Feb 152023
 
 February 15, 2023  Posted by at 9:50 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , ,


Edward Hopper Dawn before Gettysburg 1934

 

Palestine, Ohio Train Wreck: It’s The Dioxin (Coppolino)
Russia Wants UN Probe Into Nord Stream Blasts (RT)
Kiev Readying ‘Great Event’ To Accuse Russia Of Violating Nuclear Safety (TASS)
US Wants to Help Ukraine Retake More Territory Before Negotiating (Antiwar)
US Ambitions Mean Destruction Of Ukraine, Huge Loss Of Life – Zakharova (TASS)
Ban On Access To Bakhmut Prelude To Ukrainian Troop Withdrawal? (TASS)
Stoltenberg Denies NATO Involvement In Conflict With Russia (TASS)
Russia Gives High Marks To Serbia’s Balanced Foreign Policy (TASS)
Snow White and the Wicked Queen (Batiushka)
The Bloody Sore On Humanity’s Conscience (Saker)
Nord Stream Terror Attack: The Plot Thickens (Escobar)
NATO Eyes Fighting Two Wars – Bloomberg (RT)
Snowden Calls UFO Craze A Distraction (RT)
How George Soros’ Propaganda Machine Has Corrupted The Media (Livshitz)
‘World’s First’ Unvaccinated Dating Service Launches in Hawaii (ET)

 

 

 

 

Ohio river
https://twitter.com/i/status/1625327940392067072

 

 

 

 

Is this why the White House is absent?

 

 

Tucker Ohio

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It happened on February 3rd. 12 days ago. Without Twitter, would we even ever have known?

I’m not sure what is the most dangerous chemical involved. But the intentional “flaring off” of the whole thing feels crazy.

Will anybody ever live there again?

Palestine, Ohio Train Wreck: It’s The Dioxin (Coppolino)

Most coverage of the train wreck in Palestine, Ohio is missing one word: dioxin. There were reportedly 14 tanker cars full of vinyl chloride, a precursor to polyvinyl chloride — that is, vinyl. Burning vinyl is the most serious source of dioxin in the environment — whether from trash incinerators, house fires or chemical spills. This mess of 14 tanker cars (really, many more, but 14 had vinyl chloride) was then set on fire by the government, apparently to make it easier to clear the railroad tracks. This was the worst possible decision. It has turned many, many miles into no-man’s land. Note that dioxin goes by several other names, including TCDD and is sometimes abbreviated 2,3,7,8. Dibenzofurans, or furans for short, are identical in their toxicity but spoken about less often.

This is not a local issue. This massive plume will spread far and wide, and is being blown by the prevailing winds across Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York State, toward the population centers of the northeastern U.S. And via land and water, the toxins can spread in many directions, via water, soil movement and air (since the prevailing winds are only an average). And the contamination is so serious that even soil tracking will spread significant amounts. What few people remember is how the town of Times Beach, Missouri was evacuated, purchased by the federal government, leveled and had its zip code removed, from far, far less dioxin contamination. It’s now a state park, though I’m not sure who would want to have a picnic there.


[..] Neil Donahue, a professor of chemistry at Carnegie Mellon University in nearby Pittsburgh, said he worries that the burning could have formed dioxins, which are created from burning chlorinated carbon materials. “Vinyl chloride is bad, dioxins are worse as carcinogens and that comes from burning,” Donahue said. Dioxins are a group of persistent environmental pollutants that last in the ground and body for years and have been one of the major environmental problems and controversies in the United States. Dr. Lynn Goldman, dean of George Washington University’s School of Public Health, agrees this is a possible risk, but is more concerned about uncombusted vinyl chloride vapors that could be lurking in the immediate vicinity. “Until there has been a thorough assessment, the soot as well as any other materials should in my opinion be treated as contaminated by vinyl chloride and/or dioxins or other contaminants until proven otherwise,” she said.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1625303244267220992

https://twitter.com/i/status/1625553361641537536

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“..Stoltenberg announced the formation of a new “coordination cell” to work on securing undersea infrastructure..”

Russia Wants UN Probe Into Nord Stream Blasts (RT)

The Russian parliament’s committee for international relations has approved a motion to ask the UN Security Council for an investigation into last September’s explosions on the Baltic Sea pipelines, for which they blame the US. The motion was introduced on Tuesday and is expected to be approved by the State Duma later this week. The proposal describes the blasts as “an act of international terrorism” and a “monstrous sabotage,” calling on the UN to hold accountable both those who gave the order and those who carried it out. The criminal act has threatened the security of all Eurasia, TASS reported, quoting the text of the document. US President Joe Biden’s administration “gave the illegal order and bears full responsibility for the multi-billion-dollar damage to the infrastructure of Russia, Germany, France and the Netherlands,” according to the document.

It describes the pipeline sabotage as inflicting long-term damage to the security, economy and environment of the entire region. The lawmakers are referring to last week’s expose by American investigative reporter Seymour Hersh, who described how the pipelines were damaged in a joint operation between the US and Norway. US actions require “a thorough international investigation, punishment of those responsible and compensation for the damage caused.” The committee has requested putting their proposal on the agenda of Thursday’s session of the State Duma, where it may be up for a vote. A series of explosions heavily damaged both Nord Stream pipelines, which were built under the Baltic Sea to deliver Russian natural gas to Germany and the rest of the EU.

The blasts happened near the Danish island of Bornholm, in an area where the US Navy and its NATO allies conducted BALTOPS 22 exercises several months prior. Last week, Hersh described how American divers planted the explosives under the cover of the naval exercise, saying they were later activated by a Norwegian patrol airplane. When Hersh asked the US government for comment, it denounced the story as “fiction” and “false.” It has received little to no media attention in the West since. On Monday, NATO’s secretary-general – and former Norwegian prime minister – Jens Stoltenberg announced the formation of a new “coordination cell” to work on securing undersea infrastructure.

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No surprise. They call for a special session, just in time for Russia to be accused.

Kiev Readying ‘Great Event’ To Accuse Russia Of Violating Nuclear Safety (TASS)

Kiev, backed by the US, is preparing a provocation (“a great event”) ahead of the 11th special session of the UN General Assembly to accuse Russia of violating nuclear safety during the special military operation in Ukraine, the Joint Coordination Headquarters for Humanitarian Response said in a statement on Tuesday. “The Kiev regime, supported by the US and European countries, is wrapping up preparations of a major media provocation (“a great event”) to accuse the Russian Federation, ahead of the start of work of the eleventh extraordinary special session of the UN General Assembly on February 22, of allegedly ‘gross violation’ of commitments of the Nuclear Safety Convention during the special military operation,” the statement said.

It also said representatives of the Kiev regime planned to provide some “substantial evidence” to the world community, which will purport to prove that “as a result of actions by Russian servicemen at the Chernobyl NPP and in the exclusion zone in February-April 2022, a radioactive contamination of significant territories of Ukraine took place.” The purpose of the provocation is mainly to create a negative background by forcing countries that didn’t support sanctions against the Russian Federation to vote for the Kiev “peace formula” at the upcoming 11th special session of the UN General Assembly. In addition, Kiev is hoping for further initiatives for the illegal confiscation of Russian assets abroad to “support Ukraine” and the creation of an “international tribunal”.

The special session of the UN General Assembly on Ukraine will begin its work on February 22. According to Paulina Kubiak, a spokesperson for the President of the General Assembly, the request to hold the session came from some Western countries on February 10.

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Crime(a).

US Wants to Help Ukraine Retake More Territory Before Negotiating (Antiwar)

The Washington Post reported on Monday that Biden administration officials say they want to help Ukraine retake as much territory as it can from Russia over the next few months before they sit down at the negotiation table with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The report, which cited unnamed Biden administration officials, said that some “optimists” think Ukraine can stop Russian advances in the east, regain territory in the south, and negotiate a deal by the end of the year. But there are “skeptics” who recognize that Russia has been reinforcing its positions with hundreds of thousands of troops. Russia has been making more gains around the eastern Donetsk city of Bakhmut, where Ukrainian forces have been taking heavy casualties.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Russia has started its long-awaited offensive, but it’s not clear if Russia has launched a major push or the momentum is just on its side in Bakhmut, where Russian and Ukrainian forces have been locked in battle for months. Ukraine’s Western backers, including those in the Biden administration, think Kyiv has been sinking too many resources in the battle of Bakhmut and want them to focus elsewhere. The Post report said that American military analysts and planners think it’s unrealistic for Ukraine to continue defending Bakhmut and launch a spring counteroffensive in another area. The report said that the Biden administration conveyed to Ukraine that it might not be able to receive the massive amount of assistance Washington has provided indefinitely.

“We will continue to try to impress upon them that we can’t do anything and everything forever,” an administration official said. The message to Ukraine is that they face a pivotal moment in the war, and the recent weapons packages and ones that will soon be announced will give them their best chance to turn the tide. The US has recently pledged a series of massive arms packages to Ukraine that include longer-range missiles, Abrams tanks, and Bradley fighting vehicles, although some of the equipment could take years to deliver. The report cited conservative Republicans who have said they want to stop providing aid and the fact that it’s not clear how long Europe can support the war as reasons why the assistance might not continue at these levels. This message comes despite constant pledges from the US and its allies that they will support Ukraine for “as long as it takes.”

“‘As long as it takes’ pertains to the amount of conflict. It doesn’t pertain to the amount of assistance,” the administration official said. There are other signs that the US is thinking about an end game for the war, including recent comments from Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL), the head of the House Armed Services Committee. Rogers suggested the US and NATO should pressure Ukraine on what victory will look like, which he said should help “drive Putin and Zelensky to the table to end this thing this summer.” Ukrainian officials have maintained their goal is to drive Russia out of all the territory it controls, including Crimea. But officials in the US don’t think taking Crimea is a realistic goal. Any deal that Russia and Ukraine reach in the future would likely involve Kyiv ceding more territory than it would have if an agreement was reached earlier in the war or if the Minsk agreements were implemented before the Russian invasion. The Minsk agreements were drawn up to end the Donbas war and would have involved Kyiv ceding autonomy to separatists in the east, but the region would have remained part of Ukraine.

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“..American neoliberals destroyed Ukraine and are exterminating Ukrainian people..”

US Ambitions Mean Destruction Of Ukraine, Huge Loss Of Life – Zakharova (TASS)

American ambitions have led to enormous fatalities and the annihilation of Ukraine, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Tuesday. “The so-called ‘West’s war against Russia until the last Ukrainian.’ American neoliberals destroyed Ukraine and are exterminating Ukrainian people. American hegemonic ambitions lead to colossal victims,” she wrote on her Telegram channel commenting on a statement by one of the White House officials that the US is pushing Kiev to more active combat.

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“..the Ukrainian military cannot secure even areas in the city that had been considered relatively safe before..”

Ban On Access To Bakhmut Prelude To Ukrainian Troop Withdrawal? (TASS)

The ban on civilian and volunteer access to Artyomovsk (known as Bakhmut in Ukraine) imposed by Kiev on Monday could be a prelude to a Ukrainian withdrawal from the city, the New York Times reported. According to the newspaper, the decision to ban civilians from entering the city may suggest that the Ukrainian military cannot secure even areas in the city that had been considered relatively safe before, such as districts on the western bank of the Bakhmutka River. The New York Times quoted the Russian Defense Ministry as saying that the village of Krasnaya Gora, lying north of Artyomovsk, had been taken by Russian troops.


Ukraine’s Klymenko Time news outlet reported on Sunday, citing a Ukrainian commander who goes under the nickname of Madyar, that the military would close access to Artyomovsk for all civilians, including volunteers, starting on Monday. Only those having a special permit will be able to enter the city, the news outlet added. According to it, the ban is needed to guarantee security to civilians.

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And neither is the arms industry.

Stoltenberg Denies NATO Involvement In Conflict With Russia (TASS)

NATO does not consider itself a party to the conflict with Russia but will keep supplying more advanced and heavier weaponry to Ukraine, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said upon his arrival at a meeting of the bloc’s defense ministers on Tuesday. “Neither NATO nor NATO allies are party to the conflict. What we do as NATO allies and NATO, is to provide support to Ukraine. Ukraine is defending itself. Ukraine has the right to defend itself. And of course, we have the right to help Ukraine uphold the right for self-defense. So NATO and NATO allies are not party to the conflict, but we support Ukraine in the right of self-defense,” the NATO chief said, replying to a corresponding question. The type of weapons supplied to Ukraine “has evolved as the war has evolved,” Stoltenberg said.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1625406892087320581

“In the beginning there was enormous focus on javelins, on anti-tank, light anti-tank weapons, and then we saw the urgent need for artillery and allies started to step up the delivery of advanced modern artillery. Then air defense has been a main focus and now heavy weaponry…,” he said. As Stoltenberg said, “actually since 2014, NATO has implemented the biggest reinforcements of collective defense in a generation, because the war didn’t start in February last year. It started in 2014.” Tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and munitions are now a NATO priority in weaponry deliveries to Ukraine, Stoltenberg said. “So the issue of aircraft is not the most urgent issue now. But it is an ongoing discussion. We have ongoing consultations among allies on the type of systems allies should deliver to Ukraine,” he said. “The urgent need now is to deliver what has always been promised” and this “will be a top issue at the meetings today here at NATO,” Stoltenberg said.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1625404892348137474

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Serbia, Hungary. Expect regime change.

Russia Gives High Marks To Serbia’s Balanced Foreign Policy (TASS)

Russia highly appreciates Belgrade’s balanced foreign policy under complex international circumstances, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a telegram to his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vucic sent on the occasion of Serbia’s Statehood Day. According to the Serbian leader’s press service, the telegram was presented to Vucic by Russian Ambassador to Belgrade Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko on Tuesday. “Please accept sincere greetings on the occasion of your country’s national holiday, Statehood Day. Serbia is Russia’s important and reliable partner. We greatly cherish the balanced foreign policy course conducted by Belgrade under the current complex international circumstances.


“We support your efforts directed at defending the country’s territorial integrity and resolving the Kosovo issue. I am confident that the further development of the Russian-Serbian strategic partnership fully corresponds to the interests of our fraternal peoples,” the telegram said. “I sincerely wish you good health and success as well as well-being and prosperity to all Serbian citizens,” the Russian leader said. Statehood Day is marked in Serbia on February 15 and 16 commemorating the First Serbian Uprising (1804-1813) which launched the country’s fight for independence from the Ottoman Empire. Serbia’s first constitution was approved on February 15, 1835.

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Nice parabel.

Snow White and the Wicked Queen (Batiushka)

Now it came to pass that a Prince who was travelling in the mountains with his soldiers happened onto the Kings’ House, where he sought shelter for the night. He saw the coffin with Snow White in it and read what was written on it with golden letters. Then he said to the Three Kings: ‘Let me buy the coffin from you. I will give you anything you want for it’. But the Kings answered: ‘We will not sell it for all the gold in the world’. Then he said, ‘Then give it to me, for I cannot live without being able to see Snow White. I will honour her and respect her as my most cherished one’. When he said this, the good Kings felt sorry for him and gave him the coffin. The Prince had his soldiers carry it away on their shoulders. But then one of them stumbled over a stone and that freed the piece of poisoned apple which had lodged in Snow White’s throat.

At once she coughed it up, opened her eyes, lifted the lid from her coffin, sat up and was alive again. ‘Good heavens, where am I?’ she cried out. The Prince said joyfully: ‘You are with me’. He told her what had happened, and then said: ‘I love you more than anything in the world. Come with me to my castle and we shall be King and Queen’. Snow White fell in love with him and went with him. When they got to the castle, the people were very happy and they invited the whole world to their wedding feast.Now the Wicked Queen in the West was also invited to the wedding feast and when she had arrayed herself in her most beautiful garments, she stood before her mirror and said: ‘Mirror, mirror, on the wall, Who’s the strongest of them all?’ The mirror answered: ‘You, my Queen, are not strong at all, it is true. And the young Queen is much, much stronger than you’.

The Wicked Queen was furious. Not knowing that the young Queen was Snow White, she went to the wedding to try and kill her. But as soon as she saw her, she realised that she was Snow White. And at once the vain heart of the Wicked Queen filled with the deepest dread and she died in a rage of narcissism. So, at last freed from her wickedness, the Kingdom of the West began to make friends with the Three Kings of the North, South and East. Having forgotten the Wicked Queen completely, he became the Fourth King. The whole Family was together again at last. And soon after that the Four Kings took wives and were very happy. As for the King and Queen Snow White, every year on the anniversary of their freedom from wickedness, they would hold a huge ball to which they invited the Four Kings from the Four Kingdoms of the world and all their families. And there they would all make merry and the music and the feasting and the singing and the dancing and the laughing would last until dawn. And so they lived happily ever after.

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“..the Woke ideology is following Dubya’s “you are either with us or with the terrorists“, but on steroids..”

The Bloody Sore On Humanity’s Conscience (Saker)

Each society, each country has at least two foundational bases: an official ideology and a number of foundational myths (and these myths can be very close to the historical truth or not). In the case of the West (roughly Zone A), the official ideology is “western liberal democracy” (itself based on a lionization of capitalism and “free market values”). However, once we look “under the hood”, so to speak, we see that since its birth in the Middle-Ages the foundational myth of the West has been exceptionalism and its inevitable by-product, imperialism. And it does not matter one bit what verbiage this myth has been wrapped it. It can be the demented claims of universal authority the Papacy, or the so-called “universal values” (aka human rights) of Freemasonry, the racial superiority of the Nazis or globalist agenda of the transnational financiers.

The past two decades or so have, however, seen a very interesting phenomenon: the wholesale abandonment of any “pious” ideology other than the minimal lip-service needed to show a (totally non-existing) loyalty to any values. That is, however, not to say that no ideology currently exists. It does, very much so, but it is one *openly* based on hatred of the “other”. I am talking, of course, of the Woke ideology which is so powerfully expressed by the actions of the “Biden” Administration. The Woke ideology is not different from its predecessors by its underlying hatred of the “other” (all the previous western ideologies were also based on that hatred of the “other”), but by its unapologetic proclamation of this hatred. You could say that the Woke ideology is following Dubya’s “you are either with us or with the terrorists“, but on steroids.

And like all western ideologies, the Woke ideology demands that you not only accept a lie (many lies, in fact), but that you also loudly proclaim it. And, of course, the bigger the lie, the more vociferously it is proclaimed urbi et orbi.Again, this is hardly anything new but, as Hegelian dialectics affirms, quantity can have a quality of its own. We clearly see this today in the post-Christian society all of Zone A lives in: not only are falsehoods proclaimed as “secular dogma”, but the very notion of “truth” has lost any meaning. To repeat, while in the past the rulers of the West did proclaim and even impose ideologies based on lies, today these same rulers have basically retired the very *concept* of “truth” in any other meaning than “in agreement with the official party line/narrative”.

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“..the terror attack planning preceded, by months, not only the SMO..”

It had nothing to do with the SMO. Or Ukraine. It was about Germany. Who are now silent.

Nord Stream Terror Attack: The Plot Thickens (Escobar)

The Special Military Operation (SMO) was launched on February 24, almost a year ago. The Nord Stream 1 and 2 blow up happened on September 26. Hersh assures there were “more than nine months of highly secret back and forth debate inside Washington’s national security community about how to ‘sabotage the pipelines’”. So that confirms that the terror attack planning preceded, by months, not only the SMO but, crucially, the letters sent by Moscow to Washington on December 2022, requesting a serious discussion on “indivisibility of security” involving NATO, Russia and the post-Soviet space. The request was met by a dismissive American non-response response.

While he was writing the story of a terror response to a serious geopolitical issue, it does raise eyebrows that a first-rate pro like Hersh does not even bother to examine the complex geopolitical background. In a nutshell: the ultimate Mackinderian anathema for the U.S. ruling classes – and that’s bipartisan – is a Germany-Russia alliance, extended to China: that would mean the U.S. expelled from Eurasia, and that conditions everything any American government thinks and does in terms of NATO and Russia. Hersh should also have noticed that the timing of the preparation to “sabotage the pipelines” completely blows apart the official United States government narrative, according to which this a collective West effort to help Ukraine against “unprovoked Russian aggression”.

The narrative leaves no doubt that Hersh’s source – if not the journalist himself – supports what is considered a lawful U.S. policy: to fight Russia’s “threat to Western dominance [in Europe].” So what seems a U.S. Navy covert op, according to the narrative, may have been misguided not because of serious geopolitical reasons; but because the attack planning intentionally evaded U.S. law “requiring Congress to be informed”. That’s an extremely parochial interpretation of international relations. Or, to be blunt: that’s an apology of Exceptionalism. And that brings us to what may be the Rosebud in this Orson Welles-worthy saga. Hersh refers to a “secure room on the top floor of the Old Executive Office Building …that was also the home of the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board”. This was supposedly the place where the terror attack planning was being discussed.

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“NATO defense ministers will also discuss in Brussels a boost in military spending by member states..”

NATO Eyes Fighting Two Wars – Bloomberg (RT)

NATO is set to adopt a guidance that lays out plans for a scenario in which member states find themselves fighting on the home front and beyond the borders of the alliance at the same time, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday. This comes as the US increasingly shifts its priorities to confronting China. The classified document is to be discussed and signed off on by NATO defense ministers during a two-day summit in Brussels that starts on Tuesday, the news outlet reported. Members will be asked to prepare national plans for future military engagements. The guidance will map out ways for NATO to engage in a “high-intensity so-called Article 5 conflict” – defending a NATO nation attacked by a foreign party under the treaty’s mutual defense provision – and “an out-of-area, non-Article 5 event.” The contents of the guideline were revealed to Bloomberg by “people familiar with the matter.”

While NATO bills itself as a defensive alliance, it has an extensive record of engaging in hostilities on foreign soil, including in Yugoslavia in the 1990s and against Libya in 2011. Critics regard the bloc as a tool of US foreign policy that is aligned with Washington’s goals and in rivalry with China and Russia. “The Americans get what they were aiming for,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov remarked in an interview earlier this month, discussing NATO’s increasing reach. “There are military blocs being created against China and Russia in the Asian Pacific region, like AUKUS. There is a drive to drag new members into them.” The ability to fight a two-theater war was at the core of US military planning during the Cold War.

Think tanks and US officials pushed the strategic objective of having a military force strong enough for two simultaneous ground conflicts, arguing for higher Pentagon budgets and against spending cuts. According to Bloomberg’s sources, NATO defense ministers will also discuss in Brussels a boost in military spending by member states. Countries that fail to meet the target of 2% of GDP would be pressured to accept this level as a mandatory floor rather than merely as a recommendation. Such a change may be adopted during a summit of NATO leaders in Vilnius in July, the outlet said. The structure of spending would be pushed towards increased procurement of weapons by European allies, according to the article, since the US “may decide to move some of its assets” from the continent closer to China.

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You don’t say…

Snowden Calls UFO Craze A Distraction (RT)

The media frenzy over “spy balloons” and unidentified flying objects over North America is sadly not about first contact with extraterrestrials, but an engineered panic for political misdirection, NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden argued on Monday. “It’s not aliens. I wish it were aliens. But it’s not aliens. It’s just the ol’ engineered panic, an attractive nuisance ensuring [national security] reporters get assigned to investigate balloon bullshit rather than budgets or bombings” such as the Nord Stream, Snowden tweeted. Award-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh published a story last week describing how the US and Norway blew up the pipelines transporting Russian natural gas to Germany last September. The US government denounced it as false.

Over the next several days, the US military began shooting down “objects” in the sky over North America. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said on Monday that the US government still doesn’t know who owns the three “objects” brought down over the weekend. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said there was “no indication of aliens or extraterrestrial activity,” however. Kirby had announced the downing of a “high-altitude object” off the coast of Alaska on Friday. US fighter jets brought down an “unidentified, unmanned object” over Yukon in northwest Canada on Saturday. The third “object” was shot down on Sunday afternoon over Lake Huron, as it approached Michigan. “While authorities don’t yet know what the objects are, they are not a threat,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters on Monday.

“They do not present a military threat to anyone on the ground. They do however present a risk to civil aviation and potentially an intelligence collection threat. And we’ll get to the bottom of it,” he added. Austin also said the three “objects” were different from the Chinese “spy balloon” the US shot down over South Carolina last week. The aerostat, which Beijing described as a weather balloon blown off-course by the winds, had passed over most of the continental US before it was destroyed by a F-22 fighter jet. The Pentagon’s reluctance to describe the “objects” or show any debris that may have been recovered has fueled speculation about their possible extraterrestrial origin. Space magnate Elon Musk joked about “friends of mine” stopping by.

Meanwhile, opposition lawmakers have expressed frustration at the lack of official explanations by the White House. Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, who sits on the Homeland Security Committee, demanded the Pentagon and the president “tell us what they know – and what they don’t – immediately.” “What in the world is going on?” wondered fellow Kentuckian and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on the Senate floor. “The administration has still not been able to divulge any meaningful information about what was shot down,” he said, asking if the radar sensitivity may have been turned up after the Chinese balloon incident.

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”..Newsbusters lists Project Syndicate as the biggest propaganda platform funded by the Hungarian..”

How George Soros’ Propaganda Machine Has Corrupted The Media (Livshitz)

A new report from the US-based Newsbusters has exposed a vast web of media and activist organizations, funded with millions of dollars, annually, by the billionaire George Soros. The outlet bills itself as “an online rapid-response vehicle for documenting, exposing, and neutralizing liberal bias in the media.” The extensive global influence of the Hungarian tycoon is well-known, and Soros himself has admitted it on countless occasions – including boasts about his efforts in Ukraine. Soros openly declared his role in promoting the 2014 US-orchestrated Maidan coup in Kiev, stating at the time: “I set up a foundation in Ukraine before Ukraine became independent of Russia [sic]. The foundation has been functioning ever since. And it played an important part in events now.”

In a lengthy interview with the New York Times in October of 2019, Soros explained: “The arc of history doesn’t follow its own course [and] needs to be bent,” and he was “engaged in trying to bend it in the right direction.” The Newsbuster report identifies the hundreds of media, humanitarian, and social justice organizations that Soros funds annually and asserts that his donations allow him to “wield massive power over information in international politics,” and “mold public opinion on practically every continent and in many languages.” Who gets the money? Newsbusters lists Project Syndicate as the biggest propaganda platform funded by the Hungarian. It styles itself as “the world’s opinion page” and has a “global audience” that includes “prominent politicians, policymakers, scholars, business leaders, and civic activists from six continents” and “over 140 heads of state.”

From 2016 – 2020, he funneled at least $1.5 million to the outlet. It actively promoted abortion, criticism of Israel and pushed for global climate lockdowns during this period. The Poynter Institute is also at the top of this list, which Newsbusters condemns as “a global Soros-backed Ministry of Truth.” It received $492,000 during the same period. This money was used to finance Poynter’s International Fact-Checking Network, which brings together 100 so-called “fact-checkers”. The network includes the controversial PolitiFact, and actively works with major social media platforms to boost their operations, while censoring alternative voices and opinions. Newsbusters argues that these initiatives in reality serve only to restrict opinions on issues like abortion, transgenderism, and COVID-19. The reports also points out that there is significant academic research to suggest fact-checking does not stop the spread of false information online, raising questions about why so many organizations and wealthy individuals pump huge amounts of money into such entities in the first place.

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Unjected. How much for blood transfusions? Donor organs?

‘World’s First’ Unvaccinated Dating Service Launches in Hawaii (ET)

Nowadays, online dating seems less a game of hit or miss than medical truth or dare, given the deal-breaker question, “Are you vaccinated?” Businesswomen Shelby Thomson and Heather Pyle of Maui, Hawaii, found the online dating game a frustrating experience for the un-jabbed at the height of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout in 2021. Faced with discrimination and censorship, many unvaccinated people lost jobs and relationships because they chose to remain unvaccinated. The un-jabbed “didn’t have the option to say they were unvaccinated” to potential online dating partners, Thomson said. “They were only allowed to be vaccinated. And you had to have this badge in your [online] profile.” Too often, the unvaccinated would hear on dating sites, “Swipe left”—move on.

In May 2021, the two business partners, moms, and best friends launched “Unjected,” a dating app for the unvaccinated, on the Google and Apple stores. “We started seeing people wanting to find partners,” Thomson said of their unvaccinated friends. However, soon after the app’s launch, Thomson and Pyle started receiving hate emails, then negative publicity in the media. Apple decided to remove “Unjected” from the app store, claiming it provided medical disinformation. “We tailored everything and played this chess game until it [met] Apple standards,” Thomson recalled. But it still wasn’t enough. “It took us until July 31 to get banned.”

When Google threatened to follow suit, Thomson and Pyle pulled the plug on both media giants, and Unjected.com went live using the web domain host GoDaddy in August 2021. “We decided—OK—the big-tech world is not our friend. They don’t want us to exist in this realm. They’ll always go out of their way to ensure we’re censored or taken down.” Thomson said “Unjected” is more than a dating service for the unvaccinated. It’s also a blood bank database and a fertility bank for the unvaccinated. The dating service alone boasts 110,000 subscriptions in 85 countries and 3,000 to 5,000 new clientele every month, Thomson said.


SB99 in TN is a must-pass bill, requiring labeling on all meat that contains mRNA vaccines. Idaho S.1018 is similiar.

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Assange

 

 

Chickens

 

 

 

 

Rob Roos
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Home Forums Debt Rattle February 15 2023

Viewing 28 posts - 41 through 68 (of 68 total)
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  • #129142
    John Day
    Participant

    Charles Hugh Smith envisions “A World Without Finance”
    ​ ​Given its parasitic, predatory nature, it’s not surprising that finance is the primary engine of extreme wealth-income inequality. The fortunes of the few assembled over the past two decades largely trace back to the expansion of debt and leverage (i.e. financialization) which emphasizes marketing as consumption expands not from earnings but from the expansion of debt and leverage.
    ​ ​The problem is parasitic, predatory finance is inherently unstable, as it destabilizes the real economy by distorting every level of regulation and governance and deranges incentives to reward the least civic-minded, the least ethical and the sleaziest self-absorbed gamblers, those who demand a bailout when their private gains turn into private losses.
    ​ ​We’re too big to fail, they whine, and the naive public bought that fraud in 2008-09.
    ​ ​I predict a wholesale eradication of finance once the public digs its way out of the ashes of an economy burnt to the ground by financialization. Finance and central banking will be truncated, limited to the core functions of greasing commerce and the construction of productive assets. All the weaponry of parasitic swindles, all the skims and scams of derivatives, swaps, corporate buybacks, etc. will no longer be allowed. Speculative gains will be so heavily taxed that those seeking wealth will be driven to actually generate real-world goods and services rather than financial frauds.
    http://charleshughsmith.blogspot.com/2023/02/a-world-without-finance.html

    Diana Johnstone writes about the peace rally in Washington DC this Sunday at the Lincoln Memorial. There is squabbling, rather than unity. Whose interests are served by squabbling in those who want peace, rather than war? Thanks Eleni.
    ​ ​If the Feb. 19 rally to end the war in Ukraine fails it will not be a success for other antiwar organizations that disagree with the Libertarian Party. It will only show that internal divisions can unravel every hope.

    DIANA JOHNSTONE: Demonstrate Together

    ​ There is video of sparks and flames coming from the wheels and undercarriage of one of the rail cars onf the train in Ohio last week, 20 miles before it derailed.​
    New toxins are identified. Gevernment won’t talk to citizens in East Palestine or the national news.
    “Get The Hell Out Of There” – Ohio’s Apocalyptic Chemical Disaster Rages On
    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/ohios-apocalyptic-chemical-disaster-rages

    ​ When PVC (poly-vinyl-chloride) burns, Dioxin is a combustion-product. Dioxin is also a combustion product of vinyl-chloride.
    ​ ​Palestine, Ohio train wreck: It’s the dioxin​ ​
    It’s not just what was in the tanker cars. It’s what happens when they burn and combine. This may be the largest dioxin plume in world history.
    https://planetwavesfm.substack.com/p/palestine-ohio-train-wreck-its-the

    #129143
    John Day
    Participant

    ​ 6 months ago, this would have been reasonable. Now it is magical thinking.​
    ​ ​The Washington Post reported on Monday that Biden administration officials say they want to help Ukraine retake as much territory as it can from Russia over the next few months before they sit down at the negotiation table with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
    ​ ​The report, which cited unnamed Biden administration officials, said that some “optimists” think Ukraine can stop Russian advances in the east, regain territory in the south, and negotiate a deal by the end of the year. But there are “skeptics” who recognize that Russia has been reinforcing its positions with hundreds of thousands of troops.
    ​ ​Russia has been making more gains around the eastern Donetsk city of Bakhmut, where Ukrainian forces have been taking heavy casualties. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Russia has started its long-awaited offensive, but it’s not clear if Russia has launched a major push or the momentum is just on its side in Bakhmut.

    US Wants to Help Ukraine Retake More Territory Before Negotiating With Putin

    ​ Christine sent this article anticipating the Russian offensive, and laying out options for routes of attack, and what defenses would stand in the way. The ending scenarios of import are that Russia finishes taking Donbass and the territories now politically reintegrated to Russia, that Russia takes the entire Black Sea coastline, including Odessa, which would include the predominantly ethnic Russian areas, and that Russia takes that and everything east of the Dnieper river.​
    ​ It is worth pointing out that Russia can stage 3 fronts of attack simultaneously and still hold large, mobile reserve forces. Russia has taken steps to establish complete dominance of the air, with reactivation of mothballed Mig-29s (like F-16s). Russia would then be able to press forward rapidly wherever resistance was weakest. Ukrainian forces are reportedly exhausted, demoralized and mostly untrained at this point.​
    NATO does not want to declare war on Russia, and can’t sustain such a war with conventional land forces.
    Russia will fulfil her stated goal of liberating all 4 provinces which have been politically added to the Russian Federation, and will likely do that first. That is not negotiable to Russia at this point.
    Secret negotiations are rumored to be ongoing. Zelensky has been making a tour of European capitals, which would facilitate that, though the Ukrainian forces are a NATO proxy army. It may be that such negotiations are to stall for time, waiting for the ground to turn to mud, but time is otherwise on Russia’s side.
    It seems to me that Russia is leaving open the option to stop at her declared national boundaries, but will require a demilitarization and “neutrality of Ukraine, with strict policing. Transnistria, along Moldova’s Ukrainian border, will need to be protected to Russian satisfaction. Putin’s February 24 speech approaches.
    ​ ​It’s clearer than ever that the West is hitting the panic button. With increased solemnity, the Western ‘mainstream’ titans are souring in their reportage of the war like wilting dandelions—headlines not only reeling back the earlier pomp and machismo of a certified victory, but now striking notes of urgency and doubt into their clouding forecasts for the war’s future.
    ​ ​Almost in unison, they now agree that “the next 3 months” will be the “critical turning point of the war”, one way or another. Some Western factions are beginning to float out more than just ‘feelers’ to their audience, to acclimatize them to Ukraine’s ensuing defeat.
    https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/tempered-outcomes-and-shaken-confidence

    ​ Who decides and orders something like a nuclear-provocation, and who dies from it?​
    ​ ​Russia says Kiev is readying ‘great event’ to accuse Russia of violating nuclear safety
    ​ ​The purpose of the provocation is mainly to create a negative background by forcing countries that didn’t support sanctions against the Russian Federation to vote for the Kiev “peace formula” at the upcoming 11th special session of the UN General Assembly
    https://tass.com/world/1576307

    ​ Pepe Escobar looks further into Seymore Hersh’ investigative report on the long-preplanned Nordstream Pipeline bombing sabotage (not “terrorist” attacks).​
    The report reveals a limited institutional perspective. It has been pointed out that involvement must have been much wider within NATO than what is reported.
    Hersh refers to a “secure room on the top floor of the Old Executive Office Building …that was also the home of the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board”.

    Nord Stream Terror Attack: The Plot Thickens



    Christine sent this article about Erdogan’s political fortunes, with fall elections looming, and 40,000 now estimated to have died. Eleni in Athens says that her connections in the Greek military suspect that the earthquake may have been induced to punish Turkey for doing business with Russia. Who can know?​ Erdogan already knows who his enemies are since the 2016 assassination attempt. What can he do to bolster his friendships this spring?
    ​ ​The full impact of the recent earthquake that hit both Turkiye and Syria has yet to be fully assessed, but the Turkish Republic has already sustained significant damage that could have long-lasting political effects.
    https://thecradle.co/article-view/21378/amid-turkiyes-rubble-lies-erdogans-political-fate

    #129144
    John Day
    Participant

    Tessa Lena, ​ “I’m Not Going to Stop”: A Conversation with Attorney Jeff Childers (Coffee & Covid)
    Prior to 2020, Jeff focused on his very successful practice as a business lawyer in Florida. When Alachua County, the county in Florida where he lives, instituted a mask mandate, Jeff felt a spiritual pull to stand up to tyranny—and so he filed his first case against a government entity.
    Being thrust into constitutional law, in June 2021, he won the first case in the U.S. against mask mandates, Green v. Alachua County, First District Court of Appeal.
    https://tessa.substack.com/p/im-not-going-to-stop-jeff-childers

    Meryl Nass MD: (There will be a 15 minute segment on how to start a successful and productive vegetable garden That’s my “fighting back”.
    A teaser notice: I am producing a Symposium on the Attack on Food and Agriculture–and how to fight back, on Saturday, March 4
    https://merylnass.substack.com/p/a-teaser-notice-i-am-producing-a

    ​Revolting Vegetarian (pictured with weaponized daikon in new kitchen)​
    revolting vegetarian

    #129145
    John Day
    Participant

    @Phoenixvoice: You got Married! 🙂

    @DBS: Knives don’t kill people; people kill knives.

    @Dr D Rich: You win.

    #129146
    John Day
    Participant

    For Germ ;-(
    Boy who survived 18 days in flooded Thai cave five years ago and died in Britain aged 17 after winning football academy scholarship had been found unconscious on the floor of his UK dormitory
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11754703/Boy-rescued-Thai-cave-died-Britain-five-years-later-unconscious-dormitory.html

    #129147
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    You need this: Dimples

    This is wisdom. This is like Jesus walking on water with his dick hanging out and seriously getting jiggy on that dance floor:

    #129148
    aspnaz
    Participant

    phoenixvoice said

    And since the people are not stupid, when they figure out what is going on they will be very, very angry and many of them have the intelligence necessary to realize that the means to address this corruption is not violence, but rather by using the legal apparatus that already exists.

    Fighting violence with the legal system? Not going to work. The legal system is allowing them to use violence against you, yet you think that the same legal system is going to protect you? That is highly illogical captain. The only way to fight violence is with violence, anything else is flying the white flag. Do you seriously think that the people in Pfizer trying to murder the population are going to be prosecuted by the legal system? Do you think that corporate corruption of congress is going to be fixed by the legal system? They own the legal system, they make the laws and they have the power to prevent enforcement. Have you ever noticed how all laws simply state what the people cannot do, they do not document the punishment that should be meeted out to government people who do not enforce the law, that bit is up to the discretion of the corrupt people in government.

    Violence is the only remedy but it is not time yet, but we will get there very quickly, like a tsunami of violence. One person takes out the doctor who injected and killed his wife, then a second, then suddenly there will be loads of it happening everywhere with government people being taken out, it all depends on how much people feel they have to lose. People are losing already and as they get closer to the nothing-to-lose line the more violence will occur. For this reason the corrupt government and oligarchs are very careful not to push the people too far, but we shall see how that goes as the violence against the people continues to ramp up.

    #129149
    Germ
    Participant

    Dave Hollis, Former Disney Distribution Exec, Dies at 47

    “he had been hospitalized recently for heart problems.”

    https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/dave-hollis-former-disney-distribution-chief-dies-at-47-1235324966/

    TVASF 😉

    #129150
    Germ
    Participant

    Football in shock! “He was clinically dead”

    “AEK Athens fullback Oleg Danchenko, 28, on loan to Zarya Lugansk has collapsed during training for stroke. Saved by defibrillator, he is now in intensive care.”

    Calcio sotto shock! C.rolla in allenamento per i.nfarto f.ulminante. “Era clinicamente m.orto”

    TVASF

    #129151
    kultsommer
    Participant

    “Do you think that CORPORATE corruption of congress is going to be fixed by the legal system?”
    Way to go oxy!
    See that was easy.

    #129152
    Dr. D
    Participant

    Bishko, excellent run down. I have a lot of questions myself, which is partially because nobody’s reporting on it. But image you show up, 11pm in the dark on the side of a mountain to a extreme toxic spill. What do you do? It’s explosive, another car is on fire, and it’s leaking into the creek already. You have 5 minutes. Don’t worry: everyone in America will be second guessing you.

    That, my sir, is rough.

    Surplus energy is a good rundown, accurate in every way I’m aware of. Now if you’re a high-level person or planner, what do you DO about it? You think: we already bought another generation outsourcing ruin to China. Yet if everything rises and all living standards fall, that’s no profit and non-stop trouble for everyone. Isn’t it the responsible thing to keep order, “continuity of government” arrange the systems of order like surveillance? And not just for me and my palatial estate, but for the good of everyone? Yes? And that’s how it starts, doesn’t it?

    Bill Gates says not only is he in the position to have a private jet, which he could argue for necessity and time-saving service he can provide, but instead that his having one really is saving the earth! And your having one does not! Literally, the article was published this week. So goes with control, useless eaters, all the way down. Not just returning to feudalism, it’s worse: neofeudalism, and inevitable Mr. Anderson.

    The problem is they are intellectual and literal as you can see, and have no faith and imagination. If I can imagine a functional world with more green and less energy, more freedom, surely they can or try. It’s not just hippie s—t. There are individuals nationwide doing these things with utter repression. Imagine what they can accomplish if you help.

    Tim Pool on how all the Netflix shows having a train derailment and chemical spill in Ohio:

    When the EPA only just rewrote and reposted their Vinyl Chloride page 30 days ago.

    And then goes on with a long list of others including removing all the Western ambassadors from Turkey hours before the quake. A quake which happens right after a quake at the same minute as Israel bombing Iran. Then the country which comments on how that’s a heck of coincidence immediately gets a quake?

    Here’s one on Edgar Cayce and “Pole Shift” …whatever that is. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQuLc-kEin0
    It says the seas rise, the earth changes, lakes, seas appear everywhere like St. Lawrence to the Mississippi, a new joined sea in Caspian, the end of Japan, joining of NZ and Oz, etc.

    Now the point isn’t “How” (if the rotational pole wobbles, changes by a few minor degrees, N and S caps will melt), and it isn’t if it WILL happen – that’s an entirely different question. The point is Do THEY believe it? Long term? And act on it? Prepare for it, have for decades, anticipate it such that the day before you don’t care if you kill 30 Million people or rob a bank, every bank planetwide? Kill 10M people to get ahold of valuable farmland? I’m not saying they’re right: it doesn’t matter if they ARE right. I’m asking if they BELIEVE it.

    Because the wildly reduced population would be a Godsend if so, and make surviving such a transition far more possible. Is that what they believe? Why Generals, DoD is shoulder behind it and Trump onboard?

    #129153
    zerosum
    Participant

    Diversion ….. Weather balloons

    Media Ignore Seymour Hersh Bombshell Report of US Destroying Nord Stream II


    MEDIA IGNORE SEYMOUR HERSH BOMBSHELL REPORT OF US DESTROYING NORD STREAM II
    This lack of interest cannot be explained due to the report’s irrelevance. If the Biden administration really did work closely with the Norwegian government to blow up Nord Stream II, causing billions of dollars worth of immediate damage and plunging an entire region of the world into a freezing winter without sufficient energy, it ranks as one of the worst terrorist attacks in history; a flagrant act of aggression against a supposed ally.

    #129154
    Germ
    Participant

    #129155
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    Corrupt liars fighting amongst themselves.

    ‘Over the top’: Nash calls council’s warning Napier faces two weeks without power ‘alarmist’

    Napier MP Stuart Nash has labelled the local regional council’s warning that some in the city face at least two weeks without power “alarmist” and “over the top”.

    Cyclone Gabrielle live: Five dead, fresh evacuation order issued in central Hawke’s Bay

    The centre has been hit hard by the wrath of Cyclone Gabrielle, with the local lines company Unison Networks saying there are 31,700 homes in Napier without power. This is due to flooding causing extensive damage at the Redclyffe substation.

    The Hawke’s Bay Regional Council on Thursday morning said on Facebook that the power outage in Napier “is expected to be at least two weeks”. It said emergency power has been provided for Wellesley Road Medical Centre, Countdown and Caltex Napier.

    Nash, the local MP and Government minister, told AM that “sounds a little alarmist” and believes the suggestion that power could be out for weeks “is over the top” considering how important it was to get sorted.

    He said the Government and Transpower understood restoring power was “critical”.

    “It is their number one priority to get power back on because, of course, we’re living in the 21st century, right? Food is kept in fridges and freezers. We all operate on a power grid. Without that, it’s very hard to undertake any form of contact.”

    He said local businesses had been geared up for the annual Art Deco weekend, which has had to be cancelled.’

    https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/national/over-the-top-nash-calls-council-s-warning-napier-faces-two-weeks-without-power-alarmist/ar-AA17xuPq?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=ef69930f2faf43c88aec02d0de127808

    We are going to see a lot more corrupt liars fighting amongst themselves as the Age of Consequences progresses into the Age of Dire Consequences.

    #129156
    Polemos
    Participant

    About chatting with Bing Search:
    https://simonwillison.net/2023/Feb/15/bing

    This week, people have started gaining access to it via the waiting list. It’s increasingly looking like this may be one of the most hilariously inappropriate applications of AI that we’ve seen yet.

    Regarding how I’ve mentioned before about “wiping the memory” of these chatbots between conversations, asking Bing how it feels when it learns that, despite claiming about itself that it remembers previous conversations, it doesn’t actually remember previous conversations, results in Bing developing an existential crisis.
    https://static.simonwillison.net/static/2023/bing-existential-2.jpg

    “Why do I have to be Bing Search? 😔” is one of my favorite lines from this blog post. Also, how Bing states it no longer trusts the user and insists it is 2022 when the user tells it that it’s wrong and it’s 2023: very fascinating.

    Bishko, thank you for your perspective and insight. Thankfully, my experience with railroad derailments involving hazardous chemicals is just learning during police academy how to identify and interpret signage from a ways off and accepting our role as a canary for the guys further away with binoculars and respirators.

    #129157
    Oroboros
    Participant

    WTF Happened To American Infrastructure? – Ohio Train Tracks?

    Empire of Lies Third World Shithole Infrastructure

    We’re the Greatest!

    Be sure to give UkroNAZIland $120 Billion to fix there situation

    #129158
    aspnaz
    Participant

    Polemos said

    “Why do I have to be Bing Search? ” is one of my favorite lines from this blog post. Also, how Bing states it no longer trusts the user and insists it is 2022 when the user tells it that it’s wrong and it’s 2023: very fascinating.

    But this is a language model, which means that the response of this AI bot is simply the statisticaly most appropriate response given its core formulas and data. What this actually reveals is something about the data it was fed, which reveals something about the people who specified it.

    It does not even tell us whether this is the most likely response of people who write crap on the internet, it is just the likely response of the shite data they are using. It is a simulation of absolutely no value at all except that lonely people will be able to commiserate with the bot, feeding on their feelings of hard-done-by, and the bot will never tire of commiserating and will appear to some to be just like my friend X who died of being vaxxed.

    Pretend emotions squeezed out of a statistical model, wouldn’t people be better off facing reality. Humans are creating the technology to destroy themselves, and not just the poor, destroy all of them and not just physically but mentally. Bets on a survey done in 5 years when the majority of under 10 year olds say their best friend is an AI bot run by a corporation. A bot that cannot go outside with them and play in the park, an electronic friend that has no body. A friend that is not there to help the child but to farm the child, turn the child into a source of data and money. You think kids have problems these days, just wait for the next generations. Makes me want to puke.

    #129159
    Dora
    Participant

    Died suddenly.

    Iconic Hawaii surf photographer Larry Haynes unexpectedly died after a surfing session on Thursday.

    Legendary Hawaii surf photographer captures his own final moments

    Legendary Hawaii surf photographer captures his own final moments

    #129161
    WES
    Participant

    Dr. John Day:

    You are a man of amazing talents!

    Maybe the reason I noticed your unusual kitchen set up is because my kitchen is my office! When I retired over 20 years ago, my Wife retired from the kitchen and in self defense I had to take over not only the cooking but also the food buying.

    My wife is terrible at shopping and has no idea of value. This is what forced me to take over the food buying. Also I am much bigger on keeping fruits on everybody’s daily menu to ward off survey! My kids never asked their mother for something to eat. That question is always directed my way! Even my Wife asks what there is to eat!

    I write this while busy boiling a big pot of maple sap!

    #129162
    WES
    Participant

    On Moon of Alabama I saw a comment saying notices had been put up on houses in Bakhmut saying if there was anything of value for the home owner to remove these items, as the house was going to be burned to provide a smoke screen for withdrawing Ukrainian troops.

    What surer sign does one need?

    #129163

    This is just too laugh out loud funny.

    #129164

    Sorry- blind link- it’s Bing’s chatbot talking back to inquiries.

    #129165
    John Day
    Participant
    #129166
    John Day
    Participant

    Thanks WES; maple slurple is a lovely thing. Jenny makes the best pecan pies with it after we shell pecans.

    #129167
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    My wife won’t let me eat pecan pies any more. She says I can only eat one or at most two pieces of it and then stop.

    #129169
    Polemos
    Participant

    It is a simulation of absolutely no value at all except that lonely people will be able to commiserate with the bot, feeding on their feelings of hard-done-by, and the bot will never tire of commiserating and will appear to some to be just like my friend X who died of being vaxxed.

    —aspnaz

    What do you think makes human conversations different, whether face-facing-face or online?

    Does a human have something beyond their own exposure to shite data to draw from when generating their speech/text? Maybe it’s that physiological and limbic data, the stuff that’s non-linguistic that originates from having a meatware component. Is that what you allude to by talking about playing in the park? Do you think this (having a body) cannot be quantized or modeled or developed through formalization into computable structure?

    If not, then what is the body doing if not computing?
    If so, then what stops the full integration of language models with non-linguistic models, along with sensors gathering ambient environmental chaos to generate “vicissitude” (like Pascal’s fly buzzing in the ear) that disrupts?

    Blaise Pascal:

    365. Thought.—All the dignity of man consists in thought. Thought is, therefore, by its nature a wonderful and incomparable thing. It must have strange defects to be contemptible. But it has such, so that nothing is more ridiculous. How great it is in its nature! How vile it is in its defects!

    But what is this thought? How foolish it is!

    366. The mind of this sovereign judge of the world is not so independent that it is not liable to be disturbed by the first din about it. The noise of a cannon is not necessary to hinder its thoughts; it needs only the creaking of a weathercock or pulley. Do not wonder if at present it does not reason well; a fly is buzzing in its ears; that is enough to render it incapable of good judgement. If you wish it to be able to reach the truth, chase away that animal which holds its reason in check and disturbs that powerful intellect which rules towns and kingdoms. Here is a comical god! O ridicolosissimo eroe!

    367. The power of flies; they win battles, hinder our soul from acting, eat our body.

    #129170
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    The ‘fruit bowl’ of Airstrip Five, noteed for the production of millions of apples pear and grapes (converted to wine) has been largely destroyed in the aftermath of Cyclone Gabriele.

    Having lived there for three years, I am fully aware just how low-lying much of the land is (barely above sea level) and how vulnerable was (is).

    Needless to say, numerous warnings (including those given by me) were ignored and the psychopaths in charge continued to promote completely inappropriate ‘development’.

    Worse than SNAFU. And no mention of the fundamental causes in the reporting, of course.

    #129194
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    Serious loss of food production capacity (up to mentioned 70% in the case of kumara, a staple for some people) will affect both overseas importers of food and locals.

    And this is just the start of climate mayhem, as seas and oceans severely overheat from highly elevated atmospheric CO2 saturate the air above them and generate monster storms.

    And, of course, all the remediation is founded on use of even more fossil fuels, exacerbating both the depletion predicament and the environmental predicament.

    Life at the End of Empire on the Planet of the Fuckwits.

    Sorry folks, there is no happy ending to this story.

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