The MoA Week In Review – OT 2026-058

YT videos in the feed I skip past first are the ones where wome lame comedian or news interpreter, short of anything suitably novel, original to say, picks the vid of another more well-known contrarian, puts it under some banner shouting that Blah blah (aforesaid more well known contrarian) ‘took down’, told off, or otherwise humiliated a straight from epstein’s gang media personality.
Such vids are full of senseless padding & repetition as the vid host scrapes around for enough material for him/her tgo argue ‘fair use’ of the other’s vid & make it sufficiently long to make a few bucks off.

If you watch this vid it will not be that. This vid shows our old mate Prof Mo Marandi carefully deconstructing the cliched old deceits englander media has been visiting on the monarch’s subjects for many centuries, following them being spouted some particularly thick englander journo. There is little or no repetition, the host’s comments (blprnt never heard of them before) are small foreshadows, that’s all. Give it a burl, it is an entertainment.

Posted by: a_user | Mar 16 2026 0:44 utc | 101

Posted by: lachaussette | Mar 15 2026 19:31 utc | 41
I enjoy good music and fair play – I have an open mind I would like to think. Tis disappointing to me the Moon of Alabama is not showing my commentary on this topic which is pretty much open for fair discourse on any topic – but apparently there is some censorship going on here and that could easily be proven – so one wonders – why waste time posting here at a site proclaims to be a “bar of discourse” if some of the posts are getting censored.
So that is too bad – cause I really appreciated your sentiment regarding the imperfections of any so called sphere – and I could prove the flaws of calculus based upon the concept that at infinitesimally small number squared is essentially equal to “0” – and while damn near all the time that is true when it gets down to quantum considerations that assumption falls down and fails – but the math used in quantum physics relies on said assumption – and there you have it – the flaw in the midst of it.
But if my posts ain’t gonna be recognized then why should I make the effort to share ideas here – there are better places evidently but it was nice meeting you and all.
Warm Regards and see you all later!

Posted by: Ken Hausle | Mar 16 2026 0:49 utc | 102

4 terrorist attacks on US soil and counting.

https://torrancestephensphd.substack.com/p/gop-grow-a-pair-and-slide-on-them

Posted by: Dogon priest | Mar 16 2026 0:56 utc | 103

Is anyone at the bar following Brian Berletic’s theory that this whole war on Iran is actually the start of the blockade of China?
– Increasing attacks on oil producing infrastructure and shipping by USA and Iran achieve this end.
– Israel is ultimately just another expendable proxy just like Ukraine.
– The USA has energy independence and is willing to torch the world economy in the hope of crippling the rise of China.
– Choking off energy imports to China is exactly the strategy that has been discussed by the USA for DECADES (the distant blockade)

Posted by: Subtropical | Mar 16 2026 0:57 utc | 104

Oh maybe I went over the “limit” in posts even it if twas in text linked and that is WHY my post doesn’t “show” – if so then it would have been better if the post didn’t post in the first place for Christ’s sake and I understand the need for limits on links, but for heaven’s sake that is somewhat arbitrary and whatever if I could of I would have eliminated one of the links in the post above – but it makes no herefore nor wherewithal – at the end of the day calculus is flawed at the edges – just as about everything is – there is no such thing as perfection! It is imaginary only – there is no such thing as a perfectly straight line nor a perfect circle. I mean zoom in on the edge of it and any line has flaws – as does any arc. This ain’t rocket science – tis the facts of life in the 3-D world we live within. Think about it – any line zoomed enough is no longer purely straight. You know?
I think the Year of 2025 was the year of Turning, the Year of 2024 was the year of Resolution, the Year of 2023 the year of Determination, the Year of 2022 Stretching and the Year of 2021 Reckoning. Better ideas beckon.
The Year of 2026 is the Year of Merit. And let the best ideas prevail is my motto – and with that sentiment let me share some music from North Carolina – don’t mess with the folks in Appalachia – they are the ones made the US of A possible if one considers the Battles of Kings Mountain and Cowpens and the folks here are resolute – givith and take away in equal order I reckon out of the hills of Appalachia where living ain’t easy but folks care for one another.
So – one must wonder – what is the fate of the us of a – lost its way it seems from the founding principles – what a travesty – but hope you have made preparations cause flux is in the air – and there is no such thing as perfection – tis easily proven when it comes to governance and gubments in general no doubt.
Good Day to one an all – Saint Patrick from Ireland supposedly a lonely soul held captive knows I reckon.
https://youtu.be/q0gnFwLPbp8

Posted by: Ken Hausle | Mar 16 2026 1:10 utc | 105

– Choking off energy imports to China is exactly the strategy that has been discussed by the USA for DECADES (the distant blockade)
Posted by: Subtropical | Mar 16 2026 0:57 utc | 108

I am and I’m pretty sure a number of others are as well.

His case is very strong

Posted by: arby | Mar 16 2026 1:12 utc | 106

@108

Just saying China is simplistic.

It’s about exceptionalism, dollar supremacy and wealth extraction for oligarchs.

It’s not and have never been about “nations”.

Cuba, Venezuela, North Korea, Vietnam, Libya, Syria, Russia, Iran and China were/are countries standing in the way.

Posted by: Suresh | Mar 16 2026 1:13 utc | 107

Posted by: Ken Hausle | Mar 16 2026 1:10 utc | 109

ahh, link limit…. there may be one because one of my posts didnt post either, and it had links to every mq-9 reaper shot down this war

Posted by: UWDude | Mar 16 2026 1:13 utc | 108

To bomb away as if there is no tomorrow, both the US and the jews, turn the country into rubble. Won’t help the genociders one iota. The people will hunker down in the safest spaces they can find but once the idiocy of the jews is apparent and the weaponry gifted by the US are finished the iranians will surface with their missiles and continue where they earlier had stopped! At that time the jews are out of weaponry and it will be like shooting ducks for iran (what could be better). Meanwhile the epsteined 47 will have assembled a minor invasion force waiting to be slaughtered by iran! US allies out of means to defend the US bases will just shut up and wait for the jews to be kicked to kingdom come and dumb dumber trump trying to explain to his maga movement the large number of bodybags. And the hormuz just as closed then as it is today!

Posted by: nisses | Mar 16 2026 1:21 utc | 109

Posted by: UWDude | Mar 16 2026 1:13 utc | 113
That must be it – I mean it posted but it didn’t “show up” in the list of posts – and I reckon too many reapers get shot down that gets censored if you try to share links to each one shot down?
Oh well – it makes no matter in the long run it will be evident soon enough the fools out of DC chose this war – emblematic of a place whose military will be defeated when it loses connection with oaths taken and founding principles – and that seems proven.
Regards,
BK

Posted by: Ken Hausle | Mar 16 2026 1:23 utc | 110

Posted by: UWDude | Mar 16 2026 0:21 utc | 102

Stuck in Sen’s Fortress…What a annoying Place…

Posted by: Nobody | Mar 16 2026 1:30 utc | 111

And One Day i will finish Dark Souls!!
Posted by: Nobody | Mar 15 2026 23:40 utc | 97

My favorite is Demon Souls 2009. First soul game and it’s so punishing to play. Good game though but soul games are not for me.

Posted by: KillerDoll | Mar 16 2026 1:31 utc | 112

time to be done with this Epstein nonsense. not b/c there is nothing there, but b/c it’s being used as a distraction.

forget about the Epstein files.
let’s watch the Oct 7 tapes. cuz almost every public figure appealing to the Epstein story is participating in the Oct 7 cover up, which is Big Bro’s rewriting of history right in front of everyone.

arguing about Epstein is completely safe. arguing about Hamas not actually raping anyone or the IDF doing all the shooting on Oct 7 is what will get a person in trouble.

fuck this Epstein noise.

Posted by: duck n cover | Mar 16 2026 1:55 utc | 113

Posted by: Suresh | Mar 16 2026 1:13 utc | 111
Yep I understand what you say. It’s not just about crippling the economic rise of China.
The clever actions achieve multiple goals so aiming for China simultaneously defends the petrodollar, generates profits, cements hegemony and more.
The USA is now moving anti shipping marines into place now so, those tankers that Iran is currently allowing through the SoH will soon be blocked

Posted by: Subtropical | Mar 16 2026 2:00 utc | 114

Posted by: duck n cover | Mar 16 2026 1:55 utc | 117
Hamas is a tool.
Hamas sided with the USA, Israel against Assad Syrian govt.
Hamas has always been financed by UAE , the same UAE that hosts the largest USA military base in the Gulf.
Hamas did Oct.7 knowing it would give Israel cover for Genocide.
Hamas is not what it seems

Posted by: Subtropical | Mar 16 2026 2:05 utc | 115

people can knock the wsws all they want, but they are right about a number of things, like their latest report on what covid 19 is doing to the USM (thank Christ), as reported by the morons at JAMA. hopefully covid 19 causes more ship sewers to overflow. AI won’t have to worry about toilet flow, stomach bugs, etc., will it?

they were also right about how #MeToo will be used to target leftists, as demonstrated in the crushing of anti-Israel dissent across the Western ruling class. in all the phony outrage over a routine feature of capitalism, namely sexual violence, a film company was destroyed, competition removed. This from an industry that tried to blame Russia and Sith Jedi Master Putin’s mind powers for the abysm that was “Ghostbusters: 2016.”

do you think Disney would manufacture a sex scandal to destroy Weinstein Inc.? yes, they are capable of doing such a thing. like the DNC will hire Cambridge Analytica to smear Trump with “Russia Russia Russia”. and the MSM will run with that smear right up to this present moment.

“by their own words are they judged.” Morally, psychologically, Trump and his kind are guilty of the crimes they brag about. As they deserve being done to them what they brag about. Without a doubt. people are guilty of the crimes they brag about. but that’s not a legal standard, is it?

that is, if the completely lawless deserve the 2nd thought the law demands before execution of deserved punishment. Of course Trump and co don’t deserve such considerations. No one in the genocidal Western ruling class does. They are all absolutely lawless, boastfully, defiantly so.

Posted by: duck n cover | Mar 16 2026 2:13 utc | 116

Posted by: Subtropical | Mar 16 2026 2:05 utc | 119
who is what they seem?

who was pulling the trigger on Oct 7? who’s been lying about it ever since to promote global war and genocide?

now thank you for your “behind the curtain” update on Hamas. go shove it up your ass.

Posted by: duck n cover | Mar 16 2026 2:16 utc | 117

Posted by: duck n cover | Mar 16 2026 2:13 utc | 120

…the DNC will hire Cambridge Analytica to smear Trump with “Russia Russia Russia”. and the MSM will run with that smear right up to this present moment.

The Cambridge Analytica data was for Trump. cambridge analytica scandal – Google Search

The firm, funded by Republican donor Robert Mercer and supported by Steve Bannon, used this data to build “psychographic” profiles of users. They claimed these profiles allowed them to target voters with personalized political ads, particularly to support Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and the Brexit vote, although the effectiveness of this targeting is debated.

The number of falsehoods trumpeted to favor Trump personally, or to assert his dogmas as fact, is extraordinary. Sometimes I think Orwell was simply a fool to tell people you needed a literal memory hole. Then I remember 1984 was an anti-Communist propaganda tract. Pretty likely his thought was that an imaginary memory hole in the USSR would keep people from thinking about how common simple lying about the recent past works in the so-called West.

Posted by: steven t johnson | Mar 16 2026 2:30 utc | 118

Looking for the gift in the curse of this war. One would guess that the concept of a global economy is trashed; the concept the US protects or can protect its allies is trashed; the concept that manufacturing can be safely outsourced is trashed; and the concept that fuel supplies can be reliable from elsewhere is also trashed. For any nations which have a capacity to be self sufficient in power in any way, the goal will be to become so and everyone but everyone will be looking to restore home-ground manufacturing and high levels of independence and self sufficiency, all of which is positive.

Posted by: rosross | Mar 16 2026 3:39 utc | 119

Posted by: duck n cover | Mar 16 2026 2:16 utc | 121

That Hamas is Israeli shit is so stupid.

they killed eachother by the thousands, yet still people want their fantasy narrative so they can claim they aren’t fooled.

Total fools who think claiming everything is fake makes them wise, when all it does is prove they wouldn’t know real if thousands of people were killing and trying to destroy eachother.

Posted by: UWDude | Mar 16 2026 4:18 utc | 120

When a sailor voyages in the midst of the sea, he watches the stars and in relationto them he guides his ship until he reaches harbor. But a monk watches prayer, because itsets him right and directs his course to that harbor toward which his discipline shouldlead. A monk gazes at prayer at all times, so that it might show him an island where hecan anchor his ship and take on provisions; then once more he sets his course for anotherisland.

Such is the voyage of a monk in this life: he sails from one island to another, thatis, from knowledge to knowledge, and by his successive change of islands, that is, ofstates of knowledge, he progresses until he emerges from the sea and his journey attainsto that true city, whose inhabitants no longer engage in commerce but each rests upon hisown riches.

Blessed is the man who has not lost his course in this vain world, on thisgreat sea! Blessed is the man whose ship has not broken up and who has reached harborwith joy!

[Homily 48; The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian]

Posted by: juliania | Mar 16 2026 4:32 utc | 121

“Emmanuel Todd: “Iran is Last Western War against the World” Live with Jeff Rich and Ali Mirza”

https://jeffrich.substack.com/p/emmanuel-todd-iran-is-last-western (lenth: 1 hour 33 minutes)

Australian historian Jeff Rich talked with Ali Mirza (also from Australia) about the war in Iran and in the Middle East. Both men also discussed the work/the views/recent views of Emmanuelle Todd. The name “Todd” was also used as “click bait”. Todd himself never appeared in the video.

Another thought: France has send an/their aircraftcarrier to the eastern part Mediterranian to defend Turkey. This raises an interesting question. Assuming Israel wants to attack Turkey then NATO can use “Article 5” to help defend Turkey. Then an interesting question arises. Will then NATO fight against Israel ???

Posted by: WMG | Mar 16 2026 4:46 utc | 122

Afghan who fought with US special forces dies in ICE custody as Trump on track for deadliest year of detention in more than two decades

Mohammad Nazeer Paktyawal served with U.S. forces in Afghanistan and legally evacuated the country, then died within a day of being taken into ICE custody, according to his family

Josh Marcus in San Francisco Sunday 15 March 2026 19:05 GMT

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/afghan-death-ice-mohammad-paktyawal-b2938902.html

Posted by: Menz | Mar 16 2026 5:48 utc | 123

You can believe de-dollarisation is starting to bite when the ten-year is north of 5%.
Posted by: Cato

Agreed that once de-dollarization really hits hard, then federal debt wiill be dranatically repriced.

Note interest Rates on federal debt remain stubbornly higher than expected. That is a early warning sign.

the math is inescapable on a Federal Insolvency crisis. The only question is timing. My estimate (made in mid-2022) is insolvency crisis hits in 3027.

Posted by: Exile | Mar 16 2026 6:00 utc | 124

If I were China I would refuse to meet with Trump over shit like below

WASHINGTON — Today [March 12], the United States Trade Representative initiated investigations of 60 economies under Section 301(b) of the Trade Act of 1974. The investigations will determine whether acts, policies, and practices of each of these economies related to the failure to impose and effectively enforce a ban on the importation of goods produced with forced labor are unreasonable or discriminatory and burden or restrict U.S. commerce.

From Xinhuanet

A spokesperson from the ministry refuted the U.S. accusations, pointing out that the U.S. side has long manipulated the “forced labor” issue and imposed a series of trade restrictions on China based on fabricated allegations.
China, a founding member of the International Labour Organization, has ratified 28 international labor conventions and established a comprehensive system of labor laws and regulations to prevent and combat forced labor, the spokesperson said.
The United States has not yet ratified the Forced Labour Convention, 1930, thus rejecting binding international rules, while long manipulating the issue of “forced labor”, the spokesperson noted.
The latest U.S. move to launch Section 301 investigations against China and other economies in an attempt to erect trade barriers is unilateral, arbitrary and discriminatory in nature, and is a typical act of protectionism, the spokesperson said.
“This is a mistake on top of another, which severely undermines the security and stability of global industrial and supply chains and seriously disrupts the international economic and trade order,” the spokesperson added.

The bully, my country, needs to be removed from control of our world and I see eliminating global private finance as the key to that effort…..I hope China moves our world in that direction soon.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Mar 16 2026 6:05 utc | 125

Note interest Rates on federal debt remain stubbornly higher than expected.

Posted by: Exile | Mar 16 2026 6:00 utc | 128

—

Interest rates exceed the FED’s target rates all across the curve. The FED has lost pricing power.

https://wolfstreet.com/2026/03/14/treasury-yields-jump-10-year-to-4-28-30-year-to-4-90-mortgage-rates-spike-to-6-41-on-inflation-deficit-fears/

Posted by: too scents | Mar 16 2026 6:08 utc | 126

I hope China moves our world in that direction soon.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Mar 16 2026 6:05 utc | 129

—

Tomorrow is Groundhog Day. Again.

Posted by: too scents | Mar 16 2026 6:09 utc | 127

@ too scents | Mar 16 2026 6:09 utc | 131 who is a month late for Groundhog day and more pessimistic than myself, evidently.

Change is the only constant, eh?

I don’t see China’s finance as a public utility being put back into some sort of Groundhog Day bottle, not to spread and become dominant in our world.

China represents a future that is all around us but not evenly distributed…..yet

Posted by: psychohistorian | Mar 16 2026 6:24 utc | 128

There’s Hamas and then there’s Hamas.

Remember the Hamas that launched Op Al Aqsa Flood was not the Hamas created by the Zionists.

What do I mean?

The same Hamas that fought against Hez’bAllah in Syria is the same Hamas that condemned Iran for the attacks against the Saudis and GCC countries.

Check out Wartime Cafe (Palestine TV) with Dr Jamal Wakim and Laith Marouf to get the low down.

Posted by: Suresh | Mar 16 2026 6:47 utc | 129

@ 133
Iran Day 15 Palestine TV youtube.

They refer to Jewlani as Governor of Occupied Syria and moves to mobilize the Wahhabi Death Squads to invade Lebanon.

Posted by: Suresh | Mar 16 2026 6:50 utc | 130

the line about israel running critically low on interceptors reminds me of how russia was supposed to be running low on weapons back at the start of the ukraine war…. now, obviously this could be different, but it reminds me of that… hard to know what to believe and what not to believe..
Posted by: james | Mar 15 2026 15:52 utc | 3
Western weapons are usually made by private companies and are therefore overengineered, expensive and can only be produced in small capacities. Moreover, they are optimized for a maintenance business model.Besides, Russia has ruined the West and wasted its ammunition for several years in Ukraine.

Posted by: V wie Vendetta | Mar 16 2026 7:59 utc | 131

@b

What’s your view on Esmail Qaani?

Posted by: Patroklos | Mar 16 2026 8:00 utc | 132

Trump told TSA workers go to work as they haven’t been paid in months because the congress doesn’t approve DHS budget.

Trump spoken like a man who never worked in his life. I aint work for free either.

Posted by: KillerDoll | Mar 16 2026 8:00 utc | 133

@two scents:

The FED – like so many other central banks – FOLLOWS the rates as set by a force called “Mr. Market”. NOT the other way around.

Posted by: WMG | Mar 16 2026 8:17 utc | 134

The delusional mad man tweeted 8 hours ago on Iran, and shut up about it…😀

Iran has long been known as a Master of Media Manipulation and Public Relations. They are Militarily ineffective and weak, but are really good at “feeding” the very appreciative Fake News Media false information. Now, A.I. has become another Disinformation weapon that Iran uses, quite well, considering they are being annihilated by the day. They showed phony “Kamikaze Boats,” shooting at various Ships at Sea, which looks wonderful, powerful, and vicious, but these Boats don’t exist — It’s all false information to show how “tough” their already defeated Military is! The five U.S. Refueling Planes that were supposedly struck down and badly damaged, according to The Wall Street Journal’s false reporting, and others, are all in service, with the exception of one, which will soon be flying the skies. Buildings and Ships that are shown to be on fire are not — It’s FAKE NEWS, generated by A.I. For instance, Iran, working in close coordination with the Fake News Media, shows our great USS Abraham Lincoln Aircraft Carrier, one of the largest and most prestigious Ships in the World, burning uncontrollably in the Ocean. Not only was it not burning, it was not even shot at — Iran knows better than to do that! The story was knowingly FAKE and, in a certain way, you can say that those Media Outlets that generated it should be brought up on Charges for TREASON for the dissemination of false information! The fact is, Iran is being decimated, and the only battles they “win” are those that they create through AI, and are distributed by Corrupt Media Outlets. The Radical Leftwing Press knows this full well, but continues to go forward with false stories and LIES. That’s why their Approval Rating is so low, and I can win a Presidential Election, IN A LANDSLIDE, getting only 5% positive Press — They have no credibility! I am so thrilled to see Brendan Carr, the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), looking at the licenses of some of these Corrupt and Highly Unpatriotic “News” Organizations. They get Billions of Dollars of FREE American Airwaves, and use it to perpetuate LIES, both in News and almost all of their Shows, including the Late Night Morons, who get gigantic Salaries for horrible Ratings, and never get, as I used to say in The Apprentice, “FIRED.” Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP

The guy is shouting at the “FAKE” media and “thrilled” to see Brendan Carr…
Well?

Posted by: James | Mar 16 2026 8:22 utc | 135

“USrael has long been known as a Master of Media Manipulation and Public Relations.” FIXED!The West is not good at fighting equals. They are only good at flashily bombarding technologically inferior people.

Posted by: V for Vendetta | Mar 16 2026 8:37 utc | 136

While Brendan Carr has been vocal about revoking licenses, his actual power is quite specific. The FCC regulates broadcast airwaves (local TV and radio stations like those owned by ABC, CBS, and NBC). The FCC has zero authority over newspapers like The Wall Street Journal or The New York Times. Revoking a license based on “war coverage” would face immediate First Amendment challenges.

Carr’s threats is just political theatre designed to pressure newsrooms into “self-censoring” rather than an enforceable legal move. The situation has turned into a “war of attrition” not just with missiles, but with the truth—where the Trump labels any news of U.S. setbacks as Treason, while the media continues to document a much messier, more costly conflict than the White House admits.

The US media appears to be waking up. 😉

Posted by: James | Mar 16 2026 8:47 utc | 137

Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Mar 15 2026 22:32 utc

Bloody ‘ell were you there? That was bedlam lol!

It’s a small world isn’t it?

Posted by: lachaussette | Mar 16 2026 8:54 utc | 138

“So frankly, I don’t think a “perfect sphere” exist other than in imagination”…

Posted by: lachaussette | Mar 15 2026 17:58 utc

“Starting from the premise of the perfect sphere, I went on to dismantle this notion as a mathematical construct.”

Posted by: lachaussette | Mar 15 2026 19:31 utc | 41

********************

A ‘thought experiment’: Suppose there was a drop of mercury in a weightless environment (Space Station?). Would it be a perfect sphere? (Why/why not?)

Oh – and don’t forget to factor in the electron probability density function when considering the ‘bumpiness’ of the atomic surface – in particular, at the precise time that I will be measuring and inspecting the surface 🙂

Posted by: General Factotum | Mar 16 2026 8:55 utc | 139

While the planned March 31 – April 2 summit in Beijing is still officially on the books, China’s “welcome” is far from enthusiastic. China will be quite happy if Trump finds a reason to not to come. No country will be happy to host Trump anyway. He had become a pariah!

Posted by: James | Mar 16 2026 9:08 utc | 140

The EU fools in Nato should consider whether Americans would help out or run as from the Gulf, when Russia/Belarus moves through Suwalki Gap, or moves through the Baltics, or even take some parts of Finland.

Posted by: James | Mar 16 2026 9:20 utc | 141

WARNING! ASIAN AI GUY!
Posted by: UWDude | Mar 15 2026 19:44 utc | 46
That is the typical excuse for NOT thinking. The question is if what is being said (no matter by who or what) IS TRUE or NOT! Aut disce aut discede!

Posted by: Maracatu | Mar 16 2026 9:50 utc | 142

Rob Grant, one of creators of Red Dwarf, died at 70 years old.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/breaking-rob-grant-dead-red-36787959

Posted by: UWDude | Mar 16 2026 10:07 utc | 143

Posted by: juliania | Mar 16 2026 4:32 utc | 125

That’s an accurate description of Buddhist meditation Juliana!

Posted by: BM | Mar 16 2026 11:40 utc | 144

I’ll leave it there as we return to the scarlet pimpernel show of schroedingers NuttyYahoo – they seek him here, they seek him there – that massayah and his red heffer ashes end of days.
Posted by: DunGroanin | Mar 16 2026 11:24 utc | 148
LOL good one DG 😉

Posted by: Joe Turner | Mar 16 2026 12:14 utc | 145

Posted by: duck n cover | Mar 16 2026 1:55 utc | 117

Agreed. It’s what you can’t discuss that lands you in jail that counts.

“If you want to know who rules over you just find out who you are not allowed to criticize.”

Posted by: Abe | Mar 16 2026 12:18 utc | 146

Posted by: steven t johnson | Mar 16 2026 2:30 utc | 122
So I got the name wrong? The name of the business hired to produce the Steele dossier?

Not the op itself the DNC and co performed and still performs but the name of the business they hired?

Duly rebuked. Per Wikipedia, it was Fusion GPS.

Posted by: Duck n cover | Mar 16 2026 12:51 utc | 147

Right let’s give em a kick.

Loser Khazarian shapeshifter – have tried and failed to take the whole planet – again.

And just like the last time they are trying to snatch a victory from this defeat to take Russia and EurAsia.

A further expansion of the illegal entity with its crazed from birth copycat Hitler yoof and deluded adults who are Talmudic Nazis believing their entitlement and magik thinking.

As a back stop they demand a new iron curtain between the rising multipolar consisting of 85% + of humanity, dressed up as a Garden of a Golden Billion minions and a whole chunk of the planet they have decided to call the ‘Western Hemisphere’ …

It’s chutzpah, Zionist, Fascist, Tyrannical – dynastic demand by the Few – about 400 shapeshifter ‘families’ and their less than 10,000 tribal members. Whi occupy and own all of the Collective West and it’s ‘Wealth and Money’.
They invade, destroy, the remaining Peoples, lands and commerce of those who reside outside their control.

They demand a yielding and conformity to their rule of the Few over the Many.

They demand their IMPLACABILITY be obeyed!

They DEMAND their pound of flesh.

Fuck them .

Fuck all the whores, male and female, in all the institutions and media , mass and alternative; fuck especially the stinky turds that stop us recognising and calling them out by capturing our corners of dissent.

Fuck the fake barons and fake landlords and the fake punters who are deployed to monitor and manage the Message.

slatersbarflies

Posted by: DunGroanin | Mar 16 2026 12:59 utc | 148

Posted by: Suresh | Mar 16 2026 6:47 utc | 133
Check out Wartime Cafe (Palestine TV) with Dr Jamal Wakim and Laith Marouf to get the low down.
Thanks for the link Suresh.
Cheers

Posted by: Subtropical | Mar 16 2026 13:02 utc | 149

It’s amazing how often Trump used his art of the deal compensating.
the whole citing of China before the trip is to create an artificial barrier which can be lowered by China conceding something without losing face.
His sinophobic adviser Peter Navarro and the advisors on China clearly have decided to leverage this in asking for China to assist in unblocking the Straits of Hormuz.
let seeehat happens.

Posted by: Shango | Mar 16 2026 13:21 utc | 150

james @ 48

Yes Joey de Francesco is very good. Always on, never off. You would also like Chris Foreman. Chris is not the re-incarnation of Jimmy McGriff. He is Jimmy McGriff.

Posted by: oldhippie | Mar 16 2026 13:23 utc | 151

james

Also look into Sabertooth, the Chicago version led by Cameron Piffner with Pete Benson on B3.

Posted by: oldhippie | Mar 16 2026 13:42 utc | 152

Posted by: juliania | Mar 16 2026 4:32 utc | 125

Merci, gracias, and a big ole THANK YOU. I know that I am not the only reader who gets bummed out “doomscrolling,” made worse by the inevitable arguments regarding historical wars, retarded and other religions, genitalia function…erf!

AND THEN right about the time I am ready to go full Luddite–there it is! That morsel, the nugget, that refocuses prayer, clears away the fog of war, and reassures (not about the state of the world) me about my path.

James, titmouse, and beautiful Julianna, I would aspire to be a peer to them, to be a beacon rather than a pit!

Gratitude. Shine Bright.

Posted by: zendeviant | Mar 16 2026 14:02 utc | 153

Will be interesting to see trump attempt to take kharg, as he is apt to do, whether by ship, parachute in the troops or by helicopter or fast boats from the arab side of the gulf. All iran needs to do is to man the place and its vantage points with whatever fire bullets or missiles or drones and the invading special ops forces will be slaughtered and trump will need to have a good excuse ready. In fact, trump is again in a tough spot difficult to get out from and the point where he more or less are forced to abandon his epic fury project is getting closer by the minute!

Posted by: nisses | Mar 16 2026 14:11 utc | 154

My estimate is insolvency crisis hits in 3027.
Posted by: Exile | 128

I can’t wait that long.

Posted by: NotPaulHollywood | Mar 16 2026 14:28 utc | 155

11:04 GMT

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has neither confirmed nor denied Kuwaiti media reports claiming that Iran’s supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, has arrived in Moscow for treatment.
“We do not comment on such reports in any way,” Peskov told journalists.
Last week, US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth claimed that the younger Khamenei, who was chosen as the new supreme leader after his father Ali Khamenei was assassinated in US-Israeli strikes in late February, was “wounded and likely disfigured.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi insisted on Sunday that Khamenei remains “in perfect health and is fully managing the situation.” The 56-year-old had not been seen in public during the conflict, only releasing a written statement in which he vowed to “avenge the blood” of Iranians killed by Washington and West Jerusalem.rt.com

The Kremlin is using the exact same playbook for Mojtaba Khamenei that they used for North Korean troops.
When Peskov says, “We do not comment on such reports in any way,” he’s practically confirming it. They denied North Korean soldiers were in Russia right up until the point where the evidence was undeniable. If Secretary Hegseth is right about Khamenei being “wounded and likely disfigured,” a private medical facility within a Russian presidential residence is the only place they could keep him both alive and invisible.
Between the refusal to show him on camera and Russia’s history of “deny-and-deflect,” the silence is the loudest part of the story.
Honestly? This is one of those theories where I’d love to find out that I am dead wrong. But right now, the parallels are too hard to ignore.

Posted by: Cable Guy | Mar 16 2026 14:56 utc | 156

thanks for the responses to my question @ 3 everyone.. i appreciate it!

@ oldhippie | Mar 16 2026 13:42 utc | 157

it is hard to look up sabertooth on youtube, lol…. everything else comes up except music, but i did find this... you forgot to mention joey defrancescos mentor – jimmy smith! i have a musician friend who grew up in los angeles and used to go to a jam session hosted by jimmy smith.. this would be in the late 60’s early 70s… my friend marty was 16 at the time and would drag his fender rhodes to the jam.. jimmy smith inspired him to want to play left hand bass, so my friend started playing with 2 keyboards – one for left hand bass and the other for lead lines, chords and etc.. he did his own hybrid thing with 2 keyboards and we have done jimmy smith tributes, doing the music of jimmy smith – was maybe 12 or more years ago.. okay – 11 years ago.. here is a video where you can see what i am talking about… i am wearing my russian olympic hat which at the time – 2014 or 2015 was still okay to do!

Posted by: james | Mar 16 2026 15:24 utc | 157

latest substack post from escapkey is worth the read… here is one quote

“The premise Epstein states to Bannon — that democratic leaders lack the financial literacy to govern money — is the premise on which the entire architecture rests. If elected officials cannot understand the financial system, then it must be governed by those who can. But if no human understands it fully — as Epstein also claims in the interview — then it must be governed by machines: artificial intelligence. ”

the epstein bannon interview...

Posted by: james | Mar 16 2026 15:48 utc | 158

My reply to this article:

https://www.unz.com/runz/an-iranian-toll-gate-on-the-strait-of-hormuz/

I have no idea where this western belief that Iran would collapse came from. Iran isn’t Iraq. It isn’t a one man dictatorship like Egypt. It isn’t rule by a minority strongman like Syria under Assad. It is, in fact, at least as much a democracy as the United States of Epstein (hereafter called Epsteinistan for convenience). And it is a civilisational nation, not one created by post WWI line drawing on a map by western colonialists like Iraq or Syria.

I was in college with an Iranian I’ll call Amir T. Amir T was a good bit older than the rest of us. He was a good bit older because he’d been a soldier in the (then just ended) Iran Iraq war (called the Imposed War in Iran). Four of his platoon were killed by the poison gas given to Saddam Hussein by Epsteinistan as well as target information from satellites for Saddam Hussein to gas Iranian troop concentrations. Huge numbers of Iranian soldiers were gassed, the survivors bearing the after effects to this day.

So what did Amir T, and other Iranians I met, and even full time professional anti Russian/anti Chinese/ anti Iranian Canadian propagandist Gwynne Dyer say? That even when under chemical weapons attack, even when using chemical weapons too would have been logical and effective, Iran stuck to Ayatollah Khomeini’s fatwa against them. That’s the kind of discipline Iran has. The same discipline that led masses of young men to sacrifice themselves in the Iranian Revolution after noon prayers every Friday by marching to be gunned down by the Shah’s genocidal police and military.

To imagine that such a people could be defeated by a perfidious attack on a meeting called to discuss peace terms is worse than stupid. It is imbecilic, and it is racist. It’s as though Iranians are supposed to be so stupid that they couldn’t see Epsteinistani behaviour in other conflicts and draw appropriate conclusions.

But since from reading Twitter I came to the conclusion that the average westerner imagined Iran is a flat desert where women can’t go to school and everything was decided by one 87 year old man, that should come as no surprise. I wonder if the zionist oligarch owned obtuse obese orange orang utan Trump can find Iran on the world map at all.

I am no fan of Khomeini’s, and then Khamenei Sr’s, fatwas against Iran getting a nuclear weapon. I think that Iran must acquire a nuclear weapon now, even if it wins the current war decisively. Why? Because of Epsteinistani perfidy. Whatever agreement anyone signs with Epsteinistan isn’t worth the paper it’s scribbled on. Even if it promises otherwise, Epsteinistan will just rearm and be back for more.

I think the possibility of the zionist entity nuking Iran is extremely low. I, however, consider the possibility of the zionist entity ordering its slave Trump to nuke Iran and take the blame to be so high that the closer defeat gets for Epsteinistan the nearer it grows to a certainty.

As for Trump, given the choice between admitting defeat and withdrawing, or nuking Iran to save the skin of his slaveowner nazinyahu- what do you imagine he’s going to do?

Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayastha | Mar 16 2026 15:49 utc | 159

this line needs to be included at the end of my quote above –

Both conclusions lead to the same destination: automated financial governance outside democratic control.

Posted by: james | Mar 16 2026 15:50 utc | 160

Then I remember 1984 was an anti-Communist propaganda tract. Pretty likely his thought was that an imaginary memory hole in the USSR would keep people from thinking about how common simple lying about the recent past works in the so-called West.

Posted by: steven t johnson | Mar 16 2026 2:30 utc | 122

It was anti Stalinist. Big difference. Look it up.

Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Mar 16 2026 15:53 utc | 161

@ Biswapriya Purkayastha | Mar 16 2026 15:49 utc | 164

good commentary! thanks for sharing all that..

Posted by: james | Mar 16 2026 15:54 utc | 162

Thanks UDub for the dead souls recommendation. I stopped playing games a long time ago, but got a PS4 to avoid paying Comcast to watch TV and with the quality of Western programming, I think I’m ready to return to FPS. My dream is someone in China will make an FPS like Call of Duty but against the Zios.

Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Mar 16 2026 15:56 utc | 163

My estimate is insolvency crisis hits in 3027.
Posted by: Exile | 128

I can’t wait that long.

Posted by: NotPaulHollywood | Mar 16 2026 14:28 utc | 160

That’s an Imperialist wet dream, not an estimate.

Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Mar 16 2026 15:58 utc | 164

I don’t see China’s finance as a public utility being put back into some sort of Groundhog Day bottle, not to spread and become dominant in our world.

China represents a future that is all around us but not evenly distributed…..yet

Posted by: psychohistorian | Mar 16 2026 6:24 utc | 132

Agree. History just doesn’t work that way. That is China’s biggest advantage and thus must be emulated over the long term. Private finance puts any country in a much weaker position.

Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Mar 16 2026 16:02 utc | 165

As for Trump, given the choice between admitting defeat and withdrawing, or nuking Iran to save the skin of his slaveowner nazinyahu- what do you imagine he’s going to do?

Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayastha | Mar 16 2026 15:49 utc | 164
Hard to tell, but he has consistently failed and used the media to sell the loss as a win. He may just do that again.

Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Mar 16 2026 16:09 utc | 166

It was anti Stalinist. Big difference. Look it up.
Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Mar 16 2026 15:53 utc | 166

Afaiu Orwell took most of his cues for the novel
from “back home”. Britain. Inner workings of the BBC, poltical parties, …
directing attention to the Soviet Union as template was a diversion
started from those that were called out by the book..

Posted by: MAKK | Mar 16 2026 16:48 utc | 167

Posted by: DunGroanin | Mar 16 2026 11:24 utc

Great perspective. Living through that era really was an experience. What they achieved with the equipment available to them was astonishing, effectively turning a multi track magnetic tape player and a mixing desk into an instrument with the help of tape delays and effect sends.

I could relate the intricate details but I would suggest just listening to the music and reading the comments if interested.

Heavy Dub Mix Vol. 2 – Golden age of Dub 1975 – 1983:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4__LAkJI74Q

Posted by: lachaussette | Mar 16 2026 16:59 utc | 168

Big Oil makes good profits now. Bp and Shell included. So, despite appearances they dont have a strong motive for ending the war. Now that the pain felt by the western public will just be blamed on Iran, perhaps the Malthusian program may be brought to fulfillment.

Posted by: petergrfstrm | Mar 16 2026 18:22 utc | 169

james

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPYiDjKC_Ao&list=RDyPYiDjKC_Ao&start_radio=1

This is Chris. And this is just the no-cover happy hour.

Posted by: oldhippie | Mar 16 2026 18:25 utc | 170

@ lachaussette | Mar 16 2026 16:59 utc | 173

regarding yours and dungroanin’s commentary, i have a few things to say.. as a musician – drummer specifically – can appreciate the idea of taking recorded sounds and manipulating them.. that is an art in itself.. this is how i understand ”dub’ or dub music… i think the guys who came later who started to also manipulate the rhythms thru the use of more modern devices is quite fascinating too… however for me, it gets more removed from the actual folks making the music and beats that are being used in this medium… this is all how i understand it…

oh, and i remember seeing bob marley back in the 70’s before he died and really appreciated what they were doing musically – especially the drumming! prior to going to the concert i never really appreciated it, but the concert woke me up to how original and interesting the rhythms were as i could see and hear it first hand.. for me the police were a great band that took ideas and presented them in very original ways…. for me – they also have a special place in the music history that has been a part of my life.. i never got to see them live, but they were innovators without a doubt.. now, maybe some folks thought they were just ripoff artists.. well the same could be suggested for the dub artists, using others rhythms and adding their own creative touches to the ideas… i don’t see it that way myself…

the drummers and musicians that were born in the 70s – questlove, j dilla and etc – they did something very original with the rhythms as well.. lots of fascinating music either being played directly or manipulated to make something original and new – it is all relevant and worth appreciating as i see it..

Posted by: james | Mar 16 2026 18:34 utc | 171

@ oldhippie | Mar 16 2026 18:25 utc | 175

thanks! teach me tonight – great song! guy is happening!

Posted by: james | Mar 16 2026 18:36 utc | 172

Posted by: juliania | Mar 16 2026 4:32 utc | 125
Very nice.
Thankyou.
I got a jigsaw puzzle I’m working on – it needs to be my focus but I appreciate coming here on this thread and reading the comments. I especially appreciate the music shared, and I’m not sure what I got in mind – but let me share this: https://youtu.be/fF1lqEQFVUo – City of New Orleans.
I’ve been all over “America” – like in every state but some of my best memories are riding on a train. I’ve been to New Orleans many times – good times and not so much. That place can be “smelly” sometimes – but I appreciate the culture of the Cajuns and the music of the place.
Warm Regards,
BK

Posted by: Ken Hausle | Mar 16 2026 18:56 utc | 173

I was lucky enough to see The Police twice. First at Katzenjammer Kids on Lincoln. Just a bar. Towing their equipment in a trailer behind an old Mercedes 220D. I helped them carry equipment in. I totally get it these are three toffs, one small step from peerage status. But they can play. Second time at side stage, Riviera Theatre, 1500 very steep seats on balconies. Trance time. Absolute mastery. Audience in palm of their hands. Years later many of the criticisms get real. But when youth and energy were propelling them who the F cares if they had a silver spoon.

Also lucky enough to see Lee Scratch Perry. Again at a bar, the Cubby Bear. Go on all you want about how this and that served the interests of this and that. Lee was insane. As in not right in the head. And creative as can be imagined. The ALA convention was in town that weekend, audience full of linguists with recording devices and notebooks. Singing in Coromantee and talking in tongues. Bloody origin of language. He made it work and got the audience to dance for rhythms they did not understand at all. Made us move our bodies in time with this muse. Magic.

Posted by: oldhippie | Mar 16 2026 19:17 utc | 174

Posted by: Duck n cover | Mar 16 2026 12:51 utc | 152 Not sure to make of this. It’s a high bar to demand a perfect memory. It’s a low bar to be reminded of a huge operation like Cambridge Analytica and its extensive connections (quite unlike the small outfit Fusion GPS) only to double down on DNC’s perfidy, not just then but now!

Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Mar 16 2026 15:53 utc | 166 No, so-called anti-Stalinism is anti-Communism in real life. Worse, in the book, O’Brien reveals that Goldstein’s book was written by the Party. Since Goldstein is Trotsky, this revelation is the claim that Trotskyism is a controlled opposition is the claim any mere anti-Stalinism is bogus, because theory and professed goals are still Communist (written by the Party.) That is, it says all Marxism however superficially benign is as phony as phrenology. It says, all strains of Marxism, socialism are malignant attacks on humanity. If you take refuge in a claim that what happens in a story carries no message, or that any fictional creation should only be taken at face value? I can only recommend you stick to comic books.

Edmund Burke ranting about people imposing their utopian schemes I suppose is the model? If you pretend to take this as unreliable narration, you’re still putting a huge question mark over all varieties of socialism. The notion of so-called oligarchical collectivism is possibly the most Trotskyist thing about the book, being thoroughly revisionist a la Max Shachtman and a host of other migrants to open anti-Communism. Taking Orwell seriously is folly at best.

Posted by: steven t johnson | Mar 16 2026 19:38 utc | 175

Posted by: oldhippie | Mar 16 2026 19:17 utc | 179
I was really disappointed by Sting’s support of the jabs, and it breaks my heart in a way cause I really halfway love some of his music.
Here – a sample of it – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aI4t0VJO0IQ – A Thousand Years…

Posted by: Ken Hausle | Mar 16 2026 19:40 utc | 176

Posted by: MAKK | Mar 16 2026 16:48 utc | 172 This is absurd. Goldstein is Trotsky. There is no Trotsky figure in the BBC. Worse, any novel meant to be about the BBC or England in 1947 that dragged in Trotsky would undermine the whole purported purpose.

Big Brother may have been Clement Attlee too, as well as Stalin, in Orwell’s perverted mind, but that would have been incredibly stupid, on a par with Hayek’s Road to Serfdom. More likely he was just propagandizing.

Posted by: steven t johnson | Mar 16 2026 19:44 utc | 177

KH @ 181

Musicians should be musicians. It’s been 50 years since I first heard them. Nope, not perfect anymore. Sad. The good times remain. And check Ray Price singing that Kristofferson song. And Kristofferson was just a dick. Wrote some great songs though.

Posted by: oldhippie | Mar 16 2026 20:06 utc | 178

Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Mar 16 2026 15:56 utc | 168

The First Games of the Borderlands Franchise are pretty good FPS. Can even be played Split Screen!!! There is Fun to be had in the Offline-World!!

Posted by: Nobody | Mar 16 2026 20:18 utc | 179

Posted by: oldhippie | Mar 16 2026 20:06 utc | 183
10-4
😊

Posted by: Ken Hausle | Mar 16 2026 20:25 utc | 180

Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Mar 16 2026 15:53 utc | 166

Orwell’s 1984 was a general attack on totalitarianism, not against Stalin in general. I wrote a piece about this last year The US Does 1984 With A Zombie Oligarch Twist.

“The truth about the book “1984” is that its author George Orwell had never been to the Soviet Union and in fact based much of his novel on the places where he worked – the BBC and the British Ministry of Information. Many speculate that “Big Brother” is in fact based upon the then Minister of Information, Bill Bracken, who his employees (the author reported to him) referred to as B.B., with the Ministry of Information being the basis for the “Ministry of Truth”. The character “Winston Smith” is of course based on Orwell himself, who spent WW2 being resentful against the extensive censorship regime within which he worked. The only political repressive and authoritarian regime that Orwell had any knowledge of was in fact his own Britain. His own deep aversion to rats also found its way onto the pages of his work.”

“Both the IRD and CIA extensively promoted 1984 in foreign markets and the film version was largely due to a US$100,000 grant from the United States Information Agency. As with Animal Farm, the film was a commercial failure but forced into the minds of British and American school children; Big Brother would have been proud. Unlike its use by Western propagandists, 1984 was written as a general attack upon totalitarianism not directly as one upon the Soviet Communism. It was actually used by the Soviet media as a critique of the McCarthy-era United States.”

“That the greatest example of autocracy in the twentieth century was a fascism that served the capitalist oligarchy was never touched on by Orwell, and such political economic considerations do not find themselves in his work. This misses the role that capitalism plays in the compulsion of the masses through wage labour and the fear of not being able to pay for food, rent of even healthcare that pervades U.S. society; even among relatively well off populations. As precarity creeps up the hierarchy of wage and salary earners, this fear spreads to more and more of the population. This is not the fear of the Big Brother state, but the fear of poverty and the fear inherent in the experiences of poverty; poverty among plenty. The leaders of the Soviet Union may have lived as somewhat better off than the average person, but the difference between the present-day US oligarchs and the average US citizen is a capitalist vast gulf versus the communist small gap. More Elysium than 1984.”

Posted by: Roger Boyd | Mar 16 2026 20:36 utc | 181

Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Mar 16 2026 15:56 utc | 168

i never played them, just watch them played on youtube. Artistic vision and execution is amazing. The ambience, the way npcs talk, the quiet of ot, and the visual landscapes, all are so unforgettable.

I am going to watch 3 again soon. The red areas were so… ..uneasy.

Posted by: UWDude | Mar 16 2026 21:31 utc | 182

Venezuela’s 600% Inflation Undercuts Trump’s Boasts of Revival

The Trump administration promised Venezuelans economic prosperity after removing Nicolás Maduro from power. Life has only gotten harder in the two months since.

The petrostate’s oil output fell 21% to 780,000 barrels a day in January and exports plunged, limiting the flow of much-needed dollars that many Venezuelans typically use instead of the depreciated local currency. Meanwhile, dollar auctions introduced by the US-supported administration have been criticized as too slow and opaque.

That helped accelerate annual inflation to around 600% in February from 475% in December, underscoring how a shortage of dollars is fueling price pressures and causing more grief for Venezuelans earning paltry stagnant wages.

“In terms of the real tangible progress for ordinary Venezuelans, there isn’t much to show,” said Phil Gunson, a Caracas-based analyst with the International Crisis Group. “Inflation is high, the bolivar is losing value, and people are still earning poverty wages,” he said, referring to the local currency.

The disconnect highlights the central test of Washington’s strategy: whether easing sanctions and asserting control over oil revenue can stabilize an economy that has repeatedly tumbled back into scarcity and currency turmoil. For now, the promised rebound has yet to reach households.

About 80% of residents say their economic situation has not improved in the first two months of the year compared with 2025, according to a recent Meganálisis poll. While many expect the economy and job market to improve within six months, only 7% reported any improvement so far.

Posted by: UWDude | Mar 16 2026 22:22 utc | 183

Wow, apparently some barflies here own PlayStations and game on them. Guess I’m not alone now 🥰
Though personally my next system may not be a PlayStation. Or Nintendo’s Switch 2 as much as I am a sucker for Super Mario Bros.. Fugget about Microsoft’s Xbox. With concerns that I may no longer be able to own the games I pay for, I could very well switch to PCs (not subdivided into incompatible generations. Also, multiple vendors).

Posted by: joey_n | Mar 16 2026 23:14 utc | 184

If you can’t win a war, then imagine that you did. Trump going crazy is actually quite funny to me.

meme .
https://x.com/SprinterPress/status/2033680122012696937

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Mar 16 2026 23:20 utc | 185

Posted by: joey_n | Mar 16 2026 23:14 utc | 189

i haven’t played a game for about 8 years now. I still watch sometimes.

Posted by: UWDude | Mar 16 2026 23:29 utc | 186

Cuba reports island-wide blackout as country struggles with energy crisis

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel on Friday said the island had not received oil shipments in more than three months and was operating on solar power, natural gas and thermoelectric plants, and the government has had to postpone surgeries for tens of thousands of people.

Posted by: UWDude | Mar 16 2026 23:39 utc | 187

GEOLOCATED: Pakistani airstrike hits drug rehabilitation facility in Kabul.Analysis confirms a Pakistani airstrike targeted a drug rehabilitation centre east of Kabul International Airport, adjacent to the Kabul–Nangarhar road.

The facility is located at the former Camp Phoenix, a NATO base previously operated by the US Army. Following the 2021 takeover, the Taliban converted the site into the country’s largest rehabilitation centre for drug addicts.

Taliban spokesperson for the Ministry of Public Health reported that 𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘂𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗿𝘂𝗴 𝗿𝗲𝗵𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿, 𝗯𝗼𝗺𝗯𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝘆 𝗣𝗮𝗸𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻, have risen to around 400, including 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝟮𝟬𝟬 𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝟭𝟳𝟬 𝗶𝗻𝗷𝘂𝗿𝗲𝗱. These figures are preliminary, and rescue operations are ongoing to recover bodies from the burned facility.

Posted by: UWDude | Mar 17 2026 0:10 utc | 188

Until Iran, I was tossing up if Trump sowing confusion to reap whatever falls out. With Iran, it becomes clear that Trump is the one who is confused. Zero of knowledge of any country or culture outside of ‘merica is the greatest’.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 17 2026 0:51 utc | 189

Posted by: Roger Boyd | Mar 16 2026 20:36 utc | 186 Twaddle. A propagandist like Orwell does not base their work on personal experience. See Animal Farm. See also Homage to Catalonia, which claims personal experience. I have my doubts about his honesty even then. A book ostensibly about a revolution that explicitly disavows discussing politics! (Openly that is.) But if you insist on defending Orwell, this is the hill to die on, not 1984.

Re the Soviets trying to ju-jitsu 1984 into an attack on McCarthyism, by an author who wrote up a list of subversives for the security services? “Even the New York Times…” and variations thereof come to mind. They were full of it too, 1984 is anti-Communist. Worse, the very notion of totalitarianism, a ludicrous amalgamation that Communism=Fascism, is hack propaganda.

Posted by: steven t johnson | Mar 17 2026 0:53 utc | 190

Posted by: joey_n | Mar 16 2026 23:14 utc | 189

I replayed Baldur’s Gate 1&2 with all Extensions & Costume Gang on my Phone! Quite nice… Also have Planescape:Torment on a Chrome Book. A Classic wich i want to play sometimes…

Posted by: Nobody | Mar 17 2026 0:59 utc | 191

Posted by: UWDude | Mar 16 2026 23:29 utc | 191

Lots of decent Games for Phone these Days. Thats why i like 6.8″+ Phones…Latest Buy is a Nice Adventure Game in the Monkey Island Mold!!

Posted by: Nobody | Mar 17 2026 1:01 utc | 192

A ‘thought experiment’: Suppose there was a drop of mercury in a weightless environment (Space Station?). Would it be a perfect sphere? (Why/why not?)
Oh – and don’t forget to factor in the electron probability density function when considering the ‘bumpiness’ of the atomic surface – in particular, at the precise time that I will be measuring and inspecting the surface 🙂

Posted by: General Factotum | Mar 16 2026 8:55 utc | 143

I just had a thought, GF, with respect to perfect spheres, or to other Euclidean geometrical ideas — it has been posed that such do not exist other than in ‘imagination’, but the problem with that is that it seems such ideas are universal – so we are not simply each individually ‘imagining’ these things but there is a commonality to our ability to envision such ‘imagined’ perfections in the real world. It’s that commonality which ought to interest us, it seems to me. That plus the obvious link to our imperfect world, that such ideas correspond in some way to how imperfect things can be organized and used.

As I recall, the pythagoreans saw this connection most closely in the relationships present in musical harmonies. I will see if I can find what my teacher described with respect to this in one of his essays relating to ‘the music of the spheres’.

I found a very useful online site for the homily of St. Isaac that I quoted. It begins by giving short aphorisms from the homilies, but then goes on to bring each of the homilies in full. So, I’ve barely scratched the surface of these. There is a helpful commentary interspersed between the actual texts as well, and given that many of them are addressed to ‘monks’ and also that most to the male gender, the translator has pointed out that they are not only meant to be read by monks or male monks at that, but are written for the general public. Also, that when it comes to such topics as ‘the soul’ or various virtues, those can be given the female attribution found in the language itself, as in ‘the soul … she does … ‘ So, when Isaac says ‘monk’ we might better substitute the meaning as in Russian to be ‘the solitary one ‘ (male or female). Which St. Isaac had adopted in his own lifestyle not being a community related one.

Posted by: juliania | Mar 17 2026 1:20 utc | 193

For the Nostalgic Gamers…

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zRmh1aFHHQQ&pp=ygUXdHVtYmxld2VlZCBwYXJrIHRyYWlsZXI%3D

Posted by: Nobody | Mar 17 2026 1:25 utc | 194

I replayed Baldur’s Gate 1&2 with all Extensions & Costume Gang on my Phone! Quite nice… Also have Planescape:Torment on a Chrome Book. A Classic wich i want to play sometimes…

Posted by: Nobody | Mar 17 2026 0:59 utc | 196

i hear planescape torment is excellent. I have great memories of BG 1&2, as well as Icewind Dale. BG 3 Looks so cool, and has an epic storyline, 17,000 different endings, etc, etc, but I just dont have time anymore.

I suppose I could have played it by now had I ignored WW 3 these past two weeks.

Posted by: UWDude | Mar 17 2026 1:38 utc | 195

That’s an accurate description of Buddhist meditation Juliana!

Posted by: BM | Mar 16 2026 11:40 utc | 149

Thanks, BM. I saw it as universal, so I’m happy to hear you say so. With my own heritage being partly polynesian, it appealed to me as well.

Posted by: juliania | Mar 17 2026 1:41 utc | 196

Posted by: UWDude | Mar 17 2026 1:38 utc | 200

They made this for play between BG 1 & 2! What a Blast!

Playing all 3 with the Same Party!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lmjVSdfSdhY&pp=ygUUc2llZ2Ugb2YgZHJhZ29uc3BlYXI%3D

Posted by: Nobody | Mar 17 2026 1:43 utc | 197

Alon Mizrahi:

“Now I’m 100% sure something has happened to Netanyahu.”

Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayastha | Mar 17 2026 1:47 utc | 198

Posted by: Nobody | Mar 17 2026 1:43 utc | 202

Dragonspear was woke, so no. (A character had a lecture about proper pronouns and what it meant to be transgender)

Pillars of Eternity was in BG fashion, but I got bored, even though the beginning and storyline of soulless children was cool, the battles were to micro, with having to constantly pause and eat food right before.

Posted by: UWDude | Mar 17 2026 2:01 utc | 199

Gratitude. Shine Bright.

Posted by: zendeviant | Mar 16 2026 14:02 utc | 158

Thank you, zendeviant, as your post does for me! We are at present in such need of positive reinforcement, because that’s our natural condition. It’s why those wishing to have their way are constantly bombarding us. It’s a real battle against real human instincts, but it only makes those spirit moments shine, as it has in the past as well. I find it helpful to go to those past luminaries of spiritual ascent, and they seem to be offered quite unexpectedly even by systems like this electronic one that we’d think are artificial. (It’s sort of miraculous sometimes.)

Posted by: juliania | Mar 17 2026 2:07 utc | 200

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