get rid of Trump. But that was Trump because he was the only serious contender and outsider. But the rest? Threats? What threats? (Or am I missing things here?)
Eventuaylly, what IS going to happen in the coming 4 years? Any extraordinary stuff?
Will they dismantle the deep state? No. Will they end police violence and corruption? No. Will they invest in public education? Double No. Will they introduce decent Medicare for all? No. Will they fight for a more equal society? No. Will poverty decrease? No. Will they structurally fight climate change? No. Will they try to avoid WWIII? I guess so. So frankly what should I be overjoyed for?
Yeah I feel a bit of satisfacion for those impostors being whacked. But that´s form only. The true problems remain. The dangers remain. And there is nobody in charge who will use the huge resources at the government´s disposal to actually do anything about what I brought up.
But that´s where entertainment ends. It cannot reach farther. Because then you get bad jokes and clumsy sitcoms.
p.s. I have listened to hours over hours of ATW and will do so in the future. So I might as well be a hypocrite much more so than Kirn. Because am I entering the political arena? No.
The Blob used the DOJ to go after Trump. Now Trump will want his revenge and luckily The Blob will be standing between Trump and his revenge.
Just before Trump had the rally at MSG and the one in Albuquerque I suggested they were going for the popular vote. They didn’t win in either state, but Harris did not do as well as Biden in either state, while Trump did slightly better. This was campaigning for the margins.
NM
Biden 501,614 (54%). Harris. 469,975 (52%)
Trump 401,894 (43%). Trump 419,248 (46%)
NY*
Biden 5,244,886 (60.87%). Harris 4,332,759 (55.8%)
Trump. 3,251,997 (37.74%). Trump 3,430,914 (44.2%)
*2024 97% reporting
They just called Nevada for Trump.
Let the wailing and gnashing of teeth begin.
Roaring twenties redux coming followed by a long slump. Just be glad you aren’t part of the Federal Reserve, they are on a hiding to nothing as we say in Australia.
Moon of Alabama:
Election 2024 – Random Thoughts
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2024/11/election-2024-random-thoughts.html#comments
“(…) Trump’s win in 2024 does not prove that the 2020 election was stolen by Democrats but it raises a new stink about the issue. When Biden was pushed out of the race there were calls among Democrats not to rush a choice, but to hold full-fledged primaries. Barack Obama had called for it. But Nancy Pelosi and the Clinton clan kept pushing for Harris. As a vacuous and unlikable person – carrying all the baggage of the Biden administration – she was the most likely to lose.
This is, hopefully, the end of wokeism and DEI nonsense. And of ‘trans’ children and teens.
To send Bill Clinton to Michigan to justify the mass killing of Palestinians was not a good idea. The 2024 result in Dearborn, Michigan, a 90% Muslim area that Biden had won with 88% of the vote:
Trump: 46.8%
Harris: 27.68%
Stein: 22.11%
The Democrats will blame various groups – Muslim, progressives, youths – who’s opinions and desires they had ignored, for their loss. And of course Russia.
Trump won the working class: (…)”
p.s. is this trans thing such a real issue in the States beyond media projection?
In Berlin by Nov. 1st 2024 1200 requests have been made for a change of registered sex and/or first name.
1200 out of a population of 3.8 million.
see Berlin´s official info:
More than 1,200 applications for change of gender and name in Berlin
25/10/24
(no Engl. version possible again, sorry)
https://www.rbb24.de/panorama/beitrag/2024/10/berlin-tausende-antraege-aenderung-geschlecht-name-selbstbestimmungsgesetz.html
So what´s the fuss about??? (And frankly same is true about immigration…)
the democrats suffer from TDS, that is, “TONE DEAF SYNDROME”. the status quo bernie states is bill clintons polices, plain and simple.
https://listverse.com/2014/02/05/10-reasons-bill-clinton-was-secretly-a-terrible-president/
The financial crash of 2008 was the result of so many complex, compounding factors that people still can’t agree on who, if anyone, was responsible. However, there’s one name that keeps cropping up again and again: Bill Clinton.
————————
https://www.yahoo.com/news/bernie-sanders-blasts-democratic-party-233556801.html
Bernie Sanders blasts Democratic Party following Kamala Harris loss
ALLISON PECORIN and MEREDITH DELISO
Wed, November 6, 2024, 5:35 PM CST·2 min read
“Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders issued a scathing statement on what he called the Democratic Party’s “disastrous” campaign after Vice President Kamala Harris lost the presidential election to former President Donald Trump.
The independent, who caucuses with Democrats, said it “should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working class people would find that the working class has abandoned them.”
“First, it was the white working class, and now it is Latino and Black workers as well,” Sanders continued in his statement. “While the Democratic leadership defends the status quo, the American people are angry and want change. And they’re right.”
“Will the big money interests and well-paid consultants who control the Democratic Party learn any real lessons from this disastrous campaign? Will they understand the pain and political alienation that tens of millions of Americans are experiencing? Do they have any ideas as to how we can take on the increasingly powerful Oligarchy which has so much economic and political power? Probably not,” Sanders said.”
At the end of the day so many wealthy dems, voters and politicians , will be crying crocodile tears, as they eagerly await tax cuts and gifts galore to the very wealthy. The result allows them to hold their heads high, while gloating at the anticipated results
If following bullshit will be the response by the “left” good luck:
“How to Stop Fascism”
by Roger Hallam
Nov. 6th
https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-to-stop-fascism/
a few “gems”:
“(…)In a now largely forgotten book published in 1989 called Modernity and the Holocaust, Polish-Jewish sociologist Zygmunt Bauman examined the overwhelming evidence for why the Holocaust happened.
(…) Jewish people were forced to wear identifying badges, then moved into camps, and ultimately, when they were murdered, the separation had become so vast that most people felt no moral responsibility to intervene.
To prevent fascism, we must do the opposite.
(…)”
And then this – unspeakably dumb – revelation:
“(…)
In my award-winning research at King’s College London I showed that if people sit in small circles to discuss a social issue (with biscuits on the table!) for most of a public meeting, 80% leave feeling empowered. In contrast, only 20% feel empowered after a conventional meeting with a series of speakers and no small group discussion.
(…)”
IS.HE.SERIOUS???
biscuits & award-winning research???
What.The Fuck.
And they dare publish this AFTER a historic landslide victory including minorities vote for “fascism”.
p.s. of course I could be less serious and instead suggest: “You got your Mom´s biscuits? No wonder they liked the meeting.”
If people with different opinions sit down in small groups and discuss anything, they tend to end up with more moderate opinions with better supporting arguments than when they began. The outcomes of human inter-action are still the most (only?) predictable things in psychology. I think I read it in a book by WH Sprott as compulsory reading while a student in the 1960s.
I am angry and was probably unfair.
But in the context of this particular one piece Hallam´s findings just lack any serious scholarship. I do not doubt the actual insight behind this.
However, then do not present it in this manner. Because anybody who was involved in organizing – and it needn´t be on the impressive level of Hallam, on high school level would suffice – will know that big groups isolate you. And yes we know that management theory too suggests certain small group size as ideal (what is it 6, 8? I forgot.) But there is a point where esoteric or banal stuff is sold as scholarship, and where everyday insight is regarded as highly complex analysis.
I haven´t read Chris Hedges´s encounter with Hallam. So I am lacking that part of knowledge. But it doesn´t enhance the quality of the text presented.
So . . . Erik Prince wrote an article, eh? He just wants a bunch of money and contracts to be spent on his Mercenary Army Blackwater, or Akademi, or Xe, or whatever he calls it nowadays.
> Kissinger at Arlington
Posterity will ne’er survey
a Nobler grave than this:
Here lie the bones of
CastlereaghKissinger:Stop, traveller, and p***!
–After Lord Byron, Epigram, 1822