The MoA Week In Review - OT 2021-086
Last week's posts at Moon of Alabama:
- Nov 1 - The U.S. Supply Chain Crisis Will Get Worse - As Will Inflation
Related:
- Supply chain delays disrupt California agriculture exports - AP
- Liner Delays and Backlogs Spread Across Most Global Trade Routes - Maritime Executive
- Nitrogen fertilizer shortage threatens to cut global crop yields -CF Industries - Yahoo
- Nov 2 - When Russian Troops Training In Russia Are 'Raising Concerns' Its Propaganda
Related (spot the contradiction):
- US Not Yet Alarmed by Russian Military Buildup Near Ukraine, Top General Says - VOA
- CIA director dispatched to Moscow to warn Russia over troop buildup near Ukraine - CNN
- The military announced the completion of the exercises of the motorized rifle division in the Voronezh region (Russian) - Military News
- Nov 3 - One Day - Three Biden Failures
Related:
- The Red-Pilling of Loudoun County, Virginia - Matt Taibbi
- Michael Hudson: Is This the End of the Unreformable Democratic Party? - Naked Capitalism
- Will Monopolies Steal the Infrastructure Money? - Matt Stoller
- Nov 4 - Russiagate's Steele Dossier - Paid For By Clinton - Had Clinton Operative As Key Source
Related:
Caitlin Johnstone @caitoz - 17:24 UTC · Nov 6, 2021
All you need to know about Russiagate is that it began with unsubstantiated claims made by the US intelligence cartel and ended in cold war escalations against a nation long targeted by the US intelligence cartel. All the rest was just unethical political and media opportunism.
- Nov 5 - U.S. Acknowledges The Tri-polar World
Related:
- The U.S. Moral Superiority Complex Is Accelerating Its Decline - SCF
---
Other issues:
Woke watch:
- California Tries to Close the Gap in Math, but Sets Off a Backlash - New York Times
Lee Fang @lhfang - 5:15 UTC · Nov 6, 2021
There are so many extreme voices in the CA curriculum. The standards cite Prof. D. B. Martin to claim a colorblind approach to math promotes inequality. If you look up Martin, he believes math education is a project of “violent white supremacy and racial capitalism.”
- I'm Still Here - the same old materialist civil libertarian Marxist I've always been - Freddie de Boer
> [T]oday’s “left,” in media and academia and elsewhere, has abandoned absolutely core commitments related to goals, policy, and process, and slandered anyone who hasn’t.
...
A commitment to moral universalism of course demands that these historical oppressions be addressed, until these groups reach the position of equality, at which point their rights will simply be defended like everyone else’s. But today’s liberal practice, if not the explicit ideology, demands that we must relentlessly prioritize some groups over others, and that spending time or energy devoted to those outside of these groups is somehow to take the side of oppression. <
Covid-19:
- Mistakes made (vid) - A. Kekule / Pandemic Forum, University of Vienna
European Union:
- Rusty Charley - Wolfgang Streeck / New Left Review
Use as open thread ...
Posted by b on November 7, 2021 at 14:00 UTC | Permalink
next page »Read as much of Freddie de Boer as ever needed. Either-Or arguments
are not fascinating or convincing. Walking and chewing gum is hard but still possible. Focusing so much on certain groups did end slavery, at least on the books and more than that. And the nation could also still pass laws good or bad affecting everyone. de Boer is just chewing gum, nothing more.
Posted by: Carnabystreet Pete | Nov 7 2021 15:04 utc | 2
I am up skimming the Intertubes and find it interesting that Reuters has nothing I could find about the Houston deaths at the rap concert and they have changed the name of their special from "War for Taiwan" to "Battle for Taiwan".
All the news that is fit to be controlled should be the media's byline
Posted by: psychohistorian | Nov 7 2021 16:01 utc | 3
I just read the article by Wolfgang Streek. He gives a comprehensive overview and get`s all the details right. But he, in my opinion, still misses the point.
The NGEU agreement - including it`s "rule of law"-clause - had just recently been negotiated be the EU member states. It hadn`t been part of the original EU treaties. And both Poland and Hungary agreed to it.
By that point the conflict between Brussels and Poland/Hungary had been already breewing for a while and the practice of "integration by law" which Streek described so well had been common by decades. It was ABSOLUTELY clear that Brussels would invoke the "rule of law"-clause. The governments of Poland and Hungary could have known this too. But all they saw when looking at the NGEU agreement was a huge heap of money.
Up to the NGEU the CJEU (and with it Brussels) had been a completely toothless tiger. Of course it´s rulings were nominally binding for all EU member states. But it had no way to actually enforce it`s rulings. A country can`t be expelled from the EU and without unanimity in the EU Council a country can`t be stripped by it`s voting rights. Economic sanctions are per definition impossible within a common market and there also won`t be a military invasion of Poland, that`s for sure! The CJEU has no stick. But what it now has with the NGEU is a huge carrot. And oh!, that carrot looked so delicious, both Warsaw and Budapest just had to bite. Nobody forced them to do so but they just had to.
That´s the reason why I think that Brussels has already won. Yes, the Poles will fight. Streek understands the Polish mentality very well.
But the thing is - no matter how hard they fight - in the end the only thing they can hope to "win" is to not get the carrot.
Posted by: m | Nov 7 2021 16:02 utc | 4
Prof Alexander Prof Alexander Kekulé in his short video presentation says he thinks SarsCovid2 in the future will become more contagious and escape immunity. More people will acquire partial immunity but this will not lead to so-called herd immunity; will not lead to the end of the pandemic.
The “original sin” committed was letting the virus proliferate freely enough to gain a R value above one. This occurred in Northern Italian industrial district after it was known that a potential pandemic was afoot. “Go hard, go early” slogan re pandemic prevention was ignored — there and then in wider EU, UK, US, Brazil.
Kekulé briefly mentions some collateral damages from the pandemic.
One that he doesn’t mention and, if true, is infection may cause Parkinson’s disease.
===
SARS-CoV-2 causes brain inflammation and Lewy bodies, a hallmark for Parkinson, after an asymptomatic infection in macaques.
Abstract
SARS-CoV-2 may cause acute respiratory disease, but the infection can also initiate neurological symptoms. Here we show that SARS-CoV-2 infection causes brain inflammation in the macaque model. An increased metabolic activity in the pituitary gland of two macaques was observed by longitudinal positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT). Post-mortem analysis demonstrated infiltration of T-cells and activated microglia in the brain, and viral RNA was detected in brain tissues from one animal. We observed Lewy bodies in brains of all rhesus macaques. These data emphasize the virus’ capability to induce neuropathology in this nonhuman primate model for SARS-CoV-2 infection. As in humans, Lewy body formation is an indication for the development of Parkinson’s disease, this data represents a warning for potential long-term neurological effects after SARS-CoV-2 infection.
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.02.23.432474v2
Posted by: suzan | Nov 7 2021 16:38 utc | 5
One wonders why the German "Greens" and other kind of Germans too, consider everybody should be fined for using coal, whilem for unkown reasons of EU privilege, Germany can use coal as they wish, to compensate their trade balance under the current energetic crisis...
It is increasingly getting clear that any nation joining the Eu was olbiged, by the two EU managing powers, that is Germany and Francem to abandon and destroy their coal industry, getting that way at the mercy of the now especulative energy markets, which led the country to lose their energetic sovereignty plus getting at the mercy of increasingly escalating estratospheric prices, ending in the obligation of making imports on electricy from France or pay for the especulative prices of gas in the markets by the recommendation by the EU on not doing long term contracts on gas, like that so prudently made by Hungary with Russia...ç
It was a poem watchig this past day the destruction by blast of a termal plant for electricty production in Spain, at the hnads of now transnational ( formerly national asset...) Iberdrola, while Germany has its termal plants at full machine in the verge of the mother of all energetic crisis...For not to mention the same Iberdrola loosing the water excedents of the last torrential rains without making them pass through the electric turbines, that way wasting out resources, to major glory of foreign corporations´gains from which we will have to import electricty at estratospheric prices from France....
No wonder Germany and France, through the EU, decrees the end of Spanish dams...on alleged "ecological" claims which we know is an alibi for appropiating the country´s resources and income...
You will be surprised to know that the German "Greens" who rise their hands to their hair with others´ sources of energy, at the same time, have investments in Russian gas facilities...
That we, Europeans, by joining the EU, become colonies of France and Germany to be squeezed at pleasure, under an alleged benefit in the form of funds which we pay with an scandalous added interest in return while ending our welfare states and indebting us for generations in exchange, after willingly impoverishing ourselves on EU directives by destroying our most productive industries to no more compete with those of the same sector of these two countries, leaving our countries without sources of income, uncompetitive, and indefense, at all levels of national security in front of transanational capital and corporations, is an understatement...
Posted by: Black bread | Nov 7 2021 16:43 utc | 6
What do people make of this?
Is it bluster or an escalation?
Posted by: JPC | Nov 7 2021 16:46 utc | 7
@JPC | Nov 7 2021 16:46 utc | 7
Two US Republican writing a strongly worded letter?
Posted by: Norwegian | Nov 7 2021 16:49 utc | 8
thanks b... i look forward to reading some of these links!
@ 6 black bread.... it sounds like germany/france operate like usa/uk, except locally.... i guess they all learn this bully behaviour from one another and it is all driven my money and dominance... i can only speculate as to why these types of actions happen...
on this youngkin guy - "he spent 25 years at the private-equity firm the Carlyle Group, later becoming its CEO.[3] Youngkin stepped down from the Carlyle Group in September 2020, and announced his candidacy for the 2021 Virginia gubernatorial election in January 2021"
yeah - change you can believe, in - LOLOL... maga... right - via equity managers and etc... ain't gonna work..
Posted by: james | Nov 7 2021 17:34 utc | 9
Re: California de-mathing public education.
It was less than a week ago that some woke-tard establishment groupies were accusing me right in these MoA fora of hyperbole and worse when I stated that the "woke" agenda was to remove calculus (and formal geometry and even second year algebra) from public schools. Not make those courses optional, which they already are, but to remove them altogether.
The "woke" really are Harrison Bergeron level lunatics. Their agenda is toxic, and in a world where the Chinese are eating America's lunch academically they are throwing in the towel and condemning America to a future of STEM-less stupidity.
But hey, at least the committees in American corporations doing pointless PowerPoint masturbation will be the most "diverse" on the planet! Those committees will be so diverse that they won't even have any "cis-gender" white guys in them at all! And none of those racist and misogynist engineering types either (Nigerian engineers are so racist, don't you know?).
Posted by: William Gruff | Nov 7 2021 17:35 utc | 10
alternatively... i suppose the guy youngkin was running against was worse! in a race to the bottom - who will win?? that is the question! it is bbb or maga to the finish??
Posted by: james | Nov 7 2021 17:40 utc | 11
james @9
Yeah, Youngkin winning doesn't move society forward at all, but it sure stuffed a nice sweaty sock in the "woke"s rancid pie holes. I certainly enjoyed that. There was also some grassroots activism backing Youngkin, which itself is always good even if the candidate those grassroots organize for is useless.
Posted by: William Gruff | Nov 7 2021 17:43 utc | 12
I know Kékule from personal experience. High on himself, underachiever, forget about what he has to say.
Posted by: Stephan | Nov 7 2021 17:52 utc | 13
What do people make of this?
Is it bluster or an escalation?
Posted by: JPC | Nov 7 2021 16:46 utc | 7
I will hazard a guess that there is some form of bribery or coercion behind it. Perhaps both.
Russia has been taking further steps to integrate the Donbas Republics and improve lives there, and of course this looks bad on the Ukrainian side too, where things are not better.
Posted by: Bemildred | Nov 7 2021 17:53 utc | 14
From the last thread:
Latest UKHSA report shows Vaccinated accounted for 82% of Covid-19 Deaths & 65% of Hospitalisations in England over the past 4 weeks
https ://theexpose . uk/2021/10/22/england-82-percent-covid-19-deaths-vaccinated/
Posted by: Dogon Priest | Nov 5 2021 2:33 utc | 46
I followed the link, found it interesting, and saw some even more interesting links on the page to other articles on the same site. Is this site serious? It is quite remarkable.
In particular, see this:
https ://theexpose . uk/2021/10/31/100-percent-of-covid-19-vaccine-deaths-caused-by-just-5-percent-of-the-batches-produced/
EXCLUSIVE – 100% of Covid-19 Vaccine Deaths were caused by just 5% of the batches produced according to official Government data
(remove 3 spaces before the colon and before/after the dot - it looks like the software is rejecting the link)
What they uncovered is that mRNA vaccines in the US can be arranged in two categories by the results recorded on the government VAERS database of vaccine adverse events. Category A has the property that each individual vaccine lot in Category A was distributed to a maximum of 12 US states, while Category B has the property that each lot was distributed to a large number of different states. The cutoff at 12 is defined by the authors on the basis that the maximum number of states any flu batch was delivered to - as recorded by the VAERS database - was 12.
The difference between Category A and Category B is that A seems to be relatively benign, while B is deadly! There are 4289 lots in Category A, with 99 deaths, and 130 lots in Category B, with 2799 deaths.
- less than 3% of lots account for 96.6% of vaccine deaths!
Results for Moderna were even worse than Pfizer.
So many unprecidented anomalies with these vaccines and the way they have been developed, propagandised, misinformed, and forced on so many people. With these results, the question has to be posed: why were the most dangerous lots precisely those which were the most widely distributed, and why is there such an extreme difference in danger? Why is it that there appear statistically to be two separate populations of Pfizer vaccines, one relatively benign and one deadly (and likewise for Moderna)? Is this some kind of targetted killing?
Can these assertions be verified? Yes they can! The complete VAERS database can be downloaded as a zip file (containing three CSV format files) from https://vaers.hhs.gov/data.html
Do we have any SQL experts here? If so, what about a few of us constructing an SQL database from the VAERS CSV files? For someone adept in SQL that is a trivial operation, just involving some rather tedious SQL commands to define the structure of the database. Once the database is created, the CSV files can be imported relatively easily (and could be updated equally easily). Armed with this database, not only could we easily verify whether the assertions in the above article are accurate or not (and if they are accurate, this gives an important indicator as to the quality of the site) - but also we could very easily look at other questions, such as what is the difference between states? What is the difference between Red States and Blue States (with added data on red and blue states)? Etc.
I, by the way, have some experience with SQL but am not an expert, particularly with respect to designing the database. All the required information about the structure of the CSV files is given in a 13-page pdf here.
Posted by: BM | Nov 7 2021 18:09 utc | 15
Today's the 104th anniversary of the October Revolution. I found two articles (with photos) in passing - one from the Communist Party of Vietnam's official newspaper (Nhan Dan) and the other from the Venezuelan State News (TelesurTV):
Major milestones of Russian October Revolution through photos
Los principales logros de la Revolución Socialista de Octubre
Recommend both reads.
--//--
Profile: Xi Jinping, the man who leads CPC on new journey
After Deng Xiaoping's death, an unspoken consensus was established in the CPC so as to avoid the lamentable episode of Mao's succession. It was as follows: the two main factions of the CPC - the "Shanghai Gang" (who favor the development of the productive forces at all costs) and the "Communist Youth" (who favor the more social/political reforms aimed at immediate socialist emulation) - alternated in power for ten years each.
This "two-head" consensus lasted until Hu Jintao (who was a member of the "Communist Youth" faction). Xi Jinping should be from the "Gang of Shanghai", but, instead, he started to govern like a mixed chairman, using both "Gang of Shanghai" and "Communist Youth" principles. The reason for that is very simple: Xi Jinping was grown as a "princeling" and ideologically on the side of the "Gang of Shanghai", but his family fell into disgrace during the Cultural Revolution. As a result, the spoiled student from the coast was "exiled" to work in a rural village in China's countryside, where he grew up into his early adulthood.
It's no surprise Xi Jinping ended the "10 years alternation" consensus. China can have the best of the two worlds and he's the founder of this new synthesis. The USSR had no such malleability - not even close (attempts were made since Krushchev, but without success) - that's why China still exists and the USSR does not; that's why China survived 1989 and the USSR did not.
--//--
“The world’s factory” is more than capable in securing sufficient supplies of daily necessities
Humanity managed to dominate nature to its own advantage by being predictable and consistent. The Feudal system was superior to the Slavery system of Antiquity because it gave stability to the food producers (the serf was tied to a certain piece of land eternally, so he had every motivation to cultivate it the best way possible, in the most sustainable and productive way possible, as his children would also live in this piece of land). Capitalism was superior to Feudalism because it expanded this stability to manufacture (and, dialectically, it made land productivity even better, because manufacture eventually rose productivity of the land).
Industry is the historically progressive factor of capitalism. That YOLO logic of the unicorns of the Silicon Valley is worth shit in the real world. The Postmodern frenzy/delirium of the "immaterial labor" that creates "intangible value" that "cannot be accounted" is pure bullshit. It is the average worker, working a tedious job, that makes the world function, every day, every week, every year. It is only when the person wakes up already knowing exactly what he/she needs to do in order to socially function that the development of the productive forces happen. It is the tedious, monotonous labor, made by the average worker, that is the bread and butter of revolution, not those middle class, white collar freaks who are all talk.
The greatest weapon of the homo sapiens is anticipation. The homo sapiens thrives on constancy and predictability. That's why we were able to dominate and exterminate much stronger and much more beautiful creatures than us. The homo sapiens is frail, weak and ugly - but it is a devastating creature when given time and resources in its hands. Marx was the first to realize that, and, for practical purposes, I recommend reading Lenin's famous "electrification" speech, where he starts with exactly that.
--//--
Taiwan question will eventually be solved with China’s growing comprehensive strength
Western analysts are aping for some inevitable great war against China in the island of Taiwan - for obvious reasons.
But the fact on the field is very clear: China has the advantage of escalation in such conflict, including the advantage of the status quo (i.e. the advantage of peace). That's why Hu Xijin speaks about a "war of words" over Taiwan, and not a hot war.
--//--
China urges to speed up vaccination especially for minors aged 3-11 as COVID-19 resurgence continues
The world is nicer to you when you have a solid, safe vaccine.
--//--
I agree with this Global Times Editorial:
Feeble imitation of China cannot help US in major infrastructure building: Global Times editorial
--//--
Gas crisis in Moldova exposes problems in relations with Russia - Moldovan President
So, let me get this straight: Moldova already had a debt of USD 700 million which it proudly refused to pay to Gazprom; it proudly followed the EU's new gas prices policy; it then tried to aggressively "ask" for an absurdly low gas price to Gazprom when the gas crisis hit (it wants a USD 200.00 price, when the market price is at the USD 500.00 level).
And the Moldovan president has the audacity to blame all of this on Russia?
--//--
Russia and China are looking to deepen engagement in various domains by Danil Bochkov, for CGTN
--//--
Tripolar world? I'm waiting for the balkanization of the USA:
Democrats Thought They Bottomed Out in Rural, White America. It Wasn’t the Bottom.
--//--
For fuck's sake, man, stop it:
The Mystery of ‘Havana Syndrome’ by Serge Schmemann, for the NYT
The CIA and the US diplomatic corps are just humiliating themselves by dragging this shameful conspiracy theory.
--//--
When your bourgeois economy theory goes down the drain, blame "psychology":
Americans Are Flush With Cash and Jobs. They Also Think the Economy Is Awful.
--//--
Where there's value, there's a way. Marx's theory is correct.
Yes, in this specific case, wider roads, more trains and less bureaucracy will solve the problem. The economic fundamentals (as stated by the Value Theory) are there.
The CNN report “CIA director dispatched to Moscow to warn Russia over troop buildup near Ukraine”, is a masterclass in controlled information. Nicholas Burns, the current CIA director, is not a crazed hegemonist and would not fly to Moscow to issue “warnings”: He has long background in State Dept and served for a few years as US Russian Ambassador. If anything, he would be one of the few personages who the Russians would consider as a serious and practical interlocutor. Realistically, Burns traveled to Russia as a high level response to recent rhetorical escalation re: Ukraine, such as the SecDef’s public declaration regarding NATO status for Ukraine & Georgia, the introduction of Turkish drones into the region, and the collapse of diplomatic contact between Russia-NATO. Burns’ visit to Moscow is, if anything, an indication that there is no escalation on the agenda in the region. The talks likely also touched on Biden’s request that OPEC work to reduce the cost of oil and increase supply.
What’s interesting about the CNN report is how it takes pains to infer exactly the opposite, highlighting statements from various always unidentified persons fixating on a presumed Russian “military buildup” and “energy blackmail” directed toward Kiev - both phantom issues. The CNN piece is directed towards a domestic audience, to which grossly oversimplified narratives featuring white-hat/black-hat confrontation is the staple. It represents an active internal propaganda scheme which not only assumes the general public cannot handle nuanced information, it contributes to a largely generalized conception that any American diplomacy or negotiation beyond asserting demands is a form of “weakness”, the worldview most identified with the Congressional branch of the US government. Congress is where the hawk MIC money has been focussed for some time now.
Another topic: today's elections in Nicaragua were declared illegitimate and fraudulent well over a year ago, by ever prescient US officials. Remarkable predictive capability at work.
over a year
Posted by: jayc | Nov 7 2021 18:51 utc | 17
Posted by: William Gruff | Nov 7 2021 17:35 utc | 10
It's not an issue that I've been following closely, but according to the NYT article (paywalled) that b linked, the proposal seems to have been to replace calculus with statistics or data science courses. Also to do away with the 'gifted and talented' programs or what have you.
Again, not really wanting to do a deep dive, I'm left with my own personal anecdotal experience as someone who both 1) was tested and put into gifted and talented programs starting in 6th grade (that's the first year it was available then, probably sooner now) and 2) took and passed calculus in high school but failed it miserably the first time I tried it in college (AP credit wasn't available then and even now most STEM programs encourage students to take calculus again at the college level even if they already took it in high school.
So my personal feeling is that I would actually have benefitted from taking a statistics and data science type class in HS and delaying calculus to college. I've discussed this with others in my field and they almost totally agree.
Since calculus is really only needed for STEM careers and statistics and data science are applicable to a wider range of study and occupation, I wouldn't have much of an issue with this if my kid was in that district/state. Regarding the 'gifted and talented' programs, again I'd probably agree with doing away with them because in my experience many of us 'gifted and talented' kids were actually surpassed in the long run by peers who - at the time, possibly due to poverty, hunger, etc. - didn't test well enough to get into them or just didn't care because they had more pressing family situations.
Since I'm declining to do that deep dive I mentioned, I'm sure there are some details that back up what you're saying. But the real story, going by the Langley Times article above, is there wasn't a push to remove all math or all 'higher' math from high school completely but to replace them with other math courses.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Nov 7 2021 18:53 utc | 18
Posted by: vk | Nov 7 2021 18:23 utc | 16
Most of the Russian export goes by train and a pipeline. With the onset of winter, the number of border crossings will increase -- some time needed until the river ice is few feet thick... Trucks crossing Black Dragon River...
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Nov 7 2021 18:57 utc | 19
Mark January 5 in your calendar, no more traffic jams on bridges between China and Russia.
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Nov 7 2021 19:02 utc | 20
Posted by: jayc | Nov 7 2021 18:51 utc | 17
RE: Burns visit to Moscow, I think you are right that that is a yelp from the Borg, the idea being to fend off any notion that sober conversation with the Russians about common interests is possible.
Posted by: Bemildred | Nov 7 2021 19:14 utc | 21
@ jayc 17
. . .Nicholas Burns, the current CIA director
...clarification...
CIA Director: William J. Burns
New ambassador to China: R. Nicholas Burns
Posted by: Don Bacon | Nov 7 2021 19:19 utc | 22
One person's summary of the National Conservatism's conference: Unherd link
What is interesting is not so much the detail so much as the depth of variety of opinion, and the energy.
If this is in fact, true, then we can expect the conservatives to evolve and progress - unlike the lockstep of the Democrat / liberal groups today.
Posted by: c1ue | Nov 7 2021 19:21 utc | 23
This is potentially interesting: allegations that the challenge with hypersonic weapons is not their speed, but that their speed creates a plasma front which disrupts radar.
I don't know how valid this is since the US military has demonstrated many times how difficult hitting high speed objects is - via failures.
Interesting engineering on stealth plasma
Posted by: c1ue | Nov 7 2021 19:25 utc | 24
Posted by: c1ue | Nov 7 2021 19:25 utc | 24
It's a double whammy, you have to find it to shoot at it, if you find it and shoot at it, you have to either know where it is going or be able to chase it down. But it's maneuverable, so you can't know where it is going, and it's faster, so you can't chase it, and anyway, you can't track it with radar, and you don't have much time ...
Assured destruction without the mutual.
Posted by: Bemildred | Nov 7 2021 19:33 utc | 25
Posted by: c1ue | Nov 7 2021 19:25 utc | 24
I've got it, we'll throw up a cloud of drones in it's path. A cloud of beebees. That should do it.
Posted by: Bemildred | Nov 7 2021 19:35 utc | 26
@Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Nov 7 2021 18:53 utc | 18
Thanks for a more balanced view of this. After getting triggered a few times by such articles/references I decided to actually read some of the authors involved. One of the books I read was "Mathematics Success and Failure Among African-American Youth: The Roles of Sociohistorical Context, Community Forces, School Influence, and Individual" by Danny Bernard Martin, mentioned by B above. It is an extremely balanced piece of work that looks at all the material, institutional, ideational and cultural aspects of US descendants of slaves (using "Black" greatly obfuscates things as there are many successful groups, such as Nigerian and Caribbean immigrants [i.e. not slave descendants]).
I have started to identify the misrepresentation of such work (plus the focus on the small number of real crazies/propagandists/careerists in the literature [Robin DeAngelo, Ibram X. Kendi etc.), and the extremely small number of jerks in the T community (notice how the same few jerks get used again and again), to defame the whole population, as a general technique to sway public opinion and keep the focus away from the small capitalist neoliberal elite who are defunding any support for black (and working class in general) communities and cherry-picking from progressive literature (together with lifting up some of the more idiotic/careerist authors) the pieces that will aid in the division of the working class.
I was saddened that I could be swayed by such manipulative techniques, but it teaches me once again that you have to read the stuff yourself rather than let others do it for you. I am retired and now an academic, so have the time to do that (although it can be exhausting sometimes), of course most do not have the time or the resources (including the rentier rates charged for access to the academic journals). Its like living in the prequel to 1984 with the levels of misinformation, manipulation, obfuscation and outright lying that are being utilized.
The mainstream of Critical Race Theory is a very needed expurgation of the history of the US and the ways in which that is still institutionalized within present society, one that is very threatening to elite interests. US students need to be taught to be ashamed of their nation's history just as much as the Germans were after WW2, but of course that will never be allowed - especially the parts that shine light on the elite domination of the US throughout its history. Hence the raising up of the "cultural" scholars in the field who ignore political-economy (by the "progressive" Democrats), and the general vilification by the right (the "Republicans"). A co-option and a disciplining strategy used so many times before - "just be a good polite n****/worker and we will look after you" on the one side and "you be a bad one and we will destroy you" on the other, especially if you push too hard on the political-economic aspects which endanger the elites, or worst of all start forming a rainbow coalition that unites the working class. A version of good cop / bad cop.
The most recent banning of Nicaraguan activists from Twitter/Facebook etc., including members of the official state media, is just another example of the extremely large and complex levels of media disinformation being utilized. The masses must be protected from the truth at all costs, so that they continue to believe enough of the fairy stories to keep them passive and disorganized.
Posted by: Roger | Nov 7 2021 19:49 utc | 27
@Bemildred #26
I am not sure if this post was intended to be sarcastic or serious.
Given that the US doesn't have hypersonic weapons of its own - it seems highly unlikely it could get drones or whatever to where they're of use, regardless of detection capabilities.
Posted by: c1ue | Nov 7 2021 20:04 utc | 28
JPC | Nov 7 2021 16:46 utc | 7
Two US Republican writing a strongly worded letter?
Posted by: Norwegian | Nov 7 2021 16:49 utc | 8
Is that all it is?
Windy posturing.
Or a kite flying excercise to put the idea in the public consciousness?
You would think that foreign
military adventures are limited to naval dick waving or flying around.
Have the US public any more enthusiasm for this kind of BS?
Posted by: JPC | Nov 7 2021 20:19 utc | 29
I am not a great fan of President Macron, however he achieved a number of diplomatic wins at the G20 and Glasgow talkfests.
German Chancellor Merkel awarded French Legion of Honour strengthening Franco/German ties. That's better than fighting three wars in one hundred years.
Australian PM, Pastor Morrison, was exposed, very undiplomatically, as 'a liar.'
President Biden was humbled and apologetic.
"Biden has reached a point in his life where he can’t remember what he can’t remember."
https://johnmenadue.com/did-pm-mount-a-shoddy-defence-of-his-deception-we-dont-think-we-know/
Exit from NATO: Macron achieved his goal of an EU army:
NATO is redundant and Biden capitulated. The US long ago lost whatever moral authority it had left.
All very handy for the upcoming French elections.
Posted by: Paul | Nov 7 2021 20:23 utc | 30
Suzan @5:
Thank you for bringing to our attention Prof Kekule's work. I myself wasn't all that scared of Covid before. But knowing Covid affection may lead to Parkinson/Lewy-body dementia would change my mind about indifference.
I may now consider taking the booster shot.
Posted by: Oriental Voice | Nov 7 2021 20:39 utc | 31
On why the high prices of energy in Europe, making the ruinous production of alternative energy profitable by manipualting prices in the market so that to equate prices of oil and electricity produced by classical means with that produced by "clean energy" to make thel ater competitive...
To achieve that you need that prices remain high for ever, making the life of the working class impossible, in the worst case, or full slavery, in the best, which is none of the worries for the 4% of "Greeners" profiteering from this business
https://fort-russ.com/2021/11/crisis-europe-shock-decarbonization-of-industry/
Wondering how long they think they will keep squeezing the population.
It will not las long, but in the meantime they will have destroyed all remaining industry in Europe leaving a desolated landscape of death and misery...
The only consolation for the working mass is that from them rise and survive another 4% who follow these criminals to the last corner of Earth where they have planned to hide along their so easily earned riches, after causing such disaster...
This is why they need throwing people against each other on the alibi of the pandemic by spreading hatred against those who do not submit and swallow milestones, since, that way, they keep the population busy to not fight the escandalous prices of energy and ask for explanations...
Posted by: Black bread | Nov 7 2021 20:42 utc | 32
William Gruff@12:
Yes the Youngkin victory sure suggests signs of a revolt brewing, but let's hold our celebration until we see what this new blood actually does. We have been fooled by the same coin showing us different faces too often.
Posted by: Oriental Voice | Nov 7 2021 20:49 utc | 33
vk @ 16:
Regarding Xi Jinping, let's not forget his father was Shenzhen's Party Secretary to launch the Special Economic Zone initiative. Xi was aligned with the Shanghai Gang in development mentality, but surely not at all cost.
I had my doubts on how well he would perform back in 2012, but by now I am fully convinced he is a great leader, devoid of ideological dogmatism. He is the right kind of leader at the top for China's revival goal to reach the top again.
Posted by: Oriental Voice | Nov 7 2021 20:59 utc | 34
And thus the "woke" double down on their toxic agenda.
The "statistics" and "data modelling" being discussed as a replacement for real math courses in public schools are not math at all. They are simply training (as opposed to education) to use some tools. The kids are to be trained (like dogs or monkeys) to shovel data into a black box that they are not equipped to understand, turn the crank on the side of that box, and then look at what comes out the other end. That isn't math.
"Since calculus is really only needed for STEM careers..."
Then we don't need to offer it in our schools because it is just STEM. Who needs that?
If anyone has been looking for hard evidence of America being deliberately "dumbed down" then look no further. Again, these lunatics are not making the argument that difficult subjects be made optional in American public schools. Those subjects are already optional. These lunatics are arguing for denying all public school students access to AP (Advanced Placement) or IB (International Baccalaureate) programs.
Remember where we came from:
We choose to go to the Moon. We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.
I suppose it is for the best. American schools will prioritize the self-esteem and self-image of their students with "challenges" that are easy, even if those qualities of self-esteem and self-image have to be based upon lies. Meanwhile China will take up the challenge of doing the hard stuff. China will move humanity forward while America degenerates into "Idiocracy".
The "woke" should be ashamed, but they are not yet awake enough to realize that.
Posted by: William Gruff | Nov 7 2021 21:11 utc | 35
Posted by: William Gruff | Nov 7 2021 21:11 utc | 35
I'm disappointed in your interpretation of my comment not solely because I normally always agree with you on most topics.
"Since calculus is really only needed for STEM careers..."Then we don't need to offer it in our schools because it is just STEM. Who needs that?
I think a look back at the article in question is the best answer to your concern. First, no I don't agree with completely doing away with calculus as an optional course in high school and very few other people do either. Furthermore, yes, we don't *need* to offer calculus in high school to have a population that tests well in math and science compared to other countries. States and school districts should make that decision. As I mentioned, I would have been far better off (at least for a few semesters) in my engineering program if I'd tackled statistics and/or data science in high school. I don't know that you're correct when you say that the versions of statistics and d.s. are not actually math at all because I haven't reviewed the proposed curricula, but statistics if taught the way I was taught, is not an easy subject and I think better paves the way for a STEM higher education than calculus, which again I have no problem keeping as an option (CA apparently agrees, see excerpt below) for those students who want to take it in high school.
Like some of the attempted reforms of decades past, the draft of the California guidelines favored a more conceptual approach to learning: more collaborating and problem solving, less memorizing formulas.(grain of salt obviously required given the proponents are the ones saying it. I haven't seen the data and it's possible I wouldn't be qualified to interpret it correctly if I did.)It also promoted something called de-tracking, which keeps students together longer instead of separating high achievers into advanced classes before high school.
The San Francisco Unified School District already does something similar. There, middle school math students are not split up but rather take integrated courses meant to build their understanding year by year, though older high school students can still opt into high-level classes like calculus.
Sophia Alemayehu, 16, a high school junior in San Francisco, advanced along that integrated track even though she did not always consider herself a gifted math student. She is now taking advanced calculus.
“In eighth and ninth grade, I had teachers tell me, ‘Oh, you’re actually really good at the material,’” she said. “So it made me think, maybe I’m good at math.”
The model has been in place since 2014, yielding a few years of data on retention and diversity that has been picked over by experts on both sides of the de-tracking debate. And while the data is complicated by numerous variables — a pandemic now among them — those who support San Francisco’s model say it has led to more students, and a more diverse set of students, taking advanced courses, without bringing down high achievers.
And regarding calculus being 'disappeared' entirely (it isn't going to be):
According to data from the Education Department, calculus is not even offered in most schools that serve a large number of Black and Latino students.The role of calculus has been a talking point among math educators for years, said Trena Wilkerson, the president of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. “If calculus is not the be-all, end-all thing, then we need everyone to understand what the different pathways can be, and how to prepare students for the future,” she said.
California’s recommendations aim to expand the options for high-level math, so that students could take courses in, say, data science or statistics without losing their edge on college applications. (The move requires buy-in from colleges; in recent years, the University of California system has de-emphasized the importance of calculus credits.)
For now, the revision process has reached a sort of interlude: The draft is being revised ahead of another round of public comment, and it will not be until late spring, or maybe summer, that the state’s education board will decide whether to give its stamp of approval.
So again, my opinion has less than nothing to do with this 'woke' label you keep trying to put on me. The debate in CA continues and I'll be the first to agree that "math is math; 2+2=4" in the strictest most common sense interpretation.
But the situation is more complicated than that and clearly what's *BEEN HAPPENING* in our high schools isn't working as the lagging indicator of math/science testing clearly indicate. There's always room for improvement and there should always be the opportunity for debate, which is exactly what's happening. I highly doubt that China or Russia *force* all their students to learn calculus in high school, but clearly the interest in those countries is much higher than it is in the USSA. In fact, I think that high school is *optional* in China!
At the end of the day, what it probably boils down to is that the US has been consistently defunding their K-12 school systems and focusing too much on standardized testing with less student teacher interaction than other 'developed' countries. Social media and 'screens' don't help - try to pry away the TikTok from your American adolescents and see where that gets you. I'm definitely not for inserting 'woke' messaging into hard sciences or math, but I don't think that substituting calculus for statistics (and keeping cal as an option) amounts to this drastic awful scenario we're being presented with.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Nov 7 2021 21:50 utc | 36
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Nov 7 2021 21:50 utc | 36
I have no idea why but on this PC that stupid "Make Your Bed..." bullshit McRaven propaganda link always ends up in my URL field and I only catch it once out of every three posts I make. For the record I do not endorse McRaven's book nor have I ever read it.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Nov 7 2021 21:54 utc | 37
William Gruff #35
Hear hear, I owe you an strong drink in solidarity. My child is traversing the math challenge right now and it is uncomfortable to be challenged and yet there is much maths that is understood immediately and will serve well in career choice. The decision point for us both is whether to drop down a math grade so that the final math score does not degrade the overall achievement level to break through into university entry.
For the career choices in mind, the higher level math is not essential, so it can be avoided for a more functional level math that is sufficient. We would never consider having it banned!
The thought of destroying access to high level math throughout schools because of an ideological objection is a gross ignorance and abject stupidity. Some will do well at high level math and it will serve our society and they are entitled to make that choice. If critical race theorists don't like that then they can run a Saturday or Sunday school class like the religious believers do.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Nov 7 2021 21:55 utc | 38
Background to the and US involvement in the Ethiopian conflict under the guise of "humanitarian aid' and "peacekeeping", subsidizing weapons contractors:
Link to background to Ethiopian conflick
Posted by: Menz | Nov 7 2021 22:18 utc | 39
@Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Nov 7 2021 21:50 utc | 36
"At the end of the day, what it probably boils down to is that the US has been consistently defunding their K-12 school systems and focusing too much on standardized testing with less student teacher interaction than other 'developed' countries. Social media and 'screens' don't help - try to pry away the TikTok from your American adolescents and see where that gets you. I'm definitely not for inserting 'woke' messaging into hard sciences or math, but I don't think that substituting calculus for statistics (and keeping cal as an option) amounts to this drastic awful scenario we're being presented with."
Exactly, although I would point out that while the public K12 school system has been consistently defunded, the private K12 school system has not, and in the rich areas any public school deficit is made up by the parents. Same in Ontario, Canada, where a public school in Forest Hills Toronto (the very wealthy community where Drake comes from) has no problem with private funding top ups. Discrimination at work .... The end of the school day looks like a car-borne parallel of Beverley Hills.
Posted by: Roger | Nov 7 2021 22:38 utc | 41
Oriental Voice | Nov 7 2021 20:39 utc | 31
Just to be clear OV, the paper I cited is a preprint, not yet peer reviewed.
Also, as has been mentioned many times, the novel vaccines (adenovirus vector and mRNA vaccines) should be aspirated before injection to ensure the substance enters muscle tissue and not the blood stream. This is probably true for traditional covid vaccines as well as China aspirates their injections. It is also now common practice in Denmark.
I don’t want to incite fear but there is so much unknown about this virus which keeps mutating due having over 7 billion human hosts; just caution.
Posted by: suzan | Nov 7 2021 22:42 utc | 42
Posted by: Menz | Nov 7 2021 22:18 utc | 39
Thanks, it is hard to get good information about that war.
Another one I found today:
Ethiopia: Assailed by Terrorists and Betrayed by the West
Posted by: Bemildred | Nov 7 2021 22:44 utc | 43
Don't the proofs of the methods used in statistics (and thus the understanding of those methods) require calculus?
Posted by: Lysias | Nov 7 2021 22:50 utc | 44
Don't the proofs of the methods used in statistics (and thus the understanding of those methods) require calculus?
Posted by: Lysias | Nov 7 2021 22:50 utc | 44
Yes, they do. Integration in particular. You can get results with finite methods, but for a general proof you need continuous functions, which is actually assuming quite a lot. Do most real populations follow a normal or poisson distribution? Probably not. Reality is lumpy, not smooth. But we like certainties.
Posted by: Bemildred | Nov 7 2021 23:03 utc | 46
Posted by: Paul | Nov 7 2021 23:35 utc | 47
Posted by: BM | Nov 7 2021 18:09 utc | 15
If you use R, Python, awk or a similar language, .csv files are MUCH BETTER than SQL (also known as BFF, bloated file format, without jokes, tab separated files may be more convenient unless data fields contain tabs, quotes can be confusing). The problem I see is that one would need to know how large a batch is, i.e. how many vaccinations were made from that batch. Large batches would be distributed in more states and have more adverse effects if there is not relationship between the outcome (adverse effects or not) and the batch. Vermont having fewer murders than Texas is not a big deal, but per capita data would tell us something interesting.
Files on ALL vaccinations would be on a large side, hours to download, external drive could be needed. It seems that you linked to files about adverse effects.
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Nov 7 2021 23:46 utc | 48
‘ We can be confident there have been far more than 5 million global Covid deaths’
David Spiegelhalter and Anthony Masters write in the otherwise useless propaganda churnulistic Groaniad.
They quote the Excess Deaths number as citation. Apparently the Economist has gathered the ‘data’. However it is not fully followed through to a useful conclusion by the professor- on the basis that most countries don’t have a ‘reliable’ 5 year average or indeed gather the actual numbers of deaths in these countries anyway - what he could have said is that we don’t need to know the numbers from ALL the countries, just our near neighbours!
It is the set of Excess Deaths in the U.K. as a whole compared to Spain, France, Germany and the other comparative countries in Europe that would allow a reliable comparison between these countries.
This to me has been clearly showing that the U.K. Excess Deaths are well above Germany’s for example.
All of it down to the murderous response by the U.K. government right from the start of the epidemic.
But the professor has a cushy job that seems to require him not to rock the boat but just point to some data.
He also hasn’t yet presented any analysis to show whether infection prior to vaccines has a better or worse protection than being single double or now triple jabbed!
The newspaper though is a lazy DS limited hangout platform that stuck the knife into Julian Assange and has lied consistently about him ever since feasting on the Wikileaks exclusive JA gave them.
Elsewhere the paper is slyly pushing the continued jabs or no travel narrative. Kerrching!
Posted by: D.G. | Nov 8 2021 0:05 utc | 49
Lysias @44: "Don't the proofs of the methods used in statistics (and thus the understanding of those methods) require calculus?"
Yes, which is why what is proposed to replace more challenging subjects in American public schools isn't math. If you are not teaching the kids how and why the processes they are using yield the results that they do then you are just teaching them mechanical rote memory gestures that have no more meaning than a response to "Roll over!" and "Fetch!".
Posted by: William Gruff | Nov 8 2021 0:17 utc | 50
Tom_Q_Collins @36: "I don't agree with completely doing away with calculus as an optional course in high school..."
You woke-tards are despicable. When someone rubs your noses in your own shit you run away and try to pretend that it isn't there staining the carpet and stinking up the house. Pathetic.
Posted by: William Gruff | Nov 8 2021 0:21 utc | 51
jayc @ 17 <=yes inversion
What’s interesting about the CNN report is how it takes pains to infer exactly the opposite, highlighting statements from various always unidentified persons fixating on a presumed Russian “military buildup” and “energy blackmail” directed toward Kiev - both phantom issues.
<==inversion.. <=protected space or interest< infringement <=propaganda <= distribution to target audience.
fits the model. ..
Posted by: snake | Nov 8 2021 0:41 utc | 52
N @ 8 said; "Two US Republican writing a strongly worded letter?"
Should be; "Two bought & paid for US Republicans writing a strongly worded letter?"
vk @ 16; Thanks for the photos....
Posted by: vetinLA | Nov 8 2021 0:59 utc | 53
So again, my opinion has less than nothing to do with this 'woke' label you keep trying to put on me.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Nov 7 2021 21:50 utc | 36
oh, when the cap fits, Tommiboi.....
Gruff likely already knows you are a woketard because he likely saw you going hell-for-leather full-on woketard in this https://www.moonofalabama.org/2021/10/some-musings-on-wokeness.html comment thread.
He's not trying to put any label on you cos it's a label you grasped firmly with both hands and with great gusto pinned onto yourself, when demonstrating your unwillingness to admit obvious truth which even a blindman could see.
Posted by: WakeyWakey | Nov 8 2021 1:19 utc | 54
If statistics were taught, I would be fine with that.
However, what is far more likely to be taught is the misuse of p such as deployed by the majority of climate scientists and medical researchers.
Nor is data science much better. There is such a thing as data science but again, the vast majority of practitioners employ models such that their use of data science is blind.
The sad reality is that data science and "statistics" as practiced by a large majority of people today is not much more than the use of tools and models to reinforce existing prejudices or to torture the right result out of data.
Posted by: c1ue | Nov 8 2021 1:35 utc | 55
@BM #15
Sorry, but your comments are only valid for relatively small data sets.
Once you start getting into the billions of lines, csv files simply become too large for either the operating systems or the tools to work on.
SQL in turn is nothing more than a schema which is still Excel-like, but is not limited by the above problems - only in total disk capacity. All SQL programming is, is the employment of very simple commands which don't require an in-memory view of the entire database.
But even SQL has its issues once you start getting into the petabyte area. The NoSQL schema are far better in this respect; a really large database in SQL format can take days and weeks to execute whereas the same data in NoSQL will be 2 orders of magnitude faster or more.
An extremely simplistic way to look at it is: SQL/RDBMS type database are basically row/column setups. In order to process, you have to load in multiple rows/columns, process etc.
NoSQL is basically pointers to related data. Instead of loading the whole clunky (for very large data sets) setup for RDBMS, pointers follow the data on record at a time.
But all this capability is irrelevant in the context of objective measurement of success. One reason why Amazon, Facebook and other large tech orgs are such shyte regarding use of their big data is that it is extremely easy to get "something" out of a large database. It can be wrong, it can be skewed, but it doesn't matter as it is "data science".
Data science is why Amazon keeps trying to sell me the same books I bought, from them, 20 years ago.
Data science is why "experts" today seem distinguished mostly by being wrong all the time.
I'll give another example. I do cybersecurity, but I take on jobs from lawyers regularly. I've had a spate of divorce cases recently where I was asked to analyze the finances of one or both parties based on information such as tax returns, bank statements, Quickbooks etc.
In turn I an
Posted by: c1ue | Nov 8 2021 1:45 utc | 56
Continued from above due to weird post by mistake
...
analyze what the other side puts forward.
Twice in the last month, the other side employed a "data scientist".
Both times, the results put out by the data scientist were complete laughable garbage.
In one case, they took Quickbooks online data to conclude that the client had a good business.
But the problem is: this client both was extremely sloppy in his book-keeping/Quickbooks data entry *and* had filed federal and state corporate taxes showing completely difference numbers. In particular, this guy had not been paying his payroll taxes for 9 years. He owed mid 7 digits to the Feds and mid 6 digits to the state. His business, while generating high revenue, generated no profit.
Data science in this example did not understand that GIGO.
The second example: other side says he has no money and no income. An analysis of his federal tax returns from 2000-2021 showed that he had paid at least $5M to buy stock. So unless he can show he lost $5M, he has that much. Furthermore, this guy has been declaring $80K to $90k a year in mortgage interest and property tax deductions.
How does someone with no money afford that much tax burden?
All the tools in the world do not replace having a brain.
Posted by: c1ue | Nov 8 2021 1:52 utc | 57
@Posted by: William Gruff | Nov 8 2021 0:21 utc | 51
@Posted by: WakeyWakey | Nov 8 2021 1:19 utc | 54
Yep, when push comes to shove its all about ad hominem attacks ....
I did calculus in school, then took a degree in Information Systems where I never used it. Set theory (which relational database schemas are based on) and statistics was way more important, and no you don't fucking well need calculus to understand statistics. Then I took an MBA in Finance (NYU) and never used it. Then I became an executive in banking and never used it. GTF over yourselves, either make some intelligible arguments or STFU.
There are a given number of occupations where you will actually need calculus, usually in jobs utilizing Fortran and other scientific style programming languages etc., so I agree that it probably makes better sense to learn it in first year college if required. In the 1960s people were all pissed about the "new math" which included set theory. Things change, and not always for the worse not in line with the usual propagandist misrepresentations.
Posted by: Roger | Nov 8 2021 3:14 utc | 58
I knew that "Big Data" was meaningless and many times spurious correlations etc. masquerading as intelligence, same for econometrics. But the big consultant sell to the CEO always tends to work better than the advice of the actual execs working in the company.
When big data its done right it is scary, but it takes a huge amount of work to make sure that the data is clean AND that the analyses being run are meaningful. Most organizations are usually just too damn lazy and impatient to allow the building of the necessary knowledge and skills.
Posted by: Roger | Nov 8 2021 3:18 utc | 59
“[Hitler] is only the ghost of our own past rising against us. He stands for the extenuation and perpetuation of our own methods…”[1] George Orwell
Only this time in Europe. The chickens coming home to roost.
Posted by: Tom | Nov 8 2021 3:30 utc | 60
vk #16
Today's the 104th anniversary of the October Revolution. I found two articles (with photos) in passing - one from the Communist Party of Vietnam's official newspaper (Nhan Dan) and the other from the Venezuelan State News (TelesurTV):Major milestones of Russian October Revolution through photos
Los principales logros de la Revolución Socialista de Octubre
Recommend both reads.
Thank you very much for that post and the links.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Nov 8 2021 3:47 utc | 61
Posted by: D.G. | Nov 8 2021 0:05 utc | 49
The so-called liberal-left Guardian exceeded their dirty work on Assange by playing a leading role in the bogus Labour antisemitism scam prior to the 2019 election, led by senior "journalist" and Zionist Jonathan Freedland, cheered on within by the Labour right, thus helping to destroy the last chance of a caring society in the UK and ushering in the present bunch of unashamedly corrupt crooks and murderers. Just one of the reasons I left the country last year.
Posted by: Walt | Nov 8 2021 3:54 utc | 62
Meant to add this, just found it at random. One of many.
How The Guardian Betrayed Not Only Corbyn But The Last Vestiges Of British Democracy
Tuesday, 11 August 2020, 4:16 pm
Article: Jonathan Cook
Posted by: Walt | Nov 8 2021 3:57 utc | 63
Here's some Assange news for you.
https://www.rt.com/uk/539598-assange-marriage-prison-lawsuit/
WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange and his fiancée, Stella Moris have opened legal proceedings against the UK justice secretary and a prison chief, demanding that they be allowed to get married in Belmarsh Prison.
“We are suing because creepy elements of the UK government are illegally blocking and delaying our marriage by effectively giving the US government veto power,” Moris tweeted on Sunday.
Illegally blocking our marriage is part of a disgusting pattern of conduct attacking Julian's family life, issuing orders to steal our infant's DNA, assigning a full time agent to target me & my mother. It seems there is no length of depravity these creeps are not willing to go. https://t.co/Dd7EIIdkth
— Stella Moris #FreeAssangeNOW (@StellaMoris1) November 7, 2021
Posted by: Walt | Nov 8 2021 4:58 utc | 64
@"wakey wakey" (who only ever really bothers to show up when I'm commenting...hmm) and, man I hate to say it, Gruff who totally jumped the fuckin' shark today:
When it comes to math and physics, I see no place for "woke" content. None. When the subject is whether to perhaps replace certain math courses like calculus with other math courses like statistics in **HIGH SCHOOL** then I'm fine with it, so long as it's rigorous statistics being taught even if *some* of the examples used might be quote-unquote woke.
NOW, when it comes to world and American history - I'm all for school boards letting their curriculum writers have at it. As Roger said, Americans *SHOULD* be taught that their system is built on subjugation and lies *AND* that it's always meant to keep the lower class(es) divided along racial lines. It's the right that exploits this because the right naturally aligns with the aristocracy/oligarchy. Go on and tell me Mark Zuckerberg is a lefty. I'll laugh in your face.
But since this has reached a point of absurdity, two things come to mind. Have you ever spent any substantial time in Europe or Asia interacting with real people? I highly doubt it and I won't go into why it matters right now because the second thing is more important. This little "discussion" (scare quotes because you're both silly ad hominem spewing losers all the sudden) actually prompted me to do some reading about how math is taught in China vs. the USSA.
I recommend that Gruff reads this series. Wakey fakey is not worth the time. That moron is brainwashed through and through. I still happen to think WG has some redeeming qualities and I agree with his politics despite his hangups on the Civil War statues and other stupid shit.
https://www.nap.edu/read/12874/chapter/1
https://www.nap.edu/read/12874/chapter/3
The chapters are all kluged up in their URLs. But start with Chapter 1 and make your way through the series. It's pretty enlightening.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Nov 8 2021 5:18 utc | 65
Background to the and US involvement in the Ethiopian conflict under the guise of "humanitarian aid' and "peacekeeping", subsidizing weapons contractors:
Link to background to Ethiopian conflick
Posted by: Menz | Nov 7 2021 22:18 utc | 39
conflick = conflict
Posted by: Menz | Nov 7 2021 22:19 utc | 40
Posted by: Menz | Nov 7 2021 22:18 utc | 39
Thanks, it is hard to get good information about that war.
Another one I found today:
Ethiopia: Assailed by Terrorists and Betrayed by the West
Posted by: Bemildred | Nov 7 2021 22:44 utc | 43
It is not surprising to see the outlaw empire subsidizing a ruthless pseudo Marxist bandits from cradle to grave. The slave does what it has seen the master do. Unfortunately all US government agencies are in sync and CRS would like us to believe the rebel group is the victim. The fact is this group slaughter a particular ethnic group of soldiers from the Northern Command of Ethiopias’s military who was stationed to protect the region from possible Eritrean invasion (which is doubtful). The Command was helping the region in building schools and harvesting grain and contributing money for local development. They committed a criminal act and duly punished for it. The US wants its lackeys be reinstated but the populous neighbors of Amharas would probably not succumb to the pressure. It suffered immensely for 27 years at the hands of this US puppet group. They need a malleable Ethiopia. But history is backs Ethiopia. That will make it difficult fir the USA imperial designs.
Posted by: Maskal | Nov 8 2021 5:20 utc | 66
Posted by: Roger | Nov 8 2021 3:14 utc | 58
Yup. Thanks for that bit of realism. Like I said in my previous reply, I don't put Gruff in the same category as "wakey wakey" (which is to say fuckin' troll) so I think that he can probably think this over once again and respond without ad hominem bullshit.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Nov 8 2021 5:21 utc | 67
Posted by: William Gruff | Nov 8 2021 0:17 utc | 50
And the post to which you were replying. Irrelevant. I was taught statistics in an electrical engineering program that absolutely did not rely on calculus based proofs. I'd MUCH rather have been introduced to statistical analysis in HS than calculus and who fucking cares anyway since calculus isn't even available in the majority of minority-majority high schools in the USSA to begin with?
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Nov 8 2021 5:25 utc | 68
@ 62 Walt - "I left the country last year"
I hear that. I have reasons to go to the UK but I think now that perhaps I will never go there again. Hard times.
I don't mean to try to "out" you, but may one ask where you went when you left? Asking for a friend, as the saying goes.
Lots of people looking for greener grass right now and still undecided about finding it yet.
Posted by: Grieved | Nov 8 2021 5:34 utc | 69
Posted by: Menz | Nov 7 2021 22:18 utc | 39
Thanks, it is hard to get good information about that war.
Another one I found today:
Ethiopia: Assailed by Terrorists and Betrayed by the West
Posted by: Bemildred | Nov 7 2021 22:44 utc | 43
America is sick. It has lost its ability to separate the friend from the foe. As in Afghanistan, it will definitely fail in Ethiopia. It is a matter of time.Truth matters. CRS has lost the way. It is trying hard to write an absurdly distorted narrative. The rebels ambushed and massacred soldiers of mostly ethnic Amhara in their sleep and they openly bragged about it as if it were a blitzkrieg operation. That doomed their fate. No government will tolerate that.
Posted by: Maskal | Nov 8 2021 5:34 utc | 70
Below is a Xinhuanet posting about China and Iran talking
"
BEIJING, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Saturday held a phone conversation with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian over bilateral relations and practical cooperation.
China and Iran are comprehensive strategic partners, Wang said, noting that no matter how the international situation changes, China will firmly develop its friendly relationship and advance practical cooperation with Iran so as to bring more benefits to the two countries and their peoples.
China is ready to work with Iran to continue to oppose unilateralism and bullying, uphold the principle of non-interference in other countries' internal affairs, and safeguard the common interests of developing countries, Wang said.
China is also ready to strengthen anti-pandemic cooperation with Iran until the pandemic is finally defeated, he said, adding that China hopes Iran will support the Global Development Initiative.
Wang said that China welcomes Iran's decision to resume negotiations for a return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) at the end of this month, which shows Iran's positive attitude toward resuming the implementation of the deal.
The U.S. side should take the first step to take corrective actions because it unilaterally withdrew from the Iranian nuclear deal, Wang said, adding that on this basis Iran can resume fulfilling its commitments in the nuclear field.
All parties should strengthen coordination and jointly push the negotiations in the right direction, and China supports Iran to strengthen its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which will create a good atmosphere for the resumption of negotiations, he said.
Wang congratulated Iran on successfully hosting the Second Meeting of Foreign Ministers of Afghanistan's Neighboring Countries, saying the mechanism of the foreign ministers' meeting came at the right time and has attracted attention from various sides.
Noting China is going to host the third foreign ministers' meeting, Wang said the country stands ready to strengthen coordination with Iran and other parties to accumulate consensus and strive to achieve more results by then.
The six countries should give full play to the advantages of neighboring countries and highlight their distinctive features, so as to play a unique and constructive role in achieving lasting peace and stability in Afghanistan while addressing the legitimate concerns of their neighboring countries, Wang said.
For his part, Abdollahian said Iran-China relations are strategic, stressing that the new Iranian government will firmly develop friendly cooperation with China.
Iran thanks China for its strong support in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, and hopes to continue to deepen anti-pandemic cooperation with China, he said.
Iran appreciates China's positive stance and constructive role in the Iranian nuclear issue, is committed to the negotiations for a return to the JCPOA, and is ready to strengthen communication and coordination with China in this regard, he said.
He said Iran attaches great importance to cooperation with the IAEA, and will invite the agency's Director General Rafael Grossi to visit Iran in the near future.
Iran fully supports the Global Development Initiative, and supports China in successfully hosting the third Meeting of Foreign Ministers of Afghanistan's Neighboring Countries, he added.
"
Posted by: psychohistorian | Nov 8 2021 5:45 utc | 71
Posted by: Grieved | Nov 8 2021 5:34 utc | 68
I have a residence/working permit for China. I live in Shenzhen. I qualify as my UK company has an office here so I pass myself off as its Legal Representative and I renew my contract myself as long as I want. Otherwise very difficult to get in.
As a backup I am applying for a Special Retired Residence Visa in the Philippines. The main requirements are:
Clean record.
Clean medical (no leprosy, syphilis, etc!)
Deposit in bank of $20,000 OR
Deposit $10,000 PLUS monthly pension of at least $800.
Philippines is friendly, low cost of living, all year round summer, volcanoes typhoons etc largely absent in the far south, over 7,000 islands to explore. I can wholeheartedly recommend.
Posted by: Walt | Nov 8 2021 5:47 utc | 72
Below is a summary of the recent assassination attempt in Iraq
"
BAGHDAD, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- The failed assassination attempt against Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi on Sunday complicated the political scene in the country, as the attack ramped up the tension sparked by followers of parties rejecting the results of the Oct. 10 early election.
The assassination attempt took place before dawn when a booby-trapped drone landed on the residence of al-Kadhimi in the heavily fortified Green Zone in the center of the capital, but the prime minister escaped unhurt.
In a tweet on his official page, al-Kadhimi said he was "fine" and called for "calm and restraint from everyone for the sake of Iraq."
Later in the day, al-Kadhimi confirmed in a video posted on his official Twitter page that he and other workers at his residence are safe, stressing that "cowardly missiles and drones do not build a homeland or a future."
Hours after the attack, al-Kadhimi, also commander-in-chief of the Iraqi forces, resumed his daily activities and held a meeting with Ministerial Council for National Security to discuss the drone attack on his residence.
Saad Maan, spokesman of the Interior Ministry, said that the attack was carried out by three drones, and the security forces managed to shoot down two near the Green Zone, but the third hit al-Kadhimi's residence.
Iraqi security forces intensified security measures and were deployed in some areas of the capital, in addition to blocking the entrances of the Green Zone, which houses some of the main offices of the Iraqi government and foreign embassies.
There was no claim of responsibility for the attack, although suspicion fell on Iran-backed militias who have been at odds with al-Kadhimi.
The assassination attempt came amid the ongoing protests by followers of political parties rejecting last month's election results.
On Friday, the protests escalated to a clash with the security forces at the entrances of the Green Zone, killing two protesters and wounding dozens of security members and protesters.
In the parliamentary elections on Oct. 10, the Sadrist Movement, led by prominent Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, took the lead with more than 70 seats, while the al-Fatah (Conquest) Coalition, which includes some of the paramilitary Hashd Shaabi forces, garnered 17 seats compared with 47 in the 2018 elections.
Political parties unsatisfied with the results said the elections were manipulated and they would not accept the "fabricated results."
However, the Shiite paramilitary groups distanced themselves from the failed assassination and said in a statement that they condemn the attack, which targets the Iraqi state.
"Whoever carried out such attack is trying to shuffle the cards," the statement said, adding that they are calling for the formation of an investigation committee with the participation of the Hashd Shaabi.
Nadhum al-Jubouri, an Iraqi political analyst, told Xinhua that the assassination was one of the consequences brought by the rejection of the election results.
"This assassination attempt is the bone of contention between two phases in the Iraqi political process: In the first phase, the prime minister was chosen by consensus among the Shiite blocs, while in the second phase the prime minister will be chosen by the political majority formed by the winning blocs in the election, especially the Sadrist bloc," al-Jubouri said.
"The coming hours or days portend a confrontation as the military forces and the demonstrators have accumulated around the Green Zone simultaneously," the expert concluded.
Political analyst Sabah al-Sheikh told Xinhua that the assassination is expected to complicate the political disagreements between the parties, warning that it would "lead to chaos and deepen the country's already existing crises."
"
Posted by: psychohistorian | Nov 8 2021 5:48 utc | 73
@54 WakeyWakey
We used to have a commenter here who offered short comments that tended to be poetic or droll. He was humorous and used several names, one of which was Charles Drake.
I suppose it would be fruitless to ask if you have any relation to him?
He made some insightful, drive-by comments, often with a severely anti-Jewish bent (or perhaps pro-Jewish, you can never really tell with that tribe and its psy-op treatment of the goyim). He was funny more than anything, I always thought.
I never got to ask him back then for a "wakey wakey" connection but I always wanted to. What was the town Charlie Drake used when he introduced himself in polite society? "Charles Drake, casual laborer, Weybridge." That was it.
Any relation?
Posted by: Grieved | Nov 8 2021 5:50 utc | 74
@ Grieved | Nov 8 2021 5:50 utc | 72 who, as I recall, is living in Texas
Where is the media coverage of the deaths and injuries in Huston? Seems strange to see a blackout seemingly after first bits.....
Posted by: psychohistorian | Nov 8 2021 6:28 utc | 75
Grieved | Nov 8 2021 5:50 utc | 72...I went and read Huston news and lawsuits have been filed already but lack of info about what went down but hints of needle pricks.....
I think I will stay away from large public venues.....
Posted by: psychohistorian | Nov 8 2021 6:38 utc | 76
Interested to see what barflies think of this:
https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v43/n22/adam-tooze/ecological-leninism
Posted by: Patroklos | Nov 8 2021 6:40 utc | 77
Anyone know more about this magnesium shortage in aluminium production?
https://www.ft.com/content/100d4fea-d626-415d-b314-7f06a094cc42
Posted by: Patroklos | Nov 8 2021 6:53 utc | 78
Very interesting, if true.
https://summit.news/2021/11/04/italian-institute-of-health-drastically-reduces-its-official-covid-death-toll-number/
Quote:
"The Italian Higher Institute of Health has drastically reduced the country’s official COVID death toll number by over 97 per cent after changing the definition of a fatality to someone who died from COVID rather than with COVID.
Italian newspaper Il Tempo reports that the Institute has revised downward the number of people who have died from COVID rather than with COVID from 130,000 to under 4,000."
This might suggest that the death numbers do not justify lockdowns or vaccine passports, at all, nor even vaccinations for those without comorbidities. It would suggest that the deadliness of COVID 19 may be greatly overhyped. 3,000 to 4,000+ people die directly in automobile accidents in Italy every year.
Posted by: Blue Dotterel | Nov 8 2021 7:05 utc | 79
Straight from the horse’s mouth
Stefan Oelrich(Bayer) :” The mRNA vaccines are an example for that cell and GENE THERAPY …”
Posted by: Down South | Nov 8 2021 7:22 utc | 80
Posted by: arby | Nov 7 2021 14:38 utc | 124 @U.S. Acknowledges the Tri-Polar World thread:
“Martin Luther King popped into my mind as a prime example.”
Yeah, thanks, hard to think of a better example. Lenin’s timeless quote hits MLK's legacy on all points.
That was a little off topic there so I waited for this open thread. Whenever MLK is mentioned I think of an interview of Nina Simone where she said she told MLK “I’m not non-violent”. I miss her and her music. So for james, Lex, and other ‘musicheads’, here’s the beautiful woman at her best. (This, btw, is also for any who doubt that MLK’s words and deeds have been marginalized. What's changed for the better since the '60s?):
Mississippi Goddam
Posted by: waynorinorway | Nov 8 2021 7:47 utc | 81
@Grieved68
Not a good time to jump the fence.
I became a perpetual tourist upon my retirement about 10 years ago, spending up to 3 months at a time in Penang, Malaysia or Cebu, Philippines. Occasional Hong Kong shopping trips for USA priced technology or British supermarket food.
But Covid lockdowns have royally disrupted my life. As an EU passport holder, non vaxxed, I’m currently hunkered down in Spain, awaiting normality to return, which I believe it will, eventually.
Retirement visas are readily available for Philippines and Malaysia, both of which I recommend, with Penang the best choice. Good food, good medical, cheap to live. Cebu or Bohol, Philippines, gets the nod if one requires a local girlfriend. Rent, never buy, apartments with security.
Posted by: necromancer | Nov 8 2021 7:51 utc | 82
Roger, Gruff, et.al.
When I was a young'un back in the 70s in Ontario, Canada, we had a grade 13 in high school. This was essentially a streaming grade for those intending to advance to university. I took, statistics and calculus as well as set theory and the natural sciences biology and chemistry. Courses like trig, geometry and algebra were taught in earlier grades. Those not interested in university could graduate in grade 12 and be on their way to a work world.
I am not sure why they got rid of grade 13 (probably money), as it did help pave the way to university and probably acted as a "gifted" program for some. I do not recall if, in fact, there were any actual gifted programs in Ontario then. In university, I was advanced to 2nd year Chem. based on a test given at the beginning of the year. This was mostly attributable to what I had experienced in grade 13 chemistry.
Sad to hear that Canada is following the US in dumbing down its education system through underfunding - the neoliberal way.
Posted by: Blue Dotterel | Nov 8 2021 8:48 utc | 83
@ Walt | Nov 8 2021 4:58 utc | 64
@ Grieved | Nov 8 2021 5:34 utc | 68
Being someone who almost daily acknowledges the grand betrayal of the progressive sensibilities of its readers having captured them over the decades with the bait of a few who spout the Talk but never Walk , I claim a certain expertise and right to point out to my dottard friends how we were taken for a ride by that ‘Liberal’ rag.
Liberal as in anti-Labour.
It is not a Social Democratic supporter, it never has been I.e not a Traditional Labour flag carrier. It just dressed in that dripping of blood shipskin it scalped of the masses when there was mass grassroots uprisings it could not control.
It’s own roots are based on the Manchester slave owning cotton millers and the large settlement of the area by the Ancients. That is where Engels came from and the money and guidance of Marx as he was recruited from his German university and transported to England to construct the ‘left’ arm of new religion of the masses, the right having being equally constructed by JS Mills...
As a country to live in, it is because of the gains of the democratic socialist Labour postwar government that the egalitarian culture developed over the postwar generations that made it a pleasant place. Though it has never quite got over its ‘empire’ and ‘two world wars and one world cup’ mind set. We were revelling in endless repeats of German bashing WW2 films every year including Xmas and many a white mans burden bs still prevails. There are ghettos of Afro British as there are of the mostly Pakistani mill workers.
Having said that - it does have its green and pleasant landscape and traditional ales which I favour - though it is not cheap. And the sense of humour, which is not so easy for the rest of the world. But I have not made it to the Philippines yet and will plan to check it out at some point to further my diving fetish.
On the Assange marriage gambit - what took them so long?
It is a genius move and one that will cut through to the majority of people who out of their innate sense of identifying with underdogs (most Brits self regard ourselves as such).
After all we have had countless marriages in Prisons over the years including mass murderers and notorious hoodlums. I remember that Reggie Kray was allowed one too. So an uncharged , untried, unconvicted independent journalist and whistle blower publisher can’t possibly be denied can he especially since he has children in the country and is awaiting a death sentence extradition by the great and Ancient powers who have been shown to have spied on him and planned his Assassination too.
Posted by: D.G. | Nov 8 2021 8:52 utc | 84
Patroklos @75
Looks more like infantile ultraleftism than Leninism to me. Using War Communism as a model for as a blueprint for 'Ecological Leninism' is pretty dubious as Lenin was pretty keen to be rid of War Communism as soon as possible and opposed those who mistook necessity for virtue and wanted to skip over the rebuilding of Russia's shattered internal market and press on directly to a 100% planned economy. While things look grim on the climate front, Malmo seems to be falling into a similar trap. The harsh measures of War Communism were of course preceeded by the revolutions of 1917 (happy 104th Red October!), resulting from both the contradictions of Russian Imperialism and many years of patient organization leading to mass support for radical change. The contemporary situation with regard to climate change could not be more different.
Malmo tells us that "x many millions marched for y", predicting in typical Trotskyist fashion that a rerun of October is just around the corner. But those millions marching were predominantly yuppies and kids, with most of the working class still completely alienated from a climate movement that they correctly see as dominated by their class enemies who seek to displace the costs of transition away from themselves and onto a working class that has already lost so much over 40 years of neoliberalism. Skipping the task of organization in favor of blowing stuff up is not Leninism. If Lenin and the Bolsheviks had simply turned up prior to 1917 with armed grain requisition squads and the Cheka and told the masses at gunpoint to "make a revolution you dogs!" they would have ended up rotting in a ditch somewhere rather than interred in Red Square or the Kremlin wall.
Posted by: S.P. Korolev | Nov 8 2021 8:58 utc | 85
Thanks for a more balanced view of this. After getting triggered a few times by such articles/references I decided to actually read some of the authors involved. One of the books I read was "Mathematics Success and Failure Among African-American Youth: The Roles of Sociohistorical Context, Community Forces, School Influence, and Individual" by Danny Bernard Martin, mentioned by B above. It is an extremely balanced piece of work that looks at all the material, institutional, ideational and cultural aspects of US descendants of slaves (using "Black" greatly obfuscates things as there are many successful groups, such as Nigerian and Caribbean immigrants [i.e. not slave descendants]).
I taught inner city blacks and Caribbean Blacks.
Both are loud, boisterous, and ill-behaved.
It takes a determined, experienced teacher to control them in the classroom, for the purpose of settling them down into applying themselves to the material.
It takes a visionary, from the working class, who lifted himself by his bootstraps, to challenge them to excel.
I know, I was that visionary who took control, got their attention, and challenged them.
When that happens they perform. Otherwise, their social network takes over and the result is mediocrity at best.
USA school systems spent the last 50 years dumbing down their teaching staffs to save money.
The consequences are now apparent.
You get what you pay for....
INDY
Posted by: George W Oprisko | Nov 8 2021 9:41 utc | 86
The consequences are now apparent.
You get what you pay for....
INDY
Posted by: George W Oprisko | Nov 8 2021 9:41 utc | 84
Thank you, I quite agree. They are smart as anybody, likely smarter, they just don't see the point. Nothing to do with skin color or who your father was. STEM talent is very much where you find it. They used to bad mouth the Chinese too ...
And very well said:
"USA school systems spent the last 50 years dumbing down their teaching staffs to save money."
Those are the dumb f**kers in all this, the people that thought that was a good idea. Even in the 60s the guys that taught me math were mostly not the white guys, a Japanese man teaching Physics really introduced me to study, though I doubt he ever knew that. The best ones don't talk much that at all. They listen.
And that was done by local government, Lambert's "local gentry". The Feds have tried all kinds of stuff, but they too don't think money for the students is the right answer, or money to get the right teachers and let them work. Instead we have lots of credentialled "experts" who are very good at PowerPoint(tm).
Posted by: Bemildred | Nov 8 2021 10:46 utc | 87
It is Night of the Sleeping Woke (sorry George Romero).
When the "woke" try to defensively claim they are not about eliminating challenging formal mathematics from public schools they are being "disingenuous", to put it politely. To say that in a more blunt and, if I may, "gruff" manner, they are lying sacks of shit doubling down on their efforts to gaslight the deplorables.
Note that STEM track mathematics is already optional in all American public schools, at least where it is available at all.
Are these lying sacks of shit trying to get us to believe that they are just trying to make STEM mathematics "more" optional or something?
Posted by: William Gruff | Nov 8 2021 11:11 utc | 88
Oriental Voice @ 31
It has been well and widely known for at least twenty months that covid has neurological effects. It is also well and widely known that the vaccines have even stronger neurological effects. No point in giving cites if you are completely disoriented.
I never understood how informed consent is supposed to work. Most are as low information as Oriental Voice. Go ahead and get boosted based on the delusions of your choice.
Posted by: Oldhippie | Nov 8 2021 11:41 utc | 89
@ Posted by: Patroklos | Nov 8 2021 6:40 utc | 75; Posted by: S.P. Korolev | Nov 8 2021 8:58 utc | 83
The "official" position of Marxism (which is directly derivable from Marx's philosophy and theory of History) is that the only definitive solution is with more, not less, technological development.
Needless to say this position is the opposite of liberal ecologism, which preaches for retarding, putting a brake on the development of the productive forces ("technological progress") to outright trying to reverse the process (see the likes of Greta Thunberg, and many others before her).
The Green party (liberal ecologism) is essentially a First World phenomenon. It simply doesn't make any sense in the Third World at all - that's why Green parties historically failed to enter the party establishment of those countries, while they consolidated themselves firmly in many First World countries (and, in the ones it didn't, it was only because the social-democratic parties that already dominated the landscape absorbed their agenda). No wonder the Green Movement was born in post-war Germany with the clear intent to substitute the Communists ("Green is the new Red"), not, say, in India, Indonesia or Brazil (where its Green Party was from the beginning just a de facto cell of dissidents from the Communist Party of Brazil and has now, for all intents and purposes, vanished).
The same is true for this so-called "Woke Left", which is essentially a First World phenomenon. I'm baffled when American say on the internet the Woke have taken over (or are in the process of taking over) the world: although the shadow of the Empire is vast and there are copycats around the Third World, the fact is it is a marginal to non-existent phenomenon. The Woke Left could only be invented and prosper in a country without Marxism, hence it being invented in the USA. In the Third World countries where anti-Marxism is dominant, they just go with traditional fascism (often sustained by the Catholic or Orthodox Churches) or go on as normal, surfing on the population's sheer ignorance due to extreme poverty.
Oriental Voice @ 31
Thank you for bringing to our attention Prof Kekule's work. I myself wasn't all that scared of Covid before. But knowing Covid affection may lead to Parkinson/Lewy-body dementia would change my mind about indifference.
I may now consider taking the booster shot
Sure dude, and buying a powerball stub might lead to you becoming a multi millionaire.
Suzan's been fear mongering around here since the beginning of this plague, pushing the vax program in which she fervently believes.
So, ignore the potential adverse effects of these experimental jabs, I mean, we're talking about a pathogen that's at least as dangerous as the common cold, after all. Hold your nose and take your third dose(oh yeah, make sure it's aspirated, sheesh), and while you're waiting for your fourth keep filling your head with more non peer reviewed possibilities.
Posted by: john | Nov 8 2021 11:54 utc | 91
Cuba (it was uploaded at night, hence I didn't put it in my first comment):
Ningún acontecimiento influyó tanto en el destino de los pueblos (+ Video)
It starts with a paragraph that illustrates well why the October Revolution is still remembered much more fondly in the Third World than in the First World:
El triunfo de la Gran Revolución Socialista de Octubre, dirigida por el genial Vladimir Ilich Lenin y el Partido Bolchevique, fue un acontecimiento que abrió una nueva era en la historia de la humanidad, y el más trascendental del siglo XX, epopeya de la que el pueblo cubano celebró este 7 de noviembre su aniversario 104.
@james,
you don't get it, when Democrats are salivating to jab my kids with a product developed by convicted felons, strange political bedfellows will emerge.
in Montana, my wife, who has never voted for a Republican, is VERY HAPPY Gianforte is our Governor. I have three kids, and they WILL NOT be victims of this rebranded eugenics program.
athletes drop, it's ok
dumb-dumbs, do not correlate
such a big word
for your mouth
hello Big Bird
Elmo's down
servicing Gupta for the day
stab Rosita
to keep her safe
if this sounds like psycho talk
you hate abuela
and puppy dogs
maybe you should see a show
traverse the skull
to go astro
see the rapper?
feel the rush?
you can't escape
the sacrificial crush
Posted by: lizard | Nov 8 2021 12:05 utc | 93
I am separating my points into different posts here so as to not dilute them. The above point is so important that it needs to be repeated, though: These woke-tards are liars when they say they are not trying to ban calculus (and other formal mathematics... calculus is just step one; trig/pre-calc/"Advanced Math", formal geometry, Algebra II are on the chopping block once calculus is eliminated) from public schools.
Has anyone here gotten a Master's in Statistics? If not then the "Statistics" you learned is the ultimate in "memorizing opaque formulae that you don't understand". I've taught some of the courses in that Master's progression. I assure the reader with absolute certainty that these are not courses that can be handled by high school kids who are struggling with the classic high school math progression.
Who here thinks a course in using Microsoft Excel should count as math credit in high school? That's some sort of "business" credit, isn't it? Well the exact same thing is true for courses using statistical and data modelling tools. The students don't develop an understanding of the underlying mathematical principals from using Excel, nor do they from using other business tools.
The classical school math progression has been developed, debated, and refined for centuries. These California über alles mathophobes cannot hold a candle to the class of minds that have examined this issue throughout the centuries, but they have very high opinions of their own opinions, as do all of the narcissistic "woke". If they say we should simplify geometry by declaring that π = 3.0 you had better not contradict them or they will get "triggered" and run for their "safe space", which in the current climate will result in you getting "cancelled" (fired and blacklisted for being a Nazi who would dare offend a frail emotional snowflake).
There is a very concrete reason for the classical high school math progression, which is that it prepares the student with a foundation for further pursuing mathematics into a variety of specializations. If you attempt to jump straight to the specializations and skip the foundational understanding then you are no longer teaching math but training to use specific tools without the understanding of how those tools really work.
Of course, mathematics also develops logical thinking, which in itself prepares the student to successfully tackle any number of other subjects.
If you don't care about understanding and you just want to prepare students for the workforce then fine. We have courses like Shop Math and Business Math that can give students practice with math tools without requiring them to understand those tools. There remains very deep value in maintaining the emphasis on the classical math progression, though, if for no other reason than getting some of the population up to the point of being able to make the tools for the trained monkeys to use.
Posted by: William Gruff | Nov 8 2021 12:06 utc | 94
Gruff
I’ll give you one small datapoint. It is six years ago (yesterday for this old man) my nephew graduated from New Trier High School. Usually considered one of top three public HS in the country, always in top ten, many would have it as #1. He had straight As in math and had been endlessly told he was gifted. Everyone at New Trier is gifted. And special.
The kid got himself enrolled in engine school. From day one of classes it was plain he did not have the math to do freshman engineering work. Was put in a remedial tutorial program. Taught by older undergrads. Who were all Chinese. Within two weeks it was plain to everyone he had no math education and no math hope. Switched to business administration. Now an excessively overpaid lobbyist for the airline industry.
If you want K-12 math education in this country the only course is private instruction after school. Those private academies will be above 99% Asian.
Posted by: Oldhippie | Nov 8 2021 12:46 utc | 95
Apparently Burns' visit to Moscow was more successful than Nuland's:
Putin, CIA director discuss bilateral ties, cybersecurity over phone
Posted by: Bemildred | Nov 8 2021 12:47 utc | 96
necromancy @ 80
Three months at a time at four different residences to not pay takes anywhere in the world? If so, you are definitely an asocial necromancer who belongs to the privileged few gallivanting around the world. And you brag about it! Lots of air pollution.
Posted by: Quentin | Nov 8 2021 12:47 utc | 97
@Posted by: Menz | Nov 7 2021 22:18 utc | 39
@Posted by: Bemildred | Nov 7 2021 22:44 utc | 43
I find the situation in Ethiopia confusing and would love to see how b thinks about it.
Some considerations:
- Abiy - although listed as an Oromo - has been linked to Amhara nationalists from the beginning.
- The TPLF justified its attack on the army posts in Tigray with the accusation that the Ethiopian Army was preparing an attack on the TPLF.
- The way the TPLF attacked the army was certainly not nice. Some people died, some spent a long time in captivity and when they were released they had to walk a very long distance to the nearest army post. The least they could have done is giving the soldiers some trucks and allowing them to leave with that.
- Abiy has exploited the attack on the army posts to the bottom to fuel hostility against Tigray and the TPLF for their "unprovoked attack".
- The attack of the government forces started with an attack on the parts of Tigray that are contested by Amhara nationalists. In those attacks Amhara nationalist played a major role.
- When the Ethiopian Army withdrew from Tigray it remained in those contested areas. Given Abiy's connection with Amhara nationalists it is feared that he cannot do such a concession as it would cause his fall from power.
- The way Abiy talks about Tigray is plain racist. Comparing them to rats and other vermin and talking about making it impossible for them for a century to attack is incendiary talk that threatens Ethiopia's unity as a country. His actions against Tigrayan citizens elsewhere in Ethiopia - many have been fired or have their business seen closed - are just as problematic.
- Abiy likes to sell his position as for unity of the country instead of the divisive policy of the TPLF that gave every ethnicity (too much) autonomy. Opponents of Abiy see it as an effort to centralize power in Amhara hands.
- The TPLF refused to be merged in Abiy's new party. But is that so bad? Abiy's vision looked like that of a one-party state.
- There are two parts of Tigray that are contested by Amhara nationalists: the West and the South-East. They are overwhelmingly Tigray speaking and that was why the TPLF government allocated them to Tigray. The Amhara claim that they historically were part of Amhara and that chaos would arise if every part of Ethiopia was assigned according to ethnicity. Things are complicated as provincial borders have changed many times and often were completely different from what they are now. For a long time West Tigray wasn't even part of Ethiopia.
- West Tigray is a special case. It is tropical lowland and until about a century ago it was seen as a very unhealthy area. It was thinly populated and many farmers who worked there stayed there only when it was necessary for work. The rest of the time they lived in the highlands. When modern medicine made such areas better accessible the Ethiopian government started settlement programs. That started long before the TPLF came to power. Yet Amhara often blames the TPLF for settling Tigrayans in the area during its rule.
- Most of the inhabitants of Eritrea are Tigrayan speakers.
- Tigray is core Ethiopia. Ethiopia's ancient capital Axum is in North Tigray. Both the Tigrayan and the Amharan language descend from Ge'ez, what still is the language of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.
- Opponents of the TPLF accuse it of having as end goal that they want to secede from Ethiopia.
Posted by: Wim | Nov 8 2021 12:49 utc | 98
Weak emperor:
Biden's approval rating drops to new low of 38%
As expected, the defeat in Afghanistan was devastating, and eclipsed everything else Biden has been doing (or not doing) in his administration so far.
If you want K-12 math education in this country the only course is private instruction after school. Those private academies will be above 99% Asian.
Posted by: Oldhippie 93
Old hippie i wonder do you think it possible to develop a central server to teach high school math.. the text books could be created for parents in a way that the books can be used to encourage students..
That parents could pay say $X a month.. and the students could be exposed to real math..maybe some people will back needy students or some kind of program for the needy.. . The only way to get the student to spend the time with the math is to offer them some kind of reward..
How about the students with similar grades will exchange locations in different parts of the world, with students similarly performing, students
for a few weeks during the summer.. Airlines might be willing to grant free passes for such a program.
The reward is an student exchange program. Visit with parents and people who live a country foreign to the country of residence to the student.. or something similar..
I think education is going to need all of us to chip in on, if we wish our grandchildren to be knowledgeable . also this program could be a pilot program for on line education. maybe a grant..
algebra, 8th grade, matrix and linear algebra.., calculus, python to be able to write programs in math. With real problems in structural material science biology physics and mechanical engineering and robotics well illustrated. so that the math stuff has application to real world apps. Teach global geography as well.
Do not allow Microsoft or Google or any of the big guys or government in . totally private. funded by participants in alternative news .. maybe could use it to increase the market share of alternative information sites. the student signs up by or through one of those sites and the site people tutor the kid something?
Posted by: snake | Nov 8 2021 13:15 utc | 100
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Any further information on the Iranian Republican Guards seeing off the Amerikastani attempt to steal Iranian oil? The Amerikastani and stooge "media", including Modistani propaganda channels like WION, are deafening in their silence on the matter. But you can be sure that the militaries, including Modi's, have noted that the Amerikastani Empire can't even stop its submarines from ramming undersea hills, and is deterred by Iranian speedboats to boot. There must be a lot of worry now from Modistan to Australistan on whether this Amerikastani Navy will ever dare risk committing suicide for the greater glory of the disposable slaves in Delhi and Canberra.
Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | Nov 7 2021 14:46 utc | 1