Aug 122022
 


Edward Hopper The Lee Shore 1941

 

FBI Looking For Classified Nuclear Secrets During Mar-a-Lago Raid: Leak (ZH)
Trump ‘Shattering’ All Fundraising Records After FBI Mar-a-Lago Raid (ET)
World On The Brink Of Nuclear Catastrophe – Moscow (RT)
Europeans Must Be Willing To ‘Pay’ To Support Ukraine – Top EU Diplomat (RT)
China Calls US ‘Main Instigator’ Of Ukraine Crisis (R.)
Russian Oil Output Could Plunge – IEA (RT)
The Decline of the US Empire: Lessons from the Roman Republic (AT)
Democracy in America (Moglia)
UK Faces Steepest Real Wages Drop In A Century (RT)
No Hard Actions Yet By Dutch ‘Farmers Defense Force’ (AD)
Green Elitism Behind Farmer Crackdowns (Shellenberger)
Samarkand At The Crossroads (Escobar)
Twitter Rolls Out Plans ‘To Protect’ US Midterm Elections (PM)
Hunter Biden Laptop Repairman Says FBI Agent Threatened Him To Hush Up (NYP)
Legal Options Running Out For WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange (DW)

 

 

 

 

Trump declassification
https://twitter.com/i/status/1557399211775336457

 

 

 

 

Trump raid judge
https://twitter.com/i/status/1557182294057705475

 

 

 

 

Fitton

 

 

Kash Patel

 

 

 

 

This sounds like total baloney.

• Nuclear codes change when a new president is chosen.
• A president can’t legally declassify ‘nuclear material’.
• They waited 18 months with this raid?!
• Some even say he would sell the info to Putin. Russiagate lives!

FBI Looking For Classified Nuclear Secrets During Mar-a-Lago Raid: Leak (ZH)

The FBI was looking for ‘classified documents relating to nuclear weapons,’ among other things, during its Monday raid at former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence, WaPo reports, citing ‘people familiar with the investigation.’ So – we’re to believe that the FBI took several boxes from Trump in June, told him to put a bigger lock, and then two months later realized ‘oh — he might have nuclear secrets’ – justifying the raid. The leakers did not offer additional details. “Material about nuclear weapons is especially sensitive and usually restricted to a small number of government officials, experts said. Publicizing details about U.S. weapons could provide an intelligence road map to adversaries seeking to build ways of countering those systems. And other countries might view exposing their nuclear secrets as a threat, experts said.


One former Justice Department official, who in the past oversaw investigations of leaks of classified information, said the type of top-secret information described by the people familiar with the probe would probably cause authorities to try to move as quickly as possible to recover sensitive documents that could cause grave harm to U.S. security.” -Washington Post… “If the FBI and the Department of Justice believed there were top secret materials still at Mar-a-Lago, that would lend itself to greater ‘hair-on-fire’ motivation to recover that material as quickly as possible,” said David Laufman, the former chief of the Justice Department’s counterintelligence section. So we assume the narrative will now be that Trump leaked, or could have leaked, nuclear secrets to Putin – which justified “authorities to try to move as quickly as possible to recover sensitive documents” in the name of national security. Right…

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“The Biden administration is only adding rocket fuel to Trump’s campaign prospects and energizing his supporters who want him to run again..”

Trump ‘Shattering’ All Fundraising Records After FBI Mar-a-Lago Raid (ET)

Former President Donald Trump shattered fundraising efforts following the FBI Mar-a-Lago raid, according to his son Eric. “Breaking: DonaldJTrump.com is shattering all fundraising records and I’m told has raised more money in the past 24 hours than ever before in recent history! The American people are [angry]!” Eric Trump wrote on Truth Social. The former president’s second-oldest son did not say how much was raised in the past two days. After Trump confirmed the raid occurred at his Palm Beach, Florida, on Monday, he has sent out numerous emails and text messages that include links to donate. Trump and other top Republicans say the FBI and Department of Justice are acting in a blatantly political manner, with members of Congress promising investigations.

Further, they’ve accused the Biden administration of weaponizing federal law enforcement to harm Trump’s and Republicans’ chances during the midterm elections, which are only about 90 days away. “They are trying to stop the Republican Party and me once more,” Trump said in a fundraising email Tuesday, which was seen by The Epoch Times. “The lawlessness, political persecution, and Witch Hunt, must be exposed and stopped.” Trump on Tuesday also released a political ad describing the United States as a “nation in decline” and makes reference to what is described as numerous failures on behalf of the Biden administration including the fall of Afghanistan, inflation, high energy prices, and more. “We are a nation that allowed Russia to devastate a country, Ukraine, killing hundreds of thousands of people, and it will only get worse,” Trump says in the clip.

“We are a nation that has weaponized its law enforcement against the opposing political party like never before.” Stark images of FBI agents holding rifles during the Mar-a-Lago raid have since been uploaded online as Trump spokeswoman Christina Bobb confirmed about two dozen agents descended on the property Monday. She told news outlets that Trump’s team members were denied the ability to watch the agents, who took boxes of documents.[..]Some analysts say the FBI’s actions could boost his standing even more. “The Biden administration is only adding rocket fuel to Trump’s campaign prospects and energizing his supporters who want him to run again,” said Ron Bonjean, a Republican strategist in Washington, told the Reuters news agency. “There should be more transparency around the decision to have this FBI raid because it looks overly political and allows Trump to say he’s being unfairly attacked.”

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“Kiev’s criminal attacks on the nuclear infrastructure facilities are pushing the world to the brink of a nuclear disaster that would rival a Chernobyl one.”

World On The Brink Of Nuclear Catastrophe – Moscow (RT)

Kiev’s “reckless” actions are pushing the world ever closer to a major nuclear disaster, Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, told the UN Security Council at a meeting focused on the Zaporozhye power plant in southern Ukraine. The plant has been under the control of Russian forces since the start of the conflict between Moscow and Kiev and has since been shelled by Ukrainian troops on several occasions. “We have repeatedly warned our Western colleagues that, should they fail to talk sense into the Kiev regime, it would take the most heinous and reckless steps, which would have consequences far beyond Ukraine,” Nebenzia told the Security Council on Thursday. “That is exactly what is happening,” he said, adding that the Western “sponsors” of Kiev would have to bear the responsibility for a potential nuclear catastrophe.

“Kiev’s criminal attacks on the nuclear infrastructure facilities are pushing the world to the brink of a nuclear disaster that would rival a Chernobyl one. “If the Ukrainian forces continue their attacks on the power plant, a disaster can happen “at any moment,” Nebenzia warned. According to the Russian envoy to the UN, a catastrophe at the Zaporozhye power plant – the biggest one in Europe – could lead to radioactive pollution of vast swathes of territory, affecting at least eight Ukrainian regions, including its capital, Kiev, major cities like Kharkov or Odessa, and some territories of Russia and Belarus bordering Ukraine. The Lugansk and Donetsk People’s Republics, as well as Moldova, Romania, and Bulgaria are likely to suffer as well, he warned. “And these are the most optimistic expert forecasts,” Nebenzia said, adding that the potential scale of a nuclear disaster of such magnitude was “difficult to imagine.”

The Zaporozhye plant, which is located in the Russia-controlled Ukrainian city of Energodar, has been subjected to a series of attacks over the past few weeks. Moscow has accused Kiev of launching artillery and drone strikes on the facility, branding these moves as “nuclear terrorism.” Kiev has claimed that Russia was the one targeting the plant in an alleged plot to discredit Ukraine while stationing its troops at the facility. The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, told the Security Council that the situation at the plant was under control and that there was “no immediate danger” to its safety as of yet. At the same time, he called reports his agency received from Russia and Ukraine “contradictory” and urged both sides to provide the IAEA access to the facility “as soon as possible.”

“I ask that both sides cooperate … and allow for a mission of the IAEA to proceed,” he said. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for any military activities around the plant to be stopped as the Security Council was holding its meeting.

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Let’s ask them, shall we? Borrell is a typical EU piece of shit.

Europeans Must Be Willing To ‘Pay’ To Support Ukraine – Top EU Diplomat (RT)

Helping Ukraine in its fight against Russia comes at a price for Europe, which citizens should be willing to pay, the EU’s foreign policy chief has said. A Russian victory would be Europe’s loss, Josep Borrell believes. “We must explain to our citizens that this is not someone else’s war,” the diplomat said in an interview published by newspaper El Pais on Thursday. “The public must be willing to pay the price of supporting Ukraine and for preserving the unity of the EU. “We are at war. These things are not free,” he added, acknowledging that the cost should be distributed “equitably.” Borrell was referring to surging inflation and potential power shortages faced by European nations after deciding to punish Russia for attacking Ukraine by refusing to buy its energy.

Brussels wants member states to cut consumption to be better prepared for peak demand this winter, but some countries have resisted the proposal. Spain, Borrell’s home country, was among the dissenting voices. Energy Minister Teresa Ribera said last month that “imposing unfair sacrifices”was not the best way to deal with the crisis. She argued that, unlike people in some other nations, “Spaniards have not lived beyond our means from an energy point of view.” Europeans “cannot show a lack of solidarity”with such squabbles, Borrell said in the interview. He admonished Madrid for not appreciating “what this war represents to countries closest to it,” like Poland. Spain may benefit from the EU’s decoupling from Russia in the long run by becoming a major hub for supply of liquified natural gas to Europe, he added.

Borrell warned that Europe should be prepared for the conflict in Ukraine to continue for a long time. Commenting on European goals in the conflict, he said that “if Russia wins this war and occupies part of the Ukrainian territory, then we Europeans will have lost and will face a much greater threat.” The Ukrainian government says it will only talk to Russia after pushing its military to where it was before 2014, which would include capturing Crimea. Borrell said Western nations have a “moral imperative” to back Kiev. He said the US and the EU have been in “absolute cooperation” on the issue, and suggested that this would not have been the case if the conflict started with Donald Trump in power in Washington.

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“..Sino-Russian relations had entered “the best period in history, characterised by the highest level of mutual trust, the highest degree of interaction, and the greatest strategic importance”.

China Calls US ‘Main Instigator’ Of Ukraine Crisis (R.)

China, which Russia has sought as an ally since being cold-shouldered by the West over its invasion of Ukraine, has called the United States the “main instigator” of the crisis. In an interview with the Russian state news agency TASS published on Wednesday, China’s ambassador to Moscow, Zhang Hanhui, accused Washington of backing Russia into a corner with repeated expansions of the NATO defence alliance and support for forces seeking to align Ukraine with the European Union rather than Moscow. “As the initiator and main instigator of the Ukrainian crisis, Washington, while imposing unprecedented comprehensive sanctions on Russia, continues to supply arms and military equipment to Ukraine,” Zhang was quoted as saying. “Their ultimate goal is to exhaust and crush Russia with a protracted war and the cudgel of sanctions.”

The ambassador’s reasoning closely followed one of Russia’s own justifications of its invasion of Ukraine, which has resulted in thousands of deaths and the devastation of entire cities, as well as driving more than a quarter of the population to flee their homes. Russian President Vladimir Putin travelled to Beijing in February to meet President Xi Jinping as Russian tanks were massing on the Ukrainian border, agreeing what both states hailed as a “no limits” partnership superior to any Cold War alliance. In the interview, Zhang said Sino-Russian relations had entered “the best period in history, characterised by the highest level of mutual trust, the highest degree of interaction, and the greatest strategic importance”.

He railed against U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit last week to self-governing Taiwan, which China claims as its own, and said the United States was trying to apply the same tactics in Ukraine and Taiwan to “revive a Cold War mentality, contain China and Russia, and provoke major power rivalry and confrontation”. “Non-intervention in internal affairs is the most fundamental principle of maintaining peace and stability in our world,” Zhang said, applying the principle to criticise Washington’s Taiwan policy but not Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

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Or not. IEA=useless.

Russian Oil Output Could Plunge – IEA (RT)

Production of crude in Russia may fall by roughly 20% by the beginning of the next year as the ban on imports of the country’s oil imposed by the EU comes into effect, according to the International Energy Agency. EU member states are set to stop purchasing crude from Russia starting December 5, while the bloc’s ban on Russian oil-product shipments takes effect from February 5. The agency projects gradual monthly declines to begin this month as Russia cuts back refining, while the embargo will quicken the process. According to IEA estimates, nearly one million barrels per day of Russian oil products and some 1.3 million barrels per day of crude oil will have to be redirected to the other markets due to the planned EU embargo.


So far, Russia managed to successfully redirect its crude flows to Asia away from the EU, historically its biggest energy customer, with oil output steadily rising over the past several months and reaching nearly 10.8 million barrels a day in July. The data compiled by the agency shows that in June China imported 2.1 million barrels of Russian oil per day, having overtaken the EU as the top market for Russia’s seaborne crude. Meanwhile, EU countries purchased some 1.8 million barrels per day. “July numbers for now are identical for the two regions, but China-bound volumes are likely to gain more as the “unknown” destination voyages are completed,” the IEA said.

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“..while the US had spent three trillion on needless wars in three decades, China had spent zero and that’s why it was racing ahead.”

The Decline of the US Empire: Lessons from the Roman Republic (AT)

Less than three centuries after its founding, the Wild West returns to American streets (and on other streets in the world), in which killing each other now resembles a national pastime, tent cities become the norm and health for tens of millions is a crowd funded commodity, in a country that has only been at peace for two decades since its founding. In a country that once sent man to the moon, Antifa ‘Red Guards’ and the cultural Marxist BLM patrol the cities as dissent becomes censored and half naked men walk the streets waving pink flags. Indeed, the recent events as the mob attacks Capitol Hill is more of an obituary than an event in a country in which Lady Gaga and Kim Kardashian have more followers on twitter than the total votes cast in the 2016 elections!

Eisenhower in his farewell speech in 1961 warned America about the threat of its “military-industrial complex.” Whilst Carter, in reference to China in 2019, told President Trump that the US is “the most warlike nation in the history of the world …” In effect he was saying that while the US had spent three trillion on needless wars in three decades, China had spent zero and that’s why it was racing ahead. Can the ramparts of the Homeland Defense Act keep the barbarian hordes at bay and can the demagogues behind “change you can believe in” or “MAGA” save the empire? The transition from a US Republic to a Roman Empire contains the same updated tribute transfers of wealth from nations in the form of the modern petrodollar and internally, the same political corruption and mob anarchy on its streets.

The ancient gladiator games now involve arming weaker nations, referred to by President Trump as “Sh**hole countries”, as modern day plebs weaned on government provided bread and reality TV show circuses cheer on the blood sports from the comfort of their armchairs. In today’s Roman arena Iraq fought NATO and the US military assisted the Saudi’s bomb Yemen into pieces as the mob roared HOO-RAR. The president gave a thumbs down and American corporations led by Wall Street moved in to deliver the coup de grâce. The modern day act of slavery is still alive and kicking as the Empire’s elite fill their industrial complexes with a slave army of defeated countries low wage foreign workers and their own incarcerated millions.

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“..the equality-above-freedom political structure..”

Democracy in America (Moglia)

There can be political systems that do not allow specific freedoms and yet where citizens can feel free. And the reverse is also true – there are systems apparently quite free, where the individual feels that he is not. Furthermore, the liberty of a citizen in one nation is not the same liberty of a citizen of another nation. And the liberty in one historical time is not the same liberty as perceived 20 or 30 years later. Tocqueville reached the following conclusion. In future there may be republics, monarchies and other mixed forms of government. But in essence only three political systems can exist. One where liberty is the most important feature, irrespective of its consequences. But if this were so, eventually there would be no political form, no state or even politics – for complete freedom is anarchy, which is the antithesis of a political structure.


The second possibility is a system where equality and liberty coexist, with a tendency for equality to be perceived as more important than liberty. But this, says Tocqueville, after anarchy would be also the worst possible political system – from which an exit to freedom would be most difficult. Of this we have recent massive historic evidence in Europe during the XXth century. The third possibility is a system where the political status-quo is daily brought into question and citizens are continuously involved. Regrettably, both in the 19th century (as Tocqueville remarked), but also in our own times it is the equality-above-freedom political structure that the world at large seems to be directed towards. Most people like and want this system because it seems most attractive on the surface – consequently it will be implemented. We could add that the Western-Zionist slogan of the New World Order admirably embodies the concept, “You will own nothing and you will be happy.”

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“..and you will be happy..”

UK Faces Steepest Real Wages Drop In A Century (RT)

Pay rises in Britain could fall behind inflation by almost 8% later this year, which will be the biggest fall in real wages for 100 years, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) said in a reportpublished on Thursday. According to the report, living standards in the country are expected to fall by an unprecedented 7.75%, given the central bank’s prediction that inflation would jump to 13% in the fourth quarter of 2022 while wages were to increase by just 5.25%. The TUC pointed out that workers had not suffered such a severe and prolonged decline in wages relative to inflation since the 1920s. “This isn’t a wage-price spiral, it’s a real pay disaster,”the union congress warned.Pay increases are expected to account for only 20% of inflation after remaining subdued through the autumn and winter at around 5.25%.

The combination of pay raises about one percentage point above the pre-Covid pandemic level of 4% and double-digit inflation amounted to “the largest decline for exactly a century,” the research showed. “Real pay has fallen by more on only one occasion, a decline of 13.3% in the fourth quarter of 1922 – as the post first world war pay and price inflation went sharply into reverse. The only other comparable figure was 7.2% in the first quarter of 1940,” the TUC said. Official figures showed that average total pay growth has fallen for the last two months to 6.2%. The government must get the economy “back in balance again,” according to the TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady. “Too much goes into profits and to those who are already wealthy, and too little goes into wages and to working families,” she stressed.

 

 

Hunger stones
https://twitter.com/Citizen09372364/status/1557665431888056320

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Google translate,

“..It contains a plan to reduce the amount of nitrogen, without the livestock having to shrink.”

But that won’t do; they want the land.

No Hard Actions Yet By Dutch ‘Farmers Defense Force’ (AD)

Farmers Defense Force suspends hard actions for the time being ‘out of goodwill’ to the cabinet. Foreman Mark van den Oever says the group is doing this as a first step in the hope that the government will opt for other plans to reduce nitrogen emissions. The immediate reason is a report by Professor Han Lindeboom of the Nitrogen Focus Group that was presented on Texel yesterday. It contains a plan to reduce the amount of nitrogen, without the livestock having to shrink. According to Lindeboom, the solution lies in, among other things, using different feed, different grass and limiting the use of fertilizer. Lindeboom is an emeritus professor of marine ecology who lives on Texel. He studied the nitrogen problem intensively and argues that the problems are a lot smaller than RIVM and the cabinet would have you believe.


Lindeboom’s views are mainly heard in the farmer’s corner. Other scientists doubt his ideas. At the beginning of July, farmers and fishermen on Texel proclaimed independence: the Free Republic of Tessel. Han Lindeboom was proclaimed Prime Minister on that occasion. Farmers Defense Force sees merit in Lindeboom’s story, and would like the cabinet to take a serious look at it. “I therefore call on Mark Rutte: repent and get to work with this report,” says Van den Oever in a video to members. “As a sign of goodwill, the FDF will take the first step and we will suspend all hard actions until further notice.” The group continues to hang inverted flags on its own farms. According to Van den Oever, public-friendly actions will also continue, such as the announced protests at the Vuelta a España cycling race, which starts next week in the Netherlands.

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“Farmers in the Netherlands reduced nitrogen pollution by nearly 70%. But the government says that is not enough..”

Green Elitism Behind Farmer Crackdowns (Shellenberger)

Farmers in the Netherlands reduced nitrogen pollution by nearly 70%. But the government says that is not enough and is demanding that they cut pollution by another 50% by 2030. By the Dutch government’s own estimates, 11,200 farms out of the roughly 35,000 dedicated to dairy and livestock would have to close under its policies; 17,600 farmers would have to reduce livestock; and total livestock would need to be reduced by one-half to one-third. The Dutch government has demanded that animal farming stop entirely in many places. Of the over $25.7 billion the government has set aside to reduce pollution, just $1 billion is for technological innovation, with most of the rest for buying out farmers. This effort has sparked a fierce backlash among Dutch farmers, who argue that the government seems more interested in reducing animal agriculture than in finding solutions that protect the food supply and their livelihoods.

“Why would you buy out farmers or reduce livestock when you have the possibility to invest in innovation?” asked Caroline van der Plas, the founder and sole Member of Parliament for the Farmer-Citizen Movement party, or BBB in Dutch. “The car industry innovated for the past 40 years. There aren’t fewer cars and the cars we have are cleaner. We even have electrical cars. That’s what I think is so crazy. Why don’t we treat the farmers just like the car industry? Give them time to develop solutions or innovate? We can produce food in a much more efficient and cleaner way if we do that. And it’s much cheaper also then by buying out farmers.” Farmer protests in the Netherlands come at a time of heightened global food insecurity created by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a major wheat exporter.

The Netherlands is the largest exporter of meat in Europe and the second largest exporter of agricultural products overall by economic value in the world, after the United States, a remarkable feat for a nation half the size of Indiana. Farm exports generate nearly $100 billion a year in revenue. Experts attribute the nation’s success to its farmers’ embrace of technological innovation. The Netherlands is just one of the countries where governments are pushing for sharp limits on farming. Canada, for example, is seeking a 30% reduction in nitrogen pollution by 2030. While the Canadian government says it is not mandating fertilizer use reductions, only pollution reductions, experts agree that such a radical pollution decline in such a short period will only be possible through reducing fertilizer use, and thus food production. The cost to farmers would be between $10 billion and $48 billion. “If you push farmers against the wall with no wiggle room, I don’t know where this will end up,” said Gunter Jochum, president of the Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association. “Just look at what’s happening in Europe, in the Netherlands. They’ve had enough of it.”

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Where the world is getting stronger.

Samarkand At The Crossroads (Escobar)

The SCO shows how China’s approach to Central Asia is defined by two central vectors: security and the development of Xinjiang. Stronger regional states such as Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan deal with Beijing, as with Moscow, via their carefully calibrated multi-vector foreign policy. Beijing’s merit has been to expertly position itself as a provider of public goods, with the SCO functioning as a top lab in terms of multilateral cooperation. This will be bolstered even more at the Samarkand summit next month. The destiny of what is in effect Inner Eurasia – the heartland of the Heartland – is inescapable from a subtle, very complex, multilevel competition between Russia and China.

It’s crucial to remember that in his landmark 2013 speech in Nur-Sultan, then Astana, when the New Silk Roads were formally launched, Xi Jinping stressed that China stands “ready to enhance communication and coordination with Russia and all Central Asian countries to strive to build a region of harmony.” These were not idle words. The process involves a conjunction of BRI and the SCO – which has progressively evolved into a mechanism of economic cooperation as much as security. In the 2012 SCO summit, then Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Cheng Gouping had already been adamant: China would absolutely not allow the unrest that happened in West Asia and North Africa to happen in Central Asia.

Moscow could have said the exact same thing. The recent (failed) coup in Kazakhstan was swiftly dealt with by the six-member, Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). China is increasingly invested in using the SCO to turbo-charge a geoeconomic overdrive – even as some of its proposals, such as establishing a free trade zone and a joint SCO fund and development bank still have not materialized. That may eventually happen, as in the wake of western Russophobic sanctions hysteria the SCO – and BRI – progressively converge with the EAEU. At every SCO summit, Beijing’s loans are gleefully accepted by Central Asian actors. Samarkand next month may herald a qualitative convergence leap: Russia and China even more involved in bringing back Inner Asia to the geoeconomic limelight.

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Elon better hurry.

Twitter Rolls Out Plans ‘To Protect’ US Midterm Elections (PM)

Twitter has rolled out some new terms and policies ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, during which the Republican Party is expected to overtake the Democrats to earn a majority in the US House. The election is seen as a barometer of how the Biden administration and their leadership has performed since taking office, and so far, the pressure is definitely on. These changes are in addition to those made in the lead-up to the 2020 presidential election, in which Twitter’s suppression and censorship of information played a key role in misinforming the public. Twitter is stepping up to bolster their terms and prevent “misinformation,” that catch-all concept for anything that goes against the Democrat-driven narrative.

As such, they’ve announced “steps we’re taking ahead of the US midterms to protect civic conversation on Twitter.” As they’ve done in international elections, Twitter is now “activating enforcement” of their “Civic Integrity Policy for the 2022 US midterms.” Twitter states that their Civic Integrity Policy “covers the most common types of harmful misleading information about elections and civic events,” which include: false claims about how and where to vote, voter intimidation, and “misleading claims intended to undermine public confidence in an election,” which includes “false information about the outcome of the election.” When Twitter mods encounter information they believe comes under the “harmful misleading information” category, they will “not recommend or amplify this content,” and will provide a “prompt prior to liking or sharing labeled tweets, and in cases where there is potential for harm associated with the false or misleading claim, the Tweet may not be liked or shared to precent the spread of the misleading information.”

In the lead up to the presidential election in 2020, Twitter suppressed and censored reporting by the New York Post that tied then candidate Joe Biden to his son Hunter’s overseas business dealings, with insinuations and allegations of influence peddling. Twitter believed reports coming out of the Biden campaign, and other sources, that claimed the information had been obtained through hacking, a disallowable practice, or was “Russian disinformation.” This suppression had an impact on the US presidential election, potentially skewing results in Biden’s favor, as polls later indicated.

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“He filed a multimillion-dollar defamation suit in May against Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff and a string of media outlets, including CNN, the Daily Beast and Politico..”

Hunter Biden Laptop Repairman Says FBI Agent Threatened Him To Hush Up (NYP)

The computer repair shop owner who blew the whistle on Hunter Biden’s infamous laptop claims in a new book that an FBI agent threatened him to stay silent. John Paul Mac Isaac said two federal agents came to his Mac Shop in Wilmington, Del. in December 2019 to recoup the laptop following a subpoena, he details in his new book “American Injustice: My Battle to Expose the Truth.” The repairman, who had volunteered to hand the laptop over to the feds two months earlier, said the alleged threat came after he made a joke, telling them: “Hey, lads, I’ll remember to change your names when I write the book.” “Agent Wilson kept walking but Agent DeMeo paused and turned to face me,” Paul Mac writes of the encounter.

Isaac said the agent then told him: “It is our experience that nothing ever happens to people that don’t talk about these things.” The owner said he locked the door after the agents walked out, leaving him to “digest the encounter.” “Was I being paranoid, or had what the agent just told me been a direct threat, or at best a thinly veiled one?” he writes. Issac was left with the “laptop from hell” after President Biden’s son abandoned it at his shop in April 2019. Reportedly, the investigation has reached a “critical stage.” Eight months after giving the laptop’s hard drive to the FBI, the shop owner alerted then-President Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani who, in turn, provided a copy to The Post.

The Post’s reporting on the trove of emails discovered on the device has raised serious questions about what President Biden knew of his son’s overseas business deals. Issac said he was eventually forced to shut down his business after being harassed when his private information was leaked. He filed a multimillion-dollar defamation suit in May against Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff and a string of media outlets, including CNN, the Daily Beast and Politico, saying they falsely accused him of peddling Russian disinformation.

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“If he is extradited, and placed in the type of isolation that the US government says it reserves the right to place him in, then he will commit suicide.”

Legal Options Running Out For WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange (DW)

Julian Assange has been detained at London’s high-security Belmarsh Prison, one of the UK’s toughest detention centers, since 2019. The WikiLeaks founder has long since completed his original 50-week sentence for skipping bail in 2012. But he has remained in custody ever since, in extremely harsh conditions, in what is essentially detention pending deportation. British Home Secretary Priti Patel signed the judicial extradition order in June. Assange has one last chance to be allowed to appeal the judicial order, to the High Court in London. A ruling is expected next month. If his request is rejected Assange will be extradited to the United States within four weeks. If the judges deny her husband the chance to launch another round of appeals, Assange’s wife and lawyer, Stella, fears the worst.

“Julian’s life depends on him winning this,” she said, in an interview with DW. “Julian is clinically depressed. If he is extradited, and placed in the type of isolation that the US government says it reserves the right to place him in, then he will commit suicide.” Assange’s Australian family are also very worried. Speaking to Sky Australia last week, his father, John Shipton, described Assange’s health as “very worrying and becoming dire now.” “His health is in decline,” Assange’s brother Gabriel confirmed in the same interview. “He’s in a very, very precarious situation… It really is heartbreaking to see Julian, this gentle genius, in a maximum-security prison alongside the most violent criminals in the United Kingdom.”

The family has appealed to the new Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, asking him to intercede on behalf of his compatriot. During his election campaign, Albanese had declared, “Enough is enough,” indicating that the persecution of the WikiLeaks founder must come to an end. However, Assange’s father and brother have said no progress has been made since the new prime minister took office, and that so far they have been unable to make an appointment with the prime minister to discuss the issue. In a recent public statement, Albanese pointed out that negotiations like these must be conducted quietly and diplomatically, behind the scenes. For example: the question of whether Assange’s right to freedom of expression and the protection of journalistic work ought not, in fact, to prevent extradition.

Or whether the US made the request for political reasons. “Ultimately, once the domestic remedies have been exhausted, he can then appeal to the European Court of Human Rights,” said Stella Assange. However, it remains unclear whether the British judges would be prepared to wait for an ECHR ruling. That’s because the British government is set on a collision course with the European Convention on Human Rights. A draft bill submitted to the British Parliament at the end of June proposes to reduce protection for refugees. Instead of going through the asylum process in Britain, migrants would be sent to Rwanda to apply for asylum there. If the Tory hard-liner Liz Truss moves into Downing Street in September, Assange has little hope of a successful political intervention.

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WEF vs Trump
https://twitter.com/i/status/1557553142899908608

 

 


Abandoned restaurant in Victorville, California

 

 

 

 

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Home Forums Debt Rattle August 12 2022

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 49 total)
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  • #113290

    Edward Hopper The Lee Shore 1941   • FBI Looking For Classified Nuclear Secrets During Mar-a-Lago Raid: Leak (ZH) • Trump ‘Shattering’ All Fundra
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle August 12 2022]

    #113291
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    Edward Hopper The Lee Shore 1941

    Love Hopper’s series of sailboat paintings; todays fearures a gaff rigged cutter, sailing to windward on a Lee shore. No problem for a skilled sailor…

    #113292

    The first Hopper sail painting was from 1911; this one is 1941. The style remained quite consistent.

    #113293
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    The style remained quite consistent.

    Yes, up until the Marconi riggs (the same guy who invented the wireless radio)…
    The Marconi rigg was much simpler and lighter; but less efficient than the gaff rigged boats…

    #113294

    I meant Hopper’s style, not the boats

    hop1

    hop2

    hop3

    hop4

    They all have the same sunny careless feel about them.

    #113295
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    Sorry; misunderstood your meaning…
    I do agree with you on that point…

    #113296
    oldandtired
    Participant

    “ They all have the same sunny careless feel about them.”. Raul, please consider William Merit chase, “End of the season”?
    Perhaps at the end of the month? Powerful melancholy. Beach theme. Wonderful like Hopper.

    #113297
    Red
    Participant

    Have a little “green” word salad for lunch?

    SINGAPOR — ADM will widen its sustainable farming practices and sourcing of sustainably produced goods with the execution of a Green Trade Export Letter of Credit in Singapore, London and New York from Standard Chartered.

    The transaction supports supply chain trackability and greater adoption of sustainable farming and production practices.

    “Sustainability powers our strategy, and is foundational to our purpose as a company,” said Olivier Boujol, ADM vice president and global head of Structured Trade Finance. “With an integrated value chain spanning food and agriculture, ADM is uniquely positioned to drive sustainable practices across our industry, and we’re continuously scaling up our efforts to power positive change. We’re proud to work with Standard Chartered to support and encourage sustainable agriculture and food production from the farm gate to the dinner plate, and we look forward to continuing to expand our structured trade efforts in sustainability.”

    The commodities underlying the $500 million program are mainly soybeans, oilseeds and cotton, with flows originating from Latin America, the United States and Australia to European markets. Third-party issued approved sustainable goods certifications from Round Table for Sustainable Soy, US Sustainable Soy Assurance Protocol, International Sustainability & Carbon Certification as well as Better Cotton Initiative are issued and evidenced as part of the transaction structure.

    “Our clients are increasingly prioritizing sustainability across their supply chain ecosystem, which is not only important to their business agenda but also ensures a more resilient growth for the wider economy,” said Kai Fehr, global head of trade and working capital, Standard Chartered. “As a longstanding trade bank, we have an incredibly important role to play in helping to make global supply chain activities more sustainable. The successful execution of this Export LC program is testament to the significant opportunity we have in catalyzing finance to scale impact, by complementing ADM’s sustainable procurement processes with our tailor-made sustainable trade finance offering to advance their sustainability goals.”

    Earlier this year, ADM announced a $20 million commitment to supporting cover crops in the American Midwest, supporting lower-carbon crop production. The company continues to advance its Strive 35 Goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, energy intensity, water usage, and waste to landfill. In 2021, the company announced a plan to reduce Scope 3 emissions 25% by 2035, and last year, ADM accelerated its deadline for a completely deforestation-free supply chain by five years, from 2030 to 2025. ADM also recently committed to work with the Science-based Targets Initiative with the aim of obtaining approval of its climate targets and alignment with ambitious global goals to limit rising temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

    https://www.world-grain.com/articles/17311-adm-to-expand-sustainable-practices-with-green-letter-of-credit

    #113298
    Red
    Participant
    #113299
    Dr. D
    Participant

    So they’re saying every day Biden isn’t running the country. Yes! He had no idea what Garland was doing, who he calls, when he speaks, no nothin’. Yup, Garland just does as he pleases, no oversight, no contact: that’s what being President means!

    …Oh, P.S. at the same time, Biden DOES start WWIII. …Like Geico, “it’s just what Bidens do.” …According to the Wall Street Journal. Who approves, not worried a’tall, didn’t feel the need to report on it ‘til now. Newsflash: America’s Top Newspaper “Forgot” to Report on the Declaration of WWIII.

    “Garland Says He ‘Personally Approved’ Trump Search Warrant”

    Huh? Epstein’s judge did not approve it? I think his name is at the bottom. Can you be more clear please? So you’re in perfect agreement with Epstein, you mean? “Everybody in MY political party thinks we should investigate everyone in YOUR political party.” Got it. I’m sure that’ll all go swell. Won’t backfire at all.

    ““The Biden administration is only adding rocket fuel to Trump’s campaign prospects and energizing his supporters who want him to run again..”

    • Trump ‘Shattering’ All Fundraising Records After FBI Mar-a-Lago Raid (ET)

    “Trump Thanks FBI For Kicking Off His 2024 Reelection Campaign” –BBee

    Really from this:

    “In fact, there is no “Team A” or “Team B,” only Class A and Class B.

    And Class A really wants everyone, especially Class B, to understand this, because they think Class B seriously needs to get the message and accept its place in the order of things. Class B is on the bottom, where it belongs. Class A is on top, and a more lenient standard is a privilege reserved for them, by virtue of their natural moral/educational/economic/aesthetic superiority and consequent rightful dominance. If Class B does not enjoy this discipline, they should strive to clean up their dirty, stupid, wicked ways and someday become part of Class A.

    “Hypocrisy,” I hope you now see, is simply a display of power, so the more blatant it is the better. Hypocrisy is a concrete demonstration of living without having to fear consequences. And Class A loves it when Class B notices this and whines about it, because complaining about hypocrisy is just another way of saying … “I’m the loser.”

    They WANT you to know. They WANT it to be outside rule of law. That’s POWER. And the purpose of power is power. As Orwell said.

    And fundraising? Are they planning on USING any of that money? GOP didn’t last time, in 2020. And the other side refused to allow them, denying ad slots last time, and now we’re in “Stolen bank account” territory. They should use it as a GoFundMe for the people economically ruined by Federal policy. Like Robin Hood. Now that’s advertising.

    Helping Ukraine in its fight against Russia comes at a price for Europe, which citizens should be willing to pay,”

    Those citizens are in Class B. I mean, unless you’re a billionaire, then you’re NOT willing to pay. …Priorities. You understand.

    “Russian Oil Output Could Plunge – IEA (RT)”

    Not useless: like the USDA, they create scenarios for insider trading. That are a blood money funnel for financiers. The Street is already saying “They pretend to report, and we pretend to trade it.”

    ““..while the US had spent three trillion on needless wars in three decades, China had spent zero and that’s why it was racing ahead.”

    Yes, but it’s our JOB to lose. That’s the PLAN. Open WTO Most-Favored Nation status, hold foreign tax incentives against almost universal resistance for 30 years. Then Bush saps the armed and working U.S. military on foreign wars. Ultimately, NoKo drags us into war, China wins, the Constitution is erased. The war covers the mass sickness and death on the NoAm continent. Population drops 2/3rds as Deagle demands. Chelsea and Liz and Hunter become the new caretakers of the disarmed, depopulated, non-Constitutional America, a Chinese food and resource colony and spend their days flying private jets picking up pretty girls, and staying in hunting lodges in Jackson Hole eating buffalo roasts. Very Lordly of them, but they are Class A after all.

    So it’s not some “human mistake” where “we didn’t learn from history”. It’s a heist. You can’t understand it or stop it until you know that.

    Democracy in America (Moglia)”

    Reminds me of Ghandi: “What do you think of Democracy in America?” “I think that would be a good thing.”

    “equality-above-freedom … seems most attractive on the surface – consequently it will be implemented.”

    No it won’t. 1) It’s impossible. 2) We don’t just vote and poof happens: only these mentally ill lawyers and congressmen believe such tales. No, they start somewhere and try it, it doesn’t work, blows up in their face time after time. Yet they still try to force it on everyone. Eventually they lose because both it, and they, are moronic. Such an attempt will destroy everything it touches almost immediately, and it’s so dumb even the dumbest Americans can tell. …Those from Harvard.

    the “Hunger Stones” in some Czech and German rivers. These stones were used to mark desperately low river”

    “Everyone talks about the weather but nobody does anything about it.” Reminds me of weather cycles where last 220 year period, remember it was 100f in Monmouth “A thousand men died in 100 degree heat / as we snatched a stalemate from the jaws of defeat.” And at the Constitutional Convention in Philly, a decade later. At the same time, it was so cold the ground was frozen 6 feet down and the all-salt East river froze so they hauled horses with cannons on it. Not ‘hot’ or ‘cold’, but weather extremes. More than now, but not nearly so much in the middle periods, 1850 or 1950. Cycles.

    “The hunger stones” are called that because bad weather and thus bad crops are associated with it. It would be telling you to make giant pantries and like Joseph, giant granaries, but everyone’s ignoring that part, the only reason they got out the chisel and tried to warn you, their dear children. That’s because “like the weather” above, now you need to DO something about it. So cancel your cable and use the money to buy the granary. (Nope. Never happen. We do do something about the weather: we don’t get a coat and complain.)

    “out of goodwill’ to the cabinet.”

    You can’t negotiate: you need to BECOME the government, take it over, and rout them out to a man. As we’ve learned for 50 years, we “save” these trees, these farms. So we “compromise” and cut 1/3 of them. Then next year we need to save these trees and “compromise” by cutting the 1/3rd that wasn’t cut last year. And so on and so on. Because to NOT means open conflict and a rather stiff, uncompromising view. However NOT doing that means a certain loss for you, and certain death for 100% of the trees or farms we’re discussing. Like gun laws. We just add one more description to the list each year. After 50 years: Poof! Magic! Everything you own is illegal, all your Rights are gone. Stop it. For Christ’s sake.

    Take the Government seat and roll them. Pass a law saying Condos and Palatial Dachas are un-environmental and we need to bulldoze their houses to make cow pastures. …As in addition, and unlike them, that argument is true.

    I guess that’s to say: They are trying to kill you. Get serious and stop playing around denying it.

    “Farmers in the Netherlands reduced nitrogen pollution by nearly 70%. But the government says that is not enough and is demanding that they cut pollution by another 50% by 2030.”

    “2030”. Note as McDick says, Canada doesn’t care WHAT level it is. They could be using a teaspoon of fertilizer. They still require a 30% reduction in use even if that causes a 100% reduction in food. Think about that.

    “The Netherlands is the largest exporter of meat in Europe and the second largest exporter of agricultural products overall by economic value in the world, after the United States, a remarkable feat for a nation half the size of Indiana.”

    Why they MUST shut them down, and why we’re not anywhere near overpopulating the planet yet. The U.S. has, what? 20 states like Indiana? Which could become 20 Netherlands?

    Now I agree I don’t want that, but that’s a CHOICE, not a physical reality. Like Peak Oil. We’re in Peak Oil because we REFUSE to use Russia and Iran’s oil. But that next 40 years of oil is right there, already drilled and piped, metered and waiting. They’re just killing you ’cause it’s funny. So tasty.

    Helping
    https://sinfest.xyz/btphp/comics/2022-08-12.jpg

    “Saruman Breeds Army of 87,000 More Tax Collectors” –BBee

    “Twitter Rolls Out Plans ‘To Protect’ US Midterm Elections (PM)”

    “PreBunked”. They are saying things aren’t true that didn’t happen yet. Like a lot of news articles, I remember commenting about it about a year ago. “We report on things that DON’T happen, haven’t happened, and probably never WILL happen.” That’s News!

    “claims in a new book that an FBI agent threatened him to stay silent.”

    That’s ridiculous. What are we in a world where a second rate sheriff’s office sends four officers 2,000 miles on the county dime to intimidate a guy who paid too slowly for a Batmobile? …Oh wait. That happened only last week? It cost $5,000? They shut off his bank account? And it was illegal? The county is still not involved and directed the man to sue them civilly because they won’t take action or reprimand anyone?

    Maybe an FBI agent calling someone on the phone doesn’t seem so unlikely now. Or evidence tampering, which was saw with their CT lab giving any results the agent asked for, now +10 years ago and nothing’s happened.

    “Legal Options Running Out for WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange (DW)”

    Not really. He’s in prison for 10 years without being charged or convicted, so everything’s going well. That’s your “Speedy trial” and “Cruel and unusual punishment.” I’d say everything is going wonderfully: there’s no Constitution, no Human Rights, and they’re on Team A. “DO WHAT YOU’RE TOLD.”

    Speaking of Twitter here, Luongo interview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWGXdusj0Ig
    Trying to list Davos, and although Dimon and Fink love and have no problem with fascist control, mass death, Davos wants POWER, and that power will be stolen from NYC Commercial Banks and American industry. So they finally got their attention, finally stopped and said “No.” and are now in a death-match with them. That is, all of Europe. Which we’re destroying pretty soundly without much effort.

    Much as it burns me, we need their help and am willing to let them fight for me, much as I would have allowed slaveowners and slaveowning states join up to fight the crown and sign the Constitution and Bill of (Human) Rights. So let them destroy Davos for a second, will ya? There will be enough s—t and collapse to go around even so. And we can – and must – go get them later. But right now this is the battle before us.

    Will we continue to have property and industry? Freedom to make decisions at all? And making money, but that “making money” creates a standard of living that’s above deadly starvation, poverty, and oppression far beyond Feudalism and only seen in the 20th century? Turns out that’s the hill that held the pivot point for these people, for these powers.

    And the pivot point for us as well. Yes, oligarchs and landowners aren’t your friends. But they were the same ones in 1776 too. It will be up to you to hold them to account later for your own interests, again like last time, and make them sign a document like the Magna Carta and hold them to it with force. As we did so badly in 1810 and under John Q. And that’s us, but it’s better than it was before, under George.

    Win this one. Stop the starvation and theft, world war and totalitarian police state private panopticon. Do that first and we’ll get back to it. And I think we will and have. It takes POWER to do that. And the POWER and FORCE is in us. Not them. Their power is only in “Obedience.”

    “FBI Promises to Provide Justification for Mar A Lago Raid Just as Soon as They Find It” –BBee

    “Dick Cheney Claims Liz’s Opponent in Primaries Has Obtained WMDs” –BBee

    “FBI to Begin Raiding Homes of Those Who Criticize FBI Raid” –BBee

    Actually, I think this one is already happening.

    Continuing yesterday: a third generation of non-practicing Jews running an IHOP in Bel Air. Race? A boy who doesn’t know his father. What race is he supposed to say? Make one up? Since that’s the most important aspect of every man, woman, child, every symbol and utterance? A young Italian in New Jersey who still keeps the family house in Sardinia and speaks the old language because his parents did. A 5th generation British-Dutch daughter from Zimbabwe moves to Milwaukee at 43. Donnie Osmond becomes a Kenyan resident and citizen. A Metis from Thunder Bay raised north of 60. A Roma in Manchester. An Irish Traveler in Pittsburgh. A Basque in Paris. A Spanish and English speaking Brazilian in New Orleans. A German Argentine in Boca Raton. A Russian immigrant to Denmark whose bank account was shut off for his race. “White”?

    I mean, srsly, who makes this stuff up? Literally who is so dense they can hear these race words come out and go “Huh: ‘Black’, ‘Spanish’, ‘breakfast tacos’, that makes sense to me”? Just vomiting word salad on me, and I’m trying to be polite about it, but when they make it legal and national policy I’ve about had enough. Bring back Science and “Reality”. Please.

    #113300
    Red
    Participant

    Likely!? Haha guaranteed you mean. Just follow the political stand on agriculture in the west and most of the little hobby farms and smaller operations will all but disappear. The black market, so to speak, is about to experience an expansion boom that will make the rum runners of a century ago look like a test run in a high school lab experiment.

    2022 has brought about a highly volatile environment across commodities markets. Inflation, which began during the pandemic and was exacerbated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, has sent agriculture markets soaring. The prices of hogs, cattle, and poultry have all increased at a rate near or higher than their respective input costs. This has led to strong margins in the US and in most of the world. However, declining, and sometimes negative, margins are beginning to weigh on the livestock industry. Looking towards 2023, we expect a confluence of factors to reduce global livestock numbers. This is clear when examining each of the major livestock sectors.
    Global Feed Demand is likely to fall in 2023
    • US cattle herd, the world’s largest grain-fed cattle herd, is in contraction.
    • Hog herd is likely to contract in 2023 in the EU, US, and China.
    • There were severe outbreaks of bird flu and HPAI in the EU and US, and poultry inventory is already down in these regions, further contraction is expected in 2023.
    • Cattle – The U.S. has the biggest grain-fed cattle herd in the world, which is in contraction and likely to contract in 2023 as well.
    • Hogs – Global Hogs inventory is likely to decrease in 2023 as the herd is in contraction in the EU and US.
    • Poultry – Global broiler inventory is likely to contract in 2023 in Europe and USA as highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) outbreaks loom.
    • Recession, Inflation & Currencies – As inflation is high all around the globe and fear of recession continues to grow, what does it mean for protein demand and consumption?

    #113301
    zerosum
    Participant

    This sound like a lawyer from a news agency, did some reading
    • A president can’t legally declassify ‘nuclear material’.
    • FBI Looking For Classified Nuclear Secrets During Mar-a-Lago Raid: Leak (ZH)

    ———-
    Nobody is talking about Biden …. about ukraine… about weather, about anything else

    • Trump ‘Shattering’ All Fundraising Records After FBI Mar-a-Lago Raid (ET)
    • China Calls US ‘Main Instigator’ Of Ukraine Crisis (R.)
    • Hunter Biden Laptop Repairman Says FBI Agent Threatened Him To Hush Up (NYP)
    • Legal Options Running Out For WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange (DW)

    ————-
    “You will own nothing and you will be happy.”

    Why would Work Ethics survive
    https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/work-ethic-skills
    “Too much goes into profits and to those who are already wealthy, and too little goes into wages and to working families,”
    ———-

    #113302
    John Day
    Participant

    Anybody notice the Before & after pictures above?
    It’s not real. The after picture is some pretty girl…
    The Before picture is Iggy Pop Eat or Be Eaten, baby!

    #113303
    John Day
    Participant

    Information Civil War is up, with a picture of me with the first (easier) kitchen countertop installed.
    I’m picking out things that might not have been posted here already. there’s a lot of stuff this time.
    https://drjohnsblog.substack.com/p/information-civil-war

    Charles Hugh Smith lives this life he preaches, though he also focuses a lot on the news and implications thereof (got food?)
    Rather Than Focus on What You Don’t Control (“The News”), Focus on What You Do Control: What You Grow, Eat and Own
    Now that globalization and financialization are finally unraveling, people are slowly awakening to the national security foundations of localizing production. https://www.oftwominds.com/blogaug22/what-you-control8-22.html

    ​ ​Tulsi Gabbard unleashes a torrent of facts in what most on the left in Washington would call ‘conspiracy theory’ and ‘hate speech’ pointing out the fact that everything from the IRS to the Department of Homeland Security is “blatantly being weaponized to target political opponents of those in power and anyone who dares to dissent or question or challenge their actions and policies.”
    ​ ​By way of example, Gabbard notes that with regard to the massive increase in the size of the IRS, the messaging from Democrats is ‘this will only apply to to the wealthy’. Well, as Gabbard points out, “that’s only 1-2% of all taxpayers, so why in the world do they need $80 billion and 87,000 new hires in order to go after 1-2% of taxpayers?”
    ​ ​Simply put, she explains, “their math absolutely does not add up,” which she says “should be frightening and concerning”​ ​ to all Americans, because “this means, they’re coming after us – the entrepreneurs, small business owners, and the middle class hard-working Americans.”
    ​ ​As Gabbard points out, “it’s not a ‘theory’ that the IRS will abuse its power to go after political opponents, we have already seen them do it.”
    ​ ​51% of all IRS audits last year were for those who earned less than $75,000, so unless they changed their doctrine, it’s pretty clear the average American is going to feel the scrutiny of the IRS in a way they’re not prepared for.
    “This government bureaucracy at its worst… they are taking money out of our pockets… to go and plus-up their force and their ability to maintain power…
    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/our-democracy-grave-danger-tulsi-gabbard-warns-democrats-are-coming-after-middle-class

    ​All that for nothing?​
    ​ ​A Monmouth University poll shows that almost 90 percent of respondents report that the hearings have made no change in how they view the J6 riot.
    Moreover, despite the overwhelming cooperation and support of the media with the Committee, the vast majority believe that the J6 Committee was a political rather than investigative exercise, focused on opposing Trump rather than disclosing the facts of January 6th.
    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/j6-hearings-had-virtually-no-impact-changing-public-views-new-poll-finds

    ​Civil War by 2024?​ The White House has said “Joe Biden’ did not know about this warrant. Does it matter?
    Attorney General Merrick Garland revealed during a brief Thursday speech that he personally approved the search warrant at Mar-a-Lago, and that the DOJ has asked a federal court to unseal the document.
    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/watch-live-ag-merrick-garland-makes-statement-following-trump-raid

    #113304
    John Day
    Participant

    Ilargi missed, or chose not to include this today. I think it’s part of what Tulsi Gabbard is crowing about.

    “Be Willing To Use Deadly Force”: IRS Sparks Uproar Over Job Posting
    As the agency prepares to add 87,000 new positions over 10 years, pending the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act that will give the agency $80 billion (half of which will be earmarked to help crack down on tax evasion), an online job posting for “Criminal Investigation Special Agents” has sparked outrage over a “key requirement” that applicants be “legally allowed to carry a firearm.”
    “Major duties” of the job include “Carry a firearm and be willing to use deadly force, if necessary,” and “Be willing and able to participate in arrests, execution of search warrants, and other dangerous assignments.”
    https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/be-willing-use-deadly-force-irs-sparks-uproar-over-job-posting

    #113305
    John Day
    Participant

    The Germans deciding this will not be the Germans wo freeze to death, so it’s not suicide. How should it be classified?​
    ​ ​Germany won’t put Russia’s Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline into operation even if the situation with energy supplies deteriorates in the coming months, government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said on Monday.
    ​ ​“What is clear is that we stand firmly on the side of Ukraine, that we support the sanctions that we jointly adopted in the EU and in consultations with the international community… What is also clear is that Nord Stream 2 is not certified and is not currently going through the certification process and thus is not available [for operation],” the spokesman said at a press briefing.
    ​ ​When asked specifically if German Chancellor Olaf Scholz rules out using the pipeline in the coming fall and winter if the situation with gas supplies in the region becomes more complicated, Hebestreit said “yes, he rules it out.”
    https://www.rt.com/business/560462-germany-rules-out-nord-stream-2/

    Scott Ritter: One upsmanship on the human shield tactic. Shell a nuclear reactor after accusing your opponent of using it as a ‘shield”.
    ​ ​The Ukrainian attack on the Zaporozhye nuclear facility was, in typical Orwellian fashion, forecasted by the United States four days before it took place. During an August 1 news conference at the United Nations, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken accused Russia of using the nuclear facility as a base from which it conducted artillery strikes against Ukraine. Blinken declared that the act of firing artillery rockets from proximity to the nuclear power plant was “the height of irresponsibility,” implying that these rockets could land on the power plant itself. Blinken also added that the Russians were using the nuclear facility as a “nuclear shield” which prevented any Ukrainian attack out of fear of striking the nuclear reactors.​..
    ​..​The goal of this campaign appears to be twofold – first, to put Russia in a bad light, and second, to allow Ukraine to accomplish that which it could not achieve through military force – the eviction of Russian troops from Zaporozhye.
    https://www.rt.com/russia/560561-ukraine-nuclear-powerplant-attack/

    Ukrainian forces are still shelling it;
    UNSC Holds Emergency Meeting As Smoke Observed Rising Over Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant
    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/un-security-council-holds-emergency-meeting-fighting-rages-zaporizhzhia-nuclear-plant

    #113306
    John Day
    Participant

    Anything to lower prices at the pump until November…​
    US Accused Of Stealing Over 80% Of Syria’s Oil Output Per Day
    https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/us-accused-stealing-over-80-syrias-oil-output-day

    ​ ​Goldman believes that the oil market will remain in unsustainable deficits at current prices, and is why the bank forecasts that the oil market still requires oil demand destruction on top of the ongoing economic slowdown. This, the bank warns, requires a sharp rebound in retail fuel prices – the binding constraint to balancing the oil market – back to $150/bbl Brent equivalent prices, equivalent to US retail gasoline and diesel prices reaching $4.35 and $5.45/gal by 4Q22.
    https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/much-more-demand-destruction-needed-why-goldman-sees-oil-prices-surging-year-end

    ​”Coalition of the willing” again?​
    US Warns Africa Against Buying Anything From Russia Besides Grain and Fertilizer
    The US ambassador to the UN said African nations could be hit with sanctions for doing business with Russia

    US Warns Africa Against Buying Anything From Russia Besides Grain and Fertilizer

    ​Nancy, that’s not how to look “presidential”. You have to look strong, decisive, yet reserved, not call petty names. George Bush is the wrong role model.
    Pelosi was asked about Xi’s reaction to her being the highest American official to visit the self-ruled island in 25 years, to which she answered by saying Xi is behaving like a “scared bully” given he’s in a “fragile crisis” in the wake of her trip.
    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/pelosi-says-xis-reaction-scared-bully-fragile-crisis

    #113307
    John Day
    Participant

    Following a four-hour meeting with Putin on Friday, Erdogan welcomed Russia’s role in building a nuclear power plant in Turkey. The two nations aim for bilateral trade turnover of $100 billion, and are cooperating against terrorism and toward peace in Libya and Syria. Putin pledged that Russia would supply Turkey with oil, gas and coal “without any interruptions,” after the two leaders agreed that Ankara would pay for some of this gas in rubles.
    Another official told the newspaper that Erdogan’s behavior is “very opportunistic,” adding that “we are trying to make the Turks pay attention to our concerns.”
    Although a NATO member since 1952 and an EU applicant since 1987, Turkey has broken with both blocs on several occasions, most recently over the conflict in Ukraine.
    https://www.rt.com/news/560379-turkey-western-concern-russia/

    Rubbing-it-in?
    Turkey has ensured a reliable supply of Russian natural gas to the EU, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday, adding that its members should be grateful to Ankara…
    “The Turkish Stream, unlike all other routes of our hydrocarbon supplies, works properly, works smoothly, without any failures. […] I think our European partners should be grateful to Turkey for ensuring uninterrupted transit of our gas to the European market,” Putin said.
    https://www.rt.com/business/560314-putin-eu-russian-gas-turkey/

    In conclusion, Russia have now DIRECTLY accused the DNC Globalists of
    -creating and releasing new variants of Coronaviruses, and now Monkeypox, intentionally, for the purposes of political control and world domination.
    -using non-consensual experimentation on citizens of the world to create genome specific biological weapons for ethnic cleansing.
    -creation and usage of narcotics, such as methamphetamines, on Ukrainian forces to dehumanize them in order to carry out heinous crimes against humanity on civilians in Ukraine.
    https://bioclandestine.substack.com/p/russian-mil-declares-ukraine-origin

    Twitter Suspends Russian Foreign Ministry Account For COVID Origins Theory
    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/twitter-suspends-russian-foreign-ministry-account-covid-origins-theory

    ​As experts such as Luc Montagnier have stated since March 2020…
    Head Of The Lancet’s COVID-19 Investigation Is ‘Convinced’ It Came Out Of A Lab
    Charges that a real investigation is being blocked

    Head Of The Lancet’s COVID-19 Investigation Is ‘Convinced’ It Came Out Of A Lab

    #113308
    John Day
    Participant

    This technology works against all double-stranded RNA viruses, and would apparently also work against the immortal mRNA vaccines that cause human cells to pump out spike protein month after month, by killing cells that contain double-stranded mRNA (none should). it worked well for mice, but has been cut off from funding since then. ​Spartacus has the story.
    Double-stranded RNA Activated Caspase Oligomerizer
    On July 27th, 2011, a paper was published in PLOS ONE describing a novel protein biologic antiviral. It was called DRACO, an acronym for Double-stranded RNA Activated Caspase Oligomerizer.
    https://iceni.substack.com/p/draco-down-the-memory-hole

    Vaccine Deaths Outnumber Covid Deaths in U.S. Households, Two New Polls Confirm

    Vaccine Deaths Outnumber Covid Deaths in U.S. Households, Two New Polls Confirm

    ​For those with friends/family considering inoculating their children with the current highly marketed gene-therapy “vaccine” products.​
    5 Facts to Consider Before Vaccinating Kids for COVID
    Very few children get seriously ill or die from COVID-19. The risk of COVID-19 shots likely outweighs the harm of infection. Two years into this pandemic, the need to inoculate children is nil. Simple as that.

    5 Facts to Consider Before Vaccinating Kids for COVID

    #113309
    John Day
    Participant

    Borrell warned that Europe should be prepared for the conflict in Ukraine to continue for a long time. Commenting on European goals in the conflict, he said that “if Russia wins this war and occupies part of the Ukrainian territory, then we Europeans will have lost and will face a much greater threat.” The Ukrainian government says it will only talk to Russia after pushing its military to where it was before 2014, which would include capturing Crimea. Borrell said Western nations have a “moral imperative” to back Kiev. He said the US and the EU have been in “absolute cooperation” on the issue, and [he says this like it’s a Bad Thing] suggested that this would not have been the case if the conflict started with Donald Trump in power in Washington.

    #113310
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    So it seems at present that back in the day (circa 1770 -1790), those damned anti-federalists were right all along. Pity their names are nearly lost to history. Not so with the federalists though, whose names today are household words virtually synonymous with “Our Democracy !” (the short list of heroic figures collectively known as America’s “Founding Fathers”.) Must be a coincidence that the names of the “Strong Central Government” club got promoted while the names and accolades of their opponents somehow got misplaced. Must also be just a random oddity that none of the headliners (Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, Madison, etc.) were the representatives of any particular colonial State. They weren’t there to represent the formally politically structured population in their civilly organized colony. They were there to represent “the club.” The guys who were actually in the Constitutional Convention as representatives of the actual population of a particular and actual colonial State were all . . . as you might logically well imagine . . . were all quite ANTI-federalist in their opinions.

    These anti-federalists were not very popular with the Strong Central Government club that became the strong central government that we have known ever since that fateful day. They have consequently been swept (by federalists!) into the closet of history. Sort of “canceled”, if you will, and the vast majority of Americans could not name even one of the anti-federalists if you threatened them with a musket.

    It’s true, you know, that the federalist’s Strong Central Government” club were ferociously defensive of their democracy. It’s just that the folks who weren’t in the club did not fully appreciate what the club meant by the word “our” when it said “Our” Democracy. And the anti-club people also didn’t understand what the club meant by the word “democracy” as it might apply to anyone who the club did not consider to be a loyal member of their club. Apparently they meant that anyone who was not in the club was thereby (legally speaking) not a voting member of the club’s democracy at all.

    I’ll just put it in a nutshell. The entire Central Government (i.e. the government itself, as a nested and networked hierarchical structure ) represents and protects the interests ONLY of itself because it sees everyone who opposes that idea to be NOT a legitimate member of the government approved democracy, and is thereby a very very bad rebellious insurgent who should be proactively suppressed, by force . . . . or even deadly force . . . . if necessary.

    Beware the “co-coordinating committee” or other entity placed above the already functioning organizations below it. Such a committee contributes nothing to the actual productivity or function of the organizations it now commands. Command is the only thing it provides. That’s fine when the commands serve common good, but it’s very much NOT so fine when the commands instead serve the coordinating committee. Soon the commands will primarily serve ONLY the committee.

    The danger of ganging up against an opponent or other obstacle is that the gang itself can easily become too strong, and the gang leaders disproportionately stronger still, until none can oppose them. It is nearly impossible prevent it from eventually going unopposably bad which leads to unimaginable suffering by incalculable numbers of people. It sometimes gets so huge and out of hand that it is “saved” only by the loss of capability that comes with the chaos of collapse.

    We certainly don’t want that, but given the choice between collapse versus unchecked continuation of the Western Empire of Lies run amok . . . . I’ll take the collapse and be grateful I got it.

    #113311
    Mr. House
    Participant

    Well we did try to coup Erdogan in the summer of 2016 so i can’t blame him for having a change of heart

    #113312
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    IRS agents

    It doesn’t require an IRS audit to financially disassemble a low-income household. All it takes is a “processing delay.” Households receiving the Earned Income Tax Credit are more likely than many others to be flagged for “random” “data verification.” The IRS does not have enough employees to perform these verifications – which require human eyes – in a timely fashion. The IRS does not have enough employees to handle its call volume. The IRS does not have enough employees to expeditiously process amended returns. The IRS does not have enough case workers in its independent Taxpayer Advocacy Service to handle the caseload. This past spring the IRS stated that the processing time for an amended return was 20 weeks. I spoke with a Taxpayer Advocate Service case worker yesterday and found out that the current processing time for an amended return is 26 weeks, plus add another business day for intervening federal holidays. (Basically: 27 weeks.). And 2-4 weeks to cut and receive a check in the mail.

    Here’s how that works out for me:

    eFiled personal 2021 taxes: Feb 15 2022 (without data from my corporate taxes — I knew the data would not affect the amount of my refund, and I had done this 4 or 5 times in the past with no problem, amending the return later once the data was available.)
    Filed corporate tax extension: March 15 2022
    IRS sent notice regarding “data verification” of personal income taxes: around March 27. Informed to wait 60 days before contacting IRS.
    Filed corporate 2021 taxes: around April 1 (before I received notice from IRS about verification, but after it was sent via mail.)
    eFiled amendment to personal income taxes, incorporating data from corporate return that does not affect refund amount: April 15
    Received form letter from IRS notifying me of 20 weeks to process amended return: mid-May
    Mailed in form 911 requesting Taxpayer Advocacy Service due to verification delay causing economic hardship: approx. May 20. I never received any indication from TAS that form 911 was received and processed.
    Successfully contacted TAS via telephone (couldn’t get through to regular IRS after repeated attempts), accepted into program: July 7. Told to wait up to 4 weeks to hear from my TAS case worker; and to call back in if no contact was received.
    4 weeks passed with no contact from TAS.
    Aug 11: After repeated attempts at getting through to TAS, finally made it into the phone queue. Obtained case worker name and number. Called and left a message for case worker. Amazingly, case worker called me back the same day, reviewed my amended tax return, verified that he could see no errors. He had received my case 2 weeks prior, and not yet reached out to me, thanked me for making contact. He explained the 26 week processing period for amended returns. He explained that, generally, his advocacy could be expected to take about 2 months (i.e. would be a wash.). He explained that since many coming to TAS were experiencing the same issue as me, that he was required to transfer me to a “special” area of TAS that handles “systemic issues” with the IRS, and would no longer be serving as my advocate. No guarantees were made regarding whether this special unit would speed up the process.

    So, I filed Feb 15, and may get access to my refund around mid-November, if everything goes well.

    Just for some perspective…this refund is about 75% of the size of my total income for 2021. Essentially, since April 2022 I’ve been navigating an inflation fueled economy with about 60% of my expected monetary in-flows. I am fortunate — I have a private mortgage with my parents. In October I will be able to pay the property tax rather than the mortgage, and my parents will wait patiently until I get the tax refund and I can catch back up on the mortgage payments. I am not at risk of losing my home over this; I won’t face late fees. (Although I don’t like putting off the mortgage payment to my parents — it is a portion of their own monthly budget, and they will have to penny pinch a bit without it. They used a portion of their retirement savings to extend the mortgage to me, and they need the monthly income from it.)

    I agree that it is ridiculous that new IRS agents be armed with guns.
    It is equally ridiculous to suppose that no additional IRS employees are needed or desired. Or to suppose that all (or a majority) of new IRS employees will be expanding the current level of audits. For anyone familiar with the current situation, the idea is laughable. It is an idea created by political pundits, described at length by people who have no familiarity with the system, being used for political gain by one side or the other.
    The current level of IRS employees is hurting low income people who get caught up in the IRS system. There are not enough current IRS employees to handle the current level of “return processing,” nor “data verifications,” — there probably aren’t enough for the current level of audits, either, although I confess that I do not know, as I haven’t interfaced with that area of the IRS.

    So sure: destroy the IRS! Create a new system! But —PLEASE — get me my 2021 tax refund first?

    #113318
    willem
    Participant

    Helping Ukraine in its fight against Russia comes at a price for Europe, which citizens should be willing to pay, the EU’s foreign policy chief has said.

    It’s pure coincidence that what we’re asking you to give up happens to overlap perfectly with the expressed wishes of Herr Schwab and Co…

    #113319
    John Day
    Participant

    @PhoenixVoice: I have read both of your thoughtful perspective-giving comments about the increase in IRS auditing employees and it has helped give me a more balanced perspective.

    “Must be cool with killing people” does worry me in our current context of elite power struggle and the declining elites hiring guns in so many departments.

    #113320
    kultsommer
    Participant

    It is obvious that Arnold is pretty versed in thinks related to sailing. My genuine tip of the hat is also a confirmation what I was trying to convey in many of my posts.
    As Americans would have said: when one knows shit, one knows shit. There is no ifs and buts.

    #113321
    WES
    Participant

    The article “The Decline of the US Empire – Lessons from the Roman Republic” sounds great except we see no references to the lessons to be learned from the decline of the Roman empire except the word gladiator! Naturally this lack of research disappointed me.

    There are plenty of lessons one could learn if one bothered to read Roman history but that is obviously too much trouble. It is so much easier and simpler to just repeat the same mistakes over and over again!

    #113322
    WES
    Participant

    I think as “Phoenixvoice” says it would be naive to expect the tax authorities to use any of their new 86,000 employees to improve their customer’s service experience! Better to be prepared for these new employees to be used to make your experience even worst than it is now.

    You can be 100% sure they will only hire the politically correct vaccinated. Their low IQ will greatly increase the harm caused to everyday folks.

    #113323
    zerosum
    Participant

    It’s not working
    https://voila.app/en/blog/top-10-work-motivators-for-employees-in-2022/
    Top 10 Work Motivators for Employees in 2022

    Why would Work Ethics survive
    https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/work-ethic-skills

    The system is still crashing

    #113324
    WES
    Participant

    So right on schedule, Trump is charged with espionage and obstruction of justice, two charges which are so wide and vague Trump will never be able to defend himself from in a corrupt kangaroo court.

    The DoJ and FBI will now drag their feet about charging Trump until they prevent him from running in 2024 as planned by the J6 committee.

    Everything is going as planned by the deep state. RINO Republicans are ecstatic at this turn of events. They can now ban Trump from running as a Republican. Private club with private rules and you are not in it!

    #113325
    Figmund Sreud
    Participant

    V. Arnold – sailing to windward on a Lee shore. No problem for a skilled sailor…
    ____________________________

    … er, no skilled, self respecting sailor would ever attempt to sail as depicted in this “Hopper”.

    RIM – They all have the same sunny careless feel about them.
    _____________________________

    … yes, lack of realism, … lack of understanding art of actual process of sailing by the artist. Surrealism, perhaps? Popular in at that period, …

    F.S.

    #113326
    zerosum
    Participant

    @ WES
    The war in Ukraine must be going bad.
    And the J6 committee must have run out of accusations.
    You forgot to tell us that he is accused of spying for Russia,Russia,Russia.

    #113327
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    ‘But that next 40 years of oil is right there, already drilled and piped, metered and waiting.’

    Please provide evidence, because it is not helpful to promote delusional fantasies like that one.

    I do not see a single analysis that indicates anything other than a rapid decline in the availability of oil from now on that is a direct consequence of geology and falling energy return on energy invested. Political turmoil (pardon the pun) will exacerbate the decline.

    https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=peak+oil+theory&qpvt=peak+oil+theory&tsc=ImageHoverTitle&form=IGRE&first=1

    And if multi-billions of tonnes of oil were available, all that would do is keep the death machine of ‘civilisation’ going a bit longer, thereby completely destroying the habitability of the Earth.

    The oil-based ‘civilisation’ may have already done that -destroyed the habitability of the Earth; it’s just that the general populace isn’t aware of it yet.

    There is a substantial time lag between CO2 and CH4 being emitted into the atmosphere and the full consequences of those emissions manifesting as temperature rises in places where humans live and grow food, largely due to the thermal mass of the oceans and the latent heat of phase change, ice to water.

    Note that the ice that sits on the Artic Sea is the thinnest it has ever been, and when the last of it melts the ‘blue ocean event’ will put overheating into ‘hyperdrive’. That is why many of the best climate researchers (not the bought-and-paid-for liars that churn out garbage for governments) say it will be ‘all over’ by 2030.

    #113328
    those darned kids
    Participant

    #113329
    oldandtired
    Participant

    @phoenixvoice

    “ eFiled personal 2021 taxes: Feb 15 2022 (without data from my corporate taxes — I knew the data would not affect the amount of my refund, and I had done this 4 or 5 times in the past with no problem, amending the return later once the data was available.)”

    I don’t understand this? Why are you over withholding? You need only send in your quarterlies so that they equal last years tax liability to be technically protected.

    #113330
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    As reported on the Military Summary channel, the Russians made great advances early in the SMO and moved too far westwards in southern Ukraine, then withdrew to the east of the river to establish a defendable line. The nuclear power station is on the east bank.

    Initially, the Russians allowed electricity from the nuclear plant to flow westwards to Ukraine, where the Ukrainians sold the electricity to to other nations (EU/NATO).

    The Russians then built infrastructure to utilise the electricity in Crimea and other Russian-liberated regions.

    There is talk of an uninhabitable zone (similar to that around Chernobyl) being created by an attack on spent fuel facilities, maybe even the cooling system of the main reactor.

    There are three other nuclear power stations in Ukraine. And there is talk of ‘bad things’ happening to them if the Ukrainians persist with their attacks on Enerhodar.

    Meanwhile, the Russians continue to take ground along the eastern portion of the front line, and the Ukrainians talk of evacuating all civilians from the entire eastern region.

    #113331
    aspnaz
    Participant

    We have repeatedly warned our Western colleagues that, should they fail to talk sense into the Kiev regime, it would take the most heinous and reckless steps, which would have consequences far beyond Ukraine

    Does this imply that Russia will go after Kiev’s owners? That I would like to see.

    #113332
    aspnaz
    Participant

    Dr D said

    “Hypocrisy,” I hope you now see, is simply a display of power, so the more blatant it is the better. Hypocrisy is a concrete demonstration of living without having to fear consequences. And Class A loves it when Class B notices this and whines about it, because complaining about hypocrisy is just another way of saying … “I’m the loser.”

    The only way that class B can become the winner is for class B to revert to its inherent gifts from nature, the first of which is the gift of violence. Violence is power – nature’s gift of power – which is why class A spreads the word that violence is bad, owning guns is bad, while at the same time they fund, arm and train soldiers to fight in Ukraine. Hypocrisy again, a further display of their power over us, but in this case their hypocrisy highlights the fact that their power depends on them usurping our gift of violence, provided by nature to each and every trainee soldier. Why do these soldiers use that gift for the rich yet will not use nature’s gift for themselves? Is money really that important when you can use your own power?

    #113333
    Redneck
    Participant

    “They WANT you to know. They WANT it to be outside rule of law. That’s POWER. And the purpose of power is power. As Orwell said.”
    Exactly , headlines declaring ” FBI SCREWD UP ” etc. are rubbish. This is and was a demonstration of who it is that realy holds and wields the power in America. The more the people are outraged and disgusted the more the successful the raid , presidents are powerless , look at Trump , under siege for his entire first term and cheated out of his second , now humiliated in his own home. …..six ways from Sunday.
    “er, no skilled, self respecting sailor would ever attempt to sail as depicted in this “Hopper””
    I disagree , sailing parallel to a lee shore is fine if you have the depth of water required , the weather is fine , there is no gale , the sail boat proceeding has successfully negotiated the shoreline and is now tacking away , no problem.
    :I do not see a single analysis that indicates anything other than a rapid decline in the availability of oil from now on that is a direct consequence of geology and falling energy return on energy invested. Political turmoil (pardon the pun) will exacerbate the decline.”
    I had a mate who worked in oil exploration for most of his adult life. His opinion was that there was ” plenty” of oil in the ground but the cost of extraction would result in very high prices at the pump. Folk are screaming about the present prices , how will our economies function when oil is ten fold more expensive? It is a finite resource.There are another three billion people waiting in line to become automobile owners and drivers. As for climate change , be it fact or not the move to battery power and renewables will never be economically viable for the ninety percent , especially where the automobile is concerned. We have had our cheap energy rush and there is no technological development in sight that will take energy prices back down , expect steep increases especially in the West. Stand alone or grid connected solar and wind will work for now for the home but the three electric cars in the garage is not going to happen in the future , there are just not enough of the required resources on the planet to allow for it to be cheap enough for the masses.
    There are some good guys out there.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iD-D78Rhqnw

    ____________________________

    #113334
    Redneck
    Participant

    Regarding the IRS thingy , I have never known a government service to improve , beaurocrats love to expand their empires , they don’t do it to create a better service in my experience.

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