Outraged, I have lost my line of thought from one of your comments. Keep on keeping on.
I am so bloody tied. That Indian bloke. Just more US/Anglo cannon fodder. It makes me tired watching how stupid people are.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Apr 7 2023 9:29 utc | 104

Dingo | Apr 7 2023 10:01 utc | 105
Frank Zappa- watermelon in Easter hay hq
I love Joe’s Garage, and can imagine this being the last song ever played. My favorite version is this live one.
Happy Easter.

Posted by: john | Apr 7 2023 10:56 utc | 106

Pat Lang died.

Posted by: Don Bacon | Apr 7 2023 13:54 utc | 108

@108 don
“Or maybe it was yesterday.”
RIP.

Posted by: NemesisCalling | Apr 7 2023 14:06 utc | 110

USNI: China deployed an aircraft carrier strike group off Taiwan’s east coast, military officials in Taipei and Tokyo confirmed Thursday.
The People’s Liberation Army Navy Shandong Carrier Strike Group (CSG) deployment began Wednesday, the same day Taiwan’s president met with U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California.
The carrier strike group is now operating off Taiwan’s east coast after transiting the Bashi channel on Wednesday in its first training voyage in the Western Pacific.
CNS Shandong (17), its embarked air wing and its escorts passed through the southeast waters of Taiwan to start its first training voyage in the Western Pacific, Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense said Wednesday. The release added that both sea and air units along with ground-based radars detected and monitored the group’s movement. . .here

Posted by: Don Bacon | Apr 7 2023 14:10 utc | 112

Posted by: Hermit | Apr 7 2023 5:13 utc | 67
Today being the holiest of the days of Holy week for western Christians, your comment is not out of place, Hermit. It is understandable that many who post on our forums are uneasy on this day, but rest assured that your comment is part of the entire story of this day.
Why? Because there was not only the one cross on Golgotha – there were three. Even on the Orthodox cross, those two other crosses, carrying men who suffered identical physical pain to that of Jesus, are important to the full understanding of what is called Good Friday, and are represented on that cross by the slanted line below the central one.
In Orthodox prayers of the Sunday liturgy, Christ’s first teachings in the Beatitudes, beginning with “Blessed are the poor in spirit…” central to the opening antiphons, are preceded by the words “In Thy Kingdom, remember us, O Lord…” This hearkens forward to the penitential prayer before Communion, which says “…but like the thief…”
It doesn’t say, (and I love that it doesn’t) which thief. And who is to say what is in any man’s heart? Not even that man himself, I think.
Wishing a blessed Good Friday to all who commemorate it today.

Posted by: juliania | Apr 7 2023 14:48 utc | 114

⚡️WSJ Journalist Charged With Espionage
Evan Gershkovich – the Wall Street Journal’s Moscow bureau journalist detained over suspicions of espionage – has been charged, a source familiar with the situation told Interfax.
Gershkovich is charged with espionage under the Russian criminal code after “acting on the instructions of the American side, collected information constituting a state secret about the activities of one of the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex.”

https://t.me/rtnews/39695

Posted by: Norwegian | Apr 7 2023 15:39 utc | 116

Another note on the idea that the western empire took over not only West Germany/Europe after 1945, but also the Nazi Plan Ost.
The new Bundeskanzleramt in Berlin features two elongated wings, out to one side of the cupola, down to the Spree river. I have been told that such an architectural design is very uncommon, almost unparalleled. It does, however, resemble the planned (by Albert Speer) Hitler Mausoleum. Now that is a weird coincidence, not?

Posted by: persiflo | Apr 7 2023 16:37 utc | 118

..what is it about the nature of capitalism that facilitates, encourages and enables the abuse of children..” rjb1.5@119
Their malleability and their vulnerability (probably not in that order!). They can be indoctrinated by their ‘owners’ before they can escape and survive.
The links between capitalism/imperialism and child eploitation are many and various. In Britain the basis of the Industrial Revolution included the widespread, large scale and pitiless exploitation of ‘orphans’ and children taken from poverty stricken parents in workhouses and elsewhere. Kids were ‘kidnapped’ and exported to America as indentured servants (slaves).
Tens of thousands of poor children were sent to Canada (and Australia?) and ‘adopted’ by farmers as cheap and biddable labour (this began in the C19th and continued at least until the Second World war, when shiploads of children were evacuated from the cities- in some cases this was a privilege for those with parents rich enough to transport them out of danger, in most it was another form of the older system.
And then there are the Boarding Schools- the basic engines of the imperialist ideology- pumping out gdeneration after generation of authoritarians, the survivors of, entirely unnatural upbringings designed to churn out officers for empire and bosses for capitalism…
Someone should write a shelf full of books about it.
Fun fact: enslaved ‘Indians’ in Latin America were valued in a way quite different from that applied to African slaves, where men cost most and children were less valuable. In the Spanish possessions children were sold for the highest prices, and girls-surprise surprise- were more costly than boys.
Child trafficking was/is a branch of the slave trade which combines the exploitation of labour with sexual exploitation.
Any one who believes that a decent society is possible without eradicating capitalism in all its forms is deluding himself.

Posted by: bevin | Apr 7 2023 17:10 utc | 120

I saw this on DW News just now but it’ll be everywhere…
The Outlaw US Vampire has recruited two of its 1945 POWs, Japan and South Korea, as “allies” to bully them into sacking any North Koreans they employ as cheap labor and sending them home.
The ‘logic’ is that it will deprive NK of cash to pursue its Nuke Program, and worsen NK’s food shortage problem.
The likelihood of this sort of brainless Yankee Satanism is the reason NK needed Nukes. NK should politely inform the US Vampires that if they don’t want themselves and their POW lapdogs to be Nuked, they’ll STFU.

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Apr 7 2023 17:39 utc | 122

bevin | Apr 7 2023 17:10 utc | 120
Fun fact: enslaved ‘Indians’ in Latin America were valued in a way quite different from that applied to African slaves, where men cost most and children were less valuable. In the Spanish possessions children were sold for the highest prices, and girls-surprise surprise- were more costly than boys
No doubt, at least in part, that African slave girls had likely been subject to the butchery of female genital mutilation. Not a capitalist practice, but repugnant and deluded just the same.

Posted by: john | Apr 7 2023 18:07 utc | 124

Posted by: rjb1.5 | Apr 7 2023 18:07 utc | 123
“…and thou [Princess Katherine] must therefore needs prove a good soldier-breeder. Shall not thou and I, between Saint Denis and Saint George, compound a boy, half French, half English, that shall go to Constantinople and take the Turk by the beard? Shall we not? What say’st thou, my fair flower-de-luce?” Henry 5
the main thing is that the child have zero choice over whether he wants to fight his parents’ crusades or not. same thing w/the mother, whose life purpose is to breed soldiers and keep her mouth shut (as Pericles states in the funeral oration).
but at least Henry 5 in the play recognizes that biological reproduction must occur for the crusades to go on. today’s worshipper of the machine could care less, using the laws of physics to deny biology, completely deluded by sparkly toys and cars. for youth, the idea, the goal, is that the wounded, damaged, degraded, humiliated, deprived, immiserated, malnourished, addicted and suicidal youth will be little threat to the machine. the “smart” kids will get debt and lots of psychological abuse via “education”, so they become bureaucrats who function just enough to keep workflow flowing and are models of happiness thru consumerism and thru telling the boss what he wants to hear, with every breath.

Posted by: rjb1.5 | Apr 7 2023 18:41 utc | 126

# 120
The “value of life”
Cannot be determined by anyone alive
ForThey have a “vested interest”
And it can’t be determined by the dead
For obvious reasons.
I am paraphrasing nietzsche
I can’t recall the aphorism exactly

Posted by: Dingo | Apr 7 2023 18:46 utc | 128

Peace in Yemen? RT is reporting that Saudi officials will travel to Yemen to brief their proxy on upcoming talks with the Houthis. A permanent ceasefire to be signed followed by a peace agreement…

Posted by: the pessimist | Apr 7 2023 18:57 utc | 130

Russia and Turkey, from Sputnik
“The Turkish expert also placed emphasis on the importance of expelling the US-backed Kurdish militias as well as Daesh*-like terrorist organizations operating on Syrian territory. Ankara sees the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and their political wing (PYD) as affiliates of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) designated as a terrorist organization in Turkiye.
“Turkiye, Russia and Iran have developed a joint initiative for the solution of the Syria problem with the Astana process that started in 2015. And today we have come to the last point,” Guzaltan stressed.
“Russia is the only country which could convince Syria to enter a dialogue with Turkiye,” echoed Dr. Sambur. “Everything depends on Russia in Syria-Turkish relations. Without Russia nothing is possible.”
The times, they are a changin.

Posted by: the pessimist | Apr 7 2023 19:51 utc | 132

Norwegian #88
The Norhtern Space Command in Germany leads me to consider an imminent satellite de-cluttering event.
I trust these morons can simply bring the entire sattellite down to earth or we will end up with an impenetrable band of fragments whizzing around and smashing everything in the orbit band – end of space exploration for a while.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Apr 7 2023 21:02 utc | 134

Uncle Tungsten: good to see you back recently.
Juliana: thanks for your reflections.
rjb1.5: please reel it back in. Do you need someone to call you a cab?

Posted by: onceandfuture | Apr 7 2023 21:36 utc | 136

Evan Gershkovich
If he’s a triple citizen… interesting.
On which passport/citizenship did he enter Russia?
If Russian, then he’s a Russian citizen being charged and tried in a Russian court.
The U$ would have slim grounds to call for a prisoner swap, or extradition…. (Not that will stop them, if they want to make a stink)
Otherwise, Gershkovich could find himself as relevant (and expendable) as Navalny.

Posted by: Melaleuca | Apr 7 2023 21:36 utc | 138

@Posted by: bevin | Apr 7 2023 17:10 utc | 120

Fun fact: enslaved ‘Indians’ in Latin America were valued in a way quite different from that applied to African slaves, where men cost most and children were less valuable. In the Spanish possessions children were sold for the highest prices, and girls-surprise surprise- were more costly than boys.

Thats because the Spanish/Portuguese colonists rarely brought their families/women with them, unlike the white settler colonies. So there were no limitations to their sexual exploitation of the indigenous populations – a large number of which were worked to death in places such as Potosi. The true basis of Mestizo. Then again, the few studies that have been carried out show very significant amounts of European DNA in the African-American population, and there was certainly a premium paid for the prettier Black female slaves in North America. Benjamin Franklin kept his sex slave (apologists call her his “wife”) down the hall from the bedroom he shared with his white wife for easy access.
When you give one human complete control over another the worst instincts and perversions generally come out.

Posted by: Roger | Apr 7 2023 21:53 utc | 140

Jamie Dimon finds banking regulations onerous.
An Irish economist explains Jamie’s discontent and reports that the FED has demonstrated continuing sympathy for his unfortunate position and the pointless burdens of banking regulation.
As I see it, the FED is certainly beneficial in developing a people’s revolution but I believe Mao and Chou were on a better path.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Apr 7 2023 22:29 utc | 142

RFK Jnr Yes please for a Democrat Presidential Candidate. I think George Orwell said “In a time of universal deceit telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act”. Good for you RFK Jnr for telling it and publicly too. The world needs Presidents like you. So, he is an outside candidate, but that doesn’t matter what does is here we have a Politician that is fully understands and is willing to articulate forcefully and well what the burning issues of today are. Just because at this time, people think telling the truth will not win votes it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t tell it; it will and actually is breaking through now and, once the damn bursts it will tumble out in torrents. That moment is closer than people think.
I have now spoken with a lot and I mean a lot of people who had the Jab and the related Boosters and they haven’t really been well since. They now say they wouldn’t have any more as they have learned the truth. Well, here in the UK, the MSM and the Government will raise the same level of hysteria, industrial levels of propaganda and censorship when it suits the collective West to create another fabricated virus or illness will be applied. Here in the UK, I can say with absolute confidence that 95% of the British People, who are slaves to the MSM, will take any medical jabs they are offered. They never learned any lessons from the hysteria, propaganda and lies surrounding the invasion of Iraq even though now they are highly critical of it.
The truth will, sooner rather than later, breach the Dam. I will relish the day when the BBC and all Broadcast Media including C4, C5, ITV and the MSM will have to find ways of wriggling out of all the lies they have told. It is a paradox that what is currently called Disinformation is actually the truth and what is called the truth is actually disinformation.
Take it on RFK Jnr, fight the good fight whether you win or lose. I will raise a glass (or may be 2 I think) to you and wish you well and above all, keep safe and well. Keep getting the truth out there loudly and clearly, the more you are a teller of the truth, the more the MSM will demonise you nationally in their media and they will be doing you a favour. Don’t give up. Have faith and have courage.

Posted by: Jo Dominich | Apr 7 2023 22:43 utc | 144

2 sub 2 minuet songs
A catharsis to western disillusionment
Apocalypse Hoboken- Jerk lesson
NoFx- Mean people suck

Posted by: Dingo | Apr 7 2023 23:00 utc | 146

Sad to see that all of Matt Taibi’s hard work on the Twitter Files has gone down the gurgler. Matt was foolish enough to agree to a spot with Mehdi Hassan on M$NBC, even worse he did it from his home with everything being controlled by MSNBC staff so he was cut off whenever hassan spewed his lies.
Taibbi just doesn’t have that dj style, quick-patter skills required for contact such as that, he was all flummoxed at times by wasserman-schultz when the dims had their ‘right of reply’ in the congressional hearing. That plus a couple other times he has been talked over in corporate TV pieces should have told him to stay well away from any such thing.
The interview was a trainwreck. Hassan came in with alleged errors which weren’t and wouldn’t allow Matt who seems to have a slight speech impediment which slows him down, to explain that he wasn’t wrong. Natch Hassan beat the entire error nonsense up to make it seem that Matt’s work was all deliberate BS for the benefit of elon musk. In other words the blob has succeeded in making all that hard work into the nothing-burger they alleged at the start. It isn’t, but the odds of the corporate media users believing that are now zero.
I guess Taibbi only has himself to blame, it is now obvious why Musk, who is media savvy, insisted that the story go out on Twitter first. Lotsa people defending Matt on twitter and in their podcasts but that is preaching to the converted. The Twitter Files story is now officially over and Matt can no longer post to Twitter, allegedly because he still uses substack and twitter reckon ‘substack notes’ – some new substack product, is too much like Twitter.
Matt Taibbi has let himself & his work to get trashed, I know he can be naive, he badly needs some sort of advisor so that when he turns up another story, he doesn’t repeat this stupidity.

Posted by: Debsisdead | Apr 7 2023 23:11 utc | 148

@114 juliania
Thank you, Juliania. Off to Mass shortly.
I hope my Priest says the prayer for the conversion of Jews during the Solemn Intercession. I doubt he will and it seems I am only further alienated from my fellow Catholics the more I think about this and yet the less I am able to speak about it.
I have been reading St. Augustine’s Confessions recently and found myself like him openly weeping. There was no truer gift than to read him for the first time during Lent.
“Pick up and read.” He hears in the garden calling him towards our Bible that leads to the Logos in Christ.
I have not yet read it, because I often feel.unworthy or not ready. I feel as though my time to read it is now.
God bless you.
St. Augustine, pray for us.

Posted by: NemesisCalling | Apr 8 2023 0:22 utc | 150

@149 psychohistorian | Apr 8 2023 0:09 utc
Thank you for that link again – this time I went over and read the story. Yeah, Taibbi wins that one for sure. Changing paradigms rather than fighting back in the same terms thrown at him (and the other victims in his story).
I would never have watched even a second of that mainstream horseshit that Taibbi reluctantly attended, but I did watch several pieces of his testimony before the congressional committee recently – I was very impressed that he could fight his corner against those politicians who were trying to walk over him.
I think Taibbi’s reputation remains sound. More importantly, I think the material he’s produced cannot be tarnished by the flacks in the MSM – as he points out, the damage has been all to themselves in the last half-dozen years.
But for MSNBC – how many viewers do they have, one wonders, compared to, say, Joe Rogan? And for those viewers, what possible way could their malinformed opinion matter?

Posted by: Grieved | Apr 8 2023 0:41 utc | 152

Seth Rich does it again. Or maybe it was Hillary…

New Batch of Classified Documents Appear on Social Media Sites – New York Times
(https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/07/us/politics/classified-documents-leak.html)Secret documents that appear to detail American national security secrets on Ukraine, the Middle East and China have surfaced online.
A new batch of classified documents that appear to detail American national security secrets from Ukraine to the Middle East to China surfaced on social media sites on Friday, alarming the Pentagon and adding turmoil to a situation that seemed to have caught the Biden administration off guard.The scale of the leak — analysts say more than 100 documents may have been obtained — along with the sensitivity of the documents themselves, could be hugely damaging, officials said. A senior intelligence officials called the leak “a nightmare for the Five Eyes,” in a reference to the United States, Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, the so-called Five Eyes nations that broadly share intelligence.The latest documents were found on Twitter and other sites on Friday, a day after senior Biden administration officials said they were investigating a potential leak of classified Ukrainian war plans, include an assessment of Ukraine’s air defense capabilities. One slide, dated Feb. 23, is labeled “Secret/NoForn,” meaning it was not meant to be shared with foreign countries.Mick Mulroy, a former senior Pentagon official, said the leak of the classified documents represents “a significant breach in security” that could hinder Ukrainian military planning. “As many of these were pictures of documents, it appears that it was a deliberate leak done by someone that wished to damage the Ukraine, U.S., and NATO efforts,” he said.

Source: https://t.me/DonbassDevushka/53398

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Apr 8 2023 1:57 utc | 154

This vid was created years ago to make Giorgia look bad but had the opposite result…everyone loves it!
MEM & J – Io Sono Giorgia (Giorgia Meloni Remix)
Happy Friday!

Posted by: nathan in WA US | Apr 8 2023 2:29 utc | 156

re psychohistorian | Apr 8 2023 0:09 utc | 149
Yeah I subscribe to Matt’s substack too, so I got that post a coupla days back, the thing is that while we know he is correct as does most of us here & those who subscribe to his page, Mehdi Hassan has managed to totally nullify the story which could eventually have broken through.
Just ‘us’ knowing the truth is meaningless as we have seen time and time again with everything from the invasion of Iraq to the 2008 great bankster rip-off to Hunter Biden’s laptop. We know sure but the vast majority of amerikan voters/citizens do not and won’t as long as people keep falling for media tricks as Matt Taibbi has with this story.
I like and respect Matt and his work, but going onto Hassan’s program was asinine, Matt knew it was probably going to be a set-up yet he still did it!
I’m no fan of this world where facts alone are insufficient, or that form in news reporting is more important than substance, yet that is the world we are currently in and if we want to get messages out we must accept that.
I can see why you would believe that Matt did ok at the congressional hearing but if you go back and study the interchange between Taibbi & Wasserman-Schultz as I did last night – the entire thing unedited you will see that wasserman-schultz used the standing orders of that forum to sling a bucket of shit at him then cut him off as he stumbled in shock through his answer. Yes its dirty pool and no, I don’t like it either but that is how those types operate/have always operated as anyone who has sat on a committee knows; some people get what they want by using those scummy tactics and people who want to let the world know something a wasserman-schultz doesn’t want them to hear, have to understand that.
There are a few who would have been able to deal with this nonsense George Galloway who amerikans first witnessed as the only politician to tell a senate committee that they were burbling bulldust over the invasion of Iraq, Jimmy Dore would be another, Russell Brand and probably Aaron Mate. That is precisely why those particular types just don’t get invitations such as the one Matt foolishly accepted.
Interestingly enough out of all those capable that I mentioned I reckon Aaron Mate would be the only one who could pull it off unprepared. The rest Galloway, Dore and Brand occasionally reveal that they are not fully across the subject they are talking – Galloway less than the other two because he generally manages to conceal any holes with blather. In fact that is why Jimmy Dore likes to use Aaron Mate to explain more complicated stories that he is uncertain his audience is across either. e.g. when Seymour Hersh’s nordstream story surfaced Dore ignored it for a coupla shows until Mate came in as guest host and went through the entire thing from A to Z.
Matt would be wise to recognise his limitations, there is no shame in it, few people can out yap the professional yappers, Matt’s talent is his great research and reporting, leave taking on silver tongued spielers to those who can do it. Of course there aren’t many which is why the likes of Mehdi grab the big bucks, he’s an englander who came over from Al Jazeera, maybe the bbc isn’t he?
Matt wants to show him up but TV talent such as Mehdi Hassan is quite un-embarassable -they don’t care as long as they are earning big.

Posted by: Debsisdead | Apr 8 2023 4:40 utc | 158

@ nathan in WA US | Apr 8 2023 2:21 utc | 155
Torture is used by people who themselves are so dense that they don’t pick up any normal social subtleties. Like Roman emperors that captured the Jesus story to re-establish themselves from the old bread and cruel games popularism. The RCC is the hijacking of Jesus’ by entities that embody the opposite of turning the other cheek and bottom up individual experience.
The cheek!!

Posted by: Antonym | Apr 8 2023 5:08 utc | 160

@ Debsisdead | Apr 8 2023 4:40 utc | 158 with the follow up to Matt Taibbi and the MSM
I expect you are correct in the limited exposure that Matt Taibbi’s response to being lambasted by MSNBC will get initially. And I agree that it maybe wasn’t a good thing for Matt to try to do.
That said, Matt is still exposing the Twitter Deep State connections and if that whole social control issue gets traction, his takedown of MSNBC will get more exposure.
Grieved at 152 wrote
”
It really is about changing paradigms and standards rather than diving down into the shit that comes at you.
”
I would reword that to
It really is about exposing attempts to change paradigms and standards rather than diving down into the shit that comes at you.
In support of that reword I quote Matt’s piece

That exchange between Nance and me was symbolic of a choice the network faced. They could either keep doing what reporters had done since the beginning of time, confining themselves to saying things they could prove. Or, they could adopt a new approach, in which you can say anything is true or confirmed, so long as a politician or intelligence official told you it was.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Apr 8 2023 5:39 utc | 162

Posted by: psychohistorian | Apr 8 2023 5:39 utc | 162
“That said, Matt is still exposing the Twitter Deep State connections and if that whole social control issue gets traction, his takedown of MSNBC will get more exposure.”
yeah i don’t see the rush to proclaim defeat, this is a long struggle, and MSNBC and the other shills are going to portray him as a liar no matter what he does or says.

Posted by: pretzelattack | Apr 8 2023 7:13 utc | 164

China makes an example of Ursula von der Leyen

machine translated text
Ursula von der Leyen must pass through exit for normal passengers in China
During the visits of Emmanuel Macron and Ursula von der Leyen, the government in Beijing gave the EU Commission chief the cold shoulder.
The visits of French President Emmanuel Macron and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to Beijing followed conflicting protocols. Politico magazine analyzes, “Macron received the full red carpet ritual in Beijing this week, feted at a state banquet and greeted with military parades and cannon fire in Tiananmen Square. When Macron’s plane landed, China’s foreign minister greeted him in person. When EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen arrived, the environment minister met her – at the regular passenger exit.”
The choreography was particularly evident on Thursday before the meeting in the Great Hall of the People: China’s President Xi Jinping descended all the steps to receive Macron in person. When von der Leyen arrived later, she had to climb the stairs alone. The Chinese state press also showed a clear weighting in favor of Macron. There were numerous reports and analyses about the talks and the Sino-French relationship. Von der Leyen’s presence was covered in a few politely detached sentences. The appearances before the press were also entirely different: Macron and Xi appeared together before the press, which was not allowed to ask questions. Von der Leyen received the media alone at the EU’s Beijing office, where questions were allowed. But the answers were only carried in the Western media.
… continues …

https://www.berliner-zeitung.de/wirtschaft-verantwortung/ursula-von-der-leyen-muss-in-china-durch-ausgang-fuer-normale-passagiere-li.336085

Posted by: too scents | Apr 8 2023 11:11 utc | 166

@Perimetr | Apr 8 2023 5:20 utc | 161
Same king of assurance he gave for NordStream2 not becoming operative.

Posted by: Norwegian | Apr 8 2023 11:25 utc | 168

Pretzelattack no. 101
Neither does rishi sunak.

Posted by: ThusspakeZarathustra | Apr 8 2023 12:23 utc | 170

Is the Ukraine regime’s ongoing project of demolishing church buildings of the Moscow Patriarchate a precursor to the conversion of the new Orthodox church (OCU) to Catholicism? There is a lot of talk of the resurrected Polish-Lithuanian Commmonwealth. That is significant in this respect: one of the achievements of that historical period – under king Sigismund III of Sweden and Poland! – was the creation of the Uniate church in Ukraine. The union of the Orthodox and the Catholic churches under the Pope was also one of the projects of John Paul II. Are the current attacks against JPII in Poland a decoy of some sort? It is complicated.
When Biden visited Poland earlier this year on Ash Wednesday, he also visited a Polish church official, who spoke something that was reminiscent of the 1917 prophecies at Fatima. Those prophecies, in turn, talked about converting Russia (or the Soviet Union) to the Catholic Faith (or that is how they have been interpreted).

Posted by: Jonathan W | Apr 8 2023 12:49 utc | 172

Posted by: ThusspakeZarathustra | Apr 8 2023 12:23 utc | 170
they are both of the oligarch flavor, yes. i don’t remember if Sunak comes from a family of oligarchs, don’t really know much about him except for being an enthusiastic neoliberal and beneficiary of the current “woke” climate.

Posted by: pretzelattack | Apr 8 2023 13:57 utc | 174

I was seriously wondering whether the U.S. would make it intact to New Year’s Eve. Now I’m beginning to wonder if it will make it through to the end of summer. Things are brewing internally, that much is certain. Too much koyaanisqatsi for one nation to handle. They are saying: “get hold of your assets.”
Interesting times indeed.

Posted by: thecelticwithinme | Apr 8 2023 14:49 utc | 176

The other day a guy in Texas was convicted of killing an openly armed demonstrator on the streets of Austin with a handgun he kept in the glove box of his car that he used to provide Uber or Lyft rides to people. He didn’t live in Austin, but rather Killeen (or Fort Hood) which is about an hour and a half drive to the north. In Texas you’re allowed to “constitutional carry” now. Meaning you don’t need a license or any other sort of government approval to simply walk around brandishing a gun. Kind of like what Kyle Rittenhouse and his contingent were doing in Wisconsin the same year this incident in Austin occurred.
So anyway, there were a bunch of people gathered and marching through the streets downtown and a few of them had rifles strapped to themselves. What happened is not completely clear to me, but from what I’ve read and been told, when the Uber/Lyft driver encountered this group at an intersection that they happened to be traversing (and thus temporarily blocking) he claimed that one of the protestors pointed his rifle in his direction and then the driver proceeded to shoot him dead. Of course this guy claimed that he was in fear for his life and thus justified in using lethal force to “defend” himself. Witnesses disputed the claim that a rifle was pointed at the driver and it is surmised (by myself and others) that the driver was just pissed off 1) in general about the ongoing protests and 2) about having to wait longer than he wanted at that intersection.
The driver was arrested, put on trial and convicted. Within 24 hours the Texas GOP governor, Greg “Iron Sides” Abbott said he would pardon the killer as soon as he could. IMO this is yet another horrible precedent being set by the American conservative right regarding vigilante violence, especially with firearms. I’m sure many here will recall the debate at MoA over the Kyle Rittenhouse saga and trial and I made the point that it set a bad precedent then. TO summarize that one quickly, KR and his contingent were set up in Kenosha, WI to ostensibly protect local businesses from looting and arson. As he walked through the streets he was confronted and attacked twice, once by an unarmed individual and then by a guy wielding a skateboard. He shot and killed the second attacker and was charged but found not guilty by a jury (in what I’d argue was a stacked trial proceeding w/ a non-objective judge). This caused a bit of an uproar, but much of it was uninformed as to the actual details of the incident and case. I accepted the verdict but said it was not a good precedent for street vigilante-ism. After all, his defense in part rested on the notion that if his gun was taken away from him, it could be used to hurt him. This seems like a convenient Catch 22 for anyone walking around carrying a gun in almost any situation, especially in states with “constitutional carry” and “stand your ground” type laws. To wit, you can’t even approach someone carrying a gun anymore without the possibility that they can legally just kill you and claim self defense or “stand your ground.”
That said, in KR’s case he was indeed found innocent by a jury of his peers and in Texas Daniel Perry was convicted by a jury of either murder or manslaughter. In a case where a person is found innocent, there is no double jeopardy and no mechanism for an ‘executive’ (like a governor or president) to overturn the jury’s verdict. But in the case of Perry, and anyone found guilty, their conviction can simply be overturned rendering the entire effort of the judge, prosecutor, defense and jury completely wasted.
For the vast majority of us, the USSA is not a nation of laws, but of rich and powerful men and their whims. Some political actors and groups are worse than others, and in the matter of gun violence and hypocrisy with regard to the right to assemble, bear arms and defend onesself, I’d argue that the GOP is by far the worst offender. Much like with US foreign policy as practiced by both wings of the Uni-Party, for the GOP on the aforementioned matters it’s do as we say, not as we do, unless we decide that what we did is OK, sometimes before it even happened.
So I wonder. If given the facts of the Daniel Perry case, would those with whom I argued during KR’s trial, agree that what happened in Texas is a travesty and utterly hypocritical? Or is it OK for a dude in a car to simply claim he felt threatened and kill someone who wasn’t breaking any laws, get convicted by a jury of his peers, and then simply pardoned like nothing ever happened?
https://www.kxan.com/news/abbott-calls-for-pardon-of-daniel-perry-after-guilty-murder-verdict/

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Apr 8 2023 20:55 utc | 178

This new leak, the MSM says that there are documents about China and the middle east. Does anyone know anything about those?

Posted by: team10tim | Apr 8 2023 21:08 utc | 180

@Melaleuca | Apr 7 2023 9:25 utc | 103
Synchronicity
A Song of Restoration
© Hermit November 2007-2021 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Shrunken windows, tilted floors.
Broken banisters, lopsided doors
All were once a part of me,
But just look at me now.
All were once a part of me,
Now they lie anyhow.
Forgotten kisses, ancient history
My heart is aching, for more
Lost memories, its a mystery
Who was I before.
Who I am, that’s easy
I am just me, nothing more
But who I was, that is teasing me
And I’m no longer sure.
This house has an echo,
As I cross its floor
While it is now sadder,
I’ve been here before.
And I am now madder,
Of that I am sure.
Sadly dilapidated, Age has touched both the house and I
I see my reflection dimly and I wish that I could cry
The hairs on my head are now faded and gray
And the echo of laughter has faded away.
So I sit on the stairs,
And I think of the strife
That has ruined this house,
That has swallowed my life
Forgotten kisses, ancient history
My heart is aching for more
Lost memories, its a mystery
Who was I before.
Who I am, that’s easy
I am just me, nothing more
But who I was, that is teasing me
And I’m no longer sure.
And I see in the past,
Through the veil of years
An end to all sorrow,
An end to the tears
Once again in my mind,
The house will once more stand tall
Restored and renewed,
And that is not all.
Forgotten kisses, ancient history
My heart is aching for more
Lost memories, its a mystery
Who was I before.
Who I am, that’s easy
I am just me, nothing more
But who I was, that is teasing me
And I’m no longer sure.
As I grasped for the pieces
To build it again
I found I shed years
And unnecessary pain.
For the house is inside,
It is still part of me
And as I rebuilt it,
It quite restored me.
Who I am, that’s easy
I am just me, nothing more
And I am indisputably
The child of who I was before.
Why this was Written
[22:43] A Friend: shrunken windows….
[22:44] A Friend: oh
[22:44] You: I should write a song about that.
[22:44] A Friend: i did that when i dragged it
[22:44] A Friend: lol
[22:44] You: It begs for it.
[22:44] A Friend: do it
So I did.

Posted by: Hermit | Apr 9 2023 0:03 utc | 182

@ psychohistorian | Apr 9 2023 0:27 utc | 183
LOL. That boy is quicker than a hare with its tail on fire. Not. 🙂

Posted by: Outraged | Apr 9 2023 1:09 utc | 184

@Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Apr 8 2023 20:55 utc | 178
The guy drove directly into the crowd, and he messaged his friends in the previous days about killing protestors. Including if he could get off if he claimed that he felt threatened. But he will still be pardoned …

Posted by: Roger | Apr 9 2023 2:28 utc | 186

RFKjr and those associated with him in his/their efforts are very lucky to have attained their victories. What he needs to do is change the rhetoric to Anti-Chemical Pollution in all its forms advocate which includes unproven vaccines.
Posted by: karlof1 | Apr 7 2023 21:49 utc | 139
Interesting post. Thank you. We’ll see if he can rise into an iconic presence in the minds of the American people.

Posted by: Scorpion | Apr 9 2023 3:32 utc | 188

psychohistorian | Apr 9 2023 0:27 utc | 183
I scroll through the comments here and so few are commenting on the really big stuff that is happening. Dedollarization. Rubio commenting on it. CNN doing a piece on it. It is real and it is happening.
The gulf Arabs selling oil in currencies ither than the US dollar. That was the very foundation of the US petrodollar. The foundation of US power for the last four or five decades and China has just cut through that foundation.
This recent sudden flurry of cuntries anouncing deals to trade in national currencies – I had put that down to a push by China after the balloon incident and I think that aspect is there, but listening to economists and financial types, it is as much the trouble in the western banking system.
US is again printing money to stave of bank runs and bank collapses. That degrades a countries dollar holdings. US financial problems are caused by money printing and to try and keep the ship afloat a bit longer, they are printing more money.
On the US naval assets gathering around the middle east, I wouldn’t be surprised if the US tries a strike on the Gulf Arabs. It is certainly there to intimidate them.
US is now in unpowered flight so it is only a matter of when, not if they crash. After studying all the US caused death and destruction over the past years, this is so good to see.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Apr 9 2023 5:10 utc | 190

psychohistorian | Apr 9 2023 5:33 utc | 191
My son has been building up livestock numbers while working as a contractor. Always in as much debt as the bank will give him but has been doing well building up assets. He is too young to understand boom and bust which I have seen several times in the livestock industry.
The last several years, I have urged him to get out of dept as he has a good net worth. That net worth will disappear with a bust and his debt may be higher than is assets. Stock prices have been absolutely sky high the last couple of years and he doesn’t understand that is a bubble that will burst.
Daughters are a different matter. Their minds have been taken by the empire of lies. My only grandson I would call little man. Apparently that was offensive. I only found out a week or two back that reason my youngest daughter stopped talking to me was because one time on the phone I asked her off handedly to being him up as a man. She has three failed relationships and is now a single mother.
My eldest daughter supports a faggot. His mates are openly faggots, their housemate tried to suck my dick at their engagement party. He is very smart, large and very good physical heal. Done nothing in his life. Diagnosed with “depression” so he gets an invalid pension and plays Mr mum while she works. I worked fucking hard all my life so my wife did not have to work and when illness stopped me from working I could not get an invalid pension.
Youngest daughter – single mothers pension. I guess thats why I pay a fortune in taxes for my booze and smokes.
But to my wife or former wife and my daughters, that piece of shit that has never done a thing in his life is the ideal male.
My youngest daughter has some mind issues after her first failed relationship so I took her on a couple of trips to Asia. Some of those airports have big signs up warning about people trafficking. At one of the airports, I can’t remember which now, a couple of obvious prostitutes were walking around with a clipboard. like they were doing a survey but weren’t actually talking to anyone. I wondered what they were about and watched them for awhile then went out for a smoke. I come back in and they are their with my daughter. They had found their mark. She was 23 but looked sixteen. I got over there pretty quik, stepped in front of my daughter and asked them what they were doing. They came up with a bullshit university study. I told them to fuck off in those words. My daughter was angry with me. Perhaps I should have let her learn the hard lessons in life.
I talk to my sister regularly and mentioned something about the US child gender clinics. She thought that was right and proper….
The financial Armageddon that is coming with US economic collapse is one thing. The American led destruction of society no matter if we were created or simply mammals, that is another thing altogether.
When this whole shitshow collapses, it is really going to be something to see.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Apr 9 2023 7:04 utc | 192

@ Peter AU1 | Apr 9 2023 7:04 utc | 192 with the personal sharing…thanks
I appreciate the efforts you are making to document the Covid lies. Keep up the good work there and hope that bringing those lies out of the darkness happens along with the rest of what we are seeing.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Apr 9 2023 16:15 utc | 194