We cannot impose quarantine and testing and eradicate the virus because we are not a “police state” like China.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-24/adf-personnel-to-boost-victorian-coronavirus-contact-tracing/12489744
“Victorian coronavirus cases who don’t answer their phone to contact tracers will soon get a visit from the ADF”

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Jul 24 2020 6:41 utc | 104

Oh and not to forget:
LEXX (Ep.47) “Magic Baby” [UNCUT VERSION] (2001)

Posted by: blues | Jul 24 2020 7:03 utc | 106

pretzelattack
Renaming is contagious it seems. Coon cheese is a well known name here in oz but it is now to be renamed. No longer will it be good for catching black mice….

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Jul 24 2020 7:20 utc | 108

Back in the younger days that was my mates joke. He was part aboriginal, part Indian. I guess he would get done for racism if he said that now.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Jul 24 2020 7:23 utc | 110

Suzan @ 58
Thanks for your input & link @ 58. I’d gone to bed so only now spotted it.
That link is a ——— standard whistle blower rebuttal, only serving to confirm the original aligations. Think assange ! Those rebuttals are very useful to confirm the important’s of the link, and urgent need to cover up. That link is a perfect example, no facts, seeking to put the debate to blaming staff there. Rather than curupt manigment admin politicians. Avoiding putting this incident into the context.
Thanks for reinforcing my original view.
I do have a experience of this from 30 years ago personally , I blew the whistle on Portsmouth VA hospital U.K. a close freand was being murdered in there ! I saved her. nearly cost me my life. Unlawful killing of elderly people, is there a term for that. google that hospital case !! Be prepared to be very very shocked !!
Me I’m an old campaigning warrior.
PS only 900 were murders but that’s an understatement.

Posted by: Mark2 | Jul 24 2020 8:57 utc | 112

Posted by: vk | Jul 23 2020 20:29 utc | 33: Concernign Syrian Refugees in Turkish schools
According to this three years ago (Hurriyet is usually reliable)
“Syrian refugee children in Turkey are set to receive compulsory Turkish education, according to new regulations imposed by the Turkish Education Ministry, which has also decided that Syrian children should be directed to official schools.”
According to TRT (Turkish gov’t broadcaster) in 2018: “There are at least 1.5 million Syrian refugee children in Turkey, and over 610,000 are enrolled in school. But according to Turkey’s ministry of national Education, more than 350,000 Syrian children are not getting any formal education.”
Turkish Times for same year claims: “The propagandize enrolment rate among Syrian interloper children in Turkey has reached scarcely 63 percent, interjection to a efforts of Turkey and a general community. Minister of National Education İsmet Yılmaz pronounced that some 611,524 out of a sum 976,200 school-age Syrian children have enrolled during schools in Turkey.”
Istanbul has a lot of Arabic speaking kids in the streets, it seems to me. So two years ago about 2/3 of school age children have been getting their education. I haven’t any gov’t stats for the 2019 school year.

Posted by: Blue Dotterel | Jul 24 2020 9:19 utc | 114

My post at 110 got me thinking how things progress.
My not politically correct mate when we pulled out the cheese would say Coon cheese catches black mice. He was a bit of and original. Would bullshit anyone, fight anyone, shag anything that resembled a forked stick. Worked for a security company for a bit, now a tax collector for the ATO here in oz. My brother still keeps in touch with him and gives him shit. Brother liked fighting a bit too .

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Jul 24 2020 9:35 utc | 116

Laughing all the way to the bank in Chengdu
https://ellebabe.com/collections/accessories/products/dh142-elbb1
Not spam b, but the Hijab will come into fashion in Florida to stop the China ( According to Pompeo) Virus, which is a corona variant of the Spanish Flu virus that originated on a military base in Kansas, from Chickens.

Posted by: Cloned Poster | Jul 24 2020 10:12 utc | 118

Lizard @ 2
I rarely enjoy a lot of poetry but you hit the nail with that one, bravo.

Posted by: Paul | Jul 24 2020 10:30 utc | 120

lizard @121 <-- What this poster says about local action is true, though ultimately that alone is not enough. I've had some impact preventing my local municipal power company from being bought out by a massively corrupt and slimy corporation that wanted to capitalize on our city having some of the best maintained power infrastructure in the region. As capitalist scumbags they could go years without putting any money into maintenance and just suck on the sweet, free profits from captive customers for years to come. That's a deal any capitalist would love. Unfortunately for them, me and a bunch of loudmouths demanded that part of the sales deal of the utility be that the buyer has to invest just as much of their profits back into maintaining the infrastructure as the city utility currently does. Since that percentage is 100%, and since the demand was catching attention from the other residents of the city who otherwise didn't understand the difference between municipal and private ownership of their utilities, the buyers backed out and one of the more corrupt of the city commissioners promoting the sale lost the next election. Communism for the win in Redneckistan! The efforts by me and the other annoying loudmouths to get the city to implement fiber optic Internet as a publicly owned municipal utility isn't moving ahead so quickly, but it is moving ahead. More miles of cable are being laid and more areas hooked up, but not as fast as I would like.

Posted by: William Gruff | Jul 24 2020 13:01 utc | 122

William Gruff @ 122
Good story, that’s classic people power. I think it’s that sense of achievement a lot of us can share, a sense of righteous empowerment.
David winning over Goliath.
I know that is where my heart is.
Opposite would be might over right.

Posted by: Mark2 | Jul 24 2020 13:41 utc | 124

Some COVID bathos from Oz.
Victoria has instituted a 2nd lockdown which is being very strictly enforced. Now, you need a ‘legal’ excuse to trespass outside outside your residential postcode. There’s so much whining helplessness on social media and in communications between citizens and broadcasters & newspapers, that SBS polled people in the street on the effect the Surprise Lockdown is having on their lives.
Long story short…No-one is happy about it but my Academy Award goes to the woman who said…
“It’s terrible. I’m starting to miss people I don’t even like.”

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Jul 24 2020 13:59 utc | 126

@125 vk
Re: decline of USD
That is a very long term process, generational. I’d expect that other aspects of the US-China competition would produce tangible changes to the world far sooner.
Exchange rates themselves are managed by the central banks – in particular the rate-of-change is actively limited. Neither the ECB nor the Fed will allow extreme disruptions in either direction. (but moves on the order of 50% have happened, for example EURUSD peaked at nearly 1.6 in 2008).
Likewise, the PBOC (China’s central bank) pegs to limit the RMB’s change vs a reference point that is a mix of primarily Dollar and Euro, and perhaps Yen. Why would they want their currency to appreciate? They don’t.
I would keep an eye on the total amounts of trade in various currencies. The EU publishes this for example, vs imports, exports, and broken down for rough categories of goods. (in particular energy is one that should be separated). Anyway, the EU only does half its foreign trade in Euros, the USD dominates the rest. And this is not only in energy. Keep an eye on that. Don’t see it changing yet.
What is happening now, besides covid of course, might have a lot to do with super low energy prices, which reduce the amount of $$ needed all around.
In many years, belt-road countries might do bilateral trade in something other than USD. But much of the world is such with USD, including South America of course, and India, Korea, and Japan are all big ones. It would be interesting if failure to deal with covid knocks out nationalist govts in India and Japan but that may be wishful thinking.

Posted by: ptb | Jul 24 2020 14:30 utc | 128

Oops. Forgot the link to pl ad hominem.
!!

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jul 24 2020 14:36 utc | 130

Libya-Italy road open and kicking, some 10,000 arrived in the latest weeks.
Erdogan preparing to open up full if he doesn’t get what he wants.

Posted by: Mina | Jul 24 2020 15:07 utc | 132

@ Posted by: Beibdnn. | Jul 24 2020 14:54 utc | 131
Not to mention the fact that, if the USA hadn’t separated China from the Soviet camp and opened its vital space, American capitalism (and, therefore, Western) would’ve collapsed much earlier – maybe even resulting in the USA losing the Cold War altogether. Keynesianism was already showing clear signs of exhaustion by the end of the 1960s: the USD-Gold standard had to be hurriedly abandoned in 1971 and Nixon had to make amends with Mao in 1972. Both events are interconnected: they had nothing to do with China, and everything to do with the inner contradictions of American (and Western) capitalism.
His description of China also shows American ignorance towards the scientific concept of socialism and communism.
Speaking of ignorance by the American intelligentsia, this new piece came out to the NYT today. Enjoy the circus:
The World Is Changing. Here’s How the U.S. Can Stay No. 1
If mr. Joffe is everything America has to offer, then China and Russia may be at peace.

Posted by: vk | Jul 24 2020 15:12 utc | 134

I agree with Grieved. The US was starting one war after another with virtually no resistance until they went after Syria and ran into the Ruskies. None since. Remember they were to take out 7 countries in 5 years after 911. They were not even considering that some other guys with muscles might show up because none had.
That act is over unless they want to commit suicide.

Posted by: arby | Jul 24 2020 15:30 utc | 136

Grieved @ 87
Your points about the terror experienced by the military when Trump murdered Iranian general Soleimani and the Iraqi generals escorting him are worth emphasis. What we need to continually bear in mind is that the US doesn’t make stuff any longer, and the working class has suffered mightily for that reason. Their jobs simply went, starting with the Bill Clinton tradeoffs on social welfare and big money aggrandizement. The military industrial complex Eisenhower warned about simply morphed into a bank-supported behemoth, and that was what we in the US ‘made’ for all future prognostications of wealth, with the ptb happily telling us that the jobs were never coming back. My own younger son almost, almost! went to work for Raytheon — I can’t tell you how many times I gave thanks that did not happen, even though it meant he went jobless and incurred a mounting, ever present student loan debt because that job did not materialize. I’m so happy he opted for being a poor peon, took on work at a small organic farm and learned to grow fantastic tomatoes instead.
I will place the blame for this pandemic, though we can’t say definitely (but we will eventually be able to pin it down I feel sure) with the nasty labs that have proliferated since the US was thwarted in its claim of Syrian malfeasance with respect to chemical weaponry, along with the overwhelming opposition to genetically modified seeds and foodstuffs. This in combination with global climate change thanks to the pollution being still in effect so that growing our own foodstuffs is harder to do than it ever was – I can’t even use the rainwater, for instance, to water my garden. It accumulates oily gunk in the containers I used to collect it, so the lifegiving aspects of that formerly helpful process are now negated.
It’s not ‘we humans’ that have overpolluted our world, it’s huge conglomerates that pay off the politicians so they will keep turning a blind eye. Shame on them all!

Posted by: juliania | Jul 24 2020 15:31 utc | 138

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Jul 23 2020 15:01 utc | 3
Rich, you read the article? What does a tiny, tiny wheel in the overall professional tax avoiding machine suggest to you about the man?

Posted by: moon | Jul 24 2020 15:45 utc | 140

Hey Mark2 @112
Agree the media link was standard wb rebuttal but don’t agree that it renders the original accusations believe-worthy accurate. As someone earlier responded, what went on in hospitals at the height of NYC’s epidemic crisis is mixed phenomena.
The epidemic suddenly forced facilities that were already understaffed and underfunded, due to the last decades of vampire attack on what used to be a public health system, into crisis. They were overrun. Community hospitals like Elmherst serve uninsured and low-income residents, people who’ve been most severely impacted by the for-profit system’s slow attempted murder, physical and spiritual, since the creation of the fiat usd in the early 1970s. Those hospitals are the worst hit despite hard work by some diligent staff and doctors. Little was empirically known about about how to treat the illness this spring in usa (as usan’s seemingly remained ignorant of the rich seam of information made available to the world public by the medics and scientists who dealt with the Wuhan outbreak.) So the outcome was as expected: horrendous and inhumane.
A clear-cut case of senioricide is what Sweden did with its policy in aged care homes. They implemented DNR (do not resuscitate) orders and administered only palliatives, letting people die, when a short few-days course of oxygen ( not on ventilator and not intubated, simple oxygen up the nose) could have saved lives. The palliatives have the effect of suppressing respiration, making breathing even more difficult. If you want a link, I could look it up. There’s an MD in Sweden campaigned to educate the gov and care homes to provide oxygen instead of pallliatives. He received push back saying staff in care homes were not capable of providing oxygen — too dangerous. He said his 6 year-old daughter can do it and the gas is not as dangerous, flamable, as they claim. He coined the term senior-icide for what was being done to the older generation there. All the better for the coffers of the state as neoliberalism sets in. It won’t have to support the oldest generations, normally in human society seen founts of wisdom.
There was an NYC ER head who committed suicide earlier this spring. Did you read about her? Evidently the stress was too much for her. I suppose she began to understand they had not understood the disease correctly enough to treat patients, that they had in fact caused much unnecessary death. Just my guess. I blame the system, the private financial for-profit system. Being a universal solvent dissolving social bonds, it has ruined society(ies).
The USG has committed sociocide in the ME as many on this blog discuss to various extents, destroying societies that were once thriving and intact. Usa’ns are finding out the same is happening here but with a different approach. As Lizard poeticized @2,

“…if they can’t make money
they’d rather see you dead.”

It is an institutional disease driven by monopoly finance capitalism. When some individuals get it, get how it is sociocidal, they are simply replaced with more cogs in the killing for-profit machine.
Personally I have avoided the so-called health care system here (usa) as much as possible, for many many years. As a young person I majored in chemistry and biology in undergrad school where I witnessed firsthand the ruthless competitiveness of some pre-med students. I was an advanced organic lab assistant to help pay my way and could see this up close. So I made a decision in my early 20s to be my own doctor and avoid the system if at all possible. I’m now in my sixties. So far, so good. I practiced/practice preventive measures — work hard, exercise, healthy food, much of which I grow, plenty of sleep, mental space (never watched tv and rarely see corporate media; i rely on people like b to process this for me), meditation, etc. When young I struck out to change the world and figuratively banged my head against a wall for decades. I was the only one harmed. If I cause no harm to others including the natural world and am able to provide an environment of sanity and care wherever I am, I now consider that doing well for me given my circumstances. Of course it is not enough.
Living inside the beast is like waiting for death to come. Some say death is like changing clothes. We must die as a society before we can enter a new life where relationships are tended with science understanding, gentleness, care and wisdom.

Posted by: suzan | Jul 24 2020 16:02 utc | 142

@Richard Steven Hack #61
No, I understood what you are trying to say.
What I posted illustrated that you have no idea what you are talking about.
There is no need for Chauvin to be corrupt in order to make a really, really good living.
Furthermore, there is clear proof he was doing so: it was exactly the long-term, off-duty work through which he knew Floyd.
In any case, your credibility and analytical capability continue to show weakness.

Posted by: c1ue | Jul 24 2020 16:08 utc | 144

c1ue: Well, if NZ has cut off international flights early on, and is now doing a thorough quarantine of all newcomers (be the Kiwi citizens or tourists from abroad), then it stands to reason that it would fare better than a country that didn’t want to close down its airports before the virus was already disseminated inside the local population. Closing down most of the economy early on helps as well, but an isolated island like NZ (or even Australia) should first of all close foreign travel, and then search hard and in-depth for the few infected people that would already be inside.
Of course, European countries don’t have the luxury of mostly relying on closing airports, they should do it the hard way, closing borders and the economy.

Posted by: Clueless Joe | Jul 24 2020 16:29 utc | 146

Out fishin’ yesterday on a fine ocean, got to talking with my guest about Portland, Covid, China and such. On the topic of China stealing “our jobs and factories,” I asked him if he knew of the singer/pianist Billy Joel, he said yeah, and if he recalled a tune titled “Allentown”:
“The song’s theme is of the resolve of those coping with the decline of the American manufacturing industry and the emergence of the Rust Belt in the latter part of the 20th century. More specifically, it depicts the depressed, blue-collar livelihood of residents of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in the wake of Bethlehem Steel’s decline and eventual closure.” [My Emphasis]
I have an issue with the bolded word “decline” since that’s not what was happening; lack of capital reinvestment amidst the rush to offshore production at Neoliberalism’s infancy is what was actually going on, although it was hard to tell at the time. Joel’s lyrics tell the tale far better. The opening verses:
“Well we’re living here in Allentown
And they’re closing all the factories down
Out in Bethlehem they’re killing time
Filling out forms
Standing in line” [My Emphasis]
So, the counter argument to the rants of Pompeo and ilk is to shove this song from 1982 in their face and tell them they’re full of shit. Joel cryptically provides the reason given at the time towards the end of the tune:
“They threw an American flag in our face.”
Paraphrasing Reagan, “It’s for the good of the nation that we move these strategic factories and their jobs overseas where the products can be made more cheaply upon which the American consumer and economy will benefit.” At first they went to Japan and Korea, despite the intense Japan bashing that was led by Reagan and his two-faced labor allies. Again, note Joel’s lyrics:
“And the union people crawled away.”
I asked my guest who’s in his early 70s if he also recalled another Joel hit, from 1989, “We Didn’t Start the Fire”, and he remembered that one too. I told him the problems we have today–our fire–we didn’t start but it’s clear that they must be stopped, and for that to happen we need the Citizenry to do its duty like in Portland and elsewhere–hold power to account. He didn’t need much convincing. Generally, people capable of clear thinking don’t need much convincing.
An argument’s being made to return to square one and restart the fight to contain COVID. IMO, that’s a very powerful argument in the face of deliberate failure that we also discussed while fishing. Thus, it was great to see the linked article this morning. Meanwhile, Senate Republicans are leaving town for the weekend, which prompted the following remarks from Senator Wyden:
“‘Here’s the message that I think the folks who are walking on an economic tightrope this weekend need to hear: On this side of the aisle, we’ve been ready to go for weeks, essentially months,’ Wyden said, referring to Senate Democrats. ‘As of this afternoon, with benefits expiring in two days, the other side of the aisle has no piece of legislation on offer.’
“”They write lots of bills to help multinational corporations, lots of bills to help the powerful and the special interests,’ said the Oregon Democrat. ‘But as of this afternoon, there is not a bill to help those folks who this weekend are going to be saying, “We’re not going to be able to make rent in a few days, we’re not going to be able to feed our families, not going to be able to pay for the car insurance”….
“‘The lapse that is being forced on this country right now is because Senate Republicans would not step up. The lapse is going to lead to evictions, it’s going to lead to hunger, it’s going to lead to desperation for millions.'”
I’d say it was Republicans, Nixon in 1971, that started our current fire, although Neoliberalism captured both parties. Yet, Republicans have been at the helm during the most important phases–Nixon, then Reagan/Bush, the crypto-Republican Clinton, followed by W then another crypto-Republican in Obama.
Leaf blowers to disperse tear gas. Somebody’s thinking!

Posted by: karlof1 | Jul 24 2020 16:48 utc | 148

New Michael Hudson interview with Ellen Brown, “Banking as a Public Utility”. After providing deep context, the main question:
“So the question is, is it really worth subjecting the economy to poverty, to homelessness, to close down businesses, to end the middle class in order to pay debts to the financial class that have made all the gains and growth since 2008? Or do we want to say, ‘OK, the debts can’t be paid.’ That means that the mortgages won’t be paid, the loans won’t be paid, and some of these trillions of dollars that the financial sector and the Five Percent and the One Percent have made are going to be given back? Well, the One Percent says, ‘We’re not going to give back a penny. We are going to insist that the debts be paid. It’s worth it to us to impoverish the economy so we can get richer, even if by getting one dollar, we’re willing to make the economy lose a billion dollars because that’s all we care about.’ That’s the point at which the American economy has reached today. Most of the discussions in the mainstream press don’t spell out the fact that if the economy does not write down the debts, we’re in for a chronic depression that will last until the debts are finally written down.” [My Emphasis]
After discussing the finer details, the solution reduced to its basics:
“So the problem isn’t simply a debt write-down; it’s to restructure the financial system to make it into a public utility instead of a private monopoly.”
So, a Debt Jubilee isn’t enough, the financial system needs to be completely rebuilt as a public utility that serves Main Street–Period. Wall Street can still be private, but it will no longer have any impact on public policy, and with enactment of a Tobin Tax can become a source of revenue instead of a massive liability.
During the discussion, Hudson reveals his complete lack of confidence in a Biden regime to do the right thing, which when properly translated means Congress won’t do the right thing by enacting the relevant legislation that Biden either signs or vetoes. Thus my argument that a Sea Change in Congress is more important than who becomes POTUS as this article exemplifies.

Posted by: karlof1 | Jul 24 2020 17:49 utc | 150

Suzan @ 142
I’v been following MOA for nearly three years now, on a daily bases. Your comment @ 142 is the best I have seen here ! You win the prize, tick all the boxes. Sincerly.
I agree with all you say about Elmhurst. Indeed the fault rests further up the chain. That whistle blower still deserves a meddle though, it takes courage to speak up as she did, I know first hand.
You very often get no thanks, only vilifiecation. The down side of that is — we need to remember, is it acts as discouragement to much needed other pertential whistle blowers. We see this all to often.
Some times in small enclosed communities there can be a disfunctional culture that builds a life of its own. To the point where dreadful things become the norm. A fresh eye seeing it for what it is, then becomes valuable!
I love the sound of your life style, basicly the same as mine. Paradise at home environment. But still an active activist.
I lack the academic gift though. Streetwise is good enough for me.
Thanks again you’v made my day.
Ps any tips on low blood pressure ?

Posted by: Mark2 | Jul 24 2020 17:56 utc | 152

@ Cadence Calls (99) “Wow. There is some real intellectual masturbation going on here in these comments.
I used to read here for information.
Nowadays, it’s just the same thing over and over again from pseudo intellectual narcissists.
I’m sure you will all be pleased to know that I AM OUT OF HERE.”
Yep, lots of people with axes to grind. Some have been grinding for so long that it’s surprising that any blade is left at all.

Posted by: Rob | Jul 24 2020 18:04 utc | 154

@ Cadence Calls
A narcissist would also assume “all” would feel anything at his exit from anywhere.

Posted by: Digital Spartacus | Jul 24 2020 18:12 utc | 156

@ 142 suzan, @148 karlof1 and @149 chu teh … all good posts.. thanks! funny seeing some other posters busy complaining.. moa has a wealth of insights and info..

Posted by: james | Jul 24 2020 18:29 utc | 158

JR @153–
They can blame the Depression on whoever they choose but that will do nothing to actually solve the problem that Hudson illustrates so well. And IMO, the public has a much better view of the issue now than 12 years ago.

Posted by: karlof1 | Jul 24 2020 18:50 utc | 160

lizard 121
Doing something, even if it is too little too late is a good thing so good on you. Screaming incoherently and and clutching at straws in abject fear of the inevitable is not so good.
I see you’re at least writing comments now rather than gibberish. Domestically things are no where near as bad here as the US. Only one domestic issue I started on, found a tiny group of people scattered across oz that were also looking into it. When I looked in too deep, the abyss looked back. It was an issue that required mass media to make it known to enough people that there was weight in numbers to take on the abyss. Class action or what ever action was required against the government. Under our rule of law, a little known law is that ‘national interest’ takes percent over all else and is used at judges discretion.
Geo-politicaly Australia is following the US and that is where the shit is going to hit the fan for us. Polishing the local paintwork does little to change that.
I was a latecomer to the internet, and it was after a couple of years I thought I would use it to research a small political party that had been destroyed by a concerted effort from the duopoly,plus Greens and media. That was something that struck me at the time was the concerted effort to destroy a small grass roots party that started getting a lot of votes. Shortly after that, MH17.
There a bit of dust here and there on the local level paint work and glassware but vigorously polishing that wont change the deeper problems that are going to bring us down, namely the loyalty at the federal level to the English monarch and the US – the five-eyes deep state. It is at this level our problems lay which is different to the US.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Jul 24 2020 19:00 utc | 162

Peter AU1 | Jul 24 2020 2:01 utc | 70
According to those two photos Pompus Maximus is uglier than Goering was.

Posted by: foolisholdman | Jul 24 2020 19:41 utc | 164

Kadath | Jul 24 2020 2:08 utc | 72

The News from Next Week

Dateline Djibouti, 24/07/2020
From our correspondent in Africa.

RESCUED AMERICAN SAILORS DISEMBARK IN DJIBOUTI

All two thousand five hundred and thirty-two men and women rescued from the USS Elvis Presley were disembarked in Djibouti this morning, from the Chinese warship Wang Hai. They were the survivors of the torpedoeing that took place the day before yesterday off the horn of Africa..
Their dramatic story has not been correctly told until now, but we can now tell our readers the true story of the treachery and skullduggery that caused them to find themselves in the tragic predicament that they did.
The story begins with a meeting between President Trump and PM Netanyahoo that took place in Mars al Lago some time last month, in the course of which they discussed the failing campaign to re-elect the POTUS. Netanyahoo suggested that a sure-fire way, would be to have a war with Iran. His reasoning was: that the Iranians deserverved it anyway and either it would make Trump extremely popular, the well-know “all behind the leader when attacked” effect or if it did not, the idea that “you cannot sack the President in the middle of a war” idea, would have the same desired effect of keeping him in the White house.
After several drinks, they decided that the best plan would be to send an American battleship to the Gulf and the Israelis would get M.E.K. to spread rumours in Iran that it was coming to attack the shore batteries along the coast near Banda Abbas. Trump told the Pentagon that he wanted the navy to do a FONOPS along the Gulf and this was why the Elvis was sent. As the ship approached Charbahar it was surrounded by a flock of small Iranina speedboats and was proceeding on its way when it was torpedoed by an Israeli submarine.
The torpedo struck amidships and knocked out the engine room killing all who were working there and causing the ship rapidly to take on water. As there was no power to operate the pumps, the Captain gave the order to abandon ship. He was unable to send out an electronic distress signal for the same reason, but some sailors were able to make contact with the cellphone network in Iran to notify their families who told the Pentagon. Some sailors, decided that they might not get into a life boat in time and jumped into the water where they were rescued by sailors from the IRGC.
A Chinese warship which was passing, having noticed the distress flares, stopped to offer assistance and the Iranians were glad to offload the US personnel onto the Wang Hai, which was on its way to the Chinese base in Djibouti, which is only a few miles removed from the US Navy base.
In response to this “Iranian outrage” Trump went on Twitter to declare war on Iran but was quickly persuaded to backtrack on it as a “Joke” by the Pentagon, which told him that they were “Not quite ready” for war with Iran! As a result the whole war had to be cancelled before it got out of control and the story of the unfortunate sinking of the Elvis was relegated to the back pages, when it got mentioned at all in the MSM. The sinking was officially attributed to a mine left over from the second World War and the Chinese were given a very grudging vote of thanks by Congress and the Pentagon. The sailors who were rescued said that they were very well treated by the Chinese sailors and experessed themselves as very grateful in a letter signed by all 2532 of them to the Chinese Ambassador.
Almost none of this story came out in the MSM, but people who read RT or PressTV or Sputnik or Xinhua News/english or TASS, read about the action in some detail, while the whole story, i.e. including the involvement of Trump and Netanyahoo, was published in the Jerusalem Post, in Hebrew.

Posted by: foolisholdman | Jul 24 2020 19:48 utc | 166

I can sympathize, dh. I was the subject of a profanity from a long time (and still current) poster here because the link I had posted made the text hard to read on his mobile device. I rarely post here now and never post links anymore.

Posted by: spudski | Jul 24 2020 19:52 utc | 168

Nemesis calling @ 163
Your starting to sound like a refugee, why after two years dose that thought give me a warm glow.
Tell us all now how you think the world should empathise with your sad plight !
And how you should be treated as human beings.
Sorry nemesis I’m all out of tissues ! There’s a long quie for my sympathy you and your Trumptards are at the back. But carry on the rest of the sane world need a good laugh.
My advice is leave out the bit about George Floyd having a panic attack ! It makes you look stupid.

Posted by: Mark2 | Jul 24 2020 20:02 utc | 170

@171 I do my best james but I’m such a sensitive soul at heart and some people are incredibly rude. Fortunately being here since billmon days I have developed quite a thick skin.

Posted by: dh | Jul 24 2020 20:12 utc | 172

Posted by: Grieved | Jul 24 2020 3:49 utc | 87
It’s actually very easy to understand why Iran is not an easy target for the US Military to attack. As they demonstrated in their attack on Ain Al-Assad Airbase they have ballistic missile that are pretty damned accurate. They are known to have many thousands of them and they have range enough to hit almost anything within a radius of 1000 miles. The US is in no position to wage a ground war on Iran. Nor is it in a position to wage an air war because Iran has pretty decent AA facilities and with its missiles it can knock out all the US airbases and ships within a 1000 miles of Iran’s borders. this would mean that Iran could see any bomber coming and prepare for it. Any fighter escort would be short of fuel before it arrived. Not only that but they have announced that any attack on Iran, from any direction will be answered by a devastating attack on Israel and all the oil-refineries in the area.

Posted by: foolisholdman | Jul 24 2020 20:21 utc | 174

dh@172
Welcome to the interwebs…

Posted by: Digital Spartacus | Jul 24 2020 20:31 utc | 176

Richard Steven Hack | Jul 24 2020 5:25 utc | 96

The US wasn’t ready to attack Iran 6 months ago. More importantly, neither was Israel.

The Idea of Israel attacking Iran on it’s own is ludicrous. Iran is a huge mountainous country with a population of 80 million and a large army. Israel is what 6 million (That No. again?) And as noted elsewhere Iran has formidable missiles. The problem the Us has with building up supplies is the same one again. They would have to be stored a long way off or very well hardened or the Iranians could destroy them.

Posted by: foolisholdman | Jul 24 2020 20:47 utc | 178

William Gruff | Jul 24 2020 19:54 utc | 169
I was amused to learn during my NS, that the way the Army ensures that ALL officers come from rich families, is to make the pay of a second Lieutenant much less than the Mess-fees he has to pay. I’m not sure about 1st Lts, do they still need family subsidies or not? Captains are self supporting, I think.
I leaned this when I complained about my pte’s pay of £1/8/- per week to my platoon cmdr. I was told “You don’t know how well off you are!”

Posted by: foolisholdman | Jul 24 2020 21:03 utc | 180

dh | Jul 24 2020 19:46 utc | 165

But I’ll risk another shot. I think attacking the Federal building was a tactical error on the protester’s part. It has given Trump the excuse he needs to protect Federal property. It’s that or watch it burn down.

Was it protesters who set fire to it or Agents provocateurs?

Posted by: foolisholdman | Jul 24 2020 21:11 utc | 182

the moms are protecting the protestors. the hope was the federal thugs would be reluctant to attack god, motherhood and apple pie, but the thugs proved they will attack moms as aggressively as other innocent protestors. trump doesn’t need much of an excuse to send in the thugs.

Posted by: pretzelattack | Jul 24 2020 21:33 utc | 184

@182 “Was it protesters who set fire to it or Agents provocateurs?”
I have no idea. You tell me. All I know Federal agents are inside the building. I can make a guess what happens to the building if they move out.

Posted by: dh | Jul 24 2020 21:39 utc | 186

dh @165–
In a private note I wrote to a fellow barfly living in Oregon, I said the protesters needed to cease their attacks on federal property as that gives Trump’s goons the rationale they need to riot. The situation differs from Ft Sumter in 1860-61, but it’s very similar–Lincoln gets the impatient Fire Eating Southerners to fire the first shot and thus gets to rightfully claim the need to protect additional federal property, which only serves to further enrage the Fire Eaters. Trump probably doesn’t know any of that history, but nonetheless he’s following that same path. If protests can be shown to be non-peaceful–“violent” because of attacks on property–the protesters lose their one major card–that they’re being assaulted while peacefully demonstrating their right to air their grievances. That’s why the feds and other police agencies use provocateurs to incite the violence they can use as justification for their rampage, although I’m not 100% certain all violent acts are done by such agents.
Demonstrators understand what I wrote above as this item shows. There’s a good possibility that Antifa is similar to Europe’s Red Brigade of days past that was actually an agent of the Police/NATO/CIA/Gladio–it’s too damned convenient and appeared at the perfect moment. Portland’s Mayor Wheeler was in the crowd last night putting forth an argument similar to mine above–the people’s elected representatives are on their side but must return their backing by being peaceful. Yes, it’s very difficult to do when there’re provocateurs. THE biggest reason the Black’s Civil Rights Movement won in the 1950-60s was their very deep commitment to non-violence while it was clear the Goons were bent on violence.
I’ve written on the topic of using the political path versus the violent revolutionary path many times and the morals connected to each. Within the Outlaw US Empire, there’re many reasons to mount a violent revolution, but the citizen solidarity to make it work it woefully lacking, which is why the Feds and their Financial Parasites keep trying–successfully–to Divide and Rule. The attempt would likely fail and those killed would die in vain–a morally unjustifiable outcome. That leaves only the political path for the time being that will either accomplish the goal or at minimum gain the requisite citizen solidarity required to make violent revolution a success. There’re many revolutions from the 20th Century available as case studies to arrive at the above conclusions–they aren’t just pulled from my hat.
In the 6 years my wife and I’ve been together, she’s gone from a moderate to a radical as she’s learned more about the Empire’s truths and lies, and how they promote the great disparities we see. It’s now difficult to argue her out of wanting to right all the wrongs tomorrow via revolution–for she’s correct that the wrongs must be righted. Her argument is that the political path hasn’t produced any results and nothing will change until we get rid of the Duopoly and its sponsors. Hard to counter that, yes? The only sensible reply I can make is that the citizenry isn’t radicalized enough or has enough solidarity to be successful at overturning it all and beginning afresh the next day. Fortunately, she’s mature and intelligent enough to agree with my reasoning. Unfortunately, we have our own version of the Fire Eaters, and we cannot afford to have them put us into a weakened position.

Posted by: karlof1 | Jul 24 2020 22:30 utc | 188

There is the question as to agent provocateurs.
Chicago PD released this video of a brazen attack against bicycle police without any kind of riot protection equipment.
Like I said above, this stuff is not casting good images on these “protests.”
I give kudos to how organized they are for a bunch of panzees going after bicycle cops.
Keep in mind:
+ This is daylight
+ There is widespread organization and it travels freely in and amongst “peaceful” protests
+ At the point of violence, the peaceful among them are rendered complete passive observers by appearing nonetheless to be a part of the violence
…
There is reason to think these protests are about to become a bigger thing:
+ unemployment CARE act is over
+ Trump could get reelected
+ dismissals or letdown when it comes to George Floyd trials and the lack of substantial prison time
+ ongoing economic disruption due to COVID
…
IMO, you will see more of these violent instigations, but we will see.

Posted by: NemesisCalling | Jul 24 2020 23:12 utc | 190

@ lizard 191
You are welcome.
Portland is really the result of Missoula if you think about it…with the Missoula floods and all.
Voodoo is the worst. They do have buckets of day-olds for 5 bucks and…YOU GET TO KEEP THE BUCKET! WOW! Other gourmet donut shops have it over VD, fo sho.
All the Burnside night life is boarded up right now. But even when it wasn’t I stayed clear…it abuts the Mission kitchen there and yeah…a tad unsavory for this square.
Been through Montana a couple times. Visited the college-town Bozeman and my stepbrother went to Western Montana in Dillon. I think there was a place that served 2 pound moose burgers. I only made it through the first pound.
It really is big-sky. You are lucky. And it’s not too far from civilization. There is a Marshall’s there, right?
Thx for your poetry!

Posted by: NemesisCalling | Jul 24 2020 23:51 utc | 192

@NemesisCalling,
ah yes, glacial lake Missoula. we are lucky out here, and don’t think that hasn’t gone unnoticed among those with the means to escape their less ideal locations. there is no softening of the real estate market at all, people are still getting in bidding wars and paying over asking prices, making it worse for those hanging on in the service sector/tourist economy.
one sliver lining of the pandemic locally is a giant convention center project looks to be dead in the water, at least for now. the project would have sucked 16.5 million in public money, something our local agitation was making it difficult to sell to the public.
please keep us updated on developments, what’s happening in Portland is very important.

Posted by: lizard | Jul 25 2020 0:14 utc | 194

dh @193–
Thanks for your reply. Seems the violence was premeditated in your example. Aside from venting, property damage accomplishes nothing other than providing security forces with a rationale for their existence and actions. Violence should only be employed when its use will facilitate the overall political goal of wresting power from those enforcing the gross disparities and looting the treasury; otherwise, it must remain in the tool box.

Posted by: karlof1 | Jul 25 2020 0:31 utc | 196

@195 karlof1
Yes, I am concerned with not being able to get to the truth with the images I see on the internet. I want to know and be informed and then help the truth.
I am scared to death over the hyper-militarization of our police force.
But I can’t shake the feeling that much of what is going on doesn’t concern me in the slightest, it being heavenly-laden with the pull of politics, the duopoly.
And I just don’t think there are champions among us to focus the energy of the outrage and direct it where it belongs.
Thank you for continuing to engage with me. It has bothered me this last few days with my rudeness to you about the situation in our fair city.

Posted by: NemesisCalling | Jul 25 2020 1:04 utc | 198

NemesisCalling 198 “And I just don’t think there are champions among us to focus the energy of the outrage and direct it where it belongs.”
You hit the nail on the head with that one. Anyone that has that ability and they are few, is identified and neutralized in some way before anything can form.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Jul 25 2020 1:20 utc | 200