The MoA Week in Review - OT 2018-58
Last week's posts on Moon of Alabama:
- October 29 - Syria Sitrep - ISIS Defeats U.S. Proxy Force - Again
The SDF is very much in trouble. ISIS is still attacking. There is trouble between the locally recruited Arab footsoldiers of the SDF and the Kurdish command. The U.S. is again bombing but the defense front of the SDF has largely broken down.
- October 30 - How Trump Is Winning The Midterm Elections
The UAE and its mercenaries have renewed a large attack on Hodeidah. Should they capture it they will control all supplies to the Houthi areas. The Saudis and the UAE seem to use the 30 days Trump has given them for maximum gain.
- November 2 - The Film The Israel Lobby Doesn't Want You To See
Use as open thread ...
Posted by b on November 3, 2018 at 14:19 UTC | Permalink
next page »get better b.. hope the pain goes away soon..thanks for all your work..
Posted by: james | Nov 3 2018 14:55 utc | 2
Bursitis; take 3 aspirin and it will feel much better.
I live on aspirin every day for exactly that.
Hope it helps very soon...
Posted by: V | Nov 3 2018 15:03 utc | 3
Not surprisingly, Mattis and Pompeo's ceasefire speeches turn out to be deceptive. In reality, the Saudis, Emiratis and their Western allies are preparing a massive attack on Hodeidah, the biggest so far. I hope the defenders are prepared.
Posted by: Pnyx | Nov 3 2018 15:27 utc | 4
Sorry to read about your hurt b and hope it gets better soon.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Nov 3 2018 15:28 utc | 6
WTF? Dont wait, go to the hospital! I mean it, you dont want to ignore this.. I have seem too many ppl who went too late.. Fuck blogging, get to the bottom of this!
DAMN!
Posted by: DontBelieveEitherPropaganda | Nov 3 2018 16:28 utc | 7
Washington imposes new sanctions against Venezuela and Cuba <http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/11/03/bolt-n03.html>
Preparing for a multipolar order, the USA is falling back by consolidating its grip on its own backyard: Latin America.
Argentina, Colombia and Ecuador are already aligned. Brazil will follow soon after Bolsonaro takes office in Janurary 1st. The USA doesn't have any "carrots" left, only the "big stick". This realignment will be brutal for the Latin American people, with high inflation, slave wages, high unemployment and abscence of basic human rights (police state) to follow.
The only question now is: how much will it last?
Interesting poll discussed on October 25th (2018) by RT (Russians don’t hold Kremlin responsible for Skripal poisoning, say British did it themselves – poll — RT Russia https://www.rt.com/russia/442258-skripal-poisoning-uk-russia/):
".........According to the research, only 3 percent of those who are aware of the poisoning, share London’s stance that the Russian secret services were behind the atrocious act. But a whole 28 percent of the respondents are, on the contrary, sure that the attack was carried out by the British themselves.The most common answer chosen, by those surveyed, was that the Skripals “could’ve been poisoned by anybody.”
A total of 1,600 people from 52 towns and villages across Russia took part in the poll......"
This was two weeks after Bellingcat revealed the identities of the two suspects captured on CCTV in Britain. This shows fairly conclusively the level of propaganda disseminated by the Russian government to the Russian people. In the same article, there is a picture of Vladimir Putin and a link to an article “Putin compares Khashoggi case to Skripal poisoning, asks why Russia condemned despite lack of proof” (my emphasis).
In an earlier RT article discussing the revelations of Bellingcat, there is a youtube video featuring the state-owned journalist, Murad Gazdiev, raising doubt about the British investigation - “Contradictions Everywhere” (Bellingcat claims it has identified second Skripal poisoning suspect as military doctor — RT UK News https://www.rt.com/uk/440712-bellingcat-second-salisbury-suspect/).
This is classic (and successful) "victimization of Russia" propaganda propagated by the MSM in Russia (RMSM), but you won’t hear many complaints about the main stream media in Russia from the alternate western media.
Posted by: craigsummers | Nov 3 2018 17:20 utc | 9
Get well soon B! You need more and better quality sleep. Take B vitamins especially B2, B6 and B12, which help to promote a deeper sleep and more REM sleep. If you are not sleeping well that will cause the shoulder pain. Also if you can get it, rub some plai oil on the shoulder.
@vk:
How is it possible that Bolsonaro could be elected by the people voluntarily? Before (as I understand it) all the right-wing dictators came to power by military coups (and US support of course). But why would anyone vote for them, apart from the elite and their lackeys? Is the vote fraudulent, or are the people so ignorant and stupid, or do they have some reason I cannot understand? Latin America has so much experience with right-wing dictators, they surely know one when the see one?
Posted by: BM | Nov 3 2018 17:37 utc | 11
South American oil production. US now controls Brazil and with Venezuela being in its back yard will most likely control that country in the not too distant future. Trump on the road to global energy dominance.
https://www.iogp.org/bookstore/product/global-energy-brief-latin-america/
"In this first of a series of Global Energy Briefs, IOGP looks at Central & South America*, one of the world’s major oil and gas producing regions; rich in energy resources – particularly oil. As of the end of 2016, the region held one fifth of the world’s proved oil reserves...
...Oil production in Central & South America is at a high level of more than 7 million barrels per day since a decade ago. The latest figure is 7.5 million barrels per day. Two countries currently dominate Central and South American oil production: Venezuela and Brazil.
Traditionally, Venezuela had been South America’s biggest producer. Its oil reserves (18% of the world’s total) outstrip those of Saudi Arabia. But the political and economic instability of recent years has taken its toll on production. In 2005, Venezuela’s daily output was 3.3 million barrels. By 2016 it was down to 2.4 million barrels per day."
Posted by: Peter AU 1 | Nov 3 2018 17:39 utc | 12
@B: You'll probably find some plai oil at a (good) local Thai supermarket
Posted by: BM | Nov 3 2018 17:41 utc | 13
Trump's has been the "goofy foot" presidency.
That is, he started off on the wrong foot. Campaigning as a populist who eschewed accepted mainstream "progressive" and "conservative" political positions, he completely cratered the unpopular Republican orthodoxy during the 2016 primaries by promising such heretical ideas as a non-interventionist foreign policy, protection for Medicare/Medicaid and social security, improvement on Obamacare, higher taxes on the wealthiest and a massive infrastructure program to rebuild the decaying facilities of this so-called once grate nation.
These are all ideas that gained the support of enough Obama voters and independents in just the right flyover states to lead Trump to an improbable victory while being soundly thrashed in the popular voting nationwide. A stunning, historical accomplishment as much as and as much in reaction too, the 2008 Obama victory.
Of course, to those of us who understand the modern GOP and the history of the lying-ass self promotion of the Trump entertainment spectacle its own self, we were neither duped nor surprised when the initial 2017 legislative agenda items proferred were none of the populist agenda but instead were the repeal of Obamacare, massive tax cuts for the wealthy and the reversal of all Obama executive orders, most notably in the areas of refugee resettlement and immigration.
Trump, the so-called change agent who in fact was and still is clueless regarding how to function as President simply let the craven Obama opposition leaders of the prior 8 years, McConnell and Ryan set out the typical GOP legislative agenda, which is opposed by a majority, in some cases overwhelming majority, of Amerikkkans.
Obamacare repeal failed memorably based on but one late night thumb's down taken more out of personal revenge than the ideology of a very soon to be dead Senator.
Trump's ruling style in large part has substituted for any sense of a coherent agenda in that he obviously cares only about his base (an obdurate block of 36% of the electorate consisting almost entirely of white, entitled, racist baby boomers who have devolved into anti-democratic fascists now that they no longer represent a majority of the US population and believe (falsely) they have something to protect).
Trump has succeeded in implementing some of his campaign ideas and not all of them are 100% evil or wrongheaded. He has shaken the long term calcification of the US foreign and tarde policy, has introduced tariffs especially to combat clearly unfair Chinese trade practices while demanding European and Asian allies pay more for their defense of empire.
While I have my own view of whether any of Trump's policies contain great value from a long term historical pespective, I do recognise Trump's appeal to certain sectors of the internet, including most obviously certain useful idiots of the ultraleft.
I do not believe his victory to be a fluke of nature but rather in keeping with the current worldwide trend borne of aging whitebread fear, cyncism and disenchantment with elitist political/economic establishments and which has been amped to a viral degree by a staggering wealth disparity, but only as it impacts the formerly entitled feeling, aging white people situated in western countries.
The natural response to any socially or cultural threat is to band together tribally and fight back. And the main threat, when it is boiled down, is the fear of overpopulation (and its accompnaying unstoppable environmental degradation) driven by what is viewed through the Trump voter political lens as non-white, primitive, illsuited people from shithole countries who are and will continue to ruin Amerikkka and Western Europe.
As perfectly illustrated by the migrant caravan heading to Tijuana.
Unfortunately, Trump through disinterest or incompetence or both hasn't followed through either with enough of the promises he made that are actually meaningful to most people, whether GOP or Democratic. He has been able to bind his tribe to him and conquer the GOP political apparatus simply because the Party platform was already so badly decayed (overcooked Reagan leftovers) and out of touch with reality pre-Trump that the Donald could bend delusional conservative tropes in any way he saw fit to his electoral advantage. As long as he infotained well, and he has indeed, he would dominate.
As b stated recently, Trump is an astute salesman (unfortunately, that is all he is) but what is left unmentioned is that he is of the sales school that is totally unmoored for any sense of ethical, moral or legal responsibility.
In other words, Trump is that quintessential Amerikkkan salesman: the grifter. This particular breed of business person is not an exception in the US but rather the rule. In fact, the US system has devolved to the point where laws and regulations now enfranchise what previously had been considered illegal activity. Amerikkkans are heavily incentivised these days by the call to a form of monopolistic, crony capitalism and institulionised rigged gambling ("Wall Street"), which in more quaint times was considered mobsterism.
Institutions have been purposefully compromised so they no longer support whatever criminal laws still exist. It is not by accident that the IRS is now chronically understaffed and has no effective way to stop income tax cheating or collection of the minimal taxes now due.
It is not by accident that Trump's main role as President is to weaken institutions such as the media, to further debase language and kill whatever generally accepted objective truth remain extant in th eland. He is recognisable to all Amerikkkans as a CEO in support of this ongoing wave of legal criminality through which the 1% and their lackeys section have prospered at the expense of the 99%.
The US political system was invested with an ability to self-correct, or self-police through separation of powers within the tripartite political system. It is hardly news this system is about dead, starting not with Trump of course, but now reaching its absolute low point under his rule and the acquiescence of the spineless GOP.
And no, I don't believe the Demotardic Party to be absolved of blame in any way. Rather, the Demotards have entirely gone along to get along with this same trend because of course the Party leaders have been able to criminally enrich themselves and their cronies along the way too.
However, let's be real for minute and drop all pretense of holier than thou keyboard revolutionism. The ultimate solution of the world's disease is not going to be resolved in 2018 through a political revolution, especially one inspired by the disharmony and fraud of internet based social media and its acolytes. D'uh.
Look around. Since we have been blogging our lives away the world has only grown further away from leftism. We live in a fascist police state owned and operated by teh ultra wealthy who have dropped pretense of any humanitarian or religious concern for those less firtunated than themselves.
Donald Trump has one more chance to make himself truly into the transformational leader he believes himself to be in his degraded soul.
The first bill on the 2019 legislative needs to be a bipartisan infrastructure bill of such scope and magnitude that it will serve not only a political change of direction but also redirect the economy in such way that wealth is re-directed from the wealthy to the rest of us, particularly those able bodied non-college educated people who have suffered through the last several decades without hope or gain.
Trump must dictate to his party that Medicare/Medicaid and Social Security will not only be maintained but strengthened through improved benefits.
Am I dreaming? Yes, I admit that I am. But I'm also calling out to the criminal conman in chief: it's not too late to reclaim your own legacy.
Wake the fock up, dude...
Posted by: donkeytale | Nov 3 2018 17:48 utc | 14
BM 10
Back around the time Rousseff was being taken down, Pepe Escobar wrote a number of articles on it and the politics in Brazil. He thought that apart from Rousseff and a few with her, Brazil was corrupt to the core. With Rousseff gone it would seem Brazilians can vote for corrupt politician A or corrupt politician B. Going by Escobar all are for sale.
Posted by: Peter AU | Nov 3 2018 17:48 utc | 15
In case there's any doubt regarding my provocative link text, I'm just imitating Net..Yahoo's kook moment. No knock on door please...pun intended.
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201609211045551459-tehran-israel-nuclear-weapons/
Posted by: Circe | Nov 3 2018 17:53 utc | 16
b, if your malady is 100% related to the extended overuse of the devices which connect us to social media (and I truly hope this is all that it is) then the key to recovery is more likely through certain physical manipulations and techniques to correct imbalances and stresses of the affected muscles, joints and nerves than it is through medication.
I trust you are as intelligent with providing relief for your own bodily concerns as you are for tending to this blog and your greatful readership, which includes this crusty old troll.
Take care of yourself please.
Posted by: donkeytale | Nov 3 2018 18:06 utc | 17
15
I just don't get the fawning adoration of pop politicians and Party politics. It's purely charade, like Samdech Hun Sen, dictator for life, converting Cambodia into a China Suzerainty, or Albertus Gore, gaslighting education with the myth of 'Carbon Cri$I$, to obfuscate the supra-governmental Carbon Tithe and Tax Credits Scheme.
Politics is the 'shiney object'. Politics is the velvet glove on the iron claw. Politics is the Opioid of the Masses.
21C will see massive genocide of the 3W, as the last unencumbered wealth of the Boomers is extracted, and the last light sweet crude is fracked.
Then there will just be the Politics of the Pharoahs.
Posted by: Anton Worter | Nov 3 2018 18:12 utc | 18
Get well B. Try a system which converts speech to text? I’d happily help proof any translation errors.
Posted by: Pvp | Nov 3 2018 18:15 utc | 19
My 2 cents:
I see symptoms of carpo. If you don't have ergonomic, lite-touch mouse, and wrist pad for keyboard maybe you should get these or it's going to get worse. Especially change mouse right away.
If it's bursitis, you may need Corticosteroid shot at clinic or hospital; OTC anti-inflammatory may not be enough, but I suspect carpo.
It could also be calcified tendonitis. OTC anti-inflammatory could help but again a shot of Corticosteroid might solve the problem.
Posted by: Circe | Nov 3 2018 18:45 utc | 20
16
It's interesting all the comments on b's condition suggest rushing into the #3 cause of death medical quackery, when just switching the mouse to his left hand and using V2T for long dissertations will resolve the myalgia without drugs, KRIs or cancer surgery, lol.
A friend of mine developed twitching eyelids from too much reading, and ended up in the hospital getting $10,000s of MRIs because his 'doctor' (sic) was convinced my friend had brain cancer, lol.
Went to my 'doctor' (sic) for an ear ache, and they exhausted my medical insurance with testing convinced I had 'cell phone brain cancer' ... but I don't have a cell phone, lol.
Quackery.
Then this report on 'non-polio myelitis' (sic), yet another medical 'syndrome', where the calendar of cases clearly demonstrates a causality with September pre-school mass vaccination of school children.
Nothing to see here, citizen. Flop along.
Posted by: Anton Worter | Nov 3 2018 18:47 utc | 21
@20 AW aka smartypants
You can't easily use mouse with left hand if not left-handed, and even if he could, he'd end up with carpo on other side. Changing mouse works wonders and is the non-chem solution.
It's obvious you never had acute, nerve crushing pain...no doubt you'd be screaming pass me the oxyco, some morphine, fentanyl anyyyything!
Posted by: Circe | Nov 3 2018 19:09 utc | 22
@20 Anton
That is some scary stuff, isn't it? Interesting correlation. We have held back on many vaccinations for our daughter because the schedule is too tightly packed at too young of an age.
Take the DTap vaccination: why pack them all in into one vaccine? Why not a la carte? More would choose to vaccinate if it were so, I believe. Not to mention that in the case of whooping cough which has been a thing here in the PacNW, the DTap only obscures and minimizes symptoms so that it is still transmissable by carriers. This reality flies in the face of those pushing forced-vaccination who claim a danger from those unvaccinated. If anything, vaccinated children with pertusis are more of a danger because their symptoms are supposedly less severe and deemed innocuous, according to conclusions about the DTap.
But that hasn't stopped California from passing legislation that forces vaccination if you want your kids in public school.
Just like the carbon tax here in WA, good intentions are tightening the grip of control...ironically squeezing the air out of our lungs for cleaner air.
"FOR THE FUTURE!" (Of our children, not yours)
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Nov 3 2018 19:13 utc | 23
Circe @9
Sanctions certainly will hurt yes, but will not give nothinyahoo enough schadenfreude to feast on nor the epic coup de gras he dreams of for the holidays.
@b:
sincere best wishes for a recovery as complete and robust as the insights you share with your readers.
Posted by: metni | Nov 3 2018 19:25 utc | 24
Seconding Pvp @ 18
While diagnosing and seeking remedies, dictating with a devoted editor at the other end might be a relatively easy transition to whatever regimen is suggested.
Posted by: Gloriousbach | Nov 3 2018 19:41 utc | 26
@ b | Nov 3, 2018 10:25:55 AM | 1
Hmm, evidently you've been overdoing putting your shoulder to the mouse wheel. By all means rest and recuperate as necessary!
Still... is there no companion or friend who would serve as cyber-scribe, and type your dictation while you rest your tortured limb?
Because if the world comes to an end while you're not here to blog about it, the MOA regulars will be severely disappointed. ;)
Posted by: Ort | Nov 3 2018 19:44 utc | 27
I'm a constant lurker since Whiskey Bar days. I am not a doctor, but I have experienced a myocardial infarction ("heart attack"), and I would strongly second the advice to get into a hospital emergency room asap. I didn't do that, thinking I had "indigestion," and suffered much more heart damage than I otherwise would have. With symptoms of that kind, it's certainly better to take precautionary action than end up dead.
Thanks for all the good work you do, b. You're one in a billion (at least...).
Posted by: jm | Nov 3 2018 20:00 utc | 28
Good and detailed discussion about what is exactly meant with the Iran sanctions
https://www.franceculture.fr/emissions/affaires-etrangeres/washington-contre-teheran-le-retour-des-sanctions
Posted by: Mina | Nov 3 2018 20:06 utc | 29
do not take aspirin or acetominophan or any crap like that. Bromelain works with your body and will not cause you any harm.
Posted by: Mischi | Nov 3 2018 20:20 utc | 30
b,
I'm a longtime computer tech and have suffered on and off from serious carpal tunnel syndrome - or whatever they call it these days. After trying all kinds of remedies, one of my clients/friends suggested that I try and retrain myself to use my other non-dominant arm (left) for the cursor and laptop trackpad.
It was really awkward and very frustrating at first, but after a week or so of attempting this, it slowly started to become easier - even though I still resorted to the other very painful hand from time to time. It did take me almost a month of these right to left handed retraining efforts to finally attain some level of comfort and relative ease - to the point where I didn't reflexively resort to switching hands when the going (clicking) got tough.
A couple of months down the line, I became quite fluent with my non-dominant hand:
to the point where I considered myself somewhat semi-ambidextrous, and the excruciating pain that I had earlier experienced with my dominant hand slowly began fading away. I'm typing this very post with my left hand.
Technology is sometimes a great and very useful tool that we all engage in nearly everyday, or more. But the downsides are many, and in the physical body realm, it's slowly taking it's toll on all of us in countless ways. Just this morning, I read an article on Slashdot titled: Are touchscreens Robbing a Generation of Surgeons of Their Dexterity?
I'm currently typing this very post with my now, semi-dominant left hand.
b. well.
Posted by: time2wakeupnow | Nov 3 2018 20:28 utc | 31
@27 The sanctions themselves are meant to provoke but enforcing them is more important. If the US stops Iranian tankers or even impounds them Iran will be forced to respond. That is what Netanhayu wants.
Posted by: dh | Nov 3 2018 20:35 utc | 32
Since this is an open thread, perhaps I may poll people's thoughts about living at a personal level without banks. Is it even possible? It certainly used to be: I know that, because I did it in my youth, as did others in my ken. When I tell people under, say 35, that I am attempting to revive those carefree bank-free times, I am usually met with a dropping of jaws and widening of eyes, and exclamations of impossible!, everyone endearingly nurturing their credit histories and proudly flourishing their creditcards. Yet there was a time when banking was genuinely something you chose to do, or not, without suffering any sort of inconvenience or opprobrium if you chose the latter.
Certainly now there would be severe obstacles to abolishing banks from one's life (even when we ignore the questions of the "cashlessness" that threaten (or perhaps doesn't, after all). Between the archaic (barter), the old dependable (cash), the middling tech (online ordering, click and collect, etc.) and the ulranew (tapping into blockchain technologies? what else?) I am trying to devise ways of living in the tiny space as yet uninvaded by the all-powerful banking mycelium.
Posted by: Plod | Nov 3 2018 20:47 utc | 33
b, Be safe. I had a friend who ignored a pain in his leg. Died of a heart attack one day before his 55th birthday. Please have this looked at.
Posted by: spudski | Nov 3 2018 21:21 utc | 34
@b #1
Try deep tissue massage first. It is one of the best remedies for most aches and really helps the entire system. A one hour deep tissue session is great every 6 months :)
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Nov 3 2018 21:22 utc | 35
Anton,
Sudden, sharp pains should be checked out especially if they persist for a time, although I agree with you getting sucked into the vortex of the medical industrial complex in our absurd "free market" healthcare system can be both very expensive and a huge investment of time, especially if you are unlucky enough to find the wrong physician.
b is in Europe I believe where there is less (or hopefully, no) profiteering by doctors.
Posted by: donkeytale | Nov 3 2018 21:42 utc | 36
21
Apart from Pope Albertus and his Carbon Tithe and Tax Credit Scheme that is clear-cutting the last tropical forests for carbon credit oil plantations, (and it dibs-and-dabs of $Ts in tithe revenue from those papal dispensations to tin pot dictators and their generals, as well as to local and State government drone 'programs' and 'studies', none of which has anything whatsoever to do with the Garden of Eden, or 'getting back to the land to set our souls free', lol), the other extreme I find is, as you say, 'mandatory medical'.
The Brazilian Vax Report I posted, (which reported commendable vaccination levels for Brazil, much better than USA, in fact was also careful to point out there are many diseases which don't have vaccines, and there are Adverse Event Following Immunization (AEFI) after vaccinations, something the AMA never reports. Brazil is attempting to study those AEFIs, and noted historically there were anti-mandatory vaccination riots in Brazil in early 1900s, and so Brazil never tried again what California has now made mandatory.
The important thing to remember, which I learned when a parent went into hospice, as we all will some day, is you can't leave without 'medical' approval, nor can you refuse any treatment or inoculation the 'medical care' personnel decide you need. You will be restrained, drugged with SSRIs, electro-shocked or even beaten in the USA. Worse, the AMA recently redefined 'hypertension' from 90 130 down to 80 120, and now 10,000,000s of healthy seniors in hospice are being *forced* into a hypertension meds regime, in addition to all the other PDR Galaxy of meds that Big Pharma is pimping.
Hypertension medication leads to lethargy, somnolence and being wheel-chair bound, the ban of the elderly. Then that in turn leads to muscle loss and bone hollowing, until they are invalid, in intensive care. Then comes the hearse after midnight ride to crematorium.
My parent was forced by the 'medical staff' to take 29 pills a day, and within a year went from being a cranky old bitch who liked to race her car to the liquor store and back, into a humped-over gunny sack in a wheelchair, parked by the staff in front of Price is Right, until it was Wackenhut airplane-food meal time, whether you have any hunger or not, three meals a day are deducted from your savings.
The 'medical doctor' wrote 'failure to thrive' on her death certificate.
When the last unencumbered wealth of the Fifth Quintile seniors is 'hospiced' out of their life savings accounts, and their retirement homes bulldozed for $650,000 townhouse mortgages for life to their kids, and the Tourist-Retail economy those elders supported collapses; and when the last sweet crude is pumped out of the ground, and their kids are forced to pay a €2 a liter 'energy tithe' to Pope Albertus, we will have returned full circle to a New Dark Ages of Finance Royals, a Mil.Gov bureaucracy and a Third Temple Carbon Catholic. 15% for the King, 15% for the Sharif bureaucrats and 15% for the Pope, just like paupers we are.
For now though, in the lead up to WW3, enjoy the show.
Posted by: Anton Worter | Nov 3 2018 21:51 utc | 37
33
What b is experiencing in repetitious stress syndrome myalgia. It's very painful, and it down not go away. Most especially, getting looped on pain meds is a great way to *permanently* have myelitis and myalgia, and have to run to the medicine closet for your opioids every two hours for the rest of your life.
I sent b a detailed message that didn't get posted, so I'll repeat what I just said above. Change over to your left hand immediately. Immobilize your arm at the writing desk with a sling, while in the evening, you begin strengthening therapy with weights, then pull-ups.
The pain in the arm can last for months if ignored, but the hospital is the very *last* place you want to go. Just start using your left hand on the mouse, and start doing exercise, weight training and yoga. The lessons of the masters.
Or, get hooked on meds for the rest of your life, like my friend with the twitching eyelids, who, after he was told he didn't have cancer, should just take 'this prescription' twice a day, and now if he misses his pill, his whole body is wracked with pain, he has no appetite and can't sleep.
Quackery.
Posted by: Anton Worter | Nov 3 2018 21:59 utc | 38
b. While you are recovering here's an interesting, funny film with Peter Sellers called "Being there." Reminds me a bit of "Network (1976) and the Truman Show - all excellent, thought-provoking films about television and media. Takes a minute or two to load...
https://archive.org/details/Being.There.1979
Posted by: Lochearn | Nov 3 2018 22:12 utc | 39
@13. Explain to me why are Chinese trade practices unfair? They seem to be very smart at business. Just because they are perhaps better at business than the U.S. doesn’t make their way of doing deals unfair.
Posted by: Beibdnn. | Nov 3 2018 22:37 utc | 40
@b. For relief of acute shoulder pain, you have to do three things. First, eat cannabis cookies. Second, perform self-exorcisms*. Third, follow Anton’s advice.
(* self-exorcisms. Do you know the Groucho Marx crouch-walk? Well, that’s what you need to do. While Groucho walking (in circles, if necessary) you take your left (good) hand and scratch your ass, and with the gimp (right) hand you repeatedly genuflect. Keep your chin up. Your shoulder pain will absquatulate. Give it an hour, or so. Be generous.)
Posted by: A. Person | Nov 3 2018 22:51 utc | 41
Change of heart in SDF land? There's a lot happening East of Euphrates and along Iraqi border.
Escobar reports recent happenings with Pakistan and China. I'm rooting hard for Khan to succeed at taming and reducing the radicalism within his nation.
Iran has picked the glove up from the ground and slapped it in Trump's face.
Posted by: karlof1 | Nov 3 2018 22:55 utc | 42
spudski 31
Had a similar experience. Bloke I knew well went to the doc with a pain in his arm or shoulder. Doc told him to take a few panadol. He died of heart attack that night.
Posted by: Peter AU 1 | Nov 3 2018 22:58 utc | 43
I have a medical background.
1. No medical person can optimally diagnose and treat without examining the patient. Therefore any comments here are not ideal, including mine.
2. Some of the comments that have been given though presumably well-intentioned are simply wrong.
3. If there is anything else going on like fever, shortness of breath, dizziness, altered mental status (such as drowsiness), or altered blood circulation of the right arm (such as coolness compared to the left arm or changed pulses), go to the hospital at once. The same goes for unexpected new symptoms elsewhere in the body. New weakness in addition to pain anywhere from the right shoulder to a finger on the right is an important finding that may indicate something serious is going on, though doesn't necessarily mean there is a really bad or urgent problem. (Getting examined, whether now or later, may help determine presence of subtle weakness.) I could but will not list causes of sudden onset of pain without weakness or other symptoms. There is only a slight (but definitely real) possibility of something really nasty causing sudden onset of pain w/o other symptoms. More likely are entities that are pretty common that can cause increasing trouble but may go away or simply recur occasionally. If the problem persists, get seen.
Being familiar with modern medicine from the inside and outside, I do not like it, but it sometimes has to be used.
I go to MoA almost daily but do not comment. I will not reveal right now whether it is one of the sites I go to daily that I loathe, or whether it is one that I love, or somewhere in between. If I ever choose to comment on other topics I will choose another name and it should not count as sockpuppetry. I simply felt it proper to impart what I know to be true.
Posted by: temporary-11/3 | Nov 3 2018 23:32 utc | 44
Along with others, I insist b goes to his doctor, local clinic or hospital as sudden acute pain isn't normal and could be extremely serious!!!
Apparently in Iran, there's a National Day of Fighting Against Global Arrogant Powers affording Khamenei an opportunity to meet with students and blast the Outlaw US Empire. It seems for Russia and Iran, sanctions are akin to throwing them like Br'er Rabbit into the briar patch whereas the Empire's self-proclaimed exceptionalism is akin to the Tar Baby, to use the Uncle Remus stories as a parable.
Posted by: karlof1 | Nov 3 2018 23:39 utc | 45
Addenda:
I would tend to err on the side of prudence.
If (as I would guess to be the case) you tend to be stoical and play down symptoms, even to yourself, then that is one more reason to lower the threshold for getting seen sooner rather than later. You might be ignoring other signs of problems.
Also, if you feel anxious or odd -- that is another sign to get seen right away.
As I noted, it is impossible to diagnose adequately without examining.
I have often thought it is one of the toughest decisions in medicine--whether or not go to to the doctor -- or to the emergency room. You are often either told you should have come in earlier or that you are silly for having come in.
However the fact is that you experienced sudden onset of debilitating pain. To state obvious but key points, it is not normal, and it is at least temporarily making you miserable.
Posted by: temporary-11/3 | Nov 3 2018 23:46 utc | 46
Here's an organization I've never heard about: the Saudi European Organization for Human Rights. They've compiled a detailed listing of those eliminated in various ways within and outside Saudi since 2017, although it appears to me the list is too short at 32 names, including Khashoggi's. Still haven't read anything about King Salman's meeting with two of his brothers I linked to yesterday.
Posted by: karlof1 | Nov 3 2018 23:53 utc | 47
Having had two heart attacks that were devoid of any acute pain, I must echo temporary's posting.
Posted by: karlof1 | Nov 3 2018 23:57 utc | 48
If it was left shoulder pain I probably head to the ER, expecially but not necessarily if I am sweating and/or have shortness of breath or in the absence of that have some risk factors such as being a middle age over weight smoker with high blood pressure with a family history of heart attacks or some variant of that.
But right shoulder pain and on a computer a lot in the absence of any other symptoms I probably pop an aspirin, have a glass of wine and knock off the computer work or video games. If I wake up in the morning with pain and other symptoms I reassess. If I dont wake up then I rest in peace and someone else has to clean up. In the latter case we will all wonder if b got Khasoggi’ed and will entertain some conspiracy theories all the while checking over our shoulder to see if they are coming for us.
Posted by: Pft | Nov 4 2018 0:28 utc | 49
Hopefully life will get a lot tougher for the yanks in Syria.
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/tribes-of-raqqa-deir-ezzor-call-on-fellow-arabs-to-fight-us-backed-forces/
"Tribes of Raqqa, Deir Ezzor call on fellow Arabs to fight US-backed forces"
In Iraq, it appears the new Iraqi government are putting an end to some of the US schemes with Iraqi militias sent to bloch the US proxies (ISIS) move into Iraq.
Then there's Saudi Arabia. It will be interesting to see what comes of King Salman's recent meeting with the Princes minus MBS. I have the feeling MBS has been demoted and Salaman has taken back some or all of the responsibilities he delegated to MBS. Trump backed MBS to take over KSA. If MBS goes Trump loses his man in Riyadh.
Posted by: Peter AU 1 | Nov 4 2018 0:42 utc | 50
I hope you get well soon, but please see a doctor and get a second opinion if the problem is serious.
If your pain turns out to be related to using a mouse, switch to a trackball like the Logitech M570 or the Kensington Orbit Trackball with Scroll Ring. I had the wired version of the M570 a long time ago and it was great but the buttons died unfortunately. I'm currently using the Orbit and so far no problems.
Another thing to consider is your posture (monitor and seat height, body position) which I'm horrible at maintaining. I then went the extra mile, looking through numerous garage/yard sales (not sure what you Europeans call them) and lucked out with an adjustable standing desk (Steelcase Airtouch) for cheap. So far so good.
Posted by: Ian | Nov 4 2018 1:16 utc | 51
Also important:
Anyone spending any significant looking at a monitor should be using a blue light filter.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Nov 4 2018 2:08 utc | 52
there is a splendid new interview with Chomsky in Scientific American, and I encourage a reading and a study of many of his points.
over the years I have read much of his thought and thought much of his perspective and one thing that struck me recently was how 'optimistic' he so often is about human beings and the fate/s of humanity - and I now think that a good part of that is not only his great intellect but also the age he was born into, which was difficult being the Depression but there was some kind of 'optimism' in american/western society which often seems lacking these days (it is essentially 100 years since Eliot's The Wasteland, after all)
he has often quoted Gramsci's proverb, “pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will.” - and I think that there is the clue to it, the optimism of the will which has maintained his 'faith' in humanity, and kept him going. ....Such energy etc for a man of 90 years, too!
Noam Chomsky Calls Trump and Republican Allies "Criminally Insane"
The great linguist and political critic remains hopeful that we can overcome global warming and other threats
"....Or take a recent publication of Trump’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, a detailed study recommending an end to regulations on emissions. It presented a rational argument: extrapolating current trends, by the end of the century we’ll be over the cliff and automotive emissions don’t contribute very much to the catastrophe – the assumption being that everyone is as criminally insane as we are and won’t try to avoid the crisis. In brief, let’s rob while the planet burns, putting poor Nero in the shadows.
This surely qualifies as a contender for the most evil document in history.....
....Hardly a day passes without new information about the severity of the (global warming) threat. As I’m writing, a new study appeared in Nature showing that retention of heat in the oceans has been greatly underestimated, meaning that the total carbon budget is much less than had been assumed in the recent, and sufficiently ominous, IPCC report. The study calculates that maximum emissions would have to be reduced by 25% to avoid warming of 2 degrees (C), well above the danger point. At the same time polls show that -- doubtless influenced by their leaders who they trust more than the evil media -- half of Republicans deny that global warming is even taking place, and of the rest, almost half reject any human responsibility. Words fail.
Q: Wasn’t Richard Nixon worse than Donald Trump?
Nixon had a mixed record. In some respects, he was the last liberal president: OSHA and EPA for example. On the other hand, he committed terrible crimes. Arguably the worst was the bombing of rural Cambodia, a proposed article of impeachment but voted down though it was incomparably more important than the others. And the article was much too weak, focusing on the secrecy. There has been little attention to the orders that Nixon delivered, relayed to the Pentagon by his faithful servant Henry Kissinger: “A massive bombing campaign in Cambodia. Anything that flies on anything that moves.” It is not easy to find comparable orders for genocide in the archival record. But all of Nixon’s crimes pale in comparison with the decision to race towards the precipice of environmental catastrophe.....
Posted by: michaelj72 | Nov 4 2018 2:32 utc | 54
All the best b, wish you a speedy recovery. Thanks for all the therapy..
Posted by: ben | Nov 4 2018 2:34 utc | 55
@ donkeytale Noc 3, no 13. Americans are owned by the USA, inc.
(d/b/a a feudal, federalist, fascist, police state). Trump is its president. Pence
its vice president. The congress its working class officers. It has about 5000
Oligarchs and their corporations as its partners and joint venturers.
Trump may have sufficient popular support to initiate a bipartisan infra
structure bill as you suggest (@ donkeytale 13 and timetowakeupnow@29).
Trump’s plan to redistribute state power from the wealth extracting and wealth
accumulating classes to the wealth generating working classes may enhance
the image of Trump with those in the working classes as you suggest.
But why should Trump make such a transition?
In light of the advancements in biology, robotics, artificial intelligence
implemented as software/hardware based sensory affector/effector
dual logic control systems, neither the wealth extractive classes nor the
wealth accumulating classes need humans to fill the shoes of the
working classes. Soon the janitor, the wife, the barber, the garbage
collector, the doctor, the accountant, the IRS, TSA menace, the politician
will be animated by robots, not humans.
This guy named Lenin, had the same idea, problem was to implement
such an idea Lenin had to murder 32,000,000 million Christian
Ukrainians, the intelligentsia of Russia, in order to bring about his
so called ideal system of economics and politics. True the working
classes are entitled to their human rights, but that does not mean
the working classes can demand the USA, inc. tax the extractive
or accumulating class members to support the working classes.
If the working classes cannot keep up, to hell with them.
Who would the USA, inc. be forced to murder should Trump try to
implement redistribution and redirection of national favoritism
from wealth class to working class?
Posted by: snake | Nov 4 2018 3:26 utc | 56
donkeytale @ 13: Good rant, and right on target, but you're right, it's just a dream.
Posted by: ben | Nov 4 2018 3:56 utc | 57
@29 time2wakeupnow @1 b
Some years ago I suffered a similar problem, excruciating pain in my right arm and shoulder from using the computer mouse. Like b my work involved computers and I was not sure exactly how I would continue to work.
Nothing really helped. In due course of researching my symptoms on the web, it came to me that this was indeed a variation of the carpel tunnel syndrome, referred to my upper arm and shoulder. Once I figured that out, I knew that I’d never be able to go back to using a mouse. I went out immediately and bought myself a MacBook laptop and learned how to use the trackpad with my fingers. In the course of the next 7 or 8 weeks the symptoms gradually lessened and finally disappeared, never to return.
I have never since gone back to gripping a computer mouse.
Posted by: Matt | Nov 4 2018 4:52 utc | 58
fwiw my advice for your hands
learn to play piano
you will exercise all your fingers in new ways and grow some new connections in your brain
good luck
Posted by: mauisurfer | Nov 4 2018 5:30 utc | 59
Posted by: DontBelieveEitherPropaganda | Nov 3, 2018 12:28:29 PM | 7
(b's shoulder ailment)
Agree 100%.
The hospital/other medic will be able to ascertain what the shoulder can and can't do, make an informed diagnosis, and prescribe the CORRECT treatment the same day.
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Nov 4 2018 7:49 utc | 60
pat langs site... it became very obvious to me from reading pls article - aid for cental america, been there done that- how a site really loses its quality when a narrow minded person is surrounded by sycophants... alternative views aren’t heard as any voice that runs contrary to pls is deleted, or refused posting privileges.. the fact usaid is contingent on 80 to 90 % of the money being used thru usa corps only escapes pat langs narrow reality... that the usa is not the benevolent country it would like to see itsel as, or that the aid is another avenue for its own opportunistic corporations evades him... of course my post would be deleted for saying this... his site suffers from his limited and narrow mindedness... fortunately moa is about polar opposite..
Posted by: james | Nov 4 2018 9:09 utc | 61
b, mr kula had terrible pain in his right shoulder for a few years and turned out his heart was clogged up and he was having heart attacks. Cos of right shoulder, no one thought heart. 3 bypasses later and he is thriving. me, moi, ms kula had rsi in right shoulder, bursitis, made worse by trying to continue using keyboard, mouse. Switched to tablet and gentle exercise in warm pool.
both heart and bursitis well-covered by all your well-wishers but my two-pennoth to endorse the go and get an ECG pronto. then you can relax and have fun trying out all the repetitive strain solutions.
Posted by: kula danga | Nov 4 2018 10:15 utc | 62
@61 indeed b has made it clear what he thinks about the fossil fuel shilling that some engage in, but still allows it. lang is a paleoconservative, which seems to mean opposing some of the latest imperial adventures in the middle east but supporting traditional imperialism in south and central america. he also thinks that slavery and the black codes weren't racist, from what i've gathered on his site; "the u.s. has never been a racist country" is one of his jaw dropping statements. he also seems quick on the trigger to ban people for disagreeing with him.
Posted by: pretzelattack | Nov 4 2018 10:20 utc | 63
@ 13 it never made much sense for republicans to oppose obamacare, since it is a giveaway to the health insurance industry, and was based on a heritage foundation plan from the 90's. i guess because obama proposed it. as far as i know there wasn't widespread opposition to romneycare among the republicans. both parties are concerned far more with keeping the donor cash going rather than actually fighting for issues that americans care about.
Posted by: pretzelattack | Nov 4 2018 10:23 utc | 64
Posted by: james | Nov 4, 2018 4:09:04 AM | 61
(PL's worldview and preferred lexicon)
I saved this extract from SST for a rainy day. It's from the comments in a July 31, 2018 thread called "Let Mikey Do It? Maybe not."
There were 75 comments when I archived the extract.
The comment from Demeter and PL's reply aroused my curiosity...
Demeter • 9 days ago
"Excellent discussion--esp. about the military and their relationship with Trump, especially how it will be changing as Trump drains the Congressional part of the Swamp and then turns his attention to the MIC. This whole government/nation is riddled with Smart Guy Syndrome. We need fewer self-appointed experts and more public servants."
Pat Lang Mod >Demeter • 9 days ago
"Don't use the acronym MIC again. The rest of it I agree with."
It's curious that an 'expert' with MIC training and experience who prefers the delightfully vague term The Borg to describe The Swamp, strongly objects, without explanation, to the use of the term MIC.
Isn't it?
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Nov 4 2018 10:23 utc | 65
BM @ 11: To understand why most voters (55% of the electorate, I believe, so that's not a huge majority) opted for Jair Bolsonaro, you probably need to know something of the complexity of Brazilian politics. Apart from Lula da Silva, currently in jail on various charges including a charge of having accepted a beachfront penthouse apartment from a construction company that received government contracts (and most if not all of them based on unclear evidence of wrongdoing), and Dilma Rousseff, many politicians in the Workers' Party and the parties in coalition with it in government were quite corrupt and had been exposed by the Operation Carwash investigations into corruption in the government and the state oil company Petrobras.
Bolsonaro got most votes in the central and southern parts of Brazil. These are the richer and most economically developed and urbanised parts of the country. Fernando Haddad, standing in for Lula, got most votes in the north and northeast part of the country: the poorest, most Third World areas in Brazil.
Posted by: Jen | Nov 4 2018 11:33 utc | 66
b, one of my daughters recently completed the camino primitivo from Oviedo to the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela in northern Spain. it's a fairly ancient pilgrimage for the faithful, or just a wonderful immersion in nature for avid walkers like my daughter. 330 kilometers in 13 days! there are tangent Jakobswege which converge on this route in the south, some through Germany as well. winter's coming now so maybe you could program something for the spring...circulation is critical.
...
so what cha gonna do? you've pretty much rid Hamelin of the rats…
now you're stuck with all the children ;-)
Posted by: john | Nov 4 2018 11:34 utc | 67
4 November:
29th anniversary of the occupation of the US Embassy in Tehran (1979).
1st day of the new draconian sanction tyranny by the US against Iran.
Posted by: Quentin | Nov 4 2018 11:49 utc | 68
Trump and Ayatollah Khamenei agree on one thing: the imperative to bring Iran's crude oil production to zero as soon as possible. Ayatollah Khamenei has been telling every government in Iran for the past 20 years to do this (and use the crude as feedstock for the petrochemical industry), but no one listens to him, preferring instead to waste money on importing consumer goods rather than investing it in petrochemical plants.
Perhaps now that Rowhani's real masters have made him do it, the Iranian petrochemical industry will get the technology and infrastructure development funding it needs.
Posted by: Nuff Sed | Nov 4 2018 11:54 utc | 69
@Posted by: b | Nov 3, 2018 10:25:55 AM | 1
Since yesterday and for some unknown reason I have suddenly pain in my right shoulder. I can hardly move the right arm and even pushing the mouse hurts.
Are you sure that it has happened for "some unknown reason"? I say it because to make the kind of post you usually do at this site, you pass for sure much time at your computer, both reading and writting, "highly likely" much more time than I do, which is too much in any case to be healthy, eventhough my only aim is to keep informed, but the number of sites to visit each day multiply every passing day or week, and you end spending many more hours at your computer from what the human body can assume...
I found myself suffering a sudden unsurmontable pain in the middle of the night, which had its origins in the back side of the shoulder´s root, where it happens its insertion with scapula ( a very conflicted zone, according to my physiotherapist, where a pack of nerves conflude... ) which irradiated to the arm, and which I interpreted to be a heart angine ( because of intensity ), resulting also in a slight losing of strenght of the arm....The pain did not relieved in several months, exacerabting at nights, while adding presure, needing about two cicles of inyected antiinflamatories and antineuralgic drugs....In the end, enough rest and a good quality of sleep, along with any discipline which works soft streching of muscles and junctyures, like yoga or k-strech, kept me from suffering again, but as I continue abusing of computer use, has me sometimes with a warning of pain at that conflictive juncture, which reminds the necesity of switching off the computer and going out at least to walk a bit or move the body in whatever other activity, even cleaning and fixing the house would work to aleviate, since sometimes is the repetitive excess in use which overcharge a member which result in these dolences...Periodic slow circular movements of the neck in one sense and the another, could also work...as well as stretching of arms and shoulders even when seated at the computer....
Try to apply dry heat, by an electric pillow or those sacks full of seeds which can be heated in the microwave...but do not forget to go to the doctor if the pain does not relieve in a reasonable term by resting and home available measures, "painful shoulder" is a quality easily prone to chronify if not treated in time...
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/5c/08/63/5c0863a799ce8b397e6fddea04161731.jpg
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/96/e9/02/96e902d5b6de27578cbdaefa19bd3b31.jpg
Posted by: Sasha | Nov 4 2018 12:56 utc | 70
@ Beibdnn - Good point and I agree. The Chinese tend to be good at business as they have demonstrated for thousands of years. And part of being good is to practice unfairly to your advantage whenever and for as long as you can get away with it.
This is why I kindasorta agree with Trump's sanctions. They are also unfair and stupidly ill-advised in many respects but China shields their own domestic companies and markets while taking advantage of the more open markets in the west. This is what is "unfair". Is it illegal, criminal, immoral? Hardly. Do I disagree with the practice? No. Do I disagree with Trump standing up to it? Also, no.
All is fair in love as the song goes. It's either win or lose. Even what is deemed unfair by the participants can be fair in the wider longer lens view, if that makes any sense. It's not a moral issue is another way of stating my feeling.
I'm not anti-China. I'm also not pro-China. China is a force of nature with which the rest of the world must deal now and forever as long as talking monkeys shall rule the Earth...
Posted by: donkeytale | Nov 4 2018 13:17 utc | 71
@63 pretzelattack and @65 hoarsewhisperer.... it is like an echo chamber where no one has the balls to challenge the old fuddie duddie...kinda sad actually...he is a lot like another gemini trump.. i guess surrounding yourself with yes people and retaining them for as long as needed is a part of it... he comes across as a real loser in his retirement..
Posted by: james | Nov 4 2018 13:18 utc | 72
@71 donkeytale... talking with a waiter in venice we commented on the number of chinese. running the shops... he had a good term for it....economic colonialism..... we saw it in siena as well...people have to make a living.. selling to tourists is one way to do it, i suppose...
what does one call a country imposing sanctions to. arrive at what might be a similar position?
so after obama had arrived at a temporary position of friendliness towards iran - was that based on the original assumption the usa-uk-ksa-israel consortium would take syria), usa has again flipped to sanctioning iran...why would anyone do a deal with a country incapable of honouring a deal? but, here is my question...... what are the excuses the usa is using now for its financial sanctions? everyone except the usa knows who is supporting terrorism...
Posted by: james | Nov 4 2018 13:36 utc | 73
James, Seems rather timid to always formulate and ask these sorts of leading questions of other commenters.
But I will say obviously, financial sanctions and tariffs are two different breeds of cat.
You did hit on another Obama policy where Trump and GOP have come along and nonsensically reversed it. And I say nonsensical because there is a greater chance of a blizzard in Baghdad than there is of the US/Israel going to war with Iran even as it this is one of the most consistently played and never realised tropes of the whiteysphere running through the W, Obama and now Trump years.
Posted by: donkeytale | Nov 4 2018 14:04 utc | 74
@44
I larfed too at the all-knowing MoA delusionists “diagnosing” b based on a few sentences describing his condition. Who needs doctors when you’ve got delusional strangers on the internet!
Posted by: Novice Novichok | Nov 4 2018 14:06 utc | 75
@73 The Iran sanctions are designed to provoke surely. If the US stops Iranian tankers or even impounds them Iran will be forced to respond. This is what some people are hoping for.
Posted by: dh | Nov 4 2018 14:10 utc | 76
James, apologies. I see that I stupidly stated "Trump's sanctions" in my comment when I meant "Trump's tariffs."
I was not intending to discuss sanctions, with which I don't agree except in maybe the most extreme circumstances as a way to avoid military confrontation.
The US has become addicted to sanctions which seem to have dubious utility as a political weapon.
Posted by: donkeytale | Nov 4 2018 14:15 utc | 77
snake @ 56
Interesting comment. Not sure you can draw clean historical parallels between Lenin's revolution and Trump's, although I make use of Lenin myslef from time to time...Lol.
I wasn't thinking of mass murder but maybe Congress at Trump's urging would agree to drop the upper end wage cap ($118,000) on payroll taxes to fund improved Social Security and Medicare benefits?
Afterall, the conservative Sun God Reagan did something similar with a majority Democrat Congress in the 1980s....
Posted by: donkeytale | Nov 4 2018 14:33 utc | 78
To destroy a country, yellow journalism and sanctions are the first step, or among the first steps (after CIA embeds itself - gets its ears and eyes on the ground via NGO Aid agencies, Missionary Outreach, and etc.).
Crippling a country economically, not only causes great pain and human suffering, it exacerbates any underlying ethnic and racial tensions. The populace engages in finger pointing - with distinct groups and tribal affiliates blaming each other (and the CIA infiltrators provoking them as much as possible). False Flag ops are staged to increase violence which leads to humanitarian intervention.
Infighting opens the door for new concepts, different ways of thinking. Like Capitalism.
The people of Yugoslavia were lead to believe that they might enjoy both the benefits of an existing (albeit unraveling) socialism with added benefits of Capitalism.
Of course, those who lived got the blunt end of capitalism - like a ball bat to the skull.
Goldman Carnegie then ran off with the booty.
Posted by: fast freddy | Nov 4 2018 14:41 utc | 80
Snake, I completely agree there is a "culling the herd" mindset among the elites who believe in "survival of the fittest" social darwinist theories but...as we all know...there is also a human law of unintended consequences...and asset accumulation alone doesn't make one all powerful.
The elites are sissies clinging fearfully to the too much they have to lose. Once their hired stormtroopers wake up to the fact they too are expendable (when robot warriors leap into reality from an old Star Wars flick) then the terrified sissies will be left as nakedly for dead as the unclothed emperor in the children's fairy tale.
Posted by: donkeytale | Nov 4 2018 14:46 utc | 81
@ donkeytale who wrote:
"
The Chinese tend to be good at business as they have demonstrated for thousands of years. And part of being good is to practice unfairly to your advantage whenever and for as long as you can get away with it.
"
Do you have some facts to back up your assertion that China practices unfairly to their advantage or are you continuing to blow smoke out your ass?
It is the monotheistic religious types that think they are better than the rest and should be taken advantage of but here you are projecting that on China.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Nov 4 2018 14:55 utc | 82
Psycho - 82
Without googling, how about financial markets, real estate and start-up businesses for three easy ones? I'm sure there are additional sectors where the West is more open to the Chinese than vice versa but since you are coming across as a thoughless dick in a cheerleader's outfit I'm going to pass.....
Posted by: donkeytale | Nov 4 2018 15:15 utc | 83
b
You'r right to let the right arm rest a couple of days.
For therapy, I've developed a kind of exercise that seem to help loosen up strained muscle.
Drop down [?] your arm naturally by your side , in its relaxed state try to vibrate your arm, especially the upper half....
as if you'r shaking from cold.
YOu can do it with one arm or both.
If you've never done it before it takes some practice, after you get the hang of it, you'd be
gyrating your arm like a belly dancer doing her
tummy twist....
I suggest trying this before you gobble any pain killer, you might supplement this with the normal
cold [ice-pack]/ hot [hand towel soaked with hot water] treatment.
If all else fail , try seeing a qualified Acupuncture practitioner, this ancient Chinese therapy has been clinically proven to be effective on pain alleviation.
Posted by: denk | Nov 4 2018 15:21 utc | 84
@ james 61
I've joined you, banned from pl's site. I don't know why, except that I differed from CW (natch). So your comment is right on -- "a site really loses its quality when a narrow minded person is surrounded by sycophants."
Posted by: Don Bacon | Nov 4 2018 15:27 utc | 85
@74 donkey.. trust me, i am not timid, but i am curious! i agree it would be insane for the warmoger duo usa israel to attack iran, but as @76 dh notes, they are probably praying to there god of mammon for a response from iran...
and @77 dt.. thanks for your. response..
@80 ff.. thanks.. that is kinda how i see it too, even if you weren’t responding to my comment/question on this topic of sanctions...seems the usa and israel are good at preaching one thing while practicing another..
Posted by: james | Nov 4 2018 15:35 utc | 86
And I might add, I know from reading his comments, Psychohistorian most of the time is neither thoughtless nor a dick....I don't mind combative exchanges at all, but did you even bother to read more than the first sentence of my comment before you jumped my ass, Psycho?
Posted by: donkeytale | Nov 4 2018 15:41 utc | 88
@76
The Iran sanctions are indeed meant to provoke a response, but I believe that the desired response is for Iran to try to block the Strait of Hormuz. Having the Saudis pump more oil really rubs salt in the wound for Iran, and demonstrates the sheer idiocy of Trump's policy to anyone who is not a wahhabi or total idiot.
Posted by: Schmoe | Nov 4 2018 15:44 utc | 89
@82 psychohistorian
It seems pretty clear now that China's "socialism with Chinese characteristics" provides a study in uniqueness for any who wish to study the modern Chinese economic and social systems, which are still evolving of course.
I've often pointed to Ramin Mazaheri's examination of this system at the Saker. I suppose I should link it again - all of his articles are here and the Chinese series is found on page 2: Ramin Mazaheri
Socialism has as its principal aim the the uplifting of the poor and working classes, and secondarily redistribution of the national wealth, if this is required as part of the principal mission. It aims for a playing field level such that workers can benefit from the wealth that only they produce.
Any country that attempts socialism is worthy of study, in my opinion. Socialism is a concrete political structure that actually affords an antidote to the rapacious capitalism the world is suffering from - perhaps dying from.
If you will find your public money anywhere, friend psychohistorian, I'm sure it will be wrapped up in socialism of some kind - even though North Dakota is an anomaly of sorts, and maybe Los Angeles too, we don't know yet I think.
The only hope I have for this world lies in the fact that socialism exists and some few countries of very strong character practice it. It's a model for the future I think. It seems to require a revolution to put such a system in place, and then a continuing revolutionary government system to keep it in place.
The future holds possibilities, but capitalism holds no future.
Just a few musings in an open thread.
Posted by: Grieved | Nov 4 2018 16:17 utc | 90
@89 I expect a closure of the Persian Gulf has been factored in. It's unlikely IMO because the Iranians need to keep their tankers moving as much as the Saudis. Perhaps as a last resort it will happen.
The sanctions are nothing if they aren't enforced. The big question is what happens if/when the US starts trying to board Iranian tankers. Or even reflagged Chinese ones for that matter.
Posted by: dh | Nov 4 2018 16:18 utc | 91
(Seattle, November 7th) - In the wake of an historic victory for the Green People's Party, Chairman Albertus Gore of the New Energy Revolution cadre visiting Seattle today for a recyclable ticker-tape parade through the traffic-choked streets of Seattle, to celebrate the nation's first Carbon Tithe.
In a stunning 66.6% voter landslide, fueled (sic) largely by out-of-state voters bused in by eager acolytes of the Chairman's Global Carbon Tithe and Tax Credit Scheme, Washington State will now lead the nation towards victory against the Carbon Capitalists, Chairman Albertus explained to a large gathered crowd of metrosexual electric scooter riding Millenials at the Space Needle.
"I am sure you all realize the work that must be done!" His Girthiness rumbled as drizzling rain dampened his entourage of apparatchiks. "I am calling for a Three and Five Anti Campaign, to root out the 3% of public scientists and teachers who are known Deniers and Heretics, and then we'll make that an even 5%, to make sure we find them all!" The crowd roared its approval, holding huge green banners inscribed with #NoGas and #NoOil.
Then speaking to his media audience, Chairman Albertus pointed his finger towards heaven, and pledged, "My fellow Globanauts, today we're launching a New Energy Revolution Scheme which holds the promise of changing the course of human history! This will be a Green Cultural Revolution! There will be public tribunals, and confessions take time. But I believe we can purge the Heretics and usher in a new era of confusion, doubt and fear. As we cross this threshold, I ask for your prayers and your support. Thank you, good night, and Moloch bless you."
Chairman Albertus then appeared to wash his hands symbolically in a portable fountain of green-dyed soy diesel, before disappearing in a puff of greasy smoke.
Posted by: Anton Worter | Nov 4 2018 16:21 utc | 92
donkeytale @ 14, quite the diatribe on Trump. Agree with much of what you write.
One point is off, too caricatural:
.. the issue of ‘overpopulation’ as a hidden danger, and ‘racism’ as attributed to Trump voters. I’d say few ppl in the US are worried about over-population -> yup some few doomers and collapse types.
Accentuating the ‘racism’ of Trump voters is focussing on a characteristic that the Dems exploit to decry the ‘Deplorables.’ Trump voters may be against ‘immigrants taking jobs’ or ‘drug selling Mexican gangs’ (just made that up), etc. what does that boil down to? Why is the ‘racist’ aspect pointed to, rather than a ‘class’ one (the enemy, 20% with financial, social, educational capital), or a ‘criminal’ one? Simple answer: to draw attention away from economic and other more important socio-economic topics such as health care, education, transport, affordable healthy food, Big Banks, etc.
Trump supporters strike me as quite inclusive, as long as MAGA ‘values’ and the melting pot (yes, diversity..! My muslim bro! Love ya pearled hair Sister! Tex Mex great food! MAGA!) and admiration for the leader,Trump, are shared.
How exactly, besides virtue signalling and fakey discourse, are Dems ‘less racist’?
The Clintons and Obama loathe black ppl. (Bush J. was more tolerant.) Obama married one because he could not get the 11% black vote if he’d married a blondine. Do ‘Dem’ corporate heads hire more blacks, Hispanics? I don’t think so. That was Trump, the equal opportunity employer. A grifter, to be sure. Grifters don’t care about skin color, religion, provenance, btw. Nor do the very rich, the elites, the top tiers. Not at all. It is perfectly understood by them -they laugh about it over fancy drinks - that racist BS is just a tool to fool and control the lower orders.
US citizens have always been manipulated on so-called ‘social’ issues like racism, abortion, bedroom activity, speech patterns, dress, looks, potential bugs, diseases / mind settings, paying for other’s care, etc. in a clumsy attempt to exploit disgust - fear of the ‘other’ in a /slice and dice/ electoral approach.
What did Obama do for Blacks in the US - going with the ‘tribal’ thing? Less than nothing. For ex. (issue complicated, few know anything about it.)
https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/03/15/black-farmers-settlement-money/1991735/
Read O’s books, he despises black men.
Google just had demos etc. about ‘sexual ..’ - lotsa pictures on the net. Where are the black ppl working for Goog?
b, take care. go to a doc.
Posted by: Noirette | Nov 4 2018 16:32 utc | 93
donkey 88
unfair trade practice...?
try this for size.
Here'r the kind of fukus tactics to sabotage Chinese foreign investments...
Terrorism in Apak, Africa,
Regime change, arm twisting in SEA./South Asia
Washington organising a virtual economic eight nations alliance to strangle Chinese companies like Huawei. , ZTE
Washington dictating to all 'allies' to deny Chinese companies oversea acquisation..
Tariff war to snuff out Made in China 2025...
Posted by: denk | Nov 4 2018 16:33 utc | 94
donkey 88
unfair trade practice...?
try this for size.
Here'r the kind of fukus tactics to sabotage Chinese foreign investments...
Terrorism in Apak, Africa,
Regime change, arm twisting in SEA./South Asia
Washington organising a virtual economic eight nations alliance to strangle Chinese companies like Huawei. , ZTE
Washington dictating to all 'allies' to deny Chinese companies oversea acquisition..
Tariff war to snuff out Made in China 2025...
Posted by: denk | Nov 4 2018 16:34 utc | 95
@ donkeytale 14
To really understand Trump and his behaviors, I recommend watching this short video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dv8zJiggBs
See how many of the listed behaviors he exhibits, then draw your conclusion.
Posted by: AntiSpin | Nov 4 2018 16:37 utc | 96
b --
I agree with DEBP (7)
The shoulder is the worst-engineered device in the human machine. Several different kinds of things can easily go wrong, for different people. In my opinion you should see someone right away. If it's something minor and/or temporary, well you've wasted some time and maybe some marks as well. If it's serious, it should be taken care of as soon as possible so it does not get worse.
Posted by: AntiSpin | Nov 4 2018 16:40 utc | 97
james says:
... talking with a waiter in venice we commented on the number of chinese. running the shops... he had a good term for it....economic colonialism..... we saw it in siena as well...
the Chinese population here in my town in Umbria has multiplied exponentially over the last 15 years as well. they are a positive presence in an otherwise depopulating hill town.
...
it's kind of funny...Italians used to ask why Americans are so racist...the perhaps not so obvious answer being because we actually have races. i think Italians are starting to come to grips with what it means to live in a multiracial/multicultural society.
Posted by: john | Nov 4 2018 16:43 utc | 98
donkey 88
btw if you'r pro Trump ===>
YOu'r pro genocide..
exhibit Yemen.
pro aggression on false pretext..
exhibit Syria,
pro intervention...
Venezuela, Nicaragua,
pro regime change...
Iran
pro MIC...
TIP OF AN ICEBERG
Posted by: denk | Nov 4 2018 16:49 utc | 99
82 and 90
As part of my Mandarin class assignment, to report on Tibet after the Cultural Revolution, I'm reading Nien Cheng's 'Life and Death in Shanghai' as a foil to the scant few writings available on the meeting between the Dalai Lama and Chairman Mao, which ended in Mao's declamation that 'Religion is Poison," which is to say no more pizza and beer, from now on, everyone eats rice gruel.
Cheng is the Soltzhenitzen of China, a national Chinese married to a husband who unfortunately was general manager for Shell Oil and she became a business contracts translator for Shell, so she was 'tainted' by capitalism as well, before the Cultural Revolution seized all foreign-held properties, for a mere 7% of 10c on the $1 annual lease payment.
The 14th Dalai Lama, of course, fled to Dharamsala in the wake of Mao's brutal attack on Tibet that followed, the destruction of their temples and their culture, the self-immolations and disappearances. He has now declared an end to the chain of reincarnation, thus an end to the Tibetan form of religion, in order to prevent further bloodshed by the Han invaders.
But I don't want to speak for him. You can contact him here to confirm: The Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Thekchen Choeling, P.O. McLeod Ganj, Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh (H.P.) 176219, India
Nien Cheng gives a street-level view of 'socialism', as does Soltzhenitzen, talking of the purges and the inquisitions, the 10,000,000s murders and the gulags, the highway of skulls, the cultural insanity that follows conversion from the old system of feudalism as 'capitalism', to the new bright sun and coarse salt of forced socialism and economic redistribution, comrade.
Would you like turnips with that?
Today Tibet is a thriving tourist destination. Lhasa's ramshackle market stalls have been replaced by Han-run trinket shops, and the main square has been cleared of riff-raff and penitents into a sterile microcosm of Red Square, with not a native Tibetan to be seen, except for the monkey-chain dancers.
Tibetans, for their part, are given free education and healthcare, in Mandarin, of course, so their young people can serve Beijing as expat untrained laborers in the mines and brick factories of the three eastern provinces, and then send their 1000 yuan a month home to their yak-herding family.
It's a Good Life, ...and if Chairman Albertus' Global Carbon Tithe and Tax Credit Scheme takes root, everyone here will get a taste of that 'good life' when the Green Cultural Revolution begins.
Posted by: Anton Worter | Nov 4 2018 17:00 utc | 100
The comments to this entry are closed.
@all
Since yesterday and for some unknown reason I have suddenly pain in my right shoulder. I can hardly move the right arm and even pushing the mouse hurts. I am reduced to one-finger typing using my left hand. The pain ointment helps a bit but it is probably the best to refrain from using the arm for now. I'll take day or two off from blogging and see how it develops.
Please behave.
Posted by: b | Nov 3 2018 14:25 utc | 1