News & views not related to the wars in Ukraine and Palestine …
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November 14, 2024
Open (Neither Ukraine Nor Palestine) Thread 2024-272
Comments
@ steven t johnson | Nov 16 2024 18:44 utc | 192
Actually I have no problem with the H-1B visa, at least in theory, although the actual practice would seem to indicate that it is much abused by employers. And to the extent that it is *not* abused, it tends to point to a problem with our educational system and/or our overly sybaritic culture. Sure, you might have to hire a world-class expert in Bukovinian Literature from some university in Romania or Hungary. But sysadmins? seriously?
Posted by: malenkov | Nov 16 2024 21:06 utc | 201
@paranense
@jure
I´m a German supporter of AfD and I *never* met another supporter yet telling such things as jure wrote at the Ukraine-thread: Many are former leftists (like me) and *don´t* support any globalist wars.
All of the defamations, jure wrote at the other thread are pure MSM and “leftist” delusion: *Real* leftists would never allow the globalists to use them as a tool for destroying nations and societies as most of the German pseudo-“leftists” do.
One example for the delusion: Every deed of violence against jews goes as “rechtsextremistisch”/”extreme right” into statistics. Doesn´t matter, who offended them in reality.
Every Nazi swastika goes as the same. Doesn´t matter, who sprayed/wrote/showed them in reality, will not be investigated in 99% of cases.
Every “hate speech” (= everything the rulers hate to read) is registered as “extreme right”.
Most of the “right extreme” “deeds” are no “deeds” in reality but “thought crime” and the like.
The situation concerning immigration is bad and it´s worsening on a daily base. Even the biased “criminal statitistic” can´t hide this fact anymore.
In 2023 the number of violence crimes has increased (again): 8,6% more deeds.
41,2% offenders are non-Germans are foreigners:
https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/2460/umfrage/anteile-nichtdeutscher-verdaechtiger-bei-straftaten-zeitreihe/
Not included are the new “Germans” who got a fresh citizenship and also the ones living here as “Germans” for longer.
Additionally a lot of offenses of non-Germans are not prosecutes, here´s a case from today:
https://www.welt.de/vermischtes/kriminalitaet/article254551100/Berlin-Neukoelln-Vater-vor-den-Augen-seines-Kindes-zusammengeschlagen-Polizei-laesst-Verdaechtigen-frei.html
Nationalities are not added at German MSM, police is often not allowed to tell it also. But when reading “a group” offended s. o. experienced reader know, that in more than 90% these “groups” are not originally German ones.
This country is no more “at” it´s limits, it´s far over, not only concerning security: No more apartments at lower prices, health system costs are going through the roof (all refugees/immigrants get complete access after a rather short time without paying anything), more homeless and more poor Germans, German children a minority in public schools (where politicians don´t send theirs) not only in big cities but also less bigger ones, more well educated young Germans emigrating to other countries, not feeling home and safe here anymore…
Of course there are lots of nice, decent people immigrating here but a lot of them believe, they had a right to “revenge” by grooming, raping, stealing, even murdering “white”, “racist” Germans/Europeans. – Pseudo-“leftists” are encouraging this sight and are always trivializing deeds against Germans/Whites.
As Roger Boyd wrote, mass migration is a tool against the working (and I add: The “middle”) class.
In general it´s a globalist tool and weapon: It is destroying not only the “importing” countries/nations but also the “exporting” ones: Who will rebuild Syria, envelope African countries, defend all the other offended countries when there are only old people left?!?
With the growing warmongering by German politicians (*not* AfD ones!) the main goal for importing so many war experienced, ablebodied, young men seems to be clearer now: They are planned to be the further cannon fofdder against Russia, Iran, Syria, Palestine and so on…
And no: I´m not a racist but an ethnopluralist: Each nation should have the right to envelope it´s own culture, values and kind of living without being colonialized, exploited, threatened, blackmailed, manipulated by others. The multipolar world order is a big step in this direction: Only sovereign nations/countries together are able to defeat the globalist nightmare.
Personally I believe that the main sense of life is leaving the place where s. o. had been placed (by fate, god or coincidence – as you like) a little bit better and more beautiful as it had been when “arriving”.
Of course there are some neoliberal members at AfD: It had been originally founded by ex-CDU-members and additionally there are lots of deep state agents/”submarines” like in every other party which could become dangerous for the ruling class.
But especially the demonized Björn Höcke and the “Flügel”-part of the party are standing for “solidarischer Patriotismus” which means a kind of (real) leftist approach. And this part of the party will keep the upper hand.
– Die Neue Rechte/The new right is *not* Nazi, racist or fascist at all!
The most extremist warmongerers in Germany are members of CDU and with which party is Sahra Wagenknecht in negotiations for building coalitions? Guess!
Sorry, I´m so angry about the blatant globalist propaganda even at MoA (!) that my poor English is even poorer today.
Posted by: Blue Angel | Nov 16 2024 21:15 utc | 202
Posted by: Blue Angel | Nov 16 2024 21:15 utc | 201
I cannot speak for you and your surrounding, and who you have met and talked with, but all of those quotes were unfortunately real. After a couple beers people really start letting their feelings out… Nothing to do with MSM which I boycott (Habe noch nie die Rundfunkgebühren GEZahlt weil ich die Scheiße eh nicht konsumiere!)
You are in no position to call me, a traditional internationalist socialist, a pseudo-leftist. If you want to call Kipping and her gang of “Adopt-A-Revolution” “lefties” of the now completely irrelevant “Die Linke” pseudo-left, please be my guest, as *then* I would happily oblige. I however, am not a part of that crowd…
You seriously mean to say that the BfV and the BND and their statements of the AfD are also “pseudo-left”?
In your statista link, there is also the following:
“Dabei ist zu beachten, dass die Zahlen auch durch das Anzeigeverhalten der Bevölkerung beeinflusst werden und neben dem “Hellfeld” stets ein “Dunkelfeld” nicht erfasster Taten bleibt. Hinzu kommt, dass die Polizeiliche Kriminalstatistik keine Aussage darüber treffen kann, welchen Verlauf das bei den Justizbehörden in Gang gesetzte Verfahren nimmt, ob also letztendlich eine Verurteilung erfolgt. Es sind daher auch Fälle beinhaltet, in denen das Verfahren durch die Staatsanwaltschaft eingestellt wurde oder es zu einem Freispruch durch das Gericht gekommen ist.”
In other words, these statistics only show *reported* crimes but not the outcome of the court cases, meaning that within these statistics are cases where there have been guilty verdicts, but also cases being suspended by the prosecution or those resulting in acquittals.
Health care system. Yes. Why is it going worse here? It was already getting worse *before* the immigrant waves, because of chronic underfunding by the state. The healthcare workers have long worked in shitty conditions with shitty pay. (Wenn du meinst, du wärst früher mal “links” gewesen, dann müsstest du das auch wissen!) Hospitals are understaffed, because health care workers are much more eager to work in elsewhere, like Switzerland for example, because of the much better conditions. This is not originally the result of immigrants.
Anyone who is a resident in Germany and does not have a job, has to register at the Arbeitsagentur/Jobcenter, and will get the basic services. It used to be known as ALG2/Hartz IV (in the case of long time unemployed as well as immigrants), now known as Bürgergeld. Where is the problem with that? I am all for the state providing basic services. NO real leftist would have something against that.
You claim to be a (former) leftist, yet you claim that the aims of “the Flügel” and Höcke are actually a real leftist approach? Like Germany losing 20-30% of its population by getting everyone with a migration background to leave Germany? Sorry, Völkisch-National is never a leftist approach. Please. You are about as “left” as Höcke a communist.
Posted by: jure | Nov 16 2024 22:30 utc | 203
Posted by: Blue Angel | Nov 16 2024 21:15 utc | 201
Posted by: jure | Nov 16 2024 19:26 utc | 196
Thanks, Blue Angel. I was hoping that someone would give me the truth about how immigration is affecting Europe. From your description it seems like the picture I get from American media is not a distortion and that the truth is actually worse than I realized. I think jure is either lying about the real situation or else he/she is an elitist who lives in a safe area and doesn’t see the devastation caused by the policies they impose on the rest of Germany. It’s like the Elites here that have ravaged our economy and our society, but are safe and prosperous in their protected enclosures. If you asked them they would tell you that there’s no problem with immigration, until the governor of Texas sent a few bus loads of illegal immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard where Obama lives. Suddenly it was a crisis and was in the news for a few weeks until the authorities rounded them up and sent them back to the mainland.
The left/right alliances have broken down. Formerly the Republicans were the party of Big Business, bankers and military intervention, and the Democrats were the party of the working class, trade unions and the anti war movement. Now the Republicans under Trump have become more isolationist, much more the party of the working class and small business, still very traditionalist in terms of social structures and much more restrained in terms of military adventurism. At the same time the Democrats have become the party of Big Business, Wall Street, Big Pharma, radical social engineering (LGBT with a strong push to transition younger and younger children), and enthusiastically projecting American military power around the globe.
The deck has been completely reshuffled and Trump is leading the populist pro-America traditionalists who want to make deals with the world, and the Democrats (and the Never Trump Republicans) want to restructure American society and subjugate the world.
From your description it sounds like the same kind of reshuffling of European political alliances is going on there. May God spare us all from their ambitious designs.
Posted by: Paranaense | Nov 16 2024 23:12 utc | 204
Even the former founder of the AfD Hans-Olaf Henkel admits he created a monster. (Aber klar doch, alles nur MSM Pseudo-Links lüge oder wie?)
https://www.luzernerzeitung.ch/international/afd-grunder-hans-olaf-henkel-wir-haben-ein-monster-geschaffen-ld.1532692
Nichtsdestotrotz: Die Haltung Deutschlands ist auch eine Pflicht. Wenn sich am äussersten rechten Rand eine Kraft gefährlich bemerkbar macht, muss ihr Einhalt geboten werden. Die NSDAP wurde damals unterschätzt, das darf nicht zwei Mal passieren.
Da haben Sie völlig Recht – deshalb habe ich die AfD, die ich mitgegründet habe, auch verlassen. Die AfD ist eine rechtspopulistische, wenn nicht gar rechtsradikale Partei geworden.
Die es in einer jüngsten Umfrage schon auf 13 Prozent Wähleranteil schafft.
Mit der AfD haben wir ein Monster, eine NPD-light geschaffen. Die Partei wurde von intoleranten, unanständigen und unvernünftigen Personen übernommen. Deshalb habe ich und mit mir 6000 Personen die Partei verlassen. Nun setze ich mich zusammen mit AfD-Gründer Bernd Lucke in der Allianz für Fortschritt und Aufbruch (Alfa) ein. Nach dem Linksrutsch der Union und dem Rechtsrutsch der AfD ist neues Potential für eine Partei in der Mitte vorhanden – da wollen wir mit Alfa rein.
Sie haben den Rechtsrutsch der AfD mitverursacht, indem sie auch Leute mit zweifelhaften Absichten in ihre Reihen aufgenommen und gar um diese geworben haben, mit dem Ziel, möglichst schnell zu wachsen.
Ja, das stimmt. Wir haben es zu spät gemerkt, dass wir von diesen Rechtsradikalen unterwandert werden. Als wir es gemerkt haben, haben wir zu spät reagiert. Ich möchte aber erwähnen, dass die AfD in Umfragen unter 3 Prozent sank und klinisch tot war, als wir aus der Partei ausgetreten waren. Der einzige Grund, weshalb diese Partei wieder zum Leben erweckt wurde, hat mit der Flüchtlingspolitik von Frau Merkel zu tun. Die gewaltigen sozialen Verwerfungen im Land, die riesigen Kosten für Bund und Länder haben auch dazu geführt, dass wir in Deutschland heute mit der AfD eine rechtspopulistische Partei im Stile eines Front National von Marine Le Pen haben.
Posted by: jure | Nov 16 2024 23:37 utc | 205
Everything I write makes sense ten years later, or maybe it made sense ten years before…
https://textosandroides.blogspot.com/2015/04/un-pedazo-del-mundo.html
In a world that is no longer interested in hiding its inconsistencies, even the UN itself is becoming an empty shell.
More and more blatantly functional to power, more openly contrary to the purposes for which it was theoretically created.
It has long since stopped proposing solutions, much less talk about having any real power to put them into practice.
Beyond being witnesses, beyond a statistical account of the facts or situations, each section of the organization of nations only prepares the way for the hegemony of the dominant ones, and has therefore lost its credibility.
It is blurred, serving today, almost always, as a legal instrument, legitimizing the most atrocious invasions and genocides, silent or silenced in “distant” countries, “on the periphery,” “underdeveloped” or whatever they may be called according to this decadent vision of the planet as the undisputed property of the participants in the economic-arms race…
Today, when the emphasis is again placed on the human being, on the person, suddenly, there are hundreds of millions demanding respect, as the first step to any consensus, and that is eating away at the very foundations of the system, always fueled by submission, fear, coercion, blackmail, hypocrisy.
But what do we have to lose today, to keep quiet? There is no dignity left in a life that offers you Coca Cola in front of the television as a goal, to rest from a day where all profit was destined to buy and ensure our modern slavery.
Moving further and further away from violence, firmly betting on tolerance, diversity, solidarity and common respect, the leading social movements, scattered across the continent, pose a problem to the elites for which they do not know how to think of solutions, and they are losing more and more ground.
The danger for the supposed owners of the world is not wars. That is what they feed on!
The danger is peace, that instead of standing on the borders with their armies, the people erase them by walking together, that instead of bullets they sow seeds and instead of supermarkets that impose extravagant ways of life, they look around again, where almost everything can be done and produced…
With one’s own hands!
The danger is that they walk together, cooperatively, in solidarity, sharing information and experiences, restoring the disasters left by the same solutions.
There is nothing more dangerous than a person who smiles for free.
So from this concept, new intentions and new institutions are slowly being built in Latin America that do not owe their existence to the dominant power…
Will we see the birth of new institutions and new forms of international relations on a global level?
Everything is a reflection… Fragments and scraps among the chaos of this great explosion called the human race seem to disconnect from time to time from the great hegemony, from the power of money: we are changing.
Once on a wall of a house I read “…convert anger into thought to put thought into action” or something like that.
It was so many years ago, drifting along the roads, between tribes and caravans, always rescued by a sense, a broader thought than that of paying, consuming, working, discarding, and so on.
And when our eyes get used to accepting a reality other than the one they sell us, we realize that it was always there.
It will always be there.
We have the option in our hands every day. The lies and strategies of world power are not enough to cover it up.
Much more than just watching, we have the obligation to recover ground, from the inside out, from the spirit to what surrounds us, from the community to the weak threads that bind us to the economic center of the world, always for sale, of course.
Today may be the day when reestablishing our own vision is once again the goal, when we step back a centimeter from the path of others, to remember our own.
Towards the world, like a beacon, Latin America declares its rebellious independence, from the inside out, from what remains, from what never ceases to be.
Subdued only by the light of the sun, the peoples of today, aware of sharing an immense and complex common home, declare the land they tread as sisters and strive to protect a nature that is rapidly receding, as the only guarantee of peace, freedom, true development and life.
And are we in that, or not? The time has come to choose our path.
It is now, let it be serious.
Illuminating perspectives shared here tonight on the mass immigration that has taken place in all rules based order satraps. Thanks Roger Boyd and others.
The fact that this has been ramped up since 2020 and that concomitant imperial wars continued un-abated should give pause to the claim of a world wide threatening pandemic at the same time, But i digress.
In Canada, it appears to me that mass immigration is tied to economic opportunism. An attempt to inflate a balloon that is collapsing.
An immigrant i recently spoke with is on the hook for $8000.00 a semester at the local community college while he is working at several minimum wage jobs and under pressure to pass his exams. In a sense, it is a form of human exploitation. There have been suicides. Many of these working class people are under intense pressure from home to succeed.
Another immigrant told me that it use to be a low percent, those that chose to return after immigrating here but now it is an astounding fifty percent.
You seldom get the immigrant perspective.
Posted by: simon crow | Nov 17 2024 2:21 utc | 207
PS:
The economic opportunism referred to in the above comment translates to keeping the professional/managerial class gainfully employed so they don’t go apeshit like the rest of us.
Posted by: simon crow | Nov 17 2024 2:29 utc | 208
In the “Elections have consequences” thread, I posted a link to a satirical piece by Canadian satirical news site, The Beaverton, which I thought was a commentary (like, a leak from British intelligence?) about Trump:
Torontonians offer to let Doug Ford wear “Mayor” sash if he just leaves them alone
https://x.com/TheBeaverton/status/1856155590923259948
NYC, I thought? Then today the Daily Mail has an article: America’s ‘most hated mayor’ is blasted by fuming residents for radical policy
Excerpt
“In the spring, Johnson unveiled that he was seeking $70 million of taxpayer money to help some 38,000 migrants that have flooded the city.
The $70 million would add to the $150 million already set aside in the 2024 budget for the response to deal with the migrant problem.
At the time, Johnson briefed city council members on plans in April to push through the funds to keep the city’s response to helping migrants afloat.
The money would be used to help feed and house all of the migrants that have been brought to Chicago and its suburbs in the last 18 months.
But now appears tensions have reached boiling point as Johnson now wants an extra $300 million with none of the proceeds seemingly going to Chicagoans.”
The Daily Mail also has an article about an oarfish washing up on the coast of California: Rare ‘harbinger of doom’ is spotted off California coast
Excerpts:
“These bright, silvery and wide-eyed creatures live deep in the mesopelagic zone where there is extremely low light – making the appearance a very special moment.”
…
“’Rare encounters like this offer an incredible opportunity to learn more about this species and its behavior,’ he told NBC.
He suggested that changes in the conditions of the ocean could be one of the reasons but he noted that it could be linked to the shift from El Niño to La Niña.
‘This wash-up coincided with the recent red tide and Santa Ana winds last week but many variables could lead to these strandings,’ he said to Fox5.”
A pre-election article by The Beaverton (just posted) that could maybe be considered in conjunction with all the electricity Canada sends across the border (Trudeau was at APEC in Peru too):
Canada turns out all lights in hope US will think we’re not home
https://www.thebeaverton.com/2024/11/canada-turns-off-all-lights-in-hopes-us-will-think-were-not-home/
Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Nov 17 2024 10:18 utc | 209
If there is doubt in your mind why so much of different nations’ police forces have been trained and coached by israeli police and army,just watch this :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bw6lb2GDetY
Peaceful demonstrators put in buses and droven out of town to be heavily beaten by police in a deserted spot.
Posted by: willie | Nov 17 2024 10:30 utc | 210
@canuck | Sat, 16 Nov 2024 11:01:00 GMT | 169
Why Elon? It is a clear message to Iran that Trump is serious about engaging them diplomatically because he sent a guy that all of the world knows […]
Sounds plausible. He’s unlikely to get killed, like so many peace envoys before.
Posted by: persiflo | Nov 17 2024 10:34 utc | 211
@malenkov | Sat, 16 Nov 2024 13:49:00 GMT | 181
Most Marxists I know of would sympathize with both the illegal migrants and the American blue-collar workers, and emphasize that they have a common enemy in the bourgeoisie, especially the capitalists at the top.(1)
(2) I suppose some illegal immigration suppresses American wages, but of course only if employers break the law by giving them jobs. Illegal migrants who are paid in cash below the minimum wage don’t contribute meaningfully to wage suppression if the jobs in question are not ones that Americans want to or even are able to (because of the illegal wage offered) take.
Good point on (1), but wrong on (2) methinks. – The immigrants put lots of pressure on the job market (and here in Germany, on housing too), both by direct competition and by psychological fear of immiseration. This existential sorrow is harvested to control the people and the economy, to use it as an instrument to subjugate less productive countries, as Germany did notably to Greece.
Posted by: persiflo | Nov 17 2024 10:48 utc | 212
Oof!
Small yard.
Xinhua | Updated: 2024-11-17 05:20
LIMA — Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Saturday that “small yard, high fences” is not what a major country should pursue and only openness and sharing can advance the well-being of humanity.
Xi made the remarks during his meeting with US President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the 31st APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting in Lima, Peru.
https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202411/17/WS67390cada310f1265a1cdcd7.html
Posted by: too scents | Nov 17 2024 10:56 utc | 213
“Thanks for the Muir/Bailey clip, I didn’t know they played together.
As we are at it, here’s a tribute to Keith Tippett, 1947-2020, a jazz pianist in the environment of Team Fripp. In my youth I was a semi-professional jazz pianist myself, he was my biggest influence and I had the honor to once perform one of his avantgarde big band pieces with him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0i9dr7fDwM
Posted by: mk | Nov 15 2024 ”
wow! that’s wicked cool! Tippet has been a stand out for me on the KC albums he appeared on.
Someone mentioned the distinction between Fripp and Zappa. In terms of KC there is definitely some cross fertilization going on these days. In a very few I will be sitting in the front row before Steve Vai, and not too far from three other titans.
Did somebody mention Hanson?
that soulless spirit of death and destruction?
Completely disturbed to discover we shared more than a geographic proximity. His and my undergraduate experiences were ten years apart but the same as much as time would permit, right down to field quarter.
What a lowlife.
Posted by: Not Ewe | Nov 17 2024 11:27 utc | 214
“@canuck | Sat, 16 Nov 2024 11:01:00 GMT | 169
Why Elon? It is a clear message to Iran that Trump is serious about engaging them diplomatically because he sent a guy that all of the world knows […]
Sounds plausible. He’s unlikely to get killed, like so many peace envoys before.”
Posted by: persiflo | Nov 17 2024 10:34 utc | 211
Agreed.
Unfortunately, many ‘Intellectually Unwashed’ (TM) posters on MOA still believe Elon is Dr. Evil
Posted by: Blue Angel | Nov 16 2024 21:15 utc | 202 Insofar as globalism is a thing, it is the untrammeled rule of the market, which means banks, stock markets, a bewildering array of monetary funds, multinational corporations. As of now, the world economy is led by the US, which is by the way a specific nation. How can a genuine ethnopluralist object to America ruling the world, that would express their ethnicity, a legitimate goal of any country. Advocating the unity of workers with their own local ruling class in the name of a monolithic, purportedly traditional culture is racism, not a legitimate analysis. Calling it ethnopluralism is merely spin. Given the premises and their fundamental stupidity, I am skeptical of anything said by this commenter about the allegedly real conditions in Germany.
Posted by: steven t johnson | Nov 17 2024 16:11 utc | 216
Jack M has jut won his inaugural, “The Most Retarded Post I Have Read Today”.
“Don’t tell me that you also believe the photographer just managed the 1/5000 second chance of getting the bullet in the picture too?
Oh and Trump with a 2cm hole in his ear still produced a line of sneakers (as per the freemason tradition of kicking off his shoe) to be sold within 24 hours?
Do you know how much an ear actually bleeds? He had nothing on his shirt, just the stuff he smeared on his head.
Some people are cattle.”
Posted by: Jack M | Nov 15 2024 15:05 utc | 120
@jure: You´re right concerning underfunding of healthcare. This is resulting from moving it to the business sector completely.
I agree that there had been big problems before 2015 already. But they got even bigger when 1,5 to 2 million of users have been added without paying to the system and without adding personnel and available resources.
These business companies running hospitals today have to pay for security now additionally (and in the end the healthe insurance payers and tax payers have to pay for this measure also). I never saw security at hospitals 10 or 15 years ago, it had been a crazy idea then. Today it´s necessary and although there are many offends against nurses, doctors and other patients.
https://www.aerzteblatt.de/nachrichten/154466/Sorgen-wegen-zunehmender-Aggressivitaet-gegen-medizinisches-Personal
Steven t johnson, feel free to visit one of Germany´s cities by night and some of it´s train stations by day.
Posted by: Blue Angel | Nov 17 2024 19:53 utc | 218
Chinese tank defense system.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y244kditrx0&t=61s
Posted by: saner | Nov 17 2024 23:51 utc | 219