Twitter has become the model for human discourse.

Posted by: William Gruff | Nov 11 2021 16:16 utc | 3

Any predictions on the outcome of the Rittenhouse show trial?

Posted by: Masked Marvel | Nov 11 2021 16:35 utc | 5

Masked Marvel @5
Aquittal on all of the first degree charges and guilty on the charge of being a stupid kid. No jail time.

Posted by: William Gruff | Nov 11 2021 16:49 utc | 7

On Taiwan, SecState Blinken commits the US to action if Taiwan were attacked.
Reuters: U.S. and allies would ‘take action’ if Taiwan attacked – Blinken
Taipei Times: Blinken vows ‘action’ if China attacks
. . .from a NYT-Blinken interview:
QUESTION: Does that mean that we would step in and defend it? I think that’s the big question.
SECRETARY BLINKEN: Our role is to make sure that it has the means to defend itself, because if it does, that is the best deterrent against any very, very, very unfortunate action that might be contemplated by China. That’s what we’re focused on.
At the same time, I think it’s fair to say that we’re not alone in this determination to make sure that we preserve peace and stability in that part of the world. There are many countries, both in the region and beyond, that would see any unilateral action to use force to disrupt the status quo as a significant threat to peace and security, and they too would take action in the event that that happens. But again, the purpose here —
QUESTION: Right.
SECRETARY BLINKEN: — is to make sure that no one does that. . .here

Posted by: Don Bacon | Nov 11 2021 17:02 utc | 9

More on the costly Philippines military buildup:
At sea:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efrhcZL4C9E
The air:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zlvvm9-j9qE
These weapons are not for fighting Moro separatists in the lawless southern jungles.
Although president Duterte is a christian from Davao he has muslim relatives. Where is the fight?

Posted by: Paul | Nov 11 2021 17:31 utc | 11

New book: CIA Hero porn ‘Damascus Station’ by David McCloskey
https://booktrib.com/2021/09/24/former-cia-analyst-integrates-espionage-love-and-betrayal-in-gripping-thriller-damascus-station/
Historical fiction about a CIA agent investigating the fate of a Syrian asset and handler in 2012 Syria (spoiler alert, they were killed by the evil Republican Guard).
Along the way our agent …
Beds a stunningly, beautiful Syrian official in Paris and turns her into a U.S. asset.
Discovers a plot by the regime to use a Sarin gas attack and blame it on Israel and more.
This book was written by an actual CIA analyst, David McCloskey, in Syria who briefed Congress about the civil war.
————————————
I didn’t read the book so how do I know it is BS?
1. The book was released and held in limbo for ‘security review’. This tells me it favors ‘the narrative’.
2. Gen. Petraeus loved it.
3. I read his long interview w/Aaron Mate where David gushed out ‘the narrative’.
‘The protesters were non-sectarian, Assad was a monster, Assad only survived because of interference by Hezbollah and Russia, Obama should have forcefully bombed Assad and not taken for granted that Assad would have fallen.’
Whenever Aaron Mate brought up an inconvenient fact, such as the rebels being largely sectarian, aligned w/Al Qaeda and ISIS, and the massive support from foreign govts, David would give a confusing answer starting with ‘it’s complicated’.
Did I read the book? No.
Does David McCloskey speak Arabic? (I’ll bet a $1 he does not)
———————————————————
BTW the U.S. reviewers loved the book.

Posted by: Christian J. Chuba | Nov 11 2021 18:38 utc | 13

Scum Mo’s deviously non-committal bullshit and lies are beginning to irritate everyone in Oz. Yesterday, ex-PM Paul Keating jumped back into the limelight on ABC.net.au’s National Press Club broadcast to deliver a stern warning to Scum Mo’s Nazis:
1. China is well on the way to becoming a Trade and Military Superpower and every country with an eye on a prosperous future should be jumping onto the China gravy train.
2. Oz should meet Russia and China halfway and stop sucking up to AmeriKKKa.
3. AUKUS is the most pointless, reckless and stupid idea since the Beginning Of Time.
4. The whole world recognises that Taiwan is part of China and if a war over Taiwan’s Freedumb breaks out Oz should refrain from participating.
I’ll always admire Keating for his delightfully accurate description of Johnny Rotten, aka John Dubya Howard, as “Mr Magoo without the good intentions.”

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Nov 11 2021 18:57 utc | 15

When will the day arrive that our host realizes that C has brought a comeback for facism to Central Europe. We badly need help from the outside.

Posted by: e | Nov 11 2021 19:27 utc | 17

Paul, thanks so much for the link to the 4 Corners coverage on the Obeid family!! I was struck by two things: the extensive kms long beach that has no development, and that someone involved in real estate corruption was actually convicted of a crime and went to prison. You need to explain Australia to me a bit more, please! Who exactly did Obeid offend to receive that kind of a response? And why is that beach pristine? Is it used by the military or something??
Just for fun, here’s one from Canada. Cottagers and Indians.
https://youtu.be/p9k42UkDvxc

Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Nov 11 2021 19:59 utc | 19

@ wl 17
Are Americans really that gullible and easily led? Yes, they are, apparently
Americans have nothing to do with what the US says, mainly because there is no system for doing so. So there is no reason for dumping on Americans, especially by other Americans.

Posted by: Don Bacon | Nov 11 2021 20:59 utc | 21

Christian J Chuba @ 14:

“… [CIA agent Sam Joseph beds] a stunningly, beautiful Syrian official in Paris and turns her into a U.S. asset …”

That detail which seems to have come more from the James Bond films than from the spy thriller novelists David McCloskey claims inspired him is all you need to know “Damascus Station” is BS.
Would two officials from opposite sides really be prepared to compromise their professional careers by carrying on a clandestine affair together? How would the CIA agent be confident the Syrian official was not a honeypot?
I admit I know nada about how CIA field agents think and feel and whether seducing their assets is part of the job but this romance trope seems to be a marketing tool to suck in readers and capture a market for a first-time novelist peddling the same old lies about Syria, President Assad and the war waged against Syria by the West over the past decade.

Posted by: Jen | Nov 11 2021 23:28 utc | 23

I think the whole world uses the metric system except the US. I wonder how a prospective president would fare in the elections if switching to the metric system was one of his goals?

Posted by: arby | Nov 11 2021 23:46 utc | 25

Lukashenko threatens to cut gas to Poland & EU. The EU generated crisis regarding Belarus is escalating. And the Outlaw US Empire escalates the Ukraine crisis.
IMO, it’s a shame NS2 was completed and filled with gas. EU bureaucrats and members of the EUP deserve to freeze. Perhaps voters will get the message since they’re the ones who will be frozen.
Do recall what entity started these multiple crises–The Outlaw US Empire under Obama/Biden then escalated by Trump/Pence, and further escalated by Biden/Harris. The EU dolts merely acquiesce and get drunk.

Posted by: karlof1 | Nov 12 2021 0:02 utc | 27

@ 28
The US arms escalation in Ukraine is based on the recent Joint Statement on the U.S.-Ukraine Strategic Partnership including a lot of BS:

Russia’s aggression, including the war in eastern Ukraine and its seizure of Crimea, has claimed more than 14,000 Ukrainian lives, destabilized Europe and the Black Sea region, and threatened the global rules-based order. The United States does not and will never recognize Russia’s purported annexation of Crimea and reaffirms its full support for international efforts, including in the Normandy Format, aimed at negotiating a diplomatic resolution to the Russian-led conflict in eastern Ukraine on the basis of international law, including the UN Charter. . . .
Providing Ukraine with Security Assistance: The United States is announcing a new $60 million security assistance package, including additional Javelin anti-armor systems and other defensive lethal and non-lethal capabilities, to enable Ukraine to more effectively defend itself against Russian aggression. The United States has committed $2.5 billion in support of Ukraine’s forces since 2014, including more than $400 million this year alone.

Of course there was no mention of Minsk 2 in this partnership agreement, no mention of allowing some autonomy to the Russians in Donbas, no real US intention to do anything to resolve the US-caused instability as a result of the coup the US pulled off almost seven years ago and the installation of neo-Nazis in Kiev.

Posted by: Don Bacon | Nov 12 2021 0:25 utc | 29

IMO, it’s a shame NS2 was completed and filled with gas. EU bureaucrats and members of the EUP deserve to freeze. Perhaps voters will get the message since they’re the ones who will be frozen.
Do recall what entity started these multiple crises–The Outlaw US Empire under Obama/Biden then escalated by Trump/Pence, and further escalated by Biden/Harris. The EU dolts merely acquiesce and get drunk.
Posted by: karlof1 | Nov 12 2021 0:02 utc | 28
I agree with your sentiment, but here is the catch: it isn’t shared by Putin. And while I can understand that there may be geopolitical and ecnomic needs in play for Russia, there should be at some point a serious expression of displeasure. And that’s just isn’t forthcoming.
One, of course, may claim that Russia is passing the message from less prominent channels. However, considering that the Anglo-American empire has been ratcheting up the game, increasing the pressure nonstop – particular emphasis on the racist vilification and dehumanization of Russia and its allies – and with its chief neocon ideologues declaring that there is still more room for anti-Russian measures, it is clear that there is no such development.
In short, while you are right that there should be a threat of serious consequences for western neocolonialists who continue to behave criminally on so many levels, there just isn’t one and it doesn’t seem to come any time soon. Russians are spouting threats, but the other side proceeds in concrete anti-Russian policies (you can also pick other targets of the empire as victims, almost all friendly to Russia).
I expect that the chorus of loyalists, who are unable to offer minimal criticism towards the Russian President and his government to come out against me for the offensive nature of this post.

Posted by: Constantine | Nov 12 2021 0:42 utc | 31

Further on the Belorussian immigrant “crisis”:
EU Weaponizes Belarus Border, Blaming Minsk and Moscow
Most of the refugees stranded at the Belarus borders with Poland and the Baltic states are from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. This was the same as in 2015. The common denominator is that these three source countries have been subjected to war and aggression by the United States and its European NATO allies over two decades. That is the root of the phenomenal migration to Europe. One can also factor in the NATO destruction of Libya in 2011 as another gateway for mass migration.
The EU is weaponizing the issue by distorting the cause: alleging that it is Russia and Belarus creating the human tide when in fact it has been illegal imperialist wars and regime-change operations conducted by the United States and the Europeans.
It is Poland and EU members that are deploying thousands of troops, tanks and barbed wire along the border with Belarus. This is an abomination of supposed “European values” and respect for international laws of asylum. The fiasco of Brussels financially supporting the construction of barbed wire fences is an international disgrace. Pointedly, this rush to ring-fence Europe comes exactly 32 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
He left out sub-saharan Africa, which is also sending refuges, but that was likely an oversight.
You know migrants have been known to bring down empires before. Maybe making all these refugees was an own goal?

Posted by: Bemildred | Nov 12 2021 0:49 utc | 33

When will the day arrive that our host realizes that C has brought a comeback for facism to Central Europe. We badly need help from the outside.
Posted by: e | Nov 11 2021 19:27 utc | 18
I would use “fascism” more narrowly, but there are political party, like the one currently ruling in Poland, that capitalize and increase intolerance, xenophobia, coarse political language (opposition consists of “traitors”) etc. In Poland the political balance was unstable, but the tilt to the right, like in other Central European countries (do not call us East Europe! natives view themselves as “Central”), was associated with the wave of migrants that reach Germany. Merkel demolished moderates to the east of Germany. Parties resolutely opposing “European solidarity” and quotas for admitting migrants instantly gained popularity, and if moderates would accept modest quotas, they would accept no one. Worst of all, migrants were Muslim and not Europeans (before, some Chechens were accepted with only minor troubles, perhaps only particularly docile Chechens chose Poland).
Either Merkel and Eurocrats were OK with the rise of such parties, or they were stupid, probably a combination. That said, no one can help from outside. Obviously, there are local differences. Orban, the “dictator” of Hungary, seems shrewd and some of his “independence” is eminently rational, like cutting deals with Russia. Polish wing nuts know how to play populist themes, but not only their electorate is skewed toward villages, small towns and lower education attainment, but they are, well, not as bright as Orban. Recently they made some blunders that they KNEW are blunders, perhaps because their parliamentary majority depends on groups of extremists. One group are a Catholic equivalent of Taliban, displeased with overly lax rules for abortion: more than 1% of abortions of Polish women is legal (I guess, most of the rest requires to go abroad which is easy). Petitions to Sejm (Parliament) went nowhere, but the judges packed by the ruling party into Constitutional Tribunal reduced that percentage to ca. 0.1%, to the detriment of women who experience dangerous complications in pregnancy — a women with a typical need to control number of children could easily take a train, say, to Slovak border, where she could be picked by a ride to abortion clinic. Seems that PiS will loose few percent of the vote, so they will go to opposition in a year or two. Especially that now there is a new petition to impose heavy prison sentences for conducting abortions. While most Poles are Catholic, the majority is not THAT fanatical.
In short, less intelligent “fascists” will follow Darwin selection. More intelligent will survive, but I am not certain if it is a bad thing. E.g. does Hungarian opposition present a genuinely better program?
Incidentally, moderates in Poland may get help from EU, however belatedly (or properly belatedly). To achieve police state, they are enacting laws that bring “discipline” to judges and make it easier to pack courts with their stooges. At long last, they did it too blatantly for EU structures to swallow, and it seems that a generous package to Central Europe countries aimed to recover from Covid-19 economically will skip Poland. While the government appeals to national pride, many rural supporters are farmers for whom EU is very advantageous. Farmers, however Catholic, can count.

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Nov 12 2021 0:51 utc | 35

@ karlof 28
IMO, it’s a shame NS2 was completed and filled with gas.
Josh “hawk” Rogin has an opinion piece in WaPo which agrees with you.

The Biden administration this week made a public show of solidarity with Ukraine, when Secretary of State Antony Blinken hosted Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in Washington. But it refuses to do the one thing the Ukrainian government and Congress believe could deny Putin yet another weapon to use against America’s European partners: stop the completion of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

Posted by: Don Bacon | Nov 12 2021 0:59 utc | 37

@ Piotr Berman – I can still see it. For Canadian eyes only maybe. You don’t happen to live in a country with undeveloped lakefront property, do you? (Is there anything more symbolic of the AngloZionist American dream than owning lakefront property?) Musn’t let others be polluted by the local experience. It’s amazing how much development has happened in lake country in Canada, throughout Canada. I remember back in the 80’s, when those dudes who invented Trivial Pursuit, invested some of their newfound wealth in building a golf course in that cottage country, threatening the already threatened water table for the entire area.

Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Nov 12 2021 1:25 utc | 39

I like Lukaschenko.
He said, (paraphrasing here) that our sovereignty is paramount and nothing is off the table.

Posted by: arby | Nov 12 2021 1:30 utc | 41

karlof1@39: Rentier Capilatlism & its Discontents power, morality & resistance in Central Asia.
pardon me for neglecting to post the title as i am well accustomed to lagging behind your voracious reading. nonetheless i found this essay, one i’ve been long awaiting & as expected most interesting. my deceased brother was in the oil business in houston during the taliban visit as well as the russian delegation. both were as you know big news in the oil texas world.

Posted by: emersonreturn | Nov 12 2021 1:45 utc | 43

Watched an interesting short video on RT showing a Russian Air Force bomber patrol of Belarus. In the clip it appears the navigator is using a Slide Rule. I wonder how many other navigators can use one? I presume it’s for nuclear blast EMP intellectual property protection.
russian-bombers-patrol-belarus

Posted by: Dim sim | Nov 12 2021 1:54 utc | 45

Two related and highly recommended reads:
János Kornai on capitalism and socialism
Has Capitalism Defeated Socialism Yet?—Kornai’s Turnaround on Liberalism, and the Evaporation of Myths about Eastern Europe by Ping Chen, Fudan University
János Kornai died some days ago at 93 years of age. Almost everything you think about the Socialist side of the world during and after the Cold War (I’m assuming the average reader of this blog is either an American or a Western European), he invented it. No, you didn’t come up with your ideas about the world by yourself, some obscure liberal “intellectual” invented it somewhere, sometime.

Posted by: vk | Nov 12 2021 2:08 utc | 47

@ DP 43
Iran-backed terrorists seize U.S. Embassy in Yemen…take hostages
Was that like the US-backed terrorists that . . .you name it. There is US-caused instability in many places.

Posted by: Don Bacon | Nov 12 2021 2:22 utc | 49

Having worked blue collar here all through the 70s, when inflation was hitting the high teens, I agree with this, it was good times for employees. Rich people hate it:
Inflation Is Good for You
(Source is Intercept).

Posted by: Bemildred | Nov 12 2021 2:40 utc | 51

“The long-term U.S. strategy should be to bolster European energy security by increasing U.S. natural gas exports there”
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Nov 12 2021 2:38 utc | 51
The delicious irony of Rogin’s prescribed solution being structurally impossible for the US to carry out – because who is the US government to tell its O&G industries to prioritize European markets when the laws of the blessed free market dictate that Asia is the preferred customer – that is unless it were to violate this dogma and start invoking command economy principles, and in the process become ever more like his national bête noire China.

Posted by: J D | Nov 12 2021 3:28 utc | 53

@ JD 54
re: who is the US government to tell its O&G industries to prioritize European markets
Is Rogin imagining that the US is like China, where the government owns the corporations instead of the opposite?

Posted by: Don Bacon | Nov 12 2021 3:47 utc | 55

@ vk 53
Dennis Roy: Self-apotheosis doesn’t make Xi a good leader by Dennis Roy, for the Asia Times
Apparently Xi’s supporters disagree.
..a previous Roy essay:
“Xi Jinping’s top five foreign policy mistakes”
1. Wolf warriorism
This came from the government’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, who prodded officials at a foreign ministry gathering to display stronger “fighting spirit” in the face of international challenges, three sources with knowledge of the matter said. That’s a XI foreign policy mistake?
. . .and so on
2. Galwan Valley skirmish
“According to Indian sources,. . .” blah blah
3. South China Sea policy
China has responded to US provocations, Roy doesn’t mention that.
4. Taiwan
“Rather than blazing a creative new solution to the cross-Strait dispute, the man celebrated for “Xi Jinping thought” has simply doubled down on his predecessors’ demonstrably failed policies.” The solution is to move toward enforcing Taiwan as a part of China, which has been a US position for fifty years, also recognized by other nations.
5. Economic coercion against Australia
“The consequences of this Chinese policy were worse for China than for Australia”. . .and Oz’s allies in Asia are. . . Japan which is occupied by the US and has no allies in Asia.

Posted by: Don Bacon | Nov 12 2021 4:23 utc | 57

So that was the problem with these series!
Kim’s ‘Got to Be Loving Squid Game’, Claim North Korea Experts

Gordon Chang, another political expert and author of ‘Losing South Korea’, suggested that series such as ‘Squid Game’ and films such as Oscar-winning ‘Parasite’ by director Bong Joon-ho, undermine the faith South Koreans have in their own government and add a certain appeal to the promises of the communist DPRK to the extent that some people favour reunification with the North.

So, according to Gordon Chang’s logic, if you don’t show the problem, it doesn’t exist. Simple world for a simple mind.

Posted by: vk | Nov 12 2021 5:11 utc | 59

[in UK] Now the present lunatic government (fawning to its key supporters) has promised to let shops revert to pounds and ounces, thus undoing the entire process. Anyone under 60 will have no idea what they are.
(Mind you I always secretly thought that dealing with £sd, 12 inches to the foot, three feet to the yard, five and a half yards to the rod pole or perch was good for training mental arithmetic).
Posted by: Walt | Nov 12 2021 4:34 utc | 58
I would not be too confident about the agility of those 60+ in using older units. In US most of the population believes that “metric system is complicated”. In my naive initial years I had two experiences with the simplicity of the units that are used.
1. In supermarket, I hesitated if I want to buy 100 or 200 g of certain cheese, so I asked for six ounces. The clerk in the deli department was flabbergasted. Only later I realized that his scale can show either the dollar amount after selecting the article and thus the price, or the weight in hundreds of a pound, so he would need to figure out that six ounces is 0.375 of a pound, but even then, should he go for 0.37 or 0.38?
2. In a fabric store I wanted material for curtains, four pieces with length 2 ft 3 in (something like that). The selling lady had a yardstick, so she would need to convert it to inches. She tried a calculator, but then she realized that she does not know how to do it.
But even STEM students would not answer such a simple question: what weights most: one ounce of butter, one ounce of milk, or one ounce of gold? Should it be common knowledge that “normal ounces” are used for butter, “fluid ounces” for milk and “troy ounces” for gold, roughly 28, 29.5, 31 g respectively. Now for a more difficult question: what weights more: pound of butter or pound of gold? Obviously, pound of butter because troy pound consists of 12 troy ounces.
People who grew up with such confusion can think that when Russia moves several battalions to a training ground mere 32 Lithuanian miles from Ukrainian border are very close to that border. Too bad, Lithuanian miles (traditional if not currently in use in nearby Belarus) are 5 times longer than those in USA.
Onward to knots and phantoms.

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Nov 12 2021 7:46 utc | 61

@arby (26)
That depends.
I’m not sure how many people in the US are willing to go metric. Or whether the debt-ridden US can afford (to complete) it.
All I know is, some ‘conversative’ folks have conflated the metric system (and soccer, but that’s another story) with ‘socialism’ or ‘communism’ and see it as one part of a ploy to make America ‘more like Europe’.
There are also types who see customary measures as instrumental to the moon landing, notwithstanding the rockets’ dimensions which were done in metric behind the scenes. Whether the moon landing was fake or real, it seems to imply that feet and inches could perform such a feat where meters could not – a questionable assertion.
Ironic how one aspect of American Exceptionalism is the adherence to a non-decimal system of measurements based on the body parts of dead English monarchs*. And that says something considering that the US was also the first Anglophone nation to use a decimal dollar-cent currency system – and swears by it to this day – in stark contrast with Britain’s pound-shilling-penny system. (Thank you Mr. Berman for your anecdotes)
* Speaking of England, I’m not sure they’d count as the ‘rest of the world’. Speed signs there are still in miles per hour, and some people still measure themselves in feet/inches and stone/pounds/ounces. Among the Brexit crowd, there are some who see it as an opportunity to return to Imperial units and pounds/shillings/pence. There’s also a British Weights and Measures Association, of which Peter Hitchens is a member.
** Months ago I came across a video claiming the US, Canada and the UK to be “enemies” of the metric system. The US and UK, understandable, but with Canada I wasn’t too sure (English-speaking Canada, maybe, but what about French-speaking Quebec? How are they doing?)

Posted by: joey_n | Nov 12 2021 9:39 utc | 63

Regarding snippets, I have long followed these rules:
1.) Never more than 4 paragraphs or equivalent, i.e maybe 30-40 lines tops, ever. “Fair use”.
2.) No excerpts if the Subject line makes the content clear enough.
==
Regarding slide rules, and other “low-tech”, I still have three. I think Russians have been keeping these skills hot for some time now, typewriters for example, in response to our nosy takeover of the Internet and general weaponizing of everything electronic, which is exactly what I would do too.
Electricity is nice but you cannot always rely on it.

Posted by: Bemildred | Nov 12 2021 10:17 utc | 65

Posted by: joey_n | Nov 12 2021 9:39 utc | 63
In Quebec we use litres and millilitres, pounds versus kilos about equally but small weights in grams, and generally kilometers and not miles, feet more often than meters, and inches especially when talking about cutting wood.

Posted by: Featherless | Nov 12 2021 12:17 utc | 67

A masterpiece in the manipulation of covid figures
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-59262701

Posted by: Tom2 | Nov 12 2021 14:20 utc | 69

Nazism, the highest stage of imperialism:
Doubtful vaccines will be tested on soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in exchange for military assistance from the West
The “deal” is with American pharmaceutical giants Pfizer and Merck, and also includes experimental drugs.

Posted by: vk | Nov 12 2021 15:07 utc | 71

The masterpiece linked by Tom2 is actually quite solid on facts, but caters to hasty readers. I think that BBC has rigorous training in that direction. Opening words:
“While many European countries are seeing steep rises in coronavirus cases and preparing to step up Covid restrictions, the UK has been going in the other direction.”
To someone who was enlightened by Communist propaganda in the younger years, the opening is very lucid. When a the puff piece uses “many”, it mean two things. First, they did not use “most” and they would if they could. Second, means the countries selected countries for comparison below were selected very carefully. Finally, without opening the newspaper we know that if two stats were possible, they would choose that makes the comparison more favorable, in this case the choices are “daily infections” and “daily deaths”.
Overall, BBC is fairly informative if read properly, so outright b..t is more readily accepted (e.g. ANYTHING that connect deaths, chemicals, Russia or allies).

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Nov 12 2021 16:04 utc | 73

@Bemildred #51
That article is nonsense.
Let’s start with the assertion that the 1% are hurt by inflation.
This is 100% wrong – because the 1% own the assets: stocks, businesses, real estate etc. Yes, the small part of their portfolios which are cash and/or bonds/Treasuries is hurt, but the net is a huge gain as all of the other assets skyrocket in value.
The next: inflation is good for regular people.
Also mostly wrong. If you work in a business with pricing power – say plumber – you can pass along the increases. But huge segments of the population do not have this. Retired people is one example – particularly if on Social Security. Government workers is another example – the French Connection ending (huge drug bust disappeared from police lockup), Serpico etc occurred in the 1970s because government jobs don’t have the pricing power, at least in the rank and file.
The article reads like a limousine liberal proclaiming “I, for one, support our Inflation overlords”.

Posted by: c1ue | Nov 12 2021 17:16 utc | 75

@Dogon Priest
I am a little mystified by the “BLM movement”.
1. In early summer of 2020, in the wealthiest, whitest neighborhood of a certain metro area, there appeared, essentially overnight, a plethora of BLM signs. In other neighborhoods, they were scarce. In particular, there were none in the black neighborhoods. The people who sported the signs were young (30s or 40s), with professions of law and education predominant. The same BLM signs are still there, neither more nor less.
2. Sticking with cases of white cop perpetrator, there are plenty of examples where the black victim is perfectly innocent. However, those are not the cases that the movement champions. Instead, the cases usually involve a career criminal who is high and resisting arrest. By isolating race as the issue, one passes over the fact that there is a real problem with US policing which involves incompetence, overmilitarization, and impunity.

Posted by: Platero | Nov 12 2021 18:07 utc | 77

Government workers is another example – the French Connection ending (huge drug bust disappeared from police lockup), Serpico etc occurred in the 1970s because government jobs don’t have the pricing power, at least in the rank and file.
The article reads like a limousine liberal proclaiming “I, for one, support our Inflation overlords”.
Posted by: c1ue | Nov 12 2021 17:16 utc | 75
Government jobs not having pricing power is not the problem we have at the moment. It is precisely the people who have pricing power who are the problem, because they are greedy and selfish, and have not taken care of business.
There are many good people in government jobs, most of them, they are not the problem either.
Inflation is terrible for banks and billionaires, all their money floats away too, that is why they are buying up all the land and other assets they can find. All that money sitting in the Cayman’s, those are the people who hate inflation, the people with cash.

Posted by: Bemildred | Nov 12 2021 20:10 utc | 79

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Nov 11 2021 18:57 utc | 15
He also famously referred to the conservative opposition as a “…conga-line of suck-holes…” on the floor of parliament.
Posted by: Jon_in_AU | Nov 12 2021 5:50 utc | 60
No, Jon, it was Mark Latham
https://mailman.anu.edu.au/pipermail/link/2003-February/048117.html
“..The Prime Minister puffs himself up and talks about strength.
The real strength and purpose of national leadership every now and then
comes from saying no to another country. That is what Mr Howard should
have said to the Americans instead of committing Australia to forward
deployment and the inevitability of war in Iraq. But he is too weak, and
behind him sits a weak and ineffective backbench. It has been left to
the elder statesmen of the Liberal Party — John Valder, Fred Chaney,
Peter Baume, John Hewson and Malcolm Fraser — to articulate a true
small-l liberal position. Mr Howard and his government are just yes-men
to the United States. There they are, a conga line of suckholes on the
conservative side of Australian politics. The backbench sucks up to the
Prime Minister, and the Prime Minister sucks up to George W.
That is how it works for the little tories, and they have the hide to
call themselves Australians. In my book they are not Australian at all.
They are just the little tories—the little tory suckholes. The backbench
sucks up to the Prime Minister, and the Prime Minister sucks up to
George W. That is all they have left on their rotten little side of
politics.
Australia deserves better than an American apologist as its Prime
Minister. We deserve better than someone who is too weak to say no to
Uncle Sam. In his statement to the parliament, the Prime Minister
dismissed the opposition to war as anti-American prejudice. That is what
he said – “This is just anti-American prejudice.” Fancy the member for
Bennelong lecturing us about prejudice. This is the same member of
parliament who opposed sanctions against South Africa, who wanted to cut
Asian immigration, who opposed the Mabo judgment tooth and nail, who
welcomed Pauline Hanson’s first speech in this place as an outbreak of
free speech. He still refuses to say sorry to the stolen generation and,
to this day, cannot bear to utter the word “multiculturalism”. Fair
dinkum, this bloke has a PhD in prejudice; he has no right to be
lecturing anyone else. ..”

Posted by: tucenz | Nov 12 2021 21:42 utc | 81

Posted by: tucenz | Nov 12 2021 21:42 utc | 81
(Conga-line of suck-holes)
Yes it was Mark Latham. I was going to tell Jon it wasn’t Keating but couldn’t remember who it was. Keating never used vulgar language which is probably one of the reasons his quips were so popular. Someone published a selection in a booklet called Banana Republic. It’s cover was yellow and shaped like a banana….
Another quip for the list…
A resigning Secretary-General of the Liberal Party, called something Stone, attributed his resignation, in part, to the fact that the Public perceives the Libs as “Tricky and out-of-touch.”
When the Howard Liberals were returned to government circa 1996 Johnny Rotten airily dismissed a question about his growing list of broken election promises with: “Oh, aha, those were non-core promises!” accompanied by his traditional cheesy grin -like a kid caught in the act of shoplifting.

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Nov 13 2021 15:15 utc | 83

Fowdy asks the correct questions, while BigLie Media misleads as usual:
“Now anointed with the same status afforded to Mao and Deng, Xi has the opportunity to usher in a new era that will complete his vision for the rejuvenation of China while dealing with the threat posed by America.
The country’s ruling Communist Party (CPC) passed a significant resolution on Thursday, affirming the 68-year-old leader as a key figure in the party’s history, elevating him to the same historical status as Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping.
“The document, a summary of the party’s history, addresses its key achievements and future directions. It’s only the third of its kind since the party was founded 100 years ago – the first was passed by Mao in 1945 and the second by Deng in 1981.
“This consolidates Xi’s legacy, ideology and policies as a historic epoch for the party and country’s direction. Inevitably, the Western mainstream media interpreted it critically, claiming Xi was centralizing power, building a personality cult, and taking China in the wrong direction at a time of growing geopolitical friction.
“But what does this affirmation of the man really mean? Why is it happening? And how can we better understand these events other than through the caricature of stereotypical villainy, which portrays Xi as someone who is taking the country backwards, or as a threat to the world?” [My Emphasis]
So, IMO, Xi will remain at the helm until the critical year of 2035, when he becomes 82.

Posted by: karlof1 | Nov 13 2021 20:02 utc | 85

That’s how things work in a direct, real time democracy:
Chinese official sacked for supporting virtual currency mining, abuse of power

Xiao Yi, a former vice chairman of the Jiangxi Provincial Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), has been sacked and expelled from the Party for violations including supporting virtual currency mining which is against China’s regulations.

I.e. a very powerful man, not your average low-in-the-pecking-order fall guy.

Posted by: vk | Nov 13 2021 22:23 utc | 87

The Russian ambassador to Canada, Oleg Stepanov said that Russian exports to Canada increased in the first eight months of 2021 up to 1.088 billion dollars. I know, I know this in tiny, but so is the 25 percent of imports or so that Canada doesn’t source from the US. (I once heard Putin say in an interview that a single Finnish company invested 1 billion in Russia. Geography uber most alles.) Anyway – given the political climate between Russia and NATO, I found this to be remarkable. On May 8, 1993, former PM Brian Mulroney and Boris Yeltsin signed a short economic cooperation agreement. I can only imagine what kind of liberalized trade that facilitated at the time. But it’s still in effect (I checked). In the recent interview with Mulroney that I posted on another thread, he said a PM was elected to be a leader, to tell people what they have to know, not what they want to hear. And he expressed full confidence in Canada’s economic recovery… maybe it’s worth re-considering this little treaty in light of the current context??
Sputnik interview with Russia’s ambassador to Canada
https://sputniknews.com/20211110/russia-ready-for-substantive-dialogue-with-canada-on-syria-ambassador-says-1090616248.html
Flashback: Economic Cooperation Agreement from 1993 (it’s brief)
https://www.treaty-accord.gc.ca/text-texte.aspx?id=101214

Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Nov 14 2021 0:45 utc | 89

Below is a link to a Wall Street on Parade posting about why America is a banana republic
Wall Street Is Not Only Rigging Markets, It’s Also Rigging the Outcome of its Private Trials
Its too bad this subject does not elicit the response of the Rittenhouse thread because it is where, IMO, our social discordant energy needs to focus.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Nov 14 2021 1:46 utc | 91

Below is a Xinhuanet posting about the prelude to the Xi/Biden meeting
”
BEIJING, Nov. 13 (Xinhua) — Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi held a phone conversation with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Saturday at the latter’s request.
Wang said Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet with U.S. President Joe Biden via video link on Nov. 16, noting that the meeting, keenly followed by the whole world, is of great significance not just for China-U.S. relations, but also for international relations.
It is the shared hope of the two peoples and the international community that the meeting will yield outcomes beneficial to both countries and the world, and the helmsmanship of the two heads of state plays a key role in steering bilateral relations, according to the senior Chinese diplomat.
The two sides, he suggested, should work in the same direction and make every preparation to ensure a smooth and successful meeting and bring bilateral relations back onto the track of sound and steady development.
Blinken, for his part, said that the world is following closely the virtual meeting between the U.S. and Chinese heads of state.
Both sides have made full preparation and are making progress, the secretary of state said, adding that the U.S. side looks forward to sharing views on bilateral ties with the Chinese side during the meeting in the spirit of mutual respect and jointly send a strong message to the world.
In response to the U.S. side’s recent wrong words and deeds on the Taiwan question, Wang further elaborated on China’s solemn position.
Both history and reality have fully proven that “Taiwan independence” is the biggest threat to peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, and any connivance of and support for the “Taiwan independence” forces undermines peace across the Taiwan Strait and would only boomerang in the end, the Chinese foreign minister stressed.
If the U.S. side truly wants to safeguard peace across the Taiwan Strait, then it should clearly and resolutely oppose any “Taiwan independence” moves, abide by the solemn commitments it made in the three China-U.S. joint communiques and put the one-China policy into action and stop sending wrong signals to the “Taiwan independence” forces, he added.
The two sides also exchanged views on issues including energy security, climate change, and the Iranian nuclear issue, and agreed to maintain dialogue on responding to all kinds of global challenges.
”

Posted by: psychohistorian | Nov 14 2021 6:38 utc | 93

Hangar @94: “…whatever the engineers said doesn’t mean shit to the executives filled with financial people.”
Perhaps so, but that doesn’t mean vk is wrong. How is it that marketing slime and bean counters can overrule engineers in an enterprise that supposedly lives on engineering and bully those engineers into silence?
Boeing’s engineers might still be very good like they were back when they made 747s and Moon rockets (though probably not), but the culture of the organization has changed. The engineers no longer have the status at Boeing that they used to have. That is due to outside contamination of the organization from an attitude towards STEM that pervades all of American culture now. STEM just isn’t important to Americans anymore.
Of course, the problem is actually far worse than that. It isn’t just STEM fields that no longer command respect in American culture but competence in general that is seen as irrelevant. After all, anyone who puts in the extra effort to become good at something is seen as a fool when everyone gets the same trophy and what really matters in determining one’s status is the aspect of one’s “identity” that one claims to be victimized by (excluding class, of course… that’s off limits).

Posted by: William Gruff | Nov 14 2021 10:44 utc | 95

Further to my comment @89 – something others have probably concluded but not posted. I was grumbling to myself about the glowing report that Sherpov gave to Sputnik news about the Canada-Russia relationship. I thought, how many “Glory to the Ukraine!”s are we going to have to give in tithing? … Wait… maybe this is a sign that Ukraine is… entering a new phase of it’s development??
And on the British: if that 1 billion dollars of exports that Russia has sold to Canada in the first eight months of this year is building the foundation for new industry, then we can all draw conclusions about precisely how genuine the calls for war with Russia are. Pushing the US over the edge, are we? Maybe AMLO can talk some sense into the White House.

Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Nov 14 2021 16:38 utc | 97

@Bemildred #79
I believe I know what you meant to say; but I will point out that billionaires aren’t “pricing” anything because they don’t labor. They’re getting richer because they own productive and/or scarce assets.
Pricing power in the wage context is the plumber, the AI machine learning expert. And possibly, these days, the McDonald’s worker.

Posted by: c1ue | Nov 15 2021 20:18 utc | 99