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October 1, 2020
Open Thread 78
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by: vk 70 I am afraid you vk are wrong.. two people did get rid of the bankers.. one was Abe Lincoln (1865) and the other was William Mckinley (1901<12 years before the federal reserve act, the income tax, and 26th amendment) , it is unclear why James A. Garfield (1881) was executed, but very clear that John F. Kennedy...was executed for considering dropping the fed.. and because he was planning to take out Israel's nuclear facility.
In America there are two groups 1) the Empire Group (about 1 million strong) <=who depend on the USA to maintain by force of law<= the wealth and power that sets the Oligarchs and their corporations apart from the 2) second group (about 340,000,000 strong), victimized USA governed American group <= members of this second group; try as hard a possible. to avoid contact with the USA. Most events that impact the Empire group favorably, impact members of the victim group unfavorably and vice a versa.
The impact of most USA laws, tend to enslave members of the victim group to the power of the empire group. War helps the empire group, and forces the victim group to sacrifice quality of life and their children's blood for the economic well being of the Empire group who profit unconscionably from war.
Getting rid of the Fed would help the victim group and decimate the empire group, just as China and Russia have done, the local communities would create their own interest free reserve currency. Getting rid of copyright and patent laws would decimate the corporate power within the empire group (as in Microsoft and Google would deflate overnight), but eliminate those monopoly powers would create hundreds of thousands of backyard businesses and create millions of jobs all over America, it would bring back into America its long lost industry, and it would re establish the kind of competition and social well being among the victim group that really did make America great. Taking away the college degree as a requirement for a job, would decimate the social and political power the empire group enjoys, but it would enable and empower the members of the victim group. As to eating, because there is no food being transported from foreign food factories to the USA for distribution in Wall Marts around America; Americans would quickly move from the major cities back into the rural environments from where they came. Millions of acres of Farmland have and still can feed America, if only the USA would quit paying farmers not to grow stuff. I don't know an American that would not pitch in to help American farmers produce on their farms NonGMO America farm products. I agree, the giant, highly spied on people, in the cities would disperse to the country, and the fake security of things like homeland security and FEMA and permanent military and private spy contractors would suffer .. but Americans would once again trust each other and do business on a handshake. The price of Bread would drop to 5c a loaf, gasoline to 6c a gallon, and best of all; wall street and entities depending on global markets would fail. Changing the beneficiary of government from Empire to Victim group would help every American to get back to being an American, instead of being forced to be a stand in line globalist.
Posted by: snake | Oct 2 2020 5:09 utc | 101
Trump *says* he and Melania are going into quarantine because they’re both tested positive. I call BS. The whole thing might well be a “sympathy ploy” to get votes.
The fun part is how will this play with all the Trump supporters – virus deniers who keep saying, “Well, *I* don’t know anyone who got the virus!”. Well, now you do, moron.
Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Oct 2 2020 5:10 utc | 102
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Oct 1 2020 17:55 utc | 24 We become curmudgeons when we abandon principles based on a moral and ethical grounding. We do not become curmudgeons because we refuse to participate in a corrupt system. We become curmudgeons when we accept such a system, seek to harness the corruption for our own benefit, and urge others to join us.
I have no morals or ethics (I do have principles), yet I refuse to participate in a corrupt system. OTOH, I believe it is possible to profit from the corrupt system in the process of taking it down. In fact, even referring to the system as “corrupt” doesn’t really address the issue. It’s simply “the system.” It’s the only system you have, the only system you’ve ever had, the only system you’ll ever have, and the only system you *can* have.
So am I a “curmudgeon”? LOL This demonstrates how limited is conventional social debate. There is an “either-or” mentality which is almost always wrong, i.e., factually incorrect. As The Joker said, “I’m not a monster. I’m just ahead of the curve.”
Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Oct 2 2020 5:19 utc | 103
LOL
God @TheTweetOfGod 38m
YOU’RE WELCOME.
Quote Tweet
Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
· 40m
Tonight, @FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER!
Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Oct 2 2020 5:37 utc | 104
Crumbling Case Against Assange Shows Weakness of “Hacking” Charges Related to Whistleblowing
Just one problem with this: the UK court isn’t going to care (if they even understand this.) The fix is in. Assange will be extradited – if for no other reason than to get him out of the UK, so it’s no longer the UK’s problem. He’s going to the Florence Supermax for the rest of his life after another show trial in the US – with that court also not giving a damn – and that’s the end of the story.
Move along. Nothing to see here. Either break him out of jail or fergedaboudit.
Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Oct 2 2020 5:44 utc | 105
Just on the private/public finance thing, I have only one useful example from the late 1990’s after Aotearoa introduced an extremely complex (IMO) version of proportional representation Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) it was new so the arseholes hadn’t worked out how to game the system yet. Essentially altho there are still some pols elected by their constituency, the total number of pols each party has is determined by the party vote which is allocated according to the proportion of votes each political organisation won in the general election.
This meant that the Neolib Labour Party had more seats but could only govern by entering into a coalition with a party called the ‘Alliance’ made up of environmentalists & those genuine left wingers who deserted the Labour Party after the Labour arseholes shifted to neoliberalism.
As I said the new system was still being learned by cynical pols so the lefties managed to get quite a few wins (until a former deputy leader of Labour who joined with the alliance sold them down the river – big surprise).
Anyway one of the wins the Alliance did have was the establishment of a publically owned bank. Back in the days of agrarian socialism in Aotearoa, there were many many public finance institutions credit unions, insurance companies and trustee banks all of whom were owned by the customers, the customers were the shareholder – just like in a real trade union the members make the decisions.
So ‘Kiwibank’ was set up and it stuck to the old school lending policies – none of that fiat nonsense for them, the money lent was determined by the assets (deposits) the bank held.
It worked very well as twenty years ago there were a lot more people still alive who remembered their old-school banks & insurance companies which through the 1980’s had been replaced by privatised versions of what they once had.
Bank charges were instituted, interest paid on deposits slashed and mortgage loans were based purely on numbers not on what it used to be, is this a young family wanting to get set with their own home? how can we help them?
I was surprised at the number of senior kiwis who dragged their dosh outta the soulless privatised banks with high turnover low paid staff and put it into Kiwibank instead because they wanted to be sure the next generation could live free of the elite’s grasp.
The bank really prospered so much that despite constant lobbying from the privatised banks which by that time were 100% foreign owned, which complained about having to abolish bank charges to compete with Kiwibank who had none, yet still made a profit, having to pay interest on deposits, and not being able to charge the ‘correct’ market rate for loans. You know all the ‘retail’ bank scams.
When the crash of 2008 hit bank depositors in Aotearoa were fine as the only Aotearoa owned bank sailed through undamaged, they hadn’t been mug enough to get into that sub-prime thing.
Unfortunately shortly after the GFC, kiwis who had been heavily propaganised, stupidly elected a tory government, the boss of which (he had been a Morgan Stanley wonk before taking up politics) actually wanted to use taxpayer funds to bail out the foreign owned banks!
His own party had to explain to him that this would not be winning optics so eventually he didn’t.
However since kiwibank is 100% government owned he did insist that the bank adopt the the fiat scam & charge customers for all services and basically behave the same as the ‘competition’.
Unfortunately nothing has changed under the neolib Ardern government, there have been moves made towards privatisation which even now have to be quiet & circumspect lest we the people hear about them.
The point is that even tho in 2020 a great many of the kiwis who supported the bank in its infancy have passed, the creation of Kiwibank 2 decades ago demonstrated that A) there is a hunger for public financial systems and B) such systems have no problem surviving & defeating the thieving alternative.
Posted by: Debsisdead | Oct 2 2020 5:49 utc | 106
@3 VK:
Why did the Greatest Geopolitical Grandmaster Genius The Universe Has Ever Seen permit Navalny to be sent to Germany at all? Anything Russia does not is damage control; the egregious blunder cannot be undone.
Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | Oct 2 2020 6:12 utc | 107
Testing positive means nothing. These tests have a 90% false positive rate when you test asymptomatic people. Trump himself is part of the COVID fraud, it was all planned during his watch and executed by agencies under his control. Operation Warp Speed is his baby. People are just too blinded by the false 2 party paradigm, and many are just dumb beyond belief. Dont worry about the Trumpster though, you can bet his Docs are giving him HCQ and Zinc just in case its not a false positive. Works wonders when taken early.
Just goes to show that mask wearing and frequent testing aren’t all that protective against tests that have frequent false positives.
As for what Trump has up his sleeve I cant say. The timing is pretty interesting and I don’t think it helps him. Of course he didn’t exactly help himself in the debate. Maybe he is trying to tank the election so he can contest it and provoke a constitutional crisis that results in martial law , which according to some is one of the scripts. I guess we just have to keep watching this Fake Wrestling Reality Show to find out
Posted by: Kay Fabe | Oct 2 2020 6:15 utc | 108
Noirette @47
That was a good recap on Seth Rich, whose murder no one can be allowed to investigate.
The article centered on Ed Botowsky ‘s quest, but there’s a lot more that should and could have been pointed out. Including the fact that no one, as in no one in the progressive side of the dem party believes there was some silly old “botched robbery”. (by Progressive side, I mean the die hard supporters of sanders and most, if not all of Tulsi’s supporters plus not a few greens and others on the [true] left side of the spectrum, rather than the liberal woke side that is wrongfully described as “far left” when they are just your typical Bourgeoisies from the professional/managerial class).
I have done my own investigation using my own analytic tools, which I call “the dogs that didn’t bark”. Namely, if one adds up ALL the things that SHOULD have happened were it indeed “just a robbery, botched or otherwise, which ended in a killing”, we find a curious phenomenon: not one of the expected, normal responses for such an event have transpired. No police investigation that we have seen, no tearful interviews with grieving family members, no cause of death revealed, hospital discovered only after sleuthing, and most importantly – one pathetic bike rack for Rich is all that the DNC could do for one of their brighter employees. I had a list of at least 12 things that would take place when a white middle class young educated person, who is, on top of it from the rather privileged and notoriously caring Jewish segment of the population gets murdered, and none of those happened.
An aside, I even compared with the course of events as they happened following the Chanda Levy disappearance, then discovery of her remains. The many interviews, the concerned family, the police blame game, the endless innuendos about the Congressman, and really the unrelenting media interest. She was of a similar privileged background,and her death just as much of a mystery plus there were all those murky politically-tinged details.
One does not need a fancy AI program to discern the peculiar differences in the patterns. neither do I need Ratner or even Assange to confirm or deny anything. the Seth Rich murder was a sophisticated assassination, bearing all the hallmarks of a hit. No plain old robbery received as little attention as this one, not given who the victim was.
The one thing I can add after my little exercise in pattern recognition, is that what’s clear to me is that it wasn’t the robbery that was botched (as there was no robbery to be botched) but the cover-up. Likely back on July 10 the perpetrators did not feel that it was necessary to work too hard at a credible cover-up given they were sure they will be in charge come january. The weaknesses and loopholes in the cover-up is the reason they are still working ever so hard to continue to squash any and all discussion about this tragic case.
RIP Seth Rich. And may your ghost come back to haunt the ones who sent your killers and continue to prevent justice from taking its course.
Posted by: Merlin2 | Oct 2 2020 6:18 utc | 109
The first time I have the impression that Lavrov is out of his mind.
Everybody knows that the Russiand didn`t agree to the Two Plus Four Treaty voluntarily. They did so, because putting down the Peaceful Revolution in East Germany violently – like they had done in 1953 – would not have resulted in the restoration of Soviet power but in 1989 it would have resulted in the violence spilling over into the Soviet heart land. In 1991 the Soviet Union was on the brink of economic and social collaps. Voluntarily the Russians would never have left Germany and allowed German reunification in a thousand years.
So what Lavrov says is: “The only way you can expect any compromise on our part is when we are weak. When we are strong we are like the other “last superpower”. (Just not that dumb.)”
Posted by: m | Oct 2 2020 6:23 utc | 110
Biswapriya Purkayast @ 104:
Russia is not the Soviet Union. Russian citizens can opt to be treated overseas if they want. Navalny’s family requested permission to send him to Berlin.
Germany transported Navalny to the Charite hospital at its own expense.
It is Germany’s responsibility to provide Russia with Navalny’s blood samples and medical reports that show he was poisoned with Novichok, however adulterated it is. Russia already has its own samples from the Omsk hospital doctors who treated him initially and saved his life.
If other countries insist that Russia carry out an investigation into his poisoning, then Russian investigators are ready and waiting for Germany to cough up the evidence. If Berlin cannot provide the samples, or even show that Navalny was a patient at Charite hospital in Berlin, then the Russians are willing to wait – and to complete Nordstream II on their own, and divert all the gas away from Ukraine to Nordstream II. Then the Ukrainians will start screaming to Poland and Lithuania and those two countries will start pressuring Germany and Brussels to do something.
Posted by: Jen | Oct 2 2020 6:32 utc | 111
In mid-September, (Modernas) Bancel had reportedly said the company hoped to see results by October, but a dip in the average national cases made it difficult for researchers to compare the vaccine’s success against a placebo.The U.S. has tallied over 7.2 million cases of novel coronavirus and more than 207,000 deaths.
https://www.foxnews.com/health/modernas-coronavirus-vaccine-wont-be-ready-widespread-distribution-spring-ceo
Here are monthly cases. Maybe he has inadvertently admitted these are not real cases ?
Official Cases (rounded off)
April (800K)
May (700k)
June (800k)
July (2 million)
Aug (1.5 million)
Sep (1.2 million)
Of course, testing healthy asymptomatic people with a test that has a false positive rate of 90% are inflating these numbers.
I suspect Moderna is defining cases as symptomatic cases
Posted by: Kay Fabe | Oct 2 2020 6:34 utc | 112
Belarus sanctions update, October 2…
European Union leaders broke a diplomatic deadlock on Friday to impose sanctions on Belarus, after reassuring the Republic of Cyprus that the bloc would also punish Turkey if it continued to drill for oil and gas in disputed areas of the Mediterranean.
The deal, hammered out after hours of negotiations, will impose sanctions on about 40 officials accused of rigging August’s presidential election in Belarus although the country’s president, Alexander Lukashenko, is not among those singled out.
Source: Reuters via Al Jazeera.
Wow! Talk about corruption…
The EU is just as corrupt and dysfunctional as the UN and USA.
On October 1 Cyprus said it wouldn’t support EU sanctions on Belarus unless the EU imposed sanctions on Turkey for its Oily exploits in the Med. Given that the Electoral sins of Belarus are all a figment of Christian Colonialism’s mendacious imagination, and therefore Fake and unsubstantiated, it shouldn’t take Cyprus long to realise that the EU’s Turkey promise was “just another EU lie.”
It’s almost funny…
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Oct 2 2020 6:49 utc | 113
Formerly T-bear. #64
In 25 years I have Velux,it happened to me twice that suddenly a big “leak” occurred.This was due to the crumbling of the polyethyleen strips on the metal patches left and right to the window,that gathered leafs and little pieces of moss,and blocked the evacuation.In heavy rainfall the water goes up the tilesanext and above to the patches ,and creeps under the tiles causing the leak.Very easy to repair if you have access to your velux-window.Just clean it up!
Posted by: willie | Oct 2 2020 7:08 utc | 114
@104
By Russian Law it would have been illegal to prevent Navalny from being treated at a hospital of his families choosing.
Posted by: Jason | Oct 2 2020 7:26 utc | 115
A must watch from Aaron Mate:
Leaks expose massive Western propaganda op in Syria proxy war
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnJYNCtwB60
Love the website, which is basically the only website where I LEARN from the comments. Especially VK and Karlof1. There are many others who are also good, and even the few bad ones are far better than comments on any other MSM.
Posted by: Peter Schmidt | Oct 2 2020 7:28 utc | 116
looks like the “hoax” is still claiming victims. trump’s high risk, too.
Posted by: pretzelattack | Oct 2 2020 7:44 utc | 117
Next question (always ask the next question): What will be the conspiracy theories over Trump getting the virus?
Here’s one to play with: When the virus started in the US, Trump was convinced by certain advisers that the virus was not a problem and that politically he should treat it as a nothingburger. But the real goal of these advisers was to insure that shortly before the election Trump would be exposed to the virus – just in time to catch it and, being high-risk, die. And then Pence takes the office of President. Pence is 61 and appears to be in much better shape than Trump.
Then there’s this: VP Pence would take power under 25th amendment if Trump becomes incapacitated from COVID – and GOP still has time to pick a replacement if president becomes too ill before the election
From a Guardian article posted an hour ago quoting a tweet:
Health Nerd (@GidMK)
Apropos of nothing, according to our systematic review and meta-analysis of the age-stratified IFR of COVID-19, a 74-year-old person who catches the disease has a 1 in 25 risk of death
So Trump is high-risk because he’s 74 and overweight. Mostly likely he has chronic inflammation and given his nature and job, probably has hypertension as well – all comorbidities that increase his odds of dying if he gets the full pneumonia and has to go on a ventilator. As someone suggested, maybe this is the October surprise.
Of course, Trump might just get mild symptoms, get good enough medical treatment to avoid full-blown pneumonia, and survive. If he does, he gets the “sympathy vote”. But over the next 2-14 days, probably 5 days, his case will incubate and he will develop symptoms. 7-10 days from now with symptoms, he will either get better or develop worse symptoms. Within 10-12 days from now Trump will be in an ICU if his symptoms worsen. If he goes into full-blown severe symptoms, this will continue from around days 12 to day 28. So by end of the month of October, he will either survive or die.
However, if he has the full-blown case, by end of the month of October, he may *still* be incapacitated to a great extent by muscle pains, neurological dysfunction, heart problems and other effects known to be caused by the disease. He might not be able to function as President or even vote for himself in the election.
So aside from the conspiracy theories, what happens if Trump can no longer function as President. I’ll leave aside the joke that since he hasn’t functioned as President yet, no one will notice. LOL But what happens if Pence becomes President because Trump dies before the election? Does Pence have a better or worse chance of beating Biden? Will Trump’s death give Pence enough support to beat Biden? If Biden beats Pence, will Pence implement Trump’s plans – if any – to cause a Constitutional crisis over the succession? If Pence wins, will this change any plans on the Democratic side?
Lots of nice juicy questions for everyone to get obsessed over. This could end up looking like a pandemic thread. LOL
Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Oct 2 2020 8:22 utc | 118
Down South #6
Interesting article by F William Engdahl
“>https://m.journal-neo.org/2020/09/28/gates-vaccine-spreads-polio-across-africa/
Thank you. The old DDT trick worked a treat.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Oct 2 2020 8:24 utc | 119
As a non-smoking approx 70 yo old, orangeutan is at a low risk of getting a serious Covid case from his viral infection – unless he suffers from hypertension & I betcha he wouldn’t habe allowed the team to infect him if he had hypertension, a condition that is treatable eps for non-drinkers & non-smokers.
My guess is that the slug does have the infection (cos too much risk of blowback if he didn’) but ‘the team’ has ensured this viral load is small enough so the scumbag it isn’t infected too bad.
Infecting Melania as well is a masterstroke. For unthinking rethug ning-nong concerned that ‘proves’ he still plays hide the sausage with the slovenian nazi, when in all likelihood he was banished from the melania pit the instant she gave him ‘an heir” just as cigar will did with the diabolically unattractive Hil the Shill.
Trump is at far better odds than any of us moa-ites to make it past inauguration should we be infected, Melania not so much. but only a fool would attempt to unseat ‘her’ much less ‘him’ before we know the ‘trump team’s trickery’.
These are two of the scungiest, low life attempts to scam an election yet.
Don’t listen to this creep, stick him in the nuts, then move on,
Posted by: Debsisdead | Oct 2 2020 8:52 utc | 120
@ willie | Oct 2 2020 7:08 utc | 111
My Velux window leaked for exactly the same reason! Leaves and moss form a dam and cause accellerated rot of the foam strips and let the rainwater flow under the roofing tiles until it finds a way inside the house. Though in my case, the foam strips are not made from polyethylene but from some sort of rubbery foam. I replaced them with some strips of waste polyurethane mattress, glued to the metal frame by liberal application of roofing kit. BTW the metal frame also needed some bending in order to assure proper flow of water. Apparently the craftsmen who installed the Velux window could have done a better job at that. Also, the primary cause of leaves getting stuck and damming up the proper flow of water seems to be caused by an uneven laying of tiles around the Velux window. Having a canal of consistent width helps to keep obstructions away for longer periods.
Posted by: Lurk | Oct 2 2020 9:08 utc | 121
Donald Trump + covid = Karma
A pox upon his house !
And his followers.
Posted by: Mark2 | Oct 2 2020 9:32 utc | 122
You can bet that Trump is loaded with Vitamin D by his medical staff. Dr Fauci takes 6000 IU Vitamin D daily (but says 600 is good enough for you) -> https://youtube.com/watch?v=ZqZLMoLvhgk
Vitamin D is so cheap, there’s no money in it (@2:15) -> https://youtube.com/watch?v=B01ZlRfMnmU
D is for Debacle – The Crucial Story of Vitamin D and Human Health
Posted by: Lurk | Oct 2 2020 9:46 utc | 123
PS don’t forget to make sure you ingest sufficient quantities Vitamin K when considering larger doses of Vitamin D.
When in doubt, consult your doctor.
Posted by: Lurk | Oct 2 2020 9:49 utc | 124
@ willie | Oct 2 2020 7:08 utc | 111 and
@ Lurk | Oct 2 2020 9:08 utc | 118
Thank you both for sharing your experiences. The insurance company sent a roofing person to inspect the roof after I reported the dry rot at the bottom of two velux, one extremely bad shape. The insurance company reported the problem to the building management to address a problem stemming from original construction before replacing the velux. Nobody told me nada and did nada and now the autumnal deluges are upon us in force. Spent last night overseeing the streams of water entering the bottom of the window through the ceiling beneath the window (the garret upstairs). Did have an interesting night but siesta this afternoon will be something else. I shall owe the poor poet a lot of pottage for using up the bandwidth last night. Thanks again for the information, will put it to good use.
Posted by: Formerly T-Bear | Oct 2 2020 10:04 utc | 125
Navalny promoter the director of his foundation Vladimir Ashurkov, is firmly embedded in the UK’s secretive Integrity Initiative!
Surprises never cease.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Oct 2 2020 10:10 utc | 126
Melania getting Covid from Trump is proof the virus still spreads even when you do your best to avoid all forms of physical contact and stay 6 feet away from the infected at all times
reddit has some real gems from time to time
Posted by: dan of steele | Oct 2 2020 11:02 utc | 129
There’s a long interview in Der Spiegel – usually a NATO rag magazine – with Navalny where he makes all kinds of allegations. Somehow even Der Spiegel doesn’t seem to be all too convinced. LOL
Posted by: vato | Oct 2 2020 11:49 utc | 130
@ Formerly T-Bear | Oct 2 2020 10:04 utc | 125
Do as willie suggested: remove all clutter from the sides of the Velux. That will stop the flow of water being redirected into your living quarters. Then you can comfortably await proper repairs without further interruptions to your sleep cycle.
Posted by: Lurk | Oct 2 2020 11:59 utc | 131
Yesterday’s EUCO was a disappointment. Again. They sanctioned Belarus, but they rewarded Turkey for being the bully in the East Med. What a joke this Union is.
Posted by: DG | Oct 2 2020 12:10 utc | 132
No hypothesis is well supported until compared to both the usual course of events (what may be called the base rate, the expected frequency of outcomes,) *and* alternative hypotheses. I have no idea what the rate of deaths by botched robberies is, but I can say, not taking the money would be the “botched” part. Another reason for young men to be killed late at night has been, being gay in the wrong place and time. There is no visible girl friend explaining Rich’s politics, at any rate. Nobody has established satisfactory reason to accuse Clinton of murdering Rich. Or anyone else.
Posted by: steven t johnson | Oct 2 2020 12:59 utc | 133
Posted by: karlof1 | Oct 1 2020 23:51 utc | 70
Your link has put me down into a rabbit hole where I discovered that FDR wishes for mutual cooexistence with USSR and it was Churchill that always get in the way to thwart it. All of this makes senses on some of the fact I know before: that FDR wished to create a third party after war, that his former vice president (Henry Wallace) turned into pariah for continuing his legacy by branding him as commie sympathizer, and finally how the United States turned into the imperialist of today. Churchill basically made America adopting British imperialism with American characteristic from his Iron Curtain speech in Missouri.
I feel really sorry for FDR, how he become second Abraham Lincoln where his legacy tarnished and trampled over by his own vice president and the subsequent establishment. And any shred of respect for Churchill is basically gone forever. For me he simply just old racist British imperialist with no redeeming quality whatsoever. He does not lead Britain to victory in WW2. He ACTIVELY thwarting any effort by the USA to established a link with USSR militarily.
Also now it make sense why China has biography of FDR in their schools (translated to various ethnic languages): he is the first internationalist, believed in mutual co-existence, and wanted cooperation to be the future of humanity to avert any other future destructive war. The PRC carries his legacy where the USA trampled all over it.
Posted by: hangar | Oct 2 2020 13:10 utc | 134
What a bag full of air and sense of impunity, doctors in Omsk who saved his life decline to sue the Berlin patient who instead of thanking them for their life drops a bucketful of dirt on them. On top he is going to take legal action against the presidential spokesman Peskov for affirming that he is being coached by agenCIA spooks. A stellar learner of imperial methods this convict Navalny, with an ego way bigger than the slim support he inspires in Russia, especially now when a look back at the 90’s and the catastrophe that fell upon them has made Russians to smart up. So he can loud mouth the president of his country and affirm that he gave the order to poison him, no consequences there, but nobody can say the obvious, from Yale to Langley the distance is short.
Posted by: Paco | Oct 2 2020 15:01 utc | 135
MMT has no theory of profit, thus cannot address the long term effects of free money given to capitalists. It’s true most versions of MMT advocate free money for people too. And for that matter, it strongly advocates taxation sopping up free money as soon as the “economy” recovers. But that’s not much use, the recovery of an economy means a recovery in profitability, which MMT is silent about. In the short run, MMT is, export the recession to other countries via imperial money. Beyond a certain point, I think, Gresham’s law will keep the dollar as the reserve currency.
But, as to MMT being defunct? Oh, no, the Federal Reserve is pursuing MMT with its constituency,which is, banks and to a degree, finance in general. People still hung up on money as a store of value want to keep MMT from the government, which is apt to give the free money to people, indirectly mostly but still. Most orthodox thinkers believe that government must guarantee the stability of the value of money and that only deficits undermine that. So far as I can tell, this is basically a holdover from when money was GOLD! GOLD GOLD! And a government that didn’t control deficits lost gold, thus wasn’t doing it’s part to support capitalism. I say Adam Smith was right, the real nature of wealth is the division of labor and the accumulation of physical capital to increase the productivity of said division of labor, not masses of gold.
Posted by: steven t johnson | Oct 2 2020 15:24 utc | 136
hangar@134 provokes me to ask why FDR is not regarded as the prime mover in the selection of Truman over Wallace? Admittedly, it can be difficult to accept one’s own personal mortality. Still, it is very likely that in the middle of the night Roosevelt did not expect to live out his fourth term. And thus, his acceptance of Truman was a deliberate acknowledgement of his ultimate values and goals. That Truman was where he wanted to go. Wallace as vice president was nobody. There is also the career of Harry Hopkins to consider. But the notion that Hopkins was pro-Soviet is pretty weak, in my opinion.
Posted by: steven t johnson | Oct 2 2020 15:33 utc | 137
@ Posted by: hangar | Oct 2 2020 13:10 utc | 134
FDR was a lot more in a gray area than many Americans think he is.
For starters, he betrayed his voters in 1932, by continuing austerity. It was only when austerity definitely failed, in 1937 (the second recession, on top of the 1929 crisis) that he was forced to do what he promised the American people to do (the New Deal).
But the New Deal was a failure. It simply didn’t work. The numbers indicate that.
What saved the New Deal wasn’t the New Deal: it was WWII.
So, what we have here is that, of FDR’s 13 years in power, only half were New Deal, and, of the 7 years of New Deal, only three were the New Deal that worked out. It was those miraculous four years of WWII (after Pearl Harbor) that “vindicated” FDR and canonized him.
karlof1 @ 10, thank you! I knew nothing about it. These dialogues are so important, and to my mind they supplant the media spiels we have become so accustomed to but which have so deteriorated that we no longer trust them. They provide flexibility and communication one on one between the representatives of countries that makes it possible to connect taking advantage of the technical progress the world has made while not using it to spy and threaten — how refreshing!
Posted by: juliania | Oct 2 2020 16:13 utc | 139
@ Formerly T-Bear | Oct 2 2020 1:52 utc | 85.. no problem… i don’t have to sign in to listen to music videos on youtube… i might change my approach if i did have to..
@ psychohistorian | Oct 2 2020 2:17 utc | 86… thanks psychohistorian…. i have her book ‘web of debt’, but haven’t read it yet… i like what @ Debsisdead | Oct 2 2020 5:49 utc | 106 had to say on that with the example… it would be great if that were to happen in canada and the usa…
obviously small steps need to be taken, before bigger ones are taken… why our gov’t doesn’t control the printing and dispensing of money is an abomination as i see it… the idea of our gov’t borrowing money is insane and yet this is what is happening here in canada… it is canadian money and we have to borrow it from a private bank?? i just don’t get that…
Posted by: james | Oct 2 2020 16:17 utc | 140
Proposed California wealth tax would impact millionaires even if they move
California Assemblyman Rob Bonta talks to FOX Business’ Neil Cavuto about the statewide wealth tax that lawmakers are proposing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrEK5hgr3vY
Posted by: Mao | Oct 2 2020 16:22 utc | 141
Merlin2 @ 109.
Yes. What exactly was botched depends on diff. readings, interpretations.
The most unsettling thing for me was the family’s reaction. Which is why I included ‘Seth Rich walked’ as a possibility, not that it can be easily made to fit with any reasonable sounding plot.
— DNC’s reaction was sorta predictable. A bike rack! Rah rah. —
Video of the grieving family shows Aaron (brother) hardly able to contain his mirth. A short clip, the most ‘normal’ bits have been chosen, all else seems to have been cut / junked. The original was damning indeed. Plus, there were other vids of Aaron making fun, being cavalier, etc. Maybe someone still has the full version?
3 mins. ABC news.
https://bit.ly/30rUfkK
There are almost no photos of Seth’s funeral. Photos were verboten inside. Only a very few taken from the outside were made public, looks like it was a very small low-key affair.
To find the most complete set, >> BING images “Seth Rich Funeral.” Results (may not work all over):
https://binged.it/30sGClm
Posted by: Noirette | Oct 2 2020 16:29 utc | 142
snake @101–
I liked the way you divided the groups into Pro-Empire and Their Victims as it makes it very hard on the Trolls.
Thank you, bevin @ 52 for the Jonathan Cook article. I love the tone of it – exactly right!
“…we are in a race – if our societies are to survive – to arrive at a new consensus, a new social contract, recognising that we need urgent and fundamental change. That will first require a greater popular acceptance that our leaders are incapable of overseeing that change…”
Posted by: juliania | Oct 2 2020 16:54 utc | 144
Trump diagnosed with covid. Should we rejoice ?
I say yes. And here’s why….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjoE6MiuQUM
It’s a quote from the bible.
————-
James love that YouTube vid of yours. nice to put a face to commenters,
Posted by: Mark2 | Oct 2 2020 19:46 utc | 145
@vk #71
I disagree.
Jubilees have existed in specific areas for a long time.
Countries traditionally forgave other nation’s war-related debt, for example. This changed when the US refused to do so after WW1 – which led to Versailles treaty terms.
Even as we speak – PPP loans are being “jubilee’d” for companies that have met their forgiveness guidelines.
Posted by: c1ue | Oct 2 2020 20:00 utc | 146
@james #72
Strictly speaking, a debt jubilee is a policy decision while public banking is an institution.
There is no direct link between the 2.
The Fed, for example, can enact a virtual jubilee any time it feels like by just sending money to Americans.
The $1200 stimulus checks are another example of a “limited” jubilee.
Posted by: c1ue | Oct 2 2020 20:01 utc | 147
Even Vic is ticked off- https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzVG-5aIjck
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Oct 2 2020 20:02 utc | 148
@ c1ue | Oct 2 2020 20:01 utc | 147… yes, that is correct…2008 was a debt jubilee for wall st… all the debt jubilees will continue to be for the 1%… there will be no debt jubilees of any significance for the rest of us!
here is how the game is played and this was articulated in the book on the fed – the creature from jekyll island… boom and bust… and after that – bigger busts and booms.. there is a chapter on it in this book… they will continue to play this game until people catch on to it…
Posted by: james | Oct 2 2020 20:33 utc | 149
@ Posted by: c1ue | Oct 2 2020 20:00 utc | 146
For very small debts, yes (when the cost of going after the value doesn’t compensate for the amount owed). But these kind of debts are usually between the State and its working class, not between capitalists. These are not economically relevant, as the State, in capitalism, is unproductive, while the worker lives on a simple reproduction scheme. Debt between two workers is also irrelevant to capitalism, as it is not an operation that concerns amplified reproduction (besides the fact that, obviously, the worker shouldn’t have significant amounts of money at his disposal to lend anyways).
Those small amount of debts are irrelevant in a capitalist society. What matters is debt as capital, debt as a device for amplified reproduction. Here we’re talking about big banks, big corporations and big hedge funds trading between themselves while lending money from the central bank (in the USA’s case, the Fed). This is the kind of debt that generates bubbles and crises, not your average money lent between friends (what the Hungarians call “fireplace debt”).
As I’ve told before here, war de facto eliminates capitalist debt. The “forgiveness” of the victor country over the conquered country is merely kabuki – debt of reparations is not really debt in the capitalist sense of the word, but simply loot the victor country is extracting from the vanquished country.
A new term’s coined in this article:
“The Democratic Curtain” and is articulated thusly:
“Behind the new Democratic Curtain, the Brezhnev Doctrine has found new life.”
Given the direction events are taking, I think the expression appropriate as a new way of looking at the Late Dr. Wolin’s Inverted Totalitarianism.
Lurk,Formerly T-Bear.
I guess Bear’s leak was there quite a while before he noticed,because of some covering from under the tiles that make the water go down to the beams,causing their deterioration while in my case I noticed toute de suite,because the tiles are visible from the roof floor,and the leak was like opening a tap and arrived two floors beneath in one minute.Lurk you are right about the foam,I wrote polyethyleen because I could not remember the word in english.I don’t know in what country you both are,but I think Velux has factories in many countries,there’s one some forty miles from where I live.Those windows are quite easy to put into your roof,and many people renovating roofs put them in to have daylight on the upper floor.All have those same problems,that’s why I dare to venture my advice.Maybe they are called differently in Canada,because james never heard about them.
Posted by: willie | Oct 2 2020 21:45 utc | 152
@ willie – i might not have heard of them because i don’t work in contracting and building… if they are in the usa, they are probably here in canada, but maybe not in france where you are! i think lurk is in the usa as memory serves..
Posted by: james | Oct 2 2020 21:47 utc | 153
Hi james;
No,on the contrary,it is very well known here in France.Actually when I drove a truck I loaded once in this factory nearby,to deliver somewhere in Germany inbuilding materi
Posted by: willie | Oct 2 2020 21:55 utc | 154
in building material stores.Those windows are very popular here amongst foreigners like myself,german,swiss,dutch and belgians that bought old farmhouses,that were really very cheap compared to property in our own country (my father called this region the Eastern Europe of France,thirty years ago and indeed some house showed still damage from WW) to renovate it to have a nice dwelling in the countryside.Sorry for the messup.
Posted by: willie | Oct 2 2020 22:01 utc | 155
An inspector called by today and looked at the leaking window and flashings from the roof and will return next week when (IF) it stops raining. Got a 55 ltr plastic can under leak so have time for some sleep before it fills. Apparently problem stems from construction error 14-15 years ago with roof tiles. Insurance will install new velux when roof corrected. I am not familiar with Spanish construction techniques so cannot advise. Velux is known here and in Ireland for roof windows and definitely European origin, maybe not much used in U.S. thirty years ago. Found large sheet of bubble wrap plastic so floor is safe from further damage from water. Thanks for your advise and help.
Posted by: Formerly T-Bear | Oct 2 2020 22:14 utc | 156
The Velux company is original from Denmark. They have factories in 11 countries and they are active in the USA. Their dutch wiki page is a little more informative than the english one.
In the Netherlands these windows are very common, not only as an upgrade to existing buildings but also in newly built homes.
Any openings in roofing structures tend to be weak spots that sooner or later become vulnerable to leaks, this is not limited to the Velux brand.
Posted by: Lurk | Oct 2 2020 22:36 utc | 157
IMO, the crisis in 08/09 stems straight from the tearing up of Glass Steagall.
Banks have the enviable right to create money out of thin air. This privilege should have very tight ropes attached to it. Gambling with that thin air money should be absolutely verbotten.
Since all the higher ups in the banks are paid by bonuses and stock options the desire to play risky is too tempting especially when they know the taxpayer has their back.
Posted by: arby | Oct 2 2020 22:42 utc | 158
Toss in the monstrous ego of these Bank’s CEO’s and you have the makings of calamity guaranteed.
Posted by: arby | Oct 2 2020 22:45 utc | 159
Lurk:
“Any openings in roofing structures tend to be weak spots…”
yes, plumbing vents are my nightmare.
Posted by: Curmudgeon | Oct 2 2020 22:46 utc | 160
A great book on the subject of the men that run the show is Liar’s Poker by Michael Lewis.
We had the S&L crisis first I think. The next one was pretty much a starter for the sub prime crisis of 08/09.
Lewis’s book is about Salomon Brothers who came up with the idea of Mortgage Backed Securities and the Michael Milken fiasco.
This was written in 1989 before Glass Steagall was torn up. Later it became the blueprint for 08/09 which I think we have never recovered from.
Posted by: arby | Oct 2 2020 23:06 utc | 161
For you anti-maskers and anti-vaxers:
“My Body, My Choice!” It comes straight out of the Planned Parenthood propaganda. Pro Choice Rules
Posted by: Curmudgeon | Oct 2 2020 23:06 utc | 162
The Law of the Tendency of the Profit Rate to Fall in action:
Despite Billions in Fees, Banks Predict Meager Profits on P.P.P. Loans
Marx didn’t need any vindication because he was always right – but I’m not gonna miss an opportunity to say “I told you!”.
Curmudgeon 2162
It has already been shown that the mask is more to protect other’s bodies not specifically the wearers.
But I guess in a “fuck you jack , I’m fireproof” society it is only your body that is important.
Posted by: arby | Oct 2 2020 23:25 utc | 164
vk: It shows that bigger may not be better. I read your article, thanks for the brief.
Posted by: Curmudgeon | Oct 2 2020 23:31 utc | 165
To arby | Oct 2 2020 23:25 utc | 164
It’s funny you’d take it that way. If you look at the concepts there, no FU intended at all. Just for clarity.
1. Planned Parenthood supports killing tiny humans. Pro Choice!
2. antivaxers support choice in how the herd immunity is to be achieved. Pro Choice!
3. antimaskers support choosing whether to wear a mask. Pro Choice!
Now there’s a conflict in there as to how we go about supporting Pro Choice! The government interferes on all levels “to protect you”.
Posted by: Curmudgeon | Oct 2 2020 23:55 utc | 166
Curmudgeon.,
I did hesitate on taking it that way but threw in my 2 cent’s worth anyway.
I’m not sure that the pro choice applies in this case. The anti masker is not just effecting themselves.
There is a big lack of trust in the government. Strange that the same folks buy the Election nonsense and the Exceptional part.
Posted by: arby | Oct 3 2020 0:12 utc | 167
I knew what I was getting myself into, I think it deserves more discussion. NO hard feelings I hope.
Posted by: Curmudgeon | Oct 3 2020 0:18 utc | 168
Mea Culpa, here’s how I should’ve done it in the first place.
Somehow the “My Body, My Choice” crowd doesn’t understand the difference between an elective “choice” and essential health care. Likewise, federal judges who support abortion also don’t seem to understand the difference between constitutional and unconstitutional.
Pandemics don’t change a lie.
Posted by: Curmudgeon | Oct 3 2020 0:23 utc | 169
Machine tranlation of Dr. Myasnikov post on Telegram. Myasnikov is the spokesperson for the info Center on Covid infection, Moscow.
https://t.me/drmyasnikov/583
In the news: “Alexei Navalny believes that the Omsk doctors wanted him dead”
Listen, you: would they want to – you would have died on the first day!
I will not ask stupid questions like: “Do you have a conscience ?!” or: “What are you, oh f….d* up ?!” and it is so clear that the answer to the first question is “no” and to the second, “yes”.
But I want to express my indignation and disgust and I have the right to do so. A day earlier, this fellow accused the President of Russia of his “poisoning”. Now he is accusing the doctors who saved his life. Then he will return to our country and will breathe the same air with us. Yes, this is probably legal and correct – he’s a Russian citizen. But on our part, this is no longer being tolerant, but some cowardly forgiveness! And shouldn’t a Russian citizen be held accountable under the Law for libel and insults ?!
I once had a situation in Africa when I had to bandage a man who had just shot us. I didn’t hate him. But concerning you, I do feel hatred.
Posted by: Paco | Oct 3 2020 10:36 utc | 170
Russian and Turkish foreign ministers, Lavrov and Cavusoglu, “expressed serious concern over the ongoing armed confrontation and supported an immediate cessation of hostilities. They emphasised that the involvement in the conflict of militants and illegal armed groups from other regions was totally unacceptable and highlighted the need for extremely balanced steps designed to provide political and diplomatic assistance to Baku and Yerevan.”
Posted by: AtaBrit | Oct 3 2020 13:32 utc | 171
@chet380 | 37
I had anticipated posting a simple comment from memory regarding UK’s supplied Hornet Missile Racks which are apparently the reason for specifically TB2’s accuracy – one of the more successfully deployed drones, but when I started to look for links, things became more complicated.
Here’s a Guardian article that explains the situation regarding the Hornet rack. I remember this being reported years ago. And while I can’t find that specific report, here’s a https://www.janes.com/article/60084/xponential-2016-hornet-carriage-system-equips-bayraktar-uav“ rel=”nofollow”>Janes article from an archive.
But while that is enough to convince me, Selcuk Bayraktar – co-owner of the private company that produces the TB2 and Erdogan’s son-in-law – has denied the claims made in the Guardian report saying that the Hornet system was too expensive and they developed their own. This is difficult to believe, to be honest.
On a broader Turkish UAV level, here is a breakdown of the various foreign components employed an article based on research by Monitor and ANF – the latter a Kurdish news site. And here are claims from earlier this year by Russia Israel has sold Turkey drone technology which may explain their cooperation in Azerbaijan.
I made a quip in a previous post about Turkey wanting to test its drone capabilities in the Azerbaijan – Armenia conflict and it should maybe be taken more seriously. Turkey has been wanting to dominate this market for more than a decade now. Anyway, what is clear is that Turkey is heavily reliant on foreign components when it comes to ‘Turkish made UAVs’.
Posted by: AtaBrit | Oct 3 2020 16:58 utc | 172
@james re: your music
Do you have any audio/video of your performances available somewhere?
Thanks!
Posted by: Dr Wellington Yueh | Oct 3 2020 22:57 utc | 173
@ Dr Wellington Yueh | Oct 3 2020 22:57 utc | 173.. thanks! i play in a lot of different groups.. on my website i have a cd for sale and some videos of what the cd is about… i play on a lot of others recordings and i am not selling them personally… thanks for your comments on the other thread… i remember that recording and it was before i had heard of coltrane and a love supreme.. it was only much later that i got into that.. i agree – the track you cite is great! of course santana was friends with miles davis and john mclaughlin had played on bitches brew with miles davis… it was a nice connection thru sri chimnoy for them…
Posted by: james | Oct 3 2020 23:57 utc | 174
@vk #150
You said
For very small debts, yes (when the cost of going after the value doesn’t compensate for the amount owed). But these kind of debts are usually between the State and its working class, not between capitalists. These are not economically relevant, as the State, in capitalism, is unproductive, while the worker lives on a simple reproduction scheme. Debt between two workers is also irrelevant to capitalism, as it is not an operation that concerns amplified reproduction (besides the fact that, obviously, the worker shouldn’t have significant amounts of money at his disposal to lend anyways).
The above is inaccurate as I have listed many examples where both large and small debts were forgiven. The US forgives debt to other nations as well.
I understand the general point you want to make, but even that is inaccurate. Debt forgiveness occurs at every level in capitalist societies but is counterbalanced by the creditor class’ counteractions. It is far too simplistic to assign all capitalist activity to a single group or constituency.
You said
Those small amount of debts are irrelevant in a capitalist society. What matters is debt as capital, debt as a device for amplified reproduction. Here we’re talking about big banks, big corporations and big hedge funds trading between themselves while lending money from the central bank (in the USA’s case, the Fed). This is the kind of debt that generates bubbles and crises, not your average money lent between friends (what the Hungarians call “fireplace debt”).
Again, I understand what you’re trying to say but it is inaccurate. Debt does not itself spur anything; the US government’s actions after 2008 are a good example. While enormous money was spent/debt was accumulated, the actual economic activity spurred by this was dramatically worse than any normal recession recovery or even abnormally poor recoveries.
It is the use of debt that matters, much as “helicopter” money recipients matter.
You said:
As I’ve told before here, war de facto eliminates capitalist debt. The “forgiveness” of the victor country over the conquered country is merely kabuki – debt of reparations is not really debt in the capitalist sense of the word, but simply loot the victor country is extracting from the vanquished country.
This is flat out wrong.
First, you assume that inflation occurs. Historically, inflation may or may not. For World War 1 and 2 – countries exited the gold standard to inflate but this has not always been the case.
But even for nations that exited the gold standard – inter-nation debt is still repayable in relatively “hard” currency since the borrower doesn’t have control over the monetary unit to be repaid.
Again, World War 1 and 2 are excellent examples: the US broke international custom by not writing down part or all of its war debt incurred by its allies. The US’ internal debt was inflated away by massive wartime production and “repaid” through creditor friendly policies against allies in World War 1, but this was heavily modified after World War 2. These mods are why the IMF and World Bank were created: to create longer term economic benefits to the US without crushing borrower nation economies.
Nor did the US “loot” the victim countries in any historical sense: carting away of gold and what not. What American economists and policy makers understood was that cementing American advantage in key agricultural and industrial areas would produce long lasting benefits while simultaneously enabling counterparty nations to rebuild and repay debts.
Posted by: c1ue | Oct 5 2020 3:03 utc | 178