Jul 272022
 
 July 27, 2022  Posted by at 9:00 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,


Pablo Picasso Marie-Thérèse Walter 1937

 

US Says Coming Weeks ‘Crucial’ For Ukraine (RT)
Ukraine’s Military Morale In Decline – NYT (RT)
Public Opinion Turns Against The Military Draft In Ukraine (Artemyev)
Ukraine Wants Citi, JPMorgan And HSBC Prosecuted For ‘War Crimes’ (ZH)
Russia Rebukes Germany’s Gas-supply Claim (RT)
Pro Bono Lobbying For Ukraine ‘Hottest Trend’ In Washington DC (Kolomoets)
Private Chats Show Cassidy Hutchinson’s Flip Flop (Fed)
Former CDC Director Challenges Fauci On Covid-19 Origin (JTN)
New Studies Bolster Theory Coronavirus Emerged From The Wild (AP)
FBI Jeopardized National Security With Hunter Biden ‘Disinformation’ (Fed.)
National Peace Rally Blacklisted by Mainstream and Social Media (Celente)
Grain Inflation: Starve the Poor, Feed the Rich (Pettifor)

 

 

Wonder how the families of the dead and wounded look at an Annie Leibowitz glossy.

 

 

O’Looney

 

 

 

 

Russia oil imports

 

 

 

 

3-5 weeks. Bigger weapons. Word has it that Ukraine has already fired US weapons ito Russia. Be very careful.

US Says Coming Weeks ‘Crucial’ For Ukraine (RT)

Kiev needs longer-range weaponry before it is too late, the head of the House Armed Services Committee, Adam Smith, believes Ukraine might only have a few weeks left if it hopes to take back territories controlled by Russia, Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee Adam Smith told Politico’s National Security Daily on Monday. The Ukrainian forces would need longer-range weapons like tactical missiles and strike drones to change the tides of battle, he said, in the wake of his visit to Kiev. The approaching winter would turn the ongoing conflict between Moscow and Kiev into a war of attrition that would only benefit Russia, the news outlet said, adding that Kiev has asked the American congressional delegation to convince Washington to urgently send aid.

“Help them now as much as possible. The next three to six weeks are crucial,” Smith (D-WA) told the outlet. According to the congressman, the Ukrainian government is willing to reach a peace agreement with Moscow but still wants its territories back, particularly those in the south. Russian troops have seized control over Ukraine’s southern Kherson region and most of the neighboring Zaporozhye Region soon after the start of the military operation in February. Local officials in the two regions have considered holding referendums on joining Russia since then. Kiev has repeatedly stated that its goal is to take back all of its territories. Earlier in July, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said that his nation’s goal in the conflict was to “restore our territorial integrity, and full sovereignty in the east and south of Ukraine.”

But this is not the first time Kiev has indicated that it wants to see the end of the conflict before cold temperatures set in. In late June, President Vladimir Zelensky told the G7 summit that he wanted to see the conflict end by the onset of winter, according to Reuters. Smith believes the Ukrainian forces would need heavier weapons to achieve this goal. “The HIMARS systems with their range … [of] 30 to 50 kilometers is really helpful. We’ve seen the impact already just in the last month. But if they had a longer range, it’d be tougher for the Russians to hide their stuff,” Smith told RFE/RL on Saturday while still in Kiev. Washington supplied Kiev with 12 HIMARS multiple-launch rocket systems so far. Last week, the Pentagon announced Ukraine was about to get another four of these systems, which would bring their total number on the battlefield to 16.

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“Kiev police announced that they had raided two nightclubs in the capital over violating a curfew, and handed a summons for service to more than 200 male partygoers…”

Ukraine’s Military Morale In Decline – NYT (RT)

Kiev’s “secretive and arbitrary” military recruitment, which leads to the drafting of soldiers who are unwilling to serve, is affecting the morale of the Ukrainian troops fighting against Russia, the New York Times has reported. There are “signs, five grueling months into the war, that the sense of unity is fraying at the edges” within the Ukrainian military, the paper pointed out in a report on Monday. Some soldiers are unhappy that they have done “long, hard service,” while many others managed to stay away from service, it said. “There is no one to replace us. There are too few people. It’s very hard for the guys, psychologically,” a Ukrainian soldier, who’d spent months fighting, commented.

There is also “disillusionment” among Kiev’s troops with the country’s draft system, which “turns away some who want to fight [due to bureaucratic reasons], while taking in others who are unwilling and unqualified,” the NYT reports. Some Ukrainian commanders have been complaining that “summoning men unwilling to serve is lowering morale among those who volunteered,” it added. The paper recalled how, in June, Kiev police announced that they had raided two nightclubs in the capital over violating a curfew, and handed a summons for service to more than 200 male partygoers.

This angered Valery Markus, a senior sergeant of the 47th Armed Forces Battalion, who wrote on Facebook that he was “outraged” because the military profession is “being reduced to the level of punishment for these scumbags.” In his post, Markus slammed Ukraine’s “chaotic” draft system, arguing that poorly trained and unmotivated recruits are endangering the lives of other troops. He also recalled cases of alcoholism and other troubling issues among the newly arrived soldiers. The Ukrainian government, which has barred all men aged between 18 and 60 from leaving the country, has been undertaking a massive recruitment drive amid the conflict with Russia.

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“..the internet is flooded with videos of Ukrainian soldiers refusing to fight, complaining that their fleeing commanders are throwing them at tanks as cannon fodder– without any equipment or training. There are hundreds of these videos..”

Public Opinion Turns Against The Military Draft In Ukraine (Artemyev)

Five months into Russia’s military offensive in Ukraine many in the latter state are starting to vocalise their objection to the draft imposed by the regime in Kiev. Especially as the propaganda about victory, any day now, starts to lose its power. Popular Ukrainian blogger and activist Yury Kasyanov recently made a post on his Facebook page, in which he complained: “Let’s stop the mobilization, open the borders, and dissolve all the military recruitment offices… Let the professionals do the fighting – after all, they get paid for it – and let the volunteers join in, because they want to fight. But I am an untrained civilian, unfit for war, I’m going to get myself killed. And I pay my taxes, too!” With this provocative post, Kasyanov intended to spark a discussion about mandatory conscription in Ukraine.

But the results of the debate came as a shock to the blogger: “Judging by the comments on the previous post, nine out of ten Ukrainians have no intention to fight; they oppose nationwide mobilization, as well as the ban on men leaving the country.” It should be noted that Kasyanov’s followers, like himself, are fierce supporters of the idea that Ukraine must fight Russia to the bitter end. And yet, even among them, the vast majority have no desire to die for the glory of Ukraine. Modern civilization is built on a very self-conscious attitude toward one’s health. The first thing you see when you go online are banner ads that read ‘10 Warning Signs That You Have Cancer’ or ‘How to Relieve Joint Pain’, etc. Other core values include bodily integrity, the right to privacy, and of course, everyday comfort and convenience.

None of these go together well with the squalid realities of the front line. One might say that the whole ethos of war stands in opposition to the values of today’s society. Ukraine is a country largely populated by one or two-child families. How many of its citizens would voluntarily go to war to be killed or crippled? It should come as no surprise, therefore, that Ukrainians do not want to go to war. Yes, if you listen to what they say, the majority of Ukrainians are patriots. But when it comes to getting up from the couch and actually going to the front, very few are willing to ‘walk the talk’. And I don’t imagine that, after 30,000 more Ukrainian soldiers have perished on the battlefield, anyone would feel more motivated to join the cause. In fact, it would likely produce the opposite effect: ‘I don’t want to die like all the others’.

[..] Ukraine is going through a demographic crisis with its population shrinking from 52 million in 1991 to barely more than 30 million, even before the conflict erupted in February. The situation is so bad that the state has avoided holding a census for over two decades. I read Ukrainian mass and social media daily, which is heavily censored by the regime in Kiev. It’s output is rather different from the reality on the ground. While the internet is flooded with videos of Ukrainian soldiers refusing to fight, complaining that their fleeing commanders are throwing them at tanks as cannon fodder– without any equipment or training. There are hundreds of these videos and new ones are uploaded every day. They are shot by Ukrainians in military fatigues, not Russian state media. Also, the number of videos showing Ukrainian women refusing to let their men be taken by the police or recruiters is also growing.

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Blackmail?

Ukraine Wants Citi, JPMorgan And HSBC Prosecuted For ‘War Crimes’ (ZH)

Ukraine wants major US and European banks prosecuted for “committing war crimes” because they finance companies that trade oil with Russia, according to CNBC, citing President Volodomyr Zelensky’s top economic aide, Oleg Ustenko. “Everybody who is financing these war criminals, who are doing these terrible things in Ukraine, are also committing war crimes in our logic,” Ustenko told the network on Tuesday, calling out banks such as JPMorgan, HSBC and Citi. When asked if the banks should be prosecuted for war crimes, Ustenko replied “Exactly.” “Ustenko said Zelenskyy believes these banks should be held accountable for prolonging the conflict and the war on Ukraine.His comments came in response to a FT report last week, which said that Ukraine’s government wrote to the chiefs of U.S. and European banks — such as Jamie Dimon from JPMorgan and Noel Quinn from HSBC — urging them to cut ties with the groups that are trading Russian oil.” -CNBC

According to letters seen by the FT, Ustenko asked the banks to cut off financing to any businesses that deal in Russian oil, and to divest from Gazprom and Rosneft, Russia’s primary state-owned oil and gas companies. The letters directly accuse Citigroup and Credit Agricole of “prolonging” the war by extending financing to companies that ship Russian oil, and warns that said banks won’t be allowed to take part in Ukraine’s reconstruction when the war is over. Ustenko told CNBC that the Zelensky administration is gathering evidence to send to the International Criminal Court. “We are collecting all these information” on companies that are financing Russia, he said. “Our Ministry of Justice and our security service of Ukraine are collecting. And then later, this is going to be passed to the ICC.”

“This isn’t the first time that Ukraine has gone after Western companies for having business dealings with Russia. In March, the government was highly critical of big oil companies for still doing business with Russia, and warned that some of those firms could find themselves on the wrong side of history. Ustenko said the war has taken a significant toll on Ukraine’s economy since Russia’s invasion began on Feb. 24.” -CNBC

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“..Even in the most difficult moments Russia continued to fulfil its obligations.”

Russia Rebukes Germany’s Gas-supply Claim (RT)

Comments by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, that Russia is not a reliable gas supplier, contradict the facts, the Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Monday. “These statements absolutely contrast with reality and with the history of supplies. Even in the most difficult moments Russia continued to fulfil its obligations.” Peskov told journalists in Moscow. Last week, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz suggested that Berlin could no longer rely on Moscow when it came to gas supplies. Scholz was likely referring to a reduction of gas flow through the Nord Stream-1 pipeline by 60% last month, and a complete halt in supplies due to annual maintenance last week. The two developments led to a gas shortage in the EU and to a panic that supplies would not be resumed. However, Russian deliveries were resumed at 40% capacity on July 21.


“[Things] will not get more reliable than today.”Scholz said on Friday, also suggesting that he wasn’t convinced by Russia’s statements that the delayed return of the repaired Siemens turbine was necessary for the full functioning of the Nord Stream-1 pipeline. The turbine, which was stuck where it was being fixed in Canada due to sanctions, is now in Germany awaiting shipment to Russia. Pipeline operator Gazprom cited the delay with its return as the reason for the slashing of gas supplies to the EU. “The fact that now there has been a decrease in the volume of supplies is due to the illegal restrictions that the Europeans, in particular Germany, have imposed.” Peskov stated. According to him, the equipment will be installed after all formalities of the process are completed, and the pumping will resume in volumes that are technologically possible.

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Yeah, K street works for free…

Pro Bono Lobbying For Ukraine ‘Hottest Trend’ In Washington DC (Kolomoets)

If you’ve wondered why so much Western media coverage of the Ukraine conflict seems to be based on “Kiev says,” the answer is largely down to the power of lobbying. The Ukraine is always good and Russia is always bad narrative didn’t create itself. On July 11, Washington DC-based public affairs consultancy Ridgely Walsh registered as a Foreign Agent on behalf of Ukrainian interests with the US Justice Department. The company – which typically advises Silicon Valley big hitters such as eBay, Google, Snapchat, SpaceX, and Uber – is just the latest Beltway operator to enlist under the Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA). This is archaic and abstruse legislation thrust to the forefront of the mainstream news agenda during the ‘Russiagate’ hoax of the Donald Trump presidency. Last July, just 11 US-based firms were registered as lobbyists for Ukrainian clients under FARA.


Over the course of 2021, these influencers attempted to pressure Washington to kill the Nord Stream 2 project, increase lethal aid shipments to Kiev, and post ever-more US and NATO forces along Russia’s border. In the process, they amassed over 10,000 contacts with lawmakers, think tanks, and journalists. This is a staggering figure when one considers the Saudi lobby – one of the largest and most influential in the US – had just 2,834 interactions with these elements in the same timeframe. Lobbying activity on behalf of Kiev over 2022 will inevitably dwarf even that vast total. Now, the number of registered pro-Ukrainian agents in Washington stands at an unprecedented 24, with six being compelled to register in June alone. Strikingly too, many of these companies are providing their services free of charge – to the extent pro bono lobbying for Zelensky’s government has been dubbed the ‘hottest trend’ in Washington DC political circles.

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“In Private, Cassidy Hutchinson Joked About Riot, Called J6 Committee ‘Phony,’”

Private Chats Show Cassidy Hutchinson’s Flip Flop (Fed)

In November 2021, Hutchinson was among the first former White House staffers to be subpoenaed by the Select Committee. In the weeks and months following, Hutchinson continued to disparage the politicized committee in private, and repeatedly joked about the same riot she now says leaves her with emotional scars today. Six days after she was issued a subpoena, Hutchinson called the Jan. 6 panel a “phony committee.” Around the same time, she told a former colleague her testimony would have nothing to offer. “Other than a handful of irrelevant texts, I have literally no documents or anything they’re asking about,” one ex-White House staffer texted her.

“Same,” she wrote back. Of being subpoenaed in November, Hutchinson wrote, “we were [f—–] by Bennie Thompson,” the titular chair of the committee. She joked that he would be sending her to jail, and hoped that another friend would come visit her. In a text published by the Daily Caller earlier this month, Hutchinson called the panel’s probe “bs.”

[..] Hutchinson also aimed fire at Committee Vice Chair Liz Cheney, the Wyoming Republican so consumed by her opposition to Trump and his voters that polls show she is about to lose her re-election bid. The two women publicly embraced in the committee room immediately after Hutchinson’s testimony, an unusual interaction for congressional proceedings purporting to be legitimate. In a gauzy puff piece for The New York Times, the two were described as forming an “unlikely bond.” It was particularly unlikely given what Hutchinson was saying about Cheney until recently. In September, Hutchinson disparaged Cheney and Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger, the two Republicans hand-picked to serve on the committee by Pelosi, as a “crop of losers.”

Discussing how other anti-Trump extremists had declined to run for re-election rather than face certain defeat at the hands of Republican voters, Hutchinson said she didn’t think Kinzinger or Cheney would take that approach because, “Their egos are too [f——] big.” She mocked their self-conception as “The REPUBLICAN MARTYRS.” “I think Liz being the ‘future of the GOP’ is a massive stretch,” Hutchinson wrote in one string of messages just two months before her appearance. “I think she does have the power to cement the anti-Trump, RINO movement and really capitalize off it on a national scale. She’ll never ever turn the tides in her favor. Ever.”

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All of a sudden the wet market is back. It’s hard to keep up.

Former CDC Director Challenges Fauci On Covid-19 Origin (JTN)

Former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield on Monday challenged National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci’s view that the coronavirus originated naturally. Fauci has eschewed the notion that the coronavirus originated in a Chinese lab, the Wuhan Institute of Virology, insisting COVID-19 likely originated in nature. The NIAID director has long been at odds which his right-leaning critics, especially Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul, over this position. Redfield, however, gave more credence to the Wuhan lab origin in a Fox News interview, saying the virus had to be educated in the laboratory to gain the efficient human-to-human transmission capability that it has.”


“So it’s really exceptional that this virus is one of the most infectious viruses for man. And I still argue that’s because it was educated how to infect human tissue,” he continued. While health officials and the mainstream media largely derided the Wuhan theory as misinformation, evidence has mounted to lend greater credibility to the idea. The FBI launched an inquiry into the lab’s work on coronaviruses while Congress ultimately lent the theory enough weight to ban further federal funding specifically to the WIV and to labs in adversary nations. Redfield expressed disappoint that American health institutions were so stalwartly opposed to examining the WIV as an origin site for COVID-19. “I’ve been very disappointed in the scientific community led by [National Institutes of Health] that has really dug their heels in from the beginning to try to minimize any of us that have a different hypothesis,” he said, per the Epoch Times.

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Two new studies just as the lab leak was getting confirmed. Curious.

New Studies Bolster Theory Coronavirus Emerged From The Wild (AP)

Two new studies provide more evidence that the coronavirus pandemic originated in a Wuhan, China market where live animals were sold – further bolstering the theory that the virus emerged in the wild rather than escaping from a Chinese lab. The research, published online Tuesday by the journal Science, shows that the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market was likely the early epicenter of the scourge that has now killed nearly 6.4 million people around the world. Scientists conclude that the virus that causes COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, likely spilled from animals into people two separate times. “All this evidence tells us the same thing: It points right to this particular market in the middle of Wuhan,” said Kristian Andersen a professor in the Department of Immunology and Microbiology at Scripps Research and coauthor of one of the studies.

“I was quite convinced of the lab leak myself until we dove into this very carefully and looked at it much closer.” In one study, which incorporated data collected by Chinese scientists, University of Arizona evolutionary biologist Michael Worobey and his colleagues used mapping tools to estimate the locations of more than 150 of the earliest reported COVID-19 cases from December 2019. They also mapped cases from January and February 2020 using data from a social media app that had created a channel for people with COVID-19 to get help. They asked, “Of all the locations that the early cases could have lived, where did they live? And it turned out when we were able to look at this, there was this extraordinary pattern where the highest density of cases was both extremely near to and very centered on this market,” Worobey said at a press briefing.

“Crucially, this applies both to all cases in December and also to cases with no known link to the market … And this is an indication that the virus started spreading in people who worked at the market but then started to spread into the local community.” Andersen said they found case clusters inside the market, too, “and that clustering is very, very specifically in the parts of the market” where they now know people were selling wildlife, such as raccoon dogs, that are susceptible to infection with the coronavirus. In the other study, scientists analyzed the genomic diversity of the virus inside and outside of China starting with the earliest sample genomes in December 2019 and extending through mid-February 2020.

They found that two lineages – A and B – marked the pandemic’s beginning in Wuhan. Study coauthor Joel Wertheim, a viral evolution expert at the University of California, San Diego, pointed out that lineage A is more genetically similar to bat coronaviruses, but lineage B appears to have begun spreading earlier in humans, particularly at the market. “Now I realize it sounds like I just said that a once-in-a-generation event happened twice in short succession,” Wertheim said. But certain conditions were in place — such as people and animals in close proximity and a virus that can spread from animals to people and from person to person. So “barriers to spillover have been lowered such that multiple introductions, we believe, should actually be expected,” he said.

George Webb.

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The FBI looks awful here.

FBI Jeopardized National Security With Hunter Biden ‘Disinformation’ (Fed.)

FBI whistleblowers claim that agents opened a sham investigation into Hunter Biden to brand reliable and verifiable derogatory evidence as “disinformation,” according to an explosive news release issued yesterday by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa. If true, beyond exposing the FBI’s role in running cover for the Biden family, the whistleblowers’ claims prove significant for a second reason: By failing to thoroughly vet the evidence in its possession related to Hunter Biden — which included the hard drive for the MacBook Hunter had abandoned at a repair shop — the intelligence community ignored a momentous national security threat, namely that the Russians potentially possessed a second Hunter Biden laptop.

[..] The FBI whistleblowers’ charges, if accurate, are devastating and mean that at a time that Hunter Biden was already reportedly under investigation by the Delaware U.S. Attorney’s Office, rather than work with the agents already investigating then-candidate Joe Biden’s son, FBI headquarters initiated its own “assessment.” Then, according to the whistleblowers, agents improperly shut down sources, falsely framed evidence as disinformation, and hid the reasoning for that determination from other FBI agents behind restricted areas. The press release also suggests that the FBI’s “assessment” served to frame the investigation Grassley and Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., were conducting into Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealing as tainted by Russian disinformation.

As part of that investigation, in May 2020, “Senate Republicans issued a subpoena seeking documents from the younger Biden and asked for information related to more than two dozen entities, including Burisma,” which was the Ukrainian energy company that paid Hunter nearly $1 million a year to sit on its board. With the Trump-Biden presidential contest in full force, Grassley and Johnson’s investigation into Hunter prompted pushback from Democrats, with Democrat members of the Gang of Eight sending a letter and classified addendum in July 2020 to FBI Director Christopher Wray “specifically citing the Johnson-Grassley probe into Hunter Biden as reason for an urgent briefing for Congress about foreign ‘disinformation.’”

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You’re going to need more than a few people sitting in lawn chairs…

National Peace Rally Blacklisted by Mainstream and Social Media (Celente)

Saturday’s “Peace and Freedom Rally,” launched by Occupy Peace in historic Kingston, NY, featured some of the top names in America, but was blacklisted by the mainstream and social media. Featured speakers included Judge Andrew Napolitano, the former chief legal analyst for Fox News; Phil Giraldi, the former CIA operative; Gary Null, the host at Progressive Radio Network; Scott Ritter, an ex-weapons inspector for the UN; and Gerald Celente, publisher of The Trends Journal, founder of Occupy Peace, and Deacon of the Universal Church of Freedom, Peace and Justice. Despite sending thousands of press releases over the past three weeks to international, national, and local media, there was no coverage of the heavily attended Rally. Moreover, Twitter and Facebook banned Occupy Peace ads for the event.

However, when rallies are held to support Ukraine and America and NATO’s fight against Russia, there’s massive coverage. Thus, considering the establishment media’s pro-war and anti-peace sentiments… they deplore the Founding Fathers who fought for America’s freedom and independence. Never a word from their featured “experts” or government “officials” of George Washington’s farewell address when he warned that any nation which “indulges towards another in habitual hatred or an habitual fondness is in some degree a slave.” Total media silence of Washington’s plea to “Observe good faith and justice towards all nations; cultivate peace and harmony with all.” In fact, by their deeds, the mainstream media does not “Observe good faith and justice to all.” Instead, their one-sided-war-hawk-narratives are making Americans “a slave” to the military-industrial complex.

Yes, the same military-industrial complex that President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned about in his farewell address when he said they were taking control of America and robbing the nation of the genius of scientists, the sweat of the laborers, and the future of the children. Indeed, not only is America’s defense secretary a former board member of Raytheon, the second largest military contractor in the United States, last month the Senate Armed Services Committee approved a record $858 billion military budget for 2023. Considering how low the mainstream media has fallen, it is clear why the latest Gallup poll shows just 16 percent of U.S. adults have respect or confidence in newspapers, and just 11 percent in TV news.

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Artificial shortages. Great for profits. Signed: Bayer.

Grain Inflation: Starve the Poor, Feed the Rich (Pettifor)

In a world of financialised globalisation, prices of food are not determined by the simplistic laws of supply and demand. Prices are determined by a wall of money wielded by relatively few, invisible speculators and aimed at largely unregulated global grain markets. Yesterday, the Financial Times ran an article on global food security. Editors made clear the text was not the work of FT journalists, but “partner content.” The name of the partner? Bayer AG – by their own definition “a global leader in agriculture.” The article began thus: “While the people of Ukraine face an ongoing nightmare, the Russian invasion has set in motion a global food crisis that requires our attention and immediate action. In fact, the war has knocked the global food system off its axis, risking a humanitarian disaster.”

As readers will know from an earlier post, I take a different view. The global food crisis is a consequence of commodity price speculation on Wall St and the CME – not directly the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Readers may think this controversial, but bear with me, as we hear Bayer out: “Ukraine is one of the most important suppliers of wheat, corn, oils, and other essential commodities to the world. Known as the breadbasket of the world, the country has secured the food supply for parts of the Middle East and East Africa, including countries like Egypt and Lebanon whose stability is paramount for the region.” These facts – the invasion of Ukraine, and the latter’s role as “as one of the most important suppliers of wheat, corn…” were directly contradicted by Bayer AG on another platform: when announcing its Q1 earnings results – as Seeking Alpha reported in May this year – fully three months after war began:

The German conglomerate’s core EPS grew +36.3% Y/Y to €3.53. Net income (including discontinued operations) grew +57.5% to ~€3.29B. Group sales grew +18.7% Y/Y (or +14.3% on a currency and portfolio-adjusted basis, or Fx & portfolio adj.) to ~€14.64B. “We achieved outstanding sales and earnings growth, with particularly substantial gains for our agriculture business,” said Werner Baumann, chairman of the board of management. The company said that in Q1 group sales and earnings were not negatively impacted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In total, the two countries account for ~3% of sales.

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Home Forums Debt Rattle July 27 2022

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  • #112261

    Pablo Picasso Marie-Thérèse Walter 1937   • US Says Coming Weeks ‘Crucial’ For Ukraine (RT) • Ukraine’s Military Morale In Decline – NYT (RT) • P
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle July 27 2022]

    #112262
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    Pablo Picasso Marie-Thérèse Walter 1937

    Personally, I find Picasso difficult; I would venture, I mostly, dont care for his art…

    #112263
    Dr. D
    Participant

    “Pennsylvania Has A Youth-Crime Crisis:
    “More than 80 percent of every juvenile court disposition in 2021 involved a young person who lives in a broken home…”

    Families matter. Parents matter. Humans are not bugs, they need a family. And a mommy and daddy. Because our genders are not the same, not identical, they need input from both to be balanced. Imbalances are hard to remedy and cause problems such as the crime above, but perhaps more importantly, the misery and unhappiness such crimes represent.

    “Iran’s Oil Revenues Soar by 580% as Crude Prices Rally”

    Thanks to Biden. All the Brics are stronger and finally independent, able to sink NATO and the collective West. Thanks to Biden.

    Annie Leibowitz: War like Zoolander. About as real as coal mining in Southern New Jersey.

    “Ukraine might only have a few weeks left if it hopes to take back territories controlled by Russia, … Adam Smith told Politico.”

    Goes to show America is the drug abuse capital of the world: these guys are high on crack. Since they’re 10,000 miles away, boy I sure hope those four missile rigs will stop the entire Russian Army. Forever.

    So when does Russia bomb Adam’s beach house with a hypersonic torpedo so he can finally get a clue that war is not a game? That war is not a time for posing vogue like Zoolander?

    “The approaching winter would turn the ongoing conflict between Moscow and Kiev into a war of attrition that would only benefit Russia,”

    Translation: I’m a reporter, so I just make up words out of my head and put them on the page. 1) We’re IN a war of attrition, Ukraine is losing rapidly. 2) What would winter have to do with it under these tactics? 3) A winter war will benefit the DEFENDER of course, not the aggressor.

    So: “I said words. Words R us.” Open mouth: lie come out? No, they have no interest or concern if what comes out is a lie or the truth. Completely uninteresting to me. Words sounded cool. So I said them. Same as every other Adult American or person in the united West.

    “Kasyanov’s followers, like himself, are fierce supporters of the idea that Ukraine must fight Russia to the bitter end.”

    Words. Words. Words. Words that come out because they sound funny, like birds do. So this guy is not disabled, fully able to join, but he wants SOMEBODY ELSE to fight Russia to the bitter end. Sounds like Fairfax County and Notting Hill.

    “One might say that the whole ethos of war stands in opposition to the values of today’s society.”

    Sorta. But you silly-billies, all the normal men in America, millions and millions will stand up and fight and sacrifice themselves for our country. You just won’t let them in the military where gay rape has become an increasing epidemic. Those are YOUR values. Not ours. Zoolander values in NY and Southern NJ, not in Western Pennsylvania and Nebraska. But you’re too self-absorbed and pin-headed to notice while vilifying us for breathing.

    Let me put it this way and ominously: IF someone put out a call for Civil War, men from 30 or more states would answer the call to restore rule of law in D.C. Let’s not go there, but this is totally against the premise of the “We’re all really just selfish, hedonistic twits aren’t we though?” article. YOU are. Speak for yourself, you childish, self-absorbed narcissist. Don’t color me with your s—ty brush.

    And as per the later clip there: many of the WOMEN of 30 states would not hold their men back and sign up too, because they believe in something. I cannot tell you how grave a statement that is.

    “Ukraine Wants Citi, JPMorgan and HSBC Prosecuted for ‘War Crimes’ (ZH)”

    More here than appears. So Ukie will extradite all the heads of Citi and Morgan? Dimon can’t fly in Ukie airspace anymore? And Ukie during a war will get their loans from whom…?

    But the Capital and 51st state is Ukraine, I guess? So we care what Ukraine thinks for why?

    BUT: if Wall Street is breaking away from Davos and the criminals trying to make Kiev the new world capital, then all this would begin to make sense. It’s not “Ukraine” really, it’s “Wall St” – and Powell – crushing Davos and all Europe, represented by Kiev and Kolomoisky, who is the other power faction at play here. Then using Ukie to deliver this – truly hilarious and irrelevant – message makes sense. Tag one point for Luongo, perhaps?

    I find it delightful. The more they stomp their feet and bawl, the funnier it is to me. What next? Ze makes a list of who’s not allowed to visit Japan? Maybe he’ll make my Thanksgiving seating list.

    “[Things] will not get more reliable than today.”Scholz said on Friday”

    Well. Sounds like you need to open 4 new nuclear plants then. And run your airplanes and tanks on batteries. What? You just did the #Opposite for 30 years? Good luck.

    Pro Bono Lobbying for Ukraine ‘Hottest Trend’ in Washington DC (Kolomoets)”

    Yes and as soon as they open their mouth, I giggle. Their PR for Google and Uber identifies them as vicious, rapacious idiots who make anyone using them or nearby my mortal enemy. So when they started speaking on behalf of Ukraine, the choice was clear.

    So thanks! Thanks for making it so amazing easy for me. And so reliable. If the NYT and WaPo and NPR says it, it’s bad for me and do the #Opposite. 100% reliability rate.

    All of a sudden the wet market is back. It’s hard to keep up.”

    “What is Truth?” That’s the goal they want us to adopt. I’d say we should ask where monkeypox come from instead, but: What monkeypox? 100 cases worldwide? Is that even 10 cases more than usual?

    “Two new studies” …prove a negative! Now that IS news, like defining “infinity” making irrational numbers real. You proved a negative? I’m riveted with interest. Go on and tell me all about it.

    “One must ask whether the DOJ is making it intentionally difficult to prosecute Hunter Biden…”

    Why bother to make it difficult? I could prosecute him with public information for 30 years and nothing’s happened. But we did prosecute Alex Jones for telling people NOT to go to J6.

    “National Peace Rally Blacklisted by Mainstream and Social Media (Celente)”

    The only real enemy. We see this steadily, against Gabbard, FBI tracking Quakers, and MLK not killed until he was against Vietnam. Look out Gerald: Ukraine is going to put you on the Russia disinformation list! And THEN how will you vacation in the hotbed of world fashion and industry like Lviv? Can you really withstand that kind of loss?

    “Artificial shortages. Great for profits.”

    As old John D said, “Competition is a Sin.”

    That is: he was completely, 100% anti-capitalist. So what political-financial system WAS he and his children in support of? As they later wrote in their biography and book?

    Bayer is the Enron model, which is never prosecuted and arrested regardless of actions, regardless of murder. That is, we shut off the lights, the food, on purpose to cause price and volatility spikes we can (insider) trade on. When grandma gets foreclosed on – as was seen in Enron trader’s texts – they think it’s funny. The government, which is fully owned, or merged with Enron and Bayer, never act, or ask for a 10% vig on the action. Translation: It’s Wednesday. In a violently anti-capitalist nation.

    #112264
    Red
    Participant

    DBS great tale of hardship and reward!

    Some may have “digressed” by ultimately identifying with their national sovereignty, rather than with a global dictatorship. The recent assassination of Shinzo Abe may have been a case in point. – And a warning to others? See this.

    Is Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro in the Globalists’ crosshairs?

    The WEF’s announcement, “We have the means to impose the state of the world,” was made during one of the “closed-door” sessions, of which this time there weren’t many. Of the Big Leaders, those who are supposed to defend the Globalist agenda, many were absent. President Putin, basically by “disinvitation”, President Xi Jinping, because of the Chinese covid-lockdown, and Joe Biden, well, who knows? Maybe because he was too busy caring for Taiwan.

    This May 2022 WEF Conference, it was clear from the outset, was not the usual globalist WEF, where the globalists discuss in semi-secret their next steps to bring the world under one roof, THEIR roof, the globalist roof.

    There was Henry Kissinger, suggesting that Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy should make concessions in order to achieve peace. A similar recommendation was made by NATO’s Jens Stoltenberg.

    Others are gradually detaching themselves from the unilateral and unquestioned support of Ukraine, of delivering sophisticated weapons to a country that does not have the military personnel trained to use them, and where it has become amply clear that a large proportion of the western supplied arms is ending up on the black market.

    In the past two years, too much opposition to Globalisation has grown in countries and governments which used to be part of the Globalist Agenda. Possibly thanks to covid. The Covid Lockstep, putting all 193 UN member countries (194 WHO members) on the same tyrannical, all-destructive lockstep train, may have helped governments who still care about their people, especially those of the Global South, to wake up.

    They see the encroaching poverty as a consequence of the worldwide covid mandates, and foresee the impending debt-enslavement by the IMF and World Bank in order to feed their people and keep their economy alive. Even with loans form the Bretton Woods Institutions, recovering from the economic covid-breakdown, is a challenge for most of the Global South.

    Hence, their ever-growing rejection of the Globalist Agenda; hence the WEF’s ever more dreadful crackdown on the non-compliers. Several African leaders, who refused to go along with the covid mandates, died under questionable circumstances. Also, President Jovenel Moïse of Haiti was assassinated in July 2021. He refused the vaccination mandate for his country.

    https://www.globalresearch.ca/world-economic-forums-klaus-schwab-we-have-the-means-to-impose-the-state-of-the-world/5787719

    The Monkeypox Time Line
    The Time Line is as follow:

    December 2020: US National Security and Biological Weapons Experts’ Meeting under the auspices of the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI). Planning and Formulation of a Simulation of a Monkeypox Pandemic,
    July 2020: FDA approval of Smallpox and Monkeypox Vaccine, “first permitted commercial marketing or use of the product” in US. (For details see below)
    March 2021 Tabletop Simulation of Fictitious Monkeypox Pandemic at Munich Security Conference 2021
    November 2021. Bill Gates warns governments of the likelihood of a monkeypox terrorist attack (see statements above)
    May 2022. WHO announcement. Towards a Monkeypox Pandemic? Unfolding Fear Campaign.
    Commencing May 2022. The marketing of Smallpox vaccines, effective against monkeypox.
    May 2022- : Ongoing propaganda in support of the WHO Pandemic Treaty (coupled with the QR Code).

    https://www.globalresearch.ca/bill-gates-warns-smallpox-terror-attacks-urges-leaders-use-germ-games-prepare/5781195#popup-maker

    #112265
    Red
    Participant

    German government release figures on serious adverse reactions to Covid vaccine | Dr Clare Craig
    Somewhere between 1 in 500 and 1 in 5000 actual jabs are the numbers for bad outcomes as seen by this Dr.

    #112266
    Formerly T-Bear
    Participant

    From what rock in the sewer did they ever find Ursula Van der Leyden? Juan Guido is more qualified to lead the EU than Ursula Yon-der Lyin’.

    #112267
    Oroboros
    Participant

    So let me get this straight, Funeral Director John O’Looney is now saying that government contracted services are popping up to deliver dead babies from hospitals directly to be cremated bypassing the funeral directors.

    And that the top Australian doctor for fertility got fired for refusing the Deathshot and for tracking the miscarry rate for vaxed pregnant women at 74%, the normal miscarry rate being 5-16%.

    Well, smells like genocide to me.

    But people are still lining up for the Deathshot and rationalizing the side affects.

    Seems like some kind of intelligence test.

    .

    #112268
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Meamwhile, we have ‘adults’ driving off with their baby on the top of their car not noticing.

    #112269
    kultsommer
    Participant

    @V. Arnold
    Last petal of Picasso-daisy-flower. Finally and thanks God.

    #112270
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Nothing says Vile® like a fashion shoot in a fake war zone.

    The model is probably nake under that blue coat as a lark.

    .

    #112271
    absolute galore
    Participant

    “I was quite convinced of the lab leak myself until we dove into this very carefully and looked at it much closer.” In one study, which incorporated data collected by Chinese scientists, …

    Well that’s reassuring. If you can’t trust scientists–never mind Chinese scientists–who can you trust?

    Those Annie Leibowitz photographs are truly the most barbaric and grotesque images imaginable. A complete and utter indictment of our value system. Maybe they can send her to cover the next mass shooting. Hideous.

    #112272
    Dora
    Participant

    Ed Dowd: “Apparently our friends at the WEF deleted this:”

    https://gettr.com/post/p1jrmqn321d

    #112273
    Dora
    Participant

    Robert Malone substack:
    Central Banks, Global Debt & COVID

    https://rwmalonemd.substack.com/p/central-banks-global-debt-and-covid

    #112274
    zerosum
    Participant

    Testing,Testing,Testing

    1. end of conflict before winter
    2. need bigger weapons
    3. take back all of its territories
    4. 12 HIMARS,, to get another four of these systems, which would bring their to total number on the battlefield to 16.
    5. draft system, – poorly trained and unmotivated recruits are endangering the lives of other troops
    6. Popular Ukrainian blogger and activist Yury Kasyanov recently made a post on his Facebook page, in which he complained: “Let’s stop the mobilization, open the borders, and dissolve all the military recruitment offices… Let the professionals do the fighting – after all, they get paid for it – and let the volunteers join in, because they want to fight. But I am an untrained civilian, unfit for war, I’m going to get myself killed. And I pay my taxes, too!” With this provocative post, Kasyanov intended to spark a discussion about mandatory conscription in Ukraine.

    7. Nord Stream-1 pipeline – 20%
    8. free of charge – (Hahahaha) to the extent pro bono lobbying for Zelensky’s government has been dubbed the ‘hottest trend’ in Washington DC political circles.
    9. • National Peace Rally Blacklisted by Mainstream and Social Media (Celente)
    10. the establishment media’s pro-war and anti-peace sentiments
    11. Just 16 percent of U.S. adults have respect or confidence in newspapers, and just 11 percent in TV news.
    ———–

    #112275
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Zelensky speech dealing with his military conscripts

    Failure To Communicate

    #112276

    Oh, I have a lot more Picassos. He was a very prolific artist. I’m going to beat you into submission yet. Another Picasso tomorrow. Maybe. 😉

    #112281
    The Markster
    Participant

    Agreed on the complete depravity of those Nazi Chic Vogue ads. Almost as nauseating as an essay by the Episcopal Bishop of Western Oregon I just read yesterday, cheering on the Ukrainian proxy war as a valiant defense of God’s Kingdom. And then two essays before that a lecture on the inherent racism and colonialism of the church, without connecting the dots back to their current warmongering.

    #112282
    kultsommer
    Participant

    @RIM
    Nooooooo….I mean yeeeeeeees!

    #112283

    James Lovelock has died on his 103rd birthday. What an interesting man. Gaia theory. “ He said two years ago that the biosphere was in the last 1% of its life.”

    “Here was a man who helped to shape many of the most important scientific events of the 20th century – Nasa’s search for life on Mars, growing awareness of the climate risks posed by fossil fuels, the debate over ozone-depleting chemicals in the stratosphere and the dangers of industrial pollution – as well as his work for the British secret services.”

    #112284
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    ‘The Special Relationship’: How the British Reconquered the United States and Established an Anglo-American Empire

    ‘The Special Relationship’: How the British Reconquered the United States and Established an Anglo-American Empire

    #112285
    willem
    Participant

    I can’t reconcile stories that report the ever-present need to draft Ukrainians with the assertion that NATO helped them build an army from almost nothing to a reported 500K soldiers. Can the losses possibly be THAT big that they’re running out of manpower already?

    #112286

    I think the assertion is wrong, willem, They had a reasonably sized – and trained – army, but there’s not too much left. Now it’s women and older people first. And HIMARS or whatever the west will send will make very little difference. The people who lost don’t want to admit they did.

    #112287
    Mr. House
    Participant

    “The people who lost don’t want to admit they did.”

    Essentially the summary of the world since 2008.

    #112288
    zerosum
    Participant

    https://www.rt.com/news/559711-strike-destroys-himars-ammunition/

    Strike destroys over 100 US-made HIMARS rockets – Russia
    The Defense Ministry says an ammunition depot was targeted in attacks that also killed Ukrainian forces and foreign mercenaries

    “On July 24, a strike by Russia’s Aerospace Forces on an ammunition depot near the settlement of Lyubimovka, Dnepropetrovsk region, destroyed more than a hundred missiles for the US-made HIMARS Multiple launch rocket system,” the ministry’s report reads. It is also noted that up to 120 Ukrainian military personnel guarding the facility, as well as foreign mercenaries and technical specialists, were killed.

    The update follows a Russian Defense Ministry report on Monday claiming that Moscow had targeted and destroyed US-supplied weapons, including heavy artillery in western Ukraine, using “sea-based high-precision long-range weapons.”

    The US, which is Kiev’s biggest backer in its conflict with Moscow, had supplied Ukraine with 16 HIMARS systems as of July 22 while the UK has provided another three launchers capable of firing the same munitions. However, last week, the Russian military claimed to have destroyed four of these rocket launchers. Kiev officials have refuted these claims as “misinformation.”

    Russia’s Defense Ministry also reported on Wednesday that its forces had carried out strikes on Ukrainian military personnel and equipment in 142 districts, destroying a number of howitzers and artillery platoons. According to the ministry, Ukraine has so far lost over 760 multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) and more than 3,200 artillery pieces since the beginning of hostilities in February

    #112289
    chris_gee
    Participant

    The Cynthia Chung article referenced by Michael Reid above is well worth reading along with others of her’s this led me to.

    #112290
    Veracious Poet
    Participant

    Wonder how the families of the dead and wounded look at an Annie Leibowitz glossy.

    #112291
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    There is a trick as old as language itself, and it seems still to be working as well as it always has . . . . . . . like Gangbusters in other words As the old saying goes, “It’s an old trick but a good one.”

    It’s called propaganda by the redefinition of words, and is many layers deeper than you may previously have thought. Indeed, it runs deep enough that in the hands of skilled professionals the trick can steal an entire civilization right out from under the noses of the people who own it.

    All ya gotta do is persuade the people that they don’t. And to accomplish that only requires extra large doses of Pro-Grade Propaganda by the Redefinition of Words. [important side note : the trick works much better on people who live by words and communications , rather than people who live by things and productivity]

    Be aware that the trick applies to BIG words, too. Words so big that they veritably constitute the fundamental standards upon which a civilization gets built in the first place. It’s core beliefs. Words like “gender”, “justice”, “truth”, ownership”, “science” , or “fair”. Skies the limit, really.

    The operative mechanism is simplicity itself: Broadly make an authoritative statement about the word (or moral standard, etc.) that you want to fuck with. As proof of the veracity of the statement refer to the underlying authoritative source of your choice. Just make one up out of thin air if you want to, in fact that’s probably the best way to do it because then there will not be any pre-existing informed people who might object or contradict the “authoritative” bullshit statement. That kind of challenge might be embarrassing.

    Now PROMOTE the importance and accepted stature of that authoritative source. That’s fall-off-a-log easy to do because just repeating the bullshit “authoritative statement” automatically repeats the reference back to the authoritative source, and thereby promotes it.

    Rinse and repeat. Do not defend the bullshit authoritative statement by any research or debate. Simply repeat it. You get the idea. Censorship makes it easier, if you can get some.

    The three elements which will always appear when the gambit is played are: 1) It’s a bullshit authoritative statement, 2) It refers to an “assumed to exist” authority as both source and supportive proof of the idea expressed in the bullshit authoritative statement of “fact”, and 3) It PROMOTES the authoritative source by always referring to it . . . by pure unsupported assumption . . . as the gold standard of truth and judgment (it’s “Science!”).

    The clues that gives them away is the that the authority to which they REFER and its status as an authority which they PROMOTE (by repetition of the statement) is presented as and assumed to be a very very important authority indeed.  That’s what word redefinition is all about. It’s about setting up an “authority” (merely by saying it) and then pumping that up by advertising (repeating) that it is authoritative.

    Total horse pucky from the git go.

    That’s how Bill Gates justifies being a Vaccine expert permitted to bio-jab the entirety of mankind, when he has ZERO biology education. He is one example out of many . . . but a great poster boy because he’s such a goofball idiot . . . Klaus baby is running a close second and the pack is packed with contenders.

    The only authority he can draw upon is that HE (self evidently superior and Elite!) is patently wiser and better and smarter than everyone else and therefore should be the one in charge of literally anything and everything that he chooses. That’s it. That’s all of it. That IS the authority he draws upon to prove that not only is he in charge, but that he SHOULD to be.

    In other words, he and his fellow Elitists should be the tip top owners and leaders of everything because they say so! And since they say so then it is so. This is self-evidently legitimate, is it not? Since they are wiser and better than everyone else then their opinion should, naturally, stand above all other opinions. . . . . in their opinion. Pure psycho.

    My opinion about their opinions is a little bit different than their opinion.

    If you’re curious about the details and nuances of their other opinions (and your stomach can handle the nausea) just look around. Hyper senses not required. The public media is awash with the Woke New World Order flotsam of their various opinion of how everything should ideally be. I don’t know whether to shrug, shudder, shriek or shit my pants. Because are some pretty strange authoritative opinions floating around up there at the primary decision and governance positions of our so-called civilization. Men are women? Transhumanism? Lethal “vaccines”? Toddlers understand sex? President Joe Zombie?

    That should be no surprise. They are , after all, elitists.

    Elitism is the deeply held belief that there is an actual thing, an intrinsic quality of some sort (eliteness in this case) which both sets them apart as essentially different and also as essentially “better” than others, and which by its mere possession bestows upon its possessors the mantle of full ownership of (and authority over) every single creature which which is NOT elite, and which is therefor beneath them in every respect. Pinning an elitist down on distinctly how this magical aura is qualitatively or qualitatively defined, however is a waste of time. Might as well ask a tapeworm why it lives in feces.

    No matter. The elitist knows, so by definition that’s all that matters.

    I don’t want to beat the dead horse for very long here, but the sides who are presently at war right now in the wider world are simply Elite elitists on one side and EVERYBODY ELSE on the other.

    What are the odds do you suppose?

    #112292
    Veracious Poet
    Participant

    James Lovelock has died on his 103rd birthday. What an interesting man. Gaia theory. “ He said two years ago that the biosphere was in the last 1% of its life.”

    #112293
    zerosum
    Participant

    @ D Benton Smith

    I agree with your presentations.

    In my own words …. I don’t care what anybody call “it”. (fee, inflation, scam, stealing, tax)
    At the end of the month, in order to get ahead, I’ve got to have a surplus/a cushion to give me security, to get out of the way from when the shit hits the fan.

    #112294

    Let me suggest a twist to the tale of the girl with the baby: she was babysitting. That explains why she spaced having a baby at all. That’s why she took umbrage with the distressed witnesses (hey, it’s not my baby!”). That’s why she looks (ahem) less than maternal and concerned.

    I just saw Trudeau’s new haircut and it looks to me like he’s copying the glazed over Zelensky’s do. Or Nero’s. Or Tiberius’s.
    Or Caligula’s.

    #112295

    What does a photographer say?
    Aaaand- shoot!
    (Wait, no no no no no! Noooo!)

    #112296

    Dutch farmers are at it again, large scale. That’s what I thought. Just do it when it’s not expected. Can we have an emoji here?

    #112297
    Veracious Poet
    Participant

    #112298
    Maxwell Quest
    Participant

    I was invited to attend a coffee group this morning composed of some of the senior gentlemen in our condo complex, and was told that there would be no political talk. What the hell, I thought, I really should be more sociable. One can get much too comfortable living alone.

    So, the conversation floated around different topics until one member of the group decided to pontificate on how the Russians invaded Ukraine in order to steal their resources, and that they were also threatening to take back Alaska. The basic premise being that the future would belong to whoever controlled the earth’s resources, and Russia was making its move to grab what it could.

    Being the newbie of the group, I thought for a few seconds on whether I should just keep my mouth shut and let it slide… but I couldn’t. “So, you’re telling me that Russia, the largest land mass of any nation, resource rich, started this war as a resource grab? Maybe they didn’t want another NATO nation on their doorstep?”, I shot back. “Well, in that case, with Finland and Sweden joining NATO, they’re going to get more”, he replied. This last comment clued me in on how ”tribalism” and “loyalty” appeared to be governing principles in his life.

    Everyone looked around not knowing what to say. Just then I realized that I had thrown a pebble up against a brick wall built by a lifetime of media propaganda consumption. Not only that, but I had challenged the alpha dog in front of the pack. It was time to back away, so I made reference to the “no politics” rule and bit my lip.

    We’ve discussed this many times here at TAE, how difficult a task it is to wake someone up. To help them see that they are being lied to by western media. That their model of the world is false. That they are a slave in the Matrix. Where to start? Which idea to plant that will wedge open a crack to let in some light, that will start the itch which must be scratched?

    For me it was when I decided to write a term paper on the 2008 housing crisis for an ECON class. I did all the research, saw the fraud, yet from all the traditional media sources I heard nothing but LIES. “Those thieving Wall Street MF’s”, I thought. Even then, I still didn’t ‘get it’, and kept looking for more trusted sources in western media. Then in 2011, while I was helping with the Portland Occupy encampment, I turned to the person next to me and asked, “Which news program do you watch?”. Without missing a beat, she shot back in disgust, “I don’t watch any of them.”

    “Whoa!!” It was like having a cold bucket of water thrown in my face. I finally ‘GOT IT’. That was the last time I watched television news, or read a newspaper or magazine.

    #112299
    Veracious Poet
    Participant

    So, the conversation floated around different topics until one member of the group decided to pontificate on how the Russians invaded Ukraine in order to steal their resources, and that they were also threatening to take back Alaska. The basic premise being that the future would belong to whoever controlled the earth’s resources, and Russia was making its move to grab what it could.

    #112300
    zerosum
    Participant

    Try this news source and compare
    https://english.pravda.ru/news/hotspots/153288-vuhlehirska/t
    Russian forces take Vuhlehirska power station under total control

    compare

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vuhlehirska_Power_Station
    Vuhlehirska Power Station

    https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/7/27/russian-forces-ukraine-both-claim-control-of-vital-power-plant
    Russian forces, Ukraine both claim control of vital power plant
    The capture of Vuhlehirsk power plant in eastern Ukraine would be Moscow’s first strategic gain in more than three weeks.

    #112301
    citizenx
    Participant

    Formerly Healthy -> Vaccinated -> Suddenly Dead

    Let’s call it Breakthrough cases? Nah we’ve already used that one. How about Sudden Adult Death Syndrome? Sticks. SADS 🙁

    Propaganda -> Advertising -> Marketing -> Public Relations -> Brainwashing -> Obey

    Shell Shock -> Combat Fatigue -> PTSD Friendly Fire -> Collateral damage

    War Dept -> Secretary of War -> Secretary of Defense -> Transgender Generals

    French Fries -> Freedom Fries -> Russian Dressing -> I Stand with Ukraine with a Stick Up My Ass and a Flag out my Mouth

    Abortion -> Pro Choice -> My Body My Choice -> Attention Seeking Disorder -> Virtue Signalling -> Covidian Cult Member -> Force Vaccinate Children

    Hippocratic Oath -> Constitution -> Bill of Rights -> Nuremberg Code -> Human Rights -> Genocidal Murder

    International Law -> United Nations -> NATO -> Rules Based Order -> Indispensable Nation of Exceptional Americans -> One World Government Ruler Over Lords

    War on Poverty -> War on Drugs -> Global War on Terrorism -> War on Illiteracy -> War on Hate Speech -> War on Unvaccinated -> War on Farmers -> War on Climate Change

    Woman/Man -> Gender Fluid

    Bust Kneecaps -> Hang em High

    #112302
    greco
    Participant

    V arnold
    Don’t be hesitant about not liking Picasso’s paintings.
    Few people do.

    #112303
    Veracious Poet
    Participant




    #112304
    greco
    Participant

    Annie leibovitz, our own Lenie Riefenstahl.
    Artists should avoid getting involved in propaganda
    Hurts their resale value in the long run.
    She’ll be remembered for her sleasiest photo shoot ever.

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