Jan 192024
 


Claude Monet The house at Yerres 1876

 

‘We Are Attacking Iran’ – Netanyahu (RT)
West Aware Zelensky ‘Getting Out Of Control’ – Lavrov (RT)
Zelensky’s Proposal for Russian Surrender Ridiculed (Sp.)
How the West Was Defeated (Pepe Escobar)
Russia Can’t Trust West – Lavrov (RT)
To End The War In Ukraine, Expose Its Core Lie (TLI)
The New British-Ukrainian Defense Agreement Is Great News For Russia (Poletaev)
Strikes On Mercenaries In Ukraine ‘Painful For The West’ (RT)
NATO Personnel In Ukraine Now ‘Fair Game’ For Russia – Scott Ritter (RT)
Johnson Throws Cold Water on Ukraine Funding, Prioritizing Border Security (Sp.)
Anti-Russian Leader A Favorite For Top EU Job – Politico (RT)
Judge In Trump-Georgia Case Orders Fani Willis To Explain Allegations (ZH)
Who Praised Javier Milei’s Anti-Socialism Speech Seen 27 Million Times (CS)
Can the World Afford Its First Trillionaire? (Robert Bridge)

 

 

 

 

98%

 

 

 

 

Yanis Day X

 

 

 

 

Israel can’t even beat Hamas. Fighting Iran would mean US involvement.

‘We Are Attacking Iran’ – Netanyahu (RT)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he is making every possible effort to “prevent Iran from attaining nuclear weapons” and that Israel is already carrying out direct attacks on the Islamic Republic. Answering a reporter’s question in Tel Aviv on Saturday about why Israel is conducting attacks on Iran’s proxies rather than attacking Iran directly, Netanyahu replied: “Who says we are not attacking Iran, we are attacking.” Israel claims Iran was involved in plotting the October 7 attacks, when around 1,200 Israelis were killed and scores taken hostage in the Hamas surprise raid near Gaza. Israel retaliated by shelling the Palestinian enclave with artillery and airstrikes, so far leaving about 24,000 dead, according to local health officials. The operation is aimed at wiping out the militant group, Israel says.Israel has previously openly accused Iran of aiding Hamas “with money, training and weapons and technological know-how” and intelligence.

“Iran is standing behind it. We are in conflict with Iran. Imagine not what Iran can do to us, to destroy us,” Netanyahu said. Israel will only agree to a deal that sees it gain security control over all of Gaza, Netanyahu added. Iran has denied any role in the Hamas assault on Israel, with Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani saying such accusations were “based on political reasons.” Netanyahu added that “Iran is the head of the octopus and you see its tentacles all around from the Houthis to Hezbollah to Hamas.” Iran has widely been seen by Israel and the US and as the major destabilizing power in the Middle East, allegedly supplying weapons, military expertise, and training to Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the Houthi rebels in Yemen.

The US has previously alleged that Iran is “deeply involved” in Houthi attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea, claiming that it has provided the rebels with drones, missiles, and intelligence. Tehran has denied the allegation, insisting that “resistance groups” are acting independently and “not taking orders from Tehran to confront the war crimes and genocide committed by Israel.” Israel rarely publicly admits to attacking Iran directly, but the Islamic Republic has long been a target of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his several terms in power. In December former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett revealed that Israel had attacked an unmanned aerial vehicle base in Iran and assassinated a senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander. Bennett, who was Israeli prime minister from June 2021 to June 2022, made the admission in an op-ed published in The Wall Street Journal.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1748094652912193949

Read more …

“..The contradictory rhetoric “only reflects the wish of that individual and his associates… to keep power as much as they can..”

West Aware Zelensky ‘Getting Out Of Control’ – Lavrov (RT)

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky is becoming increasingly unhinged as he clings to power, and his Western backers are looking for ways to keep him in check, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov claimed on Thursday. Calls for Ukraine to hold a presidential election this year are part of that effort, he believes. A number of Western politicians have suggested that Ukraine should hold general elections that are due in 2024. Normal democratic procedures in the country were suspended under martial law, but the country could amend its laws to allow the election to go ahead. Zelensky has been sending mixed signals on the matter, alternately saying that he is willing to run for another term under certain circumstances and claiming that the Ukrainian people would not want an election while the country is fighting.

The contradictory rhetoric “only reflects the wish of that individual and his associates… to keep power as much as they can,” Lavrov remarked. Meanwhile, the West “would have liked to have more flexibility,” considering Kiev’s failure to score successes on the battlefield, he added. Having Zelensky run a re-election campaign “would put him more in line with Western interests, because he has been increasingly getting out of control,” the Russian foreign minister suggested. The Russian government does not care about Zelensky’s personal fate, Lavrov said. US Senator Lindsey Graham publicly called on Zelensky to hold a presidential election when he visited Kiev last September. He said this would show that Ukraine embraces “democracy and freedom.” Similar calls have come from other officials on both sides of the Atlantic.

Ukraine is due to vote this year not only for a new president, but also for a new parliament. The current composition of the national legislature gives Zelensky’s Servant of the People party a unilateral majority, but it is far from guaranteed to keep it in the event of an election. A survey released last month by the Kiev International Institute of Sociology (KMIS) indicated a drop in public faith in the parliament. In the year since December 2022, the number of people distrusting the institution has grown from 34% to 61%. Zelensky’s own trust rating dropped from 84% to 62% in 12 months, according to the same poll.

Read more …

“And on there is Zelensky’s demand for a little pink pony with a little pretty ribbon on top..”

Zelensky’s Proposal for Russian Surrender Ridiculed (Sp.)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky unveiled a diplomatic proposal to end the long-running conflict in the Donbass region this week, but observers say the controversial leader’s “peace formula” is little more than wishful thinking. “It is the opposite of a peace formula,” said security analyst Mark Sleboda on Sputnik’s The Critical Hour program Thursday. “It is a childish demand for Russian unconditional surrender that Russia should withdraw all of its troops from Ukrainian territory – including Crimea – [and] surrender the people of Crimea and Donbass to the tender mercies of Azov* Neo-Nazis.” Among the elements of Zelensky’s proposition is a call for Russia to put political and military leaders on trial and pay reparations to the Kiev regime.

“And on there is Zelensky’s demand for a little pink pony with a little pretty ribbon on top,” Sleboda added sarcastically. “This is a fantastical, maximalist demand. It is not a peace formula, which is why the Global South is just like, ‘Do we have to sit through another one of these things?’ And spoiler, China didn’t even bother to show up.” Zelensky unveiled the proposal at the World Economic Forum summit in Davos, Switzerland earlier this week. Sleboda noted the venue was likely chosen to improve attendance as Zelensky has struggled to find an audience for such speeches in recent months. Zelensky has released similar proposals in the past although none have gained traction given Ukraine’s struggles on the battlefield. Sleboda noted that even The New York Times admitted Ukraine was losing, although indirectly.

“Even this article in the New York Times – if you scroll down into it long enough – they go through the list of demands and then they say ‘all of these demands are considered by analysts and even politicians backing the proposal to be unreachable, given the current balance of forces on the battlefield.’” Sleboda pointed out. “Which is a nice way of saying the Kiev regime is losing.” Discussion then shifted towards Russia’s recent targeting of mercenary fighters in Kharkov earlier this week. “Unfortunately for the mercenaries, things aren’t working out real well for them on the battlefield,” said host Garland Nixon. “Well, come to think of it, they’re not getting to the battlefield.”

Sleboda pointed out the alleged French mercenaries were reported to be working with the Russian Volunteers Corps, a neo-Nazi group that has been banned in Europe. “This isn’t like a safari tour in Afghanistan or Iraq or somewhere where they go out and kill some largely helpless villagers with AK-47s,” said Sleboda. “You’re fighting a world power that has ballistic cruise and hypersonic missiles dropping 1,500-pound, guided bombs on you and everything else.” “So yeah, newsflash: you don’t belong here. And if you insist on coming here then you’ll be priority target number one.”

Read more …

“..Let’s focus on what would be the 12 Greatest Hits of his remarkable exercise..”

How the West Was Defeated (Pepe Escobar)

Emmanuel Todd, historian, demographer, anthropologist, sociologist and political analyst, is part of a dying breed: one of the very few remaining exponents of old school French intelligentzia – a heir to those like Braudel, Sartre, Deleuze and Foucault who dazzled successive young Cold War generations from the West down to the East. The first nugget concerning his latest book, La Défaite de L’Occident (“The Defeat of the West”) is the minor miracle of actually being published last week in France, right within the NATO sphere: a hand grenade of a book, by an independent thinker, based on facts and verified data, blowing up the whole Russophobia edifice erected around the “aggression” by “Tsar” Putin. At least some sectors of strictly oligarch-controlled corporate media in France simply could not ignore Todd this time around for several reasons.

Most of all because he was the first Western intellectual, already in 1976, to have predicted the fall of the USSR in his book La Chute Finale, with his research based on Soviet infant mortality rates. Another key reason was his 2002 book Apres L’Empire, a sort of preview of the Empire’s Decline and Fall published a few months before Shock & Awe in Iraq. Now Todd, in what he has defined as his last book (“I closed the circle”) allows himself to go for broke and meticulously depict the defeat not only of the US but of the West as a whole – with his research focusing in and around the war in Ukraine. Considering the toxic NATOstan environment where Russophobia and cancel culture reign supreme, and every deviation is punishable, Todd has been very careful not to frame the current process as a Russian victory in Ukraine (although that’s implied in everything he describes, ranging from several indicators of social peace to the overall stability of the “Putin system”, which is “a product of the history of Russia, and not the work of one man”).

Rather, he focuses on the key reasons that have led to the West’s downfall. Among them: the end of the nation-state; de-industrialization (which explains NATO’s deficit in producing weapons for Ukraine); the “degree zero” of the West’s religious matrix, Protestantism; the sharp increase of mortality rates in the US (much higher than in Russia), along with suicides and homicides; and the supremacy of an imperial nihilism expressed by the obsession with Forever Wars. Todd methodically analyses, in sequence, Russia, Ukraine, Eastern Europe, Germany, Britain, Scandinavia and finally The Empire. Let’s focus on what would be the 12 Greatest Hits of his remarkable exercise.

1. At the start of the Special Military Operation (SMO) in February 2022, the combined GDP of Russia and Belarus was only 3.3% of the combined West (in this case the NATO sphere plus Japan and South Korea). Todd is amazed how these 3.3% capable of producing more weapons than the whole Western colossus not only are winning the war but reducing dominant notions of the “neoliberal political economy” (GDP rates) to shambles.
2. The “ideological solitude” and “ideological narcissism” of the West – incapable of understanding, for instance, how “the whole Muslim world seems to consider Russia as a partner rather than an adversary”.
3. Todd eschews the notion of “Weberian states” – evoking a delicious compatibility of vision between Putin and US realpolitik practitioner John Mearsheimer. Because they are forced to survive in an environment where only power relations matters, states are now acting as “Hobbesian agents.” And that brings us to the Russian notion of a nation-state, focused on “sovereignty”: the capacity of a state to independently define its internal and external policies, with no foreign interference whatsoever.

Read more …

“The West cannot be trusted. Even now, it wants only one thing – to live at the expense of others and to be more clever than others.”

Russia Can’t Trust West – Lavrov (RT)

The Ukraine conflict has helped Russia overcome the misconception that it can trust the West, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said. Speaking at a press conference on Thursday on Moscow’s diplomacy in 2023, Lavrov argued that Russia’s military operation against Kiev has had positive consequences domestically, including a reinvigorating effect on society which has helped to bring people together. He added that the conflict, which also ushered in unprecedented Western sanctions, allowed the country’s economy to make great strides in both civilian and military production. The West’s “hybrid aggression,” which encompassed many areas, played a role in “making us understand how to go on living,” Lavrov said. “If there had been any illusions left over from the 1990s, that the West would open its arms to embrace us and that democracy would unite us all, they have been completely dispelled.”

“The West cannot be trusted. Even now, it wants only one thing – to live at the expense of others and to be more clever than others.” Lavrov’s comments come after Russian President Vladimir Putin admitted last month that he was “naive” early on in his political career, despite having served in the Soviet KGB. He said he believed that there was no fundamental reason for the West and Moscow to be at odds after the collapse of the Soviet Union. However, in reality, the former was seeking to break Russia into several entities with less ability to protect their national interests, the president stated. Putin had previously warned that a breakup of the country could lead to the Russian people ceasing to exist altogether, adding that unity is the key condition for the country’s success.

Read more …

“..That falsehood, repeated by President Joe Biden, is that when Vladimir Putin decided to invade, he intended to conquer all of Ukraine and “annihilate” it..”

To End The War In Ukraine, Expose Its Core Lie (TLI)

The essential argument used to avoid negotiation and continue support for the war in Ukraine is based on a falsehood. That falsehood, repeated by President Joe Biden, is that when Vladimir Putin decided to invade, he intended to conquer all of Ukraine and “annihilate” it. Its falsity has been exposed multiple times by military experts, who have pointed out, both before and after the invasion, that Russia could not have intended to conquer all of Ukraine because it did not invade with sufficient forces to do so. Indeed, this was a key reason why senior Ukrainian officials, and even President Volodymyr Zelensky himself, argued just days before the invasion that it would not occur. The mistake that most analysts at the time made (these authors included), was to assume that since the troops mobilized by Russia did not suffice for a full scale occupation of Ukraine, no military operation, not even a limited one, was in the offing.

It was only later that Western political leaders turned this mistake to their propaganda advantage by insisting that Russia had always intended to first take Kiev, then all of Ukraine, and ultimately even attack NATO. But if basic military logic is taken into account, the fact that Putin committed only 120,000–190,000 men to his campaign and did not mobilize more resources until months later, after Kiev rejected the Istanbul peace deal, indicates that his objectives in Ukraine were limited and revolved around guaranteeing the security of the populations of Donbass and Crimea from Ukrainian assaults and Russia from NATO expansion. Given that Ukraine had cut off Crimea’s water and electricity years before, this required a land bridge to the region; hence, the illegal annexations of the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions.

We also have indirect confirmation that territory was not his objective from an unimpeachable source: NATO General Secretary Jens Stoltenberg, who stated that Putin invaded Ukraine to prevent NATO’s expansion. This would explain why, as soon as these goals were within reach when Ukrainian officials initialed the draft of the Istanbul Agreement in March 2022, Putin halted his assault and withdrew Russian forces from Kiev, rather than move further into Ukraine. This background is important, because the argument for increasing Western military support for Ukraine relies so heavily on the claim that Russia always intended to expand further, attack NATO, and reestablish the Russian empire. But, as noted scholar John Mearsheimer has pointed out, “there is no evidence in the public record that Putin was contemplating, much less intending to put an end to Ukraine as an independent state and make it part of greater Russia when he sent his troops into Ukraine on February 24th.”

It was never one of Putin’s stated goals, nor was it ever taken seriously by the Ukrainian leadership. David Arakhamia, the head of Ukraine’s negotiating team in Belarus and Istanbul, recently revealed that the “key point” for Russia was Ukraine not joining NATO, and “everything else was simply rhetoric and political ‘seasoning.’” Putin himself has consistently said that “this conflict is not about territory…[it] is about the principles underlying the new international order.” We should not take him at his word, but it is still worth asking: had Putin’s ambitions been territorial, would he have waited until 2014 to annex Crimea? Would the upper house of Russia’s parliament have rescinded Putin’s temporary authority to use troops in Ukraine in June 2015? Would he have opposed the 2014 independence referendums in Donetsk and Lugansk?

Read more …

“..The document practically states that all the activities of the Ukrainian state will revolve around the interests of the UK..”

The New British-Ukrainian Defense Agreement Is Great News For Russia (Poletaev)

So, six months down the line, the current UK prime minister arrived in Kiev and, in between the usual selfies with female train conductors, he signed the first UK-Ukraine agreement. The event didn’t receive widespread attention, but among the experts who have commented on it, opinions have differed markedly. Rishi Sunak’s opponents in the UK insist that it’s merely a PR move – an attempt to raise his faltering ratings, which have plunged to a record low. In Russia, some experts have called it a meaningless piece of paper, without thoroughly reading the document. For their part, Ukrainian analysts have declared the agreement to be an important milestone, an epochal moment, and tried to sell it as even more significant than actual accession to NATO.

The agreement is indeed important and is worth reading carefully. Firstly, the main slogan of the past two years (usually declared on behalf of the entire Western coalition) has been literally incorporated into the text: “The UK will continue to support Ukraine for as long as it needs, so that Ukraine can effectively defend itself.” In other words, it’s just like Boris Johnson said – we will not fight for you, but we’ll do what we can to help you. Secondly, for the next ten years – the entire duration of the agreement – the document notes that no territorial changes will be recognized. “The participants will work together, and with other partners of Ukraine, to ensure Ukrainian Armed Forces and security forces are able to fully restore Ukraine’s territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders.” As for the actual obligations on the part of the UK, the text includes only one point:

“In the event of a future Russian armed attack against Ukraine, at the request of either of the participants, the participants will consult within 24 hours to determine measures needed to counter or deter the aggression.” It further states: “The UK undertakes that, in those circumstances, and acting in accordance with its legal and constitutional requirements, it would: provide Ukraine with swift and sustained security assistance, modern military equipment across all domains as necessary, and economic assistance.” The amount of future economic assistance corresponds to the current military aid provided by the UK to Ukraine, which is believed to be between £2.3 billion ($2.9 billion) and £2.5 billion ($3.2 billion) in 2023 and 2024.

In the rest of the document, we find non-binding general statements – for example, that the sides will “work together on deepening cooperation and partnership… strengthen [their] long-term relationship… provide advice and support… make significant contributions… create joint working groups…” and blah, blah, blah. All the usual technocratic claptrap of polite, mostly meaningless, words. Despite the general non-binding nature of the agreement, however, it clearly shows that Ukraine is getting tangled up in the web of Western influence and control. The document practically states that all the activities of the Ukrainian state will revolve around the interests of the UK: from the defense industry to civil and military construction, information security, the fight against corruption and organized crime, the distribution of humanitarian aid, and general economic issues. It gives global financial institutions virtually unlimited access to Ukraine.

Moreover, among the numerous Western-style reforms that Ukraine is obliged to carry out, the agreement stipulates “democratic civilian control of the Armed Forces, [as] an important indicator of the non-politicization of the Armed Forces.” This looks a lot like an attempt by Zelensky to enlist the support of the West in his conflict with Zaluzhny. Ukraine has been quick to declare that the Sunak-Zelensky deal will serve as an example for similar agreements with other G7 countries (France will probably sign a similar document next month). Such agreements will provide a legal backbone for the West’s Ukraine policy, which can be explained as follows: Kiev is the West’s tool. It sends the Ukrainians a clear signal: You are our outpost, our weapon, our battering ram, or whatever else, but you are not one of us. We will not put ourselves at risk for your sake, and there’s no place for you under the NATO umbrella.

Read more …

“The Russian military said that it targeted a “temporary assembly point of foreign fighters” in Kharkov..”

Strikes On Mercenaries In Ukraine ‘Painful For The West’ (RT)

Russia’s elimination of foreign mercenaries in Ukraine hurts the West because it demonstrates how Moscow can inflict “huge losses” with single precision strikes, Finnish news editor Janus Putkonen has told RT. The Russian military said that it targeted a “temporary assembly point of foreign fighters” in Kharkov on Tuesday, killing 60 foreign fighters and injuring more than 20 others, the majority of whom were “French mercenaries.” The French foreign ministry on Thursday denied the presence of any French mercenaries in Ukraine, although a pro-Russian resistance group in Kharkov told RIA Novosti that French-speaking personnel were present at the targeted building, and that some foreigners there had been “supervising” the RDK, a Ukrainian paramilitary unit associated with the country’s military intelligence agency.

“These kinds of strikes are painful for Western countries for sure, for many reasons,” Putkonen told RT. “[Western countries] are losing the information battle, because these mercenaries are at the forefront in Western propaganda for the war, and losing lots of them at the same time – hundreds of them in just a matter of days – is a major blow.” Tuesday’s strike is a microcosm of “the whole situation that is going on in Ukraine,” Putkonen continued. There are “huge losses” on the Ukrainian side, he explained, adding that while foreign soldiers can fight, they “cannot defend against precision strikes.” “Russia is calling the shots,” Putkonen concluded. Hours before the strike, French President Emmanuel Macron declared that his country could not allow Russia to win the conflict in Ukraine, and pledged further arms shipments to Kiev, including 40 SCALP air-launched cruise missiles. According to French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu, the weapons are to be transferred in the first half of this year.

Read more …

“..it will make no distinction between the Ukrainian soldiers, foreign mercenaries, or members of NATO militaries operating on Ukrainian soil..”

NATO Personnel In Ukraine Now ‘Fair Game’ For Russia – Scott Ritter (RT)

Russia’s targeting of French-speaking personnel suggests that advisers from NATO countries operating in Ukraine have been put on notice, former US Marine and UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter has said. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, more than 60 “foreign fighters” were killed and another 20 wounded in Tuesday’s high-precision strike on a building in Kharkov. Speaking with Sputnik on Thursday, Ritter pointed to the possibility that at least some of the French-speaking individuals may have been active-duty French military, “who were in Ukraine at the behest of their government, and now they’re dead.” “I think this shows a new mindset for the Russians,” he said. “In the past, Russia has not shown any hesitancy to eliminate foreign mercenaries fighting on behalf of the Ukrainian military. But there has seemed to be some sort of leniency towards military advisers or personnel who belong to NATO countries who are in Ukraine.”

If the fighters killed weren’t simply mercenaries but serving French military professionals, “this shows that Russia has made a decision that everybody in Ukraine now is fair game,” Ritter added. He suggested that this might mean Russia is moving to the “end of the game” in Ukraine, in which it will make no distinction between the Ukrainian soldiers, foreign mercenaries, or members of NATO militaries operating on Ukrainian soil. The Ukrainian side has given conflicting accounts of Tuesday’s strike, first saying the missiles hit an unused hospital and then that a residential building was struck causing civilian casualties. Donbass Insider Editor-in-chief Christelle Neant told RT on Thursday that “many wounded French-speaking individuals were admitted to hospitals” in Kharkov, according to Ukrainian intelligence sources.

Neant said that Kiev uses foreign mercenaries “primarily for media purposes” and that the Frenchmen in Kharkov may have been instructors teaching the Ukrainians how to handle weapons provided by the West. Earl Rasmussen of the Eurasia Center told RT that the Kharkov strike might be a message to Ukraine that Russia won’t treat Western fighters any differently than Ukrainian ones. He also allowed for the possibility the stricken foreigners may have been instructors. Thousands of fighters from the West flocked to Ukraine after the conflict with Russia escalated in February 2022, but their enthusiasm dropped off after up to 180 of them died in a missile strike on base in Yavorov in mid-March. Since then, almost 6,000 of the 13,500 foreigners who came to fight for Ukraine have been killed, and over 5,600 have returned home, the Russian Defense Ministry said earlier this month.

Read more …

“..before we even talk about Ukraine, I’m going to tell the president what I’m telling all of you and we’ve told the American people: border, border, border..”

Johnson Throws Cold Water on Ukraine Funding, Prioritizing Border Security (Sp.)

On Wednesday, US House Speaker Mike Johnson revealed his determination to continue with a stalemate between Democrats and Republicans regarding legislation that would pave the way for continued funding to Ukraine. The deal is currently being worked on in the Senate with the aim to pair border and immigration policy changes (what Republicans want) alongside funding for Ukraine (what Democrats are asking for). “I don’t think now is the time for comprehensive immigration reform because we know how complicated that is,” Johnson said early Wednesday. “You can’t do that quickly. I do think it’s past time to secure the border.” Biden called for the top four congressional leaders and other lawmakers, including Johnson to the White House in an effort to move forward with an agreement on legislation for border security and funding for Ukraine. The Senate has been working for weeks in an effort to craft some common ground legislation, but some senators last week said significant disagreements remain an issue.

“With regard to Ukraine, we have needed, we have requested publicly and privately in every form, answers to critical questions: What is the end game and the strategy in Ukraine? How will we have accountability for the funds?” said Johnson, seeming to suggest that a bipartisan deal may not be enough to encourage their support of continued funding for Ukraine. “We need to know that Ukraine would not be another Afghanistan.” “And you see a lot of the American people scratching their heads, having real questions about why that would continue without these appropriate answers. So I’m going to push for those. But before we even talk about Ukraine, I’m going to tell the president what I’m telling all of you and we’ve told the American people: border, border, border, we have to take care of our own house,” the house speaker said at a conference on Wednesday.

“We have to secure our own borders before we talk about doing anything else. And that’s the message I’ve had since day one. It’s the message we’ll continue to have.” Senator Mitch McConnell—who was reported to be one of the people invited to Wednesday’s meeting—said voting on the supplemental legislation could take place as soon as next week. “I am more optimistic than ever before that we come to an agreement,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, told reporters after Wednesday’s meeting. “There was a large amount of agreement around the table, that we must do Ukraine, and we must do border. There was tremendous focus on Ukraine, and an understanding that if we don’t come to Ukraine’s aid, that the consequences for America around the globe would be nothing short of devastating,” Schumer said.

Johnson said that the meeting was “productive” and that he had emphasized that US border security should be prioritized before Ukraine. “We understand the necessity about Ukraine funding and we want to say that the status quo is unacceptable,” Johnson said on Wednesday. “We need the Commander-in-Chief of this country, the President of the United States, to show strength on the world stage, and not weakness. We cannot continue with the current status quo.”

Read more …

“..the “dream team” of women some EU diplomats would like to see leading the bloc..”

Anti-Russian Leader A Favorite For Top EU Job – Politico (RT)

Estonian PM Kaja Kallas, an outspoken critic of Russia, is rumored to be on the “dream team” of women some EU diplomats would like to see leading the bloc after the European Parliament elections in June, Politico EU said on Thursday. The combination would see Kallas take over as High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the post currently held by Spain’s Josep Borrell, while Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen would become the new chair of the European Council. Ursula von der Leyen of Germany would remain head of the European Commission and Roberta Metsola of Malta would keep chairing the European Parliament. “It’s my dream team,” a diplomat who asked for anonymity to speak freely told Politico. “It would send such a strong message.”

According to Politico, Kallas is a name “increasingly mentioned in corridor chats and over coffee,” given the Ukraine conflict. She has already put her name in the hat to succeed Jens Stoltenberg as the secretary-general of NATO. The Estonian leader has been an outspoken critic of Russia and a partisan of Kiev. Facing calls to resign last August, after Estonian media revealed that her husband Arvo Hallik held a stake in a shipping company operating in Russia despite the EU sanctions, Kallas refused and vowed to stay in power “for the freedom of Ukraine and for Estonia.” With Brussels former European Council President Donald Tusk now the prime minister of Poland, it is “simply impossible to avoid” giving Eastern Europe the foreign policy portfolio given the Ukraine conflict, one EU diplomat said.

The rumored “dream team” would give one leadership post each to the bloc’s east, west, north and south. The scheme would also “make sense” due to the political alignment within the EU, leaving the European People’s Party (EPP) in charge of the Commission and the Parliament, while the socialists run the Council and the “liberals” control the External Action Service. With Christine Lagarde of France as president of the European Central Bank until 2027 and Nadia Calviño of Spain in charge of the European Investment Bank, the EU’s most powerful positions would all be held by women, who are considered “underrepresented” in the bloc. No woman has ever chaired the European Council. Von der Leyen is the first at the head of the Commission. There have been three female chairs of the European Parliament since 1979 and two foreign policy heads – Catherine Ashton of the UK and Federica Mogherini of Italy – since the post was created in 1999.

Read more …

“..fatally defective..”

Judge In Trump-Georgia Case Orders Fani Willis To Explain Allegations (ZH)

The judge in the Trump-Georgia case has ordered Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D) to answer to accusations that she hired her romantic partner as a top prosecutor on the case. Judge Scot McAfee on Thursday ordered Willis to respond to the allegations in writing by Feb. 2, and has scheduled a hearing on the matter for Feb. 15. The accusation, first found in a court filing by attorney and Trump co-defendant Mike Roman, accuses Willis of hiring her paramour Nathan Wade – whose involvement, Roman argues, makes the indictment “fatally defective.” Roman has asked McAfee to dismiss the charges, and to block the Fulton County DA’s office from further involvement in the case. Wade (who was hired without proper approval), is a private attorney in the midst of a divorce who “has little to no experience trying felony cases, much less complex RICO actions,” according to a 127-page filing in former President Donald Trump’s 2020 election trial in Georgia.

Wade ended up pocketing nearly $700,000 from Fulton county taxpayers – with which he allegedly took Willis on lavish vacations. He also billed taxpayers $2,000 to talk to the Biden White House about prosecuting Biden’s political opponent. Allegations surfaced last week from one of Trump’s co-defendants, Mike Roman, a political operative who served as Trump’s director of Election Day operations on his 2020 reelection campaign, who accused Willis and Wade of engaging in an “improper” romantic relationship. Citing “sources close” to both Willis and Wade, Roman’s lawyer, Ashleigh Merchant, claimed the pair have been involved in an “ongoing, personal and romantic relationship,” and went on vacations together. The filings argued the alleged relationship, which Merchant claims started before the election interference began, makes the indictment “fatally defective” and requests it be dismissed. -The Hill

During a church service last Sunday, Willis appeared to defend her actions. “I’m a little confused. I appointed three special counselors. It’s my right to do, paid them all the same hourly rate. They only attack one.” “I hired one white woman, a good personal friend and a great lawyer, a superstar, I tell you. I hired one white man — brilliant — my friend and a great lawyer. And I hired one Black man, another superstar, a great friend and a great lawyer,” she continued, without referencing Wade by name. “The Black man I chose has been a judge for more than 10 years, run[s] a private practice more than 20 [years],” said Willis. “Represented businesses in civil litigation … served a prosecutor, a criminal defense lawyer, special assistant attorney general.” Willis then pretended to talk to God, asking: “God, isn’t it them who’s playing the race card when they only question one?”

How many of the other attorneys was Fani (allegedly) banging? More recently we learned that Fani was coordinating with the Jan. 6 committee to shape her case against Trump. In mid-April of 2022, Committee staff quietly met with attorneys working on the case in Fulton County for DA Fani Willis, right around the time she was preparing to convene a special grand jury investigation – during which she employed her alleged paramour, Nathan Wade, who would also coordinate with the Biden White House on their case. So – Fani coordinated with both the J6 committee and the White House, who helped them assemble their case against the former president.

Read more …

“..Milei’s speech has more views than all other speeches from 2024 combined, including those from the EU President Ursula von der Leyen, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and French President Emmanuel Macron.”

Who Praised Javier Milei’s Anti-Socialism Speech Seen 27 Million Times (CS)

A number of high profile figures have lauded Argentinian President Javier Milei’s takedown of socialism and “international organizations” while speaking next to Klaus Schwab at his annual WEF Davos meeting. In what has easily become the most viral speech of the year, and most popular in WEF history, Milei lambasted Western governments for shrouding socialism in the guise of social justice, even taking a shot at the West’s “radical feminist agenda.” The WEF has understandably downplayed the significance of Milei’s speech. In their article summarizing Day 3 of the Davos meetings, Milei’s speech was pushed to the bottom and given an equally brief write-up as it was dry. Conversely, a number of high profile figures have offered praise of Milei’s speech. On X, a post of the speech has been seen over 27 million times.

X and Tesla CEO Elon Musk posted the speech and praised Milei for his “Good explanation of what makes countries more or less prosperous.” Musk also posted a meme on Thursday showing a man secretly watching Milei’s speech while having sex with a beautiful woman. Dr Jordan Peterson chimed in on Wednesday with a simple exclamation mark over another user’s post that read “Javier Milei just told a bunch of WEF socialists at Davos that they are THE PROBLEM, not the solution.”Former Republican candidate, and potential Donald Trump VP pick Vivek Ramiswamy, similarly posted three clapping emojis over the same post that Peterson commented on. Ramiswamy later posted: “The World Economic Forum is really just Old World Europe rearing its ugly head again. We fought a revolution in 1776 to say hell no to the Old World vision. It’s time we say so again: self-governance over aristocracy is what makes America great.”

On Thursday, Former US National Security Advisor General Mike Flynn posted: “The more I think about Argentine President Javier Milei’s speech at the WEF, the more I realize he gave the globalists a double barreled middle finger to them in their own board room. Well done!” Canadian Freedom Convoy organizer Tamara Lich said Milei dropped “truth bombs.” On YouTube, The WEF’s account shows that Milei’s speech has more views than all other speeches from 2024 combined, including those from the EU President Ursula von der Leyen, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and French President Emmanuel Macron.

Milei

Read more …

“..the U.S. is the most unequal major economy in the world..”

Can the World Afford Its First Trillionaire? (Robert Bridge)

Since 2020, the wealthiest five individuals in the world have seen their fortunes explode, while during the same period some five billion people around the world have become poorer. The net worth of these billionaires – Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Bernard Arnault and his family of luxury company LVMH, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Oracle founder Larry Ellison and investor Warren Buffett – has exploded 114% to $869 billion, after taking inflation into account, according to Oxfam’s annual inequality report. Currently, Elon Musk, who runs several companies, including Tesla and SpaceX, is the richest man on the planet, with a personal fortune of just under $250 billion. “We have the top five billionaires, they have doubled their wealth. On the other hand, almost 5 billion people have become poorer,” Amitabh Behar, Oxfam’s interim executive director, told reporters in Davos, Switzerland, the site of this year’s World Economic Forum.

“Very soon, Oxfam predicts that we will have a trillionaire within a decade,” Behar said. “Whereas to fight poverty, we need more than 200 years.” To put the idea of a trillionaire (a thousand billions) into some perspective, the United States currently spends about that much annually on its entire military machine. In total, billionaires have seen their wealth explode by $3.3 trillion, or 34%, since 2020, with their fortunes expanding three times faster than the rate of inflation, according to Oxfam. American billionaires, many of whom accrue their wealth from the equity in the companies they lead, have become $1.6 trillion richer. The driving force behind this massive surge in personal profits is raw corporate power. Seventy percent of the world’s largest business interests have either a billionaire at the helm or a billionaire as its principal shareholder.

Moreover, the top 1% of income earners possesses 43% of the world’s financial assets, according to Oxfam, which pooled its data from Wealth X. In the United States, this group owns 32%; in Asia, it’s 50%. In the Middle East, the top 1% holds 48% of the financial wealth, while in Europe, it’s 47%. About 150 of the world’s largest corporations made nearly $1.8 trillion in profits in the one year leading up to June 2023, Oxfam reported. That’s 52.5% more than their average was between 2018 to 2021. While economic inequality is as old as Rome, in the United States the disparity has increased dramatically over the last four decades. Inequality can be measured in a variety of ways, frequently using income. The Gini coefficient, developed by Italian Statistician Corrado Gini in 1921, is one of the most accurate measures of how income is distributed across the population with 0 being perfectly equal (where everyone receives an equal share) and 1 being completely unequal (where 100 percent of income goes to only one person).

The United States has a Gini coefficient of 0.485, the highest it has been in half a century, according to the Census Bureau, far exceeding that of other advanced economies. This measurement proves that the U.S. is the most unequal major economy in the world. In 1980, the top 1 percent of earners in the United States earned a little over 10 percent of the country’s income. Currently, they bring home about 20 percent, more than the entire bottom half of earners. Despite its massive amount of inequality, Americans have shown tremendous patience with the status quo. The last time there was any sort of backlash against the 1% came in 2011 with the Occupy Wall Street protests, where thousands of protesters railed against economic inequality, corporate greed, and the influence of money in politics.

Americans showed that they had had enough following the 2008 bank bailouts under the George W. Bush administration that utilized taxpayer funds to purchase toxic assets from ‘too big to fail’ banks and financial institutions. Protesters were also enraged by the undue influence of corporate money in the US political process. Today, Wall Street quietly goes about its business of making obscene amounts of money, while much of the public’s attention is preoccupied with other matters unconnected to class, like race, gender, and identity politics, trifles which the corporate-owned mainstream media is only too happy to promote. Whether it will take the world’s first trillionaire to make the people ‘class conscious’ once again remains to be seen.

Read more …

 

 

 

 

Babies swimming

 

 


Squint your eyes, and the diamonds morph into squares.

 

 

Cary Grant

 

 

Petals

 

 

 

 

Support the Automatic Earth in wartime with Paypal, Bitcoin and Patreon.

 

 

 

 

 

Home Forums Debt Rattle January 19 2024

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 52 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #150722

    Claude Monet The house at Yerres 1876   • ‘We Are Attacking Iran’ – Netanyahu (RT) • West Aware Zelensky ‘Getting Out Of Control’ – Lavrov (RT) •
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle January 19 2024]

    #150723
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    Claude Monet The house at Yerres 1876

    As usual, the art is incredible….thanks bunches Ilargi……

    From my pov in S.E. Asia, it seems nothing much changes in the West’s daily dynamic….
    A very strange form of stability…within a very unstable atmosphere…
    War seems the only certainty these days….

    #150724
    Dr. D
    Participant

    30% of earth re-wilded by 2030. That is, tomorrow.

    “the 30 by 30 project is a fine example of a “solution” that solves nothing and creates more and worse problems than the ones it claims to address.  We have a lot of pseudosolutions like that just now.  They share certain traits in common. 
    First, they’re imposed from above by a managerial elite, rather than rising from beneath out of the lived experience and knowledge of people on the scene.
    Second, they load all the costs of the project onto people at the grassroots while the benefits inevitably flow uphill—you’ll notice, for example, that nobody’s talking about making the areas set aside for the 30 by 30 program off limits for ecotourism and other high-end recreational uses.
    Third, they rely on abstract notions, round numbers, and vague generalizations rather than the sensitive attention to specifics that generate real solutions.
    Fourth, they pay no attention to the realities of history or to the prospects of long-term political and social change. 
    Fifth, they never challenge the modes of thinking that caused the problem in the first place; quite the contrary, they nearly always embrace and reinforce those problematic mindsets.” — J. Greer

    Only Five? I’m sure there are much, much more and worse problems than that. It’ll cause a world-ending civil war, for instance, and some of us think that’s bad.

    Okay, and here’s WHY: They are desperate for COLLATERAL. It’s all about COLLATERAL. The only collateral large enough right now they’re saying is to steal 30% of the PLANET…and in a few years the compounding interest won’t make this enough and it’ll collapse AGAIN. Then they steal the NEXT 30%, and so on. Or kill the next 30% of people, same thing.

    Luongo and Lanci are working up a perspective that is the antidote to the last 40 years. In their view, sure the Fed raise rates, bailed out some banks, is putting pressure on to crush competition in Europe, and may even lower rates soon. But what does that all mean?

    It means as we got into this mess for 30 years and it was all timed to blow, right now. Then Build Back Bitter. The only way they could possibly make us accept all these rotten, stupid, self-defeating things is to purposefully make the world so sh—y that would be an improvement. TINA, No Way Out.

    What if instead of doing what our enemies want and crashing, killing Deagle’s 100M people, we instead just UN-do all the stupid, harmful, unworking policies of the last 30 years? Can we get enough power to do that? We have a Central Planning, all-printing, human-replacement model. What if we raised interest rates, had Wall Street and banks allocate capital to viable projects again, and higher rates cut capex, employed humans, reigned in Congress and therefore Central Planning again?

    Well it would all crash. Would it? What if they do it just a little bit and take not it ALL back, but just one step back? Can we do that? What if Wall Street got a President who wanted to return manufacturing they could profit on and not instead need a Central Bank Issued UBI and a USSR model that goes right around them?

    So in theory – and because Europe is a total wreck, there’s no competition – they are slowly, methodically UN-doing the K-Pop communism of the last 40 years. And therefore sinking all their WEF plans to the Mariana Trench. Can we? No, there will probably still be a crisis somewhere, but it CAN happen, right? In theory? So why WOULDN’T Powell, other top-level insiders, why WOULDN’T this be their first impulse? Make America Great Again. As even I say, this was working like just a few years ago, can’t we just go back to THEN? When we had Obama’s 2009 budget and criminals weren’t released and PAID for inconvenience of us daring to arrest them?

    Go back just one step, then another, then another. And we see this in Congress and also the culture wars. Budweiser took ONE STEP back from the edge, supporting MMA and shutting their stupid-hole. I don’t trust them either, but it happened. We took ONE STEP back, taking out FTX, although it’s a baby step and he got away with the other half of his DNC/Ukraine scam. But that step happened. We took ONE STEP in not funding Ukraine.

    And we know the enemy here, the NeoCons and Biden as a representative of the WEF mass-murder/no-sovereignty plan are all trying more wars which = more spending = more printing and the collapse of the US$ = central planning global fascism. That’s what they did last time and got them to sign up for CV19. They’re trying it in Gaza now. But it’s not working. No $150B in Congress right now. And ONE step: actually the GOP would give them $500B for Kiev if they closed the border – it’s the same guys there – but they won’t spend to close Mexico, so the GOP doesn’t spend to Kiev. One step back from hyperinflation, one move towards the “normalcy” of 1995.

    For me that’s a pity as the rest of my life could easily be spent with them neither crashing NOR fixing. The Nikkei was untradable. If you dollar-cost-averaged in, AFTER it had crashed in 1989, you’d STILL be underwater 30 years later. Nor could you short it. Like 100-year sleep. Nor was Japan workable. It was just limping and lingering on, and no simple P/E telling you which stocks to buy but should buy Nintento – then sold – bought heavy industry – then sold. No reasons, and if you missed one, you’d be wiped out.

    What if we have a Dow 36,000 in 2050 but by then inflation has made it a Dow 15,000? And everything else is very similar, the same. That’s the rest of all our lives. The exposure cleans up Congress, but slowly, the lack of investment means stocks move to Asia and have clean-checker investors to dodge fraud, but slowly, and with 3% returns.

    I think since 2000, and with it being THEIR plan, we’ve all gotten a bias towards the “Inevitable crash”. I have. And it’s cost me an infinity amount of money.

    Luongo and Lanzi are saying there are TWO Clubs, and you’re not in either of them. And ONE of the clubs doesn’t want a crash anymore. It thinks it’s got the upper hand and can grind out a win without 100M dead. Did not see that coming, but Bear Markets exist to take everybody’s money, everybody loses, everybody ends up wrong and broke. In this case, by betting on stability and optimism.

    “We Are Attacking Iran’ – Netanyahu (RT)

    Are you? Because it looks like Iran didn’t notice.

    ““Unfortunately for the mercenaries, things aren’t working out real well for them on the battlefield,” said host Garland Nixon. “Well, come to think of it, they’re not getting to the battlefield.”

    Pretty mad about this. In that hotel of 200 there were perfectly fine cooks, maids, concierge, prostitutes, and you all got them killed by hiding behind civilians like a human shields, you pricks. You see THIS is why you stay in a barracks like normal, moral countries do. Do I hear a peep of “France uses civilians as a human shields in open contempt and in an open display of international war crimes?” No I do not. When you’re the “Good” people, the Garden People, all your murders are the “Good” murders.

    Alexander’s theory – of which there is no evidence – is that, having blown everything up — they are the French Air Defense operators, and Russia has been after the A.D. lately. Quite possible, I guess we’ll see if the A.D. is run down and inoperable tonight.

    “• How the West Was Defeated (Pepe Escobar)

    A: By themselves. Like Lincoln said. Alexander comments the NeoCons have the infant mentality that the world is infinite – they are child-objects like Disney’s “Wish” – and the only reason Santa Claus doesn’t bring you an Oompa Loompa is because he’s evil, bad, and doesn’t want it enough. That is, we HAVE all the men, all the tanks, shells, but we won’t give them to Ukraine. Was in every paper this week in a coordinated fashion. And to some extent that’s true, which is what makes it such a good lie. We DON’T have any shells, but given enough shouting and enough visits from the Stasi, we COULD open new factories and make some. Someday. However, if we do, then what? If we give Ukraine F16s and long-range missiles, THEN WHAT? Russia sits around and says “Shucks, you got us?”

    No, they’ve been VERY CLEAR they will nuke us and London and therefore gee there might be a REASON we didn’t start Day 1 with F16s and nuclear Abrams? Besides, they ALREADY destroyed the NATO army you claim we never sent them. We didn’t give enough arms and money fast enough. We lingered, dawdled, didn’t REALLY BELIEVE. So…$200 BILLION in one year was not FAST ENOUGH for you? We just didn’t TRY? Sacrifice a chicken and wish hard enough on “The Secret” of Positive Thinking? $200 Billion? More than ever has been spent on anything for zero results. Really?

    But watch that attitude. How was Ukraine defeated? Well the U.S. was a p—y. We aren’t war-like enough, that’s why. Not that their plans suck, and they’re delusional psychotics who thought the Russian army just scatters at a whiff of grapeshot. –No literally, this was written in their plans. They wave a glossy brochure of the Abrams tank at Zaporozhye and the Russians would break demoralized and abandon the land bridge in Crimea.

    Okay fine, I’m fine with that, or the attempt at Kherson, as clearly give the name “Normandy” and “Omaha” on the East Bank, it was an op invented and directed by London and the West. I’m worried about the part when when it didn’t work, you just…did nothing? Kept feeding men into it while…not flanking, not air-controlling, not distracting, but nothing? That’s why evil loses: it’s g– d—ed delusional. If it could see God and the innate oneness of all things, it wouldn’t be in a war to begin with, obviously.

    “2. The “ideological solitude” and “ideological narcissism” of the West – incapable of understanding,

    ““The West cannot be trusted. Even now, it wants only one thing – to live at the expense of others and to be more clever than others.” — Lavrov

    The West hasn’t decided what peace path to take and has been dithering. It’s inconceivable to them that Europe and the United States are pointless has-beens that aren’t worth negotiating withnot THEIR plan, the one like Ze they will order Russia to take, but aren’t worth negotiating with AT ALL. Ever. On anything, for any agreement at all. The West could give all of Ukraine to Russia altogether and they still wouldn’t trust them or care. It would make no difference in their calculations.

    That means there ARE no peace negotiations. It also means as this spreads, the West, Europe and U.S. cease to exist as partners and as powers. Power comes from cooperation. I’m only Napoleon if people obey me. But how can there be cooperation with zero trust? Which is the state the West (I.e five minor countries) find themselves in concerning the other 7 Billion humans.

    That takes time, but it’s cumulative. And very likely unrepairable. WHAT would happen here to reverse it? Trump is placed in a coup and every criminal is arrested in a year of martial law, we open all our records like USSR and South Africa and come clean about what happened on every record back to 1963 and 1939. Then with reconciliation, start new, actually fair elections with two new parties. Nope. Not even that.

    “Russia could not have intended to conquer all of Ukraine because it did not invade with sufficient forces to do so.”

    Don’t distract me with facts and logic. It just demonstrates that the Russians are crazy, stupid, inferior, and warlike. By race, as Cheney(?) said. Being inferior and breaking and running from “The Garden People” is in their DNA. You know, like they did to Sweden, Napoleon, and Hitler.

    ““..The document practically states that all the activities of the Ukrainian state will revolve around the interests of the UK..”

    UK needs COLLATERAL. If London doesn’t get plausible collateral it will collapse. That is the only thing happening on the planet right now. How much collateral is Gaza at a 1000:1 lie ratio?

    “attempt to raise his faltering ratings, which have plunged to a record low.”

    Right. So nobody wants him there, he has no support with any Briton, yet the government won’t break and reform. Uh-huh. I’m sure that’s what “Democracy” means. Like here: 5% approval ratings. 95% of the people hate your guts in a Democracy! That’s why they voted for you. The majority wins! Because the 5% are “More equal” than the 95%.

    “I’m telling all of you and we’ve told the American people: border, border, border..”

    Republicans exist to give Democrats money. By caving in. That is their purpose in life. Here they are, they will give Biden and Ukraine infinity money. All he needs to do is enforce the law in and avoid an impeachable offense. They won’t. Doesn’t that seem odd?

    What’s more odd is the 100% bat-blind, lock-step of the reporters, including all the alternative ones in reporting it this way. Oh it’s the REPUBLICANS’ fault! Right. Because all coins have only one side and all negotiations have one party. I read this as “They’ll give you every. Single. Thing. You want without hesitation. If you give me even the APPEARANCE, the eyewash, the fabrication and pretending of caring and giving us even one thing.” They won’t. Like the last 40 years when they didn’t mean any other compromises either. Like the 1986 compromise they broke in 24 hours and started importing new illegals immediately, without a pause. They would double-cross us again like that, it cost them nothing but STILL they won’t do it. Take the money to both re-direct and NOT use on the border, AND to money-launder and cycle back to DNC election fraud.

    Again: isn’t that NOT the Republicans’ fault? And Isn’t that odd?

    There’s no “Stalemate”. Democrats PRETEND to care about the border – then double cross and don’t – and Ukraine gets $200 Billion. What kind of “Stalemate” is that? One where it’s my fault you didn’t say no? If I agree to pay for dinner, I’ll ALSO agree to pay for the movie too? How unreasonable. Darn irrational Rednecks.

    “• Anti-Russian Leader a Favorite for Top EU Job – Politico (RT)

    Please, please do this. Every day Germany doesn’t have Russian gas is another day the EU collapses. And London right after.

    “Judge in Trump-Georgia Case Orders Fani Willis to Explain Allegations (ZH)

    I’m surprised this can be brought up, but I suppose you’d have to.

    “Since 2020, the wealthiest five individuals in the world have seen their fortunes explode, while during the same period some five billion people around the world have become poorer.”

    Yes, and all of them poorer here in America.

    “Wall Street quietly goes about its business of making obscene amounts of money, while much of the public’s attention is preoccupied with other matters unconnected to class, like race, gender, and identity politics, trifles which the corporate-owned mainstream media is only too happy to promote.”

    Yup, and as this author implies via timing: it was all “Occupy”. Occupy was the first major threat and they needed something that would derail them: they went down, looked, and injected fake agitators into it to have “Democratic votes by race”. No, really, and because they are illogical and unreasoning, Tim Pool who is part Korean, was allowed to vote whichever side they decided he was allowed to at the time to get the right outcome. This blatant racism drove off the Libertarians and Conservatives in disgust, boom: problem solved. Occupy was co-opted and killed in the first 5 days. Aren’t you embarrassed for yourselves? I mean, THIS??? You fell for THIS? Really?

    They then scaled it up nationwide. This is perfectly apparent the day after on the “NYT, Racism” search graph. NY Times always in servicing billionaires to a happy ending, then half the people defended them to the death, fighting for the NY Times right to chop the country and hand it to billionaires, killing every working stiff, black, white, or other.

    Applause all around. Didn’t suspect a thing. And you wonder why they have contempt for us when it’s this obvious. Heck, they were picking up and debriefing Occupy in undercover cars. For all your suspicion about “The Man”, F- the Police, ACAB, you didn’t notice? In New York? AYFKM?

    Whatever, that’s why I don’t go down, usually. You go down, point, tell them, that guy Epps right there, and they say Nah. ALL cops are entrapping and railroading people but not THIS cop, right here, THIS day, This down. This time, this one day in the last 100 years, this time it’s different.

    Can’t work with people like that. Too risky. They could haul out Barnie and a purple guitar and they would think he’s a real Velocoraptor. Totally fooled. Can’t cope.

    #150725
    Oroboros
    Participant

    The hottest new Vodka is flying off the shelves in Moscow

    It’s called:

    “Zelensky’s Tears”

    Hahahahahahahahaaha!

    Za tvoyo zdorov ye!

    .

    .

    .

    #150726
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Autographed bottles!

    #150727
    Red
    Participant

    Canadian community doctor Dr. Charles Hoffe was one of the first to notice something was “wrong” with the vaccines in April 2021 after he witnessed terrible injuries (strokes etc.) and even a death in the patients he was vaccinating. He then wrote an open letter to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia with his observations and concerns, suggesting that perhaps the jabs should be put on pause until their safety could be more assured. One paragraph from the letter said:

    “In our small community of Lytton, BC, we have one person dead, and three people who look as though they will be permanently disabled, following their first dose of the Moderna vaccine. The age of those affected ranges from 38 to 82 years of age,” he wrote.

    Hoffe was then banned from working in the local emergency ward and other provincial hospitals. He later submitted more than a dozen claims of vaccine injuries on behalf of his patients, but all were denied validity.

    https://pierrekorymedicalmusings.com/p/the-long-awaited-debate-of-covid?

    #150728
    Red
    Participant

    Jan. 8, 2024 (Businesswire) – Johnson & Johnson to Acquire Ambrx, Advancing Next Generation Antibody Drug Conjugates to Transform the Treatment of Cancer

    Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) announced today it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Ambrx Biopharma, Inc., or Ambrx, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company with a proprietary synthetic biology technology platform to design and develop next-generation antibody drug conjugates (ADCs), in an all-cash merger transaction for a total equity value of $2.0 billion
    results seen to date with ARX517 in mCRPC (prostate cancer) are promising and represent a potential first- and best-in-class targeted therapy for the treatment of this aggressive disease.
    Ambrx’s proprietary ADC technology incorporates the advantages of highly specific targeting monoclonal antibodies securely linked to a potent chemotherapeutic payload to achieve targeted and efficient elimination of cancer cells without the prevalent side-effects typically associated with chemotherapy
    Following completion of the transaction, Ambrx’s common stock will no longer be listed for trading on the NASDAQ Global Select Market.
    Turbo Cancers
    This is my original prediction about COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine Induced Turbo Cancers, which may change slightly over time as more data comes in.

    Top 5 Turbo Cancers by # of people who will be affected long term:

    Johnson & Johnson to Acquire $2 Billion Drug Developer “Ambrx Biopharma” to Treat Turbo Cancers with Same Tech as Pfizer’s $43 Billion Seagen Acquisition

    #150729
    Red
    Participant

    The World Economic Forum’s (WEF) motto for Davos24 (ongoing) is “Rebuilding Trust”. This is worse than a joke because what the WEF propagates openly – a Polygon Cyberattack, a not yet identified virus “X”, already somewhere out there (say Bill Gates and WHO’s Tedros), and more — as well as the untold secret behind closed-door topics, is anything but “Building Trust”……

    Biggest Dam Removal Project in US History
    Have you heard about another lunacy being planned and in terms of predictive programming, the people being made aware of – scared? Predictive Programming is the Cult’s way of assuring success for their evil endeavors. So, they must tell people, stun them, block them as the shock incapacitates them from countering these diabolical actions.

    The first step of this insanity is that four of the six dams corralling the Klamath River—which runs through Oregon and Northern California—are in the process of being removed by the end of the year. Supposedly for “good environment”,…..

    Take turbo cancers: Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said in a recent interview that turbo cancer (aggressive cancers) are on the rise in young people.

    Expect large proportions of young people, as many as a third, being hit by turbo cancer (Bourla).

    Pfizer is working hard to develop medication to fight this deadly disease. Bourla did not mention that the scary ascent of cancers are largely the results of the Covid vaxx-injections, a fair share of which were produced by Pfizer. Disease is their golden cash-cow playing into the WEF / UN2030 population reduction objective.

    “Building Trust”?: The World Economic Forum Is the West’s Perfect “White-Collar Euthanasia Agent”

    #150730
    Dr D Rich
    Participant

    The FBI targeted Occupy leaders for assassination.
    True or False?
    And then, was the FBI’s targeting of Occupy Leaders true or false (false as in war-time propaganda or intimidation)?
    Did the FBI only target Occupy Houston leaders for assassination?

    Who directed the FBI at Occupy?

    Who infiltrated Occupy? The FBI? Mormon branch? Catholic section? Jewish C-suite? The Antithesis of The Black Panther Party or Young Patriots or Young Lords?

    It couldn’t be that “young white migrants from the Appalachia(n) region who experienced extreme poverty and discrimination” still require support rather than relabeled as White Deplorables.

    #150731
    Dr. D
    Participant

    A Special Triple warning: Length, Trigger, AND totally pointless content.

    ““How a 27-Year-Old Codebreaker Busted the Myth of Bitcoin’s Anonymity
    Once, drug dealers and money launderers saw cryptocurrency as perfectly untraceable. Then a grad student named Sarah Meiklejohn proved them all wrong—and set the stage for a decade-long crackdown.” — Wired.

    YGTBFKM. Bitcoin is the OPPOSITE of anonymous.

    What would it be if every Narco like Escobar, and we could watch his bank account balances in real time? Boy “Wired” you sure know Tech!

    But Wired: should I just write the article before I read it? Just on guessing what they’re going to say because it’s “The Narrative”?? Let me guess: it’s a black female gay transgender midget, billionaire supermodel STEM Math mom who is the hero that figured out you can see wallets on the blockchain:

    “All of it began with the work of a young, puzzle-loving mathematician named Sarah Meiklejohn,”

    Ding Ding Ding!!! We have a winner. How do I know? Because if a guy had done it, they would have not run the article or else “Just made s—t up” that a woman did it. Like last time. That was with the “All the moon landing software was written by this one weird housewife trick”…you know, although it was completely done the whole project nearly closed when she was hired … hired by her own husband or something. That kind of “groundbreaking” woman.

    So a woman noticed that Bitcoin allows to you see wallets. Fascinating! Go on. No wait: I’ll guess, “It was a Dark and Stormy Night. Suddenly a shot rang out! Sarah combed her brown, mousy hair and cried, “I don’t need no man!

    “In early 2013, the shelves of a windowless storage room in a building of the University of California, San Diego, began to fill up with strange, seemingly random objects. Socks. A small stack of Magic: The Gathering cards. A Super Mario Bros. 3 cartridge for the original Nintendo. A plastic Guy Fawkes mask of the kind popularized by the hacker group Anonymous. An album by the classic rock band Boston on CD.
    Periodically, the door would open, the light would turn on, and a petite, dark-haired graduate student named Sarah Meiklejohn would enter the room and add to the growing pile”

    For the sake of ever-loving Christ would you get to the point before I die of old age already??? Writing isn’t everything that happened, it’s every IMPORTANT thing that happened. About Bitcoin, not Nintendo and MTG.

    “ Then Meiklejohn would walk back out the door, down the hall, up the stairs, and into an office”

    Would that be the East Hall, the West Hall, or the IDGAF Hall? Details matter.

    Paragraph, Paragraph, Paragraph, Paragraph, Paragraph, Paragraph, Paragraph, Paragraph, Paragraph, Paragraph, Paragraph, Paragraph, (not kidding, 12 paragraphs later)

    Okay, she bought some stuff and tracked it. Paragraph, Paragraph,

    ““Somewhere in the back of my mind was this idea,” says Meiklejohn, “the idea of following the money.”

    Whoa! I am literally blown away right now. That’s a catchy phrase, did you invent it? Can we tell other people about this plan?

    I mean with Bitcoin cryptography geniuses like this, amitrite?

    “As a child, Meiklejohn loved puzzles—the more complex, the better. On road trips, in airports, or any other time the small-for-her-age, hyper-inquisitive girl needed to be distracted, her mother would hand her a book of puzzles. “

    Which puzzles…oops! Nevermind, they name them all in alphabetical and chronological order.

    Because 24 paragraphs of “She discovered Cryptography as a child”, therefore, “When Meiklejohn started college at Brown in 2004, she discovered cryptography.”

    This may be a shock to you, “Wired”, but I DID actually read the previous 24 paragraphs, you know. Where you said the #Opposite?

    “ she nonetheless came to believe in the need for truly unbreakable encryption, technologies that could carve out a space for sensitive communications—whether dissidents organizing against a repressive government or whistleblowers sharing secrets with journalists” Props, fight Da Power, Gurl! …As she then BREAKS the “secrets” and erases the ability of journalists to privately transact, in service of her Federal Prosecutor Mother. You show ‘em! #Resist!

    Acolytes of the “Resistance-that-supports-Nike-and-Disney-and-the-FBI” Crowd. We want Privacy (except for the people we don’t).

    She continues her career fighting Da Man and Da Power and helping resistance journalists everywhere by working for Microsoft, the least-secure, most-spying company on the planet. And that’s some VERY stiff competition.

    “Levchenko was fascinated, he explained as they trekked around the jagged landscape of the Anza Borrego Desert State Park,”

    Which trail? What did they eat for lunch?

    “But that blockchain ledger system came at an enormous privacy cost: In Bitcoin, for good and for ill, everyone was a witness to every payment.

    What? Bitcoin has a public ledger? Who else knows about this???

    She downloaded the whole Blockchain ((probably 5Mb at that time) and “She could see, for instance, … the first transaction ever made when Satoshi sent 10 coins as a test to the early Bitcoin developer Hal Finney.”

    Wait: Bitcoin is a public ledger??? “Public” means “You can see transactions”? Who else knows about this???

    Paragraph, Paragraph, Paragraph, Paragraph, Paragraph, Paragraph, Paragraph, Paragraph, Paragraph, Paragraph, Paragraph, Paragraph, (not kidding, literally 12 paragraphs later)

    What does the burgeoning trans-gay lesbian feminist STEM Gurrl do?

    “Some linking is still unavoidable with multi-input transactions, which necessarily reveal that their inputs were owned by the same owner,” Satoshi wrote.”

    Guess what???? What Satoshi wrote was TRUE! And Sarah READ IT. In the Internets!!! Not exciting? People read things online by the billions daily and everyone out there has read Satoshi’s paper since it’s short and non technical?

    Yes, but “Wired”!!! This is different. You see when she read it like the other 500,000 humans, “ Satoshi had inadvertently suggested” Inadvertently, you understand!!! That is, the greatest presently known cryptographic secrecy genius ACCIDENTALLY wrote a public paper to the whole world where “He Forgot” that people would read it and perceive this flaw he was pointing out himself and would be perfectly obvious to anyone with a pulse. That’s why Sarah saw it! Genius! Gurl Boss!

    Paragraph, Paragraph, Paragraph, Paragraph, Paragraph, Paragraph, Paragraph, Paragraph, Paragraph, Paragraph, Paragraph, Paragraph, Paragraph, Paragraph, (not kidding, literally 14 paragraphs later)

    “Meiklejohn found herself in the early weeks of 2013 ordering coffee, cupcakes, mugs, baseball hats…”

    Oh wait, they’re not done wasting my time yet:

    Paragraph, Paragraph, Paragraph,

    “based on just four deposits and seven withdrawals into wallets on the Silk Road, she was able to identify nearly 300,000 of the black market’s addresses. This breakthrough didn’t mean Meiklejohn could identify any actual users of the Silk Road by name…”

    Um…were any of them TRYING to hide? On a “Public” ledger? Walking into town and figuring I live in Staten Island is great, cool, good work…but was I TRYING to hide just then, or am I at my address listed in the phone book?

    “Mt. Gox and Bitstamp, where they seemed to be cashed out for traditional currency. For an academic researcher, this was a dead end. But anyone with the subpoena power of law enforcement, Meiklejohn realized, could very likely force those exchanges to hand over information about the accounts behind those transactions and solve the mystery of the $7.5 million stash.
    Far from being untraceable, they wrote, the blockchain was an open book”

    You mean like a “Public Ledger”? Yes, wherever you check out the end system, you’re visible. When Binance transfers to your KYC Credit Union account, they can see you. Wherever you buy on Amazon and they ship to your home address, you’re visible. Duh.

    But are you? Suppose you have a vendor and you buy something. If that vendor doesn’t keep records, then all you see is random some arrives. Random amounts leave. Wallet is “Bidu”. So WHICH of the 10,000 transactions they mailed ChinaMart junk to, is yours? And you can only guess, as you might be paying them for server services. And get a subpoena for HongKong, I dare you. But…go on….

    “Now, when Meiklejohn showed Savage her results, he agreed: They were ready to publish.
    In the final draft of the paper Meiklejohn and her coauthors put together”

    “Savage” as in “Stefan Savage”, a man.

    Paper: “A Fistful of Bitcoins: Characterizing Payments Among Men with No Names” (catchy! Good work!) Grant Jordan(man), Kirill Levchenko(man), Damon McCoy(man), Geoffrey M. Voelker(man), Stefan Savage(man), Sarah Meiklejohn, Marjori Pomarole(woman).

    Huh, that’s funny. Must have been a coincidence that this co-equal paper they chose to follow the woman programmer instead of the Russian or Male programmers. Welp, I am a Coincidence Theorist after all…

    “Having set down those words, and blowing a gaping hole in the myth of Bitcoin’s inherent untraceability,”

    A myth existing in their own minds. What part of “Public Ledger…???” What part of “Satoshi said on the first day before Bitcoin even existed…???” Oh nevermind.

    They then never name the other authors involved. Because: Not White Women from Manhattan.

    I feel very sorry for Sarah who is no doubt a great intellect and programmer, to get this kind of unspeakable pandering treatment from Wired, and expose her to ridicule for what was good, hard, and obvious work to put long hours and real processes under Satoshi’s original warning this would exist. She deserves better.

    Wired: I think they’re below being the “Cosmo for Nerds”. This is so low it’s like Cosmo for the illiterate, who log on games, chew crayons and think they’re “nerds” because they watched “Star Wars” once. No. No sirs. Calculus and Star Wars are two very different things. And “Literate and read Satoshi’s paper” (Sarah) and “Illiterate and never read Satoshi’s paper” (Wired) are two different things.

    #150732
    Dr. D
    Participant

    Actually with Occupy, it’s so long ago I don’t remember? There was a lot of chatter at that time, of course mostly following Zuccotti Park. Being actual and new, there was a lot going on. Including, like me, that finally the Left and RIght came together against our common, agreed enemy. As if “Taxed Enough Already” (TEA Party) wasn’t open enough, but it wasn’t, so it’s Okay if it’s Occupy, that’s fine so long as it extends “No Bailouts” as first order, as the American Public SHUT DOWN THE PHONE LINES to Congress to tell them not to do it.

    And yet here we are. They tell us “It’s da Millionaires and da Billionaires!” We tell them “It’s the millionaires and the billionaires” and yet…insert magic here…we’re somehow on opposite sides all day? For 15 years in a row? JHC on a stick, I’m so tired of it.

    Who was an FBI informant at Zuccotti Park? I dunno, probably all of them? Everybody but Tim Pool and one homeless guy, like happened in MI?

    Who died? I think 2-3 upper figures “had problems” soon after, never traced to anything. Please tell us all about Houston.

    #150733
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Thoughts on Big Pharma and the latest ‘solution’ to the ‘turbo cancers’ their ‘vaccines’ have created.

    Years ago a friend in a medium small town told me about a problem with an unknown arsonist burning down random out-buildings in this town.

    They were spaced out in time about two or three a year for ten years. No one was injured and no building were occupied. The the building were not high value insurance wise.

    It occurred to him there was a pattern however and he remembered an article he read that the pattern in fires he was witnessing was more often than not due to someone either in the fire department or police itself.

    So he decided to confront the police chief in a private meeting.

    He presented his well researched case that it all pointed to an inside job by either a member of the police or fire departments. He said it was only a matter of time before someone got hurt.

    He then said if one more fire happened in town that he would personally find the person responsible and chain them by the ankle to a steel stake with about a 10′ length in chain, soak them in gasoline, light them on fire and see how fast they could run around in a circle until they burned to death.

    He said he would film it for the TV stations and mail a copy to the relatives of the arsonist in question.

    The police chief maintained a good ‘poker face’ throughout the meeting but my friend said he got the distinct impression that the chief already knew who it was.

    He thought maybe the chief could even be related to the mystery arsonist.

    The talked ended, my friend said ‘good day’ to the chief and politely left his office.

    A year went by and there were no arson fires in town

    And then another year…

    And yet another and no more fires,

    And the police chief had left town and taken a job in another city shortly after their meeting.

    My friend said, “What a coincidence!”

    Big Pharma is that fireman-policeman who is secretly an arsonist.

    They see themselves as ‘heroes’ to the problems they create and so do the Sheeple who seemingly worship the ground they walk on.

    The End
    .
    .
    .
    .
    .The Rot goes to the Marrow

    .

    #150734
    Oroboros
    Participant

    .

    #150735
    tboc
    Participant

    V. Arnold the photon will emerge victorious. There, great comfort is to be found.

    #150736
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    What an amazing “petal devil.”

    #150737
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    30 by 30

    I have a better idea. Inspire (suggest) that people attempt to create “organic” gardens, with no commercial inputs. (Yeah, I know — if the mega corporations aren’t getting their share, it will never fly.). The skills that common folk would learn along the way while attempting to garden without commercial inputs would be transformational.

    #150738
    zerosum
    Participant

    Thank You RIM

    The battlefield – GOOD VS EVIL

    ATTACKING, AIDING, LYING, DENIAL, SECRETS, KILLING, DESTROYING, GENOCIDE/DEPOPULATION/PURIFYING

    Israel/USA/NATO …. accused Iran of aiding hamas, hezbollah, houthis, palestinians

    Russia …. accused USA/NATO of aiding Ukraine

    “with proxies/mercenaries/terrorists, humanitarian aid, money, training and weapons and technological know-how and intelligence, for refusing to comply.”
    ———

    • ‘We Are Attacking Iran’ – Netanyahu (RT)

    ———-
    • West Aware Zelensky ‘Getting Out Of Control’ – Lavrov (RT)

    ———–
    contradictory rhetoric – “voting, elections, democracy and freedom.”
    ———–
    Sleboda – newsflash: you don’t belong here. And if you insist on coming here then you’ll be priority target number one.”
    ———
    Emmanuel Todd – an independent thinker, based on facts and verified data.
    his latest book, La Défaite de L’Occident (“The Defeat of the West”)

    https://en.interaffairs.ru/article/emmanuel-todd-i-clearly-document-the-dynamics-of-the-decline-of-protestant-passionarity-in-the-wes/

    In an interview, Emmanuel Todd talks about his new book, “The Defeat of the West”. Some excerpts:

    Let’s focus on what would be the 12 Greatest Hits of his remarkable exercise.
    Read more …..
    ———-
    “The West cannot be trusted. Even now, it wants only one thing – to live at the expense of others and to be more clever than others.”

    • Russia Can’t Trust West – Lavrov (RT)
    ———
    WORK AROUND JOINING NATO

    • The New British-Ukrainian Defense Agreement Is Great News For Russia (Poletaev)

    The Sunak-Zelensky deal will serve as an example for similar agreements with other G7 countries (France will probably sign a similar document next month).
    ———
    • NATO Personnel In Ukraine Now ‘Fair Game’ For Russia – Scott Ritter (RT)

    Thousands of fighters from the West flocked to Ukraine after the conflict with Russia escalated in February 2022, but their enthusiasm dropped off after up to 180 of them died in a missile strike on base in Yavorov in mid-March. Since then, almost 6,000 of the 13,500 foreigners who came to fight for Ukraine have been killed, and over 5,600 have returned home, the Russian Defense Ministry said earlier this month.
    ————

    Here’s who praised Javier Milei’s anti-socialism speech seen 27 million times


    Here’s who praised Javier Milei’s anti-socialism speech seen 27 million times
    A number of high profile figures have praised C which has been viewed 27 million times on X alone.

    https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2024/01/davos-2024-day-3-highlights/
    Davos 2024 Day 3: Some of the key moments

    THIS SPEECH JUST BROKE THE INTERNET!

    THIS SPEECH JUST BROKE THE INTERNET!

    Today I’m here to tell you that the Western world is in danger. And it is in danger because those who are supposed to have to defend the values of the West are co-opted by a vision of the world that inexorably leads to socialism and thereby to poverty.
    ———–

    #150739
    Dr. D
    Participant

    Problem (I created) Response (I created) Solution (I created) for mentally-ill hypercontrollers.

    Question is, will Milei be in their service and one of them?

    Ramaswamy, on-tap bank-backed cure for Wokism. Milei, on-tap bank-backed cure for Socialism.

    “I believe everything I see on TV; it makes my much more selective.” — Spinal Tap

    #150740
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Apparently you can take the boy out of the Hood but you can’t take the Hood out of the boy.

    .

    #150741
    Oroboros
    Participant

    The Death of Partisan Voting

    The UNI=party and it’s RINO=whores has killed the two major ‘brands’.

    Ancient Chinese Taoist Proverb

    It Take a Village to Burn Down a Village

    #150742
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Texas Tells Pedo Joe to Go-Fuck-Himself for a Change

    Texas Tells Biden to Touch Grass And Asserts Control of Shelby Park

    No Border, No Country

    #150743
    zerosum
    Participant

    My irrelevant 2 cents.
    WHY? THIS SPEECH JUST BROKE THE INTERNET!

    Javier Milei is Praising everyone’s ego who believes
    “You are right.” “Might makes Right.” and “Trickle Down Economics”, and “You are the Chosen/Superior/Special”

    Javier Milei’s performance is by a Clown, buffoon, comedian, comic, fool, jester, mime, prankster who is entertaining the “royalty”.

    Javier Milei is not presenting “the whole truth and only the truth”.
    Javier Milei is presenting opinions of selected facts

    #150744
    Dora
    Participant

    Matt Taibbi and Walter Kirn talking about Davos. 30 minute unpaywalled opening. Skip to the 7minute, 40 second mark to skip past the opening banter and hear the start of the Davos take down.
    “It’s become one of the most loathsome things that happens on schedule.”
    https://www.racket.news/p/america-this-week-january-19-2024

    #150745
    Noirette
    Participant

    Zelensky out of control (see top post) and Netanyahu going public saying,

    “Nothing will stop us” -> not the Int’l court, Iran backed axis of evil, and no-one else! Fighting (he says) against HAMAS, the new Nazis ..

    (Netanyahu is giving the finger to the US..) 1.20 mins, Hebrew, eng subs. http://tinyurl.com/f7k9bmtf

    Note Obama hated and disregarded Net., Biden loathes him as well, they haven’t spoken on the phone for maybe, idk, 20 days..(?)

    It looks very much like some alleged ‘allies’ aka Satraps paid to do whatever by the USA are no longer directly controlled by the BidAdmin, they (e.g. in Isr, Ukr..) are going down their own path, in a ‘rogue’ fashion, in a confused way, indulging in agression / murder, in line in part with their long-standing aims that were previously encouraged, supported by the USA, now sorta left on the back shelf. The Hegemon is rapidly going down…

    Just one angle, there are others.

    #150746
    Mister Roboto
    Participant

    I recommend reading Dr. Panda’s latest subsstack. The AFE-driven super-variant may have arrived. Apologies for sounding cryptic. I am posting from my phone.

    #150747
    Dr D Rich
    Participant

    Shoplifting is a problem on scale with Ds accurate dissertation on The First Trillionaire level of Kleptocracy. Entry level drug use invariably leads to heroin addiction, today fentanyl death. In other news, some minority New Zealander subprime minister was caught shoplifting small pilferable items. It’s embarrassing for family and friends but here I believe the perpetrators are entitled to Dr Ds much vaunted Christ-like understanding and forgiveness.

    Occupy Houston, you asked after I asked. Christ that sounds like…..ah hell….a policeman or a lawyer in court.
    The question stands unanswered because if the FBI targeted only Occupy Houston and no other local Occupy then what was unique about Houston that merited FBIs attention OR alternately was FBIs threat to murder Occupy a distraction for Occupy and the rest of us?
    Well, it worked, FBIs threat because Occupy soon thereafter disappeared.

    Btw, what’s the bigger distraction, the Celebration of Cryptologist Meiklejohn’s personal journey of self-discovery or the persistence of the Mythology that bitcoin or any cryptocurrency provide anonymity?

    How different is Meiklejohn’s tracing of a bitcoin transaction any different from let’s say NSAs locating, identifying and exploiting a computer, any computer to enslave on a backbone of Monero for what purpose? Scale? Personal avarice? Ensure Govt tax revenue
    WannaMine
    Wannacry

    #150748
    zerosum
    Participant

    Make me.

    Israel does not want a 2 state.
    Palestine does not want a two state.

    Ukraine will not talk peace with Russia

    Why are USA, Canada and others not listening to the true path for peace.

    #150749
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Strykering Out

    Empire of Lies Military Mafia gobshite equipment having real trouble in Ukraine.

    Wonder Weapon Stryker ‘combat’ vehicle mired in mud

    Military Industrial Mafia Complex doesn’t care, they got paid their blood money and are laughing all the way to the corrupt bank.

    This is where the West is in Ukronaziland, sinking up to their armpits in filth.

    Mission Accomplished!

    Empire of Lies Military Mafia aid package for Victory in Ukronaziland

    .

    #150750
    Maxwell Quest
    Participant

    @Dora

    Thanks for that link to the clip with Matt Taibbi and Walter Kirn. I’d never heard of Walter Kirn before, but he got my attention immediately with his uncanny ability to size up the WEF, an organization that many people find nebulous, in quite accurate and descriptive language. I think he even had Matt Taibbi, a champion wordsmith in his own right, playing catch-up.

    I’ve been very heartened lately with the amount of knowledge and understanding that has been pouring forth from the four quarters of the world about the current failures of the western-centric empire: its untrustworthiness, its blood-sucking greed, its perversion of morality, justice, and truth, its militarism and divisiveness, its desire for complete planetary control with its attendant depopulation schemes… think The Hunger Games.

    The push-back is building… bigly!

    #150751
    tboc
    Participant

    Red would you participate in a thought experiment concerning off grid energy?
    A hypothetical situation: Your daughter and her husband have two young children. The couple come to you with the purpose to take their family offline. The necessary infrastructure of home and sustenance are either in place or within reach. The understanding of conservation of energy required to gain success is in place. With the knowledge you have harvested what is the investment required?

    1. The bounds of geographical latitude that your experience would be applicable to.
    2. The scope of technology required, not to enter into trial and error, to insure a modicum of success.
    3. The cost of putting the required infrastructure, including backup(mechanical generators and stored energy), into operational readiness.
    4. The amount of resources to be put aside to create a fund for maintenance and replacement. The time that it would take to have these funds in place before necessity emerges.

    Looking as empathetic and compassionate human beings:
    What slice of the economic sector is capable of these investments?
    Within this sector how many are able to understand the necessity and to create the additional maintenance and replacement fund.

    With this information in hand, what value does the pursuit of this objective have for humanity as a whole. Does achieving the goal bring one closer to engagement with the affairs of men or leave one estranged, a clod washed away by the sea?

    #150752
    jb-hb
    Participant

    In other news, Disney continues to move forward with making a “spinoff trilogy” featuring the main character of the 3rd Star Wars Trilogy, the bland, personalityless bossgirl with a plummer’s name Ray, who nobody asked for.

    New Developments have been reported:

    1. The trilogy is postponed indefinitely.
    2. Also, this just in, Daisy Ridley (Ray) is going to be paid 15+ million to star in it.
    3. The movie is cancelled and the wokeist director is fired
    4. Also there’s a new unrelated star wars movie that will also feature Ray. In addition to the continuing trilogy under the wokeist director.
    5. The Acolyte is still a going concern, a Star Wars story about a girlboss hero who heroically destroys The Force itself (the an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together) to defeat the Patriarchy finally and forever and also The Force Is Female…
    6. The much promised Rian Johnson Star Wars trilogy should be coming out about the same as the next Half Life sequel. Surely soon.

    #150753
    WES
    Participant

    So House Speaker Johnson wants some “border changes” (unspecified) before approving aid to Ukraine.
    He says border, border, border!

    Then he uses weasel words like right now isn’t the time to overhall immigration because it is too complicated and takes too long! (This has nothing to do with border security!)

    No, the border could be closed before tomorrow!
    But you want to keep it open!

    Your actions speak louder than your words!

    If you stop paying someone (Mr. Z) then you lose control of them!

    When was a Uniparty Dem ever punished for breaking the law?
    I am still waiting …. !

    Just so you know, you can now buy 10 square kilometers of farm land in the Ukraine!
    If there are still any Ukrainian farmers left on the land you bought, no problem!
    Off to the front they will go!
    Billionaires can buy safely now because they know Russia isn’t going to invade the rest of the Ukraine.

    Why would I want to listen to the CIA puppet running Argentina?
    It is bad enough that I have to listen to CIA’s puppet “Socks” !

    #150754
    jb-hb
    Participant

    Forgot to mention, The Acolyte will be directed by Harvey Weinstein’s secretary.

    Serious. Actually happening, hundreds of millions already spent on it, not Babylon Bee stuff.

    Let me reassure you, no better crusader against Patriarchy could possibly be found by Disney …who currently couldn’t find their own way out a thin-walled wet paper bag.

    #150755
    WES
    Participant

    Tboc:

    Not to make lite of your valid question.

    The simplest way to live off grid is to accept no running water (buckets) and no power.
    Just a well with a hand pump, a wood stove/fireplace, hand saws/axes, shovels/hoes, hand tools, an outhouse, and candles.
    House with 360 porches with cellar.
    Barn(s).
    Hundred acres plus of crop, grazing, and forest land.
    A pond.
    Just like the way all of our ancestors lived!

    #150756
    WES
    Participant

    P.S. I forgot to have plenty of lead and guns, 22, 303, and 12 & 410 shotguns. Make sure everybody knows you are a deadly shot.

    #150757
    WES
    Participant

    Oh, how could I possibly forget! A cat(s) and a dog!

    #150758
    Dr. D
    Participant

    Off-Grid is at least a useful question. High level? As I am not up to speed enough on the details?

    Everything is conservation. Every watt not used is a watt you don’t have to buy or store. I know they say that but they need to tattoo it. And if only they could on the rest of us. I was driving home in this early sundowns and one street had a whole row of you know, standard, modern, 2000’sq modern insulated houses. And sure, highR windows, top attic insulation. But here at Christmas, every one of them, 6, 10, all lit up like Lalapalooza. And it’s not even odd, strange, reckless: just, you know, some Christmas lights, then the outdoor light, the porch light, the living light, the HDTV, the kitchen light, one bedroom.

    …And I know they’re mostly LEDs, clearly the cost is very, very low or they’d be careful, but as from growing up with barely one kitchen bulb on, I’m like my GOD! Do you KNOW how many lumps of coal that is??? How much pedaling would it take to light even ONE house, one bulb, much less a row of ten! (400w human max)

    AND: all that power comes from far, FAR away, miles of high lines, then miles of low lines, then those I dunno, 10,000w are doubled on every house on that road, then every road in the town, then every town in the county….

    You want to save the earth, save coal? CLEARLY NOT. Not a bit. Not a teeny tiny little. Conservation. THey’re literally not using those lights, and it’s not quiet and dark and restful for sleeping (blue light, medical disorders).

    It’s like these people are going out and hate the earth so much they’re stomping everything green down with snowshoes then running it over with a truck, doubling back, and lighting it on fire…with a 1500w electric charcoal starter.

    Anyway, what else? Go back in time because it’s tested: a wood stove. A water pump. A greenhouse. A cistern. A generator where you co-gen the heat. I’ve seen this on the Listers, for instance. Live small and quiet. Think like a houseboat. Play cards. You don’t need as much as you think you do.

    #150759
    zerosum
    Participant

    @ WES
    You forgot the most important things.
    Living requires that energy input must be greater than energy output.
    (Realize that preparation to do an activity might take longer to do than the activity.)
    Be an introvert that is able to accept that you might be the last old person alive.

    #150760
    oxymoron
    Participant

    Has anyone got details or links to the husband and wife that got murdered in their house in 2020. They were medicos from Ft Detrick. They were at the 2019 Wuhan military games.

    #150761
    Dr. D
    Participant

    Actually, some good news on movies. One, Reacher II is pretty non-woke. It’s just out there, ignored the whole thing. I guess the blue hairs are too busy, I dunno, putting out their hair on fire to mess with it.

    I was thinking of Marvel, and there was one that’s pretty overlooked: The Runaways. And while, yes, it’s painfully woke, it’s also painfully not. In it, a group of rich L.A. kids find out, essentially, all their parents are supervillains. Except: what are the details? They are connected to a cult. The cult drinks blood (life force) essentially and runs human sacrifices. They do this by “charity” picking up homeless or whatever and trafficking them. This is all covered up using legit fronts and lots of money. Their parents actually weren’t IN the cult, not MEANT to be supervillains. Ultimately, they were just duped in each using a different blackmail/leverage op. They pay them, get rich for being villains, sure, but if they didn’t take the money they’d be whack’d. Half the blackmail is that they DO have kids, and would kill them in an instant.

    Oh and aliens.

    So with or without aliens and with or without sacrifices, that’s a pretty clear description of L.A. and how power works isn’t it? And I had a thought this is a communication to kids of L.A. regardless of who their parents are being extorted by, it’s sure to be someone.

    They’re also bringing back Daredevil. Which was canceled the minute they had kids in cages and human trafficking blood in tunnels under the streets of NY to China. Poof! We hate money SO. Much. We are going to cancel our most successful show IMMEDIATELY. Capitalism!

    Anyway, they’re bringing it back under Disney. By demand? Okay. To destroy it? No… Feigie got oversight and as the show was nearly done, FIRED ALL THE WRITERS and scrapped it. Cold. He then HIRED ALL THE WRITERS of successful shows. Daredevil was a masterpiece because of genius writers alone. So Woke = 0, Normal = 4. But it depends what you count.

    To me, looks like high water mark is in the past. You still see outliers like Star Wars, but they’re getting canned and frozen like Snow White. And you see breakers going around the walls, like Andor, which is a really smart show. They’re also using it for the hype, as seems with Hazbin Hotel. That seems like a play on, even PRO-good, ANTI-Woke, but they try to spin it as if there are any Christians in America, and those Christians are outraged and running a boycott when neither is true and they never heard of it. So look out. You can tell because they claimed, out of nowhere, that like “900 Billion people” had seen the controversy. You know: Like they just did for Milei? Uh, no. Even if every interested person clicked 100 times, you wouldn’t get those numbers. Those numbers are all paid-for, which means it’s all staged. Made up, fabricated, a lie. No one I know has ever even heard of Hazbin Hotel. And I’d have to hitch a horse and buggy to find an actual Christian.

    But so watch what’s in the news and when they say … well, anything said by an American, anything playing on TV, any fact from Facebook, Google, Youtube, or the NY TImes, 90% certainty it’s false.

    Slowly, slowly. High water is passed, culture war is turning. If they’re not able to get off the Civil war in that window, likely the can’t do it at all.

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 52 total)
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.