The MoA Week in Review - OT 2018-57
Last week's posts on Moon of Alabama:
- October 22 - Khashoggi Drama - A Deal Is No Longer Possible - Erdogan Demands That MbS Goes
- October 23 - How Will Caligula Fall?
- October 25 - Khashoggi Drama - A Deal Has Been Made But Will It Hold?
Erdogan still has the kompromat on Mohammad in Salman and continues to use it. He demands that the Saudis say who ordered the murder and threatens to reveal more evidence:
“And of course, we have other information and documents in our hands. You will collect the harvest when the sun rises. It is not meaningful to rush for now.”
Erdogan also asked for the extradition of the Khashoggi killers. Saudi Arabia rejected that. If Erdogan goes too far -as he is prone to do- and releases all he has, he will also loose his leverage.
Fun read - Mark Ames mocks the war on Syria 'experts':
Use as open thread ...
Posted by b on October 28, 2018 at 17:58 UTC | Permalink
next page »As Trump fulfills the Neocon goal of retreating from any treaty that's seen as tying the Empire's hands, the INF Treaty being the latest, this article reminds us why the INF was implemented as it discusses the extremely unlikely--totally lucky--outcome of the Cuban Missile Crisis and the danger of "Bullshitters" like Trump based on what's now known of the mindsets of the 3 sides involved. 56-years ago the weapons available weren't as numerous or as powerful as those of today. IMO, the next treaty the Neocons want to abrogate is the Non Proliferation Treaty, which demands that owners of nuclear weapons eliminate them, which Trump and his Neocon associates want to increase--a mindset antithetical to all arms control agreements and the negotiations that lead to them. Hyperbole? Not in the least as this little publicized announcement detailing the Act of War directed at Russia back in January the Outlaw US Empire thought it could get away with demonstrates--the Il-20 shootdown was bad enough, but this was worse. IMO, the Russians love their children, but Neocons don't give a shit.
Posted by: karlof1 | Oct 28 2018 19:56 utc | 2
thanks b... the story in the bottom link is veryclear and worth the read.... twtitter. is an accomplice to all the isis recruiting that shamiwitnessgenerated tto... why is it twitterand these paid for neo con hacks get a free ride from the msm? it makes the msm look very bad as well, but for cesspolls, twtter takes the cake.... i don’t know how you have the stomach for sleuthing thru that sewage, but i appreciate your reporting and insghts immensely...
Posted by: james | Oct 28 2018 19:58 utc | 3
William Blum, US Empire Historian, apparently isn't in good shape. For those unfamiliar with his outstanding work, here's a recent selection from his Anti-Empire Report aimed at Neocon Max Boot.
Posted by: karlof1 | Oct 28 2018 20:22 utc | 4
@5 dave today and 2pm dave dave the other day... give it up.... your hasbara shit gets tiring..
Posted by: james | Oct 28 2018 20:30 utc | 5
A question:
Given the four party talks of Russia,Turkey,Germany & France over the weekend and the statement issued at the close, it appears that the parties including Russia will push for a new constitution written for Syria by a committee of 150, of Syrian officials comprising 50, Syrian "opposition" comprising, and a body picked by the UN, comprising 50. The statements are a bit confusing depending upon the reporting from different sources:
a) Middle Eastern Eye:
"A rival United Nations plan for a committee to write the constitution ran aground this week, with UN special envoy Staffan de Mistura, who attended the summit, saying Damascus rejected the UN having a role in the selection process."
b) PressTV:
"The committee is expected to include 150 members: 50 chosen by Damascus, 50 by the opposition and the final 50 by de Mistura. It will also include civil society representatives, religious and tribal leaders, experts and women."
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2018/10/27/578262/Turkey-Syria-summit-Russia-France-Germany
c) Reuters:
"The leaders of Russia, Germany, France and Turkey stressed the importance on Saturday of a lasting ceasefire in Syria, and said a committee to create a new constitution should meet by the end of the year."
d) RT:
"Need to start work on constitution in Geneva
A committee tasked with drafting a new constitution for Syria should begin its work as soon as possible, preferably before the end of this year."
https://www.rt.com/news/442449-istanbul-syria-summit-highlights/
One can come to any number of conclusions from this statement. Possible scenarios:
1) Russia has sold out Syria to Western interests;
2) depending upon how the opposition group is chosen, a sleight of hand may be executed by Russia and Syria to retain sovereignty; or
3) this is proposal that Russia expects Syria to nix.
This would be a great topic for some investigation, as it seems this could go any direction at the current time.
My initial gut reaction was that it is pretty interesting that these imperial powers are still dictating to Syria how it will be governed after two of the four countries sponsored the invasion and destruction their country.
Posted by: Michael | Oct 28 2018 20:48 utc | 6
@8 michael.. good question and pondering... i was wondering about that myself, but i especially echoyour last statement! these imperial powers get very tiring, switching from regime change to dictating the terms for a political resolution, based on there input.... why not let syria and syrians figure it out on there own, without western powers constant meddling? better yet... why can’t these same powerstry there shit on ksa, a place that really needs it? they are very hypocritical as i see it...
Posted by: james | Oct 28 2018 21:13 utc | 7
Karloff,…
Pssst: The Cuban Missile crisis was a hoax. A staged, nuclear-war final-days melodramatic hoax.
If you read Dean Rusk’s autobiography he states that there was a sub-rosa agreement with the USSR: US missiles would be withdrawn from Turkey and USSR missiles would be withdrawn from Cuba.
That’s it. No crisis at all. Just theater.
Walter Cronkite, not in the know, went nuts, scaring everyone.
(I’m pleased to report that I uttered nasty comments, all justified, at Walter’s funeral.)
Posted by: A. Person | Oct 28 2018 21:15 utc | 8
#8 and #9
I wonder whether it might do some good if the Syrian government suggested it would consider allowing foreigners to decide the nature of the Syrian constitution, but only after discussions began on allowing a committee created from delegates from most of the world's nations to propose modifications to the constitutions of the US, Israel and Saudi Arabia. Obviously this "modest proposal" would likely not happen any time soon, but just raising the issue might help some people see the fundamental racism inherent in current proposals to modify the Syrian constitution, and help shift the international "Overton window".
Posted by: Glenn Brown | Oct 28 2018 21:24 utc | 9
Karlof1 @3
Drones. (thanks for link). This supports what I have been thinking for some time; that we are actually in a shooting war. The "cold war" part is only the asymetric element now common in modern warfare (Public propaganda, feints to find out weaknesses before a major attack etc.)
Question; who decided to change the situation from a "hands-off" to a hands-on? It wasn't Trump or even Congress,was it? Some bored Officer with big ideas?
Q 2/. Much has been made of "war games" run on computers to try out all possible scenarios by the US. But - do "war games" have civilians included? Probably not. So If I am right, all the scenarios carefully worked out in "think tanks" only concern the survivability of the military.
Propaganda as used by "propaganda - or Nothing" (PropOrNot) is used to control but not to give civilians any way out. (propaganda by limiting the narrative)
So we get the present situation ; that the US military do all they can to make the EU/Western Russia landmass into a battlefield, as the millions on both sides of the border do not figure into any calculations.
Posted by: stonebird | Oct 28 2018 21:40 utc | 10
Michael @8
Be very happy. When Russia, Turkey, Germany, and France stipulate that a revision of the Syrian constitution is required, they are actually saying that no further violence is needed as the Syrians will repent and adopt a new constitution, (of whatever kind, lol, as the words of a constitution are very slippery.) The war is over. The four powers are vindicated. As the result of all their benevolent efforts they are victorious with a NEW constitution for Syria!
Posted by: A. Person | Oct 28 2018 21:53 utc | 11
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2018/10/28/578383/Khashoggi-chemical-weapons-yemen
https://journal-neo.org/2018/10/20/kashoggi-s-message-in-a-bottle-will-we-get-it/
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1037378/Khashoggi-murder-news-saudi-arabia-chemical-weapons-use
https://journal-neo.org/2018/10/18/saudi-arabia-s-great-tumbling-down-the-boy-who-wanted-to-be-king-is-no-more/
Posted by: snake | Oct 28 2018 21:57 utc | 12
Michael @ 8, James @ 9:
There are many obstacles that the Russians and Syrians could put into the drafting of the constitution by outsiders.
One obstacle is that the constitution be subject to at least three drafts, with a hearing for each draft by the Syrian parliament, and the parliament's approval of the draft unanimous, before it is returned to the creators for a second draft. If the Syrian parliament does not deliver 100% unanimous approval of the first draft, it cannot proceed any further.
Suppose the constitution does get past that stage of three drafts and three approvals, then it must be put to the Syrian voting public in a referendum. Emphasis in the publicity of the referendum to be placed on the fact that the new constitution was created by non-Syrians, to reassure voters that the constitution was not subjected to interference by Damascus.
Then sit back and see how much support Syrian voters give to the proposed constitution in the referendum.
Another possibility is that the Russians give the committee a template for the proposed constitution and tell the committee that the draft must follow the template - this template of course being the present Syrian constitution - and then place a deadline on the committee to come up with a completed draft. The time allowed the committee to draft a constitution should be as short as possible.
Posted by: Jen | Oct 28 2018 22:05 utc | 13
Snake @ 14:
So if Express.oc.uk is correct, GCHQ already knew that Saudi Arabia had planned to kidnap Jamal Khashoggi as early as the first week of September? And did not see fit to share this information with the US government or the Turkish government after MI6 advice to Saudi Arabia to stop the mission from going ahead was ignored or rebuffed? Who should be answerable for this lapse of judgement on GCHQ's part? Or did someone stop GCHQ from sharing the information?
Posted by: Jen | Oct 28 2018 22:21 utc | 14
Four leaders met in Istanbul to discuss the future of Syria. No Syrian groups attended the meeting. According to al-Jazeera (Leaders of Turkey, Syria, France and Germany hold Syria talks @AJENews http://aje.io/fxx2a):
"......."The people of Syria will determine the future of President Bashar al-Assad," said Erdogan, whose administration backs certain rebel groups in Idlib."As far as we are concerned, Assad is someone who has killed nearly one million of his citizens. He is not someone who we hold in high esteem. Massacres continue as before, but it is our wish that this process comes to an end and the people of Syria can begin to live their lives again."
(snip)
Commenting on the talk about constitutional reform and "free and fair elections", [Joshua] Landis said "that is not going to happen"......."
When Assad assumed power from his father, Hafez al-Assad, he promised political reforms - but this was just a lie. He had 10 years before he brutally cracked down on (mostly) peaceful demonstrators to institute reforms and have elections. Those who believe that Assad was a popular leader (for example, Rick Sterling at the Duran) cannot explain why such a “beloved” leader did not hold a free and fair election. That is the only true way to determine if a leader is, in fact, popular.
There is not a single chance of reforms in Syria while Assad remains the President (for life). There can be no peace as long as Assad remains in power. A power-sharing agreement will be necessary to replace Assad’s police state.
Posted by: craigsummers | Oct 28 2018 22:26 utc | 15
craigsummers @ 17
Are you a bot ? If so tell your Controller he’s gunna need a bigger an better one ! There all academics around here ! Dam i’m Strugglin an i’m human !!!
Posted by: Mark2 | Oct 28 2018 22:56 utc | 17
@17 craigsummers
Your work is marginally more convincing, did you score a raise in recent weeks...? Keep this up and you might need to change your handle, it could well be holding you back.
Posted by: MadMax2 | Oct 28 2018 22:59 utc | 18
Brazil just elected Jair Messias Bolsonaro, a neofascist, as president. His election was marked by a HUGE fake news operation against his main competitors and an escalation of state repression against the organized left already before the runoff election. "Antifascist Action" banners in student and labor unions were targeted as "campaign material" by the electoral courts - that means they recognize JMB as a real fascist and take his side.
Posted by: Miranda | Oct 28 2018 23:17 utc | 19
The top Neocon Wargamers are very accurately portrayed in Dr. Strangelove.
It is very likely at this time that they do have wonderfully-equipped, enormous underground bunkers. The size of aircraft carriers - like small cities. With Hookers and Blow. And the best of everything.
It was funny. Not long ago, Elon Musk made some noise about developing technology for drilling big holes quickly and that such technology does not exist.
This was utter and complete BullSh*t. As indeed such technology does indeed exist and there are huge underground facilities of all sorts right now.
Posted by: fast freddy | Oct 28 2018 23:43 utc | 20
>>>> A. Person | Oct 28, 2018 5:15:55 PM | 10
It wasn't a hoax - it's just that the Washington narrative about the Cuban Missile Crisis was a complete fabrication. If the Soviets had really wanted to put nuclear missiles into Cuba, the first the United States would have known about is when the Soviets announced to a startled Washington that the missiles were active and good to go. The Washington (and London) narratives since the Cuban Missile Crisis are the biggest shitpile in history.
Posted by: Ghost Ship | Oct 28 2018 23:54 utc | 21
War-gaming by the US Defence dept in the 1950s established unambiguously that direct armed conflict between nuclear powers would inevitably lead to an all-out nuclear exchange. This fact has not changed, and no think-tank report can credibly undermine this information. The main role of the think-tanks is to sell and justify weapons programs. The game is to convince the taxpayers to support a trillion dollar weapons program that will never actually be used.
Posted by: jayc | Oct 28 2018 23:58 utc | 22
James @ 18:
I do have ambitions to write stand-up comedy for MoA but other people like Craig Summers keep beating me to it.
Posted by: Jen | Oct 29 2018 1:02 utc | 23
@17 craigsummers
If the rebellion was so popular,why didn't it gain significant traction until paid mercenaries were bussed in ~ 2013? Also, Reuters said that the US directly paid salaries of FSA fighters. Some revolution.
Posted by: Schmoe | Oct 29 2018 1:21 utc | 24
jayc @ 25:"The game is to convince the taxpayers to support a trillion dollar weapons program that will never actually be used."
No doubt, as WOA (world oligarch alliance), picks up steam under the neo-liberal mantra of austerity.
They're coming for all of us workers/peons...
Posted by: ben | Oct 29 2018 1:42 utc | 25
Below is a link from ZH that I thought interesting about CIA and MbS
Regime Change In Riyadh? The CIA Has Just Publicly Dumped MbS
How fast will the Wurlitzer spin this week? Which part will spin off or collide with some other part?
Posted by: psychohistorian | Oct 29 2018 1:43 utc | 26
Despite a 97% rejection by the people of New Zealand, their so-called liberal Gov. passed this abortion of new TPP agreement.
Corporations uber alles..
Posted by: ben | Oct 29 2018 1:50 utc | 27
@Miranda | Oct 28, 2018 7:17:14 PM | 21
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/indepth_coverage/military/proliferation/countries/brazil.html
can't be found anywhere not even archive.org/ Wayback Machine.
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Oct 29 2018 2:08 utc | 28
Further to the Istanbul meeting between Turkey, Russia, France and Germany regarding Syria's future.
This is not a political effort to build a fence around Syria that cages it inside, but an effort to build a fence around Syria that keeps the US out. It cements further a working relationship between the two EU countries and the two Asian countries, while 5-eyes countries were not included. It draws on the legitimacy of the UN, it declares that Syria must inhabit its pre-war borders completely, it endorses the Idleb plan and it pushes forward a political "solution" to Syria, meaning, the elimination of military action, other than peacekeeping actions by SAA and invited forces. This is how wars are ended and peace is created. We have perhaps forgotten this process.
In effect, the meeting produced nothing new or unexpected, other than to reinforce the change in the regional balance of power. Europe and Asia have reason to see peace in Syria. The US was not invited to the meeting.
It was fitting that Turkey host the meeting. Adam Garrie has a useful overview of the regional currents that flowed through this meeting: Turkish President Erdogan’s Historic Week in Review
Posted by: Grieved | Oct 29 2018 2:21 utc | 29
ben@25
They're coming for all of us workers/peons...
They came, they saw, they conquered us. They own us lock stock and barrel. We do not need to walk into their system; it is being wrapped around us tightly like cellophane wrap. Many are willing servants building and managing the system. AI and robots are being prepared in the event the willing servants rebel in their duties.
It all takes on the air of a sci fi novel. It is beyond belief but within reach.
Posted by: dltravers | Oct 29 2018 2:34 utc | 30
Grieved @32--
Video and transcript of Putin's words from after meeting press conference where he highlights the important points made by their Joint Statement. Yes, the Outlaw US Empire was 100% sidelined while the main tenet of International Law was invoked! More nations need to echo and sign onto the Joint Statement to increase the pressure on the Outlaw US Empire to behave accordingly.
Posted by: karlof1 | Oct 29 2018 3:51 utc | 31
@ 24 i've long felt that jfk took us to the brink over political grandstanding, yet that is supposedly his greatest hour.
Posted by: pretzelattack | Oct 29 2018 4:06 utc | 32
It seems to be obvious that craigsummers is a type of bot hooked-up to artificial intelligence
in order to elicit and to collate objections to the party-line assertions, trying different
combinations of phrases, seeing which ones elicit newly-phrased objections, and so on...
I've noticed this sort of thing since the first days of the internet forum although in those years
it was not automatic; there were human beings on salary who would mine the posters for objections
and systematically test assertions addressed to the internet public, for whatever possible purpose.
An annoying bot acts to introduce a flavor, an atmosphere, of insincerity in any forum;
which would otherwise be a friendly and cozy little cantina where we can sip and consider.
Didn't the patron say to not feed them? He is right in that; these bots become excited
when someone responds to them; worse by far, than that pimply kid at a freshman mixer.
30
Ben: Speaking of '97%', the 'magic number' at which free-thinking and perplexed citizens surrender to the 'perceived consensus', whether or not there actually is one, Pope Albertus 'Glorious' Goreius' and his New Energy Revelations Carbon Tithe and Tax Credit 'Scheme' has just aligned with the US bishopry of the Second Temple Catholic, to 'bring it on home', just a week from now in Washington State, pushing to pass the first US Carbon Tithe.
"Catholic Bishops Call for Urgent Action Against Climate Change©" - "Six presidents of continental bishops’ conferences have signed an appeal calling on government leaders to take immediate action to overcome the “devastating effects of the climate crisis©,” the Vatican reported Friday."
Their goal is a $400 a ton carbon tithe, and to highlight their duplicity and perfidy, they have refused to convert that tithe rate into common lingua, either $s per gallon of petrol, or $s per kW-H. But as MoA readers already know, when we ran those numbers, the IPCC and the New Third Temple Carbon Catholic intend to sock an $8.67 a gallon carbon surcharge, when fully implemented across the US by Federal law, then by International Papal Epistle.
But for now Pope Glorious is satisfied with $50 a ton rate, that's just +$1.08 carbon surcharge for the sucker-punched Washington State voters, even at the exact same time that Trump spikes petroleum to over $125 a barrel with Operation Divine Moloch against Iran oil production.
One day you're paying $3.75 a gallon, even though Washington State has four oil refineries, count 'em, and the next day you're paying almost $6, and those $100Ms in carbon tithes will be disappeared into the bowels of Olympia for 'program' and 'research' (pol translation: MORE DRONE HIRES, MORE SALARY COLAS AND FULLY-FUNDED PENSIONS). They have publicly admitted as much!
If Mission Accomplished has shown the world nothing else, it's NEVER LET THE CAMEL GET ITS NOSE UNDER THE TENT. 17 years of indefinite war profiteering is nothing compared to some New Carbon Catholic Third Temple of 1,000 Years, diddling our school children with false faith in Cruel Gaia, as interpreted by the 97% Old White Male Scientocrats.
To arms! To arms! The Green Coats are coming.
Posted by: Anton Worter | Oct 29 2018 4:51 utc | 34
You can always use reverse psychology on a forum bot. Unlike humans, they very much like insults
and the more emotional the better. Just try this: simulate a passionate revulsion for something
the bot has said, for example: the bot might post that *endless war* is certainly a delightful proposition.
Because you reacted and became incensed with your blood a'boiling, that bot will then
(digitally speaking I mean) follow you to your home and sleep in behind your flower beds;
Emotions are like monsanto fertilizer to the ordinary chatbot. If you don't believe me, try it.
@26 jen, it would be hard to win in that category... i forgot to mention what i thought was the most outstanding feature of this meeting michael brought up, but i see grieved and karlof1 are talking about it.... usa is absent! that i think is significant... and they have said that syria needs to remain with the same borders and etc... it seems to me usa israels plan has been very different...i am encouraged by all that...
Posted by: james | Oct 29 2018 7:26 utc | 36
http://m.rfi.fr/moyen-orient/20181028-syrie-ei-chasse-fds-deir-ezzor-retablit-jonction-irak
latest from E. Syria
Posted by: mina | Oct 29 2018 8:14 utc | 37
@ Guerrero
Yes indeed :) The more incensed they perceive you to be, at their comments, the more revulsive their comments.
Here in Europe that is a good tactic, the Troll will step over the line, and then the police hammer comes down.
He-he.
Posted by: Den Lille Abe | Oct 29 2018 9:07 utc | 40
Thanks to Grieved and karloff - I wish I could get your links, some glitch on my computer but very appreciative of your comments about the meeting on Syria.
Posted by: juliania | Oct 29 2018 13:02 utc | 41
Regarding .gov bots, I have a particularly egregious example that I saw a while ago. There was an article on Libya in which one commentator wrote something to the effect of "I am a British reporter living in Tripoli and everything is great now that we've been liberated." A few spaces later, there was an identical statement from someone purporting to be an Italian banker living in another city. It was fairly obvious that the algorithm was set to deliver a party-line statement with a randomly filled-in nationality, occupation, and location.
Posted by: Timothy Hagios | Oct 29 2018 13:07 utc | 42
The Snowden files: NSA's plans for a hundred percent coverage of every square inch of the planetPosted by: Never Mind the Bollocks | Oct 28, 2018 2:41:57 PM | 1
Snowhite
PlotOn Mardi Gras in New Orleans, the ferry Sen. Alvin T. Stumpf is carrying hundreds of U.S. Navy sailors and their families across the Mississippi River from their base to the city. Suddenly, the ferry explodes and sinks, killing 543 passengers and crew members...
........
...Led by Dr. Alexander Denny (Adam Goldberg), they investigate the events before the explosion by using a program called "Snow White", which enables them to look into the past (4 days, 6 hours, 3 minutes, 45 seconds, 14.5 nanoseconds) in detail by (according to Pryzwarra) using several satellites to form a triangulated image of events. The system is limited in that they can only see past events once; there is no fast forwarding or rewinding, although they can record what they see in the process.
Problem is not the software but the hardware.
You have to go Quantum. Trump's little shinny disco ball is not up to it (I believe).
Posted by: Greece | Oct 29 2018 13:20 utc | 43
Posted by: Michael | Oct 28, 2018 4:48:39 PM | 8
We are about to get the same treatment soon.
They want to build their "system" after all.
It's the way of the future....
Posted by: Greece | Oct 29 2018 13:30 utc | 44
Trying to be positive about bots !
I think it’s important to just tag them each time, to prevent any unsuspecting commenter falling for the embarrassing trap of along conversation with the thing, i’d Imagine when one realises, it could be dampen the spirit ! So publicly !
Plus don’t let’s forget ! The will be a human mind, programming it, monatering it’s effect ect.thats the dude I like to confront. And yes scorn and laugh at (powerful weapons both)
This bot is little more than a guv propergander poster pinned on a wall. Personally I think as it’s just full of blatant lies. End to end ‘b’ could’ just remove it perminatly. It dose disrupt the flow !!!
Posted by: Mark2 | Oct 29 2018 13:40 utc | 45
Posted by: karlof1 | Oct 28, 2018 3:56:54 PM | 3
(As Trump fulfills the Neocon goal of retreating from any treaty that's seen as tying the Empire's hands...)
You're sounding more like a naif than ever :-)
Instead of incessant whining about the steps in Trump's Grand (Swamp draining) Strategy. why don't you imagine that karlof1 is POTUS instead of Trump and grace MoA with karlof1's Superior Strategy?
Take 300 words + 1000/ - 100 as a guide.
Don't hide your light under a bushell. Dazzle us.
We need a benchmark.
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Oct 29 2018 13:46 utc | 46
...will be disappeared into the bowels of Olympia for 'program' and 'research...Posted by: Anton Worter | Oct 29, 2018 12:51:56 AM | 37
Yes.
I've noticed this sort of thing since the first days of the internet forum although in those yearsand systematically it started getting "self aware" by introducing automatons that were trying to mimic humans that continuously seem to be getting better and better.
it was not automatic; there were human beings on salary who would mine the posters for objections
and systematically...Posted by: Guerrero | Oct 29, 2018 12:29:53 AM | 36
This must indeed be one of the reasons internet was invented.
We should be geting the message as soon as we saw names like Oracle, Sun, Delphi, Python, etc etc being introduced.
It should part of the Big Plan anyway. These technocrats, think big really big. Too big unfortunatelly. But all this has happened before.
Posted by: Greece | Oct 29 2018 14:09 utc | 47
Fun read - Mark Ames mocks the war on Syria 'experts':
ShamiWitness: When Bellingcat & Neocons Collaborated With The Most Influential ISIS Propagandist On Twitter
Not fun to read at all - Shocking! I know Twitter Facebook Google et al would secretly love to see the jihadis succeed, but I can never understand how known ISIS and other terrorist supporters can maintain twitter accounts for so many years and them not be shut down. It's not that the main players don't want this, but how can they get away with it without being called out? Even the MSM has been saying for years and years how social media is used for ISIS recruiting, yet the perpetrators remain untouched.
Yet whose accounts is it that Twitter, facebook et al have been in the (alternate) news for shutting down recently? NOT terrorists.
Posted by: BM | Oct 29 2018 14:47 utc | 48
...all this has happened before.
It would be rather difficult to think of some contemporary political situation that does not echo
one of the stories of Herodotus or eerily parallel Thucydides' The History of the Pelloponesian War.
Posted by: Never Mind the Bollocks | Oct 28, 2018 2:41:57 PM | 1 The Snowden files: NSA's plans for a hundred percent coverage of every square inch of the planet October 28, 2018 NSA wants to take its battlefield targeting alert system that they used to kill people in Iraq and in other war zones and implement it globally, so that they can target anybody anywhere.
The described technology would be wonderful for people whose cow has wandered off and got lost.
Emotions are like monsanto fertilizer to the ordinary chatbot. If you don't believe me, try it.Posted by: Guerrero | Oct 29, 2018 1:08:13 AM | 38
They are programmed to elicit reactions. This way it is made sure they get at least some feedback from the interaction. Same logic applis for the way wordingand presentation and rfelevant content is being structured o n news sites regularly. Since the majority of the people receive news through what largely is a state of the art eavesdropping device (our phones) with almost perfect echolocation abilities (now, who ought to be ahead in this research, what branch of military) a motion tracker, mics/cameras, geolocator, multiple pairing abilities to reveal very detailed maps of location in 3D, it's own A.I. for probably making smart choices to limit the throughoutput it needs to send your data back to wherever and also limit workload for max performance. If someone watches the movie I recommended, which is not available neither in Netflix or Amazon btw (strange) will get pretty much an idea of what the possible future plan is and why the technology tht is been forced to us is designed and behaves this way.
Wasn't James Bond an Admiral?
Posted by: Greece | Oct 29 2018 15:06 utc | 51
Emotions are like monsanto fertilizer to the ordinary chatbot. If you don't believe me, try it.Posted by: Guerrero | Oct 29, 2018 1:08:13 AM | 38
They are programmed to elicit reactions. This way it is made sure they get at least some feedback from the interaction. Same logic applis for the way wordingand presentation and rfelevant content is being structured o n news sites regularly. Since the majority of the people receive news through what largely is a state of the art eavesdropping device (our phones) with almost perfect echolocation abilities a motion tracker, mics/cameras, geolocator, multiple pairing abilities to reveal very detailed maps of location in 3D, it's own A.I. for probably making smart choices to limit the throughoutput it needs to send your data back to wherever and also limit workload for max performance. If someone watches the movie I recommended, which is not available neither in Netflix or Amazon btw (strange) will get pretty much an idea of what the possible future plan is and why the technology tht is been forced to us is designed and behaves this way.
Wasn't James Bond an Admiral?
Posted by: Greece | Oct 29 2018 15:07 utc | 52
@3 karlof1
Despite a comment to the contrary, I thought your observation was valuable, that the neocon agenda is to remove all treaty restrictions on the failing empire's freedom to thrash around.
To see how serious this bullshitting is, I had meant to post this link to a Vesti News clip. It's Russia's top talk show, and Vesti headlines it as a council of war, and this is exactly how Russian commentary seems to have come down on the latest outrage from the US, quitting the INF.
Russia will be forced to match this posture with one of its own. The comments about perfecting Russia's second strike capability are coldly compelling:
War Council Convened on Evening Political Talk Show; Experts Debate How to Win War With US
Posted by: Grieved | Oct 29 2018 15:31 utc | 53
Multi-billion dollar public companies, with years of preparation - plans in place - farms in faraway lands ready to export the product...and the home distribution network in place to deliver the goods...to millions of customers waiting in anticipation of legal marijuana.
And they can't get the gubmint stamps, and their stock prices plummet and they run out of pot.
Believe it or not.
Posted by: fastfreddy | Oct 29 2018 15:36 utc | 54
Please b delete double post.
Posted by: Guerrero | Oct 29, 2018 10:55:12 AM | 52
Yes. Pick the story you wish, but Thucydides would fit nicely (for modern geopolitical dillemas).
But these stories are echoes from the distant past, too.
Like an echo chamber, they get repeated over time, it is as if the Earth itself is designed that way. Well maybe the Moon too. ;)
Each time looks like a different processing cycle, just like a real processing system. Each time getting more perfect and simpler not to what we believe it should be, but to what it ought to really be. Structuring the Code for the next Creation....
Posted by: Greece | Oct 29 2018 15:36 utc | 55
Breaking News –
It has just been announced that four nations – the Philippines, Venezuela, China and Kazakhstan, will meet in three months to write a constitution for the United States.
US congressional leaders, upon learning of the impending action, were wary but hopeful. Most put on cheerful faces and expressed their expectations that whatever provisions are in the document, it will still contain significant benefits for corporations and for the wealthier members of the society.
“We're hoping for the best – we'll just have to wait and see what they give us," said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Posted by: AntiSpin | Oct 29 2018 15:56 utc | 56
Stonebird @12--
When I was in USArmy until 1985, we never planned with civilians in mind--the entire focus of battlefield survivability was just on us soldiers--My MOS required I interact with civilian suppliers, but they were never given any thought otherwise. But we also understood that deliberately targeting vital civilian infrastructure--water treatment and distribution facilities, for example--was a War Crime, but that attitude seemed to die as soon as the Berlin Wall came down and Total War really become total as far as civilians were concerned.
As for your 1st query, such an op would need to be approved by the theatre commander at minimum; and since Trump delegated such decisions as soon as he was sworn in, some idiot at the Pentagon probably designed the plan and sold it with the caveat that the Russians would never discern the electronic commands from the AWACS. The planner was correct, but only partially as some sort of anomaly was noted by Russian EW/SIGINT operators that was further analyzed and provided them with the smoking gun they announced. Note how that info was released just after Bolton's arrival and Putin's quip about the arrows and olives--that was a message sent in no uncertain terms. What was just jointly said in Turkey was yet another message. My bet is they'll be ignored given Neocon mindset.
Posted by: karlof1 | Oct 29 2018 16:07 utc | 57
Perhaps craigsummers could be our pet-bot? I liked it when one poster (whos name I forget) wrote a bit of lyrical verse including the other three seasons!
Maybe we shower the pet with poems and praise?
Apparently Indonesia is opting out of the F35 for the SU57. If so might the airliner crash be a message?
Posted by: Chevrus | Oct 29 2018 16:17 utc | 58
>>>> A. Person | Oct 28, 2018 5:15:55 PM | 10
Jon Schwarz at The Intercept covers this very matter. Read it!
Posted by: Ghost Ship | Oct 29 2018 16:26 utc | 59
juliania @44--
I've noted for several years now that when using Internet Explorer you need to refresh links that are supposedly not available and they appear--it's a basic attempt to dissuade you from accessing the web page. Russian sites often get that treatment.
Posted by: karlof1 | Oct 29 2018 16:29 utc | 60
trying to connect to https://m.rfi.fr/moyen-orient/20181028-syrie-ei-chasse-fds-deir-ezzor-retablit-jonction-irak
got this message on my Vivaldi browser and on a different machine on Tor
Your connection is not private
Attackers might be trying to steal your information from m.rfi.fr (for example, passwords, messages or credit cards). Learn more
NET::ERR_CERT_COMMON_NAME_INVALID
Tor usually takes a few minutes before it finds the page and presents it, but this search came up instantly.. suggesting the message intercept is at the first hop.. its possible they have developed the means to stop outgoing messages on every machine in the world.. ??
anyone have code capable to mask or redirect the mac address?
Posted by: snake | Oct 29 2018 17:21 utc | 61
Hoarsewhisperer @47--
Naïve am I! Hard to know just what I'm supposed to solve, so I'll assume it's ridding the world of the pestilence known as the Outlaw US Empire.
When the Berlin Wall and USSR fell at the end of the 1980s, I along with millions of fellow US citizens felt there was no longer any need to feed the Military Industrial Complex, NATO, and the Empire of Bases, thus providing about $500Billion/year to be used to improve conditions within the USA--MAG: Make America Great. Fortunately for the War Machine, Saddam was induced to invade Kuwait, and an excuse was found to delay any form of "Peace Dividend." The delay was made permanent as the USA embarked on its War OF Terror after the 911 False Flag and the Outlaw US Empire was born, although it could be argued it already existed. The Neocons unilateral dreams were revealed in their 1990s writings, and they haven't deviated from those goals. (Neocon philosophy is rooted in the America First movement that arose in the late 1920s.) Before the illegal invasion of Iraq, the overall cost of the Outlaw US Empire had expanded to $1Trillion/year. And before the invasion, Stiglitz and others warned the cost of such lawbreaking would be several trillion more. The fleeting opportunity to abandon Empire was lost, and with it the possibility of making America Great.
In 1992, I was old enough to run for POTUS--36. Perot's fiscal ideas and single payer healthcare were big issues. Implementing those while devolving the Empire of Bases would have been policy goals of mine. Yes, at the time I'll admit to my naivety about the nature of power within the USA which I recognized and drove me to return to college and change careers. The CIA had two of the three 1992 candidates in its pocket, so it would only lose if Perot won. IMO, the CIA has run the US federal government through a series of puppet POTUSes since 1968, although Trump appears to be a discontinuity despite being a Neocon. Clearly, draining the "Swamp" would have been easier in the 1990s since the CIA had yet to fully consolidate its control, which it did after 911.
If I were to become POTUS in 2020, I'd be 65. I'd dismiss almost the entirety of the National Security State, close down 4 executive Departments, bring all overseas troops back home--and as Chief Magistrate, order the arrest of all living POTUSes, their VEEPs, and staff, most CIA and all paramilitary business owners to be tried for treason or terrorism. No, I wouldn't fuck around despite the danger I might expose myself to--I'm the BOSS. Simultaneously, I'd embrace and do my utmost to join China and Russia in their Eurasian development plans, drop all sanctions and tariffs, and vow to the world that my administration will obey International Law and punish those who previously made a travesty of it. Reforming the tax code and ending offshore tax havens would be another policy cornerstone. Also, I'd attempt to change the primary goal articulated by corporate charters from that of protecting shareholder value to protecting and promoting the public and environment's interest.
Then having used the far too extensive powers vested in the POTUS, I'd attempt to reform the executive via constitutional amendment such that its power would never again be as great as it is now. I think that if I wasn't quickly assassinated, I'd have more than enough popular support for a 2nd term to finish implementing my reforms while retuning the nature of the USA's economy so its citizenry has a chance to deal with the Climate Crisis such that it can take pride in being a responsible actor working with the rest of the world instead of trying to derail its efforts in the pursuit of A Few Dollars More.
Well Hoarsewhisperer, would you care to add anything?
Posted by: karlof1 | Oct 29 2018 17:22 utc | 62
Ghost Ship | Oct 29, 2018 12:26:48 PM | 60
Thanks for the link. I read it. The narrative of the Cuban Missile Crisis is/was a lie. .gov should be in a mental home.
Posted by: A. Person | Oct 29 2018 17:26 utc | 64
Assad should be able to stand a little scrutiny without everyone losing their shit.
Is that one of the lines that must not be crossed? Like any criticism of Putin will have you labeled at the very least a troll, or heaven forbid, A bot.
It's bad to spell America without a K, or two, or three.
It's bad to spell Hillary without a K as well.
How very clever we all are. Too bad we couldn't grow the fuck up.
Posted by: peter | Oct 29 2018 17:27 utc | 65
36
I don't know about that, but this weekend in conversations with business associates over dinner, with my phone 'turned off', as we discussed world topics and new product opportunities, then I would check my silenced phone for messages, targeted ads would pop up with the same key words we were discussing! So your smart phone, like Hal 9000, is always watching (my pants pocket, lol) and listening. We had decided on a new campaign, and wha la, this morning, Google Docs sent me a questionnaire on the same field of venture!
I can understand why you keep cell phones turned (hard) 'off'. Is that enough? I'm going to market sound-proof tins to keep your phone in during business meetings, but Apple i-Watch already defeated that. Think, you're in storyboarding product development, and Apple is 'watching' your every move, then you get out of the meeting, and targeted ads start popping up like death mushrooms, while over in China, some IPR theft network is waking up to a transcript of your entire storyboarding session.
May you live in AInteresting times, compadre.
Posted by: Anton Worter | Oct 29 2018 17:28 utc | 66
Posted by: snake | Oct 29, 2018 1:21:09 PM | 62
FYI
Fact Checking the Tor Projects Government Ties.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Oct 29 2018 17:38 utc | 67
51
I have to be careful not to always re-post to your post, less the AI bots think we are a controlled-dissent disruption sleeper cell, ... but the business associates I had dinner with this weekend have a Chinese loitering drone that does exactly that, follow your lost cow, using recognition software to follow any selected target, including your cheating wife and your school-skipping kids, lol.
The associate is looking for a 'Made-in-USA' (sic) final assembly facility, either a Free Trade Zone (sic) or at one of our 23 or so Pentagon-approved 'Buy American' (sic) national allies, so they can circumvent the China trade sanctions charade Trump is using to build a $100Bs undesignated unaudited slush fund for Deep State.
Like the $100Bs that would be developed by the New Energy Revelations $400 a ton Carbon Tithe, you have to ask of Trump's 'Trade Tariffs', what Deep Throat reminded us. WHERE ARE THESE UNDESIGNATED UNAUDITED FUNDS GOING?! Not to 'Climate Chains', that's for damn sure, not to American manufacturers or small farmers! And not back to product-buying American citizens paying 600% retail markups!
Deep Purple Mil.Gov UniParty will never challenge Trump, or Gore. Soaring retail and property prices means more sales taxes and property tax revenues! $400 a ton carbon tithe means a 'taste' goes to Mil.Gov in Fed and State gasoline taxes! It's a metastasis of 1,000 years.
And sorry, Neil, but we are never 'going to get back to the Garden and set our souls free.' My other business associate is sourcing products in SEAsia, and tells me yesterday of what I say the start of several years ago when I lived there: the tsunami of 'hot money' that bloomed up from the TBTF fiat credit-debt and flowed as a flood of $s to China, and now is cascading into poor Cambodia, as Hung Sen and his General sell off the tropical rainforests and agricultural lands to rich Chinese.
Just in the two years TWO YEARS since I was there, Chinese high-rise condos are popping up in Phnom Penh, their huge SUVs roaring around the countryside. Massive coal power plant in Sihanoukville to sell power to Thailand and sow choking smog on Ankor Wat! They plan to dam part of the Mekong, and destroy the Cambodian fishing industry when Ton le Sap lake no longer floods in the monsoon! The quiet and empty homestay beaches I vacationed at are private Chinese beachfront hotels now.
Saddest of all, the Chinese disrespect the Buddhist Temples. A monk friend of mine sent covert photos of Chinese tourists sitting on the statues, taking selfies, and leaving the plastic trash and uneaten food of their lunches around the altars. The quiet temples I used to enjoy are being buried in trash, as Hun Seng and his Generals are making $Bs in grift selling off Kampuchia to the Chinese.
I had better stop before my door handle gets Novichuk'd by the roving gumbahs. Urge your kids to take a year off after school to travel the 3W now, because it will all be colonized and plantationed and industrialized, logged off and strip mined and ghettoed, in 100 Indias, before Trump leaves office.
May the MAGA! be with you! On to Tehran! Lu, lu, lu, lu, lu.
Posted by: Anton Worter | Oct 29 2018 17:58 utc | 68
13
Khashoggi is the 'shiney object'. We don't have any proof of ANYTHING the Turks, Saudis or Mil.Gov has postulated about 'Khashoggi'(c), nor it is particularly significant to a US administration that has already openly murdered its own US citizens, their sons and their daughters.
Ask not what happened to Khashoggi, ask what we were being distracted FROM during that 10-day period. Trump is too old for this. His intellectual capacity is diminished. He's flopping around on clik-bait, sloganeering and preening himself in public. Something more significant was going down those 10 days.
Then the bizarre letter 'bmobs' (sic) and the synagogue shooting. That should tell you everything. 11 dead in Pittsburgh, and 11 letter bmobs. Navaho Code Talk. Another '11' event is coming. On to Tehran!! It's L-6 to WW3 and $150 a barrel petroleum, and we are good to go, baby!
Posted by: Anton Worter | Oct 29 2018 18:18 utc | 69
Syria already has a ‘new’ Constitution. It was voted in ++ by referendum, in 2012.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_constitutional_referendum,_2012
PDF of the text, in eng.
https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Syria_2012.pdf?lang=en
Part of 'modernisation' and 'appeasement' by Assad which of course had zero effect. Pressure for yet another 'new' Constitution is just a domineering demand yada yada etc. etc. In any case Constitutions are now writings that have no weight at all, see the US Constitution.
Posted by: Noirette | Oct 29 2018 18:24 utc | 70
Anton Worter | Oct 29, 2018 1:28:50 PM | 67
I am paranoid the same way. I sent an email to my brothers wherein I proposed a merry cruise to Cuba. The next day I open ZH, and there's Caribbean cruise ship advertisements all over the place.... and then they stalk me.
However, this Big Brother (Ma Bell) oversight has an upside. I always get pre-checked at TSA. Don't get me wrong. I am not a patriot who sings in the choir. No. Every law enforcement agency knows my middle name, they know how I like my coffee, and they know I have been working on personally under-throwing US government since 1972.
Oh well.
Posted by: A. Person | Oct 29 2018 18:25 utc | 71
@Posted by: karlof1 | Oct 28, 2018 4:22:37 PM | 5
Thanks for the reference and link.
Although I was familiar with his oustanding book "Killing Hope", a must read to understand what ammounts the evil the US has done to the peoples in the world, I was unfamiliar with his site/blog.
Sorry to hear he has suffered an accident...I hope it has been an accident really...
I wish him a whole and fast recovery, he is much needed.....
I wonder what he would have to say about Bolsonaro....
What nobody in the "alt-media" told about him:
Posted by: Sasha | Oct 29 2018 18:27 utc | 72
@69 One minor quibble with your last contribution. CSN&Y did sing 'Woodstock' but Joni Mitchell wrote it.
She has since reconsidered her involvement with the movement.
Posted by: dh | Oct 29 2018 18:37 utc | 74
Sasha @72--
You're quite welcome! This Tweet contains link to YouTube vid by famous Brazilian cartoonist Latuff about the rise of Bolsonaro. Kolko says Bolsonaro part of "Trump's plan" for a "Fortress America," except it's the CIA's plan, not Trump's. Latin America's has always had a big problem--El Norte Gringo--and its own Caudillos. A massive revolt by the lower classes is a real possibility.
Posted by: karlof1 | Oct 29 2018 18:46 utc | 75
karlof1 @ 63; Nice rant, one of your best. run baby run..
AW @ 69 said;"Urge your kids to take a year off after school to travel the 3W now, because it will all be colonized and plantationed and industrialized, logged off and strip mined and ghettoed, in 100 Indias, before Trump leaves office.
World seems to be headed in that direction. Good post.
Posted by: ben | Oct 29 2018 18:57 utc | 76
Latest from Chris Hedges and Truthdig: An excerpt;
"It does not matter how many lies uttered by Trump are meticulously documented by The New York Times or The Washington Post. It does not matter that Trump’s personal financial interests, as we see in his relationship with the Saudis, take precedence over the rule of law, diplomatic protocols and national security. It does not matter that he is credibly charged by numerous women with being a sexual predator, a common characteristic of cult leaders. It does not matter that he is inept, lazy and ignorant. The establishment, whose credibility has been destroyed because of its complicity in empowering the ruling oligarchy and the corporate state, might as well be blowing soap bubbles at Trump. Their vitriol, to his followers, only justifies the hatred radiating from the cult.
Full article;https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-cult-of-trump-2/
Posted by: ben | Oct 29 2018 19:39 utc | 77
Posted by: ben | Oct 28, 2018 9:50:18 PM | 28
Ben I dunno if anyone else pointed out to you cos I'm travelling & using a sh1tty lappy which is a pain to scroll thru a thread, but that AJ article is nearly 3 years old (5 feb 2016) and relates to a deal signed by the Key zionist government who got thrown out.
The new well 10 month old, Aotearoa neolib/nationalist/green coalition govt, have changed some of the agreement but not enuff. The panels of corporate lawyers aka arbitration and dispute resolving have been given the flick but trudeau & co jacked up at a clause preventing amerika from joining in if/when the dems get back in ie post trumpet, so it is all meaningless as amerika will insist on putting the worst parts back in and the spineless ones will almost certainly agree.
Posted by: Debsisdead | Oct 29 2018 20:03 utc | 78
"October 26, 2018"
"As Facebook and Twitter are purging alternative media outlets, a neoconservative operative at a US government-funded think tank says more censorship is on its way. Max Blumenthal and Jeb Sprague discuss how scaremongering over Russia and China is being exploited to silence dissent on social media"
Posted by: ben | Oct 29 2018 20:04 utc | 79
@Posted by: Miranda | Oct 28, 2018 7:17:14 PM | 20
Agree in all what you say...except on Jair Bolsonaro being a "neofascist", because what is new in his fascism?
He sounds so old and rancid as the fascists of all times...if not more...Wearing a t-shirt does not make you new at all...when your brain and your soul is so rotten as those of your "idols"....
Posted by: Sasha | Oct 29 2018 20:14 utc | 80
80
More AI and more Stress-Position Psyop. With the pre-elections '11' Event psyop having exhausted the I-Ink on 11 Synagogue Deaths and 11 Letter Bmobs (and 11 Catholic Cardinals pumping the Climate Cri$i$©), it's time to play the last tarot card: 50,000 Mob Army Attacks USA!
‘This Is an Invasion’
Trump Warns Caravan: ‘Military Waiting for You’
Let's Roll! On to Tehran!
Uhh ... wait, what?!
(Video clip Big Pickup Trucks Streaming Bigger US Flags)
(SFX voice-over: "And I'm proud to be an Americgun...)
Who wants to be the last US soldier to die in an '11' Event psyop pre-opener on the Texas border?
Posted by: Anton Worter | Oct 29 2018 20:18 utc | 81
Leaning toward a false flag in Pittsburgh attack. ADL basically predicted it the day before.
Frankly its been a whole month of false flag psy ops. Migrant march, toy bombs, synagogue attack, Khashoggi
Until people escape from the matrix and reverse their brainwashing and accept there is a conspiracy directed against them, its just going to get worse (more frequent) IMO. OTOH maybe their ignorance and ready acceptance of even the most ridiculous stories help keep these events at a smaller scale.
Posted by: Pft | Oct 29 2018 21:52 utc | 82
83
As our illustrious POTUS 44 Obama, and his 'We Came, We Saw, You Died...CAWW, CAWW, CAWW' junk yard dog Rodham reminded US, constantly, like a cattle prod in the ass:
'Hope Is Chains', baby! ... 'Hope Is Chains'.
The Slaves will only continue to slave, if they hope and dream of an elective freedom.
So you can swallow the Blue pill, and go back to Dreamland. Or, swallow the Red pill, and go back to Dreamland. Ha, ha, ha. Same schtuff, different color Koolaid.
On to Freedom for Our Illustrious Leader, his Fashion Model Wife Rocking Those 6-Inch Heels and our 1,000 Brave Admirals and Generals hiding back in the Pentagon! Lu,lu,lu,lu,lu!
Remember to tell your children how much you love them, friends, and how sorry you are that you totally fracked the pooch.
WW3 begins at 09:30 Tehran local time, 5/11
Posted by: Anton Worter | Oct 29 2018 21:54 utc | 83
Should add to my @63 the need to return management of the US economy to the citizenry by eliminating the Fed and establishing citizen-owned Bank of USA, while retooling Dept of Commerce to include development of an Industrial Policy which the USA has always lacked as it instead relied upon Lassiez-faire ideology. Law enforcement and regulatory agencies would also need major reform under Justice Dept. IMO, the total size of the Executive could be halved and its overall power diminished almost as much. My aim would be to throttle the oligarchs while empowering the masses and to elevate the US Constitution's Preamble to its rightful place of prominence over all else for the first time in US History:
"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
As things now stand, the vast majority of these goals are trashed--even defence is arguable.
Posted by: karlof1 | Oct 29 2018 22:55 utc | 84
CBC News Network Power and Politics (Vassy Kapelos) ends today with another uninformed BJ for the White Helmets resettled into Canada by "a Canadian initiative." No decapitation videos were available I guess. We're such suckers North of the 49th parallel.
Posted by: spudski | Oct 29 2018 22:56 utc | 85
--I'm the BOSS. Simultaneously, I'd embrace and do my utmost to join China and Russia in their Eurasian development plans, drop all sanctions and tariffs, and vow to the world that my administration will obey International Law and punish those who previously made a travesty of it. Reforming the tax code and ending offshore tax havens would be another policy cornerstone. Also, I'd attempt to change the primary goal articulated by corporate charters from that of protecting shareholder value to protecting and promoting the public and lenvironment's interest. Posted by: karlof1 | Oct 29, 2018 1:22:45 PM | 63
All good, Mr would-be President of the United States. Except for "drop all tariffs".
There is much to be said for the "protect-infant-industries Hamiltonian tariff, Economist Friedrich List
(6 August 1789 – 30 November 1846), a German economist with dual American citizenship[2]
who developed the "National System", also known as the National System of Innovation.[3]
He was a forefather of the German historical school of economics,[4]
and argued for the German Customs Union from a Nationalist standpoint.[5]
He advocated imposing tariffs on imported goods while supporting free trade of domestic goods,
and stated the cost of a tariff should be seen as an investment in a nation's future productivity.[6]
In 1822 Matthew Carey published Essays on Political Economy; or, The Most Certain Means of Promoting the Wealth, Power, Resources, and Happiness of Nations, Applied Particularly to the United States [6] one of the first treatises favoring Alexander Hamilton's protectionist economic policy.
Henry Charles Carey (December 15, 1793 – October 13, 1879) was the leading 19th-century economist of the American School of capitalism, and chief economic adviser to U.S. President Abraham Lincoln.
Then check out the high-tariff policy of President William McKinley and other post-Civil War Republicans. The pressing political/fiscal problem in that century was the budget surplus of the United States government, NOT the budget deficit, believe it or not! Please note.
86
Compadre:
In economics, as in finance, you must not only use historical analogs, but also incorporate them into the 4D time:flow, the same way that Funky Aztecs reference particular words or phrases, all within their unique time:flow.
You are correct that tariffs are 'necessary' in order to resist the water-cannons of $0.89 an hour Chinese Labor, but not correct within the time:flow:
1) Putting a +25% tariff on China only raises the Equivalent US Wage to ~$1.50 something, just 1/10th of a liveable wage. It's a sucker draw for Mom and Pop to take out big loans they can never repay with US- or MX- made.
2) US retailers have historically, and will continue to, markup Chinese wholesale by 600% to retail sales price. Adding 25% to the wholesale cost by tariff, will raise retail prices by 11% to 18% (Wal-Mart). Everyone is broke.
3) Those $100B's skimmed off in tariffs are unbudgeted, unencumbered unaudited funny money revenue for Mil.Gov mischief-making.
.: Tariffs in the context they are being used in US, are a charade. Raising tariffs to a US equivalent liveable wage would put retail products out of reach of ~80% of Americans, crashing the economy. Detroit surplus confirms this. Just like radiation and chemotherapy, there is only the illusion of 'cure', as the 'treatment' (sic) speeds an untimely death for most, jacking Mom out of her retirement property after Pop has passed, so the Vampirim can bulldoze her home and slap in a half-dozen $650,000 townhouses.
It is quite possible for a nation to survive with just local manufacturing of heavy appliances and vehicles, then leave the rest to foreign sweat-shops. What destroyed USA was NOT Chines manufacturing or border maquiladores. What destroyed USA was Gramm-Leach-Bliley slash Dot Con Neutron Bmob slash Let's Roll slash SCDOs slash TBTF slash Citizen's United.
The People, united, can never be defeated. Topple the pyramid, like They toppled the Twin Towers.
Posted by: Anton Worter | Oct 30 2018 0:48 utc | 87
@ karlof1 at #84 with the finance update to the previous rant......THANKS!!!!
@ Guerrero with the opinion about tariffs.....I strongly disagree
All of the history you refer to has been under the rule of private finance and their myth of capitalism (It does not exist in reality) where the goals are/where control and exploitation of others resources, natural or labor related. Should the use of the natural resources be "taxed" to support the citizens of that city/state/nation for a definable period? Are the labor activities related to the local natural resources usage and complimentary?
I encourage you to break the mold of the capitalism myth and start asking the questions humanity and your neighbors need to to be asking
Posted by: psychohistorian | Oct 30 2018 0:59 utc | 88
Do you get similar results? Hidden Algorithm in Google Translate
Posted by: PeacefulProsperity | Oct 30 2018 1:32 utc | 89
In economics, as in finance, you must not only use historical analogs, but also incorporate them into the 4D time:flow, the same way that Funky Aztecs reference particular words or phrases, all within their unique time:flow.
The Aztec Calendar probably describes the economic process of the mesoamerican culture of that time;
and this science was truly sophisticated, reality-economics a modern person might find hard to imagine.
But here we are talking the United States of America, with its 18th C. birth as a world-powerhouse.
The high-tariff policy actually generated a USA budget surplus (and this caused certain other problems.)
Still...
Three's NO dismissing out-of-hand the Hamiltonian high-tariff policy, without refuting the cogent
arguments of Carey, Abraham Lincoln's (a most successful USA President) chief economic advisor.
89
Funky Aztecs is a Chicano rap group, lol, but your reply is right on.
Posted by: Anton Worter | Oct 30 2018 2:40 utc | 91
88
I use GT all the time and don't have problems with it. Where the problems arise are 'auto-complete', which I have yet to find a way to turn off, when using voice-to-text so I don't have to type. Certain words are verklempt, and we all know what those are. Then there's the hidden algorithms at BB, HP, FB, R and ZH that trigger banning.
Wait, there's more!
Some years ago I had a business website on FB, and made the TERRIBLE mistake of posting my thoughts on Samdech Hun Sen of Cambodia, the former Pol Pot leader and now Dictator for Life with his Generals. I was immediately contacted by FB and said I had to contact them to 'discuss' my site. 24 hours later, they wiped my site from the map of history, along with all my followers and followed links.
My kid laughed, and said, 'Dad, you're an idiot."
So today I posted here on MoA another Hun Sen diatribe, and the same post on my FB private site, on a friend's timeline. If I get banned on FB again, for posting the truth about a foreign dictator with strong Chinese ties, I'll let you know.
Did you get similar results being banned for using targeted words or phrases on FB?
Speaking of 'targeting' and 'al-Gore'isms': None of this has any significance, in the context of Pope Albertus 'Glutinous' Goreius and his New Energy Revelations. You'll pardon me harping on it, but in 7 days from now, the Carbon Catholic of 97% Old White Male Scientocrat black rot will jack into Washington State, and from that point on, to Oregon, then California, then sweep to the nation's capital and from there, to a supra-governmental IPCC of unelected, unappointed, unaccountable clergy, crowding around the New Global Carbon Tithe trough.
But let's get down to the actual legislation to give you a real taste: The Save Washington (state government) Act I encourage everyone with a position on 'Climate Chains' to read this in depth, then report back here on where the clause is that says it will restore the Garden of Eden. All I see is hand-in-the-pot-with-dribs-and-drabs-for-all piracy.
"(3) Beginning January 1, 2020, the pollution fee on emitters is equal to fifteen dollars per metric ton of carbon
content. That's only a +$0.35 a gallon carbon surcharge. They have to come in low, just like a septic ulcer.
Beginning January 1, 2021, the pollution fee on emitters increases by two dollars per metric ton of carbon content
each January 1st. That's +$0.76 a gallon carbon surcharge by 2028, straight into State salaries and pensions.
The annual increase shall adjust for inflation each year. OK, that's +$1.11 a gallon carbon surcharge by 2028.
The pollution fee is fixed and no longer increases, except for annual increases for inflation, when the state's 2035
greenhouse gas reduction goal is met and the state's emissions are on a trajectory that indicates that compliance with the state's 2050 goal is likely, as those goals exist or are subsequently amended, as determined by the board."
Those goals will never be met! IPCC's stated goal is $400 a ton, that's +$8.67 a gallon carbon surcharge on gasoline!
Where will those $100Bs of carbon tax revenue go? Let's look. First pretend this is Idlib, and you're a Syrian civilian:
"(2) After reasonable administrative costs: after they skim off for a vastly bloated bureaucracy! (read the act)
(a) Seventy percent of total expenditures under this act must be used for the clean air and clean energy investments authorized under section 4 of this act; offering "tax credits" to industry to continue to pollute. they will buy those 'carbon credits' from foreign tin pot dictators and their generals, committing genocide for moar green bucks plantations.
(b) Twenty-five percent of total expenditures under this act must be used for the clean water and healthy forests investments authorized under section 5 of this act;" remember, this is the same legislature that approved a lead smelter, a coal strip mine and power plant, four oil refineries and a chemical plant, and allows 'legal' (sic) dumping of 100,000s of pounds of teratogenic chemicals into the marine estuaries! all the fabled salmon have been wiped out!
E pluribus now get back to work. Your New Energy Revelations Carbon Catholic Tithe on Energy will be programmed to increase 10% per year, "unless increased at a faster rate by the board" to $8.67 a gallon, plus inflation riser. That's not government, that's kleptocracy. "It's Payup Time" (c) Pope Albertus 'Glutinous' Goreius
If you are 'nay' on IPCC, or have grandchildren you care for, +0.04º degree per year 'Climate Cri$i$'™ isn't the problem. The real crisis is metastasis of multiple overlapping supra'governance', and an +$8.67 a gallon carbon tithe to pay for it!
Posted by: Anton Worter | Oct 30 2018 2:40 utc | 92
..
Well Hoarsewhisperer, would you care to add anything?
Posted by: karlof1 | Oct 29, 2018 1:22:45 PM | 63
Yes.
1. Thank you for briefly and frankly addressing the challenge I posed and for sketching karlof1's preferred method.
2. Your heart is undoubtedly in the right place, but I question the wisdom of your self-sacrificing bravado. I'm referring to this statement...
"No, I wouldn't fuck around despite the danger I might expose myself to--I'm the BOSS."
Imo, that kind of thinking is NOT management. Once a manager has accepted a tough assignment he(/she) has an obligation, to himself and to the ppl who hired him, to refrain from taking unnecessary risks - if only to ensure that his scheme remains under his personal control until it has borne fruit.
Imo, Trump is aware of this factor and will remain ambiguous to the end.
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Oct 30 2018 2:41 utc | 93
92
One word, Benhamin.
Sir?
One word ... Are you listening?
Yes, sir.
"I can't tell you where all the money went."
That's nine words, sir.
Posted by: Anton Worter | Oct 30 2018 5:01 utc | 94
62
Don't you find it apocryphal humor that Breitbart celebrates with a tee shirt the very moment God struck Breitbart's black heart dead?
Posted by: Anton Worter | Oct 30 2018 5:18 utc | 95
Doctors Refuse to Reveal If Rash of 'Polio-Like' Catastrophic Illness Victims Were Vaccinated
Odds in the US are 98:100 these poor children just received a defective polio booster vaccination ... but that will be kept silent by the poodled medical-ad revenue dependent media and 'doctor:patient' confidentiality.
Think about it, even if 100,000 children received defective vaccinations and became quadruplegics, we would not know, we could not know, any settlements would be sealed by the court and Big Pharma would accept no responsibility.
Blood money payoffs, vax pimps for profits and a poodled fifth estate.
Remember, everyone reading this will one day go through those swinging doors that never open again, to a hospice hell, where your savings are auto-deducted and all 'treatments' and 'inoculations' are decided for you.
If you resist, you will be force-fed SSRIs and if you still resist, you will receive electro-shock. US elderly are considered 'voluntary' drug-interaction and inoculation clinical trial subjects, their 'right's no more than a prisoner on death row. Read the fine print!
Posted by: Anton Worter | Oct 30 2018 5:46 utc | 96
No wonder why the UK newspapers where on top of the Khashoghi case
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/saudi-arabia-human-rights-activist-attacked-london-mbs-ghanem-al-dosari-show-a8538406.html
This was just 2 weeks before K's murder. And of all places, right outside Harrod's because it is owned by Qatar!
How many outlets have interviewed the guy on primetime, as was done back in 2011 for any imaginative Syrian guy?
Posted by: Mina | Oct 30 2018 9:29 utc | 97
Another gem here https://consortiumnews.com/2018/10/29/as-a-saudi-citizen-in-exile-i-know-what-the-regime-does-to-silence-its-critics/
"As a Saudi citizen exiled in Washington, D.C., since 2000, I have seen and experienced first-hand what the government is willing to do to silence its critics inside and outside the country. These actions date back to as early as 1979, when dissident activist and author Naser Al Saeed was abducted from Beirut, Lebanon, in December of that year.
His fate remains unknown, but it is widely believed that the Saudi intelligence service paid PLO gunmen to kidnap and fly him back to Riyadh, where he was secretly killed. (Ironically, Khashoggi worked for many years with Turki Al Faisal, the man who ran Saudi intelligence at the time and is suspected of carrying out that operation.)"
Posted by: Mina | Oct 30 2018 9:30 utc | 98
It took 6 weeks to Scotland yard to decide launch an investigation of the MbS thugs who attacked Dosari
https://www.albawaba.com/loop/saudi-agents-assaulted-dissident-outside-harrods-london-only-two-months-ago-1206156
Posted by: Mina | Oct 30 2018 9:34 utc | 99
More for Craig Murray case
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQQDMVnPz64&feature=youtu.be&t=2m24s
https://www.gulfinstitute.org/reports-of-saudi-crown-princes-domestic-violence-emerge/
Posted by: Mina | Oct 30 2018 9:47 utc | 100
The comments to this entry are closed.
Germany Election:Further blow for Merkel in Hesse
The BBC's Berlin Correspondent comments
What are your observations from Germany on recent elections in Germany, B? You rarely discuss such matters.
Are AfD a national force to be reckoned with, or hyped by foreign media? Compare this with the Green surge; a party of pro-immigration liberals, no? Two parties diametrically opposed to each other, yet both on the rise.
Posted by: Pat Bateman | Oct 28 2018 19:47 utc | 1