Cleanup On Aisle 5
ABC News @ABC - 14:57 UTC - 3 Dec 2019Asked if the U.S. supports Iranian protesters, Pres. Trump says, "I don't want to comment on that, but the answer's no. But I don't want to comment on that." abcn.ws/2K0BLjq
Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump - 15:33 UTC - 3 Dec 2019The United States of America supports the brave people of Iran who are protesting for their FREEDOM. We have under the Trump Administration, and always will!
Posted by b on December 3, 2019 at 16:05 UTC | Permalink
next page »LOL!!!
The system is not crashing fast enough for Trump and so a little more dissonance is necessary
Trump is also quoted as saying to day that a trade deal with China may have to wait until after (s)election which is helping tank DOW more than yesterday
Can Trump piss off or confuse more folks like France with NATO friction?
Need clean up on more than Aisle 5 methinks
Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 3 2019 16:27 utc | 2
I believe they need to dial back the radiation treatments.
There's been a complete mind-wipe.
Next time send talking parrot.
Posted by: jared | Dec 3 2019 16:58 utc | 3
I don't think trump was corrected by handlers. On the contrary, this was him fucking with them, as he always does.
He has done this exact same thing countless times in his presidency. Meanwhile, the march of waning America abroad goes on stepping.
What a genius, this prez.
Posted by: Nemesiscalling | Dec 3 2019 17:01 utc | 4
IMO, NATO's 70th anniversary is also an occasion for clean up; Putin seems to agree:
"Needless to say, the bloc mentality stereotypes of the past cannot be a good instrument for searching for and adopting effective decisions in the rapidly changing conditions of the modern world.
"At the same time, as you know, we have repeatedly expressed our willingness to cooperate with NATO for jointly countering real threats, such as international terrorism, local armed conflicts, and WMD proliferation. We have repeatedly taken steps to meet the alliance halfway and offered it a positive agenda. We held a number of joint events but after 2008 [CIA Obama instigated] cooperation was actually curtailed because the alliance’s actions towards Russia were inappropriate, if not blatant, and didn’t take into account Russia’s interests. Nevertheless, I hope that the interests of common security, as well as the stable and peaceful future of the planet will still prevail.
"Right now we have to proceed from the fact that NATO’s expansion, the development of its military infrastructure near the Russian border, pose a potential threat to our national security. Therefore, coming back to this meeting’s agenda, I would like to note that the technical overhaul of the Russian Armed Forces has been and will remain the focus of our closest attention."
About two months ago I linked to an article comparing the efficiency and sustainability of the Russian versus the Evil Outlaw US Empire's military and its budget that showed Russia could continue at its current level for several more decades while the Empire was already beyond the point of continuing efficiency as its budget was also no longer sustainable. One major reason for this difference is the management styles employed, Russia's being far and away more efficient as this excerpt notes:
"Before anything else, I would like to note that, as a follow-up to the previous meetings in this format, several hundred instructions have been given. In my opinion, it is not the number of instructions that is important but the way they are executed. Overall, the quality of execution is satisfactory. Seventy percent of the instructions are fulfilled while the others are at various stages of completion. And this is very important because it indicates that these biannual meetings in Sochi are necessary and rather efficient.
"Why? Because we know that, should something remain unaccomplished, six months later the responsible parties will have to explain why not and what needs to be done to iron out the situation."
The rest of the discussion about Russian Navy planning is also illuminating. Certainly, one of the biggest messes on the planet is caused by the massive waste present within the Empire's massively corrupt Military, which is a large fraction of the Corruption present within the Evil Outlaw US Empire.
As such, it's not just one aisle within the store needing attention. Rather, it's all the aisles within all the stores within the chain of corruption that require scrubbing followed by de-lousing.
Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 3 2019 17:18 utc | 5
The historical record shows that the Dulles brothers determined how the USA would act in the world toward the goal of "Global full spectrum domination." Which has been the goal sense even before WWII.
Every single foreign policy decision was made by the "deep state" (consensus of the “The Interagency.” )of the Dulles brothers and their imperial apparatchiks in the key government positions.
The great general who brought victory over the Nazis Eisenhower did not make a single foreign policy decision he was fully under the influence of the "deep state" (imperial apparatchiks at the hart of government with their hands on the real power of the US in the form of the Dulles brothers.
When Chaney went in to the Oval Office with one sheet of paper which Bush signed and resulted in the Iraq invasion and slaughter of tens of thousands of innocent people he was following a long tradition and process established by the Dulles brothers and others.
But we should understand one thing, the US is not a democracy and its foreign policy is directed by imperial oligarchs and has been for at least 75 years.
The "deep state" is the imperial arm of US government control, they are the hired help of the oligarchy they take their orders from oligarchs only.
Posted by: Babyl-on | Dec 3 2019 17:34 utc | 6
Yet more NATO mess as Macron says it's "brain dead" actions need cleaning up:
"French President Emmanuel Macron says #NATO needs to talk about more than how much its members are paying, specifically Turkey's military incursion in northern Syria. 'When I look at Turkey, they are now fighting against those who fought with us against #ISIS.'"
Except ISIS was also a NATO creation. Perhaps it's easiest to conclude that the West is a complete mess and needs to be cleaned from head to toe, but particularly its head as it seems to be infected by a strange wealth consuming parasite of its own creation.
Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 3 2019 17:36 utc | 7
@ "particularly its head as it seems to be infected by a strange wealth consuming parasite of its own creation." Nice way to put it.
Ketosis. Which process digesting itself gives off ketones, which stink, and are toxic to the whole still living thing.
Posted by: Walter | Dec 3 2019 17:47 utc | 8
In all fairness, given the din of the crowd, he might have confused 'Iranian' with 'Bolivian'. We in the U.S. need to keep a scorecard because we take different positions based on who we are trying to take out.
Posted by: Christian J Chuba | Dec 3 2019 17:58 utc | 9
Either The Orange One is so addled that contradiction is just part of the days routine or this is simply the escalation of the puppet show that is USAn domestic politics...or can it be both?
I'm seconding post #2 (psychohistorian). All slightly obscured historical evidence points to this kind of thing being part of a ratcheting up or cognitive dissonance to the point of the absurd.
One really amazing achievement has been getting reasonably intelligent people to go along with narratives unquestioningly and all the consent manufacturing that goes with it. Another is the hysterical emotional responses thats get triggered and obscure logic and reason so effectively. As with the material in the article by C. Johnstone: attack the source while failing to provide a reasonable counter explanation for what is being suggested.
Back to the topic at hand, D. Trump is an amazingly effective focal point for these things! Hearing a tender loving lesbian social worker foaming at the mouth and declaring the need for censorship to a fascistic degree was exemplary to say the least.
Imagining for a moment that social engineering is in fact a real phenomenon throughout history, is it not a stroke of genius to dovetail the "2minuteHate" of The Orange One with rabid Russophobia?! The kinder gentler lefties of Unistat (formerly USA) have been taught to hate! It is truly worthy of a hackneyed starwars reference.
Posted by: Chevrus | Dec 3 2019 18:06 utc | 12
Tudeh on the Iranian protests.
https://www.tudehpartyiran.org/en/
Mind you many of its members were assassinated and imprisoned by the mullahs during the 80s, forcing the party to go into exile.
Posted by: ninel | Dec 3 2019 18:07 utc | 13
The downfall of an office.
First came the psychopath who was an accomplice in removing his predecessor from office. Quite bloodily, too.
Then came the crook who had to step down because he himself was tricked. Didn't help that he went to China first.
He was followed by a dressman who changed his name because it sounded too much like the KKK. He also couldn't walk and chew gum at the same time. But he had his Rockefeller friend along for the ride until that one fucked himself (to death).
Then came the peanut farmer who developed a strong case of conscience. He wasn't hired for that.
He was cheated by Bonzo who made deals with the devil until it really was bedtime for him. 3-2-1...
The next one was either the handler or the sidekick of Bonzo. The jury is still out on that. Nobody really liked him, though. Not even his pirate friends.
His successor was very slick - with or without a cigar. He was mediocre at everything except corruption and lying. But he still had his way with women. Especially the young ones.
After that the electronic cheating began and they wanted to jumpstart the system with the worst possible case (candidate). They succeeded.
But the other side adapted and selected a good teleprompter narrator. This peace professional was very good at killing people and declaring global warming and rising sea levels. Now he himself makes a killing and purchases a *beach* mansion.
Now they have the twitter president. Makes sense: Tiny fingers are an advantage. At least sometimes.
Who will come next?
Posted by: Calibrator | Dec 3 2019 18:09 utc | 14
China's cleaning up HK's aisle 5:
"The US is expanding its hybrid warfare against China, so Beijing responded by sanctioning the most important groups in the regime-change machine:
-NED
-Human Rights Watch
-Freedom House
-NDI
-IRI
"These are coup-mongering arms of US imperialist soft power."
Such clean up needs to be done globally. Indeed, what nation needs any sort of Imperial institution on its territory. I'd shut it all down, embassy and consulates, and deport the lot.
Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 3 2019 18:11 utc | 15
@ Babyl-on | Dec 3 2019 17:34 utc | 6
”The great general who brought victory over the Nazis Eisenhower . . .
Actually, victory over the Nazis was achieved by the Red Army of the USSR, which inflicted 85 percent of all the casualties suffered by the Nazis. A number of really great Russian generals were responsible, with most of the credit usually assigned to Marshall Zukov, although there were others, like General Vatutin (who was killed by Ukrainian Nazis) who deserved a lot of the credit for the Soviet victory over the Wehrmacht.
The Soviet military suffered 10 million dead in the course of that achievement.
Posted by: AntiSpin | Dec 3 2019 18:23 utc | 16
@ AntiSpin in comment #16 who wrote
"
Actually, victory over the Nazis was achieved by the Red Army of the USSR, which inflicted 85 percent of all the casualties suffered by the Nazis.
"
When I learned that I started to think that the US nuking of Japan was really meant to get control of the victor narrative for WWII back from Russia.....again, follow the money game
What aisle is that on?
Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 3 2019 18:33 utc | 17
karlof @15
thanks for that catch by Ben Norton at the grayzone - the coup-mongering crowd should be sanctioned by all The South/third world developing nations, and pronto.
Human rights watch has become a joke, they've thrown away any authority built up over many years, and their remarks recently about Bolivia in particular have infuriated me.
from the head of HRW nov 16 2019
https://twitter.com/kenroth/status/1195865679737556993
Kenneth Roth
Important that Bolivia's change of government not become an excuse for violence, discrimination and neglect toward its indigenous communities.
"change of government" - disgusting! instead of outright condemning the coup in the name of humanity and the people of Bolivia. The HRW are regime changer slugs
-----
here's an older HRW tweet from 2017 against Morales
https://twitter.com/astroehlein/status/932644989267599363
Andrew Stroehlein - European Media Director, Human Rights Watch,
"The Hypocrisy of Evo Morales, president of Bolivia, invoking human rights to cling to power."
LMAO. the West lecturing poor Bolivia and Morales about using "human rights" in defense of their legitimately gained political power
Posted by: michaelj72 | Dec 3 2019 18:34 utc | 18
The mess known as Kamala Harris has been cleaned out of the D-Party line up:
"NEWS - Kamala Harris is dropping out of the presidential election today, I'm told reliably. She's informing staff now....
"Between Harris and O'Rourke, the candidates who entered with the most fanfare around them, in the end became two of the earliest to quit."
Guess we can thank Gabbard for taking out the Harris trash.
Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 3 2019 18:35 utc | 19
BoJo may find himself cleaned out of #10 for turning NHS into a US-style kill the poor program:
"'The problem is American conservatives can't be shamed,' said Green. 'They think it's great that healthcare costs a fortune and poor people die.'"
Joe Politics video at link:
"'So if you're poor, you're dead,' one young woman tells the interviewer from Joe Politics after hearing an asthma inhaler in the for-profit U.S. system costs between $250 and $300.
"Two different men appear shocked when told Americans can be charged $2,500 for an ambulance ride.
"'For real?' one asks. 'Why?' asks another."
Seems a no-brainer for me. The Tories need to be swept out of office and into the North Sea without rafts or flotation devices, with Blair in the lead.
Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 3 2019 19:12 utc | 20
Donald Trump is the sound of one hand clapping.
He is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.
If a tree falls in the forest, and Donald was not around to tweet about it, does it make a sound?
Deep Thoughts ... from the Deep State.
Posted by: ak74 | Dec 3 2019 19:16 utc | 21
On the subject of brain dead:
Succinct, frank and worrying assessment:
https://southfront.org/philip-m-giraldi-the-international-zionist-conspiracy/
Posted by: jared | Dec 3 2019 19:26 utc | 22
>The Soviet military suffered 10 million dead in the course of that achievement.
>Posted by: AntiSpin | Dec 3 2019 18:23 utc | 16
The Soviet grunts on the ground and in the air get the credit in my book. US peons don't understand that the Russian people know war in a way that US peons can barely imagine. Russians certainly don't want a repeat. Too many US residents are all too willing to send other people's kids off to kill and die, as long as its for the glory of the empire, or oil, or something.
One might think that the industrial scale carnage of the War Between the States would've been enough to cure the itch for war, but unfortunately not.
Posted by: Trailer Trash | Dec 3 2019 19:41 utc | 23
@ Posted by: jared | Dec 3 2019 19:26 utc | 22 who provided a link about jewish over representation in world governance.
I keep banging the drum of global private finance that could or not be behind the jewish situation. When I read stuff like your link I shake my head and wonder if humanity will ever be able to focus on the private/public finance core to the social contract....sigh
And then I remember that China is forcing that very issue and Trump is having a cow over it and it makes me smile
Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 3 2019 19:49 utc | 24
@ psychohistorian | Dec 3 2019 18:33 utc | 17 (purpose of n bombs)
Aperovitz tells us that Groves said in March of '44 that the bomb was for Russia. He and one of the boffins were at dinner up on the mesa when that discussion took place.
And, well, like Dresden, they were showing USSR what they could do. As if that was not enough, they did "Crossroads" to show everybody again.
Jimmy Barnes was deep in the intrigue, he says.
Posted by: Walter | Dec 3 2019 20:06 utc | 25
the world and american people must be getting tired of these messages - CLEANUP ON AISLE 5! - or whatever... this is one of the things i do love about trump.. some type of gong show follows him wherever he goes!
Posted by: james | Dec 3 2019 20:14 utc | 26
@14 calibrator.. that was funny! ...and pretty accurate too..
@15 karlof1.. i quoted something very similar from a cbc article yesterday on the open thread (i think).. maybe ben norton reads moa, but it is also publicly available for anyone..
Posted by: james | Dec 3 2019 20:25 utc | 27
@ "particularly its head as it seems to be infected by a strange wealth consuming parasite of its own creation." Nice way to put it.Ketosis. Which process digesting itself gives off ketones, which stink, and are toxic to the whole still living thing.
Posted by: Walter | Dec 3 2019 17:47 utc | 8 Text
Walter, you are either an ignoramous or and/or a shill. You understand zip re ketosis. Spare us the BS.
Posted by: avid lurker | Dec 3 2019 20:36 utc | 28
@ AntiSpin #16
I was just being facetious about Eisenhower he was a dish rag that the Dulles brothers could squeeze any time they wanted. And they are the ones who held the levers of power not Eisenhower or any president sense him.
You are correct that the USSR was mostly the army which overcame the Nazis. Hitler had 20 divisions on the Eastern front and only 5 on the Western front which was not opened Stalin was begging the West to open another front but the US just waited until as much damage to Germany and the USSR was done before entering the war.
The D day invasion was almost entirely French and UK ships and planes and solders. US personal were barely involved and the orders were not given by Eisenhower but by the French and English officers.
It is not the government which holds the specter of nuclear annihilation over our heads it is the oligarchy.
Posted by: Babyl-on | Dec 3 2019 20:53 utc | 29
The flip-flop is probably due to confusion over the word 'support'. When asked by a nasty newsie whether USA "supports Iranian protesters" Trump probably heard, "Are you financing them and using CIA tricks to subvert Iran?", and fudged out. Later, becalmed by his handlers, he used 'support' in its "I approve of the protests in the name of freedom" sense, so all is well and it's time for a Big Mac.
Posted by: piggly | Dec 3 2019 20:53 utc | 30
Asked if the U.S. supports Iranian protesters, Pres. Trump says, "I don't want to comment on that, but the answer's no. But I don't want to comment on that."
My reading is that the Donald was quite logically assuming that "support" meant the provision of mercenary provocateurs; and that he was required to say "no" lest he anger his adversaries/handlers in the permanent state.
Posted by: NOBTS | Dec 3 2019 21:04 utc | 31
@psychohistorian banging my eardrums about GPF. I am marching in tune with your beat, but what's behind GPF? I feel the rabbit hole is deeper than that. We get to the realm of psychology. What makes people believe that self enrichment over the dead corpses of others is a virtue? What makes people think that their deity is the one and only, that they are 'the chosen ones', that others are deplorables/gojim/untermench/whatever?
It is something that lurks in all of us that created GPF. Whether it is Santa, the Tooth Fairy or any alternate reality make-believe, we can distort and twist anything if and whenever it suits us. When guilt or cognitive dissonance bothers us we re-calibrate our moral compass, change our perception. This makes us feel better but do worse. People being human created this mess and when GPF dies, some other evil spawns.
I like this blog because b and you barflies are realists digging for truth, not peddling some alternate reality. The world needs more of you.
Posted by: Joost | Dec 3 2019 21:05 utc | 32
piggly @30--
On Trump and "support," I sometimes wonder if he knows the difference between a bra and jock strap. And since it's that time of year again, I'm sure Trump isn't alone in wondering what the reference to Parson Brown means in that, now controversial, Noel tune, Winter Wonderland.
Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 3 2019 21:08 utc | 33
‘the Russian people know war in a way that US peons can barely imagine’ @23
the Chinese too (tho more wrt losses than victories)
if anyone ever starts anything on US soil it will be like taking candy from a baby, and the US will also find it has zero friends left
Posted by: PeterP | Dec 3 2019 21:17 utc | 35
Walter @ 8
Ketosis is merely a metabolic state, which can be either helpful or harmful.
When ketosis is induced by carbohydrate restriction, it is sometimes referred to as nutritional ketosis. A low-carbohydrate, high fat diet that can lead to ketosis is called a ketogenic diet. Nutritional ketosis alone does not progress to ketoacidosis and its safety is supported in trials up to two years, although research on longer term ketosis is lacking. Ketosis is well-established as a treatment for epilepsy and is also effective in treating type 2 diabetes. Benefit in a range of neurological diseases, cancer, and other conditions is currently under investigation.- Wikipedia
--------
karlof1 @ 7
I agree with "wealth consumming parasite", but I would name it "cancer", since it behaves the same way. Here is a snip from an essay I wrote around 2010, trying to give a popularization of what cancer is and how it behaves:
Cachexia - when cancer steals so much energy that the rest of the body wastes awayLike a crooked bookkeeper, a tumor can steal small amounts without getting caught. But, as it grows it steals so much that the business (i.e., the host body) goes bankrupt (i.e., dies):
Because cancer cells ignore normal regulation, they suck up huge amounts of resources; and as the cancer grows, so does the resource usage. Since the cancer cell's demands for growth are not ignored, the rest of the body begins to starve - literally, to waste away. This phenomenon is called cachexia.
the selective expression of HK-2 by malignant tumors (is) part of a clever survival mechanism that allowed the tumor to continue metabolizing glucose regardless of the nutritional status of the tumor-bearing host. In fact, it could now be inferred why even at the terminal stages of cancer progression in a patient (i.e., tumor induced cachexia) the tumor will continue to scavenge glucose from the patient’s bloodstream and thrive while the patient’s physiology progressively shuts-down.
I wrote another essay in which I compared Wall St. CaSh-exia to cancer "cachexia", but I can't find it.
Posted by: john brewster | Dec 3 2019 21:22 utc | 36
Sorry for OT, but I thought this would be of interest.
https://thegrayzone.com/2018/08/23/un-did-not-report-china-internment-camps-uighur-muslims/
What is the official chinese gov position re. Uighurs?
Or position of Uighurs re. chinese gov?
Posted by: jared | Dec 3 2019 21:38 utc | 37
@karlof1 #7
..."consuming parasite"... I love that word parasite. Yes indeed, all are three quarters parasitic and one quarter incompetent. Like all parasites they consume the host.
Have a pleasant evening sir.
Posted by: Taffyboy | Dec 3 2019 22:27 utc | 38
Sorry for OT, but I thought this would be of interest.
https://thegrayzone.com/2018/08/23/un-did-not-report-china-internment-camps-uighur-muslims/What is the official chinese gov position re. Uighurs?
Or position of Uighurs re. chinese gov?
@ Jared 37
Yes the UN mission returned and completely denied the claim of one American as I recall.
The 1 million number is of course quite preposterous - it would imply every male Uighur aged 16-29 is in prison.
Recent claims of proof invariable refer to the "satellite evidence". That doesn't exist either. Every reference I have seen refers to photos of a single centre - which is probably the well known one with 2500 prisoners that China fully admits to.
(This is all similar to the millions of HK protesters which actually started with 150k and then fell rapidly to only a few hundred blackshirts prior to the elections - outnumbered by police and photographers, and has pos elections jumped to around 5000.)
I have seen 2 BBC programs claiming proof - as well as the single site satellite data they usually limit themselves to interviewing families of prisoners - but only families living in Istanbul. We don't need b to tell us why Uighur families travel to Istanbul or where their men folk really are. Or how magically these people in Istanbul magically appear on BBC radio shows about China. James Le Mesurier, recently deceased in Istanbul, may well have upset the Chinese...
Despite journalistic visits to the region, the BBC claim that no one they approached dared talk about the prison camps. Same old same old. Reminds me of the BBC reporters who claimed that their inability to actually spot any Russian troops in Ukraine showed just how determined Putin was to keep them hidden.
Like HK, reporters are essentially being prepared to report on the next Tianamen Square massacre.
Posted by: M Droy | Dec 3 2019 22:27 utc | 39
Albania, and MEK from Iran.
A curious radio program about the MEK living in Albania.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07t8x0g
The reporters somehow manager to avoid the obvious - that the US put the MEK there in storage ahead of regime change in Iran, and Albania hasn't been given any choice in the matter. But they do pretty much prove the point.
Who are Albania’s Iranian guests? In July, Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani visited an Albanian village just outside Tirana. At a tightly-guarded encampment, he addressed the Iranian group who live there - the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), or People’s Mujahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI). MEK has been a leading opposition voice against the Islamic Republic of Iran for decades.Following the revolution of 1979, MEK fell out with the Iranian government – members were persecuted, and the organisation moved to Iraq for around three decades. Migration to Albania was facilitated by the United States, and more than 3,000 members have arrived.
But in Albania – a fragile democracy - there’s disquiet. Critics claim MEK’s presence compromises Albania’s security, and is fuelling a crack-down on the press. Meanwhile, dozens of Iranian MEK members have defected but find themselves living a precarious existence in Tirana because they are stateless, without passports.
Assignment investigates the improbable relationship between Albania and MEK.
Posted by: M Droy | Dec 3 2019 22:31 utc | 40
@ avid lurker | Dec 3 2019 20:36 utc | 28
Look up 'tellurocratic' from said bright spark's phrase "tellurocratic economic land-based system" from comment:
Walter | Dec 3 2019 12:49 utc | 117 at The MoA Week in Review - Open Thread 2019 - 71 Linked Here
The word isn't in either dictionary or encyclopaedia at thefreedictionary.com, Might be interesting checking Walter's license to coin words with meanings and see if it hasn't expired and never renewed, a serious misdemeanour is highly likely to have taken place. The choice between: ignoramus, shill or BS Artist requires more information but the categories fit.
Posted by: Formerly T-Bear | Dec 3 2019 22:55 utc | 41
Trump tweets something like 11 or 12 times a day, every day for nearly a decade now.
I am actually shocked that cleanups aren't more frequent.
Posted by: c1ue | Dec 3 2019 23:12 utc | 42
@michaelj72 #18,
Human Rights Watch has long been a tool of the Empire and a propagandist for its regime-change wars, going back to Yugoslavia 20 years ago.
http://www.antiwar.com/rep/treanor1.html
Posted by: Ash Naz | Dec 3 2019 23:32 utc | 43
My phrase @7, "a strange wealth consuming parasite of its own creation," I owe to Dr. Hudson who used a similar description in his book Killing the Host: How Financial Parasites and Debt Bondage Destroy the Global Economy. The following is the entry for Parasite in Hudson's J is for Junk Economics:
"Parasite: A free luncher. In biology, parasites avoid detection by masquerading as part of the host's body, using enzymes to take control of the host's brain to block it from taking counter measures to defend itself. Similarly, rentiers and monopolists masquerade as contributors to the productive process, as if their revenue is earned rather than siphoning off income from the production-and-consumption economy to the FIRE sector in zero-sum activities. (See Economic Rent.) Their intellectual enzyme is junk economics demobilizing governments and academic studies.
"Among the various parasitic species, the financial class tends to ride on the backs of real estate investors and monopolists, lobbying to un-tax their rent-seeking activities so as to turn their land rent and monopoly rent into interest payments instead of leaving it for governments to tax."
So, yes, the buggers are similar to cancer cells but the body does try to fight them as opposed to parasites. In his book, Hudson entitles that particular chapter "P is for Ponzi Scheme and Pension Fund Capitalism." The two works are written as "companion" volumes. You can freely download Host at the link. Hudson cites David Graeber, Steve Keen, Michael Perelman, Bertell Ollman, and Randy Wray as economists he consults, so we now have a wider numbr of sources to consult as we move forward in our war against Private Finance and quest to make Public Finance ascendant.
Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 4 2019 0:08 utc | 44
@30, 31, 33,
Remarks by President Trump and Prime Minister Trudeau of Canada Before Bilateral Meeting | London, United KingdomIssued on: December 3, 2019
Winfield House
London, United Kingdom3:33 P.M. GMT
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, thank you very much, everybody. A question was asked just a little while ago about supporting the people protesting in Iran and are going through a very tough period. And we do support them totally and have supported them from the beginning.The question was asked: “Do we support them” — I thought — “financially?” And we haven’t supported them. I don’t know that we’ve ever been actually asked to support them, financially. And I — you know, if somebody asked, maybe we would. But we support them very, very seriously. The people that are protesting in Iran, they’re looking for their freedom, and we are fully in support of them.
So I wanted to — just in case anybody had any questions. We haven’t been asked to support them, financially, which I assume that’s what the question was. But just to make sure everybody understood it.
The time stamp on the tweet is 1533 UTC. The time attributed to the news release is 1533 GMT. But in this instance UTC and GMC are identical.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-prime-minister-trudeau-canada-bilateral-meeting-london-united-kingdom/>
Posted by: power and people | Dec 4 2019 0:10 utc | 45
karlof1 | Dec 3 2019 18:11 utc | 15:
It's about time they grew a spine. They should have gone further by shutting down all US diplomatic missions.
Posted by: Ian2 | Dec 4 2019 0:38 utc | 46
That's it; that's all you're going to write on this???
Trump is pushing Iran towards war and you're making sarcasm? Why? Cause you can't for once already admit Trump is a Zionist doing the bidding of his Zionist financiers in Israel, Russia and the U.S.?
You know you can't whitewash this so all you can do is a sarcastic one liner. Of course you can't explain how we went from a deal everyone including the IRANIANS were happy with to now Trump pushing for regime change and WAR! YOU CAN'T EXPLAIN AND SPIN THAT, LIKE YOU DO EVERYTHING ELSE TO CLEAN UP YOUR BOY'S MESSES.
So here's what Trump is stirring up to dodge impeachment. Only Trump and his Zionist comrades stand to benefit from war with Iran! SPIN THAT WHY DON'T YOU?:
Iranian threat against U.S. forces and interests
I was sure Trump would wait for his 2nd term to trigger war with Iran, but I didn't count on him needing a way out of impeachment!
Why did Trump say he can't talk about supporting the protesters??? Is it because he'd be disclosing classified intelligence on black ops and psyops being used against Iran ON HIS ORDERS as he spoke at Nato??? HE LIED WHEN HE SAID: NO. If he merely breathes; he's lying, FCS! Enough already with the bullshet!
The bastard will do anything and trample anyone to hold on to power and still you continue to carry his water and kiss his ring. 🤬🤬🤬
Posted by: Circe | Dec 4 2019 0:50 utc | 47
@Posted by: karlof1;44
"I owe to Dr. Hudson"
Do you have any links which compare Dr. Hudson's writings, with the current day approach of any "alternate lending" systems?
Posted by: OhOh | Dec 4 2019 1:04 utc | 48
Do note in my @44 that Trump's a parasite enabler. I find it amusing that he says he loathes Obama when he's like him in so many ways. IMO, Trump sees/knows Obama's a creature of The Swamp and judges himself to be above that type of hideous being.
Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 4 2019 1:09 utc | 49
Calibrator @ 14
As I recall, T rex had tiny fingers as well. He reigned quite well for his time ...
Posted by: polecat | Dec 4 2019 1:42 utc | 50
Jared @ 37, M Droy @ 39:
There were estimated to be 10,000 - 20,000 Uyghur fighters and their families living in Idlib province in Syria in 2017. UAE-based reporter Jenan Moussa made a documentary "Undercover in Idlib" about these fighters and their families in 2017. Much of the footage was filmed by three people travelling independently of one another using hidden cellphones.
China's position is that these fighters should be returned to China for de-radicalisation and re-education in vocational colleges and similar facilities which have been described in the MSM as concentration camps (albeit concentration camps that allow inmates to eat their meals offsite and go home in the evenings).
Posted by: Jen | Dec 4 2019 2:13 utc | 51
Calibrator @ 14, Polecat @ 50:
Meet the dinosaur that gave the world the finger: Linhenykus monodactylus.
Of course it had to be Chinese. :-)
Posted by: Jen | Dec 4 2019 2:19 utc | 52
In re: NGOs
If I recall correctly, in Egypt, Sisi threw all these Western funded/sponsored bastards out of the country two or three years ago.
Jen, your dinosaur link gets me a 404 Error response.
Antoinetta III
Posted by: Antoinetta III | Dec 4 2019 2:40 utc | 53
No foreign embassy should be permitted in Hong Kong province. They should set up in a major mainland city. No trade offices, no diplomatic service centres, all foreign ngo's should be located on the mainland in secure zones to protect citizens from coercion.
No nation should tolerate this extreme sedition by the FUKUS brigands.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Dec 4 2019 3:09 utc | 54
Lose the Trump propaganda and take a cue from this:
Trump's bald-faced lies on Iran continue
Caption for picture in article: What you get when orange piehole meets Bibi's _ick.
Posted by: Circe | Dec 4 2019 3:14 utc | 55
Hey, instead of the Trump bullshet propaganda and conspiracies you usually peddle why don't you'all post the bullshet straight from the horse's ass for a change?
Now, aren't you embarrassed whiping his slime every day, day in and day out? Or do you really believe the vile drivel spewing from his piehole? Come on, I dare ya to spin this shet.
He's an embarrassment to the human race, your hero, Trump!
Posted by: Circe | Dec 4 2019 3:34 utc | 56
The truth is kryptonite to LIARS. That's why the usual Trump bootlickers haven't shown up on this thread. Hypocritical cowards.
Posted by: Circe | Dec 4 2019 3:42 utc | 57
Unpleasantries quite stomach curdling and unnecessary as b's post wasn't exactly in praise of Trump.
Circe, you are going too far.
Posted by: juliania | Dec 4 2019 3:55 utc | 58
Thanks to power and people @ 45 - that would seem the explanation, though not a good one as far as relations with Iran goes. At least, though, Trump was at first reluctant to say very much at all, only reversing when his answer was (apparently) not up to snuff at 'headquarters'.
Saker has up his 'man of the year' choices, with Trump in second place. I would go along with his reasons for that. Other good choices in the comments, with I think only one violent disagreement on Trump. Several expressed hope for Trump's second term. It's hard for me to see, though, that the current barrage will be diminished then, should that be the outcome. Still, the possibility is there, that events might converge favorably; where else is there such a promise, even if only a dim one?
RT reports more Syrians, these from Lebanon, are being transported homeward. That at least is something we would not have been able to appreciate had Hillary been in charge. I thank all who voted for Trump; it was a wise choice.
Ah, Circe, say on if you must. You are probably putting more readers into Trump's camp than if you should fall silent.
Posted by: juliania | Dec 4 2019 4:17 utc | 59
Circe it appears, has a terminal case of Trump Derangement Syndrome. Maybe someone needs to call the Men in White Coats?
Antoinetta III
Posted by: Antoinetta III | Dec 4 2019 4:52 utc | 60
@58 juliania
I don't usually engage someone who is so far up Trump's ass (I thank all who voted for Trump; it was a wise choice.🙄) for so long they no longer recognize daylight and fresh air when it dares to filter through, but call me relentless in defense of the truth.
You write b's post wasn't exactly in praise of Trump.
Iran is one of the last bastions on earth of courageous resistance against Zionism i.e. the AngloZionist Empire. I would say it deserves the tome of support that b dedicates to other matters not always worthy.
I wasn't born yesterday. If b wanted to genuinely lambaste Trump for his bullshet on Iran at Nato, he would have done so as prolifically as he exonerates Trump continuously and very mistakenly or even ,falsely, as the susceptible captive of the deep state.
Let me quote MLK on this occasion of b's uncommon brevity: There comes a time when silence is BETRAYAL.
And THIS is one of those times!
Posted by: Circe | Dec 4 2019 5:21 utc | 61
Antoinetta III @ 53:
Try Googling "Linhenykus monodactylus" and you will find a fair number of websites referring to the creature. An animal with just one digit on each of its hands or forepaws seems so unusual that a fossil dinosaur with such a condition was bound to attract more than its fair share of attention on its discovery and description. What can it have used its digits for, apart from opening canned food (which wasn't to exist until 65 million years after the dinosaurs)?
Posted by: Jen | Dec 4 2019 5:29 utc | 62
I had to turn off the US presidential reality show long ago because the media is twisting everything into a pretzel. It is such a waste of time to get spun out on Trump. No one I know of really talks about it anymore. MOA pulls me back in.
It is absolutely important to follow what is going on but things have gone from the glorious Obama love fest to a Trump search and destroy mission on the part of the media.
The US wants to make China NATO's number one enemy and some inside the EU and NATO want to back off on Russia? World War II ended 70+ years ago so we need NATO? China appears to be the next enemy set up for future glorious piles of money piled into defense. NATO is nothing more than the dying extension of 500 years of European planetary control.
President Donald Trump holds bilateral meeting with NATO's Stoltenberg was not that deranged nor was it out of the ordinary. The European press was very respectful and asked somewhat relevant questions.
Posted by: dltravers | Dec 4 2019 5:34 utc | 63
@60 Antoinetta III
You mean as opposed to, say, your own...Trump Delusion Syndrome?
And oh, OHHHH! Anyone who defends anything al-Sissy does should be thrown into one of his black hole dungeons. It's a sure-fire cure for ignorance.
Posted by: Circe | Dec 4 2019 5:39 utc | 64
Circe, so you think Sisi's kicking out the NGOs was a bad thing?
Antoinetta III
Posted by: Antoinetta III | Dec 4 2019 5:52 utc | 65
dark networks of corporate influence on government policies
the higher levels of government are all interconnected.. hopefully the MoA bar can connect the dots.
Posted by: snake | Dec 4 2019 7:54 utc | 66
@Babyl-on 6: The great general responsible for most of the destruction of the nazis was Georgy Zhukov and his Red, Army. And the Anglozionist aggression against Iraq in 2003 resulted in well over a million deaths - and counting...
Actually authenticatable facts, rather than self-stroking Western false-meme propaganda. Got to be on constant watch against thoughtlessly regurgitating the lies with which all we in the West are constantly gavaged.
Posted by: Rhisiart Gwilym | Dec 4 2019 8:56 utc | 67
Circe,
is someone forcing you to read this blog? if not, then why do you continue reading and commenting? you add nothing of substance to the discussion, you're just yelling at the host. please find something constructive to contribute and if you can't do that how about you STFU?
Jen @62 / Antoinette III @53
Noticed the same w.r.t the broken link, but searched the name out anyways.
Seems they were small enough to stand on your palm, so the hypothesis of them using the solitary claw to get into ant/termite nests (or through bark on trees for other goodies) seems valid. They were by no stretch of the imagination 'Apex predators'.
Cool little things though; far less deadly than Homo sapiens sapiens.
Thanks Jen,
:op
Posted by: Jon_in_AU | Dec 4 2019 13:20 utc | 69
@ Rhisiart Gwilym | Dec 4 2019 8:56 utc | 67 (Zukov/ Red Army)
Eisenhower himself said the Red Army won the war in Europe. I have heard his speech to that effect.
....................
Meantime, a stirring example of TBS deconstructed @ WSWS
grey propaganda...A Warning: A manifesto of the pro-war “Resistance” in the American state
"A Warning [NYT and a "book"] makes one thing abundantly clear: the “Resistance” to Trump’s policies within the state, which is the basis of the Democrats’ opposition to him, centers on claims that Trump is insufficiently aggressive in defending and expanding America’s imperial interests against Russia and China.
Posted by: Walter | Dec 4 2019 13:24 utc | 70
Circe @ 64
You have just the right amount of truly righteous indignation at just how shite it all is, that you could make a huge difference if your energies were more effectively directed.
I'm not being sarcastic either, I share the daily scream that we all currently exist within. "At least it ain't Hillary" doesn't cut it for me either.
It all needs a structural re-adjustment (may involve a short-term spike in rope sales :o) ), but how do we all get there? Together..
Posted by: Jon_in_AU | Dec 4 2019 13:40 utc | 71
@68 lizard
That's funny; I wasn't aware that one of the criteria here is that you must be an echo and not criticize? And I see b yelled in caps in his comment, too. So it can't be do as I say not as I do, either, hmmm...
People are writing about dinosaurs, diseases and whut not here not to touch what Trump said on Iran at Nato. Therefore, the nerve of me to be one of the very few on this thread ON TOPIC. So if YOU have nothing better to contribute, and are so thin-skinned you can't take REAL dissent, then you STFU, thanks.
Posted by: Circe | Dec 4 2019 14:04 utc | 72
The internet can be a place to suck up all the frustration and filth and then exhale it back onto ones forum of choice. For those that believe in the USA executive branch cult of personality it is a whacky ride indeed. If posters like Circe are an annoyance, perhaps try inventing a cartoon character and animate in your mind as you read the frothing outrage that seems to just keep on giving.
Posted by: Chervus | Dec 4 2019 14:05 utc | 73
I'm surprised that anyone still takes seriously the publicity stunt masquerading as Donald Trump. re - fly to Europe, immediately insult a another national leader, create a media frenzy, and watch all the attention then focus on you (DT.) It's a simple formula, and he's been doing it for decades.
Watching this transpire (yet again) I had to admit to myself that when respect, diplomatic aplomb and Robert's rules of order, etc. ruled the day, was when the mess we know as today's reality took form, took off, and then landed squarely on the rest of us 99%. I would be cheering DT on, except for the fact that it has nothing to do with the world's problems and everything to do with His Toxic Orangeness.
It was the height of hypocrisy, which by the way he seems to revel in, to lambast Macron for his remarks about NATO, when he himself made that one of the planks of his original campaign and continued on with, after his election. Don't get me wrong, I'm no fan of Macron or any other "western leaders" desperately trying to hold on to their prestige, power, and wealth.
The sad and murderous truth is that of course the US as well as Israel, and I'm sure the UK are heavily involved in trying to destabilize Iran. It's just the next phase of what they've been doing for years. As for MEK: that organization basically died and was then resurrected by the CIA, MI6, and Mossad as a faux "indigenous and grass-roots Iranian resistance organization." (ie, just another front for the octopus with the head of an eagle.) Most Iranians despise MEK and that has been a fact even before the '79 revolution.
Posted by: vinnieoh | Dec 4 2019 14:12 utc | 74
To stay on topic, fairly anyway, (and to pick up #74) - Yes, the tautologically hysterical Trumpie puts on a show, a clown act. Is this going on, or being used, to distract the eye? Yes, he's a major feature,a critical actor, but only one of many. (Some may recall Sterling Hayden as Ripper, who said "two can play at that game, soldier!") Thus, then there is, for example, the ominous determination visible in editorial tone and selections on presstv...what they imply, and actually say - this the volk do not see while they watch clownishfreaks.
“At the present time, the Iranian Army and the Iranian naval forces are resolute in their collaboration with China,” Khanzadi said. “Strategic goals have been defined at the level administrations, and at the level of armed forces, issues have been defined in the form of joint efforts.” not exactly watered-down rhetoric. the 3navy games start on the 27th in the Indian Ocean.
Posted by: Walter | Dec 4 2019 14:27 utc | 75
juliania said,
"RT reports more Syrians, these from Lebanon, are being transported homeward. That at least is something we would not have been able to appreciate had Hillary been in charge. I thank all who voted for Trump; it was a wise choice."
I think that the actual credit for that belongs to Russia and Syria not trump.
Trump or Hillary ---it was Russia that got in the way.
Posted by: arby | Dec 4 2019 14:47 utc | 76
Excuse me for getting boiling mad when bastard Trump is sowing conflict and destroying a country that did nothing to him or ANYONE, for that matter, EXCEPT, RIGHTLY resist Zionist expansionism!
I'm sick and tired of Trump getting coddled around here as the poor, helpless captive victim of the deep state when he's pressuring Iran into WAR.
I rightly despise Trump for everything he's doing in the world, in Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen, Palestine, Venezuela, Bolivia and Cuba and even in Syria, controlling and stealing Syrian oil and territory, so don't expect me to just roll over and let your bullshet whitewashing of him slide!
I don't pussyfoot around with bullshet propaganda, and I'm not going to start now no matter what you throw at me. I'm going to call it as I see it! So F off with the personal attacks!
Posted by: Circe | Dec 4 2019 14:54 utc | 77
Indeed it has been Putin actively coming to the rescue in Syria, and the US under Trump has been no help in that matter. All the Trump voters did was throw a monkey wrench into US military plans, or in other words make a series of messes on aisle 5 (aisle 5 standing for five eyes in my interpretation). That was all he did and is doing. Which is more than previous officialdom of all stripes could muster.
Thank you again, Trump voters. Heartfelt thanks.
(Is there a fly buzzing against the window? Poor thing should know how cold it is outside. Let it be.)
Posted by: juliania | Dec 4 2019 16:12 utc | 78
IMO, that is not true at all. Wouldn't of mattered who was president when Russia put her foot down in Syria. Lots and lots of covert and semi overt operations going on but blatantly overt has been stopped in its tracks and has zip to do with Trump or Trump voters.
Posted by: arby | Dec 4 2019 16:21 utc | 79
@ 77 and 78
Seems to me that trumpie-the-man, the individual is irrelevant to trumpie-the-pres. political matters are like mathematics, their morality is not human, but logical.
but trumpie the man may (very probably) be under pressure of blackmail. unz has a pair of massive article on Epstein, horrible stuff. But if it's true, and it seems it is, the have pictures of the guy...
so, assume he's a criminal creep. So was Lyndon Johnson. So what?
What matters is that Trumpie-the clown threw a massive snafu into the Plans, this delayed the attack on Iran.
Now the Chinese Navy and the Iranian Navy and the Russian Navy are united in combined exercises, and the Iranian military is loaded with "bird-shot" and sub-launch missiles with astonishing range. That delay, and delays like it from history, is a critical factor.
Previously the Empire might have done the job with a combination of treason, intrigue, and TNT.
Now they have to use the real stuff. If the Lincoln group is sunk, and MAC02 US war game gave that result, then it goes nuke.
And the Clown becomes the pharmacos, the sacrifice to expiate guilt. Hitler same same---it was all his fault...that'll be the History they make canonical.
Posted by: Walter | Dec 4 2019 17:17 utc | 80
walter said--
"What matters is that Trumpie-the clown threw a massive snafu into the Plans, this delayed the attack on Iran.":
Huh? What snafu?
Posted by: arby | Dec 4 2019 17:22 utc | 81
Friedman is the Mr Magoo of Middle East analysis LOL; braindead
Posted by: mark fitzgibbon | Dec 4 2019 17:22 utc | 82
YET ANOTHER CIA COUP ATTEMPT IN PROGRESS?
Looks like Trump won't be flying back to Washington. CIA shrinks claim Trump is mad and want him locked up. Pence and Pompeo will sign off on the 25th Amendment.
Trump’s mental state is deteriorating dangerously due to impeachment with potentially ‘catastrophic outcomes’, psychiatrists urgently warn Congress - The Independent, December 4, 2019“I believe that they fit the pattern of delusions rather than just plain lies,” she continued, pointing to the claim he made during a meeting with Jens Stoltenberg, Nato’s secretary-general, that “many legal scholars” were “looking at the transcripts” of his 25 July phone call with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and agreeing with his description of the call as “absolutely perfect” as an example of his pathology.
Dr Lee acknowledged that members of congress – especially Republicans who are supportive of the president – might dismiss the warning she and her colleagues are delivering as just a product of differences of political opinion, but stressed that the fact that they should be taken seriously because their training enables them to recognise Mr Trump is exhibiting “definitive signs of severe pathology of someone who requires an advanced level of care” and who “meets every criterion of lacking a rational decision making capacity”.
Dr Lee explained that the president’s continued embrace conspiracy theories was actually a public health issue because of his ability to draw members of the public into a “shared psychosis at the national level”.
“His detachment from reality... his pathology is actually gaining ground more quickly than the ability of rational actors to bring up the facts,” she said, adding that the House should consider these issues in the same way they are examining the legal and constitutional aspects of impeachment.
Posted by: Petri Krohn | Dec 4 2019 17:28 utc | 83
@ Circe
Your points are quite rational.
I feel similarly, regarding Trump and this administration.
But still, there is something much larger going on.
Can't quite put my finger on it.
I feel it has something to do with this:
https://southfront.org/philip-m-giraldi-the-international-zionist-conspiracy/
I find the world today makes much more sense if I consider the possibility that the U.S. government (and so military) is no longer under control of elected officials and so no nolonger responsive to or particularly interested in the publics opinion or public interest except as needed to maintain the perception that the U.S. remains a democracy and is attractive to immigrants.
However it seems the curtain is slipping a bit and the wheels are becoming a bit wobbly.
For that much and to the extent that may be helpful, I think you might agree that we owe Trump some gratitude.
Ask yourself (as I ask myself): Is it really possible that Trump is that incompetent? Is some of this by design?
Also of course you realize that not everything that happens is Trumps will.
If nothing else, I am sure Putin has some gratitude from Trump as I imagine he has never laughed so hard in all his days and was probably in need of some levity.
Posted by: jared | Dec 4 2019 17:29 utc | 84
Freidman is a paid actor.
He is paid to be an idiot - he does it pretty well and with a straight face. His livelihood depends on it.
The NY Times is an instrument of the state.
Some people also believe what they read in the National Star (and I think on occasion it is actually true).
Some people also used to believe that professional wrestling is a sport.
We need to move beyond the surprise that the american media is what it is.
Posted by: jared | Dec 4 2019 17:38 utc | 85
@ snafu and more.
@ zionists giraldi
read all the way through, and the time-line too, at
unz
"Is Jeffrey Epstein's Boss Ghislaine Maxwell Helping Mossad Run Pedophile Rings for Prince Andrew and the Ruling Elite"
The title may imply this is off topic, but read it through...Rothschild, Maxwell, babies, blackmail...
The topic itself of this "Cleanup on Aisle 5" describes a snafu. The examples are so numerous as to strain the eye.
As to a Big snafu that became a fubar, ask the ghosts of the German Army East about the 6 week delay and how the winter was in '41.
Or Ludendorf about the logistical fubar when Russia ruined the plans for the great sweep across France.
Posted by: Walter | Dec 4 2019 17:47 utc | 86
OhOh @48--
At Dr. Hudson's website, I did a search using public banking as the key words. In the following link, use the Ctrl F function to search the article for public banking to read what he suggests be done here; here are two videos with Ellen Brown, author of Web of Debt and Public Banking advocate, where you'll be introduced to the Public Banking Institute. But aside from the PBI, the best place to get the most information about public banking and alternative banking systems is from Ellen Brown's Web of Debt which can be downloaded in several different formats here.
I hope these point you in the right direction.
Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 4 2019 17:51 utc | 87
Except ISIS was also a NATO creation. Perhaps it's easiest to conclude that the West is a complete mess ...
Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 3 2019 17:36 utc | 7
There was an interesting article suggesting that an octopus is not entirely aware what are various appendages doing. Coordinating complex wiggling movements of eight limbs is "sketched" in the central nerve system while large neuronal ganglia in each limb take care of the details.
It is doubtful that high command of NATO ever uttered words "create ISIS", but they set goals that could be furthered by a local subcontractor like ISIS. Imagine an octopus with eight limbs, each in charge of eight smaller octopi...
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Dec 4 2019 17:59 utc | 88
An animal with just one digit on each of its hands or forepaws seems so unusual that a fossil dinosaur with such a condition was bound to attract more than its fair share of attention on its discovery and description. What can it have used its digits for, apart from opening canned food (which wasn't to exist until 65 million years after the dinosaurs)?
Posted by: Jen | Dec 4 2019 5:29 utc | 62
Most of us know tyrannosaurus with short forelimbs that had two fingers and did not reach to its mouth. It does not seem that these limbs were used for grasping, so reduction to single finger would not be strange. Note that non-flying birds make pretty residual use of their wings and yet they get food, build nests, rear the young, escape enemies etc.
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Dec 4 2019 18:22 utc | 89
Speaking of clean up on aisle 5, it sure is looking like there is a lot more heat than light being expressed by many MoA barflies.
@ Juliania, I suggest you check the author of the comments before reading, as many of us now are forced to do, and skip those by Circe who continues to express their belief that we have a personal problem instead of a structural one....and that b is supportive of Trump for other than being the true face of late empire.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 4 2019 18:37 utc | 90
@78 juliania
(So says the gnat to the fly in your not so humble opinion!)
But-but what does your aisle 5 praise-Trump muddle, when in fact Trump unleashed Erdo's AQ mercenary army on Syria, then Trump seized Syria's oil after he gave the Golan to Israel, have to do with Trump's bullshet at Nato about Iran killing thousands of protesters???
Before you dish more praise-Trump spin, let ME save you the trouble and answer what you did: merely posted more whitewash-Trump connivery meant to artfully dodge and cover why Trump is spewing hateful lies and propaganda about Iran on the Nato platform.
@84 jared
The problem with your theory is that Trump appears innocent in doing us a favor and we should be grateful to him for the Empire's breakdown. Sure I'm grateful Amerikka got Trump and is getting the Trump karma it deserves! But unlike you, I'm not grateful to Trump; but grateful instead to the law of inintended consequences which is the real catalyst of the Empire breakdown spectacle. Trump is no different from the entire rotten establishment, only an amorphous extension of it, more devious and worse, and merely represents the ugly nature of the Empire, manifested. The Empire's temporary unravelling (I'm a realist) is not an achievement of his by design, but the unintended consequence of his Zionist handlers having mistakenly chosen a candidate who tramples the law and miscalculated his inflated self-importance in their zeal to fast-track their goals and his to grab power for himself. They and Trump were too greedy and this is what's unravelling. So, I'm grateful only to the karma that sikked that greedy, megalomaniac bastard on the Amerikkan system, but definitely not to him!
The amusing temporary unravelling notwithstanding, Trump is causing serious problems in many countries and this part of the show ain't funny. IT'S TIME FOR TRUMP TO GO.
Posted by: Circe | Dec 4 2019 18:52 utc | 91
Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 4 2019 18:37 utc | 90
"and that b is supportive of Trump for other than being the true face of late empire."
I think Caitlin Johnstone said it best - Looking at a president Americans look at themselves in a mirror. With the likes of Obama, the Clintons, George Bush, plus scammers like Sanders etc., they see skillfully idealized, romanticized, flattering fake reflections of themselves.
But Trump shows them their true face, and it horrifies most of them. The likes of Circe see their true face and are horrified. The Clintonites and liberals in general see their true face and are horrified. The political and media and intellectual class in general, even many Republicans, see their true face and are horrified. Trump is by far the most typical, true-to-life president in a long time. And that's why there's been so much effort put into this years-long coup attempt against him.
That's the elemental basis of TDS and the elite hatred of Trump in general, and then from there they fear how this true face is then seen by the entire world. And how this true face/mind is so feral that it might inadvertently damage the empire, even though of course Trump never had the slightest such intention.
@ Posted by: Russ | Dec 4 2019 19:03 utc | 93 with the compelling and clear description of TDS
Thanks for that. Nicely done.
I have sent it on to a gaggle of my "friends" and I will see how many of them are offended by it.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 4 2019 19:30 utc | 94
@ Circe
I can understand your frustration.
But again though Trump is a very poor example of a leader and perhaps it is wishful thinking and obtuse to rationalize it as humorous.
But the obvious reality is that he is the symptom, not the cause and replacing him (in itself) accomplishes less than nothing.
It is the oligarchs and their technocrat minions that are the source of all our pain.
We don't see them. We see only the facade that they wish us to see.
You are battling shadows.
Posted by: jared | Dec 4 2019 19:46 utc | 95
Global Times has 5 editorial & op/ed type articles today about the mess that's the Evil Outlaw US Empire. "Xinjiang’s peace, prosperity unnerve US" is the first and mimics the recent extraterritorial attempt by the Empire's Congress to control Part of China as the global propaganda effort and other methods used to try and destabilize Xinjiang have failed:
"The US House of Representatives passed the so-called Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2019 on Wednesday morning Beijing time. The bill requires the Trump administration to publicly denounce China's policy toward the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, impose sanctions on Xinjiang officials under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, and restrict exports of technologies to Xinjiang, unscrupulously attempting to exercise long-arm jurisdiction over Xinjiang.
"This is an intervention bill, but only a paper tiger without one particular lever that can actually impact the governance in Xinjiang. The US Congress is becoming a machine, producing sleazy China-related bills which can only entertain themselves....
"The US has run out of cards against China. As long as China analyses the impact that the US has caused wisely and adopts countermeasures properly, it will be easy to get around this unfavorable situation. The most important thing for China is not to let the US get under its skin, and secure the strong momentum for its development. In a few decades, when China's economy is as powerful as that of the US, the US will not and cannot sanction China anymore. To fight its way out, China can only do so by its own strength.
"Enduring the hardships to revive is a lesson that Chinese already learned thousands of years ago. China's prosperity in the future will be the best response to US provocation."
When I first saw this I laughed at the utter idiocy of the D-Party, which was further reinforced when I clicked on the second, "Most">http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1172315.shtml">"Most countries will rebuild a world order the US can’t stop". Both parties and Trump are assisting the creation of that reality:
"From the so-called Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act to the so-called Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act, when one party interferes in China's domestic affairs, the other won't allow itself to be left behind.
"In this context, two forces in the US are colluding. One force is the anti-China group represented by Republican senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, who use anti-China legislation and statements to enhance their own political careers. The other is an anti-Trump group who opposes anything Trump supports, including hindering him from reaching a trade deal with China.
"This is what US politics is really like. We can predict right now that the 2020 election campaign will be unprecedentedly fierce. It is pathetic for Democrats and Republicans to get where they are."
Well, it's actually a demonstration of how pathetic both parties are and their inability to think about the long term consequences of policy, in this case not enforcing the Full Employment Act by allowing corporations to deindustrialize the nation and build up the competition, which when contemplated briefly is clearly treasonous behavior.
The other three articles are along the same lines. With luck, what Trump and the US Congress has started will escalate and alienate more nations to the point where the Evil Outlaw US Empire ends up containing itself as the financialized fascists gain greater control even while its oppositional forces continue to grow at the local and state levels.
This question was asked long ago and was recently asked again on this forum: Does the USA really need a centralized federal government which can be easily captured as we've seen? In today's world, IMO the answer is no. And that would clean up one of the planet's biggest ever messes.
Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 4 2019 21:01 utc | 96
Russ says:
But Trump shows them their true face, and it horrifies most of them. The likes of Circe see their true face and are horrified. The Clintonites and liberals in general see their true face and are horrified. The political and media and intellectual class in general, even many Republicans, see their true face and are horrified. Trump is by far the most typical, true-to-life president in a long time
yes Russ, very nicely articulated,
which leaves us in a hall of mirrors.
Posted by: john | Dec 4 2019 21:21 utc | 97
Seems Bulgaria's quite a mess, too:
"Russian President Vladimir Putin argued that Bulgaria has deliberately slowed down the construction of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline.
"Putin: 'If #Bulgaria does not want to carry out the project, we will find different ways to realize our opportunities in Southern Europe.'"
As shown in the map at link, that's the segment that's to supply the Balkan region with Russian gas. Apparently, Borissov was bribed during his recent audience with Trump.
Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 4 2019 21:28 utc | 98
@83
The only question i have about this "psychiatrist" is:
Crackpot, Cult Quack(IMP) or Paid Agent? If the former, then
it illustrates how anyone outside the false reality of the
cult of lucifer-reality is viewed as insane. The "reality
based community" is designated as mentally-ill. We are witnesses
to the mobilization of mass psychosis for unholy war against those
who live by objective reality. The IMP's assault is not against trump.
Trump has nothing at all to do with it. It is an assault on reality itself,
it is the inquisition entering its active phase of insurrection against Logos.
The IMP cares nothing at all for that which prompted trump's "delusion": the
immiseration of an entire country into internecine strife under a deluge of
corruption, the instigation of a fratricidal neo nazi fanaticism as the tip
of the empire's spear aimed at the heart of christendom. She is only concerned
that trump dared to scratch the surface of the corruption, to expose a smidgen
of its immensity. If the latter, then Evil Incarnate, incorrigible and irredeemable.
Posted by: evilempire | Dec 4 2019 21:29 utc | 99
@95 jared
What the hell, shadows? Trump IS in the oligarch club FFS, he's the face of the club and is as corrupt as they come! That's it I'm not plying this stupid game. I wrote all I want to write on the matter of Trump's Iran comments and the hypocrisy regarding his acts around here.
Posted by: Circe | Dec 4 2019 22:59 utc | 100
The comments to this entry are closed.
Management Disarray
Posted by: Evelyn | Dec 3 2019 16:16 utc | 1