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May 12, 2021
Open Thread 2021-036
Comments
One cent at a time: The decline of the U.S. dollar
That’s why the USA is so worried about digital currencies.
–//–
US inflation explodes in April with worse to come
I don’t think the USA will ever have hyperinflation (four-digit inflation) or superinflation (two-digit to three-digit inflation), but a higher than usual inflation for First World standards (above 4%) is very possible. It also gives the data that endorses the first linked article of this post.
–//–
Majority of Gen-Zers can’t cut it: Pentagon
I guess, in a way, the USAA is a victim of its own success: the American Empire painted itself as the apolitical, a-ideological Empire, the Empire of Absolute Freedom of the Individual par excellence. The newer American generations, who grew up in that environment, is living according to that.
I wonder if Hezbollah and Iran are going to step up to the plate and defend Palestine from slaughter. The IDF is razing neighborhoods and snuffing Hamas leadership, while hundreds of rockets causing little damage are indeed David to Goliath.
Will anyone defend Palestine? Or is the ‘resistance’ more a cheerleading squad than a brickwall to Israeli aggression?
Posted by: gottlieb | May 12 2021 16:01 utc | 2
“Palestine is not the original home of the jews. It was acquired by them after a ruthless conquest, and they have never occupied the whole of it, which they now openly demand. They have no more claim to Palestine than the descendants of the ancient Romans have to this country. The Romans occupied England as long as the Israelites occupied Palestine, and they left behind them in this country far more valuable and useful work.
If we are going to admit claims based on conquest thousands of years ago, the whole world will have to be turned upside down.”
Lord Sydnenham, Hansard, House of Lords, 21 June 1922.
Posted by: Paul | May 12 2021 16:08 utc | 3
Does anyone know what was burning atop Temple Mount? Have seen notes that it was Al-Aqsa or Dome of the Rock. Or both. Seen burning at night in clip Paul posted at end of previous thread. It is daylight now and surely the site and the damage are visible.
Every site on Temple Mount is important. No one would do this who was not eager for blood.
Posted by: or | May 12 2021 16:19 utc | 4
re: US inflation
the near term fix is simply FED action, coordinated with ECB, BOJ, and PBOC (despite whatever s##t talk you may hear from the talking heads), to keep currencies stable. In my opinion it will worsen inequality (more transfers away from indebted individuals) but will have no big international effect in the near term.
Posted by: ptb | May 12 2021 16:19 utc | 5
g@2…if you’ve read/listened to or watched any of nasurallah’s speeches you’d know hezbollah has been & is there for palestine. ditto iran, yemen, syria, the axis of resistance. leading from behind are undoubtedly russia & china. i’m sure you recall 2wks past lavrov met with palestinian leaders. today putin & erdogan chatted about a 2 part state. so, we have ukraine, china seas, israel, afghanistan, myanmar…all ready set to go…the world is on the brink. how do we find our way through this avoiding nuclear devastation to peace, harmony & goodwill? putin, xi, hezbollah & iran have their work cut out for them, while bliken & nod, nutty, bojo & the eu all preach exceptional rules based order.
Posted by: emersonreturn | May 12 2021 16:30 utc | 6
em @ 6 … Yes to all that, including your 64k question – how do we find our way through this avoiding nuclear devastation? That is the question as human ingenuity is only matched by its hubris.
Posted by: gottlieb | May 12 2021 16:41 utc | 7
Is the motive for the slaughter now taking place in Palestine designed to keep Netanyahu in office,
or is it to derail the JCPOA? Or is it just violent racists being violent racists?
Posted by: librul | May 12 2021 16:43 utc | 8
@ 3 paul… thanks for the quote… stopped for a break 1/3rd thru the book.. reading another h.g. wells book at the moment!
shout out to all the folks who want to talk covid on every friggin thread – DG and norwegian and etc).. here is your window to do it freaks!
michael hudson’s latest from may 11th..
A choice between yes please and yes thank you
Posted by: james | May 12 2021 16:49 utc | 9
@ 8 librul… window number 3, but maybe the other 2 get covered in this as well..
Posted by: james | May 12 2021 16:50 utc | 10
@4 Tree burning…..Jews celebrating something….. take your pick.
The Jerusalem Post has a fairly balanced account.
https://www.jpost.com/arab-israeli-conflict/jews-dancing-while-fire-on-temple-mount-burns-lights-up-social-media-667844
Posted by: dh | May 12 2021 16:52 utc | 11
i don’t do links, sorry…but pepe has a must read post on SC. sets very like michael hudson does the money trail, the deep state & murika’s footprints in the snow.
Posted by: emersonreturn | May 12 2021 17:13 utc | 12
Finally, the Third Intifada.
It feels different this time.
It feels like the beginning of an end.
Posted by: Arch Bungle | May 12 2021 17:37 utc | 13
Posted by: emersonreturn | May 12 2021 17:13 utc | 12
Thank you forthe link to Pepe, he is productive lately.
Kissinger and his policies have always been stupid. Sixth grade stuff. “You’ve got to hit back!”
Posted by: Bemildred | May 12 2021 17:40 utc | 14
Will anyone defend Palestine? Or is the ‘resistance’ more a cheerleading squad than a brickwall to Israeli aggression?
gottlieb | May 12 2021 16:01 utc | 2:
No foreign nation is going to put skin in the game for Palestinians. However, there are alternatives to fighting but there will be many deaths before victory.
Posted by: Ian2 | May 12 2021 17:44 utc | 15
gottlieb @ 7 responds to em @ 6 … Yes to all that, including your 64k question – how do we find our way through this avoiding nuclear devastation? That is the question as human ingenuity is only matched by its hubris.
<=I offer that the answer to avoiding nuclear devastation is to outlaw the oligarch practice of using nation states or international bodies to create private monopoly powers. Laws that establish private rights in public interest or exclusive control over identified assets are monopoly power generators.
This private rights by method of writing laws, creates from hot think air, monopoly power that can be bought, sold and or exclusively used. If there were no monopoly power, territorial expansion would be useless, and because there were no gain in it, invasion would end, and the world would be at peace. Copyright, Patents, License allowing a private "persons or corporations" to do the work of, or for, a government or to provide a pubic service
that the government should be providing, as well as laws that allow private ownership of land and the issuance of government::private contracts allowing a privateer to manage and control a public land or to provide a governmental service is the problem.
When management of resources are non politically controlled the management generates profits which can only be obtained by bilking the public. For-profit enterprise explains war. In the case of Gaza its about land ownership, oil rights, refinery rights, and enterprise for profit production of goods and services. Not race, religion, or whatever, monopoly power is about a few people using the nation state to get rich at the expense of everyone else.
I continue to believe the world would be better off, if those who govern would divide government into two groups, the governors who would pass laws about the economy and the governed who would pass laws that control, restrict and restrain those who govern. Members of neither group could legislate in the domain of the other. but all persons could prosecute a violation of any one in either domain. This would make corruption a very risky business indeed.
Posted by: snake | May 12 2021 17:54 utc | 16
the razing of Gaza the IAF demolition of apartment buildings is old school retribution. It has no military value. What ‘infrastructure’ does Hamas have in these buildings. The Israeli modus operandi is … if you damage something of mine, I will inflict 1,000 times more destruction on you. I cannot stand that FOX is trotting out the same idiotic talking points and ranting about ‘the squad’.
The Wuhan Institute of virology, a question
Does anyone know if they actually do any gain of function research? This was the assumption in Rand Paul’s rant against Fauci and an often repeated accusation by Tom Cotton and the rest of them. Gain of function is where you intentionally modify a virus to make it more deadly in order to study it. That never made sense to me. At this point I will never take anything the U.S. says at face value.
Posted by: Christian J. Chuba | May 12 2021 18:12 utc | 17
@ Christian J. Chuba (18)
Vaccine research is always going to be based on transmission rather than on virulence, so it follows that gain of function research will much more probably be directed at infectiousness rather than deadliness. I am not suggesting that such research is OK, it is still potentially very dangerous and it should obviously be banned. We heard recently from Geert Vander Bosch that he was once working on an Ebola vaccine, how can that be done without deliberately infecting someone/something with Ebola? In my opinion there should be an international moratorium on such research.
Posted by: MarkU | May 12 2021 18:44 utc | 18
Latin America update:
Leftists appear to be uniting in Peru: Veronica Mendoza appeared with leftist presidential candidate Pedro Castillo and gave a full throated endorsement. Rember Ecuador’s election? The left in Ecuador split and some supported closet right wing Indian eco fraudster Yaku Perez, enough to allow right wing bankster Lasso to win. Peru is similar to Ecuador and Bolivia, majority indigenious, old fashioned feudal caste society, the light skins over the dark skins. Japanese Peruvian girl Fujimori is a right winger and is gaining in the polls as the woke left– including some college professors– are smearing Castillo.https://nacla.org/peru-elections-pedro-castillo
Too close to call IMO but Castillo is allied with Evo Morales’s MAS party in Bolivia and the Indigenous probably won’t split like they did in Ecuador. The question is the middle class Euro wannabe Peruvians.
https://orinocotribune.com/the-left-unites-in-peru-pedro-castillo-gains-the-support-of-veronika-mendoza/
Election in early June.
The link below adds some detail to the betrayal Peruvians have experienced repeatedly in the past 20 years—“blah blah blah”
Ya ¡Basta! enough!
https://nacla.org/news/2021/05/03/peru-elections-castillo-fujimori
Posted by: migueljose | May 12 2021 18:48 utc | 19
“Inflation” in the US is mostly profit-taking and speculation (scalping)…
Posted by: paulmeli | May 12 2021 18:50 utc | 20
First the French generals sent warning letters to Macron.
And now you have US generals sending an Open Letter from Retired Generals and Admirals.
… Aside from the election, the Current Administration has launched a full-blown assault on our
Constitutional rights in a dictatorial manner, bypassing the Congress, with more than 50 Executive
Orders quickly signed, many reversing the previous Administration’s effective policies and regulations.
Moreover, population control actions such as excessive lockdowns, school and business closures, and
most alarming, censorship of written and verbal expression are all direct assaults on our fundamental
Rights. …
Posted by: Norwegian | May 12 2021 18:51 utc | 21
Just dipping through.
This place has changed since Covid exposed even the so called “alternative” sites that I once blithely followed.
Shout out out to “Paveway” wherever you ended up.
Good luck with the rest ✌🏾.
Posted by: Skeletor | May 12 2021 19:08 utc | 22
Henry Kissinger is just a globalists high management representative, most likely for the Global Financial Syndicate. His realpolitik is just doublespeak. This syndicate knows that it will be the biggest loser from a world war and lose what it has accomplished over the last few centuries. So now it wants to buy time by proposing dialogue and then will strike its opponents (China & Russia) with a surprise. It ain’t happening.
The Global Financial Syndicate needs to relinquish its control over money creation, monetary imperialism and let nations be sovereign. Without this undertaking there will be no resolutions. China and Russia are united and will not be fooled. Monetary imperialism must go!
The best strike against the Global Financial Syndicate has been that it has ran out of LUCK!
“We need a “revolt of all peace lovers” to bring the demand for peace and an awareness of the danger of war, [and monetary imperialism and enslavement] to all peoples. There is no sovereignty without monetary sovereignty. We need complete transparency and accountability, when it comes to money creation, allocation and management. If we remain inactive and do not defend ourselves in time, an irresponsible USA and NATO policy could, against our will, lead us back into a war impasse. Not only is it high time to warn against these developments, but we must also do it more loudly!” Please awaken many people. Humanity needs to TRANSCEND!
It is time to UNMASK the power players and not let them hide behind broad labels such as deep state… One can find names of prominent individuals ranked according to the number of NGOs – and a number of key organizations that they have historically been involved with at ISGP. Please share your perspectives on additional insights, errors, sources,…
Institute for the study of globalization and covert politics
Posted by: Max | May 12 2021 19:11 utc | 23
I read Escobars las two pieces, which are very interesting, informative and confirm from the horse’s mouth what is aleady clear, and known.
It is remarkable how spectacularly insane these people are; these people with so much power and influence holding the WMD at the tip of ther fingers. It is also remarkable how the world still exists with such lunatics in charge. The world is rapidly turning into a de facto lunatic assylum. There should be no illusion that it is only a matter of when, not if, the place is going to blow up. If we want to be honest with ourselves, we deserve the lunatics, the lunatic assylum and what’s coming. We deserve it, because we did not prevent it, or change it, and we could (have).
Posted by: JB | May 12 2021 19:17 utc | 24
@Skeletor | May 12 2021 19:08 utc | 23
You are right, it has been an eye opener.
Posted by: Norwegian | May 12 2021 19:28 utc | 25
I dunno, after the Texas power cuts, the pipeline leaks, we now see a major bridge cracking up.
After a routine inspection Tuesday, officials with the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) announced that the Hernando de Soto Bridge would be closed due to a crack on the bottom side of the bridge truss. (Massive dislocation of traffic affecting 37K vehicles per day, and also the ships going along the Mississipi.
I reckon that all anybody has to do is just wait and let the US crumble, all by itself.
Posted by: Stonebird | May 12 2021 19:34 utc | 26
“The true equation is ‘democracy’ = government by world financiers.”
– J.R.R. Tolkien
Please name a democracy that isn’t a SUZERAINTY.
“Democracy” is a temporary phase of history which allows the Global Financial Syndicate to take control from the earlier generation of dominant power players: the monarchies. Most democracies are a suzerainty externally and an Animal Farm internally.
World Financiers‘ ENSLAVEMENT plan using democracy:
– Create a REVOLUTION & steal a region
– Create a Private CENTRAL BANK (First Bank of the USA, BOE-1694)
– Fund & control new rich individuals (Kleptocrats)
– Fund & control political PARTIES & MEDIA
– Nationalize the central bank (the Fed, BOE-1946)
Enslave & control people by dominance over economic & political powers & call it a democracy. An interesting FRACTAL emerges when one analysis the formation of democracies.
This pattern of creating a private central bank and then nationalizing it, has been repeated in the UK, U$A, New Zealand, France, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Estonia, Romania, India, Argentina, El Salvador, Indonesia, Angola, Haiti…
Which countries Central Banks are still private?
“Those who create and issue money and credit direct the policies of government and hold in the hollow of their hands the destiny of the people.”
– Reginald McKenna, former Chancellor of Exchequer, England
Posted by: Max | May 12 2021 19:39 utc | 27
james | May 12 2021 16:49 utc | 9
If covid appears on every thread it is because all posters must live with the covid insanity. We don’t get to sit on the sidelines, like we do with issues such as Gaza. Covid is the most divisive issue to hit western society. Your “freaks” comment highlights that. One can’t even have a civil exchange of views here because the hatred has become so bad. That kind of makes covid important.
Posted by: EoinW | May 12 2021 19:43 utc | 28
To Posted by: MarkU on vaccine research, I’m all for cultivating and looking at dangerous virus’
The gain of function research that Rand Paul and the Neocons are wailing about is when you intentionally modify the virus to study how to combat it. This is what I consider dubious because you are creating something deadly that might never have come into being without you creating it. I don’t see the point in doing that. Why isn’t experimenting on natural virus’ good enough?
Okay, let’s suppose you want to test some novel therapy, then I can even see creating something new, with an odd protein you can attack but do that on a virus that is non-lethal to humans.
BTW I read the WHO report and their argument against the lab origin was quite straightforward.
1. There were no samples of the virus in the lab, only other virus’s
2. There were no reports of researchers or workers becoming sick in that time frame.
So basically, you have to just believe that the Chinese are lying. There is no evidence of a lab originated Covid outbreak.
Posted by: Christian J. Chuba | May 12 2021 19:43 utc | 29
@ Stonebird | May 12 2021 19:34 utc | 27 who wrote
”
I reckon that all anybody has to do is just wait and let the US crumble, all by itself.
”
That is exactly what a number of us MoA barflies have been writing is the strategy of the China/Russia axis. Death by a thousand cuts is what we are seeing and as much as the MSM tries to deflect the failures on others, they are being buried by the sheer volume of “cuts”.
Some of those cuts have drawn blood and escalation of the demise of the US seems to be happening….will global private finance go down with the US or blame it for all its failures and be given more life?
Posted by: psychohistorian | May 12 2021 19:44 utc | 30
@Norwegian | May 12 2021 19:28 utc | 26
I share your feelings.
Posted by: DG | May 12 2021 19:46 utc | 31
gottlieb | May 12 2021 16:01 utc | 2
Why do what your enemy wants you to do? Surely the goal of restricting Muslim worshippers was to provoke a reaction. It’s just Israel looking to pick a fight with someone.
A boxing analogy would be the former champ willing to fight all comers in a grand boxing exhibition. But no challengers come forward. The Iranians say “no thank you”. The Syrians pass too. Hizbollah can’t even be bothered. After all Hassan Nasrallah cautions patience. The champ will eventually die of old age. The Christian crusader state lasted 192 years. Israel is nothing more than a Jewish crusader state – currently only 73 yrs old.
Then, lo and behold, a challenger steps into the ring. The neighbourhood midget – Hamas – comes forth to fight the former champ. He’d better beat the midget to a pulp. If the former champ ends up with a bloody nose, or worse..
Posted by: EoinW | May 12 2021 19:48 utc | 32
Re: Gottlieb
It’s obvious that Netanyahu is stoking the flame of war. It’s the only way he can hang on to power and save himself from being prosecuted for corruption charges. Why would the AoR do him that favor? They’re helping Palestine behind the scene, that’s a given. But they won’t help Netanyahu start that war that he so desperately needs.
Posted by: Andrew Ho | May 12 2021 19:54 utc | 33
james | May 12 2021 16:49 utc | 9
James calm down. I rarely comment here and not particularly on covid.
When exactly did I become a freak in your eyes?
Politely wondering …
Posted by: DG | May 12 2021 19:55 utc | 34
Norwegian @May12 18:51 #22
And now you have US generals sending an Open Letter …
The US has “taken a hard left turn toward socialism and a Marxist form of tyrannical government,” the letter claims, calling on Americans to “get involved” and elect political representatives who will “defend our constitutional republic” and obey the “will of the people.”
Is this leading to Civil War (as some believe) or simply a controlled demolition of democracy?
Once again I ask readers to consider the ideology of the ruling classes: neoconservatism (neo-aristocracy); neoliberalism (neo-fascism); and Zionism (neo-colonialism).
!!
Posted by: Jackrabbit | May 12 2021 20:03 utc | 35
Craig Murray’s conviction and now prison sentence based on the dubious legal theory of “jigsaw identification” stands as yet another ignominious marker in the collapse of Anglo-Saxon judicial norms, otherwise exemplified by the ongoing persecution of Julian Assange. Murray’s “crime” was to recognize a lawfare stitch-up designed to circumvent the practice of politics in Scotland
by stigmatizing a political rival with contrived charges. In response, Murray served as one of very few journalistic outlets to express the position of the defence in the case. Nothing Murray published was untrue, or even came close to “identifying” complainants, but the court chose to apply rigourous tests which have the secondary effect of further limiting the practice of journalism when discussing the courts, and endorsing legal mandates designed to reduce accountability.
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk
Posted by: jayc | May 12 2021 20:07 utc | 36
for everyone’s edification
here’s Elijah responding to the Dutch Ambassdor to the apartheid colony of israel. the Hanadi residential tower was a 13-story or so residential tower in Gaza now flattened by the terrorist state
https://twitter.com/ejmalrai/status/1392432796766031876
Elijah J. Magnier
@ejmalrai
Ah! I feel sorry for you. Why don’t you try to sleep in #Gaza and have breakfast at al-Hanadi tower if I may suggest? The view on the roof must be stunning
Dutch ambassador
@hansdocter
In my street, people bravely emerge for breakfast after a scary, sleepless night. I am outraged as ever by the senseless barrage of rockets and the innocent victims they cause, with no end in sight.
Posted by: michaelj72 | May 12 2021 20:10 utc | 37
@ 31 psychohistorian
Will the Global Financial Syndicate sacrifice one of its faction (U$A) to survive? It might move its headquarter to the UK (the global leader in the currency trading, Eurodollars and strong position in the financial services) or move to the EU? Hopefully, nations won’t make the mistakes of 1945.
It will be a tragedy to see the U$A not transcending. What are our plausible options? An external shock will wake up Americans?
Posted by: Max | May 12 2021 20:11 utc | 38
Christian J. Chuba @30
To be specific, there is no evidence of a lab originated Covid outbreak that can be associated with Wuhan. Investigators have not had the level of access to Fort Detrick that they enjoyed at Wuhan Institute of Virology. Just because the virus didn’t come from the Wuhan Institute of Virology doesn’t mean that it didn’t come from a lab. It just means that the virus didn’t come from that particular lab.
Posted by: William Gruff | May 12 2021 20:12 utc | 39
who can sort out the internal bickering oil vs pharma” .. in 9 Eastern states there ain’t no gas .. in Gaza a high rise apt building collapsed after being attacked? Afghanistan and Iraq want to be left alone? Dones attacked Israel? Ansarallah advances in Yemen.. Nordstream II nears completion, Assad stays in power, China is moving forward on its transportation and develop the middle east project. Russia is dodging “you did it” bullets. Erdergodan is dressing his Turkey.
what’s next?
Posted by: snake | May 12 2021 20:15 utc | 40
@ EoinW | May 12 2021 19:43 utc | 29.. i call them freaks because they hijack every thread… going on memory, i think you have done the same…. it seems some folks here don’t give a fuck what the content of the thread is about because on their covid fanaticism… now.. i would like to be wrong, so feel free to tell me i have it wrong.. thanks..
Posted by: james | May 12 2021 20:18 utc | 41
Andrew Ho @May12 19:54 #35
There is a chorus of pundits declaring that this latest crisis is due to Netanyahu’s political troubles. Here’s an example:
IMO this is Hasbara nonsense.
Netanyahu has always been an militarist and staunchly anti-Palestinian. He doesn’t need to prove himself or pander to the right.
IMHO, this ‘flare-up’ was likely arranged to further Netanyahu/Israel taking of the West Bank. It comes after the Palestinians rejected Trump’s “Deal of the Century”. Now their resistance must be squashed as the West Bank is taken not as a ‘peace initiative’ (with compensation) but as a ‘security necessity’ (without compensation).
!!
Posted by: Jackrabbit | May 12 2021 20:18 utc | 42
@ 36 dg… you’re right.. you rarely comment here, but i noticed your covid comment on the previous thread… see my meaning of freaks in the above comment..
Posted by: james | May 12 2021 20:19 utc | 43
@Posted by: Max | May 12 2021 19:39 utc | 28
Brew
Democracy with Hegemony
Demony
Posted by: librul | May 12 2021 20:25 utc | 44
Earlier this year, anglophone media leaped on claims that a doctor who’d treated Navalny had died in suspicious circumstances. The Sun, the UK’s best-read newspaper, asserted that Sergey Maksimishin “was poisoned to stop him blabbing about a novichok attack by [Russian President Vladimir] Putin.” The anonymous source cited by reporters said that “the reason for his liquidation was his readiness to share information about the treatment that he had access to.” This was all, for some reporters, part of a cunning masterplan by the Kremlin. A second doctor at the clinic later died of a stroke, adding further intrigue for those who saw the hand of a supposed cloak-and-dagger assassination operation in the events.
[…]
Bill Browder, a hedge-fund manager who has led the charge on anti-Russian sanctions, said that the news was “unbelievable.” “After two doctors who treated and saved Alexey Navalny at the hospital in Omsk have died, a third has now disappeared on a hunting trip,” he added. The inference was clear, even if the facts don’t support the idea that anything untoward has happened.
Andreas Umland, a Research Fellow at Stockholm’s Centre for Eastern European Studies went further, laying the blame for Murakhovsky’s incommunicado foray into the forest with Moscow’s top domestic security agency. “The FSB’s signal to Russian society seems clear,” he claimed, “do not interfere with our matters or else.”
[…]
His wife confirmed to Moscow-based TV Rain that he had been found and was in good condition. “He does not understand the scale of the search,” she said, with the doctor unable to comprehend why a number of local agencies had been scouring the area for him.
Forgive him, oh illuminated Western experts, for he’s just a Russian, he doesn’t know what he’s doing. He’s oblivious to the True Way of the Light, the Design of the Lord, of the great God Capitalism.
psychohistorian | May 12 2021 19:44 utc | 31
I’m not sure that it is global private finance that is the key. Although I used to.
Either we consider the Oligarchs (Bezos Zuckerberg) as the newest form of low life, or the Banking cartels and billionares are even lower.
BUT – There is a third class of Global financiers. That is “Corporations” (as a class). Corporations are immortal, and like a hydra, with many heads, have more arms than an “image of a covid-virus” (Octopussii are simply too limited, although they are a good example of multi-brained resourceful animals). They are also “persons” in front of the law, with all the protections and privilges that offers. On other occasions they are simply above the law (Twit-Facebook and free speech). The people running them are only occasionally reprimanded, but the “corporation” itself is never touched.*1*
They pay, sometimes, a bit of taxes, have different laws and have lobbies working in their favour. Can corrupt Politicians with the offer of directorships or whatever. They can even be “foundations” and pay no tax at all. They deal across many different National laws, obey what they will, and are extra terrritorial in scope. They can have a nominal “center”, while decisions are made elsewhere. They are in fact a new type of alien supra-being.
Of course, the “leaders” of Corporations are rich, but they can be replaced by others at the wishes of “shareholders”. Untouchable and unknown.
Very useful for storing wealth and speculating at the same time.
In spite of Musk and others taking all the limelight, it is the corporations that work in the background that seem to be the real seat of power.
—
*1* One of the last real actions taken against Corporate power was the breaking up of Rockefellers Standard Oil.
*****
*2* In the case of the “breakup” of either the US or the EU – would the corporations be touched (eliminated), or hailed as saving civilisation?
Posted by: Stonebird | May 12 2021 20:56 utc | 46
@DG | May 12 2021 19:55 utc | 36
The “freaks” comment is just reflecting an insecure position, resorting to labeling.
Posted by: Norwegian | May 12 2021 21:04 utc | 47
At this point the timing of these outbursts between the IDF and Palestine is comically obvious.
Every time NetanYahoo is on the verge of being forced from power something like this “happens.”
The only sites I trust any longer for news of these conflagrations are Moon of Alabama and…..The Onion.
2019: USA Congress Approves $3Bn in Military Aid for Netanyahu to Defend Himself Against the Israeli Justice System
First USA relocates her embassy to Jerusalem in a highly confrontational/provocational move.
NetanYahoo indicted.
Following his indictment, Soleimani was assassinated.
NetanYahoo’s trial paused for ____ weeks to ______.
A slow series of provocations ensued by Israelis in joint Arab-Israeli cities in Israel.
Jerusalem has been the scene of violent confrontations between Jews and Arabs for 100 years and remains one of the most bitterly contested cities on earth. The latest clashes began a month ago with an Israeli move to block some Palestinian gatherings at the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, already a time of heightened religious sensitivities. After those restrictions eased, tensions over a plan to evict dozens of Palestinians from an east Jerusalem neighborhood continued to fuel confrontations.
Palestinians protest or demand justice.
ROCKETS FLY!!! (after IDF incursions or other lawlessness committed against Palestinians in Israel)
IDF soldiers begin gunning down Palestinian kids, US media (except The Onion) ignore.
JERUSALEM—Describing the terrifying yet valiant experience to his fellow battalion members, Israel Defense Forces soldier Yossi Saadon recounted Tuesday his harrowing, heroic war story of killing an 8-month-old Palestinian child during a violent attack against protesters. “It was a heart-pounding experience—there was smoke and gunfire all around me, and I made a split-second decision to hurl that canister of tear gas at the encroaching infant cradled in her father’s arms,” said Saadon to the group of awed soldiers, describing the chills that went up and down his spine as he realized that all he had was his M16 assault rifle and some tear gas to defend himself against the unarmed Palestinian family standing only dozens of yards away. “I could see the whites of the baby’s eyes and hear her terrifying cries, and I knew it was either her or me. And this wasn’t some newborn infant, you know? This was a baby who could probably sit up independently. I was scared, but I acted quickly to throw that tear gas at her and her older sister. (continues)
Repeat similar cycle next time NetanYahoo’s power (and freedom?) is in imminent jeopardy.
Posted by: K_C_ | May 12 2021 21:07 utc | 48
wtf? isnt it called open thread??
british columbia is not exactly the most densely populated place on earth. do you know what it feels to be unable to take a train or bus and cross a border without paying 150D for a test ? or worse, to enter a shop as in germany and being asked your proof of being supposedly negative… arent ppl allowed to share information on one of the few free speech places left?
i ve been watching some vids by campbell and dr been and it is impressive to see that some of the ppl interviewed lately are mentioning the very websites we found in these threads back last year (the webinar by the italian team, the math protocole etc)
Posted by: Mina | May 12 2021 21:08 utc | 49
Hm, nobody noticing that Craig Murray was sentenced to 8 month prison?
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2021/05/appeal-for-defence-funds/
Seems to become the new UK law standard set by the Assange scandal. In any case, Murray needs cash now and again.
Posted by: Cemi | May 12 2021 21:13 utc | 50
Is this leading to Civil War (as some believe) or simply a controlled demolition of democracy?
Posted by: Jackrabbit | May 12 2021 20:03 utc | 37
There has never actually been democracy in the USSA unless one falls into a small category of contemporaneous elites.
Posted by: Christian J. Chuba | May 12 2021 18:12 utc | 18
Maybe when Israel’s illegal razing of Albuquerque draws national attention, people in the USSA will begin to care. That said, I kinda doubt it given the demographics of Albuquerque proper.
Posted by: K_C_ | May 12 2021 21:14 utc | 51
@46 librul
Hegemony of what? Money, media, markets, might…?
Long ago and far away, a group of very clever paleo-banksters figured out a way to stop those annoying periodic slave revolts… eventually it came to be known as “the two party system” (democracy/Republic) and it’s working like a charm… Rulers make the enslaved fight each other.
Democracy is a cloak used to hide & divert attention from reality of suzerainty,
enslavement and looting.
Whoever owns the media OWNS the sheep.
Posted by: Max | May 12 2021 21:19 utc | 52
James, numerous posts on all threads.
Are you a teacher grading barflies?
Why go after Eoiwn talking his mind in an open thread, an OPEN THREAD, mind you!?
In an open thread, posters can speak their mind on any subject of their choosing without getting flak from some irascible and intolerant karen.
No need to offend people that are not insulting you.
Posted by: CarlD | May 12 2021 21:25 utc | 53
…divide government into two groups, the governors who would pass laws about the economy and the governed who would pass laws that control, restrict and restrain those who govern. Members of neither group could legislate in the domain of the other. but all persons could prosecute a violation of any one in either domain. This would make corruption a very risky business indeed.
Posted by: snake | May 12 2021 17:54 utc | 17
In my own work I extend that idea to a circle of control and authority. In the US the people would appoint and have oversight over the supreme court for example.
I agree it would be effective in combination with a few other transparent measures.
The bigger issue is always adoption and how compatible can you make it without disrupting the existent culture.
For what is worth, the solution to make it worth folks while to flexibly participate but supplying an essential (or competitive) tool.
Posted by: David G Horsman | May 12 2021 21:26 utc | 54
@ carld…. it is an open thread and if you read my post @9 i said so too… i get tired of the covid discussion on all the other threads… it is nothing about being insecure either… i get tired of seeing all threads taken up by the covid junkies… have at it here, but leave it off the other threads.. thanks..
Posted by: james | May 12 2021 21:30 utc | 55
Past behaviour is a prediction of future behaviour:
https://electronicintifada.net/content/traces-poison/4588
I posted this on the Palestine thread but it needs wide circulation.
Posted by: Paul | May 12 2021 21:32 utc | 56
b,
Congrats on your excellent work!
Could you add thumbs up and thumbs down to the posts?
This would help those that enjoy grading barflies contributions.
Regards
Posted by: CarlD | May 12 2021 21:37 utc | 57
K_C_ @May12 21:14 #52
Yeah, I should’ve said: what democracy we have left.
!!
Posted by: Jackrabbit | May 12 2021 21:48 utc | 59
Where do you find *real* journalists – prison.
Defense Fund for Craig Murray
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2021/05/appeal-for-defence-funds/
Posted by: librul | May 12 2021 22:01 utc | 60
@58
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Does this work?
Posted by: librul | May 12 2021 22:04 utc | 61
Rhythm fan and practitioners
Thank you Absurdio and James, for the notion of « Beats being in little packages of 2 and 3 ». That REALLY caught my ear. Could you tell me more please ?
And any other stuff in that area too !
Right now, in the Woods, the owls are going into overdrive :
« Woot-woot, tootut, woot-woot, tootut, woot-woot tootoodldldldl… »
They are overlapping even.
Posted by: Featherless | May 12 2021 22:05 utc | 62
Irish MP who should win a hero award to speak unvarnished truth. Ireland, one of the few countries left in the world that you can criticize Israel and their atrocities without fear of retribution. This MP has my respect and adoration.
https://thesaker.is/roger-waters-just-tweeted-this-irish-mp-speaking-the-truth-to-an-israeli-ambassador/
Posted by: Alpi | May 12 2021 22:22 utc | 64
Bridge in the USA was literally falling:
Bridge over Mississippi river closed for repairs after inspectors discover MAJOR CRACK, river transport grinds to a halt
I thought the “crumbling infrastructure” was just an internet joke or a lobby thing (American Society of Civil Engineers sounds like a the name of a DC lobby firm). Never thought it was de facto happening in USA.
In my youth I worked as a very junior financial reporter and I have a continuing interest. While markets are crashing around the world there is a commodities boom, particularly in copper and critical minerals needed for green energy like cobalt, manganese, tin and rare earths.
China was an exporter but is now the worlds biggest importer. These resources are actually finite.
https://www.theage.com.au/business/markets/commodity-boom-adds-to-confusion-about-the-outlook-for-inflation-20210512-p57r6v.html
The markets are agog at the price of iron ore. While the US wastes trillions of borrowed money and blood in the desert sands of the Middle East on behalf of the bandit state, China builds and produces goods for export.
The US has lost the trade war, but no one ever wins a trade war. It’s the last man standing. Uncle Shmuel is looking punch drunk. While the tribal cabal running the US is drunk with power.
Because the US has gone bankrupt and owes China the national debt the elite cabal seem hell bent on war with China as an exit to the financial quagmire they have created.
Posted by: Paul | May 12 2021 22:35 utc | 66
I used to check in at this site. It seems to have lost its mojo – like the Liverpool football team – from brilliance to well not so good. Could it be anything to do with a certain type of German? Very brilliant and intense but suddenly loses it? I really don’t know but I feel sure that huge brain james will help me out here…
Posted by: Molinos | May 12 2021 22:51 utc | 67
Thank you, james, for the beautiful choral piece you provided on the previous thread, and also for your link @ 9 to the Michael Hudson piece I commented on there. Here’s a segment of my comment:
“…within the discussion is a good historical look at the reasons reparations are a meaningful issue, so long as the unifying umbrella of poverty reparations for all is at the core.”
Hudson’s views are always interesting because he doesn’t just have a rote formula, but tailors each interview to the questions and comments as they come. That’s a rare talent.
Posted by: juliania | May 12 2021 23:05 utc | 68
Moon of Alabama?
This site is about as far away from Bertolt Brecht as one could get.
But it is sometimes interesting, and colorful.
Posted by: Duncan Idaho | May 12 2021 23:27 utc | 69
james | May 12 2021 21:30 utc | 56
You have my sympathy. I’m sure that if I didn’t want to read anything about covid, I’d also be annoyed if it appeared on threads that were meant for other issues. I doubt I post enough to be guilty of that offence but if I have then try and cut me some slack, while I stick to Open Threads in the future.
To be fair – and Mina captured this well in her post above – for many people, covid is not about some virus. Rather it is about the destruction of our society. These people, myself included, are bound to become passionate about such an issue. Even all consuming. However, shouldn’t the end of our free society be worth an obsessive reaction?
I can understand how other issues can be connected to covid. Many of the criminal acts taking place are due to the same people behind lockdowns, mask mandates and experimental “vaccines”. If thinkers connect the dots – and there are many intelligent posters here – you’re bound to get cross pollution of covid onto other threads.
It’s unfortunate, however I live in a province that’s been turned into an open air prison. Ontario isn’t as small as Gaza and we’re dodging government fines not Israeli bombs… opps! see how these dots keep connecting? Sorry about that!
Posted by: EoinW | May 12 2021 23:34 utc | 70
thanks featherless and juliania.. juliania – i did see your thoughtful post on the thread you mentioned.. thanks..
@ 71 eoinw… thanks… i have no problem with people talking covid and welcome it.. i make an observation from the previous thread which was not an open thread how some posters who i have named make it a regular habit to post on covid regardless of whether it is an open thread or not… it is true eveyone’s life has been turned upside down and it is also true covid and now the vaccines are a very polarizing thing that no one can avoid… funny enough i think that was the first time mina ever addressed me, but she didn’t bother to read my comment @ 9 where i said what i did to solicit the hostility.. such is life…
no one’s life is a bed of roses and covid has been very challenging for everyone, regardless of where they live.. i play music.. it has all been shut down.. i am not talking about whether i agree with any of it or not, just that this covid talk doesn’t have to enter every thread at moa…
thanks for your comments eoinw..
Posted by: james | May 12 2021 23:54 utc | 71
@Skeletor
This is why I don’t write about Covid, as opposed to the actions carried out by regimes like Modi’s in the name of Covid.
About Palestine:
The zios are in a bind. HAMAS’ upscale fireworks masquerading as missiles have exposed their “Iron Dome”. They cannot take a constant rain of, even ineffective, missiles without doing fatal damage to Nazinyahu’s attempts to hold on to his throne (which I believe is behind this current situation). Their options of escalation are limited; they can either
1. Withdraw and back down, which again would wreck Nazinyahu’s hopes of staying out of jail;
2. Shell and bomb Gaza to rubble, which is what they are trying now but which has a limited shelf life since every bomb makes it harder for their target audience – the EU and the Jews in Amerikastan- to support them.
3. Try a ground invasion, which is exactly what HAMAS, Islamic Jihad, the PFLP and other Gaza resistance groups are waiting for. They’re prepared for close quarter urban battle, which the zios are extremely bad at fighting. The zios in fact are extremely bad at any kind of fighting except WWII style set piece battles in the open desert, and bombing defenceless people. Their generals know that. This is why they want Amerikastan to fight their wars for them, but Amerikastan isn’t going to invade Gaza on their behalf.
Therefore they’re doing as much damage as they can while they can before they will have no option but to declare victory and back down.
Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | May 13 2021 0:13 utc | 72
“IDF Soldier Recounts Harrowing, Heroic War Story Of Killing 8-Month-Old Child”
https://www.theonion.com/idf-soldier-recounts-harrowing-heroic-war-story-of-kil-1826048745
I thought the Onion was a satire site, not a news portal.
Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | May 13 2021 0:34 utc | 73
Posted by: Norwegian | May 12 2021 19:28 utc | 26
Well, you’re the token dissident on this site, aren’t you? Oh yes, there is also ADCK or whatever.
If your eyes were actually opened, you wouldn’t be posting on this censored site an legitimizing it. You and the other token dissident are permitted (and fittingly called a “freak” by that sock puppet james) and thus provide the general impression to readers that your views are in fact a minority view.
If you had any brains and self respect you would not be here. The other day this site had ‘b’ treat the readers as idiots just like NYTimes and the rest of the mainstream. (Zarif, Russia, JCPOA: “they could just veto it if they didn’t want it”, said the German spook service sock puppet. Right, do tell.)
If your eyes are open you need to shun these sites that censor. Let it be a wall to wall conformist boot licking mask wearers and _that_ would inform silent readers.
Posted by: wideshut | May 13 2021 0:36 utc | 74
An interesting read from Pepe Escobar at Saker’s site, related to the comments by Max @24 and JB @25:
https://thesaker.is/insider-view-the-tragedy-of-the-us-deep-state/
No doubt the US/UK deep state, now more than ever, are busy trying to sow conflict and division in Eurasia, to divide-and-rule Mackinder’s “World Island” and hence the world.
Posted by: Canadian Cents | May 13 2021 0:38 utc | 75
@76 Canadian Cents
Interesting, but it’s not like the US-China dynamic suddenly flipped in the 2010’s. It was much longer in the making. By the mid 90’s it was already evident that the end of the cold war, and unipolarity, simply meant the lack of any counterbalance to the US trying to be a sort-of modern day British Empire, which is to say, in large part a money-making enterprise backed by force of arms.
That people still pretend Kissinger represents anything other than the most shameful aspects of US foreign actions in the last 50+ years is a sign of how hopeless the inertia in the US policy world is. Oh well. Too many electrons wasted on this already. Little by little the world is growing immune to this BS.
Posted by: ptb | May 13 2021 1:00 utc | 76
While several people have commented on the recent sentencing of Craig Murray to eight months in prison for having courageously carried out his journalistic obligations to the public concerning the political frame-up of Salmon, the frame-up having been designed to sordidly hide behind safety procedures protecting victims of sexual assault, I have not yet read anyone mention, significantly, that Murray was also told to surrender his passport. This effectively prevents him from giving evidence in a critical trial in Spain re the violation of Assange’s right to privacy which he had been on for.
One report writes,
Retaining Murray’s passport was specifically intended to prevent him giving evidence in support of Assange. The judges initially proposed holding his next hearing on May 19 to prevent him travelling.
He commented that what he found “most shocking” was “the peculiar determination of the judges to make sure that, during the three weeks we have to lodge the appeal, I am not allowed to go to Spain to testify in the criminal prosecution for the CIA spying on Assange’s legal team.”
Posted by: suzan | May 13 2021 1:10 utc | 77
In my relatively few recent years here at MoA, I have seen countless threads take on off-topic parallel discussions about countless other topics, not simply Covid.
Sometimes the off-topic hijacks the thread, and this is usually when the original topic simply didn’t have enough meat on the bone to discuss at length. But sometimes the off-topic is a large distraction to the original discussion, and this is a shame for two reasons.
One reason is that the original discussion is somewhat lost, or entirely gone. This is unfortunate because when a thread remains locked on its subject, towards the end of it there is a definite sense of meaning that comes from reading it, as an original article becomes greatly enriched with side-notes and historical information and futuristic conjectures. It’s a rich thread that stays on topic. This to me is actually a signature Moon of Alabama occurrence.
The second reason is that smatterings of information about important matters – and I agree with those who think that the pandemic is a vitally important matter – tend to get diffused and dispersed across several threads, when, if they could all cohere in one thread, the kind of consensus comes about that I’m referring to above.
~~
Of all the off-topic topics, Covid is one of the richer ones, since it goes beyond simple epidemiological survival – which matters to each of us here – and expands hugely into social, political, economic and global concerns, usually about the oppression of the unprivileged by the privileged, a theme that fits most any topic here.
Someone asked yesterday, right out of the blue, about vaccinating children and I wanted to comment that a bounty of Covid discussion was happening in another thread still running strong, at that very moment. I was sad to see at least half a dozen answers to the question in a thread where they were, frankly, wasted. They could have formed part of a much richer thread, and brought even more to that discussion.
We live in a time when b is so prolific that there are usually 3-4 threads still active at any time. Some older threads can outlast a newer one because of valuable discussion and expert input. One has to scout around to see what’s running.
~~
Well, james, your irritation was plain to see, but you were trying to help keep the threads coherent.
It’s true that we diminish and stall an enriched consensus when we inject different topics into a focused thread. It’s understandable but also inexcusable, at the same time.
Part of what we do here on occasion is to educate our fellows about the protocols of the site: the Typepad filter that grabs certain comments to hold for moderation; the overlong links that can break page formatting. We also sometimes suggest people copy their comment and bring it back again in an open thread, or recommend a different thread where the topic is being discussed – and maybe we could ramp up this advice a bit.
We could probably help take the sting out of the irritation by sharing some of the burden of asking people to stay on-topic and suggesting better threads for any off-topic matter, if there are any, or to compose their comments for the next open thread, if there aren’t.
Posted by: Grieved | May 13 2021 1:17 utc | 78
William Gruff #41
THANK YOU for stating the bleeding bloody obvious. So much focus on Wuhan lab and zero on the hundreds of others. Here is one: Department of Epidemiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA see the 2015 paper in nature mentioned here often.
The Hill rising Saagar Enjeti did exactly the same sleight of hand in a recent stenographer rehearsal of the ‘don’t mention other labs’ and all you could hear was wuhan, wuhan, wuhan like some entranced orc to a drumbeat.
There are many labs across the world that would have been engaged in research of coronavirus, there were once many flying petri dishes traveling our skies with scientists off to this or that conference or experimental get together and many other means of incubating the original virus and enabling its mutation.
The furan site issue is a bit of a problem for the ‘wild origin’ conjecture it seems.
Concrete evidence is scarce to non existent but the circumstantial evidence is pointing directly at human agency incubating this once wild and confined virus. Whether humans actually engineered the current version can only be clarified when all evidence by all parties is assembled and openly, freely examined by all parties: that is the way to designing a global protocol and perhaps avoidance of repetition. I trust that can be achieved but I have no illusions.
Despite excellent training and diligence and an atmosphere of heightened awareness, a Doctor and Nurse in Australia treating quarantined arrivals with covid-19 accidentally carried the virus out of the hotel and back to their workplaces, shopping malls etc etc…. so it is that easy!!!
The heretics bar is always open.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | May 13 2021 1:19 utc | 79
@ EoinW | May 12 2021 19:43 utc | 29.. i call them freaks because they hijack every thread… going on memory, i think you have done the same…. it seems some folks here don’t give a fuck what the content of the thread is about because on their covid fanaticism… now.. i would like to be wrong, so feel free to tell me i have it wrong.. thanks..
Posted by: james
That’s why they have moderators here james. everything about you is wrong. american, obviously. entitled, obviously. Dictate your communications at home and leave us alone. It is an open thread after all. If they have asshole day, I’ll be sure to invite you. They have moderators, we don’t need you. Go moderate Christianity talks on reddit with your holier than thou lame act. Till then, you’ll find sympathy between sh!t and syphilis in the dictionary.
Posted by: Madison James | May 13 2021 1:21 utc | 80
@78 suzan
I got the impression Murray will appear remotely in Spain – his counsel explained that to the court, I thought. Doesn’t change your point, that the English court was determined to be as vindictive as it could against Murray, both to hobble him tactically and also to demean him in every way. They’d have deported him to the colonies for life if they could have. Very scary place right now, England.
We live in an age when the sick cruelty of the old imperialists in their current full rage becomes more visible each day.
Posted by: Grieved | May 13 2021 1:23 utc | 81
@ 79 grieved.. thanks… i said nothing on the previous thread… i brought it up here on an ‘open thread’… but remember i am not the bright light bulb like @molinos who brings so much mojo to this site, lol… or how about @ wideshut who is quotable – “If you had any brains and self respect you would not be here.” ( like widehut, lolol).. i am in a pissy mood and i really don’t care if no one likes what i am saying… you grieved are right to say what you say and that was my reason for bringing it up here.. if some don’t like it – tough..
Posted by: james | May 13 2021 1:24 utc | 82
@ madison… thanks madison… obvious you know me really well! another freak who is incapable of reading what i said..
Posted by: james | May 13 2021 1:25 utc | 83
i guess someone rang the dinner bell over at off-g or whatever…
Posted by: james | May 13 2021 1:27 utc | 84
wideshut #75
If your eyes are open you need to shun these sites that censor. Let it be a wall to wall conformist boot licking mask wearers and _that_ would inform silent readers.
Sometimes the speakeasy needs to be a tad politic to keep the doors open.
And what happened to the links to your proposed alternatives??
Perhaps you are comfortable over at democracy now! ;))
Tell us more about your preferences and hangouts so that we might pay them a visit.
I too get the sh!ts with all the references to NYT and WAPO but then they are the direct voice of empire so it is worth listening. I too go to places of the loony right to listen to their game. I don’t like them, they make me laugh sometimes. So it is with this site, the good, the bad and the irrelevant and I fully support it.
Thank you b.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | May 13 2021 1:32 utc | 85
“seeing is believing all the world over.” – Plautus
fyi
https://twitter.com/sahouraxo/status/1392628077260263424
Enormous protest for #Palestine in New York City. This is amazing!
https://twitter.com/sahouraxo/status/1392620986743214081
Whoa! Massive march in support of #Palestine in the streets of Chicago right now.
Posted by: michaelj72 | May 13 2021 1:39 utc | 86
Featherless at 63:
I earned a B.Mus at the U of Calgary. It was 4 years of extremely difficult training. We used Paul Hindemith’s Elementary Training for Musicians. There was nothing elementary about it. Hindemith said “Music is action in time (rhythm) and action in space (everything else). And beats come in sets of 2 and 3. There are no “odd” time signatures. There is nothing odd about counting to 5 or 7; children do it every day. People who write about music in Rolling Stone etc, have no idea what they are talking about when it comes to music theory. They talk about stupid shit like heavy beats, driving beats, disco beats etc. There is only beat, a steady pulse that comes in sets of two (marches, because we are bipedal, extended to 4 because humans like it, or sets of 3 (waltzes). MOA is not really the place for music theory; check out some websites. The biggest impediment to the student is the ill trained teacher.
Posted by: Absurdio | May 13 2021 1:43 utc | 87
re:craigmurray & all those posting that he’s facing 8yrs…craig on his website has said 8mos. while i have sent money & encourage all to as well…craig deserves help & support…i am questioning where the confusion/discrepancy is originating. please, i’d love to know, as i wish craig all the best, as well as all his supporters.
Posted by: emersonreturn | May 13 2021 2:14 utc | 88
Absurdio @88:
Hindemith’s “Elementary Training” is indeed a bear. I can’t tell where your Hindemith quote is supposed to end, but I can’t imagine he’d claim there are no “odd” time signatures; the “Action in Time” half of Chapter X is about nothing but. (Unless of course you don’t think 7/4 and 15/8 are “odd.” Not as odd as what you see in, say, Cowell, but odd enough, I imagine.) No shortage of such “odd” time signatures in the guy’s music too.
Posted by: corvo | May 13 2021 2:24 utc | 89
Thank you Absurdio and James, for the notion of « Beats being in little packages of 2 and 3 ». That REALLY caught my ear. Could you tell me more please ?
One of these people has never played a gig in their lives. You sing, or play, before the beat or after the beat, which never entered their terminology. Hence, they have no way to relate, or play, with actual working musicians. One of these guys, when not taking undeserved ego hits, is trying to censor others on an OPEN THREAD.
Posted by: RuPaul Simon LeGree | May 13 2021 2:40 utc | 90
Biswapriya Purkayast @73:
I imagine Bibi & Co. will select your second option (shell and bomb Gaza to rubble), and for several reasons. Firstly, it puts the lives of no Israeli soldiers at risk; Israelis tend to panic when their boys’ hair is as much as tousled with anything but “that’s my bubbe” intent. Secondly, I believe you’re wrong about the shelf life of such a tactic; I’m convinced based on past history that there’s nothing, absolutely nothing, that Israel can do, not even wholesale slaughter of the civilian population, that would endanger EU and US (especially including US Jewish) support for Israel. Europe can be counted on for a Strongly Worded Whimper, but that’s about it. And small wonder: Martin van Creveld has made it clear that Israel’s nukes can obliterate Europe, and I’m sure every diplomat arriving in Israel knows or is quickly made aware of the fact that one of the men who murdered the UN envoy to the Middle East in 1948 later became Israeli Prime Minister and was hailed throughout the Western world as a statesman.
Oh, I take that back: They’d probably redouble their efforts to ban BDS and declare any criticism of the Israeli state to be antisemitic.
Posted by: corvo | May 13 2021 2:41 utc | 91
letter calling on the State Department to immediately condemn these heinous actions by the Israeli government against Palestinian families in East Jerusalem
Twenty-five House Democrats have signed onto a letter calling on US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to condemn the looming evictions of Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah. The letter was co-sponsored by Illinois Rep. Marie Newman and Michigan Rep. Mark Pocan. It gained the signatures of Reps. Pramila Jayapal, Betty McCollum, Rashida Tlaib, Raul Grijalva, Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Andre Carson, Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, Cori Bush, Judy Chu, Ayanna Pressley, Bobby Rush, Eddie Bernice Johnson, Gerald Connolly, Jared Huffman, Peter Welch, Judy Chu, Alan Lowenthal, Veronica Escobar, Jackie Speier, Anna Eshoo, Chellie Pingree, Debbie Dingell and Hank Johnson https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/25-house-democrats-call-on-blinken-to-condemn-sheikh-jarrah-evictions/
Posted by: Djazaïr | May 13 2021 2:47 utc | 92
another freak who is incapable of reading what i said..
I, like you, am capable of scrolling past what I’m not interested in, like fake musicians accepting kudos for wacking it in the back room who’ve obviously never played a gig.
Incapable? LOL. Dream on little gosling.
Posted by: Madison James | May 13 2021 3:06 utc | 93
People who write about music in Rolling Stone etc, have no idea what they are talking about when it comes to music theory.
What did Zappa say about the music press? Most rock journalism is people who can’t write, interviewing people who can’t talk or play, for people who can’t read.
Posted by: Ruben | May 13 2021 3:14 utc | 94
@92 corvo
Largely agreed, but fortunately the solution to the problem of Israel doesn’t depend on the EU or the US. It depends on the axis of resistance, and one small blow has thus far been delivered.
Poignant that Palestine was esteemed by its allies to own the honor of delivering that first blow. The last shall be first…
And now the world is awake to the crimes – if Chicago and New York are marching for Palestine, then the upside-down world is striving to right itself.
Israel has a choice as to what point in the escalation curve it wishes to save its own neck by ceasing to escalate. This is its only choice.
Posted by: Grieved | May 13 2021 3:16 utc | 95
For those of us who don’t know anything about music, perhaps those of you who say you know something better than others do would stop attacking those others with ad hominem comments, and instead educate us with some lucid teaching?
Speak to the concepts, not the commenters. Share some knowledge about the thing, not about yourself. Prove your points with fact.
It’s the preferred MoA way – and we would be grateful.
Posted by: Grieved | May 13 2021 3:25 utc | 96
Canadian Cents #76
Pepe Escobar and his Mr S
I am not sure that I accept all of Mr S conjecture. I see the deep state as having engineered the invasion/occupation of Vietnam as a rerun of their (foiled) intention to invade/occupy all of Korea. They thought they might win (given a history of periodic Vietnam antipathy to China) and then they would have a large friendly Vietnamese force at the Chinese border at their command. I don’t think they ever anticipated having a US Army force of 400,000 at that border.
The Vietnam debacle for the USA (and its deep state of Mr S) was bleeding the USA coffers, losing the war, PLUS it was bleeding their legitimacy at home in the new generation. The Tet offensive annihilated their legitimacy, their morale, their alliance with the now five eyes.
The USA lost its game in Korea, lost its game in Vietnam, lost its game in the Phillipines, and now lost its game in Afghanistan and Iraq and soon Syria. It lost its nerve to win its game in Libya.
The US Army was not fit for purpose then. Or at least the purpose envisaged by the the deep state cited by Mr S and posted by Pepe Escobar.
To quote Pepe’s Mr S
“The Deep State also decided to crash the oil price, as that would economically weaken Russia. And that worked in 1985, driving the price to eight dollars a barrel, which ate up half the Russian budget. Then, we basically gave permission for Saddam Hussein to invade Kuwait as a ploy to send in our advanced army to knock him out and demonstrate our superiority to the world in weaponry, which very much demoralized the Russians and put the fear of God into Islamic oil. Then we created the Star Wars fiction. Russia to our surprise lost their nerve and collapsed.
Mr. S. defines all of the above as “wonderful” in his opinion, as “communism went out and Christianity came in”
Methinks Mr S reveals the deep state as a narrow minded dunderhead and if he is a high order functionary in the deep state of the USA and is losing the battle to inferior minds at every decision then perhaps that explains why we are seeing debacle after debacle as these muscleheads can’t think.
I like Pepe’s metaphor in this story and it reveals much.
I see these muscleheads as so stupid, so self indoctrinated that they ‘elected’ Trump, the king of fake amateur wrestling, believing him capable to wrestle Russia and China to submission.
Trump lost.
Just as the US Army loses every strategic move of any consequence.
Biden will lose.
Just as the US Army loses every strategic move of any consequence.
Russia and China are warrior class if they MUST be, the USA: amateur class by design.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | May 13 2021 3:29 utc | 97
Grieved #82
the English court was determined to be as vindictive as it could against Murray, both to hobble him tactically and also to demean him in every way. They’d have deported him to the colonies for life if they could have. Very scary place right now, England.
We live in an age when the sick cruelty of the old imperialists in their current full rage becomes more visible each day.
Thank you, YES, the englander courts are lower than a black snakes belly. SICK CRUELTY has always been their hallmark.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | May 13 2021 3:49 utc | 98
It’s quite simple, China and USA simply used each other during the Cold War.
After the death of Stalin, China was having the Sino-Soviet split mainly due to it wanting more territory concession from Russia and Mao wanting to be the headmaster of worldwide of communist movement, thus it sides with the US.
The US meanwhile uses China to break the USSR (by coordinating in Vietnam, Cambodia and Afghanistan).
Now that China has grown strong, Russia grows weak due to USSR dissolution, and US’s capitalist self-destructs there’s no point to being the conspirator anymore.
This is increasing like Romance of the 3 kingdoms. But who’s Liu Bei, and who’s Cao Cao? This the future will tell.
Posted by: Smith | May 13 2021 4:00 utc | 99
@wideshut | May 13 2021 0:36 utc | 75
If you had any brains and self respect you would not be here.
Thanks for being open and clear-cut about your goals.
Obviously, your idea is to turn this place into a conformist echo chamber. I guess you are not used to having to deal with facts and viewpoints that challenge your world view. For myself, I have come to this site because of the range of opinions and the opportunity to challenge my own understanding of what is happening around us. Censorship is directly counter to that, and that is why I am against it, and especially for viewpoints different than my own.
Efforts of gate keeping by means of bullying and name calling isn’t going to work.
Posted by: Norwegian | May 13 2021 4:44 utc | 100