Exile@1441 March 21
“Car free” might make sense to urbanites/some suburbanites and suchlike cramped-in folks. No arguments there. However, tell that to the average rural, small village Americans and you would be asking for trouble. One size does NOT fit all.
Posted by: aristodemos

EVeryone is free to make their own mobility choices. Just saying that Car Dependency is a complete hassle and inconvenient, plus an insane money drain.
I live car free in a rural mountainous area. It’s ultra low density farmland, mostly dairy farming. The pedal assist make makes it possible and most liberating. I never thought it possible too until during Corona Lockdowns tried it. Now my D/L has expired and I’m never going back.

Posted by: exile | Mar 22 2025 6:18 utc | 204

The redacted JFK files release is used on European alt media to say that yeah Trump is teaching them a lesson blabla..all cia…coz JFK didnt want Isr to get nuclear weapons…Oswald was cia etc.
While in fact a search for “Oswald” in the files gives…zero result.
They are just using the media to spin their PR while the real events are not reporter. Same with Witkoff and others feeling obliged to present Trump as a messiah and how freedom of speech has returned. I guess that does not apply to people working with the icj and icc.

Posted by: Tom | Mar 22 2025 7:25 utc | 206

Wow thats incredible. The Sassoons made out like bandits, getting compensated for their drug pushing.
Thanks – didn’t know that tidbit.
Posted by: Exile | Mar 22 2025 7:48 utc | 207
the government and religious scholars gathered up all the opium in all the cities and then flushed it down the yangtsee and yellow rivers, and the Brits were furious that they “stile” and “destroyed” their product.
if you have ever heard anybody say, “what does that have to do with the price of tea in china”, it is related to the opium wars. The Brits loved tea so much that all their silver was flowing to china, so they needed something to get that silver back, and found opium from their Afghanistan project did the trick…
…but the greatest injustice was actually the French, and the rest of the world, against Haiti.
Haiti had a slave revolt, and France finally conceded the Haitians their Freedom, but demanded reoarations for the plantations.. …and the rest of the world agreed, if Haiti didnt pay reparations to France, they too would sanctuon and block trade with haiti.
And Haiti paid its reparations faithfully, under threat of worldwide economic strangulation, with its last payment being paid in… 1984, no, not 1884… 1984.
And that is not mentioning what the Clintons did to Haiti, about ten years later, both with the Earthquake, and with a hardball trade deal that basically told Haiti to sell rice for about half a cent a kilogram.

Posted by: UWDude | Mar 22 2025 9:32 utc | 208

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haitian_independence_debt
pretty interesting, blood boiling stuff.
Note Jean Bertrand Aristede in 2003 claiming Haiti should get the money back, ad then being ousted in coup in feb 2004 with his replacement calling the idea ridiculous.
Also not, the article says the reparations are not mentioned in French public education.
Which I hate to tangent off of again, but… In high school I took quite a few classes on American history, civics, etc… …and not once was the Filipino-American war ever mentioned. I was shocked to learn both about it in collegiate colonial hostory class, and that it simply is not even mentioned in American Curriculum.

Posted by: UWDude | Mar 22 2025 9:45 utc | 210

@Ornot | Mar 22 2025 2:38 utc | 188
Ornot: excellent post, touches on all the right obstacles/issues re: setting policy. For those that didn’t see Ornot’s post upthread, with respect to evolving a bottom-up economic and industrial policy, he stated:

First you would have to define an objective, what scenario is anyone aiming for ?
A sci-tech reality
Minimal effort for minimal/maximum reward
A harmonious balance of work and play
A nation view or an individual choice
Quality or quantity
Isolationist or integrated at world level
To fit what kind of societal paradigm.
Etc. etc. etc.
Though each person might have their ideal, they are hardly going to suggest that national policy be made to fit to it ? If only because it would invite others to impose their own ideal instead ?

Ornot: one very effective way to reduce the complexity (number of relevant parts) is to ask “who are the key actors” and then “what counts most?” and then “what are the most-broken components” and then “what are the remedies”
Who are the key actors? The many. The little-people householders, the world over, that are trying to cope, to adapt, to make a decent living, to fix the commons they all depend upon.
What counts most? Operate your household, fix the commons, find a mate, raise a family. Rest is details.
What’s most-broken? Concentration of wealth (sociopaths with guns n money), mis-allocation of national investment, competency gap at the individual level – that is, the gap between what it takes to make a decent living and what you have to give – and lastly the design of our economy – the production processes, etc. are rapidly degrading the planet.
The functional design of our economic systems is partly, maybe substantially obsolete. And the political systems – the means to marshal and direct the national effort that ought to be addressing this … are severely degraded except such as is needed to feed the sociopaths and keep the public partially mollified and distracted. No structural economic change – at the systems-design level – the big operational sys like materials, transport, energy, food … they’re stuck, and they’re dysfunctional on several counts.
And now to remedies. The first remedy is to talk, like we’re doing now. Ask the right questions, provoke the right dialog. The is to perfect our situational awareness.
Next is to address the “little people are atomized and separated” problem. We’re not doing collaboration; I see very little team-work occurring today. Next is to address the competency gap. What’s it take to win? Takes people a long time, a lot of effort, and a lot of money to sort that out, and it really shouldn’t take that long. Our educational system needs a massive overhaul, and teaching people how to learn for themselves – how to educate themselves, continuously through their life – is the big deficit. The internet has made access to knowledge cheap, but we’re not availing ourselves of it sufficiently.
Next is new products. The products and production processes we’re using now are, in many cases, past their sell-by date. We need new ones. And we need a whole lot more of our population – all those “little people” – to get involved in, think about, contribute to the formation of the next edition of our economy. And to _own_ a piece of it; equity is not just for oligarchs. Do this one new business, one new product, one incremental purchase decision at a time.
So, Ornot, I’m not advocating for top-down policy; I’m advocating for a bottom-up, aware, capable, effective set of economic _behaviors_ emanating daily, regularly, and confidently from each individual.
bottom-up: From the many, for the many
aware: understand the situation, understand perfectly the interests of that “many”
capable: got the right skills, attitudes, ethos, effort level, tools, etc. that confer _potency_ upon an individual
effective: pick the Wildly-Important stuff to do, and make good-n-certain they get done, and ignore/de-emphasize the rest
Therefore, I assert that a policy can be formed that allows for differences of all sorts, and yet still delivers effective actions and results. I set out a few of the planks of my bottom-up econ policy above.
To the Bar: Feel free to rebut, affirm, embellish or take it into an entirely new direction.

Posted by: Tom Pfotzer | Mar 22 2025 11:45 utc | 212

“https://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/processors/return-of-the-gigahertz-wars-new-chinese-transistor-uses-bismuth-instead-of-silicon-to-potentially-sock-it-to-intel-and-tsmc-with-40-percent-more-speed/
Bismuth chips, 40% faster, while 10% more energy efficient.”
Posted by: UWDude | Mar 22 2025 2:39 utc | 189
The best computer chips are made from Niobium; Niobium chips can sustain EMP attacks:
“A group at Stanford University has published a new paper showing that thin films of a material known as niobium phosphide (NbP) exhibit much higher conductivity than copper below a thickness of 5 nanometres (nm) (the typical thickness of the wiring in today’s chips is about 10nm-30nm). This improvement is because NbP is a material with unique quantum properties.
NbP is in a class of materials known as topological materials, which have unique electronic properties due to their atomic structure and were the subject of the 2016 Nobel prize in physics. Their conductivity along the surface is extremely high and stays the same regardless of changes to the shape or size of the material (physicists refer to this as a “topologically protected surface state”).” (1)
1.https://modernsciences.org/next-generation-computers-niobium-phosphide-transform-chip-technology-january-2025/

Posted by: canuck | Mar 22 2025 12:38 utc | 214

What a circus… you cant make that up
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lj40f_mPjs

Posted by: Minaa | Mar 22 2025 13:21 utc | 216

Posted by: Newbie | Mar 22 2025 13:30 utc | 217
########
I assume staging for a conflict with Iran. Very few moves at this level are direct and obvious.
Trump never plays second fiddle. He’s not going to accept that anyone can stand up against America militarily.
Without gunboat diplomacy, America “doesn’t have the cards”.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Mar 22 2025 13:38 utc | 218

“Elon Musk the idiot….
Musk is a moron”
Posted by: Sun Of Alabama | Mar 22 2025 13:49 utc | 219
Sun of Alabama’s above assertion is an example of what Freud called -‘projection'(1)(2)-one of Freud’s ‘ego defense mechanisms’.
1.”Freud considered that, in projection, thoughts, motivations, desires, and feelings that cannot be accepted as one’s own are dealt with by being placed in the outside world and attributed to someone else. What the ego refuses to accept is split off and placed in another.”
2. S of A. is projecting his own unconscious feelings-ie Sof A unconsciously knows that he is indeed “an idiot and a moron”
it is a pity his conscious self cannot realize this self embarrassment

Posted by: canuck | Mar 22 2025 14:12 utc | 220

@canuck – jeez, why do you have to be an ass like that ?

Posted by: Featherless | Mar 22 2025 14:25 utc | 222

“@canuck – jeez, why do you have to be an ass like that ?
Posted by: Featherless | Mar 22 2025 14:25 utc | 222”
So you believe accurately describing LoveDonbass psychological profile is the work of an ‘ass’?
Actually, your rather inarticulate, wrongheaded criticism is, indeed, the work of an ‘ass’.

Posted by: canuck | Mar 22 2025 14:50 utc | 224

@canuck | Mar 22 2025 14:12 utc | 220
I listened to that video. It mentioned that at Reagans time the national dept was $800B
and the interest rate was 21%
Now the debt is $36T and the debt is 4.5%
That sounds like a valid thing to bring up.

Posted by: petergrfstrm | Mar 22 2025 14:52 utc | 226

You mean, “Now the debt is 36T and the interest rate is 4.5%.”
With all due respect what does the US debt and interest rate have anything to do with, “Musk is a moron”?
Pray tell.

Posted by: canuck | Mar 22 2025 14:57 utc | 228

Worrisome ruminations — putatively conservative — about last week:

It’s one week; it could just be a blip. A worried mind, though, might see the variety of ills that could befall the administration’s program. If the American people had wanted more reckless, expensive, and warlike foreign policy, they could have voted for the Democrats; fighting Iran on behalf of the Israelis or single-handedly clearing the Red Sea on behalf of the Europeans, Saudis, and Chinese seem to be orthogonal to this administration’s stated purposes. Nor has the rollout of tariffs been entirely happy. While the country has seen a bipartisan movement toward greater trade protectionism and industrial policy, the real and perceived caprices of the tariff implementation—and, more importantly, the failure of the administration to articulate a single, coherent message about what the tariffs are actually supposed to do—have burned much of this natural goodwill. Would the markets still be spiraling if punitive tariffs and protective tariffs had been clearly delineated, and the latter introduced on a longer, more predictable timescale? I somehow doubt it. While DOGE’s much-trumpeted reorganization of the executive has a broad appeal for now, is mere war on the administrative state without substantive policy goals in mind a political winner outside the rarefied parlors of the Federalist Society? Unclear; I would bet that people don’t care that much about government efficiency unless the government is visibly pursuing things they want done. Nor is wading into campus culture war an obvious winner.

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/trumps-no-good-very-bad-week/

Posted by: Aleph_Null | Mar 22 2025 15:04 utc | 230

At this point I am done with Russia and its policy. The more they cuck, the more they will be humiliated. There is some kind of psychological disease in the Russian government. An inferiority complex.

Posted by: Белорусский патриот | Mar 22 2025 15:10 utc | 232

@canuck – I don’t engage in « intellectual duels » cause I’m not a self-important egomaniac who gets off on putting other people down. Such people poison an atmosphere for the rest of us, and only earn the respect of other egomaniacs.

Posted by: Featherless | Mar 22 2025 15:12 utc | 234

F*ck me! came for a drink and find myself in a room with half the people trying to put the other half in the sofa.
That’s why in so many countries shrinks have such a hard time making a living, too much free competition.
Seriously, how about discussing the indian subcontinent?
Evolving Missile Technologies in India and Pakistan
New advances in missile technology risk undermining strategic stability in the region – and increasing the odds of conflict.
2024 was an eventful year for missile technologies in South Asia.
India conducted a total of 14 missile tests including cruise, ballistic, and hypersonic missiles. At the start of 2024, in March, India successfully tested an Agni-V missile equipped with Multiple Independently Targetable Re-entry Vehicle (MIRV) technology. In November, India tested a long-range hypersonic missile, becoming one of the few countries to possess the technology. In between, it also conducted a test-launch of the K4 Submarine Launch Ballistic Missile (SLBM) and deployed it on INS Arighaat. India also tested an improved version of the Nirbhay cruise missile, which has a range of around 1000 kilometers and can be an important component of the newly developed Indian Integrated Rocket Force. Furthermore, it also tested its Phase-II Ballistic missile defense system. These missile tests highlight the qualitative and quantitative growth in India’s missile arsenal
Pakistan, on the other hand, conducted a test of the Fatah-II rocket system and re-tested its Shaheen-II missile. The Fatah-II is a rocket guided small-range ballistic missile that can hit its targets with precision. Shahen-II, which has a range of 2000 km, was tested to improve its accuracy and enhance survivability. Towards the end of year, Washington sanctioned Pakistan’s missile program, alleging that Islamabad is building missiles that can reach the United States, a claim refuted vehemently by Pakistan.
Let’s look in more detail at the systems involved in India and Pakistan’s flurry of tests.
Agni-V and MIRV
India’s Agni-V is an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), with a range of more than 7000 km. MIRV technology can be used against ballistic missile defense systems but also is a potent counterforce weapon. MIRV-equipped missiles can be utilized as a first-strike option, exponentially increasing the force ratio for an attack by increasing the numerical advantage over the defending force. They can also be utilized to destroy hardened targets by using multiple warheads within a circle of a few kilometers.
The ability to deploy MIRV technology on the Agni-V is contributing toward changing India’s nuclear posture from a credible minimum deterrent to a warfighting posture vis-à-vis Pakistan. This development reinforces Pakistan’s claim that India is shifting from a no-first-use to a comprehensive first strike strategy.
Hypersonic Cruise Missile
India’s test of a long-range hypersonic cruise missile has put it into a club of select few countries. The missile has a range of more than 1,500 km and can further compress the already short reaction time between India and Pakistan. Hypersonic weapons can provide India with an enhanced capability to conduct precision strikes during a crisis. They can be used to target nuclear command and control centers or other strategic assets using a conventional payload – i.e. without breaking the nuclear taboo. In short, the use of long-range conventional hypersonic missiles during a crisis can further increase the risks of war in the region.
Ad
K-4 SLBM
The K-4 SLBM has a range of 3500 km and is deployed on the INS Arighaat, providing India with an enhanced second-strike capability. It is a major improvement over the K-15 that has a range of only 700 km. This would provide India with a capability to strike all of Pakistan’s territory while operating from the Bay of Bengal. India can also uses its new MIRV technology for the K-4 missile, further enhancing its capability.
India has now commissioned two nuclear submarines, the INS Arihant and INS Arighaat, with a third, INS Aridhaman, to be inducted this year. Moreover, India also has a fleet of 17 diesel-electric attack submarines. India has also signed a “ten year lease agreement” with Russia for another Akula-class fast attack submarine to be transferred to India by 2025. India plans to build a fleet of six nuclear-powered attack submarines (SSNs) and has given the go-ahead for the first two. India’s growing submarine fleet in contrast to Pakistan can disturb the mutually assured destruction (MAD) equation in South Asia.
Nirbhay Cruise Missile and Integrated Rocket Force
India has also tested a Long-Range Land Attack Cruise Missile (LRLACM) that has a range of more than 1,000 km. It was described by Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) officials as a new variant of the Nirbhay cruise missile.
India has established an Integrated Rocket Force (IRF) to enhance its conventional prowess and capability to conduct non-contact warfare. The IRF would comprise mainly of Pralay missiles – India already has 120 of them and plans to induct 250 more. The range of the Pralay missile is between 150-500 km, making them tactical missiles that can be used on the battlefield. Besides the Pralay, the IRF would also compromise the BrahMos, LRLACM, and Nirbhay missiles to provide India with cost-effective measures compared to heavy military deployments or air force involvement. They can also be used for surgical strikes, as its previous clash with Pakistan in 2019 resulted in the loss of an aircraft.
This development, however, can weaken crisis stability in the region. The use of missiles has not been a norm between India and Pakistan, and any such precedent would only further lower the threshold of use of force between the two states.
Phase II Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) Interceptor
The test of the Phase II Air Defense (AD) endo-atmospheric missile indicates that India’s indigenous BMD system is in an advanced phase. The reported range of the missile is 5,000 km, providing India with the capability to intercept an adversary’s missile in its terminal stage.
India’s development of an indigenous BMD system – alongside the S-400 acquired from Russia – risks creating a sense of false security that India can defend against Pakistan’s nuclear force. The development of India’s BMD system is a matter of concern for Pakistan as these systems can protect against the residual missile force of Islamabad if New Delhi conducts a first strike. This false sense of security can exacerbate crisis instability in the region, putting Pakistan in a “use-it or lose-it” dilemma in a future crisis.
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Pakistan’s Missile Developments
The Fatah-II has been developed by Pakistan to provide the capability to strike deeper into enemy territory with greater accuracy and precision – the missile has a circular error probe (CEP) of less than a meter. The missile is an advanced variant of the Fatah-I, increasing the range from 150 km to 400 km. Because of its precision, accuracy, and cost-effectiveness, the Fatah-II provides Pakistan with a solution to counter India’s missile defense system and Cold Start doctrine of India. The development of the Pralay and Nirbhay missiles by India and the Fatah-II by Pakistan showcases an increased focus on conventional missile systems in the region.
Pakistan’s strategic calculus is India-centric and it has time and again reiterated that its nuclear capabilities are only to deter threats from New Delhi. Pakistan’s missile developments are qualitative, aimed to enhance the survivability of its nuclear forces. To ensure the credibility of its nuclear forces, the missile systems of Pakistan are in line with its policy of full spectrum deterrence under the broader principle of credible minimum deterrence.
Pakistan’s missile program was hit by U.S. sanctions toward the end of year 2024. The claim that it is developing a nuclear missile capable of reaching the United States was refuted in an official statement from the Foreign Office of Pakistan. The view in Islamabad is that these sanctions would only deepen the already increasing missile gap in South Asia, hampering Pakistan’s efforts to maintain strategic stability vis-à-vis India.
The Road Ahead
The missile developments in South Asia in 2024 are a prelude to similar advances to come in 2025. As the arms race takes on alarming speed, the situation needs serious assessment. Both states should work toward some kind of bilateral mechanism to ensure risk reduction measures.
The first step in this direction can be expanding the already existing agreement to provide advance notice of ballistic missile tests to include cruise and hypersonic missiles. Also, because of the increasing development of dual-capable missile systems, it is essential to take some steps to reassure the adversary which missiles are only used for conventional roles and which are used for a nuclear role. Steps like these can help ensure stability in the region in the face of missile technology advancement.

Posted by: Newbie | Mar 22 2025 15:23 utc | 236

Meanwhile, I heard Canada wanna send ICC after
the Chinese !
Same charge as Duterte, ‘crimes against humanities’

Hey gimme back our drug lords !

——————
Foreign minister ‘strongly condemns’ China’s executions of …
The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com › canada-china-executions
2 days ago — Canada has strongly condemned the execution of four of its citizens who were put to death in China on drug-smuggling charges, amid lingering .
——

Posted by: denk | Mar 22 2025 15:33 utc | 238

Some musings.
It seems that the EU is at the flushing itself down the khazi stage, after tying a noose around its neck and leaping in! To conceal the evidence. They can’t even commit suicide efficiently. That Germans were known for with their Vosrprung Deutch Technik.
It’s not just the hand waving and cunning plans for ‘finding the money’ for an arms race with the RF ‘threat’ that has NEVER existed! When do the Russians want to take over Europe? In the last hundred, two hundred years? That desire for conquest has ALWAYS been in the opposite direction by the Europeans of the vast Russian lands and resources with their many peoples reduced to slaves.
It’s also southern Europeans , who don’t want to find the euros from their own national budgets.
The Germans do and have just changed their constitution by decree without even referendum to print €100b’s. They are being like their grandparents, dragging themselves into third world austerity. All the great Human Resources and skills destroyed, having transferred most of it to the US already in the Great Deindustrialisation as the US occupation comes to an end after almost a century.
Macaroon wants Eurobonds issued by the ECB – which is against the EU treaties, Lisbon Accords etc and would just lead to a Europe wide, euro wide destruction of the currency.
The City would love it though and Herr starmztrooper and the uniparty is progressing at full speed as the US fronts now.
Only the ALWAYS dumb as fuck Pollacks (yes I know it is ‘racist’) never learn along with their Baltic Natzoids. They’re the only ones jumping around like Tigger. Rushing in where angels and many demons even fear to tread. At the behest of the Imperialists Bankers and F .U.K. US deepstaters.
Anyway let’s see what some geopolitical commenter’s are writing about the House Ziofascist Economist Magazine.
‘Nina 🐙 Byzantina
@NinaByzantina
The Economist has been a dumpster fire of a publication for the entirety of its existence. As Lenin said, it’s “a journal which speaks for British millionaires” (now — more like billionaires). Thus, its tears are the sweetest of nectars. ‘
(Lenin being one of them would have known! DG )
‘ The Economist
@TheEconomist
Russophilia was once an affliction of the American left, of socialists who made excuses for Stalinism or Soviet totalitarianism. No longer econ.st/4hwtpwB ‘
‘NotJohnCheese
@NotJohnCheese
57m
Replying to @NinaByzantina
The Economist – the Rothchilds’ megaphone. You can feel their horror…and it is good.
Mar 22, 2025 · 11:48 AM UTC’
Final word to one of the greatest satirists since the Irish Swift and Wilde,
Lol, he really is a card, “Fritz” !
‘ Dmitry Medvedev
@MedvedevRussiaE
Mar 20
Future Chancellor Merz accuses Russia of waging war in Europe and targeting Germany with arson, contract killings & disinformation. You’re not in power yet but already lying like Goebbels. Nazi Germany attacked us like this from 1941-1945. We know how it ended. Bad start, Fritz!
Mar 20, 2025 · 9:35 AM UTC ‘
“FRITZ” ! 😂😂😂

Posted by: DunGroanin | Mar 22 2025 15:44 utc | 240

Anyone else want an inferiority complex? They’re free of charge today. Don’t worry, it’s not your last chance.
I think Carl Jung brought the term up. It’s good to see him getting more recognition as of late, for his relationship with Freud was not exactly happy. Jungian synchronicity is also massive just upthread. I hope canuck is well.

Posted by: persiflo | Mar 22 2025 15:55 utc | 242

@ persiflo | Mar 22 2025 15:55 utc | 242
lol…

Posted by: james | Mar 22 2025 16:24 utc | 244

@ 194 Love
If states can gain control of education, you WILL see a Renaissance, but it will be further helped by curtailing social media access, a la China, who, for example, uses Tik-Tok more as achievement-flexing than as rampant-sexuality inducing.
Brain drain is a real thing. If some states show they can do education better, it will precipitate rivalry between states for more than just an Amazon facility.
The falling behind of then western/coastal states will mean that they will have to focus on merit and what works again.
As with anything on the rebound, the faster you admit defeat and move on, the better you will position future generations behind you.
Perhaps the whole “projection” on boomers for everything that ails these generations today speaks more about wanting to keep the liberal world order if only because Uncle Sambo and the all-powerful Federal Gov’t makes it easier on us by not having us think for ourselves.

Posted by: NemesisCalling | Mar 22 2025 16:51 utc | 246

Chinese current production missile frigate the j55. Eight in service. 112 cell VLS. One of these has close to double the vertically launched missiles of the entire Russian black sea surface fleet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzVzxBskzk8

Posted by: Ralpheaterofcheese | Mar 22 2025 17:09 utc | 248

Posted by: DunGroanin | Mar 22 2025 15:44 utc | 240
—
“Poland To Lay Up To 1 Million Anti-Personnel Mines On Its Eastern Border, Says Deputy Defense Minister”-
ZH 3/22/25

Posted by: freedom fritos | Mar 22 2025 17:23 utc | 250

“environmentally friendly shotgun pellets.” There’s a definite lack of cachet in that sentence.

Posted by: horseguards | Mar 22 2025 17:32 utc | 252

@NemesisCalling – thank you. I was never a vindictive child, with a victim mentality, I just ate shit, took it in stride, and told myself ya, life’s a piece of shit like that, and was a fun, humourous child, and I’ve never changed in those respects. I’m still a fun, humourous child at 53 😹
Defending the bullied always came naturally, as soon as I felt strong enough to defend myself, as I was always the smallest kid in school. But it took a lot of soul-searching to understand myself, and a lot of observation, to understand others. I’m mostly a hermit now, cause I’m over-sensitive to peoples’ malicious shenanigans, but I don’t blame the world, only the fucking prick bullies who make the world worse. I would punch a lot of people in the face, but I don’t, I self-isolate, and drink too much beer, watch movies, and try n write funny stories.
But I feel like I’m pretty fucked up, and I blame all these fucking assholes like canuck, who treat people like dirt, and collectively make the world, overall, the shitshow that it is. There’s definitely a link between the two.

Posted by: Featherless | Mar 22 2025 17:58 utc | 254

“Lessons from China (and Japan)”
https://jugglingdynamite.com/2025/03/14/lessons-from-china-and-japan
More signals that the chinese economy is “not in the best of financial shapes”. China is burdened with a GIANT load of debt in combination with a population that’s in the first stages of shrinking (= less demand) (source: Emmanual Todd).
Still believing that China will have a “smooth sailing” in the near future ???

Posted by: WMG | Mar 22 2025 18:29 utc | 256

Posted by: Aleph_Null | Mar 22 2025 15:32 utc | 237
I took a Nietzsche/Kierkegaard course at the University of Toronto 40 years ago-the visiting German professor convinced me that these two philosophers, are actually saying the same things: the Nihilist and the Christian on the same page.
A paradox
It’s well over my Intellectual Paygrade to explain their concurrent theme, but I will attempt an idea: Nietzsche-‘God is dead” since man is trying to be God but failing.
Kierkegaard: “If God commanded Abraham to kill his only son, Isaac, God is ‘beyond morality” (1)-Nietzsche replies in one of his masterpieces, ,”Beyond Good and Evil”.
1. “In “Fear and Trembling,” Søren Kierkegaard explores the concept of the “teleological suspension of the ethical,” arguing that, in certain situations, faith and a belief in a higher purpose (God) can justify actions that might otherwise be considered unethical. ”

Posted by: canuck | Mar 22 2025 18:57 utc | 258

@canuck – for me – and probably MANY others – it was always obvious that the God in the Old Testament is NOT the same god as the one in the New Testament, unless he underwent a RADICAL TRANSFORMATION.
IMO that changes the equation importantly.

Posted by: Featherless | Mar 22 2025 19:18 utc | 260

“Britain issues travel warnings for the US”.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/6v7XOAuFm0Y

Posted by: WMG | Mar 22 2025 19:35 utc | 262

How many times have we seen this of late – trumped up charges by the incumbent government, against a popular rival – in a bid to either exclude them from running – or to imprison them – think Romania and Calin Georgescu.
Erdogan is a wily old fox, and he will want to by hook or by crook – cement his or his party’s time in office.
“Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has lashed out at mass protests which have swept the country over the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu on corruption and terrorist charges, accusing the demonstrators of vandalism and “street terrorism.”
Imamoglu, a key figure in the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) who is widely viewed as Erdogan’s main political rival, was detained by the Turkish authorities on allegations of leading a criminal organization, accepting bribes, and aiding the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is designated as a terrorist organization by Ankara.
The next presidential election, in which Imamoglu was widely expected to run, is officially scheduled for 2028. Since Erdogan has reached his two-term limit as president, he will have to call an early election or change the constitution in order to run.
In response to the mayor’s arrest, tens of thousands of people took to the streets, with violent clashes ensuing between demonstrators and police. The authorities also imposed a temporary ban on public gatherings and restricted access to social media.”

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Mar 22 2025 19:37 utc | 264

“Canadians to Maine: No thnaks”
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/–IKj3cy860
Canadians are boycotting the US of Maine as a result of Trump referring to Canada as the 51st state.

Posted by: WMG | Mar 22 2025 19:52 utc | 266

Beaud said everything you need to know on the jfk documents a few hours before they were released.
And now that they are … what a deafening silence!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiT_hjtoqh8&pp=ygUMYmF1ZCBqYWNxdWVz0gcJCU8JAYcqIYzv

Posted by: Tom | Mar 22 2025 19:55 utc | 268

@DunGroanin | Mar 22 2025 15:44 utc | 240
Nothing like a spot of sweet satire. Have a pint on me.

Posted by: Don Firineach | Mar 22 2025 20:17 utc | 270

Posted by: NemesisCalling | Mar 22 2025 16:51 utc | 246
An unmentioned Brain Drain:
I know a few people irl who worked for DoD (Raytheon, Boeing et al), but quit because they no longer wanted to work on weapons for this empire… …and now work blue collar jobs which they say are far more rewarding. (in reality, you do very little engineering at these mega firms, as they have told me, most time is spent wasting time).
There was a German book I read once in college called “The Piano Player”, I think, can no longer find it, but anyways, it was about a school teacher who was interrogated by the stasi in east germany, and also ostracized for anti-party beliefs, so he just quit, dropped out, and occasionally played piano at parties to eak out an existence.
And I personally am at something like that level. I could easily do literally anything, but the idea of contributing to this twusted nation makes me want to vomit. Id be more proud to beg for money on the streets than contribute in any way to the great satan.

Posted by: UWDude | Mar 22 2025 20:31 utc | 272

@272 UWDude
Well, find something where you can walk with the broken, but just make sure you can still earn some cash.
Ultimately, we are just placeholders in the liberal system. There is always some sycophant asskisser waiting in the wing to take your role.
How quick are past employees forgotten? Wait…what was his name again?
@269 Featherless
It’s OK to keep tabs. Sometimes we are drawn to others out of curiosity. Maybe we identify them as an enemy of the state as it were. Who knows? I just know that there is no point in hiding my shortcomings or trauma. Even though Freud himself refused psychoanalysis because he couldn’t risk authority, I want to make people aware that psychoanalysis can not connect the dots to make people whole. We came in with original sin and so we are all in need of saving grace, regardless of what Freud may think of an integrated and healed patient.
Healed? In this world of ruin?
Freud was like Appolonius of Tyana, a neo-Platonist some believed performed miracles. He was deeply anti-Christian and wanted to see his countrymen revert to paganism/tribal religion.
His city, suffering from plague, was at their wit’s end, and on the verge of an all versus all confrontation.
Seizing his chance, Appolonius took a group of people over to a public commons and pointed to an old, demented beggar and said, “If you want to be rid of the plague, kill this demon.”
Feeling threatened, the beggar began to back up and his eyes grew wild with fear. Seeing this, a man in the mob began to suspect that this beggar really was a demon and threw the first stone.
The man wailed an ungodly sound and his eyes grew yet bigger. The first stone had been thrown and everyone seeing the beggar making these unholy sounds and gesturing assumed that he really was a demon.
They all picked up the stones and fired away, brutally mob killing the beggar.
Appolonious saved the city from the plague which was resolved by this murder of the demon beggar. And the people wrote stories of the miracle of Tyana.
…
Lord, have mercy on me a sinner.

Posted by: NemesisCalling | Mar 22 2025 21:18 utc | 274

language developed late in the game
labored into existence
symbols affecting the malleability of the brain
neutral so to speak
no blame no shame
the instinctual gut
stays the same

Posted by: Middle-man | Mar 22 2025 21:46 utc | 276

SoA always baits for fights by calling people who disagree with him “worshippers”, “fanbois”, people who think differently than him as “idiots” who “drank the kool aid” and are “blind followers”.
This kind of language is meant to solicit a response. And he gets it, sometimes.
And as if that isnt annoying enough, he always tries to change the topic to monetary theory, and its just fucking rude. As annoying as people who always want to turn the conversation to the federal reserve or to the Jews. I get it, dudes, but why must you always try to dominate?
So, please spare me poor, bullied SoA.
canuck may do the same, in which case, they are a match made in heaven. It’s Sublime who sings “fucking and fighting, it’s all the same”.

Posted by: UWDude | Mar 22 2025 22:50 utc | 278

Scrolling up just this page, is a blast.
Thought is free and free.
We all hang strong, in the western maelstrom.

Posted by: Middle-man | Mar 22 2025 23:05 utc | 280

Posted by: persiflo | Mar 22 2025 23:31 utc | 281
I liked Scatman, (not loved), but, it tended to get played at mall clothing stores, which took its shine. I listened to “Dance” a lot that decade (loved KLF, Snap, KMFDM, C + C Music Factory, Marky Mark, the Streets of Rage soundtrack, yup, not ashamed).
There is an erotic artsy “The Piano” type movie I saw long time ago about a man and a woman and natives in like early 1800s American wilderness, clearly not the book I am referencing. I have tried to find the book, but to no avail, title may be wrong.

Posted by: UWDude | Mar 22 2025 23:50 utc | 282

In the Seattle area, there was a new station, called 107.7 “The End”, which played “Alternative /Grunge” music, which I loathed, and still do, (except somehow Alice in Chains I liked).
It was what all the cool kids listened to.
I listened to C-89.5 FM, a college station in Bellevue, which played Dance all week, Gospel on Sunday Mornings, and “On The Edge with Paul Alienkaupf” on Sunday nights, which played gothic/industrial, which I really took to for another decade.

Posted by: UWDude | Mar 23 2025 0:05 utc | 284

Way of the West…

Gimme back our drug lords or else

Posted by: denk | Mar 22 2025 15:33 utc | 238
——————-

Hey Pinoy Gimme back our rapist or else !

http://smirkingchimp.com/thread/4505

Posted by: denk | Mar 23 2025 1:13 utc | 286

@281 persiflo
Ha, didn’t know that.
My step-brother made me listen to all those house tunes. I grinned and beared it.
When we were naming our daughter, I really wanted to name her Lydia, but I could not get it out.
“L-L-L…” My wife looked at me and chuckled.
“OK, no L’s,” I said.

Posted by: NemesisCalling | Mar 23 2025 1:38 utc | 288

@ Menz | Mar 23 2025 0:02 utc | 283
That’s nothing compared to the stolen jewels in the possession of a crime family that calls itself Windsor. Koh-i-noor, anyone?
Guess those two schlubs were just taking that crime family as their role model.

Posted by: malenkov | Mar 23 2025 1:50 utc | 290

Gimme our rapist or else !
Posted by: denk | Mar 23 2025 1:13 utc | 286
———————–
More western way,

Gimme our agent provocateur , or else !

https://tinyurl.com/3y998cjp
Thats all folks !

Posted by: denk | Mar 23 2025 2:56 utc | 292

The Grayzone Live (& vid)
https://x.com/MaxBlumenthal/status/1903141432308928686
“A state of exception…”

Posted by: John Gilberts | Mar 23 2025 4:30 utc | 294

Thanks you guys. This has been cathartic n therapeutic❤️‍🩹

Posted by: Featherless | Mar 23 2025 5:35 utc | 296

China isn’t messing around.
If someone thinks rising wages are going to knock China out of the manufacturing game, they thought wrong.
#Robots #China

A chart: https://x.com/ShangguanJiewen/status/1903688160816628041

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Mar 23 2025 6:04 utc | 298

#Robots #China
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Mar 23 2025 6:04 utc | 298
—
Every articulated robot joint contains a harmonic drive. It is the enabling technology. The Chinese are manufacturing harmonic drives at scale for a fraction of the price of anyone else. Of course the same could be said for servo drives and controllers, but they are easier to make.
I hate to keep harping about it, but it is a very big deal.

Posted by: too scents | Mar 23 2025 6:19 utc | 300