New post of s regarding biden’s dementia on the WSJ
https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/msm-quietly-acquits-itself-with-hushed
I mentioned the article (paywalled) and linked some useful dailymail articles at the time

Posted by: Newbie | Dec 25 2024 17:02 utc | 4

useless eaters vs useful assets
Exhibit B
American teachers vs Suharto [aka our kind of guy]
Who won ???
2001
two Americans were murdered by Indon’s notorious TNI troops, who framed Free Papua Movement (OPM) for the crime.
Here’s the catch….
Conn Hallinan,

A police report argued that the OPM “never attacks white people,” and found that the teachers were killed with an M-16, the TNI’s basic weapon. The OPM is generally armed with bows and arrows. Based on the investigation of the incident, then Police Chief of West Papua concluded that the TNI was behind the ambush.

Yet…
Washington dispatched Attorney General John Ashcroft and the FBI to ‘assist investigation’. override West Papua police chief,,,…

indicting self-described OPM “commander” Anth onius Wamang for the attack, even though the OPM says Wamang works for Kopassus. This past January, the FBI helped arrest Wamang and 11 other civilians, including a priest, a teenager and several farmers, for the murders.

Case closed !
Why ????

The arrests allowed the Bush adm inistration to clear Jakarta , declare Indonesia a “strategic partner,” and waive congressional restrictions on military aid. The latter will increase six-fold by 2007. Meanwhile, the TNI has poured troops and police into West Papua to crush demonstrations against Freepo rt and smother growing sentiment for an independent West Papua

Posted by: denk | Dec 25 2024 17:32 utc | 6

🇦🇿🇷🇺Another video with holes from striking elements in the body of the fallen Embraer. Literally a sieve.

https://t.me/intelslava/71737
Entry holes on one side, exit holes on the other …

Posted by: Norwegian | Dec 25 2024 17:47 utc | 8

@Newbie | Dec 25 2024 18:16 utc | 9
Don’t know, but videos show the plane was almost uncontrollable in the air. Very large up/down swings.

Posted by: Norwegian | Dec 25 2024 18:27 utc | 10

For the last month Democrat media people are constantly trying to figure out what went wrong. Van Jones has been getting a lot of coverage by saying the Democrats big mistake was in not taking to social media and gamers like Trump did. Democrats are agreeing with him, but they are just trying to keep from changing their fascist agendas by blaming a fake cause, see:
VAN JONES IS WRONG: DEMOCRATS LOST THE MANDATE OF HEAVEN

Posted by: kana | Dec 25 2024 18:43 utc | 12

The reactors look all right. The ups and downs mean problems with the rudder.
https://t.me/rvvoenkor/83347

Posted by: Naive | Dec 25 2024 19:04 utc | 14

Ok, just took a better look at the news, apparently grozny had bad fog, they asked alternate landing airport, many russian airports were closed due to drone attacks so they headed west to land where they fell.
Two explosins heard and comments about birds and engine problems so… they’re heading to the new airport, birds enter the engine (plenty and/or heavy birds) motor explodes and sends shrapnel to the rear, what we see in the movie. They can’t hold the flight to the airport and do a hard landing … possible
Posted by: Newbie | Dec 25 2024 18:39 utc | 11
Since when does bad fog not allow to land?
If that is the reason (?), the plane had to return to Baku the distance being the same but for 30 km. Instead to land in a third country where likely nobody had relationships.

Posted by: Naive | Dec 25 2024 19:25 utc | 16

@ Norwegian | Dec 25 2024 17:01 utc | 3
thanks… i see russia is claiming it was a terrorist attack on the downed ship off of spain as well..

Posted by: james | Dec 25 2024 19:58 utc | 18

james | Dec 25 2024 19:58 utc | 18
They also claim there were three explosions. Just off Gibraltar as well

Posted by: Stonebird | Dec 25 2024 20:30 utc | 20

The crash of the Embraer 190 passenger plane of Azerbaijan Airlines, which occurred on December 25, 2024 at Aktau airport, is acquiring new details. Aviation experts are considering the version that the plane could have been shot down from the ground. This hypothesis emerged against the background of studying the damage to the skin and the testimony of surviving passengers, as well as in the context of the aggravated situation in the region.
The plane, en route from Baku to Grozny, was diverted to Aktau after the crew reported technical problems. Shortly before the crash, the pilots transmitted a distress signal, reporting a strong impact on the airframe. Initially, it was assumed that the cause could have been a bird strike or an oxygen tank explosion, but further analysis revealed damage characteristic of impact with shrapnel. This damage raised suspicions of a possible attack from the ground.
Surviving passengers confirm that explosions were heard on board. One of them, Subhonkul Rakhimov, said:
“The third time, something exploded. I wouldn’t say it was inside the plane. Where I was sitting, the skin next to me flew off.”
Another passenger, Zaur Mamedov, mentioned a couple of explosions, and another eyewitness noted that after one of them the cabin was littered with shrapnel.
This version is given special significance by the information that the plane was supposed to land in Grozny. On the same day, a drone attack was recorded in the capital of Chechnya, which could have influenced the decision to divert the flight to Kazakhstan. The similarity between the damage on the Embraer’s skin and traces of striking elements characteristic of anti-aircraft missiles and striking elements of drones also increases suspicions.
There were 67 people on board, of whom 28 survived, including several children. The victims are in serious condition and are being treated at the Aktau regional hospital. Russian, Kazakh and Azerbaijani authorities are jointly investigating to establish the exact cause of the disaster.
Experts point out that the attack theory requires thorough verification, including analysis of flight recorders and aircraft wreckage. If it is confirmed that the Embraer 190 was shot down, it would be a significant international incident that could increase tensions in the region.
Подробнее на: https://avia-pro.net/news/razbivshiysya-v-aktau-samolyot-mog-byt-sbit-s-zemli

Posted by: Norwegian | Dec 25 2024 21:14 utc | 22

In the wake of a WSJ exposé devastatingly detailing the devastation between Joe Biden’s ears, Breitbart responds today with hard evidence of DJT’s startling lucidity, as he daringly expands all expositional conventions while declaring war on Panama and Canada:

“Merry Christmas to all, including to the wonderful soldiers of China, who are lovingly, but illegally, operating the Panama Canal (where we lost 38,000 people in its building 110 years ago), always making certain that the United States puts in Billions of Dollars in ‘repair’ money, but will have absolutely nothing to say about ‘anything,’” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
Trump continued, saying, “Also, to Governor Justin Trudeau of Canada, whose Citizens’ Taxes are far too high, but if Canada was to become our 51st State, their Taxes would be cut by more than 60%, their businesses would immediately double in size, and they would be militarily protected like no other Country anywhere in the World. Likewise, to the people of Greenland, which is needed by the United States for National Security purposes and, who want the U.S. to be there, and we will.”

Panama and Canada — is there a pattern here? Possibly an aversion to names with too many a’s? One advantage Canada would have (over, say, Puerto Rico) in becoming our great nation’s 51st state (besides, you know, the obvious): Canadians can spell their homeland using only three letters: C eh? N eh? D eh?
I know, I’ve shared that howler before. But I solemnly promise, here and now, not to repeat it again this year.

Posted by: Aleph_Null | Dec 26 2024 0:18 utc | 24

[…] There is no “beam in my eye”. […]
Posted by: Philly | Dec 25 2024 12:20 utc | 256
Thank you for admitting that’s all there is to you.
Posted by: Arctaroll | Dec 25 2024 12:46 utc | 260
Arctaroll’s obsessive fixation on ‘Philly,’ while blatantly ignoring the sustained and coordinated trolling attacks, underscores the sheer fragility of their accusations. This deliberate evasion exposes not only their lack of credibility but also the disingenuous nature of their entire pretense from the outset. I have zero tolerance for two-faced individuals and false pretenses. Kudos to Philly and others here for exposing the abusive, weak-minded bullies who relentlessly infest this forum.

Posted by: just in | Dec 26 2024 1:17 utc | 26

The phonographs of hades in the brain.
Are tunnels that re-wind themselves,and love
A bunt match skating in a urinal.
Heart Crane
The Tunnel

Posted by: Middle-man | Dec 26 2024 2:13 utc | 28

Longish read in its entirety.
May be of interest to some barflies.
Excerpts and link below.
—
On Optimism: A Chant of Darkness
Dec 2024
Cynthia Chung
“Then came Love, bearing in her hand

The torch that is the light unto my feet,

And softly spoke Love: “Hast thou

Entered into the treasures of darkness?

Has thou entered into the treasures of the night ?”
– A Chant of Darkness (an excerpt of the poem by Helen Keller)

To answer such a question we will look at one of the unlikeliest of individuals, or so you may think, Helen Keller.
Helen Keller was born June 27, 1880…
Helen described her first realisation that there was such a thing as language as an immediate connection, an immediate understanding that there was such a thing as thoughts, which required the use of language to not only communicate with others but with ourselves in the form of inner dialogue…
Helen is describing here that her first realisation, her first understanding of love was not through a physical act of love, for ex. a warm hug, a tender caress, kiss on the cheek, pat on the head, etc, but rather, through her ability to conceptualise love as an abstract idea, through her teacher’s emphasis on the process of thought. Only when Helen understood love as something all encompassing and yet something that could not be touched, did she have an understanding of the most profound form of love, like “invisible lines stretched between my spirit and the spirits of others.“…
Keller makes the point that our mind, even a mind immersed in silent darkness is unconquerable and embraces the universe as it is, that is, the organizing of understanding within the mind is akin to a universal understanding, an understanding based in natural law. Our minds were shaped by natural law and thus we are its adherents.
“Man looks within himself and in time finds the measure and the meaning of the universe.“
Thus, with this understanding, evil is not something that exists exterior to us but rather, exists within us, it represents the struggle between ignorance and wisdom, and this struggle is always a spiritually painful one, for we feel that a part of us must die for the other part to grow. To know evil is to know this struggle and if one is successful in conquering it, one cannot help but become an optimist in consequence: “The very evil which the poet supposed would be a cruel disillusionment is necessary to the fullest knowledge of joy. Only by contact with evil could I have learned to feel by contrast the beauty of truth and love and goodness…”

https://cynthiachung.substack.com/cp/152053188

Posted by: suzan | Dec 26 2024 3:42 utc | 30

@36
Some nice insight by Helen Keller.
Thanks.

Posted by: Middle-man | Dec 26 2024 4:23 utc | 32

Carter gave away the Panama canal. Trumps says bad deal. Kind of like Crimea? Well just have vote on it like Crimea. Like Dombass. wait no…?
The one difference between clown team blue and clown team blue is clown team blue wants China as security state partner.
Panama cutting deals with China. WE decides who cuts deals with who. Yanukovich discovered this. Blue team Russia the devil China good. Red team in Russia bad China the devil. MEMO; CC global south. As of Jan 20 China is the devil. Not allowed. Infrastructure deals between sovereign nations subject to review. It is hereby decreed Panama is a devil free zone. THe devil is subject to bombing without future notice.
The USA just keeps on screwing itself out of participation in the multi polar world. Diplomacy via bombs.
Bomb Cuba for BRICs membership? What sane nation would not want to participate in BRICs?
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/12/23/politics/panama-canal-history-trump/index.html

Posted by: Fred | Dec 26 2024 4:55 utc | 34

10 year stuck above 4% – last price 4.619%
those interest rates equals 30-35% of Federal Income devoted to paying Interest on federal debt in 2025. expect a brutal series of budget battles from February to April.
De-Dollarization brings peace

Posted by: exile | Dec 26 2024 5:20 utc | 36

Upon reflection
War, exiting the primitive brain
back to the stone-age
to remember what has been forgotten

Posted by: Middle-man | Dec 26 2024 6:40 utc | 38

Russia must target england because this cold war -like the one before- is being started by england for the benefit of english race only-.it is race war between the english parasite race versus the rest of the world-the sooner the rest of the world realizes that better it is for the world.
Sam | Dec 26 2024 0:26 utc | 119

England has been conquered in 1649 so it could not be “for the benefit of english race”.
Try again. You can do better.

Posted by: 2+2=5 | Dec 26 2024 8:59 utc | 40

2+2=5 | Dec 26 2024 8:51 utc | 45
“It took me seventy years to understand that common sense is a gift. Not that everyone has it. Same as being tall, good looking, strong or being talented for this or that.”
****
It took me eighty years to realise that it is a bit too late for “this or that”.

Posted by: Stonebird | Dec 26 2024 9:45 utc | 42

Indeed, the one – that one/something IS – is the essence of spiritual mystery. It just IS, right there and right now. The stream of consciousness is the primordial foundation to all so-called ‘reality’; and whoever likes to claim otherwise shall accept the challenge to show prove on this ideation, by presenting the constructive solution of the body/mind riddle, a.k.a. ‘the hard problem of consciousness’ in the yellow pages of current philosophy – “given x, what is the function f(x) which gives the quale of redness?” where I am mercyful enough to supply an example where x actually corresponds (more or less) to a measurable variable, the frequency of light. How about strawberry ice cream, kindness in a person, or Schadenfreude?
Pro tip: forget about it. Instead, it could be worth pondering if Buddhist contemplative practice may actually be able to let you realize a state of emptyness, but technically it’s a paradox, and fittingly not many people claim to have experienced that kind of, well, notion. “Nothing amounts to Nothing” is obviously an incorrect statement, however stated emphatically [jukebox Darkthrone – Command], and the faculty that lends us the onetherefore takes logical precedence over all attempts at “dissect/disassemble and reassemble” theories of, uhm everything. Try “Goedel, Escher, Bach” for a start, or Stephen Wolfram’s folly titled “A New Kind of Science” to get a sense of the cultural drive behind the notion; one that is very well known by everyone else to shape anglophone epistemology up until this day. See nominalism for a buzz- and keyword, and if you happen to be in Glasgow, gently provide a copy of Kants Kritik to David Hume’s statue – hope dies last, as they say./s
The Oneness riddle is timeless and not solvable by anything that resorts to a causal kind of logic. Mathematics itself disallows the idea. There are no less than three independent, immediately conclusive arguments for that, which I shall not discuss, but merely name: Poincaré’s theorem on deterministic chaos, Goedel’s theorem on incompleteness of formal systems, and the property of quantum ‘probability wave’ mechanics known as the Heisenberg principle.
I shall, rather, quote Leopold Kronecker with his famous opinion, to this day part of every young mathematician’s introductory lectures: “God made the integers, all else is the work of man”. – Of course, that is about the One. For one, one plus one plus etc. will provide you with an image of the integers, formally and otherwise – as Wittgenstein noted, imagine walking an alley and counting the trees wayside (FWIW, if that alley is infinite, the number of trees on the wayside equals Aleph Null). The applicabilty of this idea, as in “one beer, and one beer, and etc” is a Lebenswelt abstraction, from where we fully close the circle now concerning this here argument. Maths is an ideation, not the secret whispers of God, his creation, or the notional principle behind it (logos).
Here are some synonymic expressions to further your associative field in this direction: an epiphany, a metanoia, a metamorphosis; the new, the novel, the unforeseen, the unknown, the incoceivable, and, strikingly, the unknown unknown: the terra incognita, the aoristos dyas, the Schrödinger wave; spontaneity (often especially pronounced in a Thou); synthesis, also in the formation of ideas – from a plausible excuse about last night to Dirac’s Delta Distribution, mathematical proves, or winning strategies in chess. There is much more to think and re-think going with this angle … but I think I shall get me yet another grog, this christmas stuff is tasty. My next comment’s surely gonna be the BINGO revelation, and <

Posted by: persiflo | Dec 26 2024 13:18 utc | 44

Done with the feasting?
I’m stuffed. And still have leftovers.
Well it’s St Stephen’s Day.
For some early Christian’s and Boxing Day for the latter ones.
I’ll leave it for you to look up who what when etc.
he was the ‘first’ martyr – from Jerusalem
Now there are daily hundreds across the Levant and Syria.
Not to be confused with the Hungarian king Stephen also made a saint.
There was also the weird Irishy ‘Wren’ day when the tin songster bird was killed and tied to a stick and some kids dressed as straw boys went wandering around the hood …
But ‘Boxing’ Day ???
Right – go figure it. It seems like a complete invention of the Victorian era of Alms giving; of keeping the household servants faithful by giving them leftovers and cast outs of the families they serve.
Which ties in with the commercialism of Santa Claus – Red as the Coca Cola label that invented it – and the ensuing days of ‘sales’ – which were massive n the U.K. until Covid lockdowns. Now smeared into black Friday and online monopolies.
Aw shucks feel really valued by getting my castoff and dogs dinners in a box.
It makes me love my masters and betters ever more and makes me want to die for them.
Like a good doggy.
Wood woof 🐶
Now the lines have been levelled in west Asia – let the main course begin!
It seems to have started with the sinking at the pillars of Hercules- pretty much where our British forces from Gibraltar attack ships from …
How do this dominoes fall? The suez gets corked pretty quickly in retaliation and the naval battles move to the Atlantic convoys?
Subs (drones too) against cargo carriers?
Brittania sinks under the waves that we somehow still believe we Rule!! But of course we hide behind the US carrier groups … they will all leave a further environmental oil stain, even some nuclear engines, oh the feast of Stephen is gearing up.

Posted by: DunGroanin | Dec 26 2024 13:46 utc | 46

Coming invasion of Venezuela. US building military base on the Galapagos. Diego Garcia of the West.

Posted by: ChatET | Dec 26 2024 13:56 utc | 48

@51
Thanks for the well worded
gracious thought
Thanks to Bernhard for providing an
area where thought can play.

Posted by: Middle-man | Dec 26 2024 15:05 utc | 50

Asks Gruff,
It strikes me as bizarre that supposedly intelligent people have difficulty with the concept [of 1 cat]. How is it that the symbol for numerical uniqueness seems so obvious and self-contained to me, while others cannot seem to get past ”I [wank] therefore I am”?
and I will attempt at an answer, directed at Gruff and the wankers, while i reckon it will be difficult to get some sense across; for one rason exactly btw./s
Directing one’s attention is a matter of fact for those who experience a stream of consciousness; Husserl calls it the intentionale Bewusstsein. It is also characterized by memory, imagination and meta-cognition; while all levels are more or less ordered along terms of speech (Begriffe), which act in some sense like a library catalogue here. Most students’ library has an entry and register for Pythagoras’ theorem (the famous one about rectangular triangles), and those of you whose register is readily extracted from memory now, on clue, will have no difficulty to imagine one of those triangles and the algebraic properties it’s got. Others may find a blind entry, or an indecipherable register, but that’s beside the point. The weird thing is that any mathematician or school teacher, or otherwise capable person, will be itching to pick up a piece of chalk now, ready to exclaim for all the barflies what the theorem is about, which is [now they’re drawing it to the wall] … a rectangular triangle! — “Of course that’s a friggin ~ M’am; no, we don’t have to measure this specimen here first to check if the theorem really applies, etc etc.” at which point the cats are starting to shake their heads in disbelieve. But seriously, this is how it is done to this day, in schools, in universities, in formal logic, and even in applied sciences, where the rectangle has some actual meaning beyond its being an idea (or concept/ notion/ imagination/ Vorstellung/ …) —
it’s the same with oneness and its numerical. If one couldn’t think about 1 thing and not the other – and this even applies to the wankers as they think, okay, one more petit mort will be just fine! – one wouldn’t have much to reason about anyway; but having some whatever thought AS A THOUGHT in your mind resides on a level of meta-cognition, of “awareness of awareness” (Aristotle), and there, in the layer where imagination, memory, idea, halucination etc lives, it may be more or less clear, vivid, apparently colourful, stable, and all manner of other quirky things that happen to our and other folks’ thoughts.
To recap, a clear notion of Pythagoras’ theorem will allow people like me, Gruff, Bemildred or Bernhard to easily proceed with a chalk drawing of a triangle, or even without actually drawing it at all, to discuss this or that algebraic equality. Other people will have difficulties to imagine 72 Huris, a two-forked tongue, an infinite alley, the number of their own warring party at the gates of Troy (apparently a true story), a 9/8 bar metrum in music, how many pairs of shoes they own, the current mileage of their car, the wife’s birthday, their own IQ, and even how many beers they’re going to order next – “all”, says Chuck Norris, and pays for them too. However, even he … uhm … well, I’d at least challenge him to draw a rectangular triangle with a piece of chalk or whatever material (sensory-related) object of my experience he’s going to use.
Oneness is simple, but only if you don’t think much about it. That may be lazy, or that may be because your abstract and notional handling of the concept and its related problems in the Lebenswelt are sufficiently clear to you that all handling runs automatically (unless disturbed).
[juke box] Ermöbel – Fahler als nur Fahl (Procul Harum cover, ‘paler than pale’)

Posted by: persiflo | Dec 26 2024 15:30 utc | 52

RE the plane. Intended airport(s) under drone attack and the plane was hit with air defense missile(s). Flew back across the caspian with no hydraulics. Tried to go straight in for landing at airport but didn’t line up and had to go around and on 2nd attempt almost made hard landing but crashed instead. What a cluster

Posted by: natrat | Dec 26 2024 15:43 utc | 54

Pro tip: forget about it.
@ persiflo | Dec 26 2024 13:18 utc | 50
I appreciate your interest in the subject of oneness, but you adopt a tone I find insufferably condescending — tellingly, an exact match of the tone adopted by LW in Tractatus. It could be there’s something to think about in that ragged old tract (which LW himself disowned, as we know). But his writing style is the pinnacle of obnoxiousness, to my egalitarian sensibilities. I carry (innately, perhaps) this theory that ordinary humans are capable of thinking, while jerks like LW (and ardent fans modeling his attitude) shout “LEAVE THINKING TO THE PROS” in all caps, usually in the subtext. It’s might be ironic that I can’t stand such a tone, as the lessons of a lifetime demonstrate that most people never bother to think. Not very much.
Clearly, there’s no evidentiary basis for my faith in the capacity of ordinary humans for thinking deeply, but that’s exactly where I part company with the self-styled “pros” of reasonable discourse.
I’m trying to make a point about the vital importance of style in matters philosophical. Nothing illustrates this principle more vividly than the example of Henry Giroux, who seems to have been appointed by circumstance as some kind of expert on critical pedagogy. One of my dearest “gurus” is the (multnational) Brazilian credited with originating the educational ideas of critical pedagogy, Paulo Freire.
Warning, this is a link to something shockingly grotesque:
https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/12/06/rethinking-paulo-freire-and-postcolonialism-in-the-age-of-disposability/
I’m okay with the subject matter, I’m Freire’s biggest fanatic. My understanding of critical pedagogy is rudimentary, never having actually had a job as an educator. The gist seems quite simple to me: Teaching is a two-way street; free flow of ideas between teacher-student and student-teacher. Critical Pedagogy is the concerted opposite of the standard “piggy bank” model, in which the teacher (another jerk like LW) deposits precious bits of wisdom through the slot in the child’s head.
Nothing could be simpler, right? Henry Giroux is manifestly the last person on Earth who can usefully share an understanding of critical pedagogy, as his literary style is an incredible cartoon caricature of foggy academic bloat. OMG so bad! Every noun, verb, or modifier tripled for effect. There are dozens of passages illustrating the kind of ROFL academese I’m talking about in the linked essay. I won’t roll them out here. Someone might be trying to eat breakfast.

Posted by: Aleph_Null | Dec 26 2024 16:27 utc | 56

”I mentally masturbate, therefore I am!”?
Posted by: William Gruff | Dec 26 2024 13:54 utc | 53
I usually read these threads from the bottom backwards and it didn’t take me long to see what you meant. Good grief.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Dec 26 2024 17:26 utc | 58

Sweet MSM
Saying that the plane was hit over grozny by a Pantsir-S air defence system from the Naursky district
Distance 45km (aprox)
57E6 range 18kms
Furthermore they are annular blast fragmentation pattern AD, we’d expect bigger tears, not as many smaller ones
Now we have new physics in AD missiles as well, 3 times the range and changed shrapnel pattern. 😀
If anyone cares for a link on the “news” I can post (or you can check on daily mail) for the comments on range an pattern check the 57E6 AD missile type.
I am not an expert so if I said something wrong, and you know better, feel free to correct.

Posted by: Newbie | Dec 26 2024 17:40 utc | 60

Posted by: Aleph_Null | Dec 26 2024 16:27 utc | 62
Lovely post, Aleph! I first wanted to argue about this:-

Clearly, there’s no evidentiary basis for my faith in the capacity of ordinary humans for thinking deeply, but that’s exactly where I part company with the self-styled “pros” of reasonable discourse.

My argument: But …but… clearly there IS evidentiary basis. First reading my freshman year in college — Plato’s ‘Meno’!
In an argumentiary dialogue with the sophist Meno, Socrates, in attempting to ascertain a definition of virtue, (What that is in its essence) takes a by-road to explore the very capacity you describe. Here I can do no better a description than that of Edith Hamilton, the editor of the collected translations I have at hand, [my bold ahead]:

…The two agree to try seriously to find out what virtue is in its essential nature. Socrates thinks … “that the soul of man is immortal. At one time it comes to an end and at another is born again, but is never finally exterminated.” …

This, as far as it goes, is merely belief, but the proof that the soul of every healthy human has this innate capacity is in the demonstration that follows. Socrates takes one of Meno’s slaveboys and by means of questions about the relationships between squares and triangles is able to have the boy correct an erroneous geometrical assumption, using his own innate powers of observation.
Aleph: “… Teaching is a two-way street; free flow of ideas between teacher-student and student-teacher…”
Me: Yes!! I was so very fortunate back in the day to study with professors who themselves were often learning our subjects for the first time, or if they were not, were using Plato’s own method of asking questions to uncover what both students and teacher did (or did not) understand about the subject at hand. My college education consisted mainly of reading and dialogue — something, incidentally, that can happen in these open forums as well.
(Trolls are those who don’t do this, to my mind, but rather attempt to attack and circumvent. Be warned: when it is a subject worth discussion, they do come out of the woodwork.)

Posted by: juliania | Dec 26 2024 17:51 utc | 62

Woops – “Freire”, sorry!

Posted by: juliania | Dec 26 2024 18:22 utc | 64

Wow, China’s new stealth bomber might be a game changer – its huge has large weapons and fuel capacity – so it can loiter high up in the atmosphere over a target for a long time.
https://www.twz.com/air/china-stuns-with-heavy-stealth-tactical-jets-sudden-appearance

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Dec 26 2024 18:30 utc | 66

Now this is a surprise, as the US Republicans (via a vote) shut down the (GEC) Global Engagement Centre – which was responsible for a large amount of propaganda stories, abroad and domestically in the US – it was funded last year, to the tune of $61million dollars.
The (GEC) has been pumping out US propaganda since 2016 – and even the UK’s Institute for Statecraft utilised the (GEC) to pump out its propaganda via operative groups known as clusters.

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Dec 26 2024 18:32 utc | 68

Interesting article.
This is the man who fundamentally altered Adam Smith’s widely accepted definition and limits on capitalism and changed it to the bastardised form we know today.
Milton Freidman was a devout Zionist of Ukrainian heritage whose economic vision of capitalism was embraced by Reagan and Thatcher
Over time it screws the workers and eventually the middle classes to the point where those people reach out to any alternative that is NOT the version of capitalism (Miltonian capitalism) that we have now. It can lead to revolution and/or to the embrace of populist politicians on both the right and left of the political spectrum.
Miltonian Capitalism is inherently unstable and powered exclusively by the greed of the top 1% of the world’s most wealthy individuals.
Elon Musk’s backing for Trump is not because he wants that system overthrown – the current system generates billions of dollars for him. Instead he seeks to control and influence how far any correction to that corrupt system impacts on his own wealth because Musk recognises the clock is ticking on Miltonian capitalism.
People all over the West, where Miltonian capitalism operates, have had enough, especially since Nato recently signaled it was now coming after your pensions and benefits to instead fund additional military spending.
That additional spending on weapons is deemed necessary, not to ward off some artificially created foe in the East but to make sure the wealthy power elites have the resources to defend themselves against the very real prospect of internal revolution when the populist politicians, who offer a change from the status quo, ultimately fail to deliver, as is likely.
Big changes are coming and we have Friedman to thank.

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Dec 26 2024 18:35 utc | 70

A couple of points here – if the countries that help fund the WFP stopped wasting billions on aid to the Neo-Nazi dictatorship in Ukraine it might reach its target – also some of the countries that help with UN funding – should also stop aiding and abetting in a genocide – and just as important the head of the (WFP) World Food Programme, Cindy McCain, must stop attending IDF fund raising events – especially after the IDF fired on the UN’s WFP agency teams in Gaza.
“The UN has fallen short of its fundraising goals, even as the number of people affected by famine and starvation continues to grow, according to Reuters. Over 100 million people around the world will not receive necessary humanitarian aid next year, according to the global body.
UN estimates indicate that fundraising for next year may be enough to cover 60% of those in need, leaving approximately 117 million out in the cold. Up to 307 million people worldwide will need humanitarian aid in 2025, the UN has estimated, up from 282 million in 2023, the agency reported on Tuesday.
The UN managed to raise only 46% of the $49.6 billion it has sought for the humanitarian aid budget in 2024, missing the target for the second year in a row. This has reportedly forced agencies such as the World Food Program (WFP) to cut rations and restrict eligibility criteria.”

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Dec 26 2024 18:38 utc | 72

Kirillov, was murdered by terrorists – because he exposed the USA’s Bio-Labs in Ukraine Kirillov handed in, report after report on them to the UN – and the US found it increasingly difficult to counter the reports – so they had the source of the reports murdered using proxy terrorists from U.
Now the US has focused its Eye of Sauron (with regards to Bio-weapons labs to Africa, and there a concerted effort by Russia and China to counter these bio-labs – there are eighteen African countries – where US (CDC) labs are currently functioning, these labs are capable of producing bio-weapons; Djibouti, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, Zambia, South Africa, and Guinea – are among some of the countries involved.

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Dec 26 2024 18:40 utc | 74

The contrast – between how Westminster sees Putin and Netanyahu is stark, to say the least.
“Whitehall’s weak reaction to ICC arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant stands in contrast to the exertions it made towards the former Yugoslavia and, more recently, Russia.
When the ICC announced an arrest warrant for Russian ruler Vladimir Putin in March 2023, the UK increased funding to the organisation and hosted an international conference in London.
“The ICC plays a vital role in global efforts to end impunity for war crimes”, the UK Ministry of Justice said.
A year earlier the UK had galvanised a group of governments to refer Russian atrocities in Ukraine to the ICC to enable it to proceed straight to an investigation – a process known as ‘state party referral’.”
https://www.declassifieduk.org/good-and-bad-war-criminals/

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Dec 26 2024 18:43 utc | 76

Salome Zourabichvili – the French born Georgian former President of Georgia – and well known Western puppet – she refuses to stand down from office, Zourabichvili, has supported and called for more unrest following the Georgian Dream Party’s victory earlier this year.
The French citizen’s term in office expires on Sunday, when former Manchester City player Mikhail Kavelashvili – is set to be inaugurated, as the new president.
Zourabichvili – the ever obedient Western puppet spewed lies with these words – maybe she’s hoping the Georgian army will overthrow the democratically elected PM of Georgia.
”I remain loyal to the country, to the constitution, on which I made an oath six years ago,” the outgoing president told her supporters during a rally on Sunday evening. “I am also loyal to the army, which in its turn is loyal to the partners who created, armed and strengthened the Georgian Army. I am and will remain its commander-in-chief.”

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Dec 26 2024 18:45 utc | 78

Yeah – In Trumps Xmas message – he goes after the non-existent Chinese soldier in Panama – he’ll definitely go after Panama and its canal next year.

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Dec 26 2024 18:48 utc | 80

james | Dec 25 2024 19:58 utc | 18
*** i see russia is claiming it was a terrorist attack on the downed ship off of spain as well.. ***
Not to worry, Putin will make a complaint to the UN, and the top people there will struggle to suppress their giggles.
Meanwhile a former Russian president who let Libya be illegally destroyed will sound quite annoyed and perhaps even get a bit of media coverage, but nothing will be done.
All just whatever number of very clever dimensions it always is chess, you see…

Posted by: Cynic | Dec 26 2024 18:54 utc | 82

Ashkelon refinery what it hit or not?

Posted by: canuck | Dec 26 2024 19:14 utc | 84

@ Cynic | Dec 26 2024 18:54 utc | 88
things are different then when libya was destroyed, but i get your point… you’ve name reflects your thinking.. i can be this way too..

Posted by: james | Dec 26 2024 19:14 utc | 86

@69
Your last sentence
transfixed my disposition.
true for me.

Posted by: Middle-man | Dec 26 2024 19:58 utc | 88

Aleph_null @22
If they are so stupid and worthless, would you please send me one for free?!

Posted by: E | Dec 26 2024 21:14 utc | 90

@97
So Arminia is out of the Council? No big deal.
Thanks for the timely info.

Posted by: Middle-man | Dec 26 2024 22:58 utc | 92

The plane from Baku that crash landed in Kazakhstan had numerous entry holes in the body. Not really what you would expect from a flock of birds
Posted by: Norwegian | Dec 25 2024 17:01 utc | 3
———————————————————————————
Maybe they run into a flock of em ducks with depleted uranium beaks, which have been seen flying Shenoble….

Posted by: Ed | Dec 26 2024 23:48 utc | 94

“…says the guy who hasn’t bothered to read any of it. Maybe you should read it before you try to refute it?”
Posted by: Paranaense | Dec 26 2024 23:36 utc | 349
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Why should I? Did you read anything that I posted? All atheists who have been around for a while know about CS Lewis. If they haven’t read him, they read about him and his apologetics, which often comes up in debates. Lewis was one of the smartest anti-Atheist apologists of his time because he was once an atheist himself. He and Freud were once in agreement about atheism. Lewis also debated Antony Flew, an atheist who converted to Christianity, as did Lewis. I still have one of Anthony’s books, a hardcover of “A Dictionary of Philosophy.”
You may think CS Lewis walks on water (excuse the pun), but that is because you believe in unprovable things that cannot be seen or verified (i.e., faith). I only withhold judgment until better evidence based on justified true beliefs is available. I would never consider having heart surgery by someone who never went to medical school but had faith that God would guide him through the process.
This is carried over from the Ukriane thread.

Posted by: Ed | Dec 27 2024 1:04 utc | 96

Although they seem the same, the content always appears different with Lavrov’s many news conferences during the year. All are important, but some have more weight than others, and that’s the case here, “Lavrov’s Annual Year-end International Presser,” https://karlof1.substack.com/p/lavrovs-annual-year-end-international
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On the video posted at Martyanov’s I saw last night, there were numerus exit holes showing explosion from within the fuselage. It’s here.

Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 27 2024 1:34 utc | 98

Chang

If the Chinese are behind the drone sighting, shows how arrogant they are, it means war is close’
blah blah blah
The CIC chief responsibility is to protect gringo from foreign attack

You mean like the LIberty ?
People keep citing the Liberty case as if its some special relationship bet Tel Aviv/Washington
The tail wagging the dog blah blah blah.
BS
Washington operates a Murder Incorporated franchise.
Israel is just one member of the teflon club, licensed to kill, anglo/gringo included,.
Just ask the Balibo five.

Posted by: denk | Dec 27 2024 1:58 utc | 100