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June 23, 2022
Open (Not Ukraine) Thread 2022-93
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NemesisCalling | Jun 25 2022 4:31 utc | 230
“It does not matter if the mother has been raped. If she is 11. If it is the son of the grandfather.
“That baby should be born and given the same rights under the constitution as any other natural citizen.
“I don’t think any kind of differentiating or mincing words about post-birth conditions can trounce the simplicity for which the Constitution assigns the right to life. ”
Says you…
Such pompously declared certitude screams religious fanaticism to me.
Beliefs applied to oneself are one’s own business. Go with it!
Beliefs projected on to others as obligations for them are nothing more than an assertion of superiority and dominion. You ain’t got it!
All the rest is word salad camouflage…
Posted by: Doesitreallymatter | Jun 26 2022 0:14 utc | 301
This guy who does not fit easily into the sort of categories found in the western world, a long time observer of French politics is one of the best things to be found at The Saker or anywhere else. You don’t have to agree with Press TV’s Ramin Mazaheri to appreciate his originality and independence of mind. He is a real fan of the Yellow Jackets in a media world in which they and their achievements have gone unrecognised by most.
“….This started post-1991 with TINA – There Is No Alternative. The great unsaid to that popular phrase is that There Is No Alternative to Neoliberalism and Neo-imperialism. Radical centrism has become – to them – “the truth”. Criticise their policies – such as the false benevolence, and certainly the false success, of the pan-European project – and you are classified as “disinformation”. Affirm these policies and you’re a blue-checked “expert” and “independent”.
“It’s all nonsense of course, but ever since 1789 created a bourgeois bloc they have always been out of touch with the average person’s experiences and beliefs.
“This brings us back to the legislative vote: the Western MSM, owned by the bourgeois bloc in a West which eschews state media, is now worried that without an absolute majority Macron won’t be able to force through his “radical centrist” policies as easily as he did for the past five years.
“The Western MSM is, of course, totally unconcerned about the fact that Macron forced through his policies only on top of the broken bones, lost eyes and blood of the Yellow Vests. They only worry about protesters in right-wing places like Hong Kong, or Ukraine, or the MKO, etc.
“The intellectual state of France has now been established – are the MSM’s worries justified? Does the vote signify a huge change?….” There’s much more
http://thesaker.is/french-vote-shows-the-undemocratic-rot-of-the-pan-european-project-1-2/
Posted by: bevin | Jun 26 2022 1:09 utc | 302
I don’t know who this Joe Tzu is, and don’t care to research it (maybe a combo of sleepy Joe and Sun?), but from the quotes I’ve read here, he reminds of Mulla Nasreddin. He appears in more a thousand fables, anecdotes. Many, as wise take aways.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasreddin
Here is an example:
Mullah had lost his ring in the living room. He searched for it for a while, but since he could not find it, he went out into the yard and began to look there. His wife, who saw what he was doing, asked: “Mullah, you lost your ring in the room, why are you looking for it in the yard?” Mullah stroked his beard and said: “The room is too dark and I can’t see very well. I came out to the courtyard to look for my ring because there is much more light out here”
Here is another:
Mulla puts his infant son in the middle of the rug and starts to poop on him. When his wife protests, mulla says: he peed on me yesterday, so I’m replying in kind.
Posted by: Sakineh Bagoom | Jun 26 2022 1:37 utc | 303
@Sakineh Bagoom #303:
Mulla puts his infant son in the middle of the rug and starts to poop on him. When his wife protests, mulla says: he peed on me yesterday, so I’m replying in kind.
Speaking of peeing, Pussy Riot are now peeing on a portrait of Putin during their “concerts”: photo. Stunning and brave! Not quite at the level of Amber Heard yet, but I’m sure they’ll get there.
Posted by: S | Jun 26 2022 2:43 utc | 304
The economic and energy crisis is real.
The climate crisis is not.
https://reason.com/2022/06/24/green-germany-prepares-to-fire-up-the-coal-furnaces/
Posted by: Cadence | Jun 26 2022 3:27 utc | 305
Posted by: Cadence calls | Jun 25 2022 22:25 utc | 295
LOL, if I may ask could you give us a dollar magnitude value of your net liquid worth? Or rather, how much cash you might’ve been able to rustle up at any given time when you needed to switch states to support your illegal and fascist gov’t of every type, right-to-left, cash crop?
Now can you compare that amount to what you think the average girl or woman seeking an abortion might have on-hand or available in some remotely rapid fashion?
You sound like a major douchebag in your humblebragging and you’re also not a great representative of this bar.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 26 2022 5:58 utc | 306
At c1ue | Jun 25 2022 21:58 utc | 293
Therein lies the rub, doesn’t it?
It is interesting how the Supreme Court “interfering” in a legislative matter that was deadlocked – i.e. there was not a clear public mandate, one way or the other – was acceptable in the 1970s but that the Supreme Court “interfering” again in the same legislative matter, which is equally deadlocked, is unacceptable now.
Definitely not.
Thank you for your reply. By the way, ‘deadlocked’ and ‘no clear public mandate’ are not the same things. Don’t be pulling the dialectic wool, please.
The original decision was the final answer to a litigation, the court had full remit to write law where none existed, that is their job. The second ‘decision’ was a carefully planned exercise designed to nullify the original decision, this done by a minority ideology not having sufficient support to change Roe vs. Wade otherwise. Some of those of that ideology threatened, injured and killed to obtain dominance for their ideologic goals. The better half of the country’s citizens no longer have equal protection of the law in meeting their medical needs. Your opinion will probably differ, but so what?
My comment was addressed to another’s, made to illuminate the context of the earlier court decision for the benefit of those not having a direct memory of those times – the vast majority of the population now.
Posted by: Formerly T-Bear | Jun 26 2022 8:36 utc | 307
I’m up early on a Sunday that continues here and now to be blessedly rain producing, and it is fitting for this to be the summation of an admittedly amateur journey through Mikhail Bulgakov’s “The Master and Margarita”.
I will repost this later, on the soon to be current Sunday Open thread, but I’m beginning now, as the stream of moisture flows from my roof down the path to my street (named ‘Moon’ in the native language here where I live). The full moon at the end of the novel returns us to the opening chapters, where it is the (always full for us mortals) sun that is setting. Apologies for the inadequate stream of thoughts, and do object if they seem too ‘far out’.
Last night as I read through this MoA thread of comments, I had the thought that in this novel I could not remember a reference to children. At least, I was not remembering any – all the participants in this drama are adults, the macabre seemingly having no room for a child’s perspective. I first surmised vaguely – perhaps there is one at Satan’s ball. I was correct, and there is indeed a child being mentioned even before that – as Margarita is leaving Moscow she encounters a child!
Of course, when Roe vs. Wade was first being considered, many now commenting here were children themselves; I am old, we have been here before… so went my rain-orchestrated stream of thought. I noted next that when, in the novel, Satan enters the picture, two men are discussing, not Christ’s teachings, but his very existence.
My musings then took the following path: each of us, existing now as adults, were once children. On this thread, (as in the novel), nonexistence is being debated, and with that debate the very existence of humanity has been, in a way, called into question. Okay, call that a stretch, but at least for the novel I think it makes sense. Perhaps Bulgakov is indirectly telling us why Stalin’s era came to an end: there was left no room there for the happy existence of children.
A very significant moment in the novel – and only now I realize that indeed it occurs during Satan’s ball – involves a woman who has murdered her child. That is Margarita’s moment to shine – I won’t describe it, just say it is pivotal.
Earlier I had observed that Bulgakov places only one disciple, Matthew Levi, in his Scriptural scenes, he being a former tax collector. I now observe that Matthew, for readers of that other narrative, the Bible, begins his Scriptural gospel by detailing the geneology and birth of Christ. Perhaps, for Bulgakov during the ongoing gestation of his novel, not even finished as his own life ends, this becomes his central message:
“Suffer the little children to come unto me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 19:14
Posted by: juliania | Jun 26 2022 12:37 utc | 308
Posted by: Scorpion | Jun 25 2022 21:11 utc | 291
Thanks very much for this article, Scorpion! One can hope; one can really hope! I watched “How Green Was My Valley” last night on tv. It holds up well. The singing is wonderful. My maternal grandfather was Welsh, proud to say. He named his elder son, my uncle who died in WW2, after David Lloyd George. There’s good stuff in Britain still, where it counts.
Posted by: juliania | Jun 26 2022 14:41 utc | 309
Posted by: juliania | Jun 26 2022 14:41 utc | 309
Yes, Wales filled with hobytlan!
LOTR is so powerful perhaps because there are clear contrasts between Good and Evil, with many intermediate blends. It seems each age, including each day therein, presents choices we must make. There is no escaping this.
Posted by: Walt | Jun 24 2022 0:38 utc | 55
“…..The Philippines is a glorious country, I had spent much time there earlier: over 7,000 islands, warm seas, white sand beaches, all year round summer, English widely spoken; friendly, charming people, etc etc. Perhaps someone reading this is also here?”
Walt,
have you checked out Baguio, AKA, ‘The summer capital of the Philippines”? High in the mountains some people need fireplaces for the cool temperatures. To a Filipino it is ‘cold’, I suspect to you and I it is pleasantly cool. Baguio is a modern city with excellent views, hospitals, retail and education institutions. Unlike many ‘western’ countries the government actually provides services without begrudging doing so.
I agree, the Filipino people are friendly and charming. I predict a rush of migration. those 7000 islands are great. I like Palawan and I enjoy Makati, Metro Manila, for big city energy and choice of restaurants. A great country for for boating, see ‘Noonsite.com’.
Posted by: Paul | Jun 26 2022 18:40 utc | 311
ABC news Australia is reporting more Boeing Max issues. Virgin Aus has many on order.
us-set-to-launch-probe
Posted by: Dim sim | Jun 27 2022 1:36 utc | 312
@ Dim sim | Jun 27 2022 1:36 utc | 312
I can’t help but wonder how much incompetence — or how much pressure — or how much bribery — is behind the adoption of the criminally unsatisfactory 737 MAX by so may national airlines.
Posted by: malenkov | Jun 27 2022 1:57 utc | 313