Nov 182022
 
 November 18, 2022  Posted by at 9:20 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,


Paul Gauguin Palm trees on Martinique 1887

 

Zelensky Declares Ukraine Corruption-Free (RT)
Ukraine Openly Lied To NATO Over Missile Strike, Diplomat Tells FT (RT)
Zelensky ‘Commanding The US To Lead WWIII’ – Tucker Carlson (RT)
Evidence Suggests Ukrainian Missile Struck Poland – Top Security Official (RT)
Zelensky Backtracks On Missile Claims (RT)
Zelensky Confirms Signals From West On Peace Talks (RT)
Zelensky Cracks Down On Popular News Outlet, Bans CNN, Sky (RT)
Dutch Court Blames Russia for Missile That Struck MH17 (ET)
Enron Liquidator Overseeing FTX Bankruptcy: Never Seen Anything Like This (ZH)
White House Slams GOP For Probing Hunter Biden ‘Conspiracy Theories’
Italian Power Prices More Than Triple – Data (RT)
Elon Musk Eyes Potential Tesla CEO Successor (Axios)
Clinton-Linked Dark Money Group Targets Twitter Advertisers (Turley)
Twitter On Lock Out After Mass Resignation Exodus; Operations At Risk (ZH)

 

 

 

 

Dave

 

 

 

 

Devine

 

 

Monty Python
https://twitter.com/i/status/1593092267619020801

 

 

Mr. Wonderful has most to fear.

 

 


The U.S. says Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s official standing as the sitting head of a foreign government should give him immunity in the lawsuit filed by the fiancée of slain Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi

 

 

Edward Dowd

 

 

“If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace.”
– Thomas Paine

 

 

 

 

Ha ha, said the clown.

Zelensky Declares Ukraine Corruption-Free (RT)

Corruption has been eradicated from Ukraine and all Russian influences have left or been chased out, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky told a global audience at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum on Thursday. “No one will be able to forgive corruption in the future Ukraine,” he said, explaining that all the corrupt officials had fled the country in the months following the launch of Russia’s military operation. The remaining officials would not be tempted to “interfere in business operations” because all government services had gone electronic, he added. Zelensky promised there would be “no influence of Russian capital in Ukraine” going forward, explaining that any business interests not “united” behind his government had either “left our enterprises, or we pushed them out” – including the many political parties and media outlets his government has banned, such as the Party of Regions of predecessor Viktor Yanukovych.

The Ukrainian leader revealed he had just met with the vice president of the World Bank in order to “start a ‘pilot’ with them regarding investment insurance in Ukraine” and sought to allay potential concerns about corruption in his country. Investments – particularly by the mining and processing industries – would be safe, he insisted, praising the “independence of the economy, finances, and transparency of investments.” Western media outlets like The Guardian ranked Ukraine at or near the top on lists of the most corrupt nations in the world prior to the start of Russia’s military initiative in the country in February. Last year, Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index ranked it the second-most corrupt in Europe.

Even Zelensky, in his inauguration speech, joked that 28 years of Ukrainian politicians had created a country of opportunities – “opportunities to steal, bribe and loot.” However, many of those voices have since gone quiet for fear of being seen as perpetuating a pro-Russian narrative. In June, the heads of the European Council and European Commission informed members of Zelensky’s government that they would have to “do their homework” to join the EU, tasking them with implementing judicial reforms, “de-oligarchizing” the economy, and fighting corruption successfully. The Council of Europe last month promised to help Kiev along by finding experts to advise it on constitutional reforms and electoral law to help the process along.

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“..such statements could only be seen as an attempt to trigger a direct clash between Russia and NATO..”

Ukraine Openly Lied To NATO Over Missile Strike, Diplomat Tells FT (RT)

Kiev has been accused of “openly lying” about the recent missile that hit Poland killing two civilians, the Financial Times reports citing an unnamed diplomat from a NATO country. Ukraine rushed to pin the blame on Moscow, while the Russian Ministry of Defense stated that footage from the site showed “elements of a missile from an S-300 air defense system used by the Air Force of Ukraine.” “This is getting ridiculous,” the official told the outlet on Wednesday. “The Ukrainians are destroying our confidence in them. Nobody is blaming Ukraine and they are openly lying. This is more destructive than the missile,” he said. The comments come in response to President Vladimir Zelensky claiming that Ukraine had nothing to do with the missile that struck Przewodow, Poland, on Tuesday, insisting that it was Russia that launched the weapon.

Zelensky has insisted that Ukrainian investigators be given access to the crash site, stating that if it turns out that it was indeed a Ukrainian rocket then Kiev would have to apologize. “But, sorry, first I want an investigation, access, the data you have – we want to have this,” Zelensky said, addressing his Western partners. NATO, the US and Poland have stated that there is no evidence to suggest Russia’s direct involvement in the incident. Polish President Andrzej Duda has indicated that the projectile was likely a Ukrainian air defense missile – an opinion that was seconded by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and US Defense secretary Lloyd Austin.

Moscow, meanwhile, has condemned efforts to paint it as the perpetrator, saying such statements could only be seen as an attempt to trigger a direct clash between Russia and NATO. After several media outlets as well as Ukrainian and Polish officials initially blamed Russia for the attack, Moscow’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Vassily Nebenzia, stated that if it had not been for the evidence in the form of photos from the scene, “all facts would have been concealed from the public, and Russia would have been proclaimed the guilty side.” Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov has also stated that the initial claims made by Kiev and other Western officials were “yet another hysterical, rabidly Russophobic reaction that was not based on any real information.”

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“Zelensky’s refusal to admit that a Ukrainian missile caused a fatal explosion in Poland makes him “not worth supporting..”

“It’s a lie that could get millions of Americans killed. So you have to ask yourself, is it time to stop backing this guy? Could the risk be too high? He’s lying on purpose to get us into a war?”

Zelensky ‘Commanding The US To Lead WWIII’ – Tucker Carlson (RT)

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky could be “lying on purpose to get us into a war,” Fox News host Tucker Carlson declared on Wednesday night. Zelensky’s refusal to admit that a Ukrainian missile caused a fatal explosion in Poland makes him “not worth supporting,” Carlson suggested. Zelensky “was commanding the US to lead the Third World War immediately” after the blast, Carlson told his viewers. “The only problem is that it was completely and utterly wrong.” The Ukrainian leader described the explosion, which killed two people, as a Russian attack on NATO territory and called on the West to put Russia “in its place” in response. Anonymous US intelligence officials seconded his claims in statements to the press.

Moscow argued that debris at the blast site showed that it was caused by a missile from the S-300 air defense system, a piece of Soviet-era kit fielded by Ukraine. Within hours, the leadership of the US, NATO, and Poland had all publicly stated that the explosion was caused by a Ukrainian anti-air missile. Zelensky doubled down. “I have no doubt that this is not our missile,” he said in a video address. “I believe that it was a Russian missile, based on our military reports.” “That’s not only untrue,” Carlson said. “It’s a lie that could get millions of Americans killed. So you have to ask yourself, is it time to stop backing this guy? Could the risk be too high? He’s lying on purpose to get us into a war?”

“Maybe he’s not worth supporting in the first place. Maybe he’s just another corrupt Eastern European strongman in a tracksuit, getting as rich as he can on American handouts.” Carlson has been a long-time critic of the US’ support for Zelensky, arguing that Ukraine is not democratic, and that intervening in its conflict with Russia is not in the US’ national security interest. Zelensky has since walked back his claims, saying on Thursday that Kiev doesn’t “know for 100%” what happened.

Tucker Zel

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“It is “normal” for its president to stick to “hypotheses that seem obvious from the national defense point of view” under such circumstances..”

Evidence Suggests Ukrainian Missile Struck Poland – Top Security Official (RT)

Evidence gathered by Poland, the US, and NATO suggests that it was a Ukrainian missile that killed two people on Polish territory not far from Ukraine’s border this week, the head of the country’s National Security Bureau (BBN), Jacek Siewiera, told the local RMF FM radio broadcaster on Thursday. Earlier, Polish President Andrzej Duda said that the missile was likely a Ukrainian one. Washington, meanwhile, admitted it had no evidence that would contradict Duda’s assessment, while Kiev rushed to blame the incident on Moscow. “All the evidence that has been collected on the NATO, American and our sides indicates that we are dealing with an S-300 missile launched by the Ukrainian anti-aircraft defense,” Siewiera said on Thursday, without offering details on the information gathered by investigators.

According to the BBN chief, the Polish Prosecutor’s Office is now leading the probe into the incident. Warsaw would not object to Ukrainian “observers” joining the investigation, Siewiera said, adding that the Polish president in particular “sees no obstacles” for this if all legal requirements are met. He also justified Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s stance on the issue by reasoning that Ukraine is now going through the “hardest period” of its conflict with Russia when it comes to air strikes. It is “normal” for its president to stick to “hypotheses that seem obvious from the national defense point of view” under such circumstances, the BBN head argued.

Zelensky insisted the missile was Russian and backtracked on this claim only after it was disputed by US President Joe Biden. Later, Zelensky maintained that no one can know for sure whose missile killed the two Poles. On Tuesday, Russia said it did not strike any targets closer than 35 kilometers (21.7 miles) from the border with Poland.

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“The US government always has somebody to ‘hold responsible’ on political grounds.”

Zelensky Backtracks On Missile Claims (RT)

President Vladimir Zelensky has toned down his claims that a Russian missile was responsible for the deaths of two people in a Polish village near the border with Ukraine. “I don’t know what happened this time. We do not know for a 100%,” Zelensky conceded on Thursday. He was responding to a question about the incident during a panel discussion at the Bloomberg New Economy forum in Singapore, which he attended via videolink. “But I am sure that there was a Russian missile and I am sure we were launching air defense missiles,” he added. The incident happened on Thursday evening, as Russia was hitting targets in Ukraine with a barrage of missiles. Zelensky declared that the projectile was Russian and that its landing on Polish territory was an attack on NATO’s collective security, urging retaliation.

Warsaw has since announced that the weapon was most likely a Ukrainian air defense missile that went astray, but Zelensky’s initial reaction was to point the finger at Moscow. The Russian military said it didn’t attack any site near the location of the village and that images of the crash site, which were published by Polish media, clearly identified the projectile as a Ukrainian air defense missile. Zelensky claimed during the Bloomberg panel that the Ukrainian military had told him that the images were not consistent with that kind of weapon. He claimed that nobody could say with full certainty what the origin of the missile was until a full investigation had been carried out.

He also thanked Ukraine’s foreign backers, who put the blame for the deaths in Poland on Russia, regardless of who fired the weapon. NATO and some of its members, including the US, stated that Moscow was responsible because it had launched missiles at Ukraine in the first place. Maria Zakharova, the spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, said that Washington’s attitude may give a hint to US citizens about the veracity of American investigations in general. “The US government doesn’t care about getting the results in an investigation,” she said. “The US government always has somebody to ‘hold responsible’ on political grounds.”

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“The statement follows talks between the head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), Sergey Naryshkin, and CIA Director William Burns, which took place in Türkiye earlier this week.”

Zelensky Confirms Signals From West On Peace Talks (RT)

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has acknowledged that Kiev’s foreign backers have been speaking to him about the possibility of peace talks with Moscow. “I had received signals from state leaders, who said: ‘We think [Russian President Vladimir] Putin wants direct negotiations.’ And I said: ‘We will offer a public format [for the talks] because Russia is waging a public war against Ukraine,’” Zelensky told journalists on Wednesday. “I’m ready to recommend such a format. I’ll discuss with my colleagues how to do it,” he said, adding that he does not want to have any “backstage contact”with Russia. Recent reports indicate that Washington has been privately pushing Kiev to drop its uncompromising rejection of the peace process with Moscow.

Last week, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, suggested that a Ukrainian military victory might be unachievable and that winter could provide an opportunity to begin talks with Russia. Zelensky also said he does not believe that the US, which has been among Kiev’s main backers amid the conflict with Moscow, was discussing ways to end the fighting behind Ukraine’s back. “We have an agreement that they – the US – don’t discuss Ukraine without us… Is it really the case? We trust our partners,” he said. The statement follows talks between the head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), Sergey Naryshkin, and CIA Director William Burns, which took place in Türkiye earlier this week. Both the Kremlin and the White House confirmed the meeting, with the US side saying that it was aimed at keeping channels of communication open, and that a Ukrainian settlement was not on the agenda.

Zelensky has been sending mixed messages about the possibility of peace talks with Moscow throughout the conflict, even signing a decree in October that officially made it impossible for him to negotiate with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. In a video address to the G20 on Tuesday, the Ukrainian leader said he was “convinced now is the time when the Russian destructive war must and can be stopped.” Conflict between Moscow and Kiev should conclude “fairly” and on the basis of the UN Charter, Zelensky insisted, stressing that Ukraine “shouldn’t be offered compromises with its sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence” in exchange for peace. He also claimed that Moscow should not be trusted, warning that Russia could use the cessation of hostilities “to grow its forces and launch a new series of terror and global destabilization.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reacted to the speech by saying that Russia is ready for talks, unlike Ukraine, which puts forward “invariably unrealistic and inadequate” terms for dialogue. According to Lavrov, Zelensky’s address was full of “militant, Russophobic and aggressive rhetoric.” Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov also said that the speech by the Ukrainian leader “absolutely confirms”the unwillingness of Kiev to look for a settlement of the conflict through negotiations.

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Banning all political parties and media that don’t toe the line. Let’s give him another $100 billion. Give him another 50 for banning CNN.

Zelensky Cracks Down On Popular News Outlet, Bans CNN, Sky (RT)

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky says he has granted a petition demanding that the government take action against popular opposition news website Starana.ua. The petition, which calls on the authorities to ensure the outlet is completely blocked, was submitted to the president’s website in late September, and has so far garnered more than 25,500 signatures. On Thursday, Zelensky announced that he had considered the petition and ordered the head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, Aleksey Danilov, to “address the issues raised in it, take necessary measures in response and inform the author of the results.”

Commenting on the petition, Zelensky accused Russia of using various forms of hybrid warfare against Ukraine, and said “the issues of protecting the domestic information space require constant attention and urgent response.” The author of the petition called Starana.ua “a pro-Russian” media outlet, which continues to “manipulate the opinions of Ukrainian viewers” despite being banned in the country. The website, which was among the most viewed online publications in Ukraine last year, was officially blocked by Zelensky’s government in August 2021, with more restrictions added this February, just over a week before the launch of Moscow’s military operation in the country. At that time, the journalists claimed that they had been persecuted due to their “alternative view” on the conflict in Donbass and Zelensky’s personal animosity towards them.

However, Starana.ua continued to remain accessible in Ukraine through several mirror sites. The outlet also began to actively develop its YouTube channel, which now has more than 600,000 subscribers. Foreign journalists have also faced obstacles working in Ukraine. On Monday, Kiev removed accreditation from a group of media workers, including those from CNN and Sky News, accusing them of reporting from the recently-retaken city of Kherson without the necessary authorization from the Ukrainian military.

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Said it before: The Dutch are the last party that should have investigated. The main victim does not get to conduct this.

Dutch Court Blames Russia for Missile That Struck MH17 (ET)

A court in the Netherlands determined what country manufactured the missile that struck down a Malaysia Airlines flight in 2014 over eastern Ukraine, killing 298 people. “The court is of the opinion that MH17 (Flight 17) was brought down by the firing of a BUK missile from a farm field near Pervomaisk, killing all 283 passengers and 15 crew members,” presiding judge Hendrik Steenhuis said, according to Reuters news agency. That flight is different than Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which disappeared in 2014 while flying from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing. The location of Flight 370, which disappeared about four months before Flight 17 was shot down, has still never been determined.


The statement was issued in the trial of several Russians and a separatist Ukrainian who were found guilty in absentia of the mass murder for their alleged involvement in shooting down Flight 17 over eastern Ukraine. Russians Igor Girkin, Sergey Dubinskiy, and Oleg Pulatov and Ukrainian separatist Leonid Kharchenko were on trial at the Schiphol Judicial Complex in Badhoevedorp, Netherlands, according to reports. Pulatov was acquitted while the three others were found guilty. None of the defendants appeared for the trial that began in March 2020, and if they’re convicted, it’s unlikely they’ll serve any sentence anytime soon. Prosecutors had sought life sentences for all four. Prosecutors and the suspects have two weeks to file an appeal.

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Did they even have an accountant?

Enron Liquidator Overseeing FTX Bankruptcy: Never Seen Anything Like This (ZH)

[..] FTX’s new CEO and liquidator, John Ray III, who also oversaw the unwinding and liquidation of Enron, admits that “Never in my career have I seen such a complete failure of corporate controls and such a complete absence of trustworthy financial information as occurred here.” And just in case his shock at FTX’s fraud of epic proportions was not quite clear enough, he adds that “from compromised systems integrity and faulty regulatory oversight abroad, to the concentration of control in the hands of a very small group of inexperienced, unsophisticated and potentially compromised individuals, this situation is unprecedented.”

According to Ray, he has located “only a fraction” of the digital assets of the FTX Group that they hope recover during the Chapter 11 bankruptcy. They’ve so far secured about $740 million of cryptocurrency in offline cold wallets, a storage method designed to prevent hacks. This is just a fraction of the $10-$50 billion in liabilities the company disclosed in its bankruptcy filing. How do we know it’s a fraud: as Ray writes on page 24, although the investigation has only begun and must run its course, it is my view based on the information obtained to date, “that many of the employees of the FTX Group, including some of its senior executives, were not aware of the shortfalls or potential commingling of digital assets.” Many maybe not, but some – and certainly SBF himself – did.

It gets better: Ray said that company’s audited financial statements should not be trusted, Ray said, adding that liquidators are working to rebuild balance sheets for FTX entities from the bottom up. FTX “did not maintain centralized control of its cash” and failed to keep an accurate list of bank accounts and account signatories, or pay sufficient attention to the creditworthiness of banking partners, according to Ray. Advisers don’t yet know how much cash FTX Group had when it filed for bankruptcy, but has found about $560 million attributable to various FTX entities so far.

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Not probing Huter has been politically motivated from the get go.

White House Slams GOP For Probing Hunter Biden ‘Conspiracy Theories’ (RT)

The White House has dismissed Republican efforts to investigate President Joe Biden and his son’s overseas business ties, rejecting allegations that the commander in chief is under the sway of “foreign dollars” as a baseless conspiracy theory.In a statement to the New York Post on Thursday, a spokesman for the White House counsel’s office, Ian Sams, said House Republicans are “wasting time and resources on political revenge” after several lawmakers pledged to open a probe into the Biden family, namely the president’s son Hunter. “Instead of working with President Biden to address issues important to the American people, like lower costs, congressional Republicans’ top priority is to go after President Biden with politically motivated attacks chock full of long-debunked conspiracy theories,” the spokesman said.

Earlier on Thursday, GOP Reps. James Comer and Jim Jordan announced that an investigation into the president would be a priority during the next round of Congress, saying their probe would center whether Biden has been “directly involved with Hunter Biden’s business deals” and if he is in any way “compromised.” The pair of lawmakers alleged the Bidens “were involved in a scheme to try to get China to buy liquefied natural gas,” and said they would attempt to determine if the president was ever “swayed by foreign dollars or influence.” With Republicans taking back a majority in the House after last week’s midterm elections, Comer and Jordan are set to head up the House Judiciary and Oversight committees, respectively, putting them in better positions to spearhead congressional inquiries.

Hunter Biden’s foreign business ties have been questioned by Republicans since an October 2020 New York Post report which published the contents of one of his laptops. Emails and other communications found on the computer indicate the younger Biden used his father’s political influence for personal gain, and raised other questions about whether Joe Biden was involved in any of his son’s dealings. Until the midterms, however, Democrats held majorities in both houses of Congress in addition to the White House, leaving GOP critics unable to press forward with long-sought investigations.

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This will topple governments.

Italian Power Prices More Than Triple – Data (RT)

Electricity prices in Italy set an all-time record in October, the country’s oldest consumer association Unc reported on Thursday. Prices for electricity, which is being sold in the Apennines on the free market, have surged 329% since October last year, and topped the Unc rating of the most expensive goods and services. International flights followed power tariffs, with an annual increase in costs equaling 113%. Gas was next in the ranking, with prices surging more than 96% compared to last year. The Unc report comes on the heels of the latest data released by Italy’s official statistics agency ISTAT, which showed that the domestic price index soared 11.8% in October from a year earlier, the highest since March 1984. Annual consumer price growth led by soaring energy costs hit 12.6% in October, jumping from 9.4% in the previous month.


Basic food items have also seen dramatic inflation in Italy, with the prices of various vegetable oils, excluding olive oil, soaring by 55% year-on-year. Butter grew by 43%, followed by sugar, which picked up 17% from September and rose by 38.8% on an annual basis. The sharp increase is expected to make the average annual food bill rise by €761 ($787), at a time when cash-strapped families are already trying to cope with soaring energy bills. For families with one child, this figure will increase to €937 ($969), for those with two children – up to €1038 ($1073), with three – up to €1240 ($1282), Unc president Massimiliano Donna has said.

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Looking for Twitter CEO. Jack is not available.

Elon Musk Identifies Potential Tesla CEO Successor (Axios)

Elon Musk has recently identified someone as his potential successor to lead Tesla as CEO, according to James Murdoch, one of the company’s directors. Tesla investors have grown increasingly worried about Musk’s divided focus since he initiated steps to buy Twitter earlier this year. As the Twitter saga progressed, Tesla faced its own set of issues — including supply chain challenges in China and the erosion of profits from inflation. Murdoch made the comment while testifying in Musk’s pay package trial on Wednesday. In response to a question from a plaintiff’s lawyer suggesting Musk has never picked anyone as a potential successor, Murdoch responded that Musk “actually has” and has in the “last few months,” but didn’t get into specifics, Reuters reports.


Musk, who also testified Wednesday to defend himself against the lawsuit challenging his large compensation package, has often talked about how much he “hates doing management stuff” and how he doesn’t want to “be the boss of anything.” “I tried not to be CEO of Tesla, but I had to or it would die. I rather hate being a boss. I’m an engineer,” he said last year while testifying about Tesla’s SolarCity acquisition. On the stand this morning, Musk said the CEO title is not an apt description of what he does at his companies. In addition to Tesla, Musk currently leads in one way or another, four other businesses — The Boring Company, SpaceX, Twitter and Neuralink. Musk has served as Tesla’s CEO since October 2008. The pay package he accepted in 2018 stipulates that he stay on as CEO, or chief product officer and executive chairman with a CEO reporting to him, for at least a decade.

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“The letter insists that free speech will only invite “disinformation, hate, and harassment“

Clinton-Linked Dark Money Group Targets Twitter Advertisers (Turley)

In the shift of the left against free speech principles, there is no figure more actively or openly pushing for censorship than Hillary Clinton. Now, reports indicate that Clinton has unleashed her allies in the corporate world to coerce Musk to restore censorship policies or face bankruptcy. The effort of the Clinton-linked “Accountable Tech” reveals the level of panic in Democratic circles that free speech could be restored on one social media platform. The group was open about how losing control over Twitter could result in a loss of control over social media generally. For Clinton, it is an “all-hands on deck” call for censorship. She previously called upon foreign governments to crackdown on the free speech of Americans on Twitter.

We have been discussing how Clinton and others have called on foreign companies to pass censorship laws to prevent Elon Musk from restoring free speech protections on Twitter. It seems that, after years of using censorship-by-surrogates in social media companies, Democratic leaders seem to have rediscovered good old-fashioned state censorship. Accountable Tech led an effort to send a letter to top Twitter advertisers to force Musk to accept “non-negotiable” requirements for censorship. General Motors was one of the first to pull its advertising funds to stop free speech restoration on the site. Of course, the company had no problem with supporting Twitter when it was running one of the largest censorship systems in history — or supporting TikTok (which is Chinese owned and has been denounced for state control and access to data).

Twitter has been denounced for years for its bias against conservative and dissenting voices, including presumably many GM customers on the right. None of that was a concern for GM but the pledge to restore free speech to Twitter warrants a suspension. The letter is open about the potential cascading effect if free speech is restored on one platform: “While the company is hardly a poster-child for healthy social media, it has taken welcome steps in recent years to mitigate systemic risks, ratcheting up pressure on the likes of Facebook and YouTube to follow suit.” The letter insists that free speech will only invite “disinformation, hate, and harassment” and that “[u]nder the guise of ‘free speech,’ [Musk’s] vision will silence and endanger marginalized communities, and tear at the fraying fabric of democracy.”

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Lockdown till Monday. Might make sense.

Twitter On Lock Out After Mass Resignation Exodus; Operations At Risk (ZH)

Hundreds of Twitter’s remaining employees have reportedly resigned ahead of Elon Musk’s “extremely hardcore” cultural reset of the company. After Musk gave an ultimatum to his employees to either commit to the company’s new “hardcore” work environment or leave, many more workers declined to sign on than he expected, potentially putting Twitter’s operations at risk, according to Bloomberg sources, as well as internal Slack messages seen by The Verge and employee tweets. On Thursday afternoon, so many employees decided to take severance that it created a cloud of confusion over which people should still have access to company property.

According to a memo seen by Bloomberg and reports from Platformer’s Zoe Schiffer, Twitter closed its offices until Monday; urging employees to “please continue to comply with company policy by refraining from discussing confidential information on social media, with the press or elsewhere.” According to Bloomberg, in the final hours before his deadline, Musk tried to convince people to stay. Key staff were brought into meetings as the Thursday evening deadline neared to hear pitches on the social network’s future, according to people familiar with the matter. Musk, who had earlier said he was strictly against remote work, also sent a follow-up email Thursday softening his tone. “All that is required for approval is that your manager takes responsibility for ensuring that you are making an excellent contribution,” he wrote, adding that staffers should have in-person meetings with their colleagues not less than once per month.

Despite the ultimatum, no Twitter employees have been deactivated — even those who’ve publicly resigned, the Platformer also reported, adding that “Musk and his team only collected the list of “yes’s” — employees who said they want to be part of Twitter 2.0. They’re still trying to track who is out.” Elon’s attempt to ease the terms of the ultimatum wasn’t enough, and Twitter’s internal communications channels filled with employees offering a salute emoji, which has become a symbol for departing the company. Former staff tweeted the salute publicly, too, along with their internal Slack messages. Some employees who were departing speculated that so many were leaving, along with their knowledge of how the product works, that the social network may have trouble fixing problems or updating systems during its normal operations, according to people familiar with the matter.

Read more …

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dog bear
https://twitter.com/i/status/1593051028165111809

 

 

Tiger babies
https://twitter.com/i/status/1593304803047837708

 

 

 

 

Illusion
https://twitter.com/i/status/1592933014790471680

 

 

 

 

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Home Forums Debt Rattle November 18 2022

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 77 total)
  • Author
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  • #121278

    Paul Gauguin Palm trees on Martinique 1887   • Zelensky Declares Ukraine Corruption-Free (RT) • Ukraine Openly Lied To NATO Over Missile Strike,
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle November 18 2022]

    #121279
    Redneck
    Participant

    I could not help myself ,
    Padmahsambava , also known as Guru Ripoche wrote this text , it is one part of The Tibetan Book of the Dead.
    This verse comes as close as you can get in words, to delineating self recognition , and how to facilitate it.
    You will see in this verse very similar statements as we saw in Gabriel and the third patriarch’s text , The Faith Mind.The instruction is to cease conceptualising and be aware nakedly and no you don’t have to take your clothes off. It is not meant to be read and thought about , it is an instruction to ACT ON.

    ” Now, when you are introduced (to your own intrinsic awareness), the method for entering into it involves three considerations:
    Thoughts in the past are clear and empty and leave no traces behind.
    Thoughts in the future are fresh and unconditioned by anything.
    And in the present moment, when (your mind) remains in its own condition without constructing anything,
    awareness, at that moment, in itself is quite ordinary.
    And when you look into yourself in this way nakedly (without any discursive thoughts),
    Since there is only this pure observing, there will be found a lucid clarity without anyone being there who is the observer;
    only a naked manifest awareness is present.
    (This awareness) is empty and immaculately pure, not being created by anything whatsoever.
    It is authentic and unadulterated, without any duality of clarity and emptiness.
    It is not permanent and yet it is not created by anything.
    However, it is not a mere nothingness or something annihilated because it is lucid and present.
    It does not exist as a single entity because it is present and clear in terms of being many.
    (On the other hand) it is not created as a multiplicity of things because it is inseparable and of a single flavor.
    This inherent self-awareness does not derive from anything outside itself.
    This is the real introduction to the actual condition of things.

    #121280
    Red
    Participant

    Apologies if this has already been posted.

    1,514,918 views Premiered Nov 5, 2022
    Journalist Whitney Webb has worked to uncover some of the most dangerous stories of our lifetime, and she joins Glenn to reveal just how eye-opening it’s been. Her new two-volume book, “One Nation Under Blackmail: The Sordid Union Between Intelligence and Crime that Gave Rise to Jeffrey Epstein,” examines Epstein’s elaborate network of corruption and power, from Bill Clinton to Ghislaine Maxwell and many more. Her research into transhumanism has given her a terrifying perspective on the World Economic Forum and tech elites, including Elon Musk. And she tells Glenn the dark truth about Biden’s push for electric vehicles that she noticed while living in Chile.

    #121281
    anticlimactic
    Participant

    MH17

    Within minutes of the aircraft being hit Ukraine claimed it was brought down by the rebels

    The rebels did have a captured BUK missile launcher, but did not have the radar and missile control units so it would have been impossible for them to down the aircraft.

    The US can detect any missile launch from the Earth’s surface and found no evidence [at the time] of a missile launch in Ukraine.

    A BUK missile would leave an exhaust visible for 60 miles and no one noticed any such trail.

    Just before the incident a Spanish air traffic controller working in Kiev tweeted that they were going to ‘bring down a plane’. He ‘disappeared’.

    MH17 normally flew over southern Ukraine but on THAT day it was directed over the war zone.

    The tape with the conversation between Kiev ATC and MH17 was seized.

    The UK recovered the voice data from the black box but never released it.

    After looking at a large chunk of aircraft debris an OSCE observer said it was full of bullet holes.

    The crash investigation was carried out in the US when it should have been done by Malaysia.

    The most fundamental question is what would the rebels gain by bringing down a passenger aircraft? Ask any normal person and the answer would be ‘nothing’. There is absolutely no reason to do it.

    The ONLY people who could possibly gain are the Ukraine authorities as a false flag propaganda exercise.

    The most plausible explanation of what happened is that a Ukrainian fighter fired an air-to-air missile, which failed to bring down the aircraft, and it was finished off using cannon fire.

    I used to think of Holland as a civiised country but this shows they are as scummy as the rest. They serve a huge injustice to all those Dutch who died.

    #121282
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    Once the production of very large sheets of uniform glass and the coating with mercury or silver was perfected it became possible to produce mirrors all kinds of illusions on stages (some done with sheets of glass and others with mirrors) that created ‘impossible’ situations or spectacular ‘events’. Smoke, or later on solid carbon dioxide, added to enhance the dramatic effect.

    The controllers soon cottoned on to the concepts of stage theatrics and created wide-ranging fake narratives and splendid illusions that come under the general heading ‘smoke and mirrors’. Colin Campbell, (recently died) featured in ‘Oil, Smoke and Mirrors’.

    We have now reached the point in our political development at which practically everything is ‘smoke and mirrors’.

    The actors and actresses -yes, I’m old-fashioned and still refer to female players as actresses- are paid huge sums to put on near-continuous performances of ‘smoke and mirrors’ for consumption by the still-gullible portion of the general populace, which I believe ranges from 60% to 95% in NATOstan nations.

    Of course, the ‘theatre’ is now on fire, so it is necessary to drown out the fire alarm with extra-loud music and persuade the audience that the smoke they are breathing is just part of the performance.

    The toll on the Scorpion is enormous, and one can observe the sickly, haggard look she has achieved in such a short time as a key performer in this fantasy charade, put on by the controllers. Although she remembers her lies quite well, she flounders badly when confronted with truth, and now frequently finds it necessary to run for cover.

    It cannot be easy being a professional liar, even though the Scorpion had years of training for her present position by some of the best liars in the world in the world, such as Tony B Liar.

    I always find it difficult to remember who the key actor for Australia is because it changes so frequently. As soon as I get a name fixed in my mind, that person disappears, and a new actor is shunted into the position.

    it seems that Britian is experimenting with rapid-fire changes of the actors in key positions.

    There are still quite a few people in NZ who believe that if only we can get rid of LINO (Labour In Name Only) and get National back into power, things might start to improve, forgetting that the only reason LINO gained power was because national had imploded in a series of corruption scandals and changes in the actor who pretended to lead the party.

    The Lux man, -you know that frothy soap that was in vogue a while ago before it was necessary to ‘kill 99% of known germs’ at every movement- is, of course, a WEF hit man, trained to never mention anything of significance and mouth comforting platitudes on a continuous basis,\; was previously head of Air New Zealand, one of the most corrupt businesses in NZ and frequently run into the ground by the management so that it can get multi-million dollar government bailouts.

    ‘Unacceptable’: that is one of the key words in the lexicon of these actor-clowns.

    I believe it is unacceptable that the Russians are winning the war in the fake nation of Ukraine.

    I don’t know where the actors are going to strike next, especially the nasty Scorpion, whose slogans of ‘kindness’ and ‘teamwork’ have worn rather thin since she demonstrably promoted viciousness and division. However, we can be sure that whatever the next strike on society will be, it will be the weakest members of society, those least able to defend themselves and most impoverished that will feel the blow first. Mandatory toxic jabs for all children? No jab, no food passport? (needed to go shopping for food). Fuel rationing?

    I was talking with a friend today about a lot of this stuff. In the conversation he described himself as man. I pointed out that such a term was no longer ‘acceptable’. Infact quite ‘unacceptable’. Choose between female, homosexual, bisexual, transexual etc., But I also pointed out that he was a member of a rapidly declining portion of the population, one definition of a man being a human capable of fertilising the ova of a female. Plummeting sperm counts must surely bring into question whether those with male organs but little capacity for manufacturing are still actually men or are in the process of becoming pseudo-eunuchs.

    My friend mentioned the large number of people he personally knows who have been plagued with illness since getting the toxic jabs, and some who have been completely incapacitated.

    I was advised by a friend that the local bridge club that was (is) run by ‘vaccine’ and mask fanatics, had to cancel a recent session because too many players were ill with ‘covid’.

    Hmm? Karmic justice? I tied over and over again to get them to see sense. No. They absolutely were not going to, and I left in disgust. There was no way I would get the cell biology modifier injected into me just to play bridge.

    Some good news! It has rained at last. This region was starting to look as it does in February (the peak of summer heat and dryness). Maybe the cracks in the ground will close up if sufficient rain falls.

    #121283
    Dr. D
    Participant

    “Up to six feet of snow possible in some areas this weekend”

    Typical media. They started at 2 feet in 12 hours, which is a pretty good news! Unlike most, that’s worth reporting. But then a few hours later it wasn’t exciting enough and became 3. Then 3 became 4. Then THAT wasn’t getting clicks so 4 became 5. Then the other outlets could just misquote the FIRST outlets, and 5 became 6.

    I wonder if it’ll be 40 feet in one storm if it holds off another day. And “Bitterly cold”? Um, it’s “Winter.” We save “Bitterly” for at least -10f. (-25c) There’s half the nation praying for global warming again.

    Continuing their Extinction Agenda, Germany plans to make cows, sheep, and chickens extinct.

    “The current federal government would like to abolish animal husbandry and switch the diet in Germany to vegetables and oatmeal,”

    Should some other nation wish to keep these animal breeds going, they will soon be attacked and outlawed in their home countries too. Britain outlawing open wheat seed comes to mind. Yes, it is illegal to plant seeds in England. Even the Romans never attempted something so brazen and tyrannical, but Monsanto calls.

    “Biden Admin Warns of Bankruptcy Surge as It Asks Supreme Court to Resume Student Debt Forgiveness Plan”

    The must get a war or a $3T Covid 2.0 stimulus or the debt compounding collapses. FTX was pretty good at that, but it needed the Biden $50B (or is it $80B now?). This is Luongo’s thesis on Powell and Europe. Europe is tough to crack, but since their elite will cease to exist if they do, that’s only to be expected.

    Monty Python. Signaling. Signaling so HARD! Can’t you see me signal? (P.S. we have no weapons or men. We have “money”, but no men, weapons, or oil to buy with it.)

    Zelensky Confirms Signals from West on Peace Talks (RT)”

    Signaling. We’re doing nothing, mind you. But we DID book a conference room to talk about how we’re doing nothing. Hey look! Another 10,000 Ukrainians died!

    And as the article says, now Zelensky has to arrest himself for talking about peace. Wot a pain! Now he’ll have to put himself on trial and acquit himself too, as there is no opposition party and Ukraine is a ruthless dictatorship. Like here.

    Khashoggi. Actually, I think MBS is probably right about that immunity. Heads of State in their official duties are exempt and must be sued via the organization, not them personally. That’s why Bush is still walking around, now mouth-kissing Obama in a big reach-around. Obama hated him so much, he kept Bush’s whole cabinet. BFF!

    As if that would matter anyway: 1) He’s a Prince, so ALSO immune 2) All this has to be executed against a sovereign country that dgaf. There was a Prince Rapist there, who literally walked into a courtroom and said, “I slipped and she fell on my d—k” and got off. Welcome to monarchy: paging Prince Andrew and Charles III.

    But this isn’t about any of that. THEY’RE BROKE. So they need to seize assets, Saudi’s getting out of the fence, so I guess it’s Saudi assets we steal today!

    Of course they’re going to steal ALL assets, but Saudi just moved themselves to the front of the line, having enough dough – and more crucially, gold – to hold off the imminent collapse for a few more hours. …Anything but doing work and producing things.

    “Corruption has been eradicated from Ukraine”

    Wow, and I thought the Polish tractor bomb was a brazen whopper. Also, this missile hits the only vertical object in 20 miles? And kills two people? What are the odds? I have a gut feeling they set this up, with a target (the silos, so that it would look adequate on camera) for the next time Russia fired in the area and they’d set up missile defense. Probably the two Poles were unplanned collateral damage, a bonus.

    “if it had not been for the evidence in the form of photos from the scene, “all facts would have been concealed from the public, and Russia would have been proclaimed the guilty side.”

    Yes. Exactly the plan. Control the narrative. We do no investigations, provide no evidence. Like NordStream II, MH17, and the Warren Commission.

    “Remember all the global leaders who had Zelensky address their parliaments, giving him standing ovations, and chanting Slava Ukraini? This … serial liar who keeps trying to start WW3 by pulling NATO into the US proxy war.”

    Yes, but he misses that is WHY they give him standing ovations. You can’t look at it from a normal, rational mind. They are insane, bloodthirsty, religious warmongers.

    “The Ukrainian leader revealed he had just met with the vice president of the World Bank in order to “start a ‘pilot’ “

    Well most corrupt nation on earth meets the most corrupt bank on earth, no surprise. When you can make the criminals at Morgan and Fargo look mundane, that’s really something.

    “those voices have since gone quiet for fear of being seen as perpetuating a pro-Russian narrative.”

    Apparently all truth is pro-Russian. Or it is for an Empire of Lies.

    “The US government doesn’t care about getting the results in an investigation,” she said. “The US government always has somebody to ‘hold responsible’ on political grounds.”

    Whoever is guilty is the one most convenient to us in that 5-minute period. Pinochet? Innocent as doves. Saddam? “Our Guy,” kissy-facing with Rumsfeld, who gave him our chemical weapons. Israel? “What Apartheid?” Iran? How dare you be so aggressive as to not invade a country for over 200 years!!! Iran is bad, bad baddie bad!

    “Said it before: The Dutch are the last party that should have investigated.”

    Didn’t the Dutch get their gold back from the Fed for helping fabricate this? That seems like a good trade.

    ” White House Slams GOP for Probing Hunter Biden ‘Conspiracy Theories’ (RT)”

    I guess that means six weeks from now, they’ll be true. Wake me when you do something. I won’t wait up.

    “I tried not to be CEO of Tesla, but I had to or it would die. I rather hate being a boss. I’m an engineer,”

    No. No he’s not. He’s not an engineer and is barely a programmer. He’s a money man. But in the same way the Bill Gates is the planet’s top doctor, Elon Musk is the world’s top engineer.

    FTX, “this situation is unprecedented.”

    Oh no. This is quite business as usual now in America. Nothing unusual about it. Probably every top board in America looks like this. Certainly Sequoia does. And BlackRock. And how many others, how can they take any fees whatsoever, when there was zero oversight anywhere, which you could discover with zero effort? And lost ALL your money? Yes, that shows the only POSSIBLE explanation was: it’s a mafia, and this is one of the money-laundering wings. Therefore, the other mafia arms were directed to support it. They neither ask questions nor care. They are minions, and obey or die. So Sequoia and the Teacher’s Union put their life savings into it, and yes, like other mafias, the corruption might have made a lot more money as usually happens, but also who cares if it fails? It’s not like they kick you out of the family or anything. The only way you get killed is to NOT obey when you get the order to invest in their new pet money-laundering project. Then they pull a Theil-Gawker on you and you go out like McAfee: “Whackd”.

    Really, none of the things here are anything different. This scam is as old as time and the first time I saw it, I fell off my dinosaur. It’s the same stock-pump scams Jesse Livermore wrote about in 1920. Just replace “Exchange” with “The Latest Thing”, and Gisele for Dorothy Parker, and you have a story of a guy creating a token — whoops, stock pyramid — like The Great Gatsby which can only outrun its own compounding. Where does his money come from? Debt. How is the multi-hundred-billion in debt created? It’s borrowed against newly-issued stock. Why does the stock have value when it’s printed like confetti? Confidence. It’s a Confidence Scam. That’s it. Same old same old, nothing new. You don’t need a computer, you can run this scam on papyrus and many have.

    Like 100% of such scams, people who get our early do great! As Warren Buffet said. And you can buy up every regulator, every newspaper, every Congressman, every competitor, and that palace on the ocean, and they did. However, they always end when — anyone – tries to withdraw money. Or asks any questions, which is why Ellison did like her father and instantly fired anyone who got involved or questioned SBF. NOT for ego, NOT for compliance, but because it was always a scam, and they always knew it was a scam.

    The other thing that I can’t get out of my head, besides how obvious it was, and how worn-out and commonplace it was, was the “polyamorous” aspect. Like, college friends lived together and a few dated? Um, that’s not salacious or unusual; you’re just fabricating that to get headlines, because words: they have no meanings anymore. Likewise, they weren’t “doing meth”; one of the kids takes Ritalin. (Ritalin is ‘meth’) That’s just lying, just headlines for fake. Thanks alt-Media, keepin’ the tradition alive: “If we wrote it, it’s fake.”

    No, what struck me was that the whole system: the free houses, the bright kids out of school, giving them limitless money, direction, parties, glamour, sex…anything really, anything the will work…is direct CIA users handbook. Read “Confessions of an Economic Hitman,” they did the exact same thing to Perkins when he was 20: beautiful Bond girl, charming a shy book nerd at dinner. Stays around a while until he’s firmly on board and has his orders. Then leaves now that he’s a playah and can get the next gal in Costa Rica or wherever he’s to be stationed and boom: he’s in the the life.

    I mean: textbook. And Every. Single. Person involved is connected? Through DNC, MIT, SEC, BlackRock, Congress? Uh-huh. But they didn’t know nothin’ although they were raised in it from diapers.

    “Clinton-Linked Dark Money Group Targets Twitter Advertisers (Turley)”

    The mafia only directs money to the mafia. And why not? Elon has recaptured Twitter, so they burn it down like Artie Bucco’s restaurant. To hide the evidence. And punish the competition. So predictable. So average. I guess we’ll just do this for all creation until someone finally catches on and says “Hey! I smell a rat!” No. Probably not.

    #121284
    Dr. D
    Participant

    Yesterday’s comment on Poland is just an equally unhelpful misrepresentation. There’s no sense in loving on Russia, but what’s all the hating on Russia? Russia helped Hitler in Poland? Hey no kidding. Yet we say “that’s 100 years ago” for Germany, but it’s not old news in Russia, for Russia it’s yesterday? Shouldn’t we apply equal standards to both parties and not go hypocrite on everything? Besides, in 1939 Poland had only JUST attacked Russia. The same soldiers were still in service.

    Okay, Russians were far worse? I don’t prefer it, but isn’t that considered a good thing in war? And it’s hard to communicate why that is for them. Yes, they have a Devil-may-Care attitude to life and death, but that also includes their own lives. Life is cheap. At the same time, they come from IMMENSE hardship and have much lower – or harder – standards. They might think you getting a potato only reminds them of growing up a young lad on the Steppes in the 20s. For a German that’s clearly starvation, not a Russian Tuesday.

    This is illustrated by our Western “Concentration Camp” narrative. Like 2 feet is not enough snow, it has to be 6 feet, so these were originally WORK camps. As in “Arbeit macht frei”. You’re supposed to work and help out. If they wanted to KILL you, they’d just do it. They did and nobody’s stopping them. So then there are no German men left, top officers are starving and when they show up in 1945, the convicted criminals in Work Jail (same as ours), the lowest of the low, were eating even LESS? Hey no s—t Sherlock. German HOUSEWIVES were starving by then, eating sawdust. But they were supposed to donate food to Auschwitz? They were’ WORK camps. How do they “work” without food? And if this was a death camp, they sure were bad at it, leaving so many undesirables alive when pilots and officers were hungry. Problem is, when you say that, you minimize what work prisons ACTUALLY were, even when they weren’t quite what they were billed as. Like stealing all Greek children to work there? Yes, this is not good. But when they started, before the war and loss of all food for everyone, how different were they from eugenic sterilization in Georgia and chain-gangs of Alabama? See? It’s difficult to tell, and difficult to measure. And CERTAINLY no one is able keep their brains and discuss it. It has to be baddie-bad, super bad. 6 feet bad, always bad of all bads that-we-totally-never-did in Andersonville. Not just 2 feet of bad. That is: it’s a lie that’s barely technically the truth.

    The USSR was an atheist murder machine and was originally established and run by (Western backed) Jews it seems. However, that contradicts all other statements that “The Russians” were brutal, “The Russians” did this. Clearly “The Russians” had almost no representation in government at first, being run by a small cadre of men who were somewhat alien to Russian ways, mores, and ethos. So you can say “The Jews” – or more technically the Bolsheviks, the elite insiders like every nation has – attacked Poland, OR the Russians did so, but not both. So is it these weird small minority insiders? Or is it broadly and totally what all Russians would do? Make up your mind. And if they are the same, why distinguish “the Jews” as the Bolsheviks and leaders in the first place? YOU distinguished them and YOU said ‘the Russians” weren’t in charge. So I’ll agree with you.

    Yes, this is why the Germans, Poles, and Ukrainians and many other countries all hated “the Jews”. And such same careless misunderstanding even today. OMG ZeroHedge and other commenters: Elon Musk and Warren Buffet are insiders. Do they look Jewish to you? The Bush and Clintons? C’mon, use your head. Even the Jews themselves disagree with both this behavior, and also with events such as Israel. Listen to Rabbi Manni Friedman for example on your general (real) Orthodox mitzvah. These guys use actual Jews like a skin suit, a sheep’s clothing. And the State of Israel too. …So do others, as racist warmongers like Clinton, Obama, and Biden wear the Woke Left’s empathy as a cynical skin suit to hide non-stop racism and mass murder. Bush used the Christian Right and it worked a treat back then.

    Back to history, these nations saw that the Jewish were over-represented in Government, journalism, university, industry, and especially banks. But while that had a lot to do with special favors granted by the crown (to insiders like Soros-class and obviously not Manny Goldstein in the Warsaw ghetto) it had as much to do with them trying and working and helping each other as well. Common citizens just backstab each other like Americans do, then wonder why they can’t get ahead, while immigrants like Mexicans and Chinese (or Amish) work together and succeed quickly and reliably. Look: if you’re not going to help yourselves and the Temple does, you’re going to get left behind. That’s not the fault of the Jews: that’s you being a dumb-ss.

    But seeing they had stuff, were running all these brutal, failing institutions in a nation failing them, it’s the same as watching alien, fake, uncaring, death-dealing Blue Hairs snooting down the rest of us “Because they’re smarter, more moral, and know better”: “Do what you’re told!!!” It’s the exact same thing, although luckily for our Blue Bombers they’re not in an easily-identifiable ethnic group. But you can see how IF they mostly were, the confusion would be immediate and impossible to undo. That’s how it was in Eastern Europe 1900-1940 and the UK (worldwide) America, Canada, and everyplace else too. We just deny it and re-write history the same way we deny anybody ever loved Eugenics. Yale, Harvard, Oxford, loved loved loved Eugenics exactly as Progressive as Hitler, and promoted it – that is, Hitler’s policies – tirelessly. That’s why both Hitler and Stalin were Time “Man of the Year” and they raved Mussolini at every turn. But: “NY Times”, so nothing ever changes. Always Eugenics, always murder. Germany wasn’t different: in fact they got their ideas FROM Britain and America, and their techniques from Bernays and Madison Avenue.

    Looking through the Polish eyes here? Yes, they hated everyone. This is no longer in reality because they’re all “White” now, or Schrodinger’s “White”, the Jews: to be ethnic whenever it’s convenient. Poles hated the Jews, the Russians, the Germans, the Swedes, and when they were in Paris, like Madame Curie, they hated the French and English too. It’s just nationalism. And so did the Germans, the Brits, the French, the Irish, the Basques, hate all the others too, each in their own way. So they killed the Jews, but were equally happy to kill the Russians, the Roma, whoever. So was Harvard and Oxford happy to kill and promote killing. Just they didn’t end up on top, Germany did, so they got the bigger PR prize, with Poland and Ukraine coming in bronze and silver, with Croatia sort of a Jr. Varsity Gold.

    Although this sort of ethnic prejudice has settled down a lot, Poland had a lot of it then and therefore still has a lot now. So sure they hate Russia. But they don’t exactly love Germany, but they pick them as convenient for the moment, and as tradition to be smashed between the two for 1,000 years, picking one or the other like a pendulum, usually the wrong side.

    Russia for their part didn’t “Occupy” Poland. The USSR was “Liberating” them from the horrors of Western Capitalism in support of the oppressed worker. They had a real government, made of Poles who completely agreed with Stalin on this point. Just like the U.S. today. Not an occupation government at all. Totally elected honestly.

    So if you’re going to say look at it from the Polish point of view, then you have to look at it from the 1930 point of view, where the USSR was going to blow out the West and create a Worker’s Paradise. They were doing this FOR Poland. To “help” them. People were FOR this, especially FDR and the NY Times. Or from a Soviet point of view that they actually THOUGHT they were liberating Poland. Half or a third of Poles probably agreed. It didn’t work out until later, then like Eugenics, Lo! Suddenly no one was ever for it! Like lockdowns! Yup, totally never wanted them. Trump did!

    And how did Russia not pay, along with all the FSRs? Their life expectancy dropped by 10 years and was on this for like a decade. Even today they’re 20 years behind and have only just been showing some prosperity. Did Germany pay like kind? N O P E. They got a million-billion dollars from the Marshall Plan and all the Nazi officials were re-installed as Mayor and Governors. Oh they said “Oopsie! Our bad. Here’s a couple of bucks.” Then invaded and extracted all Greece. Five years ago in 2009.

    Are you trying to prove the opposite of a lie is another lie?

    Yeah, I know what happened. Do you not hear me railing on the USSR until we’re all sick of it? I spent all 2014-15 on Ukraine’s terrible history, highlighting the Holodomor. But we ALSO talk about British and American extraction, and the failed attempt to destroy Russia, extract all their wealth for Europe, and finish taking over the world, as they write evey day of the year for 100 years and twice on Sundays. CoughWEFCough.

    Right now NATO, the collective and wealthy 20 nations have used their power to encroach on Russia, get inside nuclear first-strike and cause the war. Exactly as Brzezinski directed. Written every day for 30 years. Russia, a small country with big land, has been forced to re-direct their GDP towards war for decades because of it, and that sucks if you’re Russian, but also unavoidable. China is just as likely to backstab them someday. Knowing this, they’re being painfully cautious holding their own against overwhelming opposition as you see in the news each day.

    So why single out Russia? Doesn’t your own country have enough crimes to comment on? Mine sure does, and I’m sure you’re all sick of hearing me about it. Unfortunately right now one of those crimes is our war against Russia in Ukraine.

    #121285
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    ‘The Waltons’ star Michael Learned ‘never slept’ with TV husband Ralph Waite, ‘but our love was so deep’ The surviving cast of the hit series, which premiered 50 years ago, is reuniting at The Hollywood Museum.

    My Mom revered The Waltons. She grew up in a family with 9 children in Depression Era South Carolina, USA. I was a tad weepy reading the article thinking of my Mom and what that show meant to her. All very nice.

    But here is the penultimate paragraph of the article:

    “Today, Learned is as busy as ever. She recently starred in Ryan Murphy’s “Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” about the serial killer for Netflix.”

    (TV announcer voice) ‘The Waltons was brought to you by Johnson & Johnson, helping families raise healthy babies. And now, a story about a serial murderer who cannibalizes his victims’ genitals.’

    The society of spectacle wants titillation not meaning; it’s in the very nature of spectacles, that voyeuristic thing where we view from de facto afar with media magnifying binoculars.

    ‘…starring John Boy as Jeffrey Dahmer…’

    Smoke and mirrors indeed.

    #121286
    Oroboros
    Participant

    <img src=”What kind of Monty Python is this?

    Turdeau and Sunak

    The smell of Bromance is in the air like a burning tire

    So sweet!

    Get a room

    .

    #121287
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Turdeau trying to get some cleavage going there

    #121288
    Cetzer
    Participant

    “Zelensky Declares Ukraine Corruption-Free”
    Bloody amateur!
    I hereby solemnly declare all readers of this blog Sin-Free. Other blogs may apply, but please send a kilo of the powder to help me concentrate.

    #121289
    zerosum
    Participant

    Executive Summary
    ‘smoke and mirrors’.
    I swear: “Cross my heart, hope to die”
    Control the narrative.

    • Zelensky Declares Ukraine Corruption-Free (RT)
    • Ukraine Openly Lied To NATO Over Missile Strike, Diplomat Tells FT (RT)

    ————-
    • Enron Liquidator Overseeing FTX Bankruptcy: Never Seen Anything Like This (ZH)
    ——-
    • White House Slams GOP For Probing Hunter Biden ‘Conspiracy Theories’ (RT)
    ———–
    • Twitter On Lock Out After Mass Resignation Exodus; Operations At Risk (ZH)
    ————

    Millions without electricity
    Its poring – Missiles in Ukraine or snow blizzard in USA
    https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/floods-around-world-2022-rutuparnna-dash
    Floods around the world in 2022
    A total of 432 natural disasters were recorded in 2021. This included floods, storms, droughts, wildfires, and earthquakes.
    Last year, there was an atmospheric river in BC
    ———
    King of the mountain (and you’re not in the club)
    Elites/eugenics/racist/royalty/snob/the chosen/blue blood/white supremacy
    ——-

    #121290
    Oroboros
    Participant

    from Dr D

    “So why single out Russia? Doesn’t your own country have enough crimes to comment on? Mine sure does, and I’m sure you’re all sick of hearing me about it. Unfortunately right now one of those crimes is our war against Russia in Ukraine.”

    Well here is a Ukro tank crewman telling about his unit if you want to put a face to the fighting.


    #121291
    oldandtired
    Participant

    @Dr.D

    Yes, but he misses that is WHY they give him standing ovations. You can’t look at it from a normal, rational mind. They are insane, bloodthirsty, religious warmongers.

    Yes! SMI. Severe Mental Illness. Cannot be explained rationally.

    They lie to you to manipulate you.
    They manipulate you to humiliate you.
    They humiliate you to control you.
    They control you to hurt you.
    Destroy you? Good hurt.
    Destroy you and your family? Better hurt.
    Destroy you, your family, your way of life? Best hurt.

    Every. Single. Time.

    #121292
    zerosum
    Participant

    https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/ukraine-has-lost-40-energy-system-kyiv-sees-first-snow-freezing-temps
    Ukraine Has Lost 40% Of Energy System As Kyiv Sees First Snow, Freezing Temps
    “Ukraine relies on its three working nuclear power plants — Khmelnytskyi, Rivne and South Ukraine — to generate much of the power used in the country. It is now struggling to keep open these Ukrainian-controlled plants amid Russia’s assault on the energy grid,” The Times reports.

    #121294
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    So ya just gotta wonder, is FTX the Black Swan that brings it all down? Sure does have the links and connections to all the right crimes and debacles. Hell, it even ties in with the multitude of “conspiracy theories” tracking back to the fake-Jewiish Kazarian Mafia.

    I’m fairly certain this FTX thingy is the one. Pick the metaphor of your choice.

    #121296
    John Day
    Participant

    “Doing Better” is up, with an essay about silviculture and a picture of some winter vegetable rows coming-up a little more. https://drjohnsblog.substack.com/p/doing-better

    I’m inclined to think we humans need to find ways to nurture healthy forest ecosystems which may nourish us, and also draw moisture from the oceans, which will fall upon them as rain, that “Biotic Pump” thing they do so well. Forests create atmospheric rivers from the oceans, and the falling rain creates terrestrial rivers back.
    https://www.science.org/content/article/controversial-russian-theory-claims-forests-don-t-just-make-rain-they-make-wind

    We know that old-growth “apex” forests do this, even in northern climes, and that having tall old trees of local species, intermediate trees and bushes and herbs, in a living web, interconnected by roots and beneficial fungi, is a sophisticated mature ecosystem. The recreation of the mix of plants in an apex forest can create a quickie-apex-forest, which is the Miyawaki Method of “Afforestation” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afforestation_in_Japan

    During the years of wars between warlords in Japan, the 1600s and 1700s, much of Japan’s forest was cut for timber and fuel. In the 1800s this was reversed by law, and Japanese forestry, Silviculture became an art form, assisted sometimes by German experts in those days.
    https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/7a769245-5e42-4262-a06c-64986a6ebd27/content

    Silviculture arose in Europe, with largely German nomenclature. It focuses mainly upon harvesting wood optimally, from well maintained forests. It long precedes the knowledge that forests might draw atmospheric-rivers of rain to themselves. Dense forests with groups of plants that cooperate well together draw the rain best, but may not produce goods that humans need and desire as monoculture pine forests for timber and fuel. Silviculture has been adapted to the tropics
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silviculture

    #121297
    John Day
    Participant

    “Forest Gardening” of “food forests” seeks to create complementary and cooperative forest ecosystems which also provide food for humans.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forest_gardening
    That is easier said than done, partly because it is so difficult to harvest food in a dense forest except at the edges of it. Animals arise within any forest which do readily harvest forest edibles. People often end up hunting and eating those animals, but that is also hard within the dense forest.

    The question which naturally arises for creative humans is whether long-lived fruit-bearing trees can be managed in such a way that the fruit is available from below, and can be gathered, stored and transported effectively for human use. When there is a continuous overstory of tall trees a local climate is created within the forest. It is also darker. Can the productive overstory be maintained well enough to claim biotic-pump rainfall patterns, by atmospheric-river induction? Can the soil be maintained? What tree crops could this be applied to, and in what regions? It seems that in the places that have the right soil and climate conditions to try this, that it would be a very good thing to attempt. It would require irrigation for a long time, before large enough areas could be forested to begin to induce atmospheric-river effects. How much of any tree-crop can be used? How can it be stored and transported? Are there enough tree crops to plant in enough areas to make this form of farming economically sustainable?

    I’d like to try it with avocados, myself, but I am still at the point of finding Mexican avocados cold-tolerant enough to reliably make it through winter freezes without significant damage to the trees. Each avocado seedling is a unique individual, which is why they are grafted onto rootstocks before making large plantings. Seedling trees require 5-8 years to make their first fruit, before it can be tasted. This is gonna’ take awhile. Avocado oil is a good cooking oil.

    9 of the Best Cold-Hardy Avocado Trees

    #121299
    John Day
    Participant

    I’m trying to leave-off what is already represented here, but there’s a lot of overlap.

    UK Citizens Pay The Highest Electricity Bills In The World
    https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/uk-citizens-pay-highest-electricity-bills-world

    ​ Jessica Rose Ph.D. graphs fewer new pregnancies but a lot more miscarriages after COVID-vaccine rollout in an OB/GYN practice that keeps its own records.​
    Real time obstetrician/gynecologist’s data on new patients and miscarriages for 2021 and 2022
    https://jessicar.substack.com/p/real-time-obstetriciangynecologists

    ​ ​Former White House COVID-19 adviser Dr. Scott Atlas sees multiple reasons for an investigation into Dr. Anthony Fauci, the outgoing director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).
    https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/faucis-pandemic-leadership-needs-be-investigated-dr-scott-atlas

    Charles Hugh Smith,​ ​FTX: The Dominoes of Financial Fraud Have Yet to Fall
    ​What you will find is insight into the real innovation of FTX: FTX compressed the entire playbook and history of financial fraud into one brief cycle of the credulous bamboozled, Charles Ponzi bested and creative accounting being revealed for what it really is, fraud.
    ​ ​All financial frauds share the same set of tools. The toolbox of financial fraud, whether it is traditional or crypto-based, contains variations of these basic mechanisms… [listed and explained] …
    ​ ​Note that there are quasi-legal versions of some of these tools. The full exposure to the risks inherent in extreme leverage and illiquidity can be cloaked, buried in off-balance sheet assets and liabilities, etc., while pages of mind-numbing disclosures were duly signed by blinded-by-greed marks.
    ​ ​These quasi-legal versions are just as prone to unraveling and collapse as the blatantly fraudulent varieties. Properly disclosed leverage and illiquidity are just as prone to unraveling as undisclosed leverage and illiquidity.
    ​ ​Mismatches of duration, liquidity and risk are just as toxic to full-disclosure firms as they are to fraudulent firms.
    ​ ​This is why we can predict the dominoes of FTX’s financial fraud have yet to fall. When there are mismatches in counterparty asset durations and liquidity, assets that theoretically cover loans that are called can’t be sold or can only be sold at ruinous discounts.​..
    ​ Once assets are revealed as worth far less than claimed, insolvency is the inevitable result.
    http://charleshughsmith.blogspot.com/2022/11/ftx-dominoes-of-financial-fraud-have.html

    ​ Here is a case from Tom Luongo’s blog that FTX may have been designed to be a Ponzi-scheme-for-Ponzi-schemes, suking up all of the non-crypto currency in the cryptocurrency bubble, then going POOF!
    This would have been a planned attack by the financial world on the crypto-currency world. It might have been planned to go a little longer, but Bitcoin got hammered recently and sucked a lot of money out of the cryptocurrency bubble, crashing the FTX Ponzi. This fits with the rapid rise and excellent political protection of FTX and SBF. We know FTX was the biggest Democratic donor behind George Soros when it was just months old. Ukraine seems to have “invested” $US aid from the Bidadmin in FTX. A lot of notional-wealth in cryptocurrency is no more. Maybe that was the plan.

    CryptoFanFic – Thoughts on FTX

    #121300
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    Methinks we’re out of black swans. What we have now, I think, is one vast global invisible swan gradually becoming visible to the general populace like the proverbial blind men judging an elephant by touch slowly gaining sight and realizing that they’re messing with a behemoth.

    The instigatory elements are, I think, already in place. Things now are more derivative than causative.

    Coal mine canaries like posters at TAE have been crying causes, causes, causes for many years.

    Now we are dealing with consequences, consequences, consequences.

    Meanwhile, coming to you from dear old St. Petersburg, Inane Nonsense Taking Itself Seriously. Not unlike the evening news.

    #121301
    zerosum
    Participant

    https://www.moonofalabama.org/

    The targeting of 330 kilovolt transformers in various switching stations has cut some 50% of the distribution capability of Ukraine’s electricity network. These transformers weigh up to 200 tons. There are no replacements. You do not buy them at the next corner but will have order them with years of lead time. As far as I can tell Russia is currently Russia the only producer of transformers of that type.

    Destruction of electrical substations and grid is educational for West European regimes facing an energy-constrained winter. US is facing grid strain as weather turns colder and Germany is already considering ATM outages, Internet and Mobile Phone outages and refrigeration food logistics chain outages not to mention offices and elevators and hospitals and teams and trains

    #121302
    John Day
    Participant

    @boscohorowitz: tawdry…

    @”Z”erosum: Made In Russia, what a conundrum…

    #121303
    Cetzer
    Participant

    “Dutch court blames Russia for missile that struck Malaysia airlines plane killing nearly 300”
    Obviously a sham trial, the judge was probably doped with a injection of kangaroo testicle’s extract.
    Nonetheless a look on the historical parallel Lockerbie/Pan Am Flight 103 (1988):
    Also in this sham trial one of the defendants was unexpectedly cleared. In a critical article (counterpunch ?) this was described as a kind of compromise: Both defendants should¹ have been discharged, but this was obviously impossible, so they put that guy in the slammer, who probably had a lot of other blood on his hands (Torture in Libya ..), thus the judge’s conscience was not too troubled.
    The Italian Wikipedia has a list of people, who booked the doomed flight but were not on board:
    Musician John Lydon ~ Johnny Rotten, Sex Pistols
    Tennis player Mats Wilander
    Actress Kim Catrall, had annulled to have more time in London to buy gifts
    Also a R&B group called the Four Tops.
    I deem this list probably irrelevant, perhaps Diva Catrall cancels 5 times for each real flight. The Syrian connection/trail instead seems to be the most plausible.

    ¹As in Donbass (MH17) first came the crash, then the rescue (no concern for forensics), a strong thunderstorm and then the geniuses from CIA and MI6 arrived and established exactly, what exploded when and how, and which passenger picked his nose during check-in.

    #121304
    zerosum
    Participant

    Feed the civilians or feed the military
    https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/11/18/10-million-ukrainians-without-power-after-russian-attacks
    On Thursday, residents of the recently recaptured city of Kherson in southern Ukraine rushed to stockpile food, blankets, and winter clothing, with shouting matches and shoving erupting as volunteers tossed supplies into the crowds that waited hours in freezing rain.

    #121305
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    For the most part, the local public schools have reasonably educated my kids. There have been ups and downs, for all three. With all of the school shootings, the schools are out on the hunt for students who may be a threat to other students. This creates problems.

    One of my sons has had “behavioral issues” that have created problems for him since kindergarten. He has high anxiety and enormous emotions and misses social cues, even though he loves people. Parenting him has been a challenge. This school year has been a challenge because the case manager for his IEP left the school, and the new one seems to not really understand how to work with him. As a result, his IEP was not being followed by the school, and he has been suspended repeatedly rather than being disciplined according to the “behavioral intervention plan” which was referenced by his IEP. I finally figured this out a couple of weeks ago, and we were back on track to get that custom “behavioral intervention plan” — it was referenced by his IEP, but MIA. And now THIS happens.

    THIS:
    My son has a supervised study hour. Yesterday, he was doodling. He left the papers he was doodling on the table when he left for his next period. The supervising teacher saw the doodles. Apparently one was of a dying stick figure and a running off stick figure. This got turned over to the school psychologist, who felt that it could be seen as “a threat,” and felt obligated to report it as such. Now my son is suspended pending the outcome of “an investigation” by the school social worker into the alleged threat.

    I asked him what he was drawing. He says that he doodled a mugging.
    He likes playing video games such as “Among Us” and variations of that game. “Among Us” is basically the old Werewolf game resurrected as a videogame. (Everyone is secretly assigned a role — one or more are the “werewolves,” others may have certain skills or magical powers. Each “night” the werewolves kill someone else, and the otherw with skills/powers can also heal/kill. The goal is to figure out who the werewolf/werewolves is/are.) I always figured that Among Us was better than graphic, first-person shooter games where everything looks real. Of course, at his father’s house he has access to first-person shooter games and to violent movies, and has had this for years. (The court thought the kids’ father an appropriate parent. I knew better, but no self-respecting Arizona court was going to deviate from the 50/50 rule unless a court-appointed psych person penned a report that said such deviation should exist. As it is, the second court-appointed psych person found problems with their father, but suggested an anger management class. Which suggestion was never mandated by the judge.)

    Do I think that the drawing was a threat? No. Not because my son has never threatened anyone, but because he has only ever threatened anyone in very specific occasions — such as when he was very upset and himself felt highly threatened. And, those threats were *always* verbal or physical in nature. He has never used drawings to threaten anyone. (Actually, he doesn’t usually draw much — and he is very bad at it — hence, stick figures. Although, years ago when he did draw, he often drew gruesome scenes, so I find the subject matter of his doodle unsurprising. There is a bus full of zombies that he drew up in the back hall.) There is no indication that he was upset — none at all. He was just doodling. Like I wrote, he misses social cues. Other teens would realize that if you draw a gruesome scene, you don’t just leave it out for anyone to see. He didn’t realize that.

    #121306
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    ‘Russia, a small country with big land, has been forced to re-direct their GDP towards war for decades because of it, and that sucks if you’re Russian, but also unavoidable.’

    A technical point worth emphasising there:

    GDP is a scam, invented by agents of the Empire of Lies to endorse, promote and reward the movement of currency from place to another within a country, and to promote and reward the consumption of resources, especially energy resources.

    In modern times it has been morphed into a system to promote and reward the shifting of computer digits from one computer system to another within a country. However, it still rewards and encourages the conversion of resources into waste and the conversion of energy carriers such as oil into waste.

    The higher the GDP, the faster resources and energy carriers are being converted into waste. Hence the relentless promotion of tourism by NATOstan governments and the pouring of mega-quantities of fake computer digits into subsidising wasteful, counterproductive activities such as flying from one place to another to look at the view, eat some product generated by the industrial ‘food’ system and provide employment such as changing soiled towels, washing soiled linen, vacuuming carpets, polishing vehicles etc.

    Unlike most NATOstan nations, Russia has a real economy.

    I’m not saying that everything Russians do is wonderful, since the Russian economy has a tourism component and other wasteful aspects. But Russia does have an economy that is capable of producing stuff that can be used on a battlefield to kill NATOstan fascists in large numbers and destroy equipment and bunkers very efficiently, whereas NATOstan nations do not have anything that matches Russia’s capacity to produce useful stuff. NATOstan nations are very dependent on imports of stuff made in China and other low-wage economies to keep their consumption sector alive. I understand that in the US consumption of imported goods accounts for 60% (or thereabouts) of the fake GDP measure. Another 10% involves the conversion of oil products into carbon dioxide and water.

    So perhaps that statement could be reworded to:

    Russia, a small country with big land, has been forced to re-direct their economy towards war for decades because of it, and that sucks if you’re Russian, but also unavoidable.

    For the moment, the fake GDP measure of economic activity is so ingrained into the minds of people in NATOstan nations via decades of indoctrination they use the term GDP as a proxy for an economy, which it clearly is not.F

    And as has been stated so many times, once a lie has been established in the minds of the populace, it’s nigh-on impossible to counter it.

    A number of years ago a documentary was produced on the policy of planned obsolescence and planned failure of products.

    When lightbulbs were first produced, the research departments of the manufacturers worked to extend the life of the lightbulbs. By the 1920s the life of bulbs had been extended from and few hours to many thousands of hours.

    Manufacturers then worked out that the best way to increase sales was to reduce the working life of the filament, and a cartel was established to ensure that this was achieved in unison in the western world.

    Upon the fall of the USSR, East German manufacturers attempted to sell their ultra-long-life bulbs (designed and manufactured to last as long as possible) in western markets: the cartel of western manufacturers ensured that they did not succeed.

    GDP

    Grand Deception Paradigm

    Global Destruction Procedure

    Great Deceit Process

    “They died believing GDP was real and could not understand why everything got worse at an accelerating rate.”

    #121307
    Noirette
    Participant

    apologies, i’m always late.

    anticlimatic posted:

    The Poles seem to hate Russia even more than the Ukrainian Nazis. I can understand them hating Communist Russia but I have no idea why they have a hatred bordering on insanity for the current regime.

    They are willing to support the Ukrainian Nazis who venerate those responsible for the murder of 60,000 Poles in WWII.

    Imho. The Poles and the Ukrs actually loathe each other, but are now joined in a ‘we have a common enemy’ spiel, which is basically the work of the top ‘Leaders’ aka the ‘controllers’ (not the populace) who are on the hunt for mighty profits, mega funding conduits, etc.

    New rules about rights of Ukrs. in Poland are impressive… the authorities seem to be happy to meld the two countries. Imho Poland is still dreaming of taking over Galicia, heh.

    Let’s recall that the USuk has been boosting anti-Russian *hate* in some peripheral regions, see, the 3 Baltics, Ukr., Poland, since, at least the fall of the wall (Berlin.)

    #121308
    The Black
    Participant

    The photo the other day of SBF with Clinton and Blair was pretty revealing. Neither of those clowns knows anything about cryptocurrencies, but they certainly know a fraud when they see one. Like a bear sniffing out carrion 10 miles away.

    The video of Sunak and Trudeau was about as cringeworthy as they get. Could you hear the Benny Hill theme music playing?

    Water levels at Lake Mead indicate nothing with respect to climate change. Consider the timeline. The Powell Expedition was only a few years after the Civil War. By 1922 the Colorado River Compact was complete and by 1936 Hoover Dam was complete. Phoenix population after WW2 was somewhere around 100,000 and Las Vegas far less. What kind of rainfall data do you think was collected by the time the Dam was completed? They only had 18 years of data! And it turned out those were among the wettest years ever recorded. Nobody could have imagined the population growth in the SW US post-WW2.

    Point is, the engineers were in thrall to their ability to subjugate nature, and, backed by massive federal spending programs and no regulation, the damage done will reverberate for many years. Is there a lesson there for advocates of climate change programs? I think YES.

    #121309
    morongobill
    Participant

    Perhaps it is time for the Great Culling of the Elites, with Extreme Prejudice. I sure wouldn’t shed a tear for the selfish bastards.

    #121310
    zerosum
    Participant

    https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/08/broken-window-fallacy.asp
    The Broken Window Fallacy
    What Is the Broken Window Fallacy?
    The broken window fallacy is a parable that is sometimes used to illustrate the problem with the notion that going to war is good for a nation’s economy. Its wider message is that an event that seems to be beneficial for those immediately involved can have negative economic consequences for many others.

    The broken window fallacy was first expressed by the 19th-century French economist Frederic Bastiat.

    KEY TAKEAWAYS
    The core of the broken window fallacy argues that spending money on items that have been destroyed does not lead to economic gain.
    The broken window fallacy suggests that an event can have unforeseen negative ripple effects if money is redirected to repairing broken items rather than to new goods and services.
    The theory suggests that a boost to one part of the economy can cause losses to other sectors of the economy.
    The parable used in the broken window fallacy illustrates the negative economic effects of going to war: money is diverted from creating consumer goods and services to creating weapons, and money is further spent on repairing the damages from a war.
    Understanding the Broken Window Fallacy
    In Bastiat’s tale, a boy breaks a window. The townspeople looking on decide that the boy has actually done the community a service because his father will have to pay the town’s glazier to replace the broken pane. The glazier will then spend the extra money on something else, jump-starting the local economy. The onlookers come to believe that breaking windows stimulates the economy.
    Bastiat points out that further analysis exposes the fallacy. By forcing his father to pay for a window, the boy has reduced his father’s disposable income. His father will not be able to purchase new shoes or some other luxury goods. Productivity has also decreased, as the time the father spends dealing with the broken window could have been put to better use. Thus, the broken window might help the glazier, but at the same time, it robs other industries and reduces the amount spent on other goods.

    #121311
    zerosum
    Participant

    treadmills everywhere

    #121312
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    Life without electricity, as Russia slowly dismantles Ukraine’s electricity grid in order to partly immobilise the NATostan military currently fighting for the fascists and reduce the transport of NATOstan semi-junk to the frontlines.

    This is particularly interesting from around minute 6.00.

    The slow grind seems to speeding-up considerably now.

    (By the way, under ‘normal’ circumstances so many broken windows would be ‘good for the economy’, just as the Christchurch earthquakes were ‘good for the economy’ of NZ in 2011. That said, ‘normal’ was only ever a short-term gross aberration, and life is now in the process of returning to normal for many people in many locations around the world, i.e. no electricity, no motor vehicles, no distribution of industrially-produced ‘food’.)
    .

    #121313
    oldandtired
    Participant

    @phoenixvoice

    As a result, his IEP was not being followed by the school, and he has been suspended repeatedly rather than being disciplined according to the “behavioral intervention plan” which was referenced by his IEP.

    Where is your son testing grade-wise? Having an IEP would indicate to me that he is testing below level in more than one area? Suspended repeatedly? Can you put a number to that remark? Does the district policy have expulsion as a result of too many suspensions in one semester or year?

    Did he have an IEP in elementary school too? A part of IEP’s in elementary school is small groups. Again to try to catch them up. How did he do? He is doodling in study hall rather than doing real work. That could possibly raise the teachers concerns.

    Being a teenager is a hard job. Divorced parents? Terribly hard. I have seen a 5th grader zombiefied over his parents divorce. Ruined. How will he be a few more years from now? Maybe he still won’t care. 50/50 custody? No stability. Two sets of rules. Both parents remarried? He is a stranger in a strange land.

    Multiple suspensions with zombie drawings. So he gets suspended again. Plausible.

    #121314
    zerosum
    Participant

    ” …. life is now in the process of returning to normal for many people in many locations around the world, i.e. no electricity, no motor vehicles, no distribution of industrially-produced ‘food’.)”

    Whooo Normal is what grampa did on the farm.

    #121315
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    Human secularism, with or without a religious overlay or underpinning, and it’s de facto aim/belief/faith — utopia — reminds me very much of the Snake in the Garden telling Adam and Eve that if they were smarter they could do a better job than God/aeons of evolution/both. The result for A&E was:

    To the woman he said,

    “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;
    with painful labor you will give birth to children.
    Your desire will be for your husband,
    and he will rule over you.”

    17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’

    “Cursed is the ground because of you;
    through painful toil you will eat food from it
    all the days of your life.
    18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
    and you will eat the plants of the field.
    19 By the sweat of your brow
    you will eat your food
    until you return to the ground,
    since from it you were taken;
    for dust you are
    and to dust you will return.”

    The thing is, our faith in humanity tortures us because we consistently prove unfaithful and unworthy of faith. Not that we’re bad or good; that’s just more crazy Knowledge of Good and Evil crap. By telling ourselves (in Mass Formation Hypnosis, if ye like) that We Can Make It Good If We All Pull Together, we impose shame (that fig-leafed thing) on ourselves via the logic that How We Are Now is BAD. Original Sin, if you enjoy that avenue of comparison. Add our consistent failure to achieve utopia rather than our usual hair-brained dystopias. and that shame grows doubly and deeply, if hushedly, powerful.

    ***
    Hoping to stimulate some new perspective on the currently head-locked and butt-hurt competing false dichotomies of the climate-change-is-real vs climate-change-is-bunk camps:

    “Nobody is born a specialist. Every child is born with comprehensive interests, asking the most comprehensively logical and relevant questions. Pointing to the logs burning in the fireplace, one child asked me, “What is fire?” I answered, “Fire is the Sun unwinding from the tree’s log. The Earth revolves and the trees revolve as the radiation from the Sun’s flame reaches the revolving planet Earth. By photosynthesis the green buds and leaves of the tree convert that Sun radiation into hydrocarbon molecules, which form into the bio-cells of the green, outer, cambium layer of the tree. The tree is a tetrahedron that makes a cone as it revolves. The tree’s three tetrahedral roots spread out into the ground to anchor the tree and get water. Each year the new, outer-layer green-tree cone revolves 365 turns, and every year the tree grows its new, tender-green, bio-cell cone layer just under the bark and over the accumulating cones of previous years. Each ring of the many rings of the saw-cut log is one year’s Sun-energy impoundment. So the fire is the many-years-of-Sun-flame-winding now unwinding from the tree. When the log fire pop-sparks, it is letting go a very sunny day long ago, and doing so in a hurry.” Conventionally educated grown-ups rarely know how to answer such questions. They’re all too specialized.”

    Buckminster Fuller, Critical Path

    I love Bucky, but feel that he too never fully faced up to the Malthusian (deferred) reality that is modern civilization:

    He wrote:

    ON COSMIC ENERGY

    “Our most prominent present local Universe problem is how to wean humanity from metabolic sustenance only by exploiting nature’s local Universe energy savings account – energy being locally imported by cosmic evolution design to produce a new star ten billion years hence. How can we convince those in power the world around that we can live handsomely as supplied only by our daily income of cosmic energy? The answer is we can’t convince them. Only the cosmic wisdom manifest in inexorable evolution can cope with such matters.”

    ON ATOMIC ENERGY

    “The would-be exploiters of atomic energy on board our planet Earth will in due course discover there is no way for them to solve atomic-energy- radiation waste-disposal problems save by rocketing it all back into the Sun, where it belongs. Humans will then have to learn how to keep all humans and their ecological support system operating successfully on our vastly adequate daily income of solar atomic energy.

    “Cosmically acceptable and effective decisions of humanity regarding such matters will not be made by leaders single or plural, political or religious, military or mystic, by coercion or mob psychology.

    “The effective decisions can only be made by the independently thinking and adequately informed human individuals and their telepathetically intercommunicated wisdom – the wisdom of the majority of all such human individuals – qualifying for continuance in Universe as local cosmic problem-solvers – in love with the truth and in individually spontaneous self-commitment to absolute faith in the wisdom, integrity, and love of God, who seems to wish Earthian humans to survive.”

    I find the ‘telepathetically‘ typo cute and bittersweetly moving. Anyway, BUcky sidesteps, like virtually all progressivists and utopians do, the issue of time: with a population of 8 billion dependent on such over-strained and now dwindling primary critical resources, how do we avoid a catastrophic death curve as Malthus logic continues “the cold equations” of supply<>demand? How do we downscale slowly enough, and retool/reparadigm rapidly enough, to avoid astronomical corpse numbers and all that goes along with it?

    After all, since the path upward in population numbers has involved horrific mass violence and death, why wouldn’t the path downward involve at least twice as much? If we cooperate so poorly in times of abundance, how well will we cooperate in times of famine (already here but not, to misquote William Gibson, “evenly distributed”)?

    I still think that, subconsciously, the reason that the conspiracy theory crowd focuses so much on evil billionaires etc. is because those billionaires are, they claim (and evidence strongly suggests) taking coercive and seductive measures to force said depopulation which I believe we all know deep down is inevitable/necessary if we aren’t going to go full-blown 3-D WMD bezerk on each other and the dwindling ecosphere we call Terra.

    Raised on bureaucratically provided/imposed order, we inherently crave order even if from evil* bazillionaires who envision post-collapse Terra as their personal plantation and us as feudal serfs. It’s like people from the Depression Era rural (USA)South joining the army because at least they’d have 3 hots and a cot
    *(I use that word, ‘evil’, simply for communication’ sake; I honestly don’t believe in ‘good’ or ‘evil’, just preferences)

    It’s not as if I like or excuse guys like Gates or Fauci. Hardly. But nor do I excuse us, for being the cause of the problem i.e. the Human Condition. I have maybe — maybe — once heard a serious conversation on how to reduce population outside of birth control (as if humans at large were capable of being that responsible when they have a stiffy or a juicy wanting attention). I’ve never heard a discussion of a Who Gets to Breed lottery or anything.

    So of course, the most powerful guys on the planet do the job for us (shittily, of course) because we capitalist consumer societies no longer do anything for or by ourselves (does anyone go poddy without their handroid any more?) and almost always leave it to The Authorities to tell us what to do so we can grudgingly do what they say but only enough to get a passing grade while we gripe about how stupid and awful our leaders are.

    Want something done right, do it yourself. Otherwise, you’ll end up with shape-shifting reptilians in human drag, or at least convincing holograms thereof, doing it for you. Poorly at best; horrifically and more doomfully than the problem needing solution, at worst.

    As an old sociopathic mentor taught me: “Either you have a plan for it or it will have a plan for you — and you probably won’t like its plan.”

    Some call it a Death Cult, and there is surely at least some truth to this, especially since core global power prefers occult concealment of How Power Works just as we prefer not to witness the de facto torture and slaughter of the animals we eat. But what are we peons then? We’re members of a Life Cult: we won’t do our own killing etc. Furthermore, we now increasingly demand robots do our actual LIVING for us. And we breed as we will just as we abort as we will. Always have.

    Who is more sick and wrong: smarmy little brain-damaged Billiam Gates “helping” us, or Average Joe demanding his “rights”? Ha! About rights I feel the same as John Calhoun felt about the equality of all humans

    “Taking the proposition literally (it is in that sense it is understood), there is not a word of truth in
    it.”

    Humanity is a Big Problem that sees itself as the sine qua non and non plus ultra and stercore non olet of not just all things Terran but maybe even the cosmos (unless ET or God(s) sends us a letter proving otherwise. Someone has to clip our wings. If it takes the most ruthlessly selfish among us to do so, is that not fitting?

    Oopsies

    ***

    DocJD: I don’t think Fagen or Rudngren were pandering to any audience. Both have carved from careers from doing just the opposite. I think they’re invested in the Main Paradigm just like 9)%? 99%? 99.9%? of their fellow humans. Only science more dismal than economics is political science, that whore-field of academic banksters, military gangsters, and PR opinion shape-shifters.

    ***

    I asked the woman dropping off her dog for her play-time with my dog, for a hug.

    “WHat’s wrong?”

    “It’s not what’s wrong that counts. We almost never can fix our shit. It’s the hugs that matter.”

    Mugged by a Hugger, Hugged by a Mugger: Hoogie-Moogie is Everywhere!

    #121316
    John Day
    Participant
    #121317
    Bill7
    Participant

    > flora
    November 18, 2022 at 8:21 am

    Thanks for this post. Important stuff.
    And what is a pandemic now (after they changed the definition of pandemic at the WHO)? It’s what ever Tedros or the next guy says it is.
    The WHO’s Pandemic Treaty is still in the works. It must be voted down. Digital IDs must be avoided at the individual level if necessary; without Digital IDs the CBDC doesn’t work, can’t work. (The ‘cross border payments’ argument for CBDCs is a red herring.) All three – CBDCs, digital IDs, Pandemic Treaty – are a comprehensive social control scheme beyond the dreams of the worst men in history. This rollout has been in the works for at least 20 years if the history of coincidental changes in definitions and other aspects are any guide. My 2 cents. The usual suspect Klaus Schwab gave a speech at the G20. <

    From this post: https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2022/11/the-g20-just-pledged-to-build-on-the-success-sic-of-digital-covid-19-certificates.html

    “Oopsies” all around.. 😉 I agree with flora’s comment.

    #121318
    Figmund Sreud
    Participant

    Psst! Psst! … an investment tip by GARTH TURNER, A RAYMOND JAMES FINANCIAL ADVISOR:

    “Putin is a dipstick. And you can do something about it.

    Got a spare hundred bucks? Then consider investing in the new issue of Ukraine Sovereignty Bonds.

    This is a triple-A rated, five-year bond issue from the Government of Canada that will allow you, me, your neighbour and your BIL ( brother-in-law ) to support the people of that broken country.”

    The right things

    The right things

    … fwiw,

    F.S.

    #121319
    Bill7
    Participant

    What were once called (and were, and should only be) Public Works got obscuringly relabeled “Infrastructure” quite awhile back, accompanied by their partial or total transfer to private hands. Nice trick, for a Very Few..

    #121320
    John Day
    Participant

    Boscohorowitz wrote:
    “Some call it a Death Cult, and there is surely at least some truth to this, especially since core global power prefers occult concealment of How Power Works just as we prefer not to witness the de facto torture and slaughter of the animals we eat. But what are we peons then?”

    There may be more answers to that question than the one you proposed.

    He also wrote:
    “DocJD: I don’t think Fagen or Rudngren were pandering to any audience. Both have carved from careers from doing just the opposite. I think they’re invested in the Main Paradigm just like 9)%? 99%? 99.9%? of their fellow humans.”

    Naw, c’mon Man, that’s just too heavy to deal with!

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