The CPI is reporting food inflation at only 3.3% year over year.
Does anyone seriously believe that? 🤡🌎
The US government has a group of statisticians whose only job is to figure out how to massage the data to make inflation appear lower than it really is.
They do this to lower cost of living increases for social security. By faking the inflation data, they reduce payments to seniors…
i dont know what the true inflation rate is, but to claim it is only 3% is absurd.

Posted by: pretzelattack | Dec 2 2023 13:49 utc | 103

U.S. ‘exceptionalism’s’ bloody & silly truth…
https://nitter.net/GeoffYoung4KY
Geoffrey M. Young
@GeoffYoung4KY
57m
At 4 min before the 2 hour mark, Sabby Sabs shows @RobertKennedyJr saying,
“Israel has done more to protect human life & has done more during the past 16 years to avoid this outcome…”
Too bad, he’s as evil a neocon as Biden, Trump & Haley (WAR CRIMINALS)
piped.video/watch?v=OObjvdpw…
@GeoffYoung4KY
12h
The entire “Democratic” Party structure is made of morons & savage warmongers.
The Repub Party is the opposite: Savage warmongers & morons.
@GeoffYoung4KY
17h
Seymour Hersh, the investigative reporter who was the most prominent exception to the fawning coverage of Kissinger…
“His social comings and goings could make or break a Washington party,” Hersh wrote in his biography of Kissinger, The Price of Power.
middleeasteye.net/opinion/mu…
The murderous legacy of Henry Kissinger
Kissinger’s amoral, genocidal crimes revealed him to be a faithful representative of the US elites whom he served all his life
https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/murderous-legacy-henry-kissinger

Posted by: MD | Dec 2 2023 14:07 utc | 105

Here in Australia, the ABC still craps on about the umpteenth covid wave as if anybody even cares about it anymore. UK may well have data on pre covid respiratory deaths that could be compared yearly to yearly respiratory deaths since. The original strain and delta did bring much higher respiratory illness and death, but subsequent strains seem to have far less symptoms than the normal flue.

https://twitter.com/KanekoaTheGreat/status/1730736827160785226
The All-In Pod asks @TuckerCarlson
why he was fired by FOX News and what role corporate advertisers play in shaping news coverage?
Tucker highlights Big Pharma, constituting 75% of TV ads in 2020, then delves into COVID, lockdowns, mRNA shots, January 6th, and the War in Ukraine.
“It not only exists, it defines news coverage. Especially on pharma because pharma is the biggest advertiser on television. If Pfizer is sponsoring your show, you are not going to question the vax… And that’s why they are the biggest advertiser. So they can shape news coverage.”
Tucker explains that he was not surprised by his firing because it is implicitly understood within the industry that sharing opinions that conflict with corporate advertisers eventually gets you fired.
“I had a lot of opinions that were unpopular with people who might have influenced my show getting canceled… But I was not shocked at all. You can’t give the finger to everybody and persist in a corporate job.”
This aligns with Glenn Greenwald’s (@ggreenwald) recent analysis, shared by @elonmusk, illustrating how modern journalism, once a check on established power, is now controlled by corporate advertisers.
(https://twitter.com/KanekoaTheGreat/status/1730100419253444898)
The ongoing corporate boycott of @X, ostensibly based on a false antisemitism claim, reflects this broader pattern.
Empirical data reveals platforms like TikTok and Instagram promote significantly more antisemitism than @X, yet corporate advertisers are only targeting this platform.
When @elonmusk defiantly tells this union of major corporate advertisers and establishment power to “go f**k yourself” for attempting to bankrupt his company, he’s pointing at the authoritarian illiberal forces attempting to control online speech through advertising dollars.
Elon Musk, Glenn Greenwald, and Tucker Carlson rightly point the finger at this dangerous alliance of corporate and government power, manipulating news and shaping social media platforms through advertising dollars.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Dec 2 2023 14:43 utc | 107

https://nitter.net/RonPaulInstitut/status/1730282989949477167#m
@RonPaulInstitut
Nov 30
‘But who are the biggest liars?’ Congress Moves to Expel George Santos.
https://ronpaulinstitute.org/but-who-are-the-biggest-liars-congress-moves-to-expel-george-santos/
As the US House is scheduled for a third – and likely successful – vote to expel Rep. George Santos (R-NY), the Congressman held an extraordinary press conference where he took no prisoners calling out the liars den on Capitol Hill.
There are little lies…and there are the big lies.
Replying to @RonPaulInstitut @DanielLMcAdams
It’s like the prostitutes guild damning street hookers bc they ruin the call girl business.
LOL

Posted by: MD | Dec 2 2023 15:03 utc | 109

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0094582X231213614
Anticorruption and Imperialist Blind Spots:
The Role of the United States in Brazil’s Long Coup.
US academics have published comprehensive examination of the country’s role in Lava Jato as “regime change” operation against the Brazilian Workers Party.

Posted by: MD | Dec 2 2023 15:28 utc | 111

Posted by: Lavrov’s Dog | Dec 2 2023 8:17 utc | 96

My apologies for the upsets. Appreciate the points you’re making. My point was merely a technical one.

—-
Apology accepted. It is so rare to have a civilized interchange! I can see from this response that you do “do nuance”, which is my pet peeve on most boards. In what you said earlier, I did not hear a lot of nuance. This response is better.

The US is littered with guilty parties and obscene events, be they British, European or American peoples. Lincoln simply had a a very effective PR agency behind his memory,

I acknowledge the unending bloodbath that is US domestic and foreign policy. However, acts must be judged in the context of their times. The US was no more bloodthirsty than any of the European powers, even if those powers were constrained by the proximity of equally powerful adversaries. They certainly proved horrible in the Scramble for Africa.
Lincoln was an extremely able politician, and by his own lights, a moral individual deeply troubled by slavery. But he had his own private version of double-think, which allowed him to be amoral as a practical politician

It was Abraham Lincoln who combined perfectly the needs of business, the political ambition of the new Republican party, and the rhetoric of humanitarianism. He would keep the abolition of slavery not at the top of his list of priorities, but close enough to the top so it could be pushed there temporarily by abolitionist pressure and practical political advantage.
Lincoln could skillfully blend the interests of the very rich and the interests of the black at the moment in history when these interests met…Lincoln could argue with lucidly and passion against slavery on moral grounds, while acting cautiously in practical politics.
The American government had set out to fight the slave states in 1861, not to end slavery; but to retain the enormous national territory and market and resources.
– Howard Zinn, “A People’s History of the United States”.

So, to your point that “Lincoln…had a very effective PR agency”, I would agree. Nobody ever mentions that he was a railroad lawyer. But he was no more a war criminal than anyone else in that time period. Once one accepts that the official history is “bunk” and “wriitten by the victors”, it is very hard to point fingers at any one actor in the bar room brawl that is US history.
Also, you will get no argument from me about what a bunch of whackjobs the Puritans were. In the first chapter of James Kuntsler’s “The Geography of Nowhere”, he describes how they initially set themselves up as rural communes along the lines of the Dark Ages. Their entire existence was primitive farming and going to church while waiting to die and go to heaven. They set the pattern for bigotry and intolerance that carries forward to this day.

Slavery would have ended soon enough, as two separate nations the North could have crushed the south and it’s slavery system

Its true that slavery would end due to its inefficiency compared to the power of the Industrial Revolution. But crushing the South without a war would have been difficult. The South had the backing of the British because it was their resource colony. The British built ships for the Confederate navy. Also, given the rabid calls for succession immediately upon Lincoln’s election, I don’t see how Lincoln could have avoided war. His political support would have vaporized if he did not respond.
I am happy to let things slide because you have a very interesting POV; you write elegantly; and you acknowledge you are “definitely unusual to the norm”.
And thanks for the interesting point about black slaveowners.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_slave_owners_in_the_United_States

Posted by: john brewster | Dec 2 2023 16:35 utc | 113

The new leader of Argentina. What is his position on the Malvinas? There might be gas and oil there I heard. It has been a couple generations of improvement since the Exocets were used.

Posted by: paxmark1 | Dec 2 2023 19:10 utc | 115

John Seymour – British author and promoter of self-sufficiency. Wikipedia has a bio. See also Sufficiency Economic Philosophy by Thailand King Rama, which changed Brian Berletic’s life.

Posted by: Pundita | Dec 2 2023 20:16 utc | 117

@ john brewster | Dec 2 2023 16:35 utc | 113
All good John. Thanks. There are never enough Howard Zinns in this world.
about this though — “But crushing the South without a war would have been difficult. The South had the backing of the British because it was their resource colony. The British built ships for the Confederate navy. Also, given the rabid calls for succession immediately upon Lincoln’s election, I don’t see how Lincoln could have avoided war. His political support would have vaporized if he did not respond.”
I want to clarify that a bit, I meant to slowly economically “crush” and dis-empower the South to a point where slavery would have needed to be Voluntarily Stopped in order for the southern states to thrive and survive “independently”. I’m assuming internal unrest would have contributed to ending slavery more than anything.
The key point without the wanton killing or 600-800K in the process. (equiv to 6 million in todays population) That’s the main war crime, along with how the war was prosecuted by the North … against the civilians, cities, and farms and properties. imo none of that was really necessary or justified legally or morally.
If slavery was the “motivation” it’s a disgusting waste of life as price to pay – slavery had existed in the US for over 250 years, what’s another decade or two?
If the motivation was to stop the States seceding that’s even worse an insidious pointless war crime. imv they had a perfect right to leave the Union – today as well.
iirc Britain backed the south due to cotton and a hangover to the revolutionary war …. and possibly due to issues in “Canada” pushing for independence too. imo (guessing) if there was no Civil War there was much less of a reason for Britain to back the South, and there would have been political forces in the UK willing to isolate the South simply because of slavery … which was already banned in the Caribbean? There’s the issue of “economic advantage” to the south vs British interests — the north if serious about slavery could have easily curtailed trade with the south make life very hard.
So I am imagining (?) a geopolitical situation where over time all of the South’s neighbours and global players would have progressively become more anti-slavery, and therefore less supportive of the South and trading with them … and there were already anti-slavery forces in the South as well; If this took 20 years or more for slavery to end in the South (by choice) it was better option than the human slaughter that occurred in the civil war years.
Besides which — most of the Negro slaves were not really any better off after the civil war anyway! iow more northern PR in the history books of “what a great victory” it was …. they won their freedom then died of starvation or were burned alive in their shack by the KKK.
In fact one could argue that as a direct result of the Civil War and the animosity towards the North (and what Lincoln authorized and his Generals carried out) that the resentment and backlash against the “Negroes” was much worse by the whites in the South right through past WW2.
But again, I’m just “guessing” but it seems logical to me. Anyway – all water and blood under the bridge now. We’ll never know what might have been. Purely academic. Take care, and Cheers

Posted by: Lavrov’s Dog | Dec 3 2023 1:17 utc | 119

Posted by: bevin | Dec 3 2023 2:12 utc | 120
Thank you for doing a better rebuttal than I would have done.
You are correct about the ships. I knew of the Alabama, and assumed (wrongly) that other ships had been built. I’d be interested to know how they “paid heavily for doing so”; but I can probably google it myself.

Posted by: john brewster | Dec 3 2023 2:23 utc | 121

bevin | Dec 3 2023 2:12 utc | 120
Wow, and you ‘criticize’ my ‘imagination’? You’re the expert.
Would you like a match for that Straw Man 🙂

Posted by: Lavrov’s Dog | Dec 3 2023 9:25 utc | 123

technology is finally catching up with my daydreams…
It reached a height of circa 50 feet above the ground
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Dec 3 2023 12:57 utc | 124
—
Your dream is to fall to your death?

Posted by: too scents | Dec 3 2023 14:13 utc | 125

HARD WORKING MR.WANG IN CHINA
https://nitter.net/pretentiouswhat/status/1730551522860351890#m
David Fishman
@pretentiouswhat
Dec 1
China Taxicab Chronicles:
Hard-Working Mr. Wang
Yesterday I took a long taxi from Wuxi to a conference hotel near Taihu.
My driver was Mr. Wang, a Wuxi transplant from the mountains of Western Anhui.
A chatty guy, he had a lot of opinions about EVs, rural hukous, and tea. 🧵
The conversation started typically
“Hey, good Chinese. How long have you been in China?”
“Oh…thanks. 11 years.”
“Where are you from?”
“The USA. What about you? From Wuxi?”
“No, I’m from Anhui, Jinzhai County.”
“Jinzhai? I don’t know it. Which city?”
“Lu’an City
“Ohhh, Lu’an city. That’s the one that looks like Liu’an (六安) but is pronounced Lu’an right? I used to always read it incorrectly.”
“Yes that’s right. Lu’an is how we say it in the local dialect. Jinzhai County is part of Lu’an. It’s close to Hubei”.
Jinzhai countryside:
“Okay, what is Jinzhai County famous for?”
I am expecting him to name some dish, specialty product, or tourist site. I am wrong.
“Generals! Jinzhai County is known as the Home of Generals! We have 59 of of them!”
I do a quick Baidu search.
“Wow, that’s right. 59 generals…”
“Actually it was 60 generals. But one of them died in fighting in Korea, and he is not counted anymore. So Jinzhai is the county with 59 generals…”
“Okay, it looks like it’s quite rural…I see it has some tourist areas. I see the Dabie Mountain Scenic Area. Is that nice?”
“Oh that’s very beautiful. But don’t go to visit now. There’s nothing to see. You could go in the winter, when there’s mist in the morning, and it turns into icicles on the trees. It’s very pretty.”
“I’ll definitely check it out someday. How long have you been in Wuxi?”
“Me…? I’ve been here almost 20 years now.”
“Oh, so your family is here now? Did you buy a house here?”
Yeah, many members of my family are here. And my kids. I bought a house here. It’s not so expensive if you don’t buy in the city center.”
“Oh, how old are your kids?”
“My son, he’s in middle school now in Wuxi.”
“He a good student?
“He works hard, never cuts class. But Wuxi kids are the most hard-working in the country, you know?
Actually he likes art. If he can’t go to college, I will support him to pursue art.”
“So…did you move your residency to Wuxi?”
“No, I don’t have a Wuxi hukou”
“Why? Is it too difficult to get a Wuxi hukou?”
“It’s okay. If you pay taxes in Wuxi for some years…I don’t know how many…you can apply for Wuxi hukou. But I don’t want to give up my Jinzhai hukou.”
“Why don’t you want to give up the hukou in your hometown?”
“Ah, let me explain it to you. In China, there are two kinds of hukou…urban hukou and rural hukou. Urban hukou has some good aspects, but actually rural hukou has more benefits, so you shouldn’t give it up.”
“What kind of benefits?”
“There are some programs for rural hukous only…like loans…special support programs, some government promotions. And you can own land. If you get an urban hukou, you can’t have land. Land can be sold someday.
“Oh, so you still have land back home?”
“Yeah. If you keep your rural hukou, you can keep your land.”
“But what can you do with the land? You are here…so there is no one to use the land. Does it have value?”
“Oh you can still grow things on it…Some people there can work on the land while I’m here.”
“Oh…a mountain area in Anhui. I guess you’re growing…tea?”
“Yeah exactly, tea. That’s the only thing that will grow well in our soil.”
“Green tea, right?”
“Yeah, but you know, red tea is the same thing. It’s green tea that is fermented, so the flavor is stronger”
(I did not know this. I later checked Wikipedia to find that the oxidation process that yields black tea (or “red tea” in Chinese) is indeed called fermentation, albeit erroneously, since no fermentation decay actually takes place).
“Can you make a lot of money from planting tea?”
“No. In one year, all of my land back home can produce a total gross of…maybe 100,000 RMB. Then you have to subtract costs like labor, equipment, materials. And it’s very tiring work.”
“So you prefer life in Wuxi?”
“Yeah.”
“What do the people back home in the village think of people like you, that go to other cities to work and develop? How do they see you?”
“How they see me…hah…how do I say this? I guess think I’m pretty hard-working.”
(The word he used here is 勤劳)
“Oh, is it rare to leave the village?”
“No, not at all. Most people who are hard-working like me will leave the village. The people that don’t want to come out like me are…how to say…not so hard-working…”
“So if I were to say it bluntly, your village now is full of lazy people and the elderly?”
“Hahaha, yes, that’s right. Lazy people and old people. There’s no opportunity, unless you want to raise tea.”
“What about eco-tourism? Does the government push you to open homestays?
“Oh, of course. There’s even one next to my house. But there are too many. You can’t make enough money doing that, I think. There’s too much competition. Still rely on tea.”
“Well, I guess they live a more relaxed life compared to you.
“Oh yeah, it’s relaxed. But they also have a lot of financial stress, you know? And it’s not because of high cost of living. The main issue is the old traditions in the countryside. You need to spend so much money on gifts! Births, birthdays, weddings…”
David F
…just think about it. If you aren’t familiar with the person, you should give them 100 or 200 RMB. If it’s a close relative, you have to give them 500 to 1000 RMB. That’s a lot of money if you only earn 6000-7000 RMB per season…
…but if you just came to visit, I guess you would say it’s very relaxed, very comfortable. My niece…she married a foreign guy, like you. Now they live overseas. But when he came to visit our hometown, he said it was so comfortable, he wanted to stay forever”.
“Hah, of course he thought it was comfortable. You guys were probably feeding him delicious food all day and treating him like the emperor’s son. He didn’t have to do anything.”
“Hahaha, yes, that’s true. You totally understand the Chinese hospitality culture”.
“Trust me…I experience it when I go to my wife’s hometown. I don’t dare to say that I like something, or I will eat it every day for the rest of my visit. I said I liked a beef dish on Day 1, and they made me beef every day…”
He’s cracking up. “Hahahaha we did that too!”
“Do you live in Wuxi?” he asks me.
“No I’m just here for work.”
“What kind of work?”
“I work in energy, mostly wind and solar. Does Jinzhai County have wind and solar power?”
“No wind…no solar. We have hydropower storage, though…pumps at night for cheap power. You know it?”
“Yeah, of course, this is part of my work too. Pumped hydropower is very important to make sure you don’t have power blackouts”.
(He is referring to State Grid’s Jinzhai Pumped Hydropower Storage Facility that just came online earlier this year).
Anhui Jinzhai pumped storage power station, owned and operated by State Grid Xinyuan. －a major pumped-storage hydroelectricity company in China, has started to generate electricity on Dec.26, providing a strong guarantee for the safe and stable operation of Anhui power grid.
“What do you think of these?” he gestures at the car in front of us, an electric vehicle with a green license plate.
“I think they’re good. You’ll save money on gas, plus you can get a license plate for free.”
“Yeah, that part is good, but I think it’s bad overall.”
“Oh, why?”
“Think about it. In China, we have 400 million cars now. If all of them switch to EVs, that will raise the demand for power. Electricity will be expensive! Maybe we will pay 5 yuan per kilowatt hour!”
“Don’t worry, I don’t think that will happen. The price should stay steady…”
“Ah well, I don’t know. But I don’t want an electric vehicle. I like hydrogen vehicles. Japan is very strong for cars. I like their hydrogen cars. Their technology is very advanced.”
(I wonder where he’s been learning about Japanese hydrogen FCVs to have reached this opinion??)
By now, 30 mins have flown by, and we are pulling up to the hotel, so I say goodbye.
Thanks to the chatty and curiously tech-savvy Mr. Wang, I have a new appreciation for tea farming and hukou optimizing, while adding a new travel destination too. Not a bad ride.

Posted by: MD | Dec 4 2023 19:01 utc | 127

MD | Dec 4 2023 19:01 utc | 127
Thanks for the ride-I feel like I just came back from China. You’re an artist.

Posted by: bevin | Dec 4 2023 19:09 utc | 129