Let’s see other consequential things happening:
 
1. Pakistan bombed a drug rehabilitation centre in Kabul killing 400 staff and patients. The Munir regime in Pakistan (Field Marshal Munir being the real ruler; the so called civilian government isn’t even a rubber stamp at this point) is beholden to America and was obviously ordered to keep the Taliban busy while Iran was attacked to prevent them aiding Iran as they claimed that they would. 
 
2. Sudan: With arms supplies from the UAE drying up, the 🇮🇱卐-worshipping genocidal RSF of Hemedti, which only a month ago looked unstoppable, is in utter rout and retreat.
 
3. The disgusting Modi regime in India 
 
(a) banned The Voice Of Hind Rajab to “not spoil relations with ‘israel’.”
 
(b) with public anger mounting at its misrule, is reacting by banning social media posts criticising Modi and is busy empowering each ministry to do its own banning. 
 
4. Public anger in Russia is growing at Putin’s soft pedalling the SMO and not finishing off Ukranazistan. 
 
5. Six Ukranazis and an Epsteinistani mercenary named Matthew van Dyke were arrested in India while training Myanmarese “moderate rebels”. Russa says it tipped Ibdia off about them. 

Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayastha | Mar 22 2026 14:49 utc | 3

“After deadly rocket attack, Israel expands Lebanon offensive with Gaza-style home demolitions”
 
https://www.ynetnews.com/article/skg69opcwx

Posted by: WMG | Mar 22 2026 14:53 utc | 5

By the way, if any of you want you could always subscribe to my Telegram channel.
 
 

Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayastha | Mar 22 2026 14:54 utc | 7

@Exile 6
 
I know nothing about macroeconomics at all so I’ve no idea how that works. I’ll take your word for it. 

Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayastha | Mar 22 2026 14:57 utc | 9

Post on last thread re: Cadre of newfangled MAGA and the BigFed reorganization to come after a SHTF scenario (Tucker, Thiel, Vance, Kent, et.al.)
 
 
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Mar 22 2026 14:45 utc | 1033

Posted by: NemesisCalling | Mar 22 2026 15:13 utc | 11

When I close my eyes I see the MoA like a real bar. It’s rather dark brownish, like oakwood everywhere and, perhaps surprisingly, rather clean. Not very big.
 
A lovely little bird sits on top of a lamp, singing beautifully, to the pleasure of some bar patrons and irritation of others.
A Karen who has loudly converted to Islam is frequently taking up excessive space, picking a fight with anyone within sight until everybody’s teeth are smashed.
 
Also without pause, dozens upon dozens of AI bots are trying to make themselves comfortable, spouting out nuts and bolts with a lot of noise while some of the regulars try to hammer them out of existence, which proves impossible despite all their efforts.
 
In one corner, Jeremy towers as the bar’s witty sage.
 
Karlof is the one feeding the bar with solid, wholesome & even tasty food, only every once in a while complaining that people aren’t eating. We are!
 
B, while constantly handing out large and interesting new drinks with colourful straws, is also very busy cleaning the bar but not entirely 24/7, which sometimes causes frustration among some cleanliness nerds, but we keep coming back and coming back despite, well, everything.
 
Thank you, b. 

Posted by: Avtonom | Mar 22 2026 15:16 utc | 13

Trump Issues Trillion-Dollar Ultimatum to Gulf States Over Iran Conflict. 
 
quote. “Omani journalist Hafiz al-Hasni reveals the former president is demanding up to $5 trillion from Arab monarchies to maintain Washington’s hardline stance against Tehran.”   (…) 
 
“The journalist emphasized that such demands effectively transform foreign policy and regional stability into objects of commercial bargaining. The report notes that Trump views Middle Eastern allies primarily as a source of colossal cash inflows intended to bolster the American budget.”
 
https://en.hvylya.net/news/1502-trump-issues-trillion-dollar-ultimatum-to-gulf-states-over-iran-conflict#google_vignette
 
I know nothing about this source –  so ?? –  but the content is worth thinking about. 

Posted by: Noirette | Mar 22 2026 15:27 utc | 15

Re: Mexico, USA, cartels
 
We, the USA, should:
 

1. Penalize drug traffickers in the US with hard labor/capital punishment sentences; we may need to open up labor camps in harsh environments like the Soviets did
2. Get addicts off the streets now; we need state-ran central institutions where addicts can come down, engage in forced-rehab, join 12-Step programs, have work once they leave. The alternative is to let frontal-lobe damaged individuals languish in squalor and decay and this is not the practice of a decent society
3. Wrt to military intervention by the US in Mexico, we should be careful. I think at this point, coordination with Mexico should be required but we can not discount the infiltration of dark-money interests in the Mexican State and our own CIA; we should therefore use the military on our side to beef up border operations

Posted by: NemesisCalling | Mar 22 2026 15:38 utc | 17

Coordinated state-run effort to smear Cesar Chavez’ legacy of anti-illegal immigration activism to front-run mass amnesty legislation allowing tens of millions of illegal workers to live and work in Estados Unidos legally. 
 
Transparent as all get-out.

Posted by: NemesisCalling | Mar 22 2026 15:41 utc | 19

thanks b… lots to consider and ponder…
 
@ NemesisCalling | Mar 22 2026 15:13 utc | 11
 
i watched the video of theil on the previous thread you’ve linked here… he wants to ”make the world a better place”… the video is from 2009… i wonder if he has the same sort of idealism?  weird dude…
 
@  James C | Mar 22 2026 15:37 utc | 16
 
i think a good reference is the maiden protests in jan / feb 2014… was that the gov’t shooting innocent protesters, or where they someone else who were doing this?? from what i understand it wasn’t the ukraine police who did that…    you have to concede the western msm is guiding the public in cultivating a position towards iran which is always quite negative…. why would that be??  and now we have the ‘smash and grab’ approach taken towards iran here coming on the heels of this horrible characterization of iran… that is not a coincidence…. it is hard to cut thru the propaganda.. most people fall for it..
 
@ William Gruff | Mar 22 2026 15:39 utc | 18
 
virtue signaling is what it is all about… on the one hand it is refreshing that their is no hypocritical veneer of this with trump… it is all ‘smash and grab’ – the approach of a true criminal who works for a criminal gang, which for lack of a specific name, many are now calling ‘the epstein class”… i think this is a good name for the people pulling the strings behind the politicians….  

Posted by: james | Mar 22 2026 15:49 utc | 21

So yesterday we got a post on some dodgy Brit who insisted the Iran disaster is solely Trump’s and Israel/Zionism is definitely not the cause of any of it.  Today on the other side of the Atlantic we get an ex spook singing the same tune.  Funny.  

“Nobody else is responsible’: Trump to blame for Iran crisis, ex-CIA chief says

Leon Panetta calls president ‘naive’ over strait of Hormuz closure and says ‘the chickens are coming home to roost’

Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Mar 22 2026 15:55 utc | 23

Now that the war against Iran has progressed to its current point, Iwonder what would be the American vs USA response to the sinking of one or more of USA or British Aircraft Carriers while on missionsin a foreign seas?
..
..
 If one of the carriers had been sunk earlier I think the America response would have permissioned the USA to go after Iran.
 
..
But now I am not so sure?
 
..
..
Most Americans I have talked to are angry about the war, surprised at its cost, and embarrassed over the exposure of obvious failings of the current USA leadership. 

Posted by: snake | Mar 22 2026 16:04 utc | 25

The US and Isr. are in a symbiotic relationship.  I usually don’t like comparing Nations to individuals (“Plucky Iran” etc.) but for this I can’t resist. 
 
Imagine Jim and Mia, only Mia works part time, both are addicted (pills, injections, smoky, alcohol, whatever) and they spend all their time together.  They often quarrel, even mildly agress each other, yet are soldered at the hip, and do the loving stuff all day and all night, even if swearing, complaining arguing, neither would ever leave the relationship.
 
They somehow decide to do some ‘fraud’ or ‘theft’ or ‘illegal’ thing (like selling drugs, stealing from Mia’s employer..), and get caught. 
 
Both accuse the other of being the instigator, prime mover, because they can’t even distinguish who did what / when / why… as they are in symbiosis. 
 
Now this is of course just a metaphor, I don’t mean it literally.    

Posted by: Noirette | Mar 22 2026 16:07 utc | 27

Arch Bungle | Mar 22 2026 15:24 utc | 1054 (previous thread):
 
Quick summary of Arch’s reference: AI is the means to manage the public. Insert AI into every aspect of personal and corporate life, and own the AI, and you’ve got full control of what people think and do. We’re very, very well on the way to this here in the US.
 
Arch, this is how I’m reading the next moves here in the US. As the adventures abroad founder, the attention is going to get focused domestically, and I think you’ve pinpointed how it’ll occur.
 
===== Separately, on the subject of “what’s important now” ..
 
We are now at the point of collision between the tectonic plates of 500 years of colonialism and the rest of the world that prefers self-determination. Both plates have big size, momentum. One plate – the “others” – taking the immediate form of Iran –  has demonstrated remarkable capacity to obstruct the other plate. That’s new.
 
We know, by their behavior, that the West is _not_ going to back down, and we see that, remarkably, Iran as proxy for Other, has no intention of backing down either. We are now almost guaranteed a major earthquake, which may shortly manifest as regional or global nukes. There is now the greatest chance in my recollection of exactly that happening. It’s not 2%, not 5%, but upwards of 20% likelihood  by my gut-level estimate.
 
While your mind may likely recoil at that, I’d like to emphatically present that rapidly approaching and expanding possibility, and ask you “what would you do if it happened?”. 
 
Some of you Barflies exemplify the very people that would be most valuable to have around post-nuke.
 
If you won’t preserve yourself on behalf of yourself – and I think you should, of course – will you preserve yourself on behalf of what humans might ultimately evolve into?
 
==== and to English Outsider, previous thread, who opined in favor of Putin’s go-slo approach:
 
I agree that Russia’s go-slo strategy has many benefits. I am arguing that the situation Russia and China are in is morphing at a rate and direction that go-slo doesn’t and won’t address.
 
Strategy has to morph to maintain contact with and relevancy to the situation, and the situation has moved away from the extant strategy. Time for a strategy update.
 
For those of you expecting a Western financial melt-down, or a major public up-rising, I say “not likely”. The likelier case is that the money and public buy-in to support decades more attacks by West against Other is the likeliest situation. 
 
Iran cannot do that job alone, and Russia-China are going to have to do way more if they’re to prevail. 
 
This isn’t “SMO” any more. We are now fully engaged in WWIII.

Posted by: Tom Pfotzer | Mar 22 2026 16:15 utc | 29

Wouldn’t it be interesting if the Iraqi Shia were to set up an islamic republic in Irak modelled after Iran on finally ousting the Americans?
 
Just imagine the rough justice from the US perspective after launching a war of aggression to eliminate Iran, and they end up with:
 
Evaporation of Israel
 
Ousting of US military from the region
 
2 Iran-style islamic republics instead of 1
 
Several gulf states liberated
 
Palestine from the river to the sea
 
Iran in permanent military control of the gulf oil transit routes
 
…
 
(As for reality that always has a vote though)

Posted by: BM | Mar 22 2026 16:16 utc | 31

Posted by: NemesisCalling | Mar 22 2026 15:38 utc | 17
 
 
Making naturally occurring plants illegal has wrecked this country. America’s longest war and stupidest one is the Drug War. Maybe you have a problem you cannot handle but regulation and taxes solve the problem, not punitive measures. Lots more drugs done in the 80s and 90s with less overdoses and really less societal problems but we stupidly incarcerated tax paying, hard working folks. Wake up.

Posted by: Laradise | Mar 22 2026 16:20 utc | 33

@33 Laradise
 
The effects of Marijuana on individuals is not uniform. The effects of all neurological-affecting drugs are NOT uniform. 
 
Prednisone, a drug I am taking now for an autoimmune flare-up, can cause both mania and depression depending on the individual. It can help people with anxiety or it can induce it. 
 
Marijuana is linked to frontal lobe damage, especially if use starts during adolescence. 
 
Anecdotally, my sister, who habitually smoked pot for years, now says ahe wished she had laid off of it.
 
We should never give any blanket judgement to any drug. Drugs should only be administered by Doctors who understand them and can monitor their effects on the patient. 
 
Marijuana should not be legal unless a disability is shown to be improved through its use.

Posted by: NemesisCalling | Mar 22 2026 16:27 utc | 35

Posted by: William Gruff | Mar 22 2026 15:39 utc | 18
 
Let’s compare amounts, then. How big is Hunter’s hog (bank and offshore holdings) compared to the size of Kushner’s and Trump’s – considering just what has accrued since October of 2024? 
 
I’d guess the difference is an order of magnitude or 2. 
 
So it’s also a matter of degree and scale.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Mar 22 2026 16:35 utc | 37

Posted by: NemesisCalling | Mar 22 2026 16:27 utc | 35
 
I don’t disagree with some of your previous post, but whose tax money is going to pay for it and which political party killed state institutions that would treat these people? More importantly which party will implement the new ones?

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Mar 22 2026 16:38 utc | 39

Coordinated state-run effort to smear Cesar Chavez’ legacy of anti-illegal immigration activism to front-run mass amnesty legislation allowing tens of millions of illegal workers to live and work in Estados Unidos legally.  Transparent as all get-out.
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Mar 22 2026 15:41 utc | 19
=================
I can’t follow the narrative you present.
Are you saying that Chavez was anti-illegal immigrants, or that he was against legislation regarding illegal immigrants?
I think the Chavez was concerned for getting a fair deal for all farm workers, both Mexicans on various special work programs/visas and those who were resident in the USA. Chavez did have plenty of dark sides, as described in Bardacke, Trampling Out the Vintage (Verso Books, 2012). Sexual abuse and grooming young women were not exposed in that book, but would not be surprising on the part of a person with Chavez’s negative traits as described by Bardacke.
Can you clarify your theory?

Posted by: Jane | Mar 22 2026 16:47 utc | 41

The conflict with Iran seems to have reached an escalatory cliff with Trumps threat to bomb Iranian basic infrastructure and Tehran responding that if this occurs it will close the strait and destroy gulf state and Israeli infrastructure. . . .
Posted by: the pessimist | Mar 22 2026 16:21 utc | 34
=============
Couldn’t Iran “get the last word” regarding the strait by sinking a few ships in the middle of the channels?

Posted by: Jane | Mar 22 2026 16:50 utc | 43

Posted by: Laradise | Mar 22 2026 16:45 utc | 40
 
Even some older pharmaceutical drugs are useful. You mentioned xanax, which was first marketed at lower doses than it’s prescribed now. I know people who have used 0.25mg once a day for 40 years (including my aunt) and they already treat it like it’s heroin. So maybe you also have kin who are unable to moderate themselves and should be less judgemental to NC.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Mar 22 2026 16:55 utc | 45

Posted by: James C | Mar 22 2026 15:37 utc |
No, I can’t prove the war propaganda about peaceful protesters is true.  But I can repost this testimony from my friend in Iran, who posted after the riots were over, and hasn’t posted since the war started.   I believe her over the slavering war mongers repeating absolute bullshit.
 
“Hello everyone, and thanks to all those who messaged me to ask about my wellbeing. I am writing this to tell you EVERYTHING YOU HEAR AND SEE ON YOUR MEDIA IS A LIE! I will tell you in nutshell what happened here from Tuesday to Friday.
Tuesday started with peaceful demonstrations for the unstable market. Wednesday, the marchers lines were infiltrated by violent groups, however, the security forces had strict order to not shoot, and in so many places they were sent UNARMED (remember Syria?)
Everything went spiral down fast and stormy on Thursday night, after the call of Reza P💩hlavi and his followers “take the streets, burn them down, kill, and have no mercy on their women and children”.
Within hours streets were locked, unarmed security forces run down, dismembered, eyes gouched out, sodomised by foreign objects, BURNT ALIVE. Systematically huundreds of banks burned down, 4 hospitals burned, over 250 libraries burned, 186 ambulances burned and paramedics burned and mamed, fire trucks burned to ashes while trying to rescue residential buildings on fire, gas stations burned, schools, mosques, food stores, pharmacies, historic sites …. and then random fire opened up in the crowded areas on passer byes.
They took human shields of innocent people so security police couldn’t stop them. They shot and killed women, children, nurses, street cleaners, defaced passer byes with sword, and bricks, beheaded … horrors of Aleppi, Hamma, Mousul … everything that they couldn’t do in 12 days bombing.
Finally Friday all communications were cut off and announced anyone how stirs terror or attacks anything will be sh0t on the spot as enemy combatant. Saturday morning peace and order was restored but the country left in the blood of the innocent with monitory damage of billions of dollars. We watched all that LIVE on TV while you are hearing and seeing manipulated lies.
The official number of killed is 3110 I believe of whom about 2400 some are security forces and innocent people.”

Posted by: wagelaborer | Mar 22 2026 16:57 utc | 47

Cesare Chavez was well known as being against illegal immigration, as it was/is a tool used by the mega-farms to reduce farmworker pay rates. But that doesn’t mean that he did not also abuse women. Remember the saying about not meeting heroes because they always disappoint?
 
 These next couple of weeks will be make or break for the Iran war … the interceptors are running low, the markets are jittery, Iran has shown resilience against assassinations and the people are firming up, and the war is widening to the whole area and beyond. I just pray smarter people in the US ruling class get in touch with the Prez and give him his marching orders to cut their losses. 

Posted by: Caliman | Mar 22 2026 16:58 utc | 49

Jane@43
 
They reportedly have drone deployed mines they can use and they could sink ships, but that isn’t easily reversible as clearing wrecks would require unhindered access I believe. All bets are off from what I see. Onward into the fog…

Posted by: the pessimist | Mar 22 2026 16:58 utc | 51

I will add that the latest propaganda about innocent protesters is outrage going around the usual circles about a star wrestler who was hanged just for peacefully protesting!!
Luckily, a lot of people do point out that he was actually hanged for hacking two police officers to death with a machete.
 
The idea that security forces can kill thousands of people at a protest is ridiculous on the face of it.  It’s hard to kill that many people, even when using missiles and drones, as we know from the body counts now in Iran and Ukraine.
But people believe that thousands of people at a protest can be killed?    That shows how gullible they are.  Maybe because they know on some level that the US is engaging in barbaric behavior, so they cling to absurd justifications.

Posted by: wagelaborer | Mar 22 2026 17:04 utc | 53

Let’s stop kidding ourselves. Trump, his family and insider cronies made more $$ on crypto pump-n-dump rug pulls in a couple of years than Biden, Obama, Bush, Clinton, and Cheney combined. We’re probably talking $3-fuckin-Billion on the low end. 
 
Then there’s the constant market manipulation and insider trading via meth fueled late night tariff announcements and now the oil markets, “AI” and “defense” contracts since he decided to expand WWIII to West Asia. 
 
Trump’s degree of corruption and $ amounts compared to past presidents/affiliates is Jupiter vs. Mercury.  And I’m even throwing in Halliburton and KBR during the Bush/Cheney Regime years. 

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Mar 22 2026 17:08 utc | 55

But people believe that thousands of people at a protest can be killed?    That shows how gullible they are.  Maybe because they know on some level that the US is engaging in barbaric behavior, so they cling to absurd justifications.
Posted by: wagelaborer | Mar 22 2026 17:04 utc | 53

you need boots on the ground to achieve that.  But it is possible.
look at killing sprees in Africa.

Posted by: MAKK | Mar 22 2026 17:10 utc | 57

A tiny suggestion/reminder that if people find webpages that are of interest to them and maybe others that they also archive it at for example archive.ph or web.archive.org or both (are there other archival sites people use? I sometimes use pastebins.net (note the plural; it’s not the big famous one) for pure text).
 
And if it is really important then do off-line copies as well :3
 

Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | Mar 22 2026 17:16 utc | 59

But it must be demonstrated scientifically.
 
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Mar 22 2026 16:06 utc | 26

 
You know how tricky and prone to error as well as abuse this is, do you? 

Posted by: persiflo | Mar 22 2026 17:20 utc | 61

“Rhymings-Lang” is clearly meant to be understood as “rhyming slang” (aka Cockney) which might make it easier to remember.
 
“Jeremy” can mean different things in rhyming slang, none of which are particularly widespread in use afaik (and I hardly know any rhyming slang so I had to look it up some time ago) so it might simply be “Jeremy”.
 
I’m certainly not up to date on any current lingo lol unless by accident :3
 
(Anyway I think the bar is plenty filthy underneath all the people rolling around fighting on the floor, and there’s often a heavy purple haze too. Worse is hidden in and behind the walls).
 

Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | Mar 22 2026 17:23 utc | 63

a trine between pluto-uranus
 
Posted by: james | Mar 22 2026 16:37 utc | 38
 
word of advise, keep your pet far away….

Posted by: Newbie | Mar 22 2026 17:28 utc | 65

Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Mar 22 2026 17:29 utc | 66
 
Oh dear, oh dear, you’re probably reading the wrong comments in here. You should switch to reading Jeremy’s. They are both intelligent and witty. Almost as if they are full of rhyming slang.

Posted by: Avtonom | Mar 22 2026 17:35 utc | 67

Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Mar 22 2026 17:29 utc | 66
 
Oh dear, oh dear, you’re probably reading the wrong comments in here. You should switch to reading Jeremy’s. They are both intelligent and witty. Almost as if they are full of rhyming slang.
 
Posted by: Avtonom | Mar 22 2026 17:35 utc | 67
 
Is that you, Jeremy?

Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Mar 22 2026 17:39 utc | 69

Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Mar 22 2026 17:39 utc | 69
 
No, it’s me.

Posted by: Avtonom | Mar 22 2026 17:41 utc | 71

per AI:
“President Obama used the phrase “all options are on the table” frequently throughout his administration, primarily in reference to stopping Iran from developing nuclear weapons. The phrase was a staple of his foreign policy rhetoric, particularly when addressing Iran and Israel.”

Posted by: duck n cover | Mar 22 2026 17:42 utc | 73

(Anyway I think the bar is plenty filthy underneath all the people rolling around fighting on the floor, and there’s often a heavy purple haze too. Worse is hidden in and behind the walls). 
Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | Mar 22 2026 17:23 utc | 63

 
You’re probably right in an objective sense, but compared to most of what happens on the web these days I believe we could characterize the bar as relatively clean…

Posted by: Avtonom | Mar 22 2026 17:46 utc | 75

@ 68
There’s no inherent opposition between class struggle and the struggle for women’s rights, or gay liberation, or black power, or what have you, except when these movements are co-opted by the bourgeoisie. The Black Panthers, for example, preached class struggle within the black community against the black bourgeoisie, and inter-communally against the capitalist class as a whole. The overtures made by Fred Hampton to working class white people were one of the reasons why the CPD and FBI targeted him for assassination.
 
But you can’t get to that point of interracial and inter-gender unity without addressing the contradictions within the working class, either. The fact is that class is a racialized thing in the US, hence why Trump could propagandize about latinos taking “black jobs”, a notion which already expressed the racialization of class! But the good news is that multi-racial communities have far more in common than they think.

Posted by: fnord | Mar 22 2026 17:52 utc | 77

Posted by: james | Mar 22 2026 16:37 utc | 38
 
René Girard wrote Violence and the Sacred. He’s a superb anthropologist of religion. The thesis of that book (and this is only the tip of his work) is that sacrifice co-opts the divine to mitigate and scapegoat the necessity of violence in the reproduction of life. But that’s not doing it justice. The wikipedia entry is a good place to start as is the debate Violent Origins between Girard, Burkert and Jonathan Z. Smith.

Posted by: Patroklos | Mar 22 2026 18:04 utc | 79

Lots of Americans, mostly middle and upper class, are completely fine with killing in the name of Empire. They just don’t want it to be presented in such a crude and indelicate manner. More euphemisms and indirect language is needed to protect their illusions of virtue. 
Posted by: William Gruff | Mar 22 2026 15:39 utc | 18
 
Its the west that behaves this way. Not just americans.

Posted by: Tannenhouser | Mar 22 2026 18:09 utc | 81

@ ChatNPC | Mar 22 2026 16:52 utc | 44
 
thanks chat… she is off on a different tangent.. i couldn’t watch her, lol – but i appreciate you drawing my attention to it for the thoughtfulness it suggests… thanks…
 
@ Newbie | Mar 22 2026 17:28 utc | 65
 
lol -aside from being demoted, i think pluto as a dog is in fact more fun! plutos party!
 
@ Patroklos | Mar 22 2026 18:04 utc | 79
 
thanks patroklos… the title is very catchy… i will have to take a closer look.. thanks…  those french folks seem to process info differently.. maybe it has to do with the language? the spectator and the spectacle – another french writer too…  i read some of this later book… it is the kind of book one has to ponder on for a length of time..  the catholic religion seems to permeate french culture on a certain level, which might explain the attachment to talking about the anti-christ… not sure what theils agenda is, b if the company he keeps is any indication – i would stay very far away.. these are the same whackjobs pushing AI, surveillance capitalism and etc. etc… i guess that goes with the anti-christ and they are it, lol..

Posted by: james | Mar 22 2026 18:23 utc | 83

@63
“The full phrase is “a bit of a Jeremy Hunt” which I believe is rhyming slang for cunt, but as with most slang phrases, you only say the first …
 
I have often wondered why no one else at the Bar seems to have noticed that William Gruff must refer to the Billy Goats Gruff.

Posted by: Jane | Mar 22 2026 18:25 utc | 85

Lots of Americans, mostly middle and upper class, are completely fine with killing in the name of Empire. They just don’t want it to be presented in such a crude and indelicate manner. More euphemisms and indirect language is needed to protect their illusions of virtue. Posted by: William Gruff | Mar 22 2026 15:39 utc | 18 Its the west that behaves this way. Not just americans.
Posted by: Tannenhouser | Mar 22 2026 18:09 utc | 81
============
 
Headline today at Mondoweiss:
“Forever Live by the Sword:Understanding Israelis’ Massive Support for the War.”
 
“A recent poll registered Israeli support for the war on Iran at a whopping 93%. Between the genocide, the ethnic cleansing, and the annexations, Israelis think this is how it’s meant to be. Constant war to sustain our constant expansion. . . .”

Posted by: Jane | Mar 22 2026 18:30 utc | 87

interesting bit about girard – “Girard converted from agnosticism to Christianity while reading Dostoevsky, in preparation for his first book in 1961. For the rest of his life, he was a practising Catholic.
 
it didn’t happen to me from reading dostoevsky, lol!
 
Posted by: james | Mar 22 2026 18:30 utc | 86

 
Easy peasy if you find yourself agreeing with the Grand Inquisitor. 
 
(This isn’t necessarily a comment about Girard, about whom I know nothing.)

Posted by: malenkov | Mar 22 2026 19:01 utc | 89

Israel physically detaching Southern Lebanon from the rest of the country before annexing it. Impossible not to be astounded by the Aoun government, compromised quisling is one thing, but sitting back and intentionally giving away half your country is off the scale. I’m sure it’s happened in the last 7000ys of history, but not often:
 

Netanyahu ordered to use the Gaza model in Lebanon, “He said that the Israel Defense Forces will destroy all crossings over the Litani River to prevent Hezbollah from moving south. Following the model of Beit Hanoun in Rafah, Gaza. We will turn the contact villages in southern Lebanon into areas like Beit Hanoun and Rafah in Gaza,”
 
https://t.me/intelslava/85287

Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Mar 22 2026 19:09 utc | 91

Posted by: Patroklos | Mar 22 2026 18:04 utc | 79
 
######
 
I do not know the man, nor have I read his books, but it seems to me that it is a very Western thing to have a religious anthropologist who is not themself religious.
 
Sort of like a Physics teacher explaining to birds how it is that they fly (to borrow an idea from Taleb).
 
But then, Europeans think that history begins and ends with them, so I suppose it has a manner of internal logic.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Mar 22 2026 19:17 utc | 93

US/Israel strike Iranian electricity infrastructure.

 
43-second video . 
https://x.com/politblogme/status/2035799277235016055

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Mar 22 2026 19:30 utc | 95

Posted by: Jane | Mar 22 2026 18:17 utc | 82
Dolores Huerta is no angel.  She loves the limelight and sacrificed a lot of maternal care for her kids to the cause, or perhaps her own ego.   Now she can play victim.  The UFW has really done a great job for the farmworkers, too.  She should be proud. /s
Additionally, Cesar Chavez used the term “wetback”, and I guess lugenpresse needed a new shiny toy to defelect from Epteinland and the unfolding of the misadventure in Iran.   Blame the spics.
I read a pretty good book about Chavez’s early days with the UFW.  Sal Si Puedes.
I found it interesting in the book about how many regular USA citizens worked on farms.  There were a bunch of men from the Philippeans who fought here in WW2.  (It seems like the spelling of that nation is a bit contentious.). I also found it interesting that he started a bunch of his work in San Jose.
All the Chavez allegations seems pretty typical of people with a bit of power.  I’m not some fanboy of his.   It all seems like fairly well timed distraction and a great opportunity for sign makers.
Thanks nearly everyone here.
Here’s a good Zapatista song.  Se Acabó

Posted by: lex talionis | Mar 22 2026 19:34 utc | 97

indian punchline has a few articles up today and a few days ago that are worth reading… 

Posted by: james | Mar 22 2026 19:42 utc | 99