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October 31, 2024
Open (Neither Ukraine Nor Palestine) Thread 2024-261
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Getting out
This week’s Substack, opening lines:
With the situation in the West getting worse and worse for free thinkers, more and more are looking to get out. I wouldn’t claim to be an expert on alternative countries to resettle, but I can enlarge on the little I know, mainly through personal experience. At the outset I feel I must stress, you aren’t too poor and you aren’t too old to find a paradise out there in the Jungle that is just waiting for you. So do it now, before it’s too late!
https://waltking.substack.com/p/getting-out
Auschwitz: six facts, and seven questions
“A Masterpiece”.
Now on Unz Report:
https://www.unz.com/article/auschwitz-six-facts-and-seven-questions/#new_comments
On Substack:
https://waltking.substack.com/p/auschwitz-six-facts-and-seven-questions
Now over 6,000 reads, 29 restacks.
Posted by: Walt | Nov 1 2024 2:56 utc | 101
Tom @ 94
_____________
Your apologies accepted. Sorry I didn’t cuss you out. LOL.
Posted by: Ed | Nov 1 2024 3:04 utc | 102
My hope is that the current disaffection with the red/blue party will give Jill Stein at least 5% so that the Green party can be recognized as viable and get federal funding.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Nov 1 2024 1:17 utc | 93
______
Stein will be lucky to get 1%, and for two reasons:
1. Fear- and hatred-driven LOTE voting; and
2. The fact that few Americans know Stein evennexists.
Posted by: malenkov | Nov 1 2024 3:18 utc | 103
Posted by: Oriental Voice | Oct 31 2024 19:38 utc | 56
——————–
See [57]
During the 50-70′, mobsters were very active in SEA.
thugs would go around to collect ‘protection money’ from small biz, nasty thing happened to those who refuse to pay.
potus were nuthin but glorified mobster boss,.
Posted by: denk | Nov 1 2024 3:45 utc | 104
Licinius Crassus
The world’s first fire brigade.
It’s the oldest trick in the book, dating back to Roman times; creating the enemies you need.
In 70 BC, an ambitious minor politician and extremely wealthy man, Marcus Licinius Crassus, wanted to rule Rome. Just to give you an idea of what sort of man Crassus really was, he is credited with invention of the fire brigade. But in Crassus’ version, his fire-fighting slaves would race to the scene of a burning building whereupon Crassus would offer to buy it on the spot for a tiny fraction of its worth. If the owner sold, Crassus’ slaves would put out the fire. If the owner refused to sell, Crassus allowed the building to burn to the ground. By means of this device, Crassus eventually came to be the largest single private land holder in Rome,
Uncle sham is the 21C Crassus, but more proactive.
Instead of sitting on his ass waiting for calls, US sent out jackals to start fires, then show up in firemen garb, just in time.
Crisis, reaction, solution.
Wash, rinse, recycle.
Works like a charm,.
https://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/ARTICLE5/index.php
Posted by: denk | Nov 1 2024 4:04 utc | 105
After detailing the absolutely lousy nature of the courtier class operatives that the oligarchy has put in positions of power within the West, I now cover an example of what that same oligarchy absolutely hate – highly competent nationalist leaders. Non-Vassal Elite Competence Exhibit 1: Claudia Sheinbaum, Highly Competent Non-Vassals Are Not Welcomed by the US Oligarchy
Now researching J D Vance, the near perfect oligarch puppet who was to a large amount constructed by the oligarchs themselves. And his own careerist cravings to become a good courtier while escaping a background of poverty. Perhaps we should call him a “House Hillbilly” after the term used for Black slaves used by the white master to oversee and discipline the other slaves.
Posted by: Roger Boyd | Nov 1 2024 4:48 utc | 106
@Posted by: karlof1 | Oct 31 2024 23:25 utc | 88
I have been researching a piece on J. D. Vance and his backers such as the billionaire Peter Thiel. Many of them are from a segment of the Silicon Valley oligarchs that want to rein in Apple etc., to open up more space for their own new ventures, and also are highly integrated with the security state (i.e. make money from higher defence spending, wars etc.). Also extremely extractive and monopolistic in their business dealings, in many ways “big tech” is sitting on some of the most lucrative monopolies. Will be interesting to see how that plays out with the likes of Apple, when other firms like Google and Facebook are banned from China and therefore will not lose sales.
Posted by: Roger Boyd | Nov 1 2024 4:59 utc | 107
In the latest Nima, Hudson and Wolff video Wolff talked about how much investment Silicon Valley has in China and how they will conflict with the folks that want to isolate China.
More to that theme are postings at Xinhuanet
Starbucks sets new store-opening record on Chinese mainland
quote
SHANGHAI, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) — Starbucks has set new records by opening 790 net new stores and entering 166 new county-level markets on the Chinese mainland in the fiscal year that ended on Sept. 29, 2024, despite a decline in its global comparable store sales, the company said in its annual fiscal report Thursday.
China fully opens manufacturing sector to foreign investors in landmark opening up move
quote
China’s manufacturing value added surpassed that of the United States for the first time in 2010, and accounted for approximately 30 percent of the global total in 2023, making the country the world’s largest manufacturer for 14 consecutive years.
The country has seen steady foreign investment growth in its high-tech manufacturing in recent years. In the first nine months of this year, the medical equipment and instrument manufacturing industry, as well as the computer and office equipment manufacturing sector, saw actual utilization of foreign investment up 57.3 percent and 29.2 percent year on year, respectively.
While China’s industry has made significant progress in development, overall, it is still at a crucial juncture of “transitioning from being large to being strong and proceeding on an uphill journey,” Jin Zhuanglong, China’s minister of industry and information technology, said in a July press conference, citing prominent weaknesses in areas like key core technologies and basic industrial capacities.
China will leverage its vast market advantages to support exchanges and cooperation between Chinese and foreign enterprises, and make the manufacturing sector higher-end, smarter, and more eco-friendly, according to the NDRC.
China only exports 10% of their products to US and so losing that 10% would hurt the US more than China, IMO
Posted by: psychohistorian | Nov 1 2024 5:08 utc | 108
There was discussion here recently about electrical transmission capabilities and suggest this Xinhuanet posting for reading
New ultra-high voltage project begins operation in north China
https://english.news.cn/20241031/df752bc75ca74c3583d82669195bf697/c.html
quote
HOHHOT, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) — A 1,000-kilovolt ultra-high voltage (UHV) alternating current (AC) project was officially put into operation on Thursday, connecting clean energy resources in the north of China with economically dynamic regions such as the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.
The Zhangbei-Shengli 1,000-kilovolt UHV AC project is expected to transmit over 70 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity — an amount sufficient to power 19 million households for a year — annually from Xilin Gol League in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Zhangjiakou in Hebei Province to the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, Shandong and Jiangsu provinces, and other regions.
The project applies the UHV technology for the first time to connect a clean energy base in the north of Hebei with wind farms in Xilin Gol League, increasing the proportion of new energy in UHV transmission channels and boosting the consumption of green electricity on the receiving end of the grid, thereby promoting the transition to clean and low-carbon energy.
It also addresses the rising demand for electricity in the receiving regions more effectively.
China is at the technological forefront in new energy power generation, UHV power transmission, flexible direct current transmission and digitization of electricity systems, according to a report issued earlier this year by the Global Energy Interconnection Development and Cooperation Organization, a non-profit international organization headquartered in Beijing.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Nov 1 2024 5:12 utc | 109
Posted by: Outraged | Oct 31 2024 14:19 utc | 4
My old man was a big fan of his records. I heard them quite a bit when I was young.
Allentown, Anthony’s Song (Moving Out), and The Entertainer were always favourites of mine.
Posted by: Jon_in_AU | Nov 1 2024 5:24 utc | 110
@denk, #104:
My likening Trump to a mafioso was tongue in cheek. The way that he push Europe/Taiwan/Korea to cough up more $$$ does make him sound like Al Capone et al. He is just pathetic, but this time around I still hope he wins.
Mafiosos proclaim protection against nuisance hacklers and small thieves. In most cases if businesses don’t pay up mafiosos would false flag some disturbances to drum up their protection rackets. But in Trump’s case, does he understand that China is now a BIGGER gorilla than his homestead??? Funny thing is, the suckers he peddles to still seems to buy his bullshit. Drats!
The real story, I believe, is that arms trades are the biggest corruptions on both sides of the deal (used to be 10% commission to grease palms and buy off handlers in most arms deals I heard). Sarkozy of France was reported to have pocketed 10 million Franc for selling Taiwan a frigate. Pelosi’s escapade to Taiwan, in the name of showing support/protection brought her half a million $, as did Truss earning 100K pound after she left office. Yeah, protecting Taiwan is big business for in-power-politicians on both sides.
When China really starts loading guns and barricading Taiwan/SCS regions, Papa America, Papa Japan, Papa Oz, Papa NATO, et all will all find excuses to clear out their bases and vessels. Today 5,000 KM within China’s circle of defense, opponents would have zero chance of winning a fight. But mean time, China has no economic/industrial/recreational ambitions in SCS and/or East Pacific, except for making sure no second-class gorillas have rights to deploy weapon of mass destruction in the neighborhood. The natural resources in SCS is promised to be shared by all neighbors in the neiborhood,China has promised. If thugs and suckers want to play theater for fun, for propaganda, for extortions, for corruptions, so be it. It’s their own domestic populations suffering the political/economic consequences anyway. China is doing fine. It has no vanity of winning foreign approvals or acclaims.
Posted by: Oriental Voice | Nov 1 2024 5:32 utc | 111
Depends on your resources, level of agency and level of morality … most prefer to accept empire … if the past provides any clues, Apple and Big Tech will form and finance an actual opposition that will champion their interests. And what’s key is those interests are also those of the 90%. I would look to see how to support such a development.
Posted by: karlof1 | Oct 31 2024 23:25 utc | 88
Thank you karlof1 for again providing the link to the Dialogue Works conversations of Richard Wolff and Michael Hudson, and also for the parts of your post that I have extracted here. My contribution would be that I am not so sure that Apple and Big Tech are the answer. I think the American people are way ahead of what goes on with those big companies, as they are ahead of both big political parties, and perhaps even ahead of trying to form a third party in the climate that presently exists. So I would disagree with the second extracted phrase above — I don’t agree that most prefer to accept empire, at least, not any longer. Most are going to just want to survive. And I would say that is what happened to Russia, but neither Wolff nor Hudson mentioned that example. Another one would be Cuba, at least as far as leadership which tuned itself in an unexpectedly natural manner to the people themselves as they were facing survival.
I want those good men, Wolff and Hudson, to sit back and wait. I worry that from the tone of their discourse they are both exhausted, just throwing out everything they have inside, attempting to avert disaster. How long they have toiled, telling us what they know. They have done enough; rest, guys, rest! We have leaders we don’t know we have in this country. But we will grab onto you like that big log in the flooding stream. Just as Russia did. It takes time.
It’s a bit like when I was homeless and shifting one place to another I would think that the next one already exists – its out there and I just have to find it. They were always good places to be, even if they were barely liveable, they were ports in a storm. And that thought would keep me going — that it is out there somewhere, four walls and a roof … and eventually I would find it.
Our leaders are out there somewhere, among our young people, as they are in any country. Look at the rest of the world. What they see in how the US and the west is now is not a demon but a lost leadership country. They were there themselves. Russia was there. And it wasn’t magic or anything special with a big name that got them out of a very bad place. Remember how they did it. They started from scratch. They had no choice, no other way. The people did it. We saw.
No predictions. Except:
Truly, truly, I say unto you, except a grain of wheat fall to the ground and die, it remains alone; but if it dies, it brings forth much fruit. [From the evangelist John 12:24]
Posted by: juliania | Nov 1 2024 6:28 utc | 112
Again I have not kept up with all the comments.
People around the world are spraying the truth on the streets and the pavements and walls, setting ballot boxes on fire in the US, and doing other things.
I want to make a note of that and say thank you.
Don’t get caught but if you do be proud and nice 🙂 (Try to find friends in unexpected places).
· · · · · · · · · ·
The rest of this is all about music (seeking shelter to be honest. Might be wrong to indulge).
<3 Cherrycoke with Napalm Death (and the other way around works too! Things I like).
Afaik (very socialist (and I'm not, but it's complicated)) Napalm Death had their first gigs in Miner's social clubs in England. Makes a big difference from brass (which is also nice) :D I once had a big red white and black Napalm Death poster fulls of skulls and corporate logos over the desk in my cubbyhole in SEA although I listened far more to things like Pestilence, Carcass, Sepultura, and Pantera. And Slayer of course.
For something yet again different to both Piano Man and Napalm Death here's a reinterpretation of a The Prodigy song using only piano:
“Kai Schumacher – Out Of Space (live) | Detect Landpartie”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-dO17sv5Co
That is for those who might hate everything else I post lol. I hope you enjoy it 🙂
At times it sounds like he has more than one pair of hands, to me at least.
The original is lovely and features more ostrich, easy enough to find 🙂
I’m not a musician (can hardly keep __any__ beat lol (although the LLRLRLRR thing is fun, can do about three or four before I fall off a cliff hahahaha XD (I hope James isn’t horrified hearing someone can be that bad)) but it’s fun to sit on the shoulders of musicians and get a better look into their world.
Here are some great drum videos made by a Canadian music company called Drumeo giving many various drummers different challenges including having to play drums to a song they’ve never heard before and where the original drums have been removed.
Many to choose from, many more, all of them awesome, here are some examples (a lot of great comments as well). The first one was posted only 13 days ago, then some older ones, and the last one only 6 days ago.
“Juilliard Jazz Prof Hears The Offspring For The First Time” (Ulysses Owens Jr.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtL4wvicQj0
“Jess Bowen Hears Rage Against The Machine For The First Time”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSX7D-dJRBo
“Gregg Bissonette Hears System Of A Down For The First Time”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyR5-b1wfrw
“Ashton Irwin Hears Megadeth For The First Time”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3eDYLmHaS4
“Megadeth Drummer Hears “Mr. Brightside” For The First Time”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbUYVcaF_l0
“Jazz Drummer Hears Korn For The First Time” (Eric Harland)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0YTGI_-Puw
Notice the big grins!
Btw all metal (and rock) has deep black roots going back to the southern crossroads and the start of the blues and despite the myths no one can actually sell their soul simply cause we don’t own it/that, such a deal can be nothing but a trick on the devil, a con, a void contract from the get-go, a bridge you don’t own, so both sides (in case one believes in any of it, no need to) are trying to defraud the other thus the music is all ours! <3
Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | Nov 1 2024 6:59 utc | 113
After detailing the absolutely lousy nature of the courtier class …
Posted by: Roger Boyd | Nov 1 2024 4:48 utc | 106
—
My apologies for reposting this comment from last “Week in Review” for more visibility here. It amplifies your observations on the Oligarch Class.
I don’t think people properly appreciate the vast chasm that separates the plebs from our billionaire royalty. “Bone saws” come to mind.
Trump’s Treasury Secretary pick.
Paulson Buys Saudi Prince’s Ranch in $49M Deal
June 5, 2012 at 7:35 PM GMT+2
Billionaire John Paulson bought Hala Ranch, a 90-acre (36-hectare) property in Aspen, Colorado, that belonged to Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan, and a separate site in the town for $49 million.
The ranch, built by the prince about 20 years ago, is Aspen’s largest residential property and includes a 55,000-square-foot (5,000-square-meter) main house, according to Tim Estin, a broker with Coldwell Banker Mason Morse Real Estate in Aspen. It was initially marketed for $135 million, making it the most expensive U.S. home listing, the Aspen Times said in 2006.
“Hala Ranch is one of the most beautiful properties in Aspen,” Paulson & Co., the hedge-fund manager’s investment firm, said in a statement. “The purchase price represents a substantial discount to the asking price.”
Paulson also bought Bear Cabin, located on a separate 38-acre parcel that was never previously offered for sale, according to the statement.
…
After the prince built the ranch, Pitkin County limited home sizes to 15,000 square feet, according to Estin.
full article ==> https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2012-06-05/paulson-buys-saudi-prince-s-ranch-in-49-million-deal
Trump Treasury Contender Pledges to Work With Musk to Slash Spending ==> https://www.wsj.com/politics/elections/john-paulson-trump-treasury-secretary-elon-musk-c619ef9f
“Pardon Me, Do You Have Any Grey Poupon?”
Posted by: too scents | Nov 1 2024 7:47 utc | 114
Posted by: Tobias Cole | Oct 31 2024 18:25 utc | 43
Hillary did the same: “deplorables”. Didn’t turn out well for her.
Posted by: Johan Kaspar | Nov 1 2024 9:22 utc | 115
From Hong Kong’s SCMP
Beijing urged to offer more yuan loans overseas to help dethrone US dollar
National Academy of Development and Strategy says China should be main source of liquidity for developing countries
Frank Chenin Shanghai
Published: 4:30pm, 1 Nov 2024
China should focus on providing yuan-denominated debt financing to developing countries to accelerate the global de-dollarisation drive, rather than pinning hope on a strengthening euro, a Beijing-based think tank said on Thursday.
The call from Renmin University’s National Academy of Development and Strategy came amid discussions in academic and policy circles in China about possible responses to what is likely to be a more hawkish United States’ government – irrespective of whether Donald Trump or Kamala Harris wins Tuesday’s presidential election.
“The most fundamental front of the yuan replacing the US dollar should be in the debt market,” said Fan Zhiyong, a Renmin University professor who presented the think tank’s research report at a seminar in Beijing.
“China needs to become a predominant source of liquidity for developing countries in the world’s debt market.”
continues ==> https://www.scmp.com/economy/global-economy/article/3284809/beijing-urged-offer-more-yuan-loans-overseas-help-dethrone-us-dollar
Posted by: too scents | Nov 1 2024 9:47 utc | 116
“Now researching J D Vance, the near perfect oligarch puppet who was to a large amount constructed by the oligarchs themselves. And his own careerist cravings to become a good courtier while escaping a background of poverty. Perhaps we should call him a “House Hillbilly” after the term used for Black slaves used by the white master to oversee and discipline the other slaves.”
Posted by: Roger Boyd | Nov 1 2024 4:48 utc | 106
I guess Roger you didn’t bother to see the movie, ‘Hillbilly Elegy’, nor read the autobiography-which the movie was based on- written by J D Vance.
If you had you would know that Vance was brought up in a in a poor family with drug problem yet he was hard working enough and bright enough to get a scholarship to Yale-not a puppet as you are for the MSM Anthropomorphic Climate Change.
Unfortunately, intellectual buffoons, such as yourself, trying to pose as an expert in subjects which you have no knowledge or facts.
Pathetic!
bright enough to get a scholarship to Yale-not a puppet as you are for the MSM Anthropomorphic Climate Change.
Posted by: canuck | Nov 1 2024 10:27 utc | 117
—
Just two issue with your comment.
1) Like Obama and Bill Clinton before him Vance was obviously groomed.
2a) Is the World Meteorological Organization the MSM? WMO Greenhouse Gas Bulletin: No. 20 – 28 October 2024 ==> https://library.wmo.int/viewer/69057
2b) Is the UN the MSM ? https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/cop29
Posted by: too scents | Nov 1 2024 10:59 utc | 118
https://thehill.com/opinion/international/4964334-mexico-supports-cuban-dictatorship/
People don’t see the US as extremist but it often is. After about 60+ years of sanctions, have they worked? Produced regime change? The US would be better off bombing Cuba and NK with free consumer goods to trigger dissent. The scary part of this is that this sort of absurdity could mean that the US can never change or admit defeat – not terribly different from crazy Ukraine. Even if the US economy falls apart, they could retain their extreme standards.
Posted by: Eighthman | Nov 1 2024 11:44 utc | 119
too scents you have just been awarded “The Most retarded Post I have Read Today”
bright enough to get a scholarship to Yale-not a puppet as you are for the MSM Anthropomorphic Climate Change.
Posted by: canuck | Nov 1 2024 10:27 utc | 117
—
Just two issue with your comment.
1) Like Obama and Bill Clinton before him Vance was obviously groomed.
2a) Is the World Meteorological Organization the MSM? WMO Greenhouse Gas Bulletin: No. 20 – 28 October 2024 ==> https://library.wmo.int/viewer/69057
2b) Is the UN the MSM ? https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/cop29
Posted by: too scents | Nov 1 2024 10:59 utc | 118
“Obviously, groomed”-complete Leftist Bullshit -where is your documentary evidence to this point?
I thought so.
Yes, the UN is MSM-no credibility whatsoever.
Dramatic Climate change has occurred since the world was bor4 billion years ago.
70,000 years ago humans were down to 20 mating pairs because of the COLD caused by volcanoe activity (1); so now as the earth warms up, as it comes out of an ice age- we have had 17 ice ages in the last two million years-now as the earth warms up (it will descend into a cooling phase about 30,000 years from now)we have gone from 40 nubile people to 8 billion people because of more carbon and more heat on the earth.
Think about that for a second.
Unfortunately, uniformed people, like yourself-when one studies geology, one essentially studies climate-I have been doing this for almost 40 years- will still desperately cling to every word from the PTB/WEF/UN that Serfs have to use less energy, have poor economies to ‘save the earth’ while the PTB keep their privileges.
Serfs that believe in such nonsense are but ‘useful idiots’.
1. https://www.npr.org/sections/krulwich/2012/10/22/163397584/how-human-beings-almost-vanished-from-earth-in-70-000-b-c
Vance was in the military straight from High School and then after a few years applied to undergrad. ( note “scholarship” at Yale is need based, nearly everyone gets one. During his military period he certainly was if’s as useful.
BTW – having lived and worked among real Hillbillies; Vance is poor white trash, not hillbilly. Big difference
Posted by: Exile | Nov 1 2024 12:00 utc | 121
A little Canadian news, since the subject of mafias/organized criminal activity is in the thread:
Canada’s westernmost province, British Columbia, recently had an election, which was narrowly won by the NDP (on the political left). Roughly, the coast votes NDP, the interior votes Conservative, the biggest cities are on the coast, ergo. Two seats to the Green Party. Election day was October 19.
About the interior, here’s a description of one area from the Association of Interior Realtors:
“For the benefit of our REALTORS® and clients, we further categorized the North Okanagan into neighbourhoods that range from Ashton Creek, Mabel Lake, Enderby, Grindrod, Falkland, and the Salmon Valley in the north, to Predator Ridge, Vernon, Coldstream, Lavington, Lumby, and Cherryville in the south. These sub areas are determined by the various municipalities, population density, and zoning bylaws.
Whether you’re boating and swimming in Kalamalka Lake, Mara Lake, or Okanagan Lake, floating down the Shuswap River, skiing or snowboarding at SilverStar Mountain Resort, or hiking the Enderby Cliffs, this region is full of exciting outdoor nature adventures to keep you busy year-round. With all the necessities at your fingertips, feel reconnected with nature in the North Okanagan.”
(Actually, that area really is all that and more. But I digress.) What they don’t mention is the drug super lab located in the region. RCMP say they have busted ‘largest most sophisticated drug super lab in Canada’
https://youtu.be/6Vn2ZN7snqw (4 min, 30 secs)
I postulate that ‘someone’ may have been hoping the Conservative Party would win that election?
Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Nov 1 2024 12:15 utc | 122
@psychohistorian | Nov 1 2024 2:03 utc, who said:
I have written for a long time here about how finance as a public utility changes all the social narratives about what is important….making money to feed the elite or creating and maintaining a “more level playing field” among us humans.
The latter is happening all over the world except in the remains of empire. It is quite the show to watch this eruption of conflicting human energy around our form of social organization while also seeing a paucity of discussion about the structure of our form of social organization like Nima, Hudson and Wolff try to do.
Psychohistorian:
As I spiral in on this subject of “what to do”, an evolving (in my mind) approach might be to “identify what our (plebes) interests are”. It’s my sense that there isn’t a crisp, well-articulated, widely-understood, and well-debated list of “what our interests are”, and to position that statement of interests as a … um, “guideline” as contrasted with directive or litmus-test.
The second … guideline .. that I’m evolving toward is to build tools. Those “interests” are aspirational, but can’t be implemented without the right tools.
Take a think about BRICS for a sec, and maybe view it thru the lens of a tool-set, solving common problems, that everyone can adopt and apply as they see fit. I think one major appeal of BRICS is just that … it’s a cafeteria of capabilities that people (nations) apply … according to their interests.
A lot of the BRICS literature and public pronouncements look like statements of common interest, followed by a set of tools-building initiatives so the players can actualize those interests.
If such a “list of interests” got written, I’d nominate your “public finance” interest to that list. I do see its utility, and I do believe that such a thing would change a lot of “narratives” and social organization structures for the better.
And if I had the privilege, I’d add “free speech” to the “interests”, with a follows-shortly-thereafter set of publicly-owned tools to actually deliver on that interest. Such tools are notably rare at the moment, would you agree?
Posted by: Tom Pfotzer | Nov 1 2024 13:11 utc | 123
To Ed:
A couple days ago you lost your shit at me in a TDS-fueled rage about some Black dude that got punched in the face at a Trump rally. Please acknowledge that you, a reasonably smart guy, has Trump Derangement Syndrome brain damage, as you neglected to note that the individual in question was not peacefully observing the rally, but rather was deliberately trying to provoke a conflict, Johnny Somali style. Indeed, the fact the guy who got punched was trying to instigate a fight so as to grab his five minutes of fame from people like you with TDS brain damage probably doesn’t even register in your consciousness, thanks to your TDS.
To be sure, the guy who did the punching displayed lack of character because the punchee was already in custody of event security and being marched out of the venue. The asshole provocateur was already being dealt with appropriately, so the punch was gratuitous. Sadly, your TDS brain phuquery cripples you from seeing the event dispassionately, as the bile in your previous post to me demonstrates. Doubtless it is impossible for you to see the reality that the Black dude was looking for a fight. Of course the proper response to someone who is looking for a fight is to calmly remove him from the spotlight and deny him his five minutes of fame, so in this regard the guy who did the punching did the provocateur a favor. You should thank him.
Anyway, if this was the best example of “racist violence” at a Trump rally that you could find, you failed badly. I won’t expect an apology, but I do hope you spend some time contemplating how heavily pushed mass media narratives can acquire strong emotional attachments that warp the subject’s perceptions. As well, far from this being only a problem with dumb people, smart people have more intellectual horsepower at their disposal to rationalize their attachment to false narratives.
Posted by: William Gruff | Nov 1 2024 13:27 utc | 124
India Repatriates Another 102 Tonnes of Gold from the Bank of England. ==> https://youtu.be/Tkt34BRBJDo
Posted by: too scents | Nov 1 2024 13:30 utc | 125
101 – Things are getting worse in the “West”, but I doubt whether Russia or China are less restrictive. If Colonel Cassad is to be believed, today is the first day that bloggers in Russia have to register, and China is known to put the Internet behind a “Great Wall”. Perhaps neither country tries to force-feed LGBT stuff, but they have their own restrictions.
Posted by: Waldorf | Nov 1 2024 13:56 utc | 126
“Last year, climate scientists sent up a red flag over the potential collapse of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, or AMOC, a network of ocean currents in peril from climate change. That warning indicated it could be decades before that happens, but a new analysis suggests such a “devastating” collapse could be more imminent—and dozens of researchers are now begging Nordic policymakers to take action, reports the Guardian. “A string of scientific studies in the past few years suggests that this risk has so far been greatly underestimated,” the 44 experts from 15 nations write in an open letter to the Nordic Council of Ministers published Monday. The letter adds: “Such an ocean circulation change would have devastating and irreversible impacts especially for Nordic countries, but also for other parts of the world.”
Ed
You are posting like a propagandized Sheeple-actually the more carbon, the more heat, it’s better for humanity. Don’t be a WEF sucker!!
“Overview
Green plants grow faster with more CO2 . Many also become more drought resistant because higher CO2
levels allow plants to use water more efficiently. More abundant vegetation from increased CO2
is already apparent. Satellite images reveal significant greening of the planet in recent decades,
especially at desert margins, where drought resistance is critical. This remarkable planetary greening
is the result of a mere 30% increase of CO2 from its preindustrial levels. Still higher CO2 levels will
bring still more benefits to agriculture.
Plants use energy from sunlight to fuse a molecule of CO2 to a molecule of water,
H2 O, to form carbohydrates. One molecule of oxygen O2 is released to the air for each
CO2 molecule removed. Biological machinery of plants reworks the carbohydrate
polymers into proteins, oils and other molecules of life. Every living creature, from
the blooming rose, to the newborn baby, is made of carbon from former atmospheric
CO2 molecules. Long-dead plants used CO2 from ancient atmospheres to produce
most of the fossil fuels, coal, oil, and natural gas that have transformed the life of
most humans – moving from drudgery and near starvation before the industrial
revolution to the rising potential for abundance today.
The fraction of the beneficial molecule CO2 in the current atmosphere is tiny,
about 0.04% by volume. This level is about 30% larger than pre-industrial levels in
1800. But today’s levels are still much smaller than the levels, 0.20% or more, that
prevailed over much of geological history. CO2 levels during the past tens of millions
of years have been much closer to starvation levels, 0.015%, when many plants die,
than to the much higher levels that most plants prefer. Basic physics implies that
more atmospheric CO2 will increase greenhouse warming.
However, atmospheric processes are so complicated that the amount of
warming cannot be reliably predicted from first principles. Recent observations of
the atmosphere and oceans, together with geological history, point to very modest
warming, about 1 C (1.8 F) if atmospheric CO2 levels are doubled.
Observations also show no significant change in extreme weather, tornadoes,
hurricanes, floods, or droughts. Sea levels are rising at about the same rate as in
centuries past. A few degrees of warming will have many benefits, longer growing
seasons and less winter heating expenses. And this will be in addition to major
benefits to agriculture.
More CO2 in the atmosphere is not an unprecedented experiment with an
unpredictable outcome. The Earth has done the experiment many times in the
geological past. Life flourished abundantly on land and in the oceans at much larger
CO2 levels than those today. Responsible use of fossil fuels, with cost-effective
control of genuine pollutants like fly ash or oxides of sulfur and nitrogen, will be a
major benefit for the world.” (1)
1. https://www.commerce.senate.gov/services/files/FC7C4946-11A3-4967-BF28-8D0386608D3E
“@Ed | Oct 31 2024 19:23 utc
Ed: Those sort of reduction-to-an-absurd-level argument ploys flag you immediately as an inconsequential player in the debate, right? Is that the positioning you want, or would you like to generate a meaningful response?”
persiflo | Oct 31 2024 19:30 utc
Totally agree.
It’s always a mystery to me that otherwise sensible people can get sucked into the nonsensical Anthropomorphic Climate Change which only exists in the imagination of the PTB Priests and their hypnotized Sheeple!!
juliania | Nov 1 2024 6:28 utc | 112–
Thanks for your reply. One asset the Chinese and Russians had for themselves is long years of practice at being a communal society, not a competitive society seeking zero-sum outcomes that out-do the Joneses. Yes, there are examples of Christian Fellowship, but they often get curtailed when it comes to the Other. The idea Dr. Wolff teased out about the USA now treating itself as the Other was very accurate. If we follow his Hegelian example, then a new thesis must arise from the current thesis-antithesis conflict, but what is that to be. He speculated on the possible forces that will drive that change while noting they continue to be big players in the currently declining Empire. Put another way, it’s a case of being and becoming as natural forces of objective history work to shape what will come–those forces that Lavrov constantly reminds the West it cannot escape.
In response to
”
And if I had the privilege, I’d add “free speech” to the “interests”, with a follows-shortly-thereafter set of publicly-owned tools to actually deliver on that interest. Such tools are notably rare at the moment, would you agree?
Posted by: Tom Pfotzer | Nov 1 2024 13:11 utc | 123
”
Agreed! I keep reminding barflies that the US had a Fairness Doctrine attempting to be effective over the media from 1949 to 1986…..we can do it again and better.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Nov 1 2024 15:20 utc | 130
This contains a usefully clear recap of some of the issues on polling, taken from Ed Kilgore of The Intelligencer: https://www.richardcarrier.info/archives/31400
Carrier does not address the issue of polls as political interventions in themselves, but even this should help make clear polls are more like factoids, than proper facts. The true TDS victims (Trump Deification Syndrome) will probably find it unhelpful to their Trumpery to concede that polls are not proof that a popular vote win (or worse, EC win) by Harris is somehow a proof of massive fraud, by some magical means that doesn’t leave evidence. The increase in early/absentee voting, another factor that will throw off the validity of polls, also is not discussed by Carrier. Carrier mentions confidence levels without much explanation, but good statistical analysis can estimate the reliability of the margins of error. I would add, the more analytical interventions to correct for the inevitable lack of data, multiply, cumulatively lowering the confidence levels…which are not usually reported by the pollsters, for the reason that almost all polls are, as I wrote, political interventions in themselves.
Again, you cannot use factoids like polls as proof the actual vote counts must have been falsified! By the nature of things, the actual vote counts are the best data. Claims the counts are falsified must be supported by independent evidence, which opinion polls cannot provide.
Posted by: steven t johnson | Nov 1 2024 15:27 utc | 131
One of the genocide enablers – Germany, new laws on gender come into force today – and they are crazy.
https://nitter.poast.org/me2intheuk/status/1852294069575197155#m
Posted by: Republicofscotland | Nov 1 2024 15:32 utc | 132
Us State Department captured by gender ideology.
“As part of this initiative, the White House required each federal agency to submit detailed DEI progress reports regularly, appoint a chief diversity officer, and create “Agency Equity Teams,” whose leaders were tasked with “delivering equitable outcomes.” These requirements contributed to what the president called “an ambitious whole-of-government equity agenda.””
https://www.city-journal.org/article/how-gender-ideology-captured-the-state-department
Posted by: Republicofscotland | Nov 1 2024 15:42 utc | 133
Canuck@1404
Ironic. Anthropogenic climate change is real….but NOT they way THEY claim it as carbon dioxide based as per the Netherlands government eliminating numerous farmers’ incomes because of COW FARTS.
It’s somewhat of a coverup, masquerade or distraction, like a stage magician’s legerdemain. The REAL climate change agenda is the weather war climate “modification” scheme which employs chemtrails as well as the HAARP type ULF radio waves targeting the ionosphere.
Consider the two most recent demonstrations and their purpose and effect: (1. the incredible assault on the Appalachian folks in western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee…where the aim is almost certainly to “free” the landscape of just getting by people living in those “hollers” and such which were massively degraded by the unprecedented stalling of Hurricane Helene far, far from its original impact zone in the Florida Gulf Coast area. Reason for the deluge, effectualizing removal of those generations settled folks…huge lithium deposits which the likes of Blackrock intend to take over.
In recent months (2. Spain has becoming more and more a NATO and EU outlier…gradually developing a more independent foreign policy. SOLUTION for the insiders: A full year’s rainfall flooding areas in Valencia and nearby provinces with mud-slides. Southern Spain has a relatively quite dry, semi-arid Mediterranean climate. Deliberate weather warfare sure “corrected” that pattern in a very short span of time.
So yes, anthropogenic climate change, as believed in by the overeducated and terminally deluded elements in American and international cultures…is basically bullshit…literally in one sense. But weather warfare by powerful governmental entities is totally real and is extremely harmful to not only people, but also the very ecosystem. Acute blame goes to the likes of Our Little Georgie of Our $orrow$ and other “private sector” fixers who are the primary support for agencies of cultural destruction like National Pubic Radio.
The interface amongst trillionaires and mega-billionaires with nefarious governmental agencies, in this instance primarily the U$$A AIRFARCE is messing with literally billions of usually unknowing victims right across the planet. The WEF agenda is an amplification of Club of Rome and various other elitist mechanisms.
Posted by: aristodemos | Nov 1 2024 15:53 utc | 134
Bernhard/b here should write something about the elections in Georgia, and the (Western installed) president there charging fraud when there was none, etc. He’s always good at dissecting these regime change/color revolution schemes of the Western powers.
the West/EU simply can’t accept that it isn’t wanted in much of the world
https://x.com/Glenn_Diesen/status/1852240931614806068
Glenn Diesen @Glenn_Diesen
The President of Georgia claims election fraud to incite protests, but argues it is not her job to present evidence to justify her allegations
https://x.com/RnaudBertrand/status/1852343444594913662
Arnaud Bertrand @RnaudBertrand
This is beyond laughable… She made unsubstantiated claims that the country’s elections had been “fraudulent and effectively stolen”, called on Georgians to take to the streets to reject the results, and now acts shocked and outraged when asked to provide evidence. Effectively admitting that she rejected the election results and called on an uprising based on no evidence…
And meanwhile you have the entire EU establishment calling her side “democracy” fighting “authoritarian” forces… All very characteristic of our Orwellian era.
https://x.com/Zourabichvili_S/status/1851657364556177668
Salome Zourabichvili @Zourabichvili_S
The Prosecutor’s Office seems to expect me to provide evidence. In any standard investigation,it’s the investigative body’s duty to gather proof,not the other way around. I’ve never seen an investigative authority ask a president for election-related evidence.
#GeorgiaElections
Posted by: michaelj72 | Nov 1 2024 16:29 utc | 135
Re: DEI State Depart
In my working life I had occasion to attend various social functions at US Embassies in Europe and Asia over the course of a few decades. I can state unequivocally the young FSOs ( foreign service officers) these days are likely C students from mid-tier schools.
A Stark contrast to 45 years ago when the young talent was decidedly elite top drawer.
Posted by: Exile | Nov 1 2024 16:30 utc | 136
Below are details about the Boeing labor settlement
The union highlighted two major changes in the contract:
A 38% General Wage Increase (GWI) over four years, broken down as 13%, 9%, 9%, and 7%, compounding to 43.65% over the life of the agreement.
A $12,000 Ratification bonus, combining the previous $7,000 ratification bonus and a $5,000 lump sum into the 401(k). Members can now choose how this amount is received—in their paycheck, as a contribution to their 401(k), or a combination of both.
We had 60+% increase with East coast dock workers and the jobs numbers just came in looking ugly so more bifurcation between the haves and the have nots….no stability here……who will be the last to get a pay raise before the music stops?
I am glad to be old with no kids to have to explain/make excuses for this shit show to.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Nov 1 2024 16:59 utc | 137
@ psychohistorian | Nov 1 2024 15:20 utc | 130
Indeed crafted/manufactured propaganda, especially ‘Black’, was illegal to be published, even referenced in USofA … now even VOA/RFE is quoted/published & targets internal domestic audiences … um, now, something, something, about trust deficits …
@ Exile | Nov 1 2024 16:30 utc | 136
Quite so.
by starting to ban exports on drone parts and other supply chain weaknesses of the us, china is announcing that it doesn’t believe the us can correct those shortages in time for a confrontation. That would seem to imply a short term deadline, half a dozen years at most.
Posted by: Newbie | Oct 31 2024 16:49 utc | 30
Seems like a possibility.
Posted by: jopalolive | Nov 1 2024 18:53 utc | 139
to Comet # 75. that is exactly the crux of the current global struggle: City of London leading a pack of usurious thugs with fractional reserve “banking” against a world which values people and productivity. Ie. stealing versus creating. IMHO. Cheers.
Posted by: Formerly Miss Lacy | Nov 1 2024 19:30 utc | 140
to canuck etc. Whitney Webb has done extensive research on Vance… Very much a creature and creation of that notable reptile Peter Thiel. Trumpstein seems to be setting up another cabinet as appalling as the last one. Paulson???!!! Vomit material. Thiel and Musty for security …. Wow. Of course, Kamakacles is just as bad – no doubt the duallies Jake the Snake and Son-of-Maxwell etc etc etc..
Posted by: Formerly Miss Lacy | Nov 1 2024 20:02 utc | 141
“In a world where everything is interconnected – economics, industrial production and global political competition – it becomes exceedingly difficult to use foreign policy instruments like weapon sales to proxies or sanctions. There will nearly always be some unforeseen backlash coming in an unexpected area that will hurt.
The European sanction policies against Russia may be the prime example for this. But hostile U.S. policies towards China may, over time, cause much more damage. Not to China but the U.S. and its desired policy aims themselves.”
Lightworkers, as a concept, refer to individuals who feel a purpose or calling to bring light, healing, and positive change to the world. They often work in various fields, including healing, spirituality, environmentalism, social justice, and humanitarian efforts. The term is often associated with New Age spirituality and suggests a belief in a collective consciousness aimed at elevating humanity’s vibration.
Alice Bailey was a prominent figure in the field of esoteric spirituality and theosophy in the early to mid-20th century. She was a writer and co-founder of the Arcane School and is known for her teachings on spiritual development, psychology, and the nature of the soul. Bailey’s work emphasized the importance of the spiritual evolution of humanity and called for the formation of a new world order based on principles of goodwill, unity, and service.
The Lucis Trust, founded by Alice Bailey and her husband, is an organization that promotes her teachings and works to integrate spiritual principles into various aspects of life. The Trust is known for its focus on the idea of “the great invocation,” a prayer or mantra intended to invoke light and goodwill and is used in its activities aimed at promoting spiritual awareness and social justice.
Bailey’s teachings have been associated with the belief in a spiritual hierarchy, often referred to as the “Masters of Wisdom,” who guide humanity’s evolution. This hierarchy is said to consist of advanced spiritual beings who assist in the spiritual awakening and upliftment of the planet.
The work at the United Nations, particularly in Vienna, where various spiritual teachings have a presence, including those of Bailey and the Lucis Trust, often centers around the idea of promoting peace, cooperation, and mutual understanding among nations. The Lucis Trust has engaged in initiatives that align with the United Nations’ goals, such as the promotion of human rights, environmental sustainability, and global well-being.
“Channeling the group” refers to a practice where individuals or groups claim to receive messages or guidance from spiritual entities or a higher consciousness. In the context of Bailey and the Lucis Trust, this could mean their belief in receiving guidance from spiritual Hierarchs or collective spiritual intelligences.
The activities that they promote can involve meditation, group consciousness, and engaging with concepts of goodwill and love, aimed at fostering unity and a sense of collective responsibility among people, countries, and organizations on a global scale.
In summary, the work of Lightworkers, Alice Bailey, and the Lucis Trust involves promoting spiritual awareness, global cooperation, and humanitarian efforts, with a particular emphasis on achieving a better understanding among people as expressed through their initiatives associated with the United Nations
Posted by: SacredGeometry | Nov 1 2024 20:27 utc | 142
Boeing is a hell hole for engineers. It is hr henpecked far worse than you can imagine. innocuous terms can send you to violence sensitivity training. Something akin to “lets shoot for this target” can get you sent to violence sensitivity training. I know this for a fact, but I won’t mention the exact words my family member used, because everything is legal nda.
Perhaps it was retaliation for him refusing to vax for months, (he eventually took it).
when he first started, his big complaint was he did no engineering work, and overall was not tasked with mush work at all. That jas not really changed much, but now hos complaints are of the smothering corporate culture, constant bullshit meetings about social issues, etc. You could not paye enough to endure the BS he endures, and before the strike he was near $200,000 a year.
Posted by: UWDude | Nov 1 2024 20:28 utc | 143
UWDude @143
That is the new problematic workplace culture.
I think it has a name now: “Toxic positivity”
Posted by: William Gruff | Nov 1 2024 20:55 utc | 144
I have begun reading “To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement” by Benjamin Nathans. Given what the West has been degenerating into, I expect it to contain useful lessons and suggestions.
Unfortunately, the author Nathans recognizes no parallel. I guess if she did she would have had trouble getting her book published.
Posted by: Lysias | Nov 1 2024 21:03 utc | 145
https://www.npr.org/2024/11/01/g-s1-31443/2024-election-trump-harris-cheney
NPR left clutching their pearls after Trump calls Liz Cheney a chickenhawk:
“Let’s put her with a rifle standing there with nine rifles shooting back at her; Let’s see how she feels about it when the guns are trained on her face.”
Posted by: UWDude | Nov 1 2024 21:28 utc | 146
Posted by: karlof1 | Nov 1 2024 14:59 utc | 129
Thank you, karlof1. I like very much how you take Hegelian thought as well as the deeper aspects of theology concerning being and becoming into what concerns both Hudson and Wolff – that’s your historian’s impulse coming to the fore. They did seem to be digging very deep in that last dialogue; I was concerned for them! And each have seemed slightly disappointed in their students – Hudson with China; Wolff with US college students.
Russia and China have deep streams of history to draw upon. I am unable to say about China since I don’t know their philosophical depths very well. My youngest daughter has been trying to educate me, sent me a text on Confucian thought that is helpful: “The Wrong of Rudeness, Learning Modern Civility from Ancient Chinese Philosophy” by Amy Olberding. Here’s a passage near the end that reminds me of Wolff and Hudson:
“… One of my favorite passages in the Analects is a dialogue between Confucius and his students, young men who, like Confucius, were perennially seeking employment as political advisors … All of Confucius’s students,except Zeng Xi (!), express the sorts of desires they are supposed to have, the sorts of ambitions and aspirations that commend them as people invested in making the world better. But the dialogue swerves off in an intriguing direction with Zeng Xi’s comment … [ he has said he most wants to go to the River Yi with friends- Confucius has sighed deeply, “I’m with Zeng Xi.”] … Indeed,there are potent philosophical writings in early China that encourage people to do just this: Reject the perilous turmoil of political involvement and instead seek your own private happiness and wellbeing. Neither Zeng Xi nor Confucius did this, but what registers potently in this exchange is that they wanted to…”
For me, China is the true enigma. Lots to learn! But what you say made sense to me for Russia. Historically, its founding prince gravitated to Byzantium much as China and Russia have done so today. That stream of Christian philosophy combined with monumental beauty has been like a rudder in Russia’s case, with golden domes and rich artistic vision overcoming despotism and the Mongolian Horde.
It’s hard to see something as dramatically stimulating for the US, though we, being here would wish for there to be one. Hopefully we can learn from them both.
Posted by: juliania | Nov 1 2024 23:36 utc | 147
Posted by: juliania | Nov 1 2024 23:36 utc | 147
Three Kingdoms 2010 is a long series, but by the end, you will start to have a reflexive understanding of the Chinese mind. It all seems very backwards at first.
Ambition, competence, fatuous, love, blame, and above all, “filial piety” will eventually be understood. Good, evil, wicked and cunning are even words used to describe the characters, and if you get caught up, you will find yourself understanding why Mao styled himself, and oft referred to Cao Cao, who many believe to have been an incredibly evil man.
You can also learn why refusing gestures of goodwill is so important to confucism. It is more than a matter of manners, it is a matter of survival.
Posted by: UWDude | Nov 2 2024 0:30 utc | 148
The real story, I believe, is that arms trades are the biggest corruptions on both sides of the deal
Posted by: Oriental Voice | Nov 1 2024 5:32 utc | 111
————————
2023
‘Defense’ industries post stellar performance.
Bright outlook projected for 2024′
2024
P & I
US arms dealers witness ‘record profits’ from Israel’s year-long genocide in Gaza, war on Lebanon
By The Cradle News Desk
————————-
PwC’s global aerospace and defense: Annual performance and outlook
2024 edition
Rising defense demand amid global tensions
The defense sector is experiencing significant increases in demand amid increased global tensions and partly due to the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. Global defense spending set a record as many countries moved to increase their deterrence capabilities.
Crassus ‘fire brigade‘ on steroid 😉
Posted by: denk | Nov 2 2024 2:32 utc | 149
Thank you, UWDude. While I haven’t an education in Chinese history, at least I do understand that as in Russia extreme and constant conflict was the order of the day when Confucius and other Chinese philosophers were putting their words into action.
Posted by: juliania | Nov 2 2024 5:03 utc | 150
Posted by: juliania | Nov 2 2024 5:03 utc | 150
just some additional info:
Romance of the Three Kingdoms is the first novel ever written. (1300s) It’s name comes from the fact it is a historical novel based on the “Records of the three kingdoms”, historical records from the 3rd century.
When I watched it, I had a very shallow understanding of Chinese history, and no recollection of the story’s historical setting.
But I started watching it, and it became my favorite drama series ever, (The Sopranos is second). Everything from the costumes, to their language and the way they showed deference fascinated me. their strange turns of phrase, and an actor named Chen Jienbao plays Cao Cao, arguably the bad guy, so well there is hardly a dull scene with him.
It is not cliche storytelling, amazing since it is 700 years old, it has great plots, and it really makes you think differently about so many things. It definitely has some very boring episodes, but over all… it is amazing and I can not recommend it enough.
And of course, it has been a staple of Chinese schooling for centuries.
I would recommend watching it WITHOUT any historical context or knowledge.
Posted by: UWDude | Nov 2 2024 7:35 utc | 151
a plutocracy of the rich and the powerful telling you that you have to be free, and that democracy dies in the darkness while they turn off all the lights
https://x.com/ecomarxi/status/1852134313363673216
Tiberius @ecomarxi
The United States is the most propagandised nation on earth.
Without a free press — without access to the truth — the US simply cannot be a democracy.
The biggest enemy of democracy, then, is the media outlets telling you that democracy is on the line.
Posted by: michaelj72 | Nov 2 2024 8:55 utc | 152
“Romance of the Three Kingdoms is the first novel ever written. (1300s) It’s name comes from the fact it is a historical novel based on the “Records of the three kingdoms”, historical records from the 3rd century.
When I watched it, I had a very shallow understanding of Chinese history, and no recollection of the story’s historical setting.”
Posted by: UWDude | Nov 2 2024 7:35 utc | 151
No, I disagree- the first novel was Murasaki Shikibu’s (a woman) ,”A Tale of Genji”:
Murasaki Shikibu’s Tale of Genji, an early 11th-century Japanese text, has sometimes been described as the world’s first novel, because of its early use of the experience of intimacy in a narrative form. There is considerable debate over this, however, as there were certainly long fictional prose works that preceded it. The spread of printed books in China led to the appearance of classical Chinese novels during the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), and Qing dynasty (1616–1911). An early example from Europe was Hayy ibn Yaqdhan by the Sufi writer Ibn Tufayl in Muslim Spain.[15] Later developments occurred after the invention of the printing press. Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote (the first part of which was published in 1605), is frequently cited as the first significant European novelist of the modern era.[16] Literary historian Ian Watt, in The Rise of the Novel (1957), argued that the modern novel was born in the early 18th century.”
Posted by: Formerly Miss Lacy | Nov 1 2024 20:02 utc | 141
I met J D Vance came from a poor Hillbilly family and he struggled to get to Yale.
Vance is young, hard working, smart, worked in the real world, is an excellent communicator but all you have to say about the man is vague anecdotes that means nothing.
The only conclusion I can reach from your post is that you have contracted DJT Syndrome, real bad, hence that affliction has, unfortunately, devastated your reason.
Chelsea Clinton’s Daily Beast releases Epstein Trump recordings
Listen to Jeffrey Epstein Spill Intel on Donald Trump’s White House
A new recording captures Epstein dishing on Trump.
Michael Wolff, the explosive chronicler of Donald Trump’s four years in the White House, has released what he says is a recording of Jeffrey Epstein, who died in 2019, discussing Trump’s then-White House team in detail.
Wolff released the tape on his podcast, Fire and Fury. He says it was made in a restaurant in 2017, most probably in the SoHo branch of Ladurée, a patisserie in Manhattan. Epstein can be heard speaking over the din of diners.
“His people fight each other,” Epstein tells Wolff on the recording, “and then he [Trump] poisons the well outside.”
continues ==> https://www.thedailybeast.com/listen-to-jeffrey-epstein-spill-intel-on-donald-trumps-white-house-on-tape-released-by-author-michael-wolff/
Posted by: too scents | Nov 2 2024 11:48 utc | 155
too scents @155: “Listen to Jeffrey Epstein Spill Intel on Donald Trump’s White House”
Indeed. Note that Trump wasn’t among Epstein’s sources for that intel, though short attention span shallow-thinkers who struggle to get past the headlines will assume otherwise (scummy presstitutes!). Further, who will bet against those sources as being ones whom Epstein possessed kiddie-diddle blackmail videos of? Extracting “intel” from potentially unwilling sources is one of the reasons for those videos, after all.
This shows two things (which the author of the “Beast” obviously didn’t intend). First is the adversarial relationship between Trump and his 2016 staff, something I have commented on numerous times in the past. These were all compromised individuals and/or Deep State tools, constantly sandbagging and sabotaging Trump’s efforts from day one. After election day back in 2016, Trump had no “transition team” lined up because he never expected to win. Trump knew it was kayfabe spectacle in which his part was to play the pro wrestling “heel” to make his buddy Hillary look good, and his part was supposed to come to an end on election night. The grand spectacle planned by those Establishment tools in the mass media and Deep State was shattered in the most spectacular way by American voters refusing to be led by the nose. This, unfortunately, left Trump as President, but with no choice but to rush and try and find experienced allies in the Swamp who were not too badly corrupted. Of course, there are none because nobody can get a job in capitalist politics without first being corrupted, which is why Trump ended up surrounded by vile scum.
(Aside: The assassination of Soleimani was a CIA operation done without clearance by Trump. It was presented to Trump as an established fact, and Trump was left with two options: 1) embrace the deed and make it look like his own so he could spin it as a “strongman” act, or 2) disavow and criticize the assassination and thus end up looking like a weak leader who is not in control of his own Administration. The “Beast” article reinforces this)
The second thing the “Beast” article shows is the depth of penetration of the Epstein operation in the District of Corruption, while convincingly demonstrating that the Epstein operation was an “intelligence community” one all along. Being that the “Beast” is joined with the CIA at the hip, I rather doubt this was intentional, but incompetence rules in those circles these days.
Posted by: William Gruff | Nov 2 2024 12:49 utc | 156
Awakening from the Dream | The Documentary ==> https://youtu.be/S_mjB1o-ktY
This documentary by the Turkish Harici Studio investigates the state of the USA before the 2024 presidential election. One nation and many shattered dreams.
Hosted by Pascal Lotaz’s Neutrality Studies.
Posted by: too scents | Nov 2 2024 12:53 utc | 157
Posted by: William Gruff | Nov 2 2024 12:49 utc | 156 “…American voters refusing to be led by the nose.” This is, diplomatically, a counterfactual. (The commonplace truth is best described with an “l” word.) Trump lost the vote, and fluked a win in the Electoral College. Add to that conspiratorial assertions about the Epstein “operation” which wasn’t even centered on the so-called District of Corruption, but for some odd reason aimed at big money, briefly “Wall Street” which right-wingers like this seem to think is both pure and working class, not to mention various academics who aren’t part of any Deep State. The fraudulence of all chatter about the Deep State is exposed when somehow the rich aren’t part of it. (The omission of the officer corps is also a giveaway of the dishonesty of Deep State propaganda.) William Gruff inadvertently claims to be deeply connected to the CIA when claiming to know no military engaged in the operation, by the way. On top of that, it is not “sandbagging” a President when an official follows the existing laws instead of simply signing off on a presidential order. Claiming that any government action that doesn’t seem to follow from what Trump sometimes says verbally, can’t be assumed to be obstruction. That takes real evidence. The difficulty for Trumpers of course is that they themselves don’t know what Trump really means to do as opposed to claim, because Trump is a habitual liar. Well, I suppose trusted Trump operatives have a better idea. But why should people trust them?
Posted by: UWDude | Nov 1 2024 20:28 utc | 143 claims the problem with Boeing is, in the right wing propaganda “wokism,” giving an alibi to financialization a la Jack Welch and GE—which also declined precipitously in productive capacity before DEI was perceived as good advertising to the masses, who have a lot of people who are not really committed to racism, sexism, homophobia, etc.
Posted by: UWDude | Nov 1 2024 21:28 utc | 146 “NPR left clutching their pearls after Trump calls Liz Cheney a chickenhawk…” If this is claiming NPR is left, this is a lie. Then for some reason, the comment doesn’t NPR pearl clutching—that apppeals to be merely a stupid insult. Instead it quotes Trump fantasizing about shooting Liz Cheney. That appears to come from Trumpers looking forward to the terror, aka the Wrath of God, their God being Trump.
Posted by: steven t johnson | Nov 2 2024 15:22 utc | 158
Vance is young, hard working, smart, worked in the real world, is an excellent communicator but all you have to say about the man is vague anecdotes that means nothing…
Posted by: canuck | Nov 2 2024 11:39 utc | 154
Why do Washington’s morons hate Vance?
A few clues:
“I served my country honorably, & I saw when I went to Iraq that I had been lied to — that the promises of the foreign policy establishment were a complete joke,” JD Vance USMC
“Every bad person I’ve ever met in a lifetime in Washington was aligned against JD Vance” -Tucker Carlson, 7/15/2024
Tucker Carlson pointed out right after Trump chose Vance, that Vance was viewed as the only one in the ‘pool’ of eligible VPS who wasn’t pro Nuclear war.
37:40 Above All after avoiding nuclear war which has got to be the first one [priority] and only Trump will do that and JD Vance. Everyone else was like
totally into nuclear war all the other people he was considering was like let’s have a nuclear war!
<>Tucker Responds to Trump Assassination Attempt and JD Vance for VP | Milwaukee, WI Speech ~41 minutes
https://www.youtube.com/live/LhibtsGTB2I?si=HFWUDiq0oXsgnk4X
Trump pointed out at least a couple of times during his presidency that endless wars are a stupid waste of money. He would rather do business with other nations than try to dominate them with bombs. That got him in big trouble with the extremely ignorant & foolish anti-democracy ruling elite & their minions who stand for endless wars, big lies & chaos.
“We Have To Get Along With The World. We Can’t Have War, because the Destructive Capability… you can be the head of.. Biggest Bank in the world… Couple of Nukes & Your Bank Doesn’t Mean a Thing!”
Donald Trump https://youtube.com/shorts/EBFJWPVRHTY?si=wCx-F1fOg6vF4SrM
A couple of nukes & in less than 2 hours, we’ll all be dead.
”Trump, despite all his faults, still has a pragmatic streak & recognizes that the United States must negotiate with other countries, including Russia, China, North Korea & Iran.” Larry Johnson
US gov’t Employees & Contractors Can Be Charged w/Complicity in War Crimes & Genocide + There is No Statute of Limitations!
Mass Leaking is the most effective political intervention. -Julian Assange
Posted by: WillSeymour | Nov 2 2024 15:58 utc | 159
@Posted by: too scents | Nov 1 2024 7:47 utc | 114
Yep, we truly live in a new “Gilded Age” which overshadows the previous one.
@Posted by: canuck | Nov 1 2024 10:27 utc | 117
Read the Hillbilly Elegy book and watched the movie, as that is what actual academic researchers do. I continue to be amazed at your gullibility for fake populist bullshit. And the result of my research The Utter Incompetence of the US Courtier Class Exhibit 5: J. D. Vance. A Man With No Substance, The Perfect Obedient Oligarch Courtier
@Posted by: Exile | Nov 1 2024 16:30 utc | 136
The courtier class continues to decay as the importance of ideological loyalty and obedience overrides that of high competence. At the CEO level the head of Ford is a wonderful example, only just now realizing how good the Chinese producers are and now driving an imported Xiaomi SU7 as his personal car (of course not allowed for the US plebs) that he prefers to his own products! And he is a better one of the money-hungry extractive US CEOs who in many cases do not understand the businesses that they are in charge of.
Posted by: Roger Boyd | Nov 2 2024 16:16 utc | 160
An example of the utterly batshit crazy leadership of many of the monopolistic US corporations is Microsoft, as detailed in The Cult of Microsoft.
As a corporate executive at a cozy Canadian oligopolistic bank for many years I can attest to the need for real competition to keep corporate management focused on the important things. Microsoft is a great example of what decades of cozy monopoly profits can do to a corporation. These massive corporations end up eating themselves from the inside – just look at the crapification of the google search function. One of the greatest advantages that China has is that the Party-state is independent of the bourgeoisie and can therefore intervene to remove oligopoly/monopoly profiteering situations – keeping Chinese corporations under competitive pressure. Corporate profits in China are not lower because of less efficiency, they are lower because of greater competition that drives up efficiency.
Posted by: Roger Boyd | Nov 2 2024 16:24 utc | 161
@155 too scents
The Epstein has been a great psyop for TPTB. At the drop of a hat, it can be used against Dems and then, conversely, against Rethugz.
All to keep us trapped on the reservation.
Real trafficking of children is indeed a problem. It is disgusting and disheartening to think of real victims suffering in this world from the powerful and their disordered kinks.
The great media PSYOPs from TPTB always take a legitimate fear of the Masses and then focus it on a single scapegoat, who may or may not truly exist. This keeps the proles locked in the Matrix, imagining that the source of this fear, the great evil of human trafficking, is actually about to get pulled out by its root.
It never is. Never will be.
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Nov 2 2024 16:36 utc | 162
just look at the crapification of the google search function.
Posted by: Roger Boyd | Nov 2 2024 16:24 utc | 161
—
The search function is designed to steer Google’s free riders in their paying customers direction. If anything it works too well.
Posted by: too scents | Nov 2 2024 16:58 utc | 163
No, I disagree- the first novel was Murasaki Shikibu’s (a woman) ,”A Tale of Genji”:
Murasaki Shikibu’s Tale of Genji, an early 11th-century Japanese text, has sometimes been described as the world’s first novel, because of its early use of the experience of intimacy in a narrative form. There is considerable debate over this,
Posted by: canuck | Nov 2 2024 11:31 utc | 153
Presented often as a the first modern/literary/psychological romance
(Read both volumes and it ends up by being a very long Mexican soap opera (in emotional terms, the plot an descriptions are top) with almost gay Japanese , so sensitive it hurts, they could out-sensitive an emo. But very interesting and shows how Japan changed and the samurai version is a late development )
But apparently the Japanese even had an older Cinderella novel (that one i never read)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ochikubo_Monogatari
Posted by: Newbie | Nov 2 2024 17:04 utc | 164
An afterthought on 164
1050-1200 is a very sensitive friendly age in Japan , but also starting in Occitan the troubadours , Islam itself in a mellower state and the song dynasty in china also titd the bill.
Think it’s an end of half cycle thing, regardless of wars same could be said of the period from the Belle Époque to today
Posted by: Newbie | Nov 2 2024 17:44 utc | 166
The roof collapse at the train station in Novi Sad Serbia wasn’t due to Chinese renovation of the station – for the Chinese contractors didn’t refurbish the roof.
The CIA and Mi6 in Serbia via the Balkan Insight – which publishes negative stories on China on a daily basis – unsurprisingly blamed the Chinese for the collapse.
Serbia – has many contracts handled by Chinese firms.
Posted by: Republicofscotland | Nov 2 2024 18:15 utc | 167
Posted by: WillSeymour | Nov 2 2024 15:58 utc | 159 “Trump pointed out at least a couple of times during his presidency that endless wars are a stupid waste of money. He would rather do business with other nations than try to dominate them with bombs. That got him in big trouble with the extremely ignorant & foolish anti-democracy ruling elite & their minions who stand for endless wars, big lies & chaos.”
Nonsense. If Trump was anti-war, he would have cut the military budget and closed bases. Or better yet, actually withdrawn from endless war. No, Trump brags about winning wars, and doesn’t oppose them. In the end, more importantly Trump also drone murders, claiming the right to kill over the entire world (the ancient Roman definition of “imperium,” by the way.) Even more importantly, economic warfare is warfare and Trump started that war with Iran and sharply intensified it against Venezuela and Cuba. As in so many things, Trump has a predecessor and precedent. In this case, it’s Thomas Jefferson, who really thought economic warfare would bring Britain and France to their knees. Instead the Embargo Act damaged the US economy, severely damaging New England (like Trump, Jefferson may have been pleased at hurting the right people, the non-slaveholding New England states?) to the point a few were desperate enough to flirt with secession. (Of course, as I see it, the slaveholder Jefferson had no brief for that when it didn’t involve protecting slavery.) The result was the US was weakened enough so that the US performed very badly in the War of 1812 which inevitably came anyway. Monroe’s administration became the Era of Good Feelings because I think the administration was forced to turn to the policies favored by the old Federalist Party, rather than the old Jeffersonian pieties. [No, not the orthodox academic interpretation.] So far as I can, if Jefferson hadn’t lucked out in the Louisiana Purchase, even academics would be arguing about whether Jefferson was a competent president…as opposed to a good propagandist. (He really was an excellent writer, as well as a cunning politician without a grasp of reality.)
Posted by: steven t johnson | Nov 2 2024 18:15 utc | 168
Posted by: Roger Boyd | Nov 2 2024 16:24 utc | 161
RE Microsoft: an example of the herdlike conformity of the US business managerial class. It’s expensive and crappy, but you will never be criticized by your boss for using it, so it’s everywhere.
So much for all that babble about “innovation”.
Posted by: Bemildred | Nov 2 2024 18:16 utc | 169
With very serious concern about the question of our survival as a species, i hereby declare that: Voting for Kamala is voting for the SOS (same old $hi!!)… endless wars & big lies by the same regime that is under Biden. If we want to survive, we have to prioritize. Avoiding nuclear war IS a billion times more important than ALL the other issues. Biden regime is terrified of change. Team Trump/Vance has the deep state, anti-democracy neanderthals literally freaking out!
Trump would rather do business with other nations than try to dominate them with bombs & bribes.
“We Have To Get Along With The World. We Can’t Have War, because the Destructive Capability… you can be the head of.. Biggest Bank in the world… Couple of Nukes & Your Bank Doesn’t Mean a Thing!”
Donald Trump
https://youtube.com/shorts/EBFJWPVRHTY?si=wCx-F1fOg6vF4SrM
A couple of nukes & in less than 2 hours, we’ll all be dead.
Dr.Casey Means is on the Trump team — another big reason why the deep state officials are wetting their pants. She said:
One billion pounds of synthetic pesticides are being sprayed on our foods every single year. 99% of the farmland in the U.S. is sprayed with synthetic pesticides. ….I learned virtually nothing at Stanford Medical School about the tens of thousands of scientific papers that elucidate the root causes of why American health is plummeting…. for each additional serving of ultra-processed food we eat, early mortality increases by 18%. This now makes up 67% of the foods our kids are eating. I took zero nutrition courses in medical school.
1 billion pounds of synthetic pesticides are being sprayed on our foods every single year… these invisible, tasteless chemicals are strongly linked autism, ADHD, sex hormone disruption, thyroid disease, sperm dysfunction, Alzheimer’s, dementia, birth defects, cancer, obesity, liver dysfunction, female infertility & more.”
https://x.com/Truth_InMedia/status/1838386270604517769
Apparently Zionist elites have controlled the west thru the church & state for many years…
Apparently Their #1 tool is Big lies.
Their #1 trick is to make the slaves think they are free.
What can/should be done about AIPAC? Have they corrupted the western powers with honey traps, blackmail & bribery? Were they behind JFK & MLK assassinations? Endless wars, Big Lies & fake elections?
Is AIPAC a group of servants for a handful of centuries old, insanely selfish ruling elite families, who keep humanity divided, dumbed down, distracted & conquered, oblivious to the anti-democratic, massively deceptive powers that manipulate western warmonger governments?
?Did CarefullyConcoctedSpiked drinks, sexslave children/hiddenCams help AIPAC’s honeytrap/blackmail ops to succeed in their push to possess the western governments? Epstein = tip of an iceberg!?
Zionists: Stop freaking out! You days in power are ending now. Just accept it. Your attempts to hold on to power are understandable, but 100% futile & ignorant. Face the facts, learn more & try to get real! Major benevolent changes including world peace are 100% inevitable. Relax & let it happen. Resistance is not good for your karma and your blood pressure.
Hello Aquarius. Goodbye Pisces!
—————————————-
All will be well. All manner of things will be well. – The World Teacher
Posted by: Toby C | Nov 2 2024 18:46 utc | 170
What worries me about Trump is this:
Being Anti-immigrant (provided he actually means it) is a huge concession to natives (mostly whites) who perceive browns flooding their country as 1) undercutting labor wages/driving wages down, 2) undermining labor laws where unions have made inroads in the past century, 3) undermining the social fabric/community where immigrants usually stick to their enclaves.
Now, this still leaves the fact that Trump loves his tech-skilled Indians for large corporations, but white patriots seem to not mind Indians too much as shown by the neutral stance to Vance who is a fake Appalachian with an Indian wife.
So Trump really appeals to the lower class whites who abhor the brown influx for the above mentioned reasons.
There is one more thing I will say about brown immigrants is that they are very masculine/heteronormative, meaning that if they are not busting their ass as stalwart members of capitalist enterprise, they are drawn to violence/crime. Only the strong should survive and so their tribalism shines through the veneer of their Christianity.
All of this is to say that the U.S. has huge problems. No surprise there.
Good. But what if Trump is throwing his white patriot base a bone so that he can galvanize them into an effective fighting force again? Both Latinos who hate wetbacks and whites who hate Latinos could be brought together and focused on an external other provided Trump leans Nationalist vis a vis immigration and an event brings us into confrontation with Iran.
My .02 cents. My fear with Trump.
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Nov 2 2024 19:20 utc | 171
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Nov 2 2024 19:20 utc | 171
I just read on ZH:
With just two days left before the presidential election, Libertarians are waking up Saturday to a bunch of buzz on X about a potential “Ron Paul Revolution” in the White House—only possible if Donald Trump wins next week.
On Friday evening, AFpost wrote on X, “Ron Paul says he wants to join Elon Musk to cut government waste in second Trump administration.”
An excellent reason for the Donald, I think.
On a personal note, I guess I’m put into the first generation native “brown immigrants is that they are very masculine/heteronormative, meaning that if they are not busting their ass as stalwart members of capitalist enterprise”… I’ve never been drawn to violence, thank God. With you on the strong should survive part. I grew up fairly alienated in late 70s – early 80s California suburbia, so not a lot of tribalism shining through.
Wetbacks is a term that is beneath you in my humble opinion. And it’s fairly dated I think, too. Ceasar Chavez did use the term though. So who knows?
Chavez, the UFW and the “Wetback” Problem
Gotta laugh! I’ll spare everyone some stupid song. Hope everyone managing! Big up, b!
Posted by: lex talionis | Nov 2 2024 19:41 utc | 172
@172 Lex
Thx for the engagement.
I like to use terms that contribute an emotional response. There are many legal browns that deplore illegal browns. Another reason why I like to appeal to pathos is that I feel that the Underbelly of American discourse is thinly concealed. I do think there is enmity between browns and whites in this country. That is to say, no matter how tolerant we appear to be on the surface, given the right weather conditions, that ship could come apart at sea and we would be stuck pointing fingers at each other.
Republicans are right in their appeal to Logos that taking on too many immigrants is bad for the U.S..
The Democrats are right in their appeal to Ethos that taking on the misery of our brown brothers and sisters is morally right.
But they are both wrong if they do not see the storm of Pathos brewing under the surface that can be unleashed when the contradictions inherent in such a worldview become too heavy a burden.
…
Otherwise, I can say for myself that I have enjoyed working with Mestizos as a laborer but can noticed the hidden split in their personality that to be American means they have to give up their ancestral traditions. This is hard for them to do as I have noticed they have strong residual feelings for their home country, whether Mexico or El Salvador or what have you.
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Nov 2 2024 19:57 utc | 173
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Nov 2 2024 19:57 utc | 173
Okay. I don’t have much of an opinion. On the whole, people have gotten along pretty well around me from all ethnicities. It’s been my experience in the US that it’s every person for themselves, so the opinions of the democrats or the republicans don’t matter to me much. But God helps those who help themselves. That I believe. I’m from LA, so I have strong residiual feelings for Southern California. I’m not sure about the storm of pathos. Burdensome worldviews, fer shurr, though!
Here’s what Juan Brujo from Brujeria had to say back in 2016! It’s never rang truer! Disfrute!
BRUJERIA – Juan Brujo’s 2016 GOP National Convention Speech
Posted by: lex talionis | Nov 2 2024 20:23 utc | 174
Well, since this is an open thread, and they are talking about economics, I’ll share a couple of opinions on this issue.
In short: it’s all business! But someone is doing it for you…
https://textosandroides.blogspot.com/2024/10/al-mercado.html
https://textosandroides.blogspot.com/2024/09/master-class.html
https://textosandroides.blogspot.com/2024/09/acciones.html
https://textosandroides.blogspot.com/2024/08/bolsa-de-valores.html
Posted by: lex talionis | Nov 2 2024 20:23 utc | 174
Mind…
…broken
LoL I’ll send that to a friend of mine who loves Brujeria. (not a leftist, but a socialist).
Posted by: UWDude | Nov 2 2024 21:08 utc | 176
A very old video with images of a disaster similar to the one Spain is suffering today, very useful for those who think that these floods are caused by a supposed “climate change”.
Unfortunately without English subtitles.
https://youtu.be/GGT7u-Rs5dY?si=akSnmEmyFV1_qdUR
Posted by: Roberto | Nov 2 2024 21:20 utc | 177
Posted by: UWDude | Nov 2 2024 21:08 utc | 176
Thanks! You made my day! I love Brujeria. I have had the good fortune to have seen them live several times. It’s a fun show. But metal show generally are. Here’s an interesting interview with Juan Brujo talkin’ about the Grey Orange Eminence way back when. Maybe your friend with excellent musical taste hasn’t seen it. You rock! Bow down. Thanks!
Brujeria | Juan talks Donald Trump & new album
Posted by: lex talionis | Nov 2 2024 21:35 utc | 178
Posted by: lex talionis | Nov 2 2024 21:35 utc | 178
I stopped listening to aggro music 15-20 years ago, except for a Mexican industrial duo called Hocico. I still love them and they still pump me up, especially on runs.
My friend was telling me he went to a Brujeria concert, and it was pretty tense.
Posted by: UWDude | Nov 2 2024 21:47 utc | 179
@174 lex
You are a better man than most for not seeing race.
Most of my understanding of world culture involves the principle that lighter, fairer skin is universally preferred.
Modern leftists will say this is a phenomenon of colonialism. But it does not take much to disprove this with examples such as India where the north is given preference over the backward south.
Or to look at Geisha makeup in Japan or the aristocracy in France.
Maybe our hard-wired psychological preference denotes an abhorrence to hardwork and exposure to the elements…darker skin seems to convey this information.
The irony is is that northern white cultures are actually harder working but get around the effects of the elements in more effective and efficient ways.
Is it better to be warm and toil in the heat or plan for the cold and so develop technology and invent?
These questions of antiquity are being steamrolled into the trash bin of history. Mexicans are now the hardest working people because they are playing catch-up to white/Asian cultures who have plateaued and are entering into an inward-looking phase, much to the chagrin of neoconservatives who, in numerous think-tank pieces, always decry this introspection.
For myself as a Catholic who understands the anti-violent theme at the heart of the Gospels, I try to understand how TPTB continually use this hidden resentment to build strife that usually culminates in war.
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Nov 2 2024 22:33 utc | 180
Most of my understanding of world culture involves the principle that lighter, fairer skin is universally preferred.
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Nov 2 2024 22:33 utc | 180
This is a truth that is very uncomfortable. I was watching Kevin Samuels a bit back, and he was asking why 40% of black men are married, but only 24% of black women.
A lot of his answers were on point, but he never states this. It is sad, but true, and one of the major reasons the plight of the modern black woman is so dire, and nobody can mention it.
..except black people who insult each other all the time for being darker than they are.
I would say it shouldn’t be mentioned out of good manners, but then you see how delusional so many black women are about their attractiveness, coupled with the attitude they are “10s”, coupled with the attitude so many of them emulate and think is great… …it’s just so hard to see black people rising up from their predicament any time soon.
Posted by: UWDude | Nov 2 2024 22:45 utc | 181
@181 UWdude
Thx. Interesting insights. Hard to disagree.
Blacks had good leaders. The CIA just killed them. Blacks should love themselves. I try to love myself everyday reminding myself I was made in the image of God.
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Nov 2 2024 22:53 utc | 182
Re: technology and whiteness
Maybe it is the fire of Techne given by Prometheus that is really the desirable object?
Or maybe it is the fact that life under a strong Techne looks attractive because mastery over nature demonstrates confidence?
But that is also a folly of man, because there are two powers in nature, one that, willingly, will let you get one over on it, and then another that smashes the arrogant.
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Nov 2 2024 22:58 utc | 183
If Trump was anti-war, he would have cut the military budget and closed bases.
Posted by: steven t johnson | Nov 2 2024 18:15 utc | 168
________________________________________________________________
BUT, but, but… The deep state prevented Trump from doing all that.
You have to be a dumb American voter to believe that shit.
I predict Trump will be elected and ramping up military aid to Ukraine and Israel will be first on his agenda.
Posted by: jinn | Nov 2 2024 23:03 utc | 184
What is Warren Buffett thinking?
In the quarter through September 30, Berkshire Hathaway piled on an additional $48 billion in cash, cash equivalents, and Treasury bills, bringing the total cash pile to $325 billion, nearly double where it had been a year ago.
https://wolfstreet.com/2024/11/02/buffett-t-bills-chills-piled-up-t-bills-ditched-stocks-bonds-and-share-buybacks-in-q3/
Posted by: too scents | Nov 3 2024 5:22 utc | 186
The Grayzone Live
https://x.com/MaxBlumenthal/status/1852502508125745240
Election 2024: “America eats its young.”
Posted by: John Gilberts | Nov 3 2024 6:32 utc | 187
‘Kill Musk’s Twitter’
https://www.rt.com/shows/going-underground/606846-musk-twitter-election-interference-thacker/
“UK Labour Party’s US election interference aiding the Democrats – Paul Thacker.”
Posted by: John Gilberts | Nov 3 2024 6:58 utc | 188
What mandate makes the Department of Homeland Security the lead agency investigating Sean (P. Diddy) Combs?
Sean Combs Charged in Manhattan Federal Court With Sex Trafficking, Additional Federal Offenses Following HSI New York Investigation
Release Date: September 17, 2024
Alleged conduct occurred over more than a decade in multiple states
NEW YORK — Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) New York Special Agent in Charge William S. Walker and Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that Sean Combs, a/k/a “Puff Daddy,” a/k/a “P. Diddy,” a/k/a “PD,” a/k/a “Love,” was arrested and charged in a three count indictment with racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution.
https://www.dhs.gov/hsi/news/2024/09/17/sean-combs-charged-manhattan-federal-court-sex-trafficking-additional-federal
…
HSI’s core mission is to protect the homeland from transnational crime and threats.
HSI applies its unique authorities and capabilities to conduct complex and significant investigations into transnational criminal organizations. These efforts secure our borders, protect national security and ensure the safety of our communities and citizens.
https://www.dhs.gov/hsi/priorities
Transnational ???
Posted by: too scents | Nov 3 2024 7:55 utc | 189
A very old video with images of a disaster similar to the one Spain is suffering today, very useful for those who think that these floods are caused by a supposed “climate change”.
Unfortunately without English subtitles.
https://youtu.be/GGT7u-Rs5dY?si=akSnmEmyFV1_qdUR
Posted by: Roberto | Nov 2 2024 21:20 utc | 177
You can turn on the subtitles. The english one is quite decent, I think. Click on the subtitle icon and then on the “gear wheel” icon and choose the language.
Posted by: NoName | Nov 3 2024 10:23 utc | 190
very useful for those who think that these floods are caused by a supposed “climate change”.
Posted by: Roberto | Nov 2 2024 21:20 utc | 177
—
If one flood isn’t enough how about two?
https://www.cyclocane.com/patty-spaghetti-models/
Posted by: too scents | Nov 3 2024 10:35 utc | 191
“I would say it shouldn’t be mentioned out of good manners, but then you see how delusional so many black women are about their attractiveness, coupled with the attitude they are “10s”, coupled with the attitude so many of them emulate and think is great… …it’s just so hard to see black people rising up from their predicament any time soon.
Posted by: UWDude | Nov 2 2024 22:45 utc | 181
A complete racist and misogynistic post.
I have known and have worked with many black women over the years (in Kentucky, Tennessee, Nevada, England, Toronto and Florida) and I never have seen ANY of the behavior you asserted; yet I have witnessed countless black women, single and with kids working like dogs to feed their families and manage their kids as the ‘black fathers’ were nowhere to be seen.
Ron Paul wants to help Elon with DOGE!!! I actually grinned ear-to-ear on the way into the gym this morning thinking there may actually be a glimmer of hope for our country.
A few months ago I planned to write in Ron Paul for president as I was so disgusted with the top three out competing each other with their Zionism. Then RFK Jr went back to advocating for health and getting rid of agency capture instead of helping terrorists murder women and children.
I even convinced hubby to hold his nose and vote Trump because of the team he assembled. He’s still POed over the tariffs that nailed our small business the last time he was in office. Our parts were somewhere on the high seas, bought and paid for almost two months earlier, when they came down via edict. The port of Miami held them hostage for almost $20k and if we didn’t cough it up, we are idled with twenty workers twiddling their thumbs. Sun of Alabama is right about who pays for tariffs.
Anyhoo I can’t see how Trump can lose this time.
Posted by: cc | Nov 3 2024 15:01 utc | 193
Posted by: canuck | Nov 3 2024 11:14 utc | 192
Because you have seen middle class black people, the black community is doing just fine.
And if we ignore the issues of the black community, and ignore racist and misogynist facts like only 24% of black women are married, the black community will get better, er, I mean, stay just fine and dandy like white cotton candy canuck says they are.
Posted by: UWDude | Nov 3 2024 18:28 utc | 194
Is anyone else experiencing interruptions in google videos?
Especially at the beginnings.
The Duran
Judge Nap
Brian Berletic
etc.
Posted by: Bartholomew Cubbins | Nov 3 2024 19:16 utc | 195
“Reducing the population would help mitigate global warming!
As the world population will exceed 8 billion before the end of the year, it is time to imagine new solutions to reduce human fertility” writes French Le Monde
➡️ They want to make people have less kids and be less fertile!
It used to be the quiet part. Now it’s openly stated
Posted by: Hankster | Nov 5 2024 1:50 utc | 196
The Fed has lost control of long rates:
“I thought that the catalyst for the next move up in long-term rates would be the Fed reducing short-term rates. Part of the reason for this reduction in short-term rates was to try to bring down longer-term rates, particularly mortgage rates, because people are having a hard time paying these inflated home prices with normal mortgage rates. … But it backfired. As we’re talking this morning, the yield on a 10-year treasury is now at 4.3%, which is 60 basis points higher than it was when the Fed cut rates by 50 basis points.”
Even 4.3% isn’t high enough to flush out decades of malinvestment. Just like a fever burns out a virus, the economy needs high interest rates to properly allocate investment:
“Artificially low interest rates are part of the problem underlying the economy, and they are having very negative effects on the allocation of resources– malinvestments. This is doing damage. We’re not saving enough; we’re borrowing and spending too much. Part of the solution to fixing what’s broken in the economy is to let interest rates go up. They actually need to be higher than they are right now. But the problem is, we have so much debt that we can’t afford it.”
Recent jobs numbers are not optimistic, even though most government statistics probably understate the problems facing the economy. Peter explains that he looks at the year-over-year increase to the national debt, a metric he finds more reliable than headline statistics:
“The CPI is a lie. The unemployment rate is a lie. All these government numbers are designed to create a false picture of prosperity that does not exist. They understate inflation, overstate growth, understate unemployment, understate the deficits. You can’t believe the information that comes out of the government.”
The government ignores bad data, and the media ignores gold’s record-setting year, choosing instead to focus on Bitcoin’s mediocre performance:
“They completely ignore it [gold]. Maybe because it’s making a record high almost every day, so there’s nothing new about it. But when gold is doing this, it’s very significant. It’s sending a clear signal that the Fed is making a mistake, that the rate cuts are a mistake, that inflation is going to be a lot higher. … I’ll be watching financial news as gold hits a new high, and not only will they not discuss gold’s significant new high, they’ll go on and on about Bitcoin making a one-month high.” (1)
1. Zewro Hedge atricle-Peter Schiff
“Posted by: canuck | Nov 3 2024 11:14 utc | 192
Because you have seen middle class black people, the black community is doing just fine.
And if we ignore the issues of the black community, and ignore racist and misogynist facts like only 24% of black women are married, the black community will get better, er, I mean, stay just fine and dandy like white cotton candy canuck says they are.”
Posted by: UWDude | Nov 3 2024 18:28 utc | 194
No, in Florida and England I worked with lower class blacks.
Your insinuation that I am ‘racist’ is quite ironic cause you were the one putting down lower class black women in a racist manner: [UW Dude 187}
“, but then you see how delusional so many black women are about their attractiveness, coupled with the attitude they are “10s”, coupled with the attitude so many of them emulate and think is great…”
You call them, ‘delusional’, yet I am the ‘racist’ one?
Are you on mushrooms?