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December 13, 2020
The MoA Week In Review – OT 2020-98

Last week’s posts at Moon of Alabama:

—
Other issues:

Transition:

Syraqistan:

James Jeffrey is a stupid man:

Anti-Corbyn Labor:

Covid-19:

Use as open thread …

Posted by b on December 13, 2020 at 13:51 UTC | Permalink
Comments

@ Posted by: johnf | Dec 14 2020 8:08 utc | 95
Congratulations, you went to the depths of history to find practically the only victory of the nationalists against the Japanese in WWII – a very small and insignificant one, by the way.
–//–
@ Posted by: Down South | Dec 14 2020 10:01 utc | 97
More resources to what? Tell it, so everybody here can see. Tell everybody it’s all about reopening small and medium businesses. Tell everybody that the excess deaths of the essential workers are an acceptable price to pay.
Like I said before, the middle class/petite-bourgeoisie cannot hide. Their class interests always rise to the forefront when you press them enough.
–//–
Reestructuring the West in order to fight China and save capitalism:
Bill Gates Vows to Take Anti-COVID Shot, Slams Trump’s ‘America First’ Approach to US Vaccines
After 2008, a new phenomenon in capitalism’s history happened: the zombification of the petite-bourgeoisie. Zombification is when a business flatlines in terms of post-debt profit rate: everything it gets it spends just to keep the business existing in its present form.
There are seven new technologies which capitalism must dominate in order to survive. Currently, only one of them – quantum computing – has any chance of getting out of the paper in the foreseeable future. Regardless, there are optimizations that can already be done just by increasing the scale of the economy, e.g. centralization of commerce, increased automation of logistics and some services, can already be done – only if the now useless petite-bourgeoisie gets out of the way.
And this is certainly what Bill Gates et caterva are having in mind right now: keep small and medium businesses closed not because it will save working class lives, but because it will decimate the inefficient and parasitic petite-bourgeoisie. Its extinction will increase efficiency of capital, thus removing one of the obstacles to another technological revolution (Kondratiev Cycle).
China is still weaker than the USA, so the capitalist class must still calculate they have more than enough time to stop it through capitalism’s own “merits”. However, if capitalism fails to start the next Kondratiev cycle, things could get ugly really quickly.
–//–
‘Like Vesuvius erupting’: German govt hopes to avoid ‘complete economic standstill’ but hospitals risk being overwhelmed
This is the alleged “pro-lockdown” government…
Merkel’s government is doing the possible and the impossible to avoid a lockdown. They’re even accepting excess deaths from the working class. The petite-bourgeoisie is acting like a hysterical, ungrateful bitch by accusing it of a conspiracy.
–//–
Lethality of COVID-19, diabetes combination at 20% in people over 70
–//–
Capitalist propaganda:
China’s Combative Nationalists See a World Turning Their Way
The propaganda strategy of the liberals is clear: paint the Chinese as fanatic nationalists – even fascists – in order to try to “decouple” with them in the ideological front. This strategy will also shield them from the Trump effect, that is, they’ll use the logic that “we’re bad, but the enemy is worse” (the “A-” fallacy).
–//–
Warming up for the Biden government:
Russian government spies are behind a hacking campaign that has breached U.S. agencies and a top cyber firm
–//–
In an seemingly unending crisis, capitalism reminisce the good times – times that will never return:
We need a Marshall Plan for our schools. And we need it now.
–//–
Germany blinked first:
UK and EU extend Brexit talks after ditching deadline
You heard it right, folks: no more deadlines. The EU doesn’t need those mundane concepts. It will just forget Brexit ever happened and wait for some 20 years until they can silently annul it.
That’s European democracy for you.
–//–
In a year like no other, Chinese economy emerges stronger from unprecedented virus test

As a more encouraging sign, China’s exports jumped 21.1 percent year on year in November in U.S. dollar terms, the fastest growth since February 2018, thanks to strong demand for medical goods and electronics.

Posted by: vk | Dec 14 2020 12:25 utc | 101

Housmeister @ 101
I’m sure no one minds if you paticulaly want to catch this virus and maybe die, but we do mind the way you and your kind have been infecting other inocent people for the last 10 months or more.
It’s medical.
Yes it’s been politicised. The later dosent cancel our the former.
You Housmister and your type are to blame.
If you want further clarification go to the first post on this subject and reread them all. Why should we explain if you don’t listen?

Posted by: Mark2 | Dec 14 2020 12:27 utc | 102

vk’s find: China’s Combative Nationalists See a World Turning Their Way
China’s Communist Party is pushing the narrative that the pandemic has proved the superiority of its authoritarian model. The muscular message is finding fans at home
Heil CCP!!

Posted by: Antonym | Dec 14 2020 12:58 utc | 103

@ mr faux lumpenproletariat | Dec 14 2020 12:25 utc | 103
More of your ludicrous droning on about the “middle class/petite-bourgeoisie”. The people who are being hit economically the worst by the measures are contract workers and owners of small restaurants and bars and their employees. Those aren’t middle class or factory owning petite-bourgeoisie.

Germany blinked first:
UK and EU extend Brexit talks after ditching deadline
You heard it right, folks: no more deadlines. The EU doesn’t need those mundane concepts. It will just forget Brexit ever happened and wait for some 20 years until they can silently annul it.
That’s European democracy for you.

That’s even more manifest bullshit, vk. EU cannot undo the UK’s BREXIT vote in any way. BREXIT happens when the UK says so. Extension of the deadline is about the form of the future relations between EU and UK. Why are you farting such evident nonsense?

Posted by: Lurk | Dec 14 2020 13:00 utc | 104

bevin@ 85
Excellent post bevin.

Posted by: Copeland | Dec 14 2020 13:02 utc | 105

Well, well..
Established troll “Antonym” rejoicing in vk’s usual link goulash replete with spoiled meat just about says it all.

Posted by: Lurk | Dec 14 2020 13:03 utc | 106

Antonym 105: re: China’s Communist Party is pushing the narrative that the pandemic has proved the superiority of its authoritarian model. The muscular message is finding fans at home
What the western public is missing is that the western elite are jealous of China’s efficiency and, instead of rejecting China’s controls, they plan on rolling out similar controls, or even more restrictive in order to catch up, on the generally unsuspecting western public.
Russian and Chinese public are somewhat protected by their leadership’s sovereign concerns. The western public was sold down the river long ago and there is no leadership protecting their sovereign public concerns.

Posted by: davenitup | Dec 14 2020 13:12 utc | 107

@davenitup
Chinese and Russian MSM cannot be anti domestic leader as in “free” societies like the US or India. The price of freedom – given away by letting MSM become monopolized by a few NGO billionaires.

Posted by: Antonym | Dec 14 2020 13:44 utc | 108

vk @ 103

More resources to what? Tell it, so everybody here can see. Tell everybody it’s all about reopening small and medium businesses. Tell everybody that the excess deaths of the essential workers are an acceptable price to pay.

I’m actually flabbergasted that I need to explain it to you but given how you’ve put your Marxist twist on it let’s go.
We know that COVID-19 is highly contagious so once a person tests positive time is of the essence to stop the spread of the virus. Therefore, the more false positives that are produced means that resources are wasted (time, personnel, etc) chasing down false leads that will do nothing to stop the spread of the virus. By refining the testing technique to Ct of 30 as per the study conducted means essential resources will be directed to where it is needed most to those persons who have tested positive and are contagious,

Like I said before, the middle class/petite-bourgeoisie cannot hide. Their class interests always rise to the forefront when you press them enough.

You really can’t see outside the prison of your Marxist worldview can you ? It’s Marx or bust. You are the perfect ideological drone. You would make a great party apparatchik.

Posted by: Down South | Dec 14 2020 14:01 utc | 109

b is very good at covering many issues except when it relates to Covid pandemic and vaccines. It is an emerging situation where new technologies are in play. But b already knows The Truth and will not tolerate any other opinion. Rather surprising for an otherwise apparently open minded person.

Posted by: Nathan Mulcahy | Dec 14 2020 14:03 utc | 110

Joy to the world, our vaccine has come the savior of the woooorld. I love watching how our MSM covers the Pfizer vaccine vs Sputnik V which was rolled out two weeks earlier.
CNN’s coverage synopsis, ‘Putin orders distribution of Sputnik V before it has finished clinical trials, Russians skeptical of safety and effectiveness, Russia unable to produce quantity needed to vaccinate most Russians’. Note the theme, lack of concern of human life, authoritarianism, and incompetence.
CNN’s coverage of Pfizer, well you see it, breathless. Even the downside of it requiring -90 degree Fahrenheit is portrayed positively as a challenge to America’s can-do spirit. Camera’s roll on the FEDEX trucks, I half expected to see a Santa’s Sleigh plastered on them.
Last dig, ‘Samantha Vinograd accuses Russia of launching disinfo campaign against Pfizer’, really? You mean the Russians are portraying our vaccines as being untested, authoritarian, and incompetently produced?

Posted by: Christian J. Chuba | Dec 14 2020 14:38 utc | 111

@ Posted by: Down South | Dec 14 2020 14:01 utc | 111
But if everybody gets tested, there’s no “chasing down”. You’re contradicting yourself.

Posted by: vk | Dec 14 2020 14:41 utc | 112

Apples efforts to move some iPhone manufacturing out of China seem to be off to a roaring start:

Employees in an iPhone production facility in India became violent on Saturday, over claims workers are not being paid what they were allegedly promised by Apple assembly partner Wistron.
The Friday night-shift at the Narasapura manufacturing plant operated by Wistron saw violence prompted by a pay dispute. Most of the 2,000 staff working at the operation are said to have caused destruction to property, including furniture, assembly units, and set fire to vehicles at the location, prompting a police response.
One staff member alleged an engineering graduate was promised Rs 21,000 ($285) per month, but instead had Rs 16,000 ($217) at first, which then reduced down to Rs 12,000 ($163) in the last three months.

(Wistron is a Taiwanese company)
Something tells me that it won’t be possible to find the kind of cheap labour China to India has made available for the past 70 years or so.
People’s expectations have changed.
It’s not going to be a simple matter of moving operations to the next “third-world hellhole” expecting the natives to be grateful for their exploitation …

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Dec 14 2020 15:00 utc | 113

Buyer beware:
Coveted COVID-19 Chinese vaccines provoke social media scams, scalpers targeting overseas Chinese

Posted by: vk | Dec 14 2020 15:07 utc | 114

Posted by: james | Dec 14 2020 2:17 utc | 74

.. i was unaware of that paper and how some want to maintain the viewpoint on cannabis from 1961.. it seems outdated in terms of the thinking.. i would be much more concerned about fentanyol and other drugs coming from china, or mexico into the country i live in – canada… cannabis is the least of our problems as i see it…

Are there here any apologists for this shitforbrains stance from Algeria, Angola, Bahrain, Belarus, Burkina Faso, China, Cuba, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kyrgyz Republic, Libya, Namibia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palestine, Philippines, Russian Federation, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, the Bolivarian Republic of fromVenezuela?
vk, come on, give us a “scientific socialism” explanation for such fetid pernicious lies as presented in
https://www.unodc.org/documents/commissions/CND/CND_Sessions/CND_63Reconvened/statements/03Dec/Russia_Joint_Statement.pdf
Hey, debsisdead, do you want to have a go?
kooshy, Framarz…Sakineh Bagoom – how about a glorious islamic justification?

Posted by: tucenz | Dec 14 2020 15:10 utc | 115

Posted by: Christian J. Chuba | Dec 14 2020 14:38 utc | 113

Joy to the world, our vaccine has come the savior of the woooorld. I love watching how our MSM covers the Pfizer vaccine vs Sputnik V which was rolled out two weeks earlier.

I’m going to hide out for a few years in the jungles of Perak while the rest of humanity gets mutated into green zombies and “reproductively neutralised” by this so called ‘vaccine’ so the reptilian shapeshifters can shed their skins and rule openly over the remains of mankind.

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Dec 14 2020 15:14 utc | 116

m @ 23
“I have increasingly the impression “multi polar world order” is just a code word for “anti-USA”.”
My impression is that countries like China and Russia are only too willing to let the US join the muti polar world of the 21st century. Of course they want to be treated with respect and as equals in the quest to make the world a better place for all.
It is the exceptional USA that is against this.

Posted by: arby | Dec 14 2020 15:28 utc | 117

Based on the analysis of data of 22,714 volunteers who received both the first and second doses of the Sputnik V vaccine or placebo, the Gamaleya Center and the Russian Direct Investment Fund announce 91.4% overall efficacy and 100% efficacy in severe cases: The Sputnik V vaccine’s efficacy is confirmed at 91.4% based on data analysis of the final control point of clinical trials (RDIF).

Posted by: S | Dec 14 2020 15:32 utc | 118

Hot off the presses, the CCPs photonic quantum computer achieves quantum supremacy beating Google’s quantum computer in terms of operations per second:
“Conventional computers become bogged down very quickly when trying to calculate distributions of such a system. Jiuzhang was built to handle 100 inputs and 100 outputs using 300 beam splitters and 75 mirrors. The researchers found that it took Jiuzhang approximately 200 seconds to provide an answer. They noted that it would have taken the world’s fastest supercomputer approximately 2.5 billion years to carry out the same calculations—a clear example of quantum supremacy.”
https://phys.org/news/2020-12-chinese-photonic-quantum-supremacy.html
Could this be the CCP’s “Sputnik moment” ?

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Dec 14 2020 15:46 utc | 119

@103 VK
“There are seven new technologies which capitalism must dominate in order to survive. Currently, only one of them – quantum computing – has any chance of getting out of the paper in the foreseeable future.”
While I could guess what you might consider the other 6 technologies to be, (certainly artificial intelligence, perhaps Internet of Things?, maybe large scale applications of 3D additive manufacturing in robotic factories?, possibly some form of nanotech manufacturing?, maybe the commercial use of fusion energy, and maybe some sort of biotech?) I’d be interested if you could be more specific about which potential technologies you are thinking about in this context.

Posted by: Fnord13 | Dec 14 2020 15:47 utc | 120

@ Posted by: Fnord13 | Dec 14 2020 15:47 utc | 122
If memory doesn’t fail me, they are:
1) nanotechnology;
2) bio-engineering/genetic engineering/gene editing;
3) quantum computing;
4) nuclear fusion;
5) artificial intelligence;
Forgot the last two. I remember it was six technologies + nuclear fusion (this one a very long shot, but, if done, would solve all the present problems).

Posted by: vk | Dec 14 2020 15:58 utc | 121

@tucenz
Yes, the Russian government is wrong on cannabis. Nobody is claiming that the Russian government is always right—that’s a straw man. Still, I prefer living in a country that has universal healthcare, does not have death penalty, and does not engineer wars that kill millions of people in foreign countries to living in a country that has legalized pot in some of its regions.

Posted by: S | Dec 14 2020 16:19 utc | 122

Now if you use a maximum Ct of 30 as recommended by the Borger-Kammerer study you minimise the amount of false positives and invest your resources where they are needed.
___________________________________________
If you do as you suggest then you end up with lots of false negatives and those people go around spreading the virus to others.
It is true that using a high Ct results in many more false positives and few false negatives. That is not a new information. That has been known for something like 20 years.
However false positives still mean that the virus genetic material is being detected. The person may not be sick but it is strong evidence that the sample contained virus particles and that probably means at some time in the recent past the person was in contact with the virus.
Where I live in the US if you test positive all they do is tell you that you should self quarantine and inform all your contacts to get tested.

Posted by: jinn | Dec 14 2020 16:28 utc | 123

bevin@85: beautifully succinct. thank you, i trust you are working on a book.

Posted by: emersonreturn | Dec 14 2020 17:12 utc | 124

CNN, Bellingcrap, Der Spiegel and some outfit called The Insider, supposedly in Russia, have come out with what they allege to be a kind of doxing report on the alleged Navalny poisoning affair.
I’ll just leave this here for everyone’s edification and a few laughs.

CNN joined an investigation by the group Bellingcat that has pieced together how the elite FSB unit followed Navalny’s team throughout its August trip to Siberia.
The investigation also found that this unit has followed Navalny on more than 30 trips to and from Moscow since 2017.
In recent years the online investigative outfit Bellingcat has identified the Russian military intelligence agents sent to England to poison former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter, and a Russian agent accused of murdering a Chechen activist in Berlin. Bellingcat helped uncover the pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine responsible for shooting down the MH-17 airliner in 2014.
Russia has denied involvement in every case.
By examining thousands of phone records along with flight manifests and other documents obtained by Bellingcat, this joint months-long investigation has identified the agents involved, as well as their backgrounds, communications and travel. The investigation also involved German magazine Der Spiegel and Russian online publication The Insider.

Posted by: _K_C_ | Dec 14 2020 17:30 utc | 125

With the news of the second super tanker off the Saudi coast being exploded, with what they are saying is the result of an “external” force, I was immediately reminded of a film I watched recently on youtube called “Countdown to Looking Glass.”
Released in 1984, near and around several other nuclear-scare films, including “Threads,” “The Day After,” “Testament,” and “WarGames,” “Countdown” revolves around a news station and its crew continually breaking news events which seem to be leading to direct confrontation between the Soviets and the U.S..
It is a very well done film and worth your ninety minutes.

Posted by: NemesisCalling | Dec 14 2020 17:38 utc | 126

@tucenz.. i agree with @S…. no one is perfect…. their concept on cannabis is behind the times.. i don’t advocate for it, but hold to the philosophy – live and let live…

Posted by: james | Dec 14 2020 17:41 utc | 127

Pot smoking is now legal where I live and by all anecdotal evidence that I can see the number of people smoking pot has not increased from the number that have smoked it for decades.

Posted by: arby | Dec 14 2020 17:49 utc | 128

Posted by: tucenz | Dec 14 2020 15:10 utc | 117
It is passing strange, the situation with cannabis. It’s been around forever as a raw material for rope, and was mainly of interest to herbalists and apothecaries outside of that, until Harry Anslinger came along and turned it all into this lunatic drug war and witch hunt. Aristo elites tend to project their own mental problems onto everybody else.

Posted by: Bemildred | Dec 14 2020 17:52 utc | 129

@ arby – we live in the same country. – canada… i mostly share your observation… the people who have been smoking pot, continue to be the same people… however i know young kids – 14 and up and etc are now smoking it too… apparently it is not so helpful on the brains of young people… i am not sure what the implications of this, but i appreciate we are no longer wasting so much energy charging people for something that is less dangerous then drinking alcohol….. and etc. etc.. ultimately i think it is a good thing the decriminalization of pot..

Posted by: james | Dec 14 2020 17:52 utc | 130

James I have seen a couple of teenagers smoking it, yes.
Education is the key. If they made heroin legal tomorrow, I still would not try shooting up.

Posted by: arby | Dec 14 2020 18:03 utc | 131

googletranslate of Speech by the head of the delegation of the Russian Federation, Permanent Representative to international organizations in Vienna, M. I. Ulyanov, at the resumed 63rd session of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs in explanation of vote on the recommendations of WHO experts on cannabis and related substances (Vienna, December 2, 2020)
Russian The federation voted against all six recommendations of the World Health Organization’s Expert Committee on Drug Dependence. It is gratifying that this position is shared by half of the member states of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs. Our country has consistently advocated strengthening and increasing the effectiveness of the current international legal regime for drug control, based on three relevant UN conventions. …
[rest deleted – no need to copy/paste linkable text – b]
https://www.unodc.org/documents/commissions/CND/CND_Sessions/CND_63Reconvened/statements/03Dec/I_R_IRAN.pdf
“POKOKOHUA!” say I+I

Posted by: tucenz | Dec 14 2020 18:16 utc | 132

@JackRabbit #62
Please be clear what you apparently expect to happen on January 6, 2021.
Are you seriously expecting electoral ballot shenanigans?
It would have been far easier for one or more of the legislatures in the swing states to have acted to reject certification, than it would be to outright assault the electoral ballot.
The Republican party controls both houses of the state legislatures in Michigan, Arizona, Wisconsin, Georgia and Pennsylvania.
The Democrats control the both houses of the state legislature only in Nevada.

Posted by: c1ue | Dec 14 2020 18:16 utc | 133

To Russia’s credit, in 2019 it passed a law (in Russian) allowing cultivation of opium poppy, cannabis and other psychoactive plants for medical purposes (only by federal unitary enterprises). Nothing about psychoactive mushrooms, though.

Posted by: S | Dec 14 2020 18:19 utc | 134

@Bemildred #131
I don’t care that much about soft drug use in general; however, the marijuana that people in the US consume today, compared to in the past, is like comparing nukes to glow sticks.
The notion that it is a harmless vice is completely unproven.
Nor is it particularly convincing that it is “less” harmful than cigarettes or alcohol; just because someone shoots you in the leg doesn’t mean a punch in the face is still acceptable.
I would note that places like Amsterdam – which had legalized marijuana a long time ago as well as many other soft drugs – has been pulling back from its previous stance. So it seems long term legalized/decriminalized soft drugs isn’t a slam dunk as a societal net positive.

Posted by: c1ue | Dec 14 2020 18:20 utc | 135

@arby #133
Education is *not* the key.
We have had generations of anti-drug education, advertising, whatever – starting with Nancy Reagan’s “just say no”.
The reality, as has been clearly seen with the opioid epidemic, is that dangerous drugs kill people who are economically and/or psychologically vulnerable.
We are 100% in an era of mass economic/psychological vulnerability in the US – why again should these people have ever more tools to harm themselves?

Posted by: c1ue | Dec 14 2020 18:23 utc | 136

some sense from Jamaica
https://www.unodc.org/documents/commissions/CND/CND_Sessions/CND_63Reconvened/statements/04Dec/item5/Jamaica.pdf
Chair,
Today’s vote marks a seminal moment in the history of the global drug control framework governing cannabis and its related substances. Jamaica places on record its appreciation to the WHO’s Expert Committee on Drug Dependence for its first-ever scientific review of cannabis and cannabis resin, and the accompanying recommendations. We also thank the WHO, INCB and UNODC for their continued engagement with Member States in facilitating greater clarity on the recommendations and their possible implications. The review served as reaffirmation of what Jamaica has always known given its long historical and intimate connection with the plant,as a source of traditional medicine. It was on this basis that we voted in support of majority of the WHO’s recommendations.
Chair,
For Jamaica, the results of today’s vote are not the end of the journey but rather the beginning as we maintain that the current international drug control architecture does not allow for the requisite policy space to design appropriate domestic policies suited to address national realities, and unique circumstances. As a matter of context, cannabis is not only embedded in the national discourse on access to medicines, but it is also at the core of discussions on criminal justice reforms and Human Rights, in particular freedom of religion.
Chair,
Jamaica would like to express its appreciation to those Member States who have voted in support of recommendation 5.1in particular.
2It is also hoped that as additional scientific and medical data becomes available that Member States will further explore improving access to cannabis and cannabis related substances for medicinal and therapeutic purposes. Jamaica wishes to emphasise that this is an important issue on our economic growth and sustainable development agenda.
Chair,
In closing, we reiterate our recognition of the CND as the principal policymaking body in the United Nations system for drug-related matters and our commitment to its work. We look forward to broader discussions on how to further strengthen the global drug control architecture.

Posted by: tucenz | Dec 14 2020 18:27 utc | 137

@tucenz #134:

POKOKOHUA!

With so much anger directed towards what is certainly not the most outrageous issue of our times, it seems it is your head that has already been boiled.
(Pokokōhua, lit. “Go, boil your head!”, is a very strong insult in Māori language.)

Posted by: S | Dec 14 2020 18:50 utc | 138

c1ue, you’re just rattling off current prohibitionist talking points
“I don’t care that much about soft drug use in general; however, the marijuana that people in the US consume today, compared to in the past, is like comparing nukes to glow sticks.”
with regard to cannabis, you’re an idiot.
james, “live and let live…” you say, but the problem is that is not the attitude of prohibitionist fuckers. For example in China and Iran (and probably other countries) you can be executed for cannabis “offences”. And what would be the case in Russia today if the death penalty had not been abolished after the collapse of the Soviet Union? Though, Putin did allow an Israeli tourist to go free after she was caught with a few grams of hash during a stopover in Russia between India and Israel.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-51301827
And james don’t be so mild that you have to resort to using that discredited word decriminalize. It’s legalize, legalize, legalize. (or legalise)

Posted by: tucenz | Dec 14 2020 18:55 utc | 139

Sakineh Bagoom – how about a glorious islamic justification?
Posted by: tucenz | Dec 14 2020 15:10 utc | 117
tucenz, When I was young, we used to have puffed wheat and hemp seeds as snacks. Hemp clothes and rope were very popular. It was the American influence that demonized cannabis in Iran. Not much has changed, unfortunately.
Nothing to do with Islam.

Posted by: Sakineh Bagoom | Dec 14 2020 19:03 utc | 140

Pokokōhua, lit. “Go, boil your head!”, is a very strong insult in Māori language.
Indeed, and it has a nice (trans language) irony to it – poko – head, kohua – pot

Posted by: tucenz | Dec 14 2020 19:08 utc | 141

Aleksandr Orlov, the former editor-in-chief of the Central Asian news program on Radio Liberty, talks to RT about his work there:
“They even monitor the drafts”: the ex-employee of Radio Liberty spoke about the peculiarities of the corporate culture of the holding (RT, December 14, 2020 — machine translated).
The translation is a bit rough, but it’s still a very interesting read, especially the bits about Ukraine that “needs a little of this kind of National Socialism, otherwise they will not win” (in the words of Radio Liberty vice president) and prohibiting describing Raqqa as a “city” during U.S. 150 sorties-a-day bombing of it. All in all, a good addition to what we already know from the testimonies of Udo Ulfkotte and Tareq Haddad.

Posted by: S | Dec 14 2020 19:16 utc | 142

Down South @ 111
Don’t bother debating a troll. The marxist nonsense is simply cover for who pays this poster. At no point has he/she/it addressed the scientific integrity issue which is glossed over as unimportant. Without scientific integrity any hope of an effective response is doomed.
The facts are pretty simple. COVID is very dangerous to vulnerable sub-groups (old, immune compromised, diabetic, obese etc) but far less an issue for the young and generally healthy of all ages. The west has done a horrible job protecting vulnerable populations and has economically devastated less vulnerable groups. All testing has focused on state controlled approaches (PCR) and all treatment has focused on state controlled measures (vaccine) while ignoring/suppressing information/actions which could be taken by individuals (cheap antigen tests, physical fitness, outdoor activities, rest, vitamins). A neo-liberal system providing neo-liberal solutions to a society weakened by years of consuming their poisonous neo-liberal physical and mental products. Reap what you sow.

Posted by: sad canuck | Dec 14 2020 19:17 utc | 143

tucenz, When I was young, we used to have puffed wheat and hemp seeds as snacks. Hemp clothes and rope were very popular. It was the American influence that demonized cannabis in Iran. Not much has changed, unfortunately.
Nothing to do with Islam.

Posted by: Sakineh Bagoom | Dec 14 2020 19:03 utc | 142
True about the US influence, so why does the current Iranian “regime” continue it. AND
the Iranian statement I linked to above https://www.unodc.org/documents/commissions/CND/CND_Sessions/CND_63Reconvened/statements/03Dec/I_R_IRAN.pdf starts with –
“In the Name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful”
And the link to ringleader Russia’s joint statement
https://www.unodc.org/documents/commissions/CND/CND_Sessions/CND_63Reconvened/statements/03Dec/Russia_Joint_Statement.pdf

Posted by: tucenz | Dec 14 2020 19:27 utc | 144

@tucenz #143:

Indeed, and it has a nice (trans language) irony to it – poko – head, kohua – pot

Oh, so it was a joke, not an all-caps rage. My apologies. I thought you were bitten by Circe.

Posted by: S | Dec 14 2020 19:30 utc | 145

Posted by: c1ue | Dec 14 2020 18:20 utc | 137
Thanks for your posts. Cannabis harmed my family, and I think it has harmed the US. I’m with Russia on this.

Posted by: juliania | Dec 14 2020 19:34 utc | 146

juliania
Did cannabis harm your family when it was illegal?

Posted by: arby | Dec 14 2020 19:44 utc | 147

best line since i last commented – ” i thought you were bitten by circe” !! good one s!!
here’s my thing on drugs… i don’t believe using cannabis leads to using harder drugs… i believe alcohol is a drug and coffee is a drug… these drugs are legal… i don’t understand this hostility and intolerance to cannabis and i say this as someone who doesn’t smoke it! i think the idea the usa demonized this is probably fairly accurate.. i have no idea why these other countries consider it such an offense.. that baffles me…
@ juliania… alcohol has a major negative impact on my family..and – > its legal.. there is a huge disconnect in the laws and this is one that i have never understood.. why is alcohol legal and pot not?? it doesn’t make sense to me.. the law makes an ass of itself on a regular basis.. and frankly i would be more comfortable if the laws were reversed on this topic – alcohol illegal and pot legal… and pot does not lead to heroin, contrary to all the propaganda that was spun out on this…

Posted by: james | Dec 14 2020 19:50 utc | 148

Chutzpah
Headline:
Trump’s conspiracies pose ‘existential’ threat to electronic voting industry -Smartmatic
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-voting-tech/trumps-conspiracies-pose-existential-threat-to-electronic-voting-industry-smartmatic-idUSKBN28O19M?il=0

Posted by: librul | Dec 14 2020 19:58 utc | 149

I don’t smoke ganja,
My drug preferences are the natural drugs, our own body produces as a reaction to natural situations. Adrenalin being my drug of choice.
But throughout my adult life I have known and highly respected those that do partake herbs as part of their culture.
The reason cannabis was and is illegal was this ——-
It is the ruling classes artificial / made up excuse to oppress
The black diaspora. One of many ways used as we know over the century’s. If you want to protect and save lives. Ban alcohol make marijuana legall. !
If America gave a free pardon to all cannabis related prisoners in the US imagine what it would do to the prison population figures !
As we know prisons make profit.

Posted by: Mark2 | Dec 14 2020 20:03 utc | 150

Pot is not harmless. I have seen negative effects on some folks I know. A lack of ambition seems to be an effect. I have also seen the very bad effects of alcohol.
I don’t think either should be illegal because it doesn’t seem to stop consumption. It only seems to make a tighter group wealthy and relieves the group of paying taxes. Making pot illegal is also used by some as justification for overthrowing governments and such.

Posted by: arby | Dec 14 2020 20:13 utc | 151

Down South #111
I can see outside the prism of my Marxist world view and so can China, Cuba, Vietnam.
Please don’t take other obvious word sprayers as representing anything other than rabid keyboard rattlers.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Dec 14 2020 20:14 utc | 152

tucenz @146
starts with –
“In the Name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful”
tucenz, almost all Islamic speech, writings start with bismillah — in the name of…
As for why they continue to this date, have you ever seen anyone wanting to give up power, power that control of substances vests in them?

Posted by: Sakineh Bagoom | Dec 14 2020 20:17 utc | 153

Censorship is, without exception, an epic red flag.
It doesn’t matter if you are right or wrong or what your reasons are… the line has been crossed too many times here now. b is against censorship except when it comes to his own threads.

Posted by: Rae | Dec 14 2020 20:19 utc | 154

tucenz #139
Thank you for posting the statement from Jamaica. May they prosper and enjoy their canabis. But more to the point may the USAi rot in hell for enabling the cultivation of opium poppies in Afghanistan.
The narco state of Afghanistan is a curse and the sooner the USAi is defeated, the better.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Dec 14 2020 20:31 utc | 155

Rae @ 156
Rae it’s b’s Blog, your a guest in his house !
Start your own blog, and we’il all stop by,
Your not a prisoner here.
Other blogs are also avalible.

Posted by: Mark2 | Dec 14 2020 20:31 utc | 156

@tucenz #143:
Indeed, and it has a nice (trans language) irony to it – poko – head, kohua – pot
Oh, so it was a joke, not an all-caps rage. My apologies. I thought you were bitten by Circe.
Posted by: S | Dec 14 2020 19:30 utc | 147

There was a small insolent smile attached to it but it was mostly a bold all-caps with exclamation mark curse directed at pot prohibitionists.
Bite me, Circe! Being a silly woman, she probably could easily be a prohibitionist.

Posted by: tucenz | Dec 14 2020 20:33 utc | 157

c1ue @Dec14 18:16 #135

Please be clear what you apparently expect to happen on January 6, 2021.

On January 6th Congresspeople will have an opportunity to lodge complaints about how the Presidential was conducted in certain States. They will then debate and vote on whether to accept the electoral votes from States that complaints against them.
Multiple States joined Texas’ Supreme Court action (which the Supreme Court refused to accept). It’s logical to expect that Senators and Representatives from these States are likely to lodge complaints against the States that were mentioned in the Supreme Court action: Pennsylvania, Georgia, Wisconsin, and Michigan. If the electoral college votes from these states are rejected by Congress, then Trump wins a second term.
Note: AFAICT Trump could win a second term even if only Pennsylvania and Georgia are rejected as long as there’s a single ‘faithless elector’ votes for Trump instead of Biden.
!!

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Dec 14 2020 20:36 utc | 158

As for why they [Iranian authorities] continue to this date, have you ever seen anyone wanting to give up power, power that control of substances vests in them?
Posted by: Sakineh Bagoom | Dec 14 2020 20:17 utc | 155
So are you suggesting the Iranian govt is tyrannical like others?!

Posted by: tucenz | Dec 14 2020 20:42 utc | 159

Jackrabbit @ 160. It’s hardly a “landslide victory” is it.
More a Venezuelan coup attempt I would have thought.
Trump tried and failed overthrowing Venezuela and other countrys !
Have you know regard for Democracy ?

Posted by: Mark2 | Dec 14 2020 20:50 utc | 160

Mark2 @Dec14 20:50 #162
You’re partisanship clouds your mind.
I’m not pro-Trump.
You ASSUME I’m pro-Trump because I talk about the possibility of a Trump second term.
In fact, I’ve warned that a Trump second term is very very dangerous for the rest of us.
As for a Trump “landslide”, Sidney Powell has claimed that Trump won a landslide that the Democrats have stolen from him. And right-leaning US media has supported this view by repeatedly noted that Trump won 11 million more votes than he did in 2016.
Those whose brains are not warped by partisanship may recall that my prediction was based on the Deep State’s desire to strengthen Trump’s popularity as they prepare for war. A Trump win in the face of Democratic corruption and Deep State malfeasance may be more effective in accomplishing such a goal.
<> <> <> <>
I’m also not pro-Biden or pro-Obama. They are all on Team Deep State.
!!

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Dec 14 2020 21:07 utc | 161

drug topic…
i was just for coffee with a good friend.. he was a heroin addict for 23 years… after he recovered he worked on the downtown eastside in vancouver for many years.. i asked him about this when i went for coffee with him the past hour… his thoughts are interesting… he thinks pot is bad for young minds – 7-17.. he thinks it should remain illegal! he feels the same way about alcohol! and no, they are not gateway drugs to harder drugs.. he basically thinks marijuana isn’t good for developing minds… so perhaps this is the thinking for russia and etc. position on this?? just speculation on my part…

Posted by: james | Dec 14 2020 21:09 utc | 162

Correction @Dec14 20:36 #160
I recalculated what Trump would need to win a second term.
He would need the electoral votes of all the disputed States to be rejected. That means Arizona and Nevada along with the States that were the subject of the Supreme Court action (Pennsylvania, Georgia, Wisconsin, and Michigan).
Strangely(?), electoral votes from all the disputed states add up to just enough for Trump to win or tie. Nothing to see here!?
!!

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Dec 14 2020 21:24 utc | 163

Jackrabbit @ 163
Thanks for clarifying your position. your ‘enthusiasm’ for the possibility of trump winning has been very misleading.
Their both puppets ! Agreed.
BLM and Antifa are the people to support for the reasons I gave on the preveous post.
Don’t be fooled by the negative propaganda.
Counter intuitive.
Thanks for your reply.

Posted by: Mark2 | Dec 14 2020 21:26 utc | 164

james @Dec14 21:09 #164
I agree with your friend. Nevertheless I would legalize drugs, prostitution, and gambling.
Making these illegal only supports criminal gangs.
IMO, legalize and impose high taxes that funds public education and treatment.
!!

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Dec 14 2020 21:30 utc | 165

Jackrabbit @ 163
I did reply to your last comment, but it disapeard.
It was none offence. very conciltary.

Posted by: Mark2 | Dec 14 2020 21:33 utc | 166

tucenz @161

So are you suggesting the Iranian govt is tyrannical like others?!



No tucenz. Just that power is power. Once attained, very hard wrest back.

Posted by: Sakineh Bagoom | Dec 14 2020 21:46 utc | 167

Jackrabbit on the 6 January point.
I like that possibility. The thought of those Congressional and Senate morons, grifters, leaches and occasional decent politicians being locked in a brawl about the most blatant election rort system on the planet is too good. What percentage of US citizens bothered to vote? Now that says it all.
What a debate and yet NOT ONE have the ethics, clarity of mind or. worse – the opportunity to do anything about it. I guess they will all come away thinking they have ‘defended’ their election system and all is good in the world. The main stream media will sing the praises and howl the condemnation etc, etc,. Its enough to make you think there might be lead in the drinking water.
THIS is how the permanent state rules the people.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Dec 14 2020 21:54 utc | 168

@167 I believe the black market pot business is booming in spite or because of legalization. It’s not necessarily criminal gangs growing it either. Could be the guy next door or his kids. Comes down to price I guess.

Posted by: dh | Dec 14 2020 22:02 utc | 169

Tucenz @ 146:
This is purely just my opinion regarding particular nations’ rejection of the UN voting on the WHO / ECDD recommendation to reschedule cannabis plant and cannabis resin from the strictest schedule of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotics Drugs, but it may be that a number of countries that support this Joint Statement from Russia are concerned that the CIA is a major trafficker in illegal drugs, and marijuana and cannabis in particular, in their territories and the territories of adjoining neighbours, and that the softening of the UN position on cannabis may open the door to even more CIA-related cannabis trafficking.
Of course the nations supporting Russia’s Joint Statement will not say as much (that they believe that the CIA and possibly also other foreign intel agencies are behind illegal drug trafficking in their regions) but we can get some idea of what they are aiming at in this part of the Joint Statement:

… Member States maintain the right to impose the strictest domestic control measures for cannabis and cannabis-related substances, which in their opinion are necessary having regard to their particularly dangerous properties, in accordance with Article 39 of the 1961 convention.
The focus should now be on helping Member States effectively implement the control measures for cannabis and cannabis-related substances. Technical assistance will need to be provided, including through the UNODC, to Member States who lack the necessary detection, testing, monitoring and enforcement capabilities to implement them …

BTW, MoA readers should be aware of the actual WHO / ECDD recommendations:
Cannabis and cannabis resin: remove from Schedule IV (keep in Schedule I) as it is not ‘particularly harmful’ (for example: use is not associated with a significant risk of death).
‘Extracts and tinctures’: remove from the Conventions as it is a complicated term to interpret, covering preparations that have psychoactive properties as well as those that do not. Effectively this will be replaced by a new entry in Schedule III of the 1961 Convention referring to pharmaceutical preparations of cannabis that do not pose a risk to public health.
Delta-9-THC/dronabinol: delete from the 1971 Convention Schedule II and move to the 1961 Convention, Schedule I (with cannabis and cannabis resin). Previously considered a pharmaceutical preparation, it primarily refers to the main psychoactive component of cannabis. This will be a similar approach as for coca leaf/cocaine and opium/morphine.
THC isomers: delete from the 1971 Convention Schedule I and move to the 1961 Convention Schedule I, based on current knowledge.
Cannabidiol (CBD): add a footnote that products containing predominantly CBD and not more than 0.2% Delta-9-THC are not under international control. They are explicitly excluded as there is no relevant risk to public health.
It may be that the supporters of the Joint Statement are unhappy that the WHO / ECDD recommendations rob individual nations of the ability to monitor illegal movements of cannabis into or out of their territories, and that these movements could be part of long-term regime-change operations by enemy nations.
BTW when I used to work in a bank reading trade documents I saw invoices, other trade documents, telegrams and faxes (all in English) from Saudi Arabia begin with “In the Name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful …” so the greeting is a formality and a reminder that all business transactions proceed with the blessing of God.
Islam forbids the consumption of substances that are likely to affect the mind and lead to Muslims committing acts that they will have to answer for on Judgement Day. This is behind most Muslim countries’ bans on alcohol trade and consumption, and extends to any drug (including potentially caffeine).

Posted by: Jen | Dec 14 2020 22:23 utc | 170

@dh yep most of the legit shops are too expensive, Dr. Feelgood is still a safe choice.
Mark2
bluehouse redhouse
same house
stoopid fucks
blue house brownshirt
BLM Antifa
Redhouse brownshirt
2nd amendment nutz altright
Bluehouse redhouse
Same house
stoopid fucks
as of late bluehouse brownshirts get a pass
redhouse brownshirts not so much
Not sure it can be put any simpler.

Posted by: Tannenhouser | Dec 14 2020 22:26 utc | 171

It’s clear that yet another reason the ‘powers that be’
are against cannabis, is that it reduces a work forces productivity, in their eyes, from their ‘tunnel vision’ of capitalism !
But what about the creativity it has undoubtedly given to the world ?
What about the love for humanity it has cultured and spread throughout the world ?
The music produced is light years ahead of western music.
‘They’ are scared of it ! Scared of the people who’s culture it is part of.

Posted by: Mark2 | Dec 14 2020 22:45 utc | 172

And as an example of my above comment here’s a nice song ——-
From me to tannenhouser @ 173
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCV3IQtClGU

Posted by: Mark2 | Dec 14 2020 23:13 utc | 173

Posted by: james | Dec 14 2020 21:09 utc | 164
Well, on the one hand, no drug is completely harmless, but cannabis gets pretty close, no known fatal dose, and some people do consume quite a lot.
On the other hand in the late 60s and all of the 70s I worked in a sawmill in Humboldt county, California and I had the opportunity to sample all kinds of drugs at the time. I was what anybody would call a drinker for around 35 years, smoked around twenty, etc. etc. Two six packs of beer a day in the mill and whatever else was available. Then I went to work in defense IT (software engineering etc.) and had to quit all that, and I did. Now in old age I use a lot of cannabis (completely legal) sometimes, nicotine, and coffee. Just to establish I have some experience.
Alcohol is poison, no question, but can help people endure bad situations. I quit drinking altogether because I was getting gout attacks, worked great. If you can drink a drink or two at night and that’s it, no problem. But it tends to get out of hand.
Cannabis is a gentle herb and the main problem is the way its been hyped by the “crime fighters” and commercialized by the gangs, dope culture propagandists, and capitalists.
The others I more or less agree should be controlled, various forms of speed, crank in particular what have you which as very hard to control for many people. Lots of variants of amphetamines now, all bad for you. I took a dexie once, took three days to come down. Never again, Scary.
Opiates never appealed to me at all, I’ve taken various ones, smoked opium once, and basically I don’t like them. I would keep some around for pain relief if that was allowed, and a few other things like ketamine, but no such luck. (My brother had a vet license, he would just walk in and get ketamine. Cheap too.)
I would not recommend any of them except cannabis, which is a very useful herb with various health-related uses, and it would depend on the person. Like, my wife never touches anything except a little coffee.
Criminal law is a really, really stupid approach to dealing with all of them IMHO.

Posted by: Bemildred | Dec 14 2020 23:42 utc | 174

The following might provoke some thought, or it might be completely ignored:
“Jacques Barzun, the philosopher of history, asks the question: ‘What makes a nation?’ He answers his own question. ‘A large part of the answer to that question is: common historical memories. When the nation’s history is poorly taught in schools; ignored by the young, and proudly rejected by qualified elders, awareness of tradition consists only in wanting to destroy it‘.” [My Emphasis] here
Although cited in a specific context, sadly the observation is quite capable of standing on its own.

Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 14 2020 23:43 utc | 175

A very important message that will interest one or two:
“Upcoming – A Conversation with Michael Hudson and Pepe Escobar Date: Wednesday December 16th 2020 Time: 9:00 – 10:30 am EST Free registration: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/a-hard-look-at-rent-and-rent-seeking-with-michael-hudson-pepe-escobar-tickets-132721723247 In this interactive seminar organized jointly by the Henry George School and the International Union for Land Value Taxation, Michael Hudson and Pepe Escobar will unpack one of the most destructive features of our economic system and the many different ways it drives wealth inequality. They will also focus on China and the “Great Game” regarding control of the world’s resources.”

Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 14 2020 23:57 utc | 176

mark2@175
Whats that feeling where u feel like you’ve been here before……………oh ya Smeagled:)
Right then. Suffer me no longer shall thee. I still think you are wrong about the brownshirts you have chosen.
There’s still time. Thanks for the song. One good turn deserves another
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCpgHrQpDvQ
peace

Posted by: Tannenhouser | Dec 15 2020 0:04 utc | 177

Bemilderd @ 176
Thanks for that personal history, cutting wood and drugs don’t mix, as a professional tree climber for 50 years it wasn’t an option. But I agree with your views spot on.
——————-
Karlofi
Thanks for that valuable input. Wow that’s deep deep deep
And so true. We forget we know these things. And it’s good to be reminded of them. You nailed it.

Posted by: Mark2 | Dec 15 2020 0:05 utc | 178

From Bhadrakuras opus in Indian Punchline linked by b:
Fundamentally, Germany seems to be apprehensive about a strong Iran, which might stand in the way of its own future expansionism in the regions surrounding Iran. Germany knows fully well that Iran is not after acquiring nuclear weapons, while on the contrary, Germany’s own plans to move in the direction of developing nuclear missiles at some point remain an open issue.
——-
Rather amusing misconceptions. Imagine a dog walking next to its master, sometimes lagging behind, sometimes running forward, sometimes touching some bushes along the path. Still, the trajectory is best explains by the motion of the master. What are the “expansionism” plans of Germany “in the regions surrounding Iran”? Forcing Tadjikistan to accept a German chain selling Baumkuchen and Kartoffelpuffers? Germany sells stuff without any help of sanctions and threats and it works OK. Bundeswehr could vanish and the trade would go on. Sure, there were times when Germans were ruled by Austrians and, in few places, by Danes, so having no military whatsoever would not be prudent, but anything above and beyond the modest needs to keep Danes and Austrians away is just following The Master.
Ditto the “misgivings about the agreement with Iran”.

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Dec 15 2020 0:11 utc | 179

New investigative piece from Vanessa Beeley:
Jack Dorsey, the CIA and Twitter Censorship in the Age of Covid-19

Posted by: gm | Dec 15 2020 0:19 utc | 180

karlof1@178 & 179: thank you for the remarkable quotation & thank you for the head’s up on pepe & hudson. i am fully registered & sending you a profound thanks.

Posted by: emersonreturn | Dec 15 2020 0:27 utc | 181

Peace tannenhouser.
That picture looks like a ‘banksy’ ?

Posted by: Mark2 | Dec 15 2020 0:28 utc | 182

C1ue, you are factually incorrect about the legal status of cannabis in the Netherlands (and thereby Amsterdam.) It has illegal status, but has been condoned and not actively prosecuted. “Coffee shops” exist that sell the contrabande in portions no bigger than 5 grams and are technically not allowed to have more than a few hundred grams in store (good luck running a joint like that in the tourist areas of Amsterdam) – though formally this is not on the books in Dutch law. Possession of bigger amounts is liable to criminal prosecution, though penalties are mild, certainly compared to most other countries. The largest offence a coffeeshop owner can make though is to not pay sales taxes. They all do so faithfully or they get the treatment.
You are right though that the political atmosphere in the Netherlands has been turning more reactionary over the past decades and the attitudes toward the “condoning” policy has been shifting accordingly.
Magic mushrooms used to be legal in the Netherlands and were sold in “smart shops” under the same regulations as regular mushrooms in groceries. This practice existed without incident until someone in France bought boxed fresh mushrooms from a webshop and was caught by French customs and/or police. Things got interesting when in court he appealed to some European law, which states that agicultural produce that is conforms to laws in one member country shall also be legal in the whole EU. He won the case and the outraged French government began applying pressure on the Dutch government.
Next a very crude fake news campaign about “mushroom incidents” was orchestrated in the Dutch press, with the predictable result that the government soon after outlawed magic mushrooms. Now you can only buy the magic mushrooms in smart shops in Amsterdam, the rest of the Netherlands has to contend with sclerotia, also named “trip truffels”, that remain legal thanks to a legal technicality that these are not fruit bodies (mycelium and spores also remain legal but are not practical or useless for practical consumptive use.)
I smoked pot for 25 years myself, most of those every day, all day. At some point I got fed up with it and never desired to go back. I don’t resent or hate it in hindsight or in view of others doing it. I am quite certain that, had I turned to alcohol instead of cannabis, I would have been in a much worse condition and situation.
About today’s weed compared to yesteryear’s, I somewhat agree what I got in the eighties is a far cry from what is offered today.
The weed used to be from Nigeria, Colombia and India and was 50% seeds, 25% twigs and the remainder was smokeable. It gave a mellow high. The hashish from Lebanon (thanks UNIFIL), Morocco, Kashmir and Afghanistan was superior. Then, in the early nineties the potent skunks appeared on the marked and immediatedly the other weeds disappeared. That stuff was as good as the hashish. Later, the skunks evolved and a cambian explosion happened. Something went wrong when selection pressure aimed for high THC strains. It became something else altogether. Young people don’t even know that it used to be very different. I never liked the THC bombs and cherished what older strains I had. Another big problem with today’s weed is the unchecked abuse of highly dangerous pesticides. If there was ever a good reason to regulate cannabis, it is the pesticides.
So there, IMHO weed is a mixed bag, but alcohol is a lot worse, many aspects.
PS: to Iranians here, I remember sometime reading on the dmt-nexus forum that some Yemeni guy living in England wrote to an ayatollah in Iran inquiring about the legality of consuming tea brewed from esphand (syrian rue) seeds with tree bark from certain acacia species, essentially an ayahuasca analogue, and the fatwa that he got in reply was that such use is in perfect accordance with islam, if the purpose is to investigate. If the aim instead is to intoxicate, it shall be haram. Makes you think differently about those ayatollahs.

Posted by: Lurk | Dec 15 2020 0:36 utc | 183

emersonreturn @183–
You’re most welcome, and Thanks! for your kind reply.
TASS article reminds people Putin’s annual year-end Presser is on this Thursday the 17th, wherein the Nemtsov murder results Putin recently remarked about can be freely questioned.

Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 15 2020 0:36 utc | 184

Posted by: Mark2 | Dec 15 2020 0:05 utc | 180
I was pulling green-chain and various other sorter chains, no saws, just fork lifts and straddle trucks. I had some gory injuries, but nothing to get too worked up about. I stayed out of the woods on purpose, but I liked chain pulling and it paid well. Burns the booze right off.
I had a motorcycle for 7 years, and it did me more real damage in a couple little accidents the first year I had it. Broke ribs, lost a tooth. Gasoline engines have killed boatloads of people, nobody seems to think cars should be outlawed.
Oddly enough my 4th and youngest offspring is working in that very same mill today.

Posted by: Bemildred | Dec 15 2020 0:40 utc | 185

karlof1@177 Without a common bond you have people not a Nation. You understand keenly I believe that it is more accurate to say not taught rather than taught poorly. Its a mythology because the truth is incompatible with the exceptional flag that empire has until recently been able to hide behind
The deprograming required to even start. How about a deprograming America/the west book list. Make a few required reading in the Syllabus
A Peoples history of the United States
Howard Zinn
Mark2 thought same

Posted by: Tannenhouser | Dec 15 2020 0:42 utc | 186

Re: karlof1 | Dec 15 2020 0:36 utc | 186
Someone could ask President Putin about the Russian cannabis laws stance!

Posted by: tucenz | Dec 15 2020 0:47 utc | 187

@177 karlof1
I hadn’t fully connected those dots, but of course you can’t have a culture if you don’t have a functioning societal mind – and vice versa – which all requires a framework of accepted “givens”, to think with. It’s like dementia in the aged and feeble, when the established “givens” start to lapse.
In fact, as we see with dementia, where the patient rewrites recent and present history, and lashes out at attempts to offer reality, tightening the grip on the delusion – holding to that anchor alone, really, for preservation of safe ego – I think in all this, we see the US quite clearly also.
Its history is being rewritten, its current culture is being both cancelled and woke-repainted, and it lashes out at all opposition, like one who is an angry Alzheimer’s case who can’t place oneself in time and space, but knows that one is not happy. And increasingly it has no agreed, holistic framework of truths to think with as a nation.
So this is what the US is going through currently. But in my view this hasn’t arisen from an organic cause, from the ground up, as a cancer or a process of decay might occur. It’s being infiltrated, from the top down, and all of this has been done to it, I think, as a fairly comprehensive effort, that continues today and aims to continue until the patient is a vegetable.
~~
This is why I’ve come to look at not trying to change the top part of the nation, the federal part, quite so much as slipping to the side instead, through the maneuvering of the states, and letting the whole rotten edifice fall to the ground from its own dead weight.
The only hope I have lies in the natural upward vitality of humans, in the way that bevin described up-thread – and my hope there is vast and soaring. But I don’t know how in the US they escape the cold embrace of that dead weight at the top.

Posted by: Grieved | Dec 15 2020 0:49 utc | 188

@ myself | 185
I meant to write Cambrian explosion – typo.
BTW, while cannabis has been very accessible to Dutch youth, far fewer use it in comparison with neighboring countries. Where many Dutch people find using cannabis objectionable, most French will not refuse a “petard” when offered. In fact the French elite is rumored to have a centuries-spanning history of partaking in parties where cookies laced with cannabis are eaten (and subsequently everybody indulges in debaucheries.) It’s not like Baudelaire invented that stuff, he just talked about it openly.

Posted by: Lurk | Dec 15 2020 0:53 utc | 189

ROSCOSMOS is in the news at TASS today in 3 separate articles. USA moon orbiter must have compatible hatch. USA’s Artemis program unlikely to proceed as planned. Two more launches next year of Russia’s newest Heavy Carrier Rocket which was launched successfully today. And in case you missed it, Russia’s salvo launch of four ICBMs from submarine probably done last Friday.

Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 15 2020 0:57 utc | 190

Bemilderd @ 187
Thanks again great detail ! That right there is real life !
You mentioned Humboldt. You know this already I expect but —- Humboldt university has a spectacular collection of lumber jack photos !! worth googling.
But don’t set Greta Thunberg on to me.

Posted by: Mark2 | Dec 15 2020 1:06 utc | 191

Tannenhouser @188–
Thanks for your reply! Yes, it was the query about multilateralism and multipolar world that prompted me to revisit Henry Wallace’s “Century of The Common Man” because of the shared vision it articulated that was shared by FDR and millions globally. Bevin helped accentuate it and added those forgotten tenets of Liberalism in his conclusion. The query was genuine and was asked because the person was never taught and is indeed like so many millions more–like my wife–who just plain don’t know because never taught. It becomes frustrating for us both when I go Grad School on her when she needs Elementary level treatment. I was going to do more with that Crooke essay as it invites expansion.
Grieved @190–
Thanks for your reply! As I wrote above, much more can be wrung from Crooke’s essay. I don’t know if you read it, but I wrote a rebuttal of sorts to this long William Gruff comment which was the first setting out of what I see as the hidden history that more correctly addresses our dilemma. I’m going to try and hone it further tomorrow so I can send it as requested to Pepe Escobar in time for his appearance with Dr. Hudson. Time now for our evening meal.

Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 15 2020 1:42 utc | 192

@Bemildred #176
What are your thoughts on MDMA, LSD, psilocybin mushrooms, peyote, ayahuasca?

Posted by: S | Dec 15 2020 2:12 utc | 193

Oz PM and rabid fan of “Israel”, the Fake War On Terror and “Privatise Everything!” (Neoliberalism) Scum Mo, is in a spot of bother over his obediently slavish China-bashing on behalf of the freaks in charge of AmeriKKKa.
Yesterday, Chinese State Media (not a Chinese spokes-wonk) announced that China is toying with the idea of banning coal imports from Oz. Scum Mo is insisting that China is mixing Politics with Trade, conveniently ‘forgetting’ that he started it by not knowing when to STFU. He has pointed out that China still buys Oz iron ore at record high prices, $150+ per ton, apparently blissfully unaware of the Commercial Reality that paying a high price for a commodity is a de facto INVITATION to alternative suppliers to bid for a supply contract with China. Scum Mo is dumber than a rock and won’t wake up until China is no longer Oz’s biggest and most profitable trade destination.
And, of course, he’ll blame China when tshtf.

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Dec 15 2020 2:46 utc | 194

Posted by: S | Dec 15 2020 2:12 utc | 195
“What are your thoughts on MDMA, LSD, psilocybin mushrooms, peyote, ayahuasca?”
I’m not really “experienced” with those. I’ve had LSD (a couple times, didn’t like it) and mescaline (once, nice but too hyper). I’ve had artist friends swear by LSD. I had some good friends in the mill that were fond of mushrooms (lots of pretty colors). My imagination is vivid enough as it is.
MDMA appears to be a speed-relative, never had it, I know some people like it a lot, but I see other people tend to overuse, so I probably would not want it laying around. I had coke a few times, sort of forced on me at a couple deadhead concerts. Not my cup of tea, and expensive too.
I would not recommend any of them except for serious “investigations” as the Ayatollah put it.

Posted by: Bemildred | Dec 15 2020 3:04 utc | 195

Islam forbids the consumption of substances that are likely to affect the mind and lead to Muslims committing acts that they will have to answer for on Judgement Day. This is behind most Muslim countries’ bans on alcohol trade and consumption, and extends to any drug (including potentially caffeine).
Posted by: Jen | Dec 14 2020 22:23 utc | 172
This is why cannabis historically rarely banned in Islamic civilizations until the British Empire and its successor USA do so. Cannabis intoxication (if you could called it that) is different from alcohol in a way that it dampen your. It’s usually most of the time turn the smoker docile and passive instead of aggressive and violent like alcohol could. The only reason that stopping Islamic (majority) nation from legalizing cannabis today is the every enduring anglo perception towards it being dangerous (perhaps coming from British Empire self projection after trading tons of opium (actually dangerous substance and yes the British don’t even care to know the difference) to Qing China).

Posted by: Hangar | Dec 15 2020 3:19 utc | 196

In 1972, the Editors of Consumer Report and Edward Brecher published a book titled Licit & Illicit Drugs — The Consumers Union Report on Narcotics, Stimulants, Depressants, Inhalants, Hallucinogens & Marijuana – including Caffeine, Nicotine and Alcohol
Of course, that publication produced the neutering of Consumer Reports that you see today. And I could not find a link to the book at Consumer Reports but it is available at the Archive that karlof1 links to and encourages others to support…the link
https://archive.org/details/LicitIllicitDrugsTheConsumersUnionReport
And, yes, I have a well read/referenced copy that says it cost $4 back then…grin
Lets just say that I have more drug experience than commenter Belmildred. I am a current medical marijuana user because I lived through getting sideswiped by an SUV at highway speed riding my bicycle. I was on narcotics for 3 1/2 years and am much happier with pain management using various CBD and THC sources.
I drank alcohol in the past and don’t now and was/am a nicotine addict that hasn’t had any in 20 years.
Drugs are coping mechanisms for us humans and I have seen caffeine addicts that had withdraw symptoms as bad as junkies….I don’t do caffeine either and wonder how many users don’t think of it as a serious drug?
One last tidbit about marijuana that is controversial….science has found that us humans have cannabidoid receptors in our bodies and cannabidoids are compounds found in cannabis/marijuana. One part of science says those cannabidoid receptors magically appeared in our bodies and the other view says that humans of the past consumed enough plant cannabis to develop these cannabidoid receptors…..which do you believe?

Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 15 2020 3:37 utc | 197

@tucenz #141
You might garner more credibility if you actually did anything except ad hominem attack.
As it is, you are doing nothing but showing that you are the moron.

Posted by: c1ue | Dec 15 2020 3:39 utc | 198

@JackRabbit #160
The House is controlled by the Democrats.
The possibility of it “not accepting” the electoral results = zero.
The SCOTUS case: ridiculous on its face and equally a terrible precedent. One state suing to keep another state from seating its electors is a bad idea no matter how you slice it.
And then there’s the “faithless elector”: they are literally illegal in many states, and there has never been a faithless elector when it mattered, even disregarding that the people chosen to be electors aren’t chosen at random.
Note I’m no Biden fan, but the above talking points are straight out of Newsmax nonsense.

Posted by: c1ue | Dec 15 2020 3:41 utc | 199

I wish I could reach out to an Ayatollah with this question: Alcohol is najis (unclean) in Islam. When one’s hand touches alcohol, it is to be washed with water immediately so as to clean it. How does this reconcile with hand sanitizers that are, well, mostly alcohol?
Health of people before such and such, is my guess the response would be.

Posted by: Sakineh Bagoom | Dec 15 2020 3:45 utc | 200

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