Jan 282024
 
 January 28, 2024  Posted by at 9:40 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,


Balthus Therèse dreaming 1938

 

RFK Jr. Praises Texas In Battle With Biden Over Border (Hill)
Biden Vows To Shut Border If Lawmakers Pass Budget Deal (RT)
How Trump and US Conservatives Deal a Blow to Ukraine Aid Package (Sp.)
US Promised To Seize Russian Assets – Kiev (RT)
Seizing Russia’s Money Would Endanger Euro – Italian Central Bank (RT)
EU and NATO Heading for the Abyss Over Foreign Policy Foibles (Jay)
‘No Threat’ Of Russia Attacking NATO – Germany (RT)
Davos, Dictators, and the Real ‘Threats to Our Democracy’ (Hollis)
WH’s New Strategy on Ukraine ‘Will De-Emphasize’ Retaking ‘Lost Territory’ (Sp.)
Putin Vows To Eradicate Nazism For Good (RT)
ICJ Ruling May Entail Dire Consequences for Israel (Sp.)
Who is Kevin Morris? Even Hunter’s Lawyer Seems Unsure (Turley)
Hunter Biden Partner Rob Walker Confirms Payments To Biden Family (JTN)
Boeing’s Nosedive: How Greed Ruined A Great American Company (Johnston)
83 million? (Victor Davis Hanson)

 

 

The alleged rape supposedly took place in 1996. With a script straight out of Law and Order. 16 years later, she’s a big fan of her “rapist”.

Note: the 83 million is not for the “rape”, but for defamation. Which she says cost her her job at ELLE magazine. ELLE has denied this.

 

 

Tucker Texas cartels

 

 

 

 

 

 

“..Biden’s failure to secure the border leaves states no choice but to take matters into their own hands..”

RFK Jr. Praises Texas In Battle With Biden Over Border (Hill)

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Thursday backed Texas in its ongoing battle with the federal government over border authority, criticizing the Biden administration for its handling of the U.S. southern border. “Texas is right. Biden’s failure to secure the border leaves states no choice but to take matters into their own hands,” Kennedy wrote in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. “As President, I will end this humanitarian crisis once and for all. I will secure the border and destroy the business model of the drug cartels. A country without borders is not a country at all.” Kennedy joins a growing list of politicians, most of them Republican, who have thrown their support behind Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R) fight against the federal government over the fencing and razor wire installed by Texas at the U.S.-Mexico border. In a major blow to Abbott, the Supreme Court ruled earlier this week that border agents can remove the razor wire erected on the border, siding with the Biden administration.

Abbott has defended the fencing as necessary for his state’s security, claiming he was forced to take matters into his own hands due to what he characterizes as a lack of action on the Biden administration’s part. The federal government, meanwhile, contends the state does not have the power to build the fencing, which it says prevents it from managing the border. Abbott railed against the high court ruling and contended his authority is the “supreme law of the land and supersedes any federal statutes.” Texas appeared to continue installing razor wire after the ruling came down. Kennedy has previously spoken out against what he sees as a “border crisis” that is leading to the smuggling of drugs and humans. He called Biden’s border policies a “disaster” in a Newsweek op-ed last year. Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley also spoke out in support of Abbott on Thursday and called Biden’s position “absolutely ridiculous.”

RFK border

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“Biden already has authority to shut down illegal immigration. And now he’s telling us he’s willing to do that, but only if we pass a new law — one whose authors refuse to share with the public or even their own colleagues. Something’s not right here.”

Scott Adams: “The plan is to close the barn door after too many horses get out.”

Biden Vows To Shut Border If Lawmakers Pass Budget Deal (RT)

US President Joe Biden has again urged Republican lawmakers to approve a long-stalled budget deal, vowing to shut down his country’s southern border as soon as he’s given the authority to do so. Republicans have been blocking the White House’s attempts to push through a $106 billion ‘national security package’ for Ukraine and Israel since October. They have demanded tougher security measures on the southern frontier be included in the agreement. ”For too long, we all know the border’s been broken. It’s long past time to fix it,” Biden outlined in a written statement on Friday. He described the border deal, now being negotiated in the Senate, as “the toughest and fairest set of reforms to secure the border we’ve ever had in our country.”

“It would give me, as President, a new emergency authority to shut down the border when it becomes overwhelmed. And if given that authority, I would use it the day I sign the bill into law,” Biden vowed. Under the bipartisan agreement, the administration would, among other things, be required to shut the border down if the number of migrants trying to get into the US illegally on any given day reaches 5,000, the New York Times reported. This threshold had been surpassed “routinely” in recent months, the paper stressed. Finding common ground on the immigration deal would be “a win for America,” the president insisted. “If you’re serious about the border crisis, pass a bipartisan bill, and I will sign it,” Biden said, addressing the Republican lawmakers.

The Washington Post described the comments as “a remarkable shift” in the Democratic president’s rhetoric on the immigration issue. The media outlet underscored “the urgency” of the situation on the border for his re-election bid. Biden’s statement came as Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said on Friday that if the leaks about the deal’s content were accurate, it would be “dead on arrival” in the lower chamber. The likely Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump, slammed the border deal earlier this week, warning that it “would be another gift to the radical left Democrats.” The agreement “will be meaningless in terms of border security,” Trump argued, reiterating that the only way to solve the immigration issue would be voting for him in November.

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“..the draft bipartisan agreement could allow up to 5,000 migrants to enter the US daily at the border..”

How Trump and US Conservatives Deal a Blow to Ukraine Aid Package (Sp.)

Former US President Donald Trump and Republican policymakers have subjected a draft bipartisan US border security deal to harsh criticism, casting doubt on the future of military aid packages for Ukraine and Israel. The border security deal is seen by Democratic lawmakers as a necessary evil to ram a new multi-billion Ukraine aid bill through the US Congress. Last December neither chamber managed to reach a compromise on the provision of further funds to Kiev despite pleas and even threats from the White House. Eventually, Republican and Democratic senators come up with a draft border agreement. Even though the formal text of the deal has not been officially released yet, leaks keep coming irritating US conservatives, as per Just the News, an independent US media outlet.

Media reported that the draft bipartisan agreement could allow up to 5,000 migrants to enter the US daily at the border. To that end, the White House is reportedly requesting at least $14 billion to help cities to absorb the flow of migrants released by US border authorities into the country. Former President Donald Trump denounced that as a bad deal in every way: “I do not think we should do a Border Deal, at all, unless we get everything needed to shut down the invasion of millions and millions of people, many from parts unknown, into our once great, but soon to be great again, country!” he wrote on his Truth Social media site on January 25. The US mainstream media warns that the former president’s comment was a “serious blow to the talks”. Trump has emerged as the leading Republican presidential candidate following the party’s first two primaries this month, with the power to influence the outcome of the negotiations.

Punchbowl News reported that Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell told his colleagues on Wednesday that the situation had “changed,” and that Trump was going to build his re-election campaign around the border crisis. “We don’t want to do anything to undermine him,” McConnell allegedly said. However, on Thursday the GOP leader appeared to backpedal on his remarks, asserting to the press that he still backed the bipartisan migration deal. Deputy White House Press Secretary Olivia Dalton also signaled that the Biden administration as supporting the bipartisan immigration agreement. “The president has been clear, we need action on the border,” Dalton told reporters on Thursday. “We’ve been engaging in good faith, bipartisan negotiations with both Senate Democrats and Senate Republicans to that end. And we believe that there’s no reason that shouldn’t continue.”

Still, some US senators warn that the effort is doomed. US Senator Ted Cruz said on Wednesday that the Ukraine aid-border security supplemental bill is a train wreck and has no chance of passing the US House of Representatives. Senator Rick Scott echoed Cruz, saying that the bill will be dead on arrival in the House. Earlier this week the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft suggested that House Republicans may kill the foreign aid bill even if a bipartisan border security and immigration deal is passed. The lower chamber’s Republican majority has no appetite for throwing good money after bad to Ukraine, according to the institute. The DC-based think-tank also noted House Speaker Mike Johnson’s ardent support for a sweeping migration reform and his record of opposing Ukraine funding packages. Some House Republicans, such as Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, even threatened to introduce a “motion to vacate” and oust the speaker if Johnson passes funding to Ukraine.

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“..a US Senate committee approved the “Rebuilding Economic Prosperity and Opportunity (REPO) for Ukrainians Act..”

US Promised To Seize Russian Assets – Kiev (RT)

The US assured Kiev that the Russian assets that remain frozen in the West are going to be seized and used to rebuild Ukraine after the conflict, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmygal has said. The US, EU, and their allies blocked some $300 billion of Russian central bank assets as part of sanctions in response to Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine. Around $200 billion of that money is held in the EU. Politico reported on Thursday that it asked Shmygal if he was concerned that US funding for the Kiev government would come to a complete stop if Donald Trump won the presidential election in November and returned to the White House for his second term. ”We have all the assurances from the US about long-term support for Ukraine – for example, the seizure of Russian assets to fund the Ukrainian recovery,” he claimed.

On Wednesday, a US Senate committee approved the “Rebuilding Economic Prosperity and Opportunity (REPO) for Ukrainians Act,” which should help pave the way for such a move by Washington. If it passes both houses and is signed into law by President Joe Biden, Washington could seize the Russian central bank assets, using such a measure against a country that it’s not directly at war with for the first time in history. Reuters reported this week, citing a senior official in Brussels, that the EU will be unlikely to join the US in confiscating the Russian funds as there’s no agreement on such a step between the bloc’s member-states. Earlier in January, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov warned that Moscow would respond to a possible seizure of its assets by the West, inducing tit-for-tat measures.

Previously, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that the confiscation of Russian funds would amount to “outright theft” by the West. He told reporters that it would undermine the trust in the US and EU financial systems around the globe. Shmygal also stated that Kiev is “working hard with the administration of President Biden and with Congress to have support for 2024.” As for the continuation of the aid in 2025, “we’ll see how conditions develop,” he stressed. ”I believe that any president of the US will support our fight for civilized values, our mutual values,” the Ukrainian PM said. The US has provided Ukraine with around $111 billion in economic and military support amid the conflict with Russia. But the flow of funds subsided dramatically in recent months as Republican lawmakers continue to resist attempts by the White House to push through another $60 billion in assistance for Kiev.

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“..weaponizing a currency inevitably reduces its attractiveness and encourages the emergence of alternatives..”

Seizing Russia’s Money Would Endanger Euro – Italian Central Bank (RT)

The EU should not use the euro as a tool in sanctions wars and political disputes, as it would harm the currency’s image and standing, Bank of Italy Governor Fabio Panetta warned on Friday. He as commenting on discussions in Brussels regarding frozen Russian assets. The EU, US, Japan and Canada froze some $300 billion of Russian central bank assets in 2022 as part of Ukraine-related sanctions against Moscow. Some $200 billion of that is held in the EU, largely in the Belgian clearing house Euroclear. Brussels is currently working on plans to apply a windfall tax to the profits Euroclear is making on the frozen funds, while opting not to seize the immobilized money outright.

However, Italy is one of several EU member states, including Germany and France, that have been skeptical of moves involving the assets, arguing that using them could prompt investors from other countries to doubt the safety of their own holdings in the EU and quit the bloc’s market, ultimately weakening the euro. “This power must be used wisely,” Panetta said, referring to euro’s standing as a global reserve currency. “International relations are part of a ‘repeated game’: weaponizing a currency inevitably reduces its attractiveness and encourages the emergence of alternatives,” he warned at an event in Riga, marking the 10th anniversary of Latvia adopting the euro. According to the official, the recent surge in the use of the yuan in trade between China and Russia is “instructive in this respect,” because it was Western sanctions that prompted the trend, as they made it difficult for Russia to use US dollars and euros in cross-border trade.

“The Chinese authorities are explicitly promoting [the yuan’s] role on the global stage and encouraging its use in other countries, including those sanctioned by the international community following the invasion of Ukraine,” Panetta said, adding that the share of Chinese trade financed in the domestic currency has doubled in the past three years, allowing the yuan to overtake the euro as the world’s second most-used trade currency. The official warned if the need to “be alert to the possibility that politics will have a greater impact on international currencies in the coming years.” Western currencies have been largely phased out in Russia-China trade, as nearly 95% of all transactions between the countries are now carried out either in rubles or yuan. Russia is not the only major economy to use the Chinese currency for trade settlements, as more and more nations seek alternatives to the dollar and euro. These include Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Brazil and Iran.

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“..this BS is being fed into the echo chamber because a panic is setting in both on a EU level and national one as elections are looming and the smell of defeat is beginning to fill the lungs of the corrupt..”

EU and NATO Heading for the Abyss Over Foreign Policy Foibles (Jay)

A number of odd statements have been coming from the EU in recent days, coupled with some even odder skulduggery giving rise to thought that the entire project is having its ‘last days of the Roman Empire moment’. Is it possible that the EU that we know is on its last legs and what we are witnessing is the final demise? Ursula von der Leyen, whose grandparents were probably Wafen SS officers has said that if she doesn’t get her way in finding new money for Ukraine she will have to resort to dirty tricks. Well, she didn’t actually say “dirty tricks” but this is what is implied. And what might those underhand moves might be? In fact, there is already a motion in the EU corridors to make Hungary effectively a non-EU member state, a sort of rogue member which is still in the EU but has no voting rights.

Given that the EU is anything but a democracy and that the institutions in Brussels are monolithic and consensus-driven (there is no ‘opposition’ in Brussels like in most democratic countries) it is hardly surprising to see nefarious activities which would make an African dictator proud of his handy work. The EU, or rather the super federalist elite which run it in Brussels like von der Leyen and her mates as Pfizer – yes, multinational corporations really wield the most power in Brussels and more or less own the European Parliament – are getting worried. The project is starting to indulge in in-fighting and creating a lot of mixed message in the media. Gardner-in-chief Josep Borrell wants a new shiny state for the Palestinians but Ursula is perfectly happy with the present genocide program. Perhaps she sees in investment opportunities in offshore gas off the coast of Gaza?

And so with the economy in the doldrums and the EUs most powerful member state Germany looking more and more like the Czech Republic in the late 90s, the uber elites like Ursula and the most vile MEP the European Parliament ever had – Guy Verhofstadt – are worried that the project can be hijacked by far-right MEPs come the next euro election in the summer. Ironically, in such a scenario where the European parliament’s main majority bloc would be a far-right group, the support for Netanyahu would peak and even save him from falling into his own quagmire of corruption charges, as the far-right in Europe support the Zionists, shifting from the once popular idea of wiping them out under Hitler’s ‘final solution’ plan.

But the EU would never be the same again. These MEPs support reversing the centralisation of power back to member states. And so it is hardly any surprise at all that Verhofstadt, a man so bereft of charm that he makes a pile of damp towels look exciting, gives another one of his fiery speeches in the European parliament with always the same theme: all our problems can be resolved if we has more money, more power and an EU army. The fault is with member states, the European parliament’s top wanker-in-chief argues as he throws his head around and animates very much like a power hungry leader in the 1930s who got us in this mess in the first place. Have you noticed lots of media reports pointing to war with Russia? Wonder what this is based on? Of course there is no imminent war with Russia but the pundits can’t help presenting one to us, proclaiming that Putin wants to take the odd European country, like a rich man who collects them like pets.

The reality is that this BS is being fed into the echo chamber because a panic is setting in both on a EU level and national one as elections are looming and the smell of defeat is beginning to fill the lungs of the corrupt who have been feeding from the same trough for too long. Create a panic about a war looming and enough stupid Europeans and Americans will accept spiralling consumer prices, high pump prices, insane utility bills (like in the UK), poor growth and no jobs. Few westerners see through the lies and see the ruse in the making. Even the Germans.

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“..this is just a “snapshot” of the current situation and there’s no way of knowing how things would turn out in the future..”

‘No Threat’ Of Russia Attacking NATO – Germany (RT)

There’s currently no threat of Russia attacking NATO or any of the partners of the US-led military bloc, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has suggested. Moscow’s military is now fully occupied with the Ukraine conflict, Pistorius explained, in an interview with the tabloid Bild on Friday. ”At the moment, I don’t see any danger of a Russian attack on NATO territory or on any NATO partner-country,” he added. However, the minister stressed that this is just a “snapshot” of the current situation and there’s no way of knowing how things would turn out in the future. Pistorius warned against underestimating the alleged risks related to Russia, saying that NATO needs to rely on “the principle of deterrence, as we know it from the times of the Cold War.” During that time, things between the West and Moscow were “much more predictable than the situation we have today,” he argued.

”We are coming out of 30 years of peace… from which we have all benefited. And now the journey is going the other way,” the minister said. NATO and Germany must “really pick up the pace” in order to be able to face the emerging challenges, he stressed. Germany has given to Ukraine “a lot of systems” that Berlin needed for itself since the outbreak in February 2022 of fighting between Moscow and Kiev, but “we will get them again,” Pistorius vowed. Earlier this week, commenting on the possibility of a direct conflict between NATO and Russia, the bloc’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that “we don’t see any direct or imminent threat against any NATO ally.” He stressed, however, that NATO “closely monitors what Russia does” and has increased its “vigilance and presence in the eastern part of the alliance” in order to be able to counter any moves by Moscow.

Pistorius told ZDF on Monday that Germany should be ready to respond to a possible Russian attack. In order to be able to resist an aggression “that you don’t know if and when it will occur, then that means you have to arm yourself – and that’s what we’re currently doing together with allies in NATO,” he explained. On Tuesday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov dismissed Pistorius’ speculation about a possible conflict between Russia and NATO, saying that, due to internal problems the EU faces, its politicians “now need to somehow pump up public opinion, artificially agitate it, by inventing an external enemy.” Speaking at UN headquarters in New York the following day, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stressed that “no one wants a big war,” especially Moscow. “We have lived through ‘big wars’ many times in our history,” he added. President Vladimir Putin last month rejected as “complete nonsense” claims that Russia could attack NATO. Moscow has “no geopolitical, economic… or military interest” in doing so, he pointed out. Russia is, on the contrary, interested in developing ties with the bloc, he said.

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“..American voters see where the threats of authoritarianism truly lie, and it isn’t with Donald Trump…”

Davos, Dictators, and the Real ‘Threats to Our Democracy’ (Hollis)

The former Soviet Union collapsed politically because its centrally planned economy suffered disaster after disaster. Government takeover of the Venezuelan economy destroyed that once-prosperous country, plunging its residents into abject poverty. When the president of Sri Lanka banned nitrogen-based fertilizer, the country’s agricultural sector collapsed, as did its exports, leaving Sri Lankans without adequate food, fuel, or oil to heat their homes. Here in the United States, we have witnessed the nasty consequences of plenty of government policy failures: the health risks of COVID-19 shots; the spectacular failure of wind power in Texas during the 2021 winter storm; the inability of electric vehicles to start in the bitter temperatures across the northern U.S. two weeks ago; California’s water shortages and the struggling capacity of its electrical grid.

Egotists like WEF founder Klaus Schwab and his God-complex, like-minded cronies across the globe never consider that they could be wrong about anything. But they are always wrong about something. Trump voters do not want a dictator; they do not want an imperial presidency at all. They want a president who understands that free and independent businesses operating in a minimally regulated environment are the lifeblood of American prosperity. They recognize that an executive branch that refuses to enforce federal laws is failing in its primary constitutional obligations to the American public. They understand that a justice system that picks and chooses whom to prosecute based upon their race, ethnicity, or political belief is no justice at all. They are tired of inflation caused by misguided energy, trade, and environmental policies.

They are tired of our veterans suffering and dying with their physical and mental health needs unmet; tired of homeless people living in the streets; tired of open borders, of tens of thousands of Americans dying of fentanyl overdoses, and tired of unpunished crime, all while hundreds of billions of our hard-earned tax dollars get laundered through foreign wars into the pockets of multinational defense contractors, corruptocrat politicians, and warmongering toadies who never saw a foreign conflict they didn’t want to exploit. These Americans reject the globalist overlords pushing their anti-human philosophies down everyone’s throats, and they fear being enslaved by governments infiltrated by mindless drones in thrall to the latest apocalyptic power grab. The press and the Left can hand-wave and hyperventilate all they want about “threats to our democracy.” But American voters see where the threats of authoritarianism truly lie, and it isn’t with Donald Trump.

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Just give up.

WH’s New Strategy on Ukraine ‘Will De-Emphasize’ Retaking ‘Lost Territory’ (Sp.)

The Biden administration’s new strategy will “de-emphasize” Kiev’s recovery of the so-called “lost territories” this year and instead focus on Washington helping the Zelensky regime survive amid Russia’s ongoing special military operation, the Washington Post quoted unnamed sources as saying. The sources were apparently referring to the territories previously reunited with Russia as a result of popular referendums. They claimed that the Biden administration, “still smarting” from Kiev’s bungled counteroffensive in 2023, is “putting together the new strategy,” which includes helping the Zelensky regime strengthen its armed forces and economy in the face of the Ukraine funding impasse in the U.S. Congress.

The strategy’s other purpose is to help Kiev strengthen its fighting force and economy in the face of Ukraine funding-real impasse in the US Congress, according to the sources. “The emerging plan is a sharp change from last year, when the US and allied militaries rushed training and sophisticated equipment to Kiev in hopes that it could quickly push back Russian forces,” insiders pointed out. One source added that “it’s pretty clear” that it will be difficult for the Ukrainian Armed Forces to try to achieve “the same kind of major push on all fronts that they tried to do last year.” The idea is help Ukraine “hold its position on the battlefield for now, […] and “get them on a more sustainable path,” per the source. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu declared in late December that the Russian armed forces had achieved last year’s main goal by thwarting Ukraine’s summer counteroffensive.

“The main efforts of the past year were focused on achieving the goals of the special military operation. The main one was to stop the counter-offensive of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, which was loudly proclaimed by Ukraine and its NATO allies. This task was successfully accomplished,” Shoigu emphasized at the time. The statement came after Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov told reporters that Ukraine had lost some 160,000 troops and over 3,000 armored vehicles, including 766 tanks, as well as 121 aircraft and 23 helicopters in all areas during the six-month counteroffensive.

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“..in a number of European countries, Russophobia is being promoted as the state policy.”

Putin Vows To Eradicate Nazism For Good (RT)

Russian President Vladimir Putin has vowed to crush modern-day forces that promote Nazism, singling out Ukraine and the Baltic states as countries where the authorities have embraced such ideologies. Speaking on Saturday at the opening of a memorial to Soviet civilians killed by Nazi German forces in Leningrad Region, the Russian head of state said: “these days the outcomes of the Nuremberg trials are effectively being revised.” He claimed that some countries have gone from rewriting history and whitewashing the Nazis to “arming themselves with Hitlerites’ ideology and methods.”

President Putin cited the Baltic states, in an apparent reference to their treatment of Russian-speaking minorities, which Moscow deems discriminatory. “The regime in Kiev lionizes Hitlers’ accomplices, SS members, and uses terror against” those who resist it, the Russian leader alleged, accusing the Ukrainian authorities of subjecting the elderly, women and children to “barbaric shelling.” According to President Putin, “in a number of European countries, Russophobia is being promoted as the state policy.” “We will do everything – everything to undercut and eradicate Nazism for good,” the Russian head of state pledged.

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“..South Africa was after the provisional ruling to force Israel to agree to a ceasefire in Gaza.”

ICJ Ruling May Entail Dire Consequences for Israel (Sp.)

“Provisional measures is what South Africa wanted,” noted Carrillo, “that there is enough evidence to show that Israel has violated the 1948 Genocide Convention. “This is what South Africa wanted when they filed this suit because a final ruling by the courts can take months, it can take years. South Africa was after the provisional ruling to force Israel to agree to a ceasefire in Gaza.” Still, Carrillo noted that Israel often ignores world opinion and discounts measures taken against it in the international arena, such as when the Soviet Union led a 1975 effort in the United Nations to declare that Zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination. “Israel has a long history of disregarding the rulings or the opinions of international organizations,” said Carillo. “They do as they will, and they have the complete protection of the United States who at best is going to issue a lukewarm statement about protecting civilians. That’s what I think we should expect.”

However, host Jamarl Thomas noted the significant “moral weight” the decision carries as Carillo insisted Israel “did not refute any of the evidence, they did not disprove any of the South African evidence.” Amidst a rapidly emerging multipolar world order, Carillo suggested Global South countries and their allies may enforce material consequences against Israel for their actions in Gaza, where 70% of the more than 26,000 deaths are said to be of women and children. “We will have to see, because we are seeing a polar shift in the geopolitical sphere,” said the analyst. “Maybe we will see countries like Russia, maybe like China, or maybe like South Africa or other BRICS members, find a way to stop or to punish Israel in a way.”“Economically, Israel is already facing dire consequences,” Carillo claimed. “Its ports are empty, its workforce is completely depleted, and, among other things, their currency is on the downward trend.

So if you add on top of these, as you said, the moral weight of committing genocide and then more than likely not stopping, how are nations not aligned with the US, why would they continue dealing with Israel? Where is the benefit?”Israel also continues to face economic repercussions as a result of the effective blockade in the Red Sea enforced by the Houthi movement in Yemen. Despite Yemen’s status as one of the poorest countries in the Middle East, Yeminis have demonstrated strong support for the Palestinian cause, with hundreds of thousands taking to the streets to protest US and UK-led retaliatory strikes in the country. “There will always be resistance to oppression,” Carillo insisted. “Always. We know this through human history.”

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“The problem is that when you are “everything” to a client, you may end up with nothing when it comes to confidentiality.”

Who is Kevin Morris? Even Hunter’s Lawyer Seems Unsure (Turley)

Kevin Morris testified last week in the House. The question that lingered then, and now, is who is Kevin Morris. The Hollywood lawyer, producer and Democratic donor has emerged as a major figure in the corruption scandal surrounding Hunter Biden.For years, some of us have complained that we are not sure what Morris was at any given moment.What became clear in the deposition is that Morris does not appear certain himself. He’s Hunter’s confidant, art patron, business partner, and his lawyer. That could prove his undoing … both for himself and his client. Morris seems to move effortlessly between roles in his relationship with Hunter Biden.Hunter met Morris when he attended a political fundraiser as a major donor. Soon thereafter, he warned Biden associates that Hunter’s unpaid taxes raised political problems during Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential run.

He later proceeded to pay off Hunter’s taxes and to subsidize his lavish lifestyle. He also took an apparent lead in planning public campaigns against the critics of the Bidens, reportedly pushing a scorched-earth approach to attack potential witnesses and accusers. Then Morris seemed to take on the role of Hunter’s bank and art patron. He reportedly gave millions to Hunter while insisting that they are loans, not gifts. Most recently, it was revealed that, despite accounts of buyers flocking to buy Hunter’s overpriced art, it was Morris all along who bought most of the pieces. The overpriced art could be used to excuse some of these “debts” — a type of special crafts project for the president’s son to write off millions. The most striking thing about the deposition from his House interview was the speed at which Morris seemed to put on and remove his various hats.

He invoked attorney-client privilege at least 17 times over questions related to his payments and work for Hunter Biden. Yet, while refusing to answer those questions, he admitted to an array of other financial ties and transactions with his “client.” To the extent that Morris was not acting as a lawyer but as a businessman or a friend, these conversations (and related records) may not be protected. In his deposition, Morris also discusses his ownership of 10% of Bohai Harvest RST LLC (BHR), through his acquisition of interest in Skaneateles LLC. Those are business interests associated with Hunter Biden Morris seemed to be working through his own identity crisis with the help of House investigators. While insisting that his legal representation of Hunter Biden was “global and complete,” Morris detailed how his relationship floated from loan giver to friend to patron to film producer.

His counsel insists that all loans and roles were clearly laid out for Hunter in writing and reviewed by outside counsel. House investigator: “How did it come up that you were going to purchase Skaneateles? Or why did you buy Skaneateles of all the companies that Hunter Biden was involved with? Why that one?” Morris: “That’s privileged. I am not going to answer that because of attorney-client privilege.” That prompted a quick intervention by his lawyer. Morris reversed and agreed it was not protected and said that he “evaluated it as a businessman, and I thought it was something that could be a very successful investment.” Morris’ confusion often left his answers in an unintelligible morass. When asked about his decision to do a movie on his client, Morris again seemed to merge his roles, saying these are “just materials being collected for representation that may be used in the future after the representation.”

Later, Morris seemed to invoke an open-ended, running privilege. At one point, Morris claimed he was “like a general counsel” in Hunter Biden’s “virtual corporation.” He explained, “Counsel, in my job, I represent high-profile individuals. … [H]igh-profile individuals have basically virtual corporations. And in those virtual corporations, they have all kinds of staff and assistants. You know, agents and managers … publicists. You know, whatever. And what I do is I oversee … sort of the squad. Sort of like a general counsel.” With that, Morris was viewed as asserting a type of floating privilege because “I am involved in everything. And the same is with Hunter. If you check my retainer agreements, you’ll see that it’s not — it says all matters.” The statement is both factually accurate and ethically dubious. It seeks sweeping privilege claims despite the layers of different relationships, from loaner to donor to lawyer to producer. If Morris is called to testify in court, this may not fly. The problem is that when you are “everything” to a client, you may end up with nothing when it comes to confidentiality.

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“..The relationship between James Biden, Hunter Biden, Ye, and other partners resulted in at least $9 million in payments to Biden-connected companies in 2017 alone after Joe Biden returned to private life..”

Hunter Biden Partner Rob Walker Confirms Payments To Biden Family (JTN)

Hunter Biden associate Rob Walker appeared for a transcribed interview with the House Oversight Committee Friday as the latest witness in the impeachment inquiry and weeks before Hunter Biden is set to testify. According to a source familiar with Walker’s testimony, he confirmed reports that Hunter Biden’s work for the Chinese energy company CEFC began while Joe Biden was still Vice President, in 2015. In December, Just the News reported that the impeachment inquiry had assembled a growing body of evidence that Hunter’s work with the Chinese energy company started years before its million dollar payments began to flow into the Biden family coffers in 2017, following Joe Biden’s departure from office. “Today we learned that Joe Biden met with the now-missing Chairman of CEFC, Ye Jianming, as Hunter Biden and his associates received $3 million from a Chinese entity CEFC controlled. Evidence continues to reveal the Bidens sold the ‘Biden Brand’ to enrich the Biden family,” Oversight Chairman James Comer said in a statement released by the Oversight Committee.

“Today’s interview confirmed Hunter Biden and his associates’ work with the Chinese government-linked energy company began over a year before Joe Biden left the vice presidency, but the Bidens and their associates held off being paid by the Chinese while Joe Biden was in office,” he continued. “The Chinese company paid Hunter Biden and his associates $3 million shortly after Joe Biden left office as a ‘thank you’ for the work they did while Joe Biden was in office. Members of the Biden family received payments from the Chinese deal even though they did not work on it. This is the type of swampy influence peddling the American people want us to end,” Comer said. The relationship between James Biden, Hunter Biden, Ye, and other partners resulted in at least $9 million in payments to Biden-connected companies in 2017 alone after Joe Biden returned to private life.

The payments included a $3 million “thank you” in March 2017, a $5 million loan in August 2017, and a $1 million legal retainer fee to Hunter Biden from CEFC official Patrick Ho after he was indicted on bribery charges, according to documents gathered by Congress and federal prosecutors. Yet, evidence from Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop and FBI interviews with Biden business partners provided to Congress show that the relationship dates back to at least 2015 and 2016. One email from Rob Walker to another of Hunter Biden’s business partners referenced an apparent letter from Hunter to Zang Jianjun, the executive director of CEFC China Energy, who worked directly for its founder and Chairman Ye Jianming.

In an interview with the FBI, Walker told investigators that he recalls two meetings that Vice President Biden had with CEFC officials, one after leaving office in 2017 and another while he was still in office. The interview was provided by IRS Whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joe Ziegler to the House Ways and Means Committee in their probe of the IRS and DOJ investigation into Hunter Biden. “Any times when he was in office or did you hear Hunter say that he was setting up a meeting with his dad with them (CEFC) while dad was still in office?” an FBI agent asked Walker. “Yeah,” Walker responded. After this admission, the investigators inexplicably changed course and did not follow up on what Walker had just told them.

Read more …

“..hunter killer assassins meeting boy scouts.”

Boeing’s Nosedive: How Greed Ruined A Great American Company (Johnston)

The singular event cited as marking the beginning of Boeing’s downfall was its 1997 merger with McDonnell Douglas, which put it on a collision course with a culture steeped in cost-cutting and financial performance. Somewhat perversely, although Boeing had acquired McDonnell, it was the latter that took over. McDonnell’s executives ended up running the company and its culture became ascendant. Scores of cut-throat managers battle-hardened in the company’s perform-or-die culture were brought in. A federal mediator once likened the partnership to “hunter killer assassins meeting boy scouts.” The self-effacing and introspective Bill Allen, Boeing’s genteel CEO through the post-war era and the man behind the 707 gamble, described his company’s ethos as “to eat, breathe, and sleep the world of aeronautics.”

But a new generation of leaders was emerging who brought new priorities and a new vocabulary. It was no longer about making great airplanes; it was about “moving up the value chain.” What it was really about was maximizing shareholder value. Now looming like a colossus over Boeing was the figure of Harry Stonecipher, McDonnell’s CEO. The blunt, hard-nosed son of a coal miner, Stonecipher was known for vicious cost-cutting, emails written in all caps – and for jettisoning executives who didn’t hit financial targets. But Stonecipher was a ‘winner’: McDonnell’s stock price had risen fourfold under his tenure. What predictably ensued was nothing short of a complete transformation of Boeing from being a company run by engineers to one that prized financial profit over all, and was willing to cut all manner of corners to reduce costs and boost returns.

The quality of the product was, to put it mildly, severely compromised. Downstream from these changes are the spectacular failures we all know about: the outrageous cost overruns, delays and production issues in making the Boeing 787, which ended up being temporarily grounded for battery fires that regulators attributed to flaws in manufacturing, insufficient testing and a poor understanding of an innovative battery; the abject failure of the jimmy-rigged 737 MAX, which saw two deadly crashes and, most recently, a harrowing incident in which a sealed-off emergency exit blew out mid-air in an Alaska Airlines flight, leaving a gaping hole in the fuselage. m It is possible to see Boeing’s merger with McDonnell as simply an unfortunate mistake, and the rise of the likes of Harry Stonecipher as simply an instance in which the wrong person found his way to the top; and the outsourcing and cost-cutting as simply a misbegotten strategy.

But this would miss the wider trends at work in the American corporate landscape at the time. Boeing was hardly alone on this path. The writer David Foster Wallace once wrote that “America… is a country of many contradictions, and a big contradiction for a long time has been between a very aggressive form of capitalism and consumerism against what might be called a kind of moral or civic impulse.” What is evident is that starting roughly in the 1970s, this “aggressive form of capitalism” became ascendant in the US and for a long time overwhelmed – and is arguably still overwhelming – the “moral and civic impulse.” However, to view this as simply a moral failing is to miss the greater economic pressures at work.

The ‘70s were, in the words of historian Judith Stein, the “pivotal decade” that “sealed a society-wide transition from industry to finance, factory floor to trading floor, [and] production to consumption.” America had emerged from World War II with unquestioned manufacturing supremacy, but within a few short decades, US companies had begun falling behind. Whereas Japan, Germany, and, later on, China invested heavily in their industrial bases in the post-war period, the US came to emphasize innovation at the expense of capital investment. The 1970s were when nascent industrial powerhouse Japan pulled off its so-called ‘revolution of quality,’ which went a long way toward putting American manufacturers on the back foot.

Read more …

“..Trump will have to soldier on. He must stay controlled amid the tsunamis, not play into the hands of his accusers, and remember that he may soon be the only eleventh-hour hope to stop this mockery of American law, customs and traditions.”

83 million? (Victor Davis Hanson)

Donald Trump in furor stormed out of a New York courtroom for a while, in the defamation suit brought by author and dating/boyfriend/sex-advice columnist E. Jean Carroll. It was just settled against Trump for $83.3 million! The Carroll suit was largely subsidized by Reid Hoffman the billionaire capitalist, and mega-donor to the Democratic Party and leftwing causes. The subtext of Trump’s rage, aside from the outrageous monetary size of the defamation ruling, is that he was facing—and angered—a leftwing claimant, a quite hostile leftwing judge, and a leftwing New York jury. The civil suit serves as a mere preview of four additional leftwing criminal prosecutions, leftwing judges, and leftwing juries to come—all on charges that would never had been filed if Trump either had not run for president or been a liberal progressive. Yet here we are.

The E. Jean Carroll case is the most baffling of all five. She, the alleged victim, did not remember even the year in which the purported sexual assault took place, nearly three decades ago. Observers have pointed out dozens of inconsistencies in her story. It was never clear what were the preliminaries that supposedly (Trump denies meeting her) led both, allegedly, willingly to retreat together to a department store dressing room, where during normal business hours the alleged violence took place. Moreover, the sexual assault complaint came forward decades post facto—and only after Trump was running for and then president. Carroll eventually sued him for battery, but well after the statute of limitations had expired and thus the case seemed defunct.

Her claims of defamation injuries arise from being fired from her advice column job at ELLE magazine. She claimed that Trump’s sharp denials and ad hominem retorts led to her career ruin. But the loss for anyone of a column at 76 does not seem such a rare occurrence, and the absence of a salaried job in one’s late seventies for four years does not seem to equate to a $83 million hit. And note the allegation that her dispute with Trump led to her firing was strongly denied by the very magazine that cut her loose. But then another strange thing happened. In 2022, a new law (“The Adult Survivors Act”) was passed in the New York legislature. It also post facto established a twelve-month window (beginning six months from the signing of bill) that permitted survivors of long ago alleged sexual assaults suddenly to sue the accused long-ago perpetrator—regardless of the previous statute of limitations.

That unexpected opening suddenly gave Carroll’s prior unsuccessful efforts a rebirth. And she quickly refiled with the help of arch-Trump hating billionaire Hoffman. Yet the bill may have been introduced with Trump particularly in mind—given the legislator who introduced it, Brad Hoylman-Siga, was known as another Trump antagonist. More interestingly, he had earlier introduced and had passed another Trump-targeted bill. That “TRUST” act had empowered particular federal Congressional committees to have access to the New York State once sealed tax returns of high-ranking government officials—such as Trump. That bill’s generally agreed subtext was a green light for anti-Trump members of Congress to obtain legal access to Donald J. Trump’s tax returns.

So there is an eerie feeling that the New York legislature may have abruptly passed legislation that was aimed at the past conduct of Donald Trump but only after he entered the political arena. While these are not quite bills of attainder, there is something unsettling if they are post facto laws aimed at targeting the most famous and controversial man in America and the leading candidate for the presidency. In essence they were targeted statutes designed to make Trump’s prior legally unactionable behavior suddenly quite legally actionable. Trump will be subject to such special treatment all summer and fall. Prosecutors Bragg, James, Smith, and Willis will synchronize their court business for maximum effect.

Trump again will face leftwing prosecutors, judges, and juries on charges that are politically driven, involving alleged behavior that is either usually not criminalized or not to the same degree as Trump’s case. (Do we remember the nearly $375,000 federal fine belatedly leveled at an exempt Obama but only five years after his 2008 illegal garnering of, and not reporting, foreign campaign contributions?) The stakes are higher each day as Trump closes in on the nomination and thus becomes the hope of half the country to end the Biden madness. Somehow Trump will have to stay calm, give no opening to his legion of hostile prosecutors, while conducting a nonstop campaign against Biden (and for a while Hayley), and while fighting to keep his name on various state ballots.

So what we are witnessing is not even the extralegal efforts of Steele/Fusion GPS, Perkins Coie/DNC/Hillary Clinton in 2016, or the 2020 “Russian disinformation” ruse/change the voting laws/infuse half a billion dollars to absorb the work of the registrar machinations against Trump. We are way beyond all that. The legal system itself, hand-in-glove with leftwing politicos (compare campaign boasts of James and Willis, or prosecutorial visits to the January 6 committee and the White House) is turning the process of balloting and elections into an embarrassing farce. Still, Trump will have to soldier on. He must stay controlled amid the tsunamis, not play into the hands of his accusers, and remember that he may soon be the only eleventh-hour hope to stop this mockery of American law, customs and traditions.

Read more …

 

 

 

 

Wild dogs
https://twitter.com/i/status/1751228420925562943

 

 

Baby goat
https://twitter.com/i/status/1751252951375712290

 

 


The bearded vulture is the only known animal whose diet is almost exclusively bone

 

 

Fata morgana

 

 

Monarch
https://twitter.com/i/status/1751398451152044152

 

 

Clay
https://twitter.com/i/status/1751471302169227699

 

 

 

 

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Home Forums Debt Rattle January 28 2024

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  • #151345

    Balthus Therèse dreaming 1938   • RFK Jr. Praises Texas In Battle With Biden Over Border (Hill) • Biden Vows To Shut Border If Lawmakers Pass Bud
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle January 28 2024]

    #151346
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    At this late stage in the game stealing Russia’s billions , perversely and ironically enough, would actually help Russia and harm Europe at the same time, in one swell foop. This is because stealing the so-called money actually means using the stolen billions to purchase something from someone willing to trade stuff for cash dollars. Wherever that “somewhere” happens to be will will then no longer have any need to sell their goods to some other trading partner, who thereby LOSES $300 Billion in potential sales. That’s not going to be too good for future European business, now is it?

    In fact, in addition to causing European markets to LOSE $300 Billion in lost deals (the queered deals that now won’t happen) the only tying Europe gets in exchange is another dilution of the currency by essentially taking in it’s own laundry. The ONLY guy who takes money home is the asshole of stole it. Everybody else loses EXCEPT RUSSIA!

    Russia gets to cause precisely $300 Billion damage to the Western “dollar economy” without lifting a finger or firing a shot. That’s a lot cheaper than spending a billion dollars worth of bullets, bombs and breadbaskets to blow up each million dollar Bradley in Ukraine.

    The whole joke reads like Briar Rabbit putting another one over on the dumb greedy fox in an Uncle Remus story.

    #151347
    Dr. D
    Participant

    I hope I’m not the only one who finds that painting somewhat disturbing.

    after Israel alleged 12 UNRWA employees were involved in the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack.”

    Alleged. That’s all it takes. While an actual court ruling means no actions. Court = Not Court. Not Court = Court in #OppositeLand. #AntiLogos.

    Our only enemy is #Reason. #Truth.

    “A country without borders is not a country at all.” Ding Ding Ding.

    People had to be removed back to first principles. But obviously we defend borders of any nation on earth…except ours. Borders are critical, important, worth killing for and worth starting even a nuclear world war over…except ours.

    See the problem when hypocrisy no longer has the slightest effect on anyone?

    “The tragic irony of our current open border policy is that it benefits nobody”

    Hell, if it helped the migrants, they’d probably have to stop it. It is importing slaves in a two-tier society of legal untouchables. Perfect continuation of Obama opening slave markets. These are the new Slave Ships landing everyone is trying to prevent 200 years ago (ie. “the Past”, as “Time exists”) but encouraging today.

    “Biden already has authority to shut down illegal immigration. And now he’s telling us he’s willing to do that, but only if we pass a new law”

    As with every word in the Constitution, and like every other law Congress passed but hasn’t enforced in 100 years but complain about daily. Like Section 230. Censorship. Evidence without warrant. And so here we need a law to tell us to follow the law about the law…then no one enforces the law, only only against your friends. How about this: what he’s doing is ILLEGAL. YOU arrest him. YOU have the power. Remember when AOC and others went there and were like #Hashtag “If only we were Congressmen or something and could DO something!

    So you don’t have the power, you win: I believe you. So then who DOES have the power? Point. Blink twice if I move in their direction.

    “The president has been clear, we need action on the border,”

    Apparently Biden has no power to do anything but has #Hashtag called to action! Since he has no power, truckers are going there instead! Your wish is our command!! So who DOES have the power, Joe?

    ““We don’t want to do anything to undermine him,” McConnell allegedly said.

    I see why that was – journalistic ethics – “Allegedly” said instead of “He said”. McConnell could never have said such a thing, his mouth would catch on fire and he’d go up in smoke.

    “seized and used to rebuild Ukraine after the conflict,”

    Again, we’ll give them to your heirs when the last Ukrainian is murdered. …And legally, your heirs “R” us! So keep a’fightin’ boyz! Everything they’ve said for months is the same. We’re going to build a weapons factory…next year. UK promises to send all 50 British soldiers…after the conflict is over.

    You won the PR battle: stop shootin’! We give up! You totally, totally took and occupied the VR landscape. However, the REAL Ukraine, and the REAL Army, government, nation, and ethnicity (if there is one) has lost. They can’t notice as they still have their google glasses on.

    “”We are coming out of 30 years of peace… from which we have all benefited.”

    Most people, experts, and historians disagree with this statement and many many books have been written about it. It is an axiom of our time that we had to peace dividend thanks to Cheney and her acolyte Nikki Hillary, DNC candidate at large.

    “Pistorius told ZDF on Monday that Germany should be ready to respond to a possible Russian attack.”

    Good idea! That being your only job and all. Have you given any thought to getting some men and tanks? When all your equipment is up on blocks in the front yard and you have no mechanics, it doesn’t give your organization a good look. — Or their leadership. Which is YOU. I mean, operationally, you’d have to at least cure OPEN EMBARRASSMENTS, right? Nope! That’s what makes him an “Expert’.

    “[Biden] is “putting together the new strategy,” which includes helping the Zelensky regime strengthen its armed forces and economy in the face of the Ukraine funding impasse in the U.S. Congress.”

    He’s going to shout a bunch of “Atta boys!” and “You show ‘ems” from across the ocean. “Let’s you and him fight.” There are still Ukrainians left alive. Something must be done. If Biden doesn’t kill every Ukrainian – much less every Slav – they’re going to call him a failure.

    ““..in a number of European countries, Russophobia is being promoted as the state policy.”

    Progressives are always for Racism. I mean, it’s Progressively-minded people in Europe, widely considered very “Left” that run things, that displayed these specific acts, right? Like erasing Russian born Classical Musicians from Orchestras, even as they lived in Britain for years? Just one example. Sadly there were thousands. How about closing their bank accounts, much more sinister?

    But heck, nothing says “Love and Tolerance” “Diversity” like shutting off the bank accounts of a well-protected and major opposition party head, Nigel Farage, right? “Love is Love” “Kindness is everything.” “No human is illegal”. Unless they’re Russian or own a bank account. That’s illegal. The one true kindness is for them to be homeless and the State re-home their children. Illegal = No Law and Legal = Against known law.

    “To the extent that Morris was not acting as a lawyer but as a businessman or a friend, these conversations (and related records) may not be protected.”

    This may not be clear, but the Attorney-Client privilege is a perimeter made up of more than one border. Yes, one of those borders is providing legal advice, but the others are that they therefore can NOT be your patron, your bodyguard, or arguably even your friend. In theory you would be sued and disbarred for ethics, or worse, any case you filed would be considered tainted and worthless. CLEARLY they cannot have privilege to commit felonies in secrecy on your behalf, as Perkins-Coie specializes in, and as Morris appears to have.

    This is why you can’t have a breakdown in ethics much more widely than just a breakdown in law. And all the other lawyers in America – who have unlimited free time to do something about protecting their reputation and industry – don’t go press the case to reprimand, remove, or even jail the constant misbehavior of thousands of bad actors such as Avenetti, running a literal extortion racket from his office. Or the whole ADL and SPLC who do the same thing. Or Scientists, especially, including medicine.

    “know, agents and managers … publicists. You know, whatever. And what I do is I oversee … sort of the squad. Sort of like a general counsel.”

    The lawyer does not oversee the house painters and HVAC work, nor would it be protected. What “Law” is involved there? The very act of you doing it disqualifies you as a lawyer overall.

    “Members of the Biden family received payments from the Chinese deal even though they did not work on it. “

    I receive money all the time from work my 2nd cousins did, even though I know nothing about it. Don’t you? The parasite class get almost all their money from doing “no work” so it all seems normal to them.

    “Boeing’s Nosedive: How Greed Ruined A Great American Company (Johnston)

    I dunno. They can have a s—t tonne of greed but still be able to use a “Wrench” to put on “bolts”. In fact, it’s far, far cheaper to do all things correctly. It’s just management. I’ve been in many companies where I was like “I can save you a million dollars in no time by ‘Not Being Stupid’, and ‘Doing what lost you money yesterday over and over again today’” and they fought to the death, then died on that hill, then the whole COMPANY died on that hill, rather than save money by doing what made obvious common sense to begin with. Ask JB. Hey, is answering the calls nicely, quickly, with proper staffing levels, and getting them off the phone quickly and happily the first time cost less than routing it to 4 operators, 3 of which are minimum wage, solve nothing, make the call 5x longer, then finally have to resolve to a specialist or manager who was the same as your original “normal” employee used to be, only all 4 workers plus the client are pissed off and wasted most of a day instead of 10 minutes? And you paid 4 people instead of one and THEN were sued for it? Yeah, that sort of thing.

    Like a guy cutting engine blocks, refuses to check his work and use the machine correctly? So we had this block cast in China from iron ore shipped from Australia, shipped to Kentucky as a blank, then melted down and thrown away because he can’t use a 0.004 shim correctly, yet no one fires him, his manager, or his-his manager, so that he destroys 4 blocks per shift for no intelligible reason at all? Or how about doctors and medical billing…but my point is made.

    IF YOU WERE REALLY ‘GREEDY’ YOU WOULDN’T BE STUPID. You would cut that s—t out and PUT THE MONEY IN YOUR POCKET, and the pockets of all your workers. It’s not “Greed”. Sadly. That might be rational.

    Again: IF ONLY these guys were greedy, I could work with them, save the company $1M and buy them a bigger yacht. WITH HAPPY CUSTOMERS. They’ll have me fired if I were to so much as SUGGEST it. Such an emotional affront would it be that they, and everything they ever cast thine eyes upon, were not ALREADY perfect in every way.

    “It was no longer about making great airplanes; it was about “moving up the value chain.” What it was really about was maximizing shareholder value.”

    As you see, it was about MINIMIZING shareholder value, as the company loses its reputation and goes bankrupt. Fast. Nor is that a theoretical, psychological event: as errors occur, Boeing must pay for their repair. It’s not FUTURE planes they’re losing – although they are – it’s NOW. This quarter’s profits. All zeroed. That is not some kind of “gamble’ or “surprise”; it is the logical and inevitable consequence of actions they were specifically warned about in writing for years. And people resigned the company for it many times. And they already had 100 near-misses for, both in mechanics, but also in financial markets and stock prices. Yet they persist in NOT making money, but LOSING it. Why? 1,000 employees told them they would LOSE money and the company if they continued, yet they continued hell bent for leather. WHY?

    “Downstream from these changes are … outrageous cost overruns,” That is, IMMEDIATELY losing money and stock value, DIRECTLY attributable to the actions of SPECIFIC persons. Yet they persist. WHY?

    “The intellectual underpinning for this change in approach came from economist Milton Friedman’s Chicago School, whose theory that executives had a “fiduciary duty” to maximize shareholder returns”

    Great! Good idea! ...Except they’re doing the #Opposite. How does your “Chicago” theory work, or your attribution they were following it occur, when all actors involved are doing the #Opposite of what Chicago said? Are they just exceptionally bad at reading?

    “Now, a naive observer might assume that the path to achieving this lies in using one’s assets more efficiently to generate more money.”

    Yes, the naive observer might think this is the very definition of “Capitalism”, but apparently, according to this article, he would be wrong and they would do the #Opposite of “Capitalism.” That is: HATE MONEY.

    Deeper: “In other words, today’s profits trump the company’s future.” Or put another way, Today’s profits trump tomorrow’s profits, or any profits at all. In other words: it’s merely time preference, not “Reputation” or “Profit-driven” at all. Time Preference is what happens when you create inflation. Let me repeat that:

    —– Time Preference is what happens when you create inflation. —–

    There’s the “Central Planning” and its effects are well-known and also well-proven, essentially agreed on, and irrefutable. “Interest rates” are the “Time value of money.” If rates are an average 5-8%, that is how much people over 300-year periods value “Time” vs “money”, like a human constant. So when you LOWER interest rates, irrationally and force markets to be contrary to price discovery – the entire PURPOSE of the modern Fed – then you therefore change the “Time preference for money”, that is as we defined, equivalent to “Interest Rates.”

    Now rates are 500% LOWER than they “should” be, you are directing all people and actors in your system that MONEY HAS NO VALUE. Or in Time-Terms, in Time-Value Terms, THERE IS NO TOMORROW. It’s directing them the same as “There’s a war on: LIQUIDATE EVERYTHING!!!” “Sell, Mortimer! Sell!!!”

    I asked “WHY?” rhetorically, but think for yourself. Here is my answer. Where were they getting this ANTI Capitalist, ANTI Profit, ANTI Corporation, ANTI Human, ANTI Work, ANTI Success directive from? Why were they CLEARLY and OBVIOUSLY destroying and liquidating their own company, murdering their own golden goose despite 10,000 warnings?

    Right here. Central Planning. ANTI-Capitalist monetary SOCIALISM. Where the Fed “Directs and controls the means of production.” Not the companies. Not the people, even. Not the engineers. Not the pilots. Not even the stock traders. The Fed ORDERED Boeing to LIQUIDATE itself, OR ELSE…or else they would go bankrupt in this crooked, irrational monetary scheme, be taken over, and be liquidated by someone else.

    When I’m talking about “Control the money”, this is what I mean.

    “When people say I changed the culture of Boeing, that was the intent, so that it’s run like a business rather than a great engineering firm.” “[In] sync with the zeitgeist of the time,” “That he felt he could unabashedly broadcast the destruction of Boeing’s finely hewn, decades-old culture says as much about the country as it does about the man.

    Yes, it does. And I bet their answer is “More Government”, “More Socialism”, “More intervention and central planning.” We gotta fix this!!! There oughter be a law!!

    And THAT is when you have no shells to send and no planes to fly them there. Your air force is 50 years old and your country polluted, corrupt, and falling apart, with “Misery spread widely” just like East Germany, Bulgaria, Columbia, Argentina, Venezuela…

    The sun shines? The answer is Global Communism. Trust me.

    ““..Trump will have to soldier on. He must stay controlled amid the tsunamis”

    No. Trump needs to stage his death and go away because HE is not the answer. WE are. Even if he did save us, we wouldn’t deserve it, nor could we keep it. WE have to decide, then WE have to do the work. …Thankfully, Trump is already a figurehead, a furry mascot doing nothing, so it’s not that hard. Like the “Wizard of Oz” they just need the Switcheroo at the end where we had the Brains, the Heart, da Noive to get home all along. God, will this movie ever end?

    “there is something unsettling if they are post facto laws “

    Yeah, uh, Post Facto laws are always illegal. Obviously. But like the Constitution, that doesn’t stop anybody and they pass them all the time. Because: universal #Illogic and #Immorality. Imagine they pass a law saying calling somebody a sissy-pants in grade school was a crime. Yeah well, you COULDN’T have done that, because you had no way of knowing that would be illegal IN THE FUTURE. It’s bad enough they pass 100 laws without sending you a mailing notice now. Better, then they selectively enforce all the laws, which is the whole PURPOSE of law: to hurt my enemies and enrich my friends.

    I remember a case where a company was sued for dumping something that wasn’t illegal when they dumped it. Yes, they shouldn’t have, but it wasn’t a law, perhaps no one even knew it was wrong. They just passed a law – or I think not even passed it – just PRETENDED it was illegal years ago when the action occurred, sued not in the past, but the PRESENT, and won. Nobody cared that they prosecuted a perfectly legal action. Suppose they pass a law saying it’s illegal to sleep with your wife, then Post-Facto prosecute everyone for all the years before now?

    I’d say it beggars all reason but we see this daily and that is barely the most unreasonable or irrational actions, which is why it’s something of a footnote in this article. They also can’t pass a law for or against a SPECIFIC PERSON or company, and do that all the time, too, daily. A famous one was a “contract preference” for military aviation, for companies that were West of the Mississippi and also above elevation of 4,000 feet. …Guess how many aviation subcontractors fit that description? And also had to have a company name beginning with “A”. I mean, Jesus Christ.

    Nope! All legal with me!

    If you want a nation that is stupid, rich, lazy, and free, you want something that never has been, nor ever will be. It’s a Republic…if you can keep it.

    #151348
    Dr. D
    Participant

    Pushed today: “The American Obsession with Lawns” Scientific American, 2017
    https://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/anthropology-in-practice/the-american-obsession-with-lawns/

    No need for review. Practically everything in this article is wrong. And wrong in a really, really weird way. Like some is made up, sure. Most is misrepresented for CIS-Hetero Patriarchical Oppression, of course, that’s what Science™ is. But a lot of it is like…she don’t know Jack, so she misses the mark on every sentence? No coherent, consistent thoughts have ever adhered in her head, so she doesn’t know what they look like? I’m like an AI construction that makes grammatically plausible sentences (and not that either, as there are open grammar errors) but sentences which have no point?

    So “Scientific American” is wildly lower than Buzzfeed…seven years ago. Before Covid even, when Science was LESS bad. Even PopSci can transcend this at times, and it’s supposedly the “Pop” version. “Scientific American” is supposed to be…well, straight “Science”. …And you should see their Climate section. Unprovable allegations to the walls, calling Climate for any fire every lit, any culture or event occurring anywhere in the world at any point in history, however distant or unsupported.

    Here’s one: “Renewable Power Set to Surpass Coal Globally by 2025

    Uh, no. Renewables commonly run at 15% of their rated capacity. And China and India just added 30 new mega-coal plants. P.S. that’s “tomorrow” and are you ready to shut off every nuclear plant in America? All 95 Gigawatts, 20% of the nation? No? Then your whole article is a lie. They know it’s a lie, don’t care it’s a lie, and keep lying.

    “Turning Doctors into Climate Health Advocates Is Good for Patients”

    It hurts when your elbow does this? Must be Climate Change. Um, no. That is categorically BAD for patients. Ain’t nobody got time for that. And not asking them about their guns at home either. Very “Scientific”. And “American.”

    Here’s one that didn’t age well: “Hawaii picks Maui luxury resort as site to test smart-grid technology
    On front page, but 2009. So Maui is all self-sufficient, right? No end of sun at that latitude and weather? No? You had 15 years and aren’t a minute closer to your goals in all that time?

    And from elsewhere, “Carbon footprint of home-grown Food 5x Greater than that Grown Conventionally” (i.e. with oil in 1500hp tractors, on 10,000 acre monoculture sprayed monthly.)

    Not to be outdone: “Food from urban agriculture has carbon footprint SIX times larger than conventional produce, study shows” — Science Daily. (Literally, they cite the U-MI paper.)

    Leading to this important point:

    “The biggest problem for GloboLeft© is that food from your garden gives them no profits and gives them no control over you.  We have the technology to turn bugs into a tasty protein source:  it’s called a chicken egg.  But they want you to eat the bugs, because if they humiliate you enough to eat the bugs, they know that they can make you do anything.  Anything.”

    Pic

    And like I said, not only were there 1,000 matriculated hours of this in College, after 14,400 hours of this in public school, but I read 300 pages of this stuff posted on Slate, Yahoo, and MSNBC comment section where every Left or Democrat apparently advocated for the open mass murder of every Republican, rural person, and worker? That was many years ago indeed, almost 10 years, and it was considered top “Emily Post Good Ettiquette”, “Excellent good form old chum” for 20-30 years before that. Kill. Every. Human. Who does not agree with me. Because “Love is Love”.

    That is, we’re not fighting this NOW. We’ve been fighting this quite a bit longer, as per the social engineers as easily tracked by their elephantine financial footprints, like per buying out the whole Chicago School of Economics, e.g.

    What do THEY eat at COP28 after flying private jets from yachts worldwide, which aren’t even “Yachts,” which implies sails, but “giant 2,000hp power boats” burning 20 gallons a minute?

    “Traditionally Cooked Smoked Briskets, Smoked Ribs and our Smoked Wagyu Burgers. Our Style of Cooking gives unique taste and technique in Authentic Gourmet Foods.” Think I’m kidding?  Here’s the LINK. https://www.cop28.com/en/food-and-beverage/swaggers

    This may seem all over the place, but it’s not. Science™. As the justification of rape, theft, and murder. “Murder” of “masses,” and “rape” of your daughter. Picked up from Minnesota Band Camp, where they have their own private cabin. Or U-Penn.

    It all starts with articles that are completely lies, which contain no logic or humanity, and are all nodded to without opposition, and the magazines that stay in business printing them when 30 are retracted a pop. From Harvard, the plagiarists in chief. If you see a lie: Point it out.

    …The Morgana Tweet changed right before my eyes, and yes I understand it’s not a color-match but optical lensing effect instead.

    #151349
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    Hey, I just invented a new Chinese Proverb.

    Those who stand close to the fire soon forget that the man behind them is cold.

    Any person elevated to a position in the hierarchy wherein they extract more real value from the system than they contribute to it is stealing from the entire, and this thievery will soon show up in the form of the entire system being continually left by these so-called “elites” in worse shape than the way they found it.

    Eventually, the bucket is dry, and they kick it.

    #151350
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    @DrD

    I hope I’m not the only one who finds that painting somewhat disturbing.”

    You’re not the first to call that out. The painter was a perv (and quite Jewish, by the way) but protected enough to get away with it. He painted the same pubescent girl (Theresa Blanchard) at least 10 times from age 11 through 13) in sexually provocative poses at least one of which was full frontal genitally detailed nude. Balthus was a straight up pornographer and pedophilic sex abuser, with influential “friends”.

    #151351
    Oroboros
    Participant

    “People Are So Eager To Be Offended” – Vivek Ramaswamy

    #151352
    Armenio Pereira
    Participant

    Mankind: a shipwreck in the making, with a lifelong fixation on reshuffling the deck chairs, to the sound of a solipsistic tune.

    May you have a pleasant week.

    #151353
    Dr. D
    Participant

    “A major retrospective overseen by the artist’s wife, Ideta Setsuko, was held in 2014 at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum. An exhibition of Polaroid photographs taken by Balthus at the Museum Folkwang in Essen, Germany, was canceled over accusations of pedophilia.[21] The German newspaper Die Zeit called the images, which depict a model named Anna from ages eight to 16, “documents of pedophile greed.” — Wikipedia.

    So…I’m guessing “Modern” art was really the Hunter Biden model: the “artist” gives you “access” to someone: nude models who are flappers, swingers, jazz singers, known by reputation…or children. And then you “Pay” the artist both for the access and his silence by buying his art and cross-promoting each other’s careers.

    This was probably superseded by not having “access”, the mere possibility if you play your cards right, but actual forced sex acts, however arranged, perhaps with training from childhood in the essential rightness of it, including drugs, behavior reinforcement, cult-like conformity of your own people, and wild “success” if you do…and certain death if you don’t.

    But anyway, that makes most 20th century art make a lot more sense. Actual artists with talent can’t compete with that.

    #151354
    Oroboros
    Participant

    • RFK Jr. Praises Texas In Battle With Biden Over Border

    Late to the party, RFK smells The Issue, drops ‘vaccine safety’ and support for Israhell

    • Biden Vows To Shut Border If Lawmakers Pass Budget Deal

    Blackmail sits well on the demented mass murdering pedeophile

    .

    • How Trump and US Conservatives Deal a Blow to Ukraine Aid Package

    If this truly shuts off ‘official’ funding for Ukronaziland, Pedo Jo-Joe will definitely steal the $300 billion in Russian assets and kill trust once and for all in The Empire of Lies Gangster Nation.

    As D Benton Smith said above, “The Kiss of Death” when they cop the Russian assets

    • Seizing Russia’s Money Would Endanger Euro

    That’s the idea, to endanger Eurotardistan, the “Special Needs” entity of the global community

    Go Eurotardistan Go!

    You wanted this but got that

    .

    • ‘No Threat’ Of Russia Attacking NATO = Germany

    How about NATO-ZATO attacking Russia?

    • WH’s New Strategy on Ukraine ‘Will De-Emphasize’ Retaking ‘Lost Territory’

    WH’s New Strategy ‘Will De-Emphasize’ “Winning”

    • Putin Vows To Eradicate Nazism For Good

    Start with the German Judiciary, they are the direct descendants Nazi judges

    Hang these fiends

    CJ Hopkins was acquitted of Thought Crimes this week by crypto nazi german judges His crime? Essentially, insulting the German health minister in a tweet.

    Once a Nazi judge, always a Nazi judge

    .

    #151355
    zerosum
    Participant

    Illusions
    DREAMING
    Hunger Games.
    LALA LAND!

    ———–
    What sick collective mind possesses such power to halt the only international organization providing relief to the Palestinians and execute that halt on International Holocaust Remembrance Day?
    ———–
    MOVE out of Gaza.
    My way or the highway

    ———-

    DREAMING
    Diversion

    The REAL War of Survival for Humanity.
    Control of the vast amount of energy that Mother Earth is releasing.
    Depopulation – Count the ways
    ———–
    DREAMING
    Diversion
    Illusion – People power

    The future of military aid packages for Ukraine and Israel.
    ————
    Washington helping Nazism, Ukraine, Kiev, the Zelensky regime to survive

    Washington helping Zionism, The chosen, Israel, the bankers, Genocide, depopulation, regime to survive
    ———–
    Read more …
    Control the Illusion

    • Davos, Dictators, and the Real ‘Threats to Our Democracy’ (Hollis)

    —————

    #151356
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    @DrD
    about your summation of the current state of the world of professional art.

    You absolutely friggin’ nailed it, and with one single paragraph!

    #151357
    Oroboros
    Participant

    • Boeing’s Nosedive: How Greed Ruined A Great American Company

    How did Boeing fall from grace?

    Boeing is Hoeing

    They are the face of Military Mafia War-Man=Whores

    Crappy overprice under performing ass-wipe ill engineered cost cutting ‘products’

    There ‘brand’ is greedy incompetence, like the rest of Duh’merican industry.

    May I help you out? Which way did you come in….

    Hahahahahahahaahahaha!

    .

    The combined Chinese and Russian Industrial Bases are going to wipe the floor with Duh’merica’s face and then push it’s head in the toilet bowl and give it a much deserved “swirlie”

    swirl·y
    [ˈswərlē]
    noun
    swirlie (noun)

    a prank that involves immersing someone’s head in a toilet bowl as it is flushed:

    #151358
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Undoubtedly a modern art degree at UC at B

    Proud parents, money well spent

    .

    #151359
    Oroboros
    Participant

    .

    #151360
    Oroboros
    Participant

    From Ed Dowd: Duh’merica’s ‘crackerjack’ workforce absence rates 2002-2019

    They are MUCH higher now in 2024

    How competitive will the Empire of Lies be in 2030?

    Trendline not lookin’ good

    .

    #151361
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Hey, maybe that’s why they need all those millions of un-vaxed illegal immigrants!

    #151362
    Oroboros
    Participant

    #151363
    WES
    Participant

    The Chicago School:

    Besides helping Boeing kill people, Chicago also gave us mass murderers Milton, Obama, Hillary Clinton. AL Capone was Chicago’s only hero and saint for running a soup kitchen and not paying taxes to 1913’s organized criminals! A true freedom loving Patriot!

    In Soviet times, individual gardens provided nearly half the food eaten in the country. If it wasn’t for these gardens, communism would have collapsed over a hundred years ago! Vodka was needed to sedate the people from revolting too. i saw the gardens and vodka first hand.

    DC’s Word Salads:
    McConnell doing everything to (not) support Trump.
    Biden doing everything to keep the border wide open.
    RINOs doing everything to keep the border wide open.
    RINOs doing everything to pull the “border” rug out from under Trump.
    RINOs doing everything to send aid to Ukraine via CIA so Trump can’t stop future aid.
    RINOs busy passing new laws to stop Trump from being able to do anything.
    RINOs doing everything to avoid impeaching Biden.
    Mitch ensuring deep state agents remain legally embedded in all gov depts so Trump can’t remove them.

    #151364
    zerosum
    Participant

    The whole joke reads like Briar Rabbit putting another one over on the dumb greedy fox in an Uncle Remus story.

    Domino
    Also, the current investments that the banks made with the $300 billions have got to find buyers and wipe out the leverage of that $300 billions.

    #151365
    Oroboros
    Participant

    HEADLINE:

    Texas Gov Greg Abbott Kicks Sand in Dark Brandon Face

    .

    #151366
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Fight Back Against Dark Brandonism!

    .

    Let Boeing Arm You with the Latest Duh’merican Technology……..

    .

    #151367
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Take that Dark Brandon!

    Put down your ice cream cone Pedo Joe

    .

    #151368
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    It would give me, as President, a new emergency authority to shut down the border when it becomes overwhelmed.
    What does that phrase mean: “shut down the border?” It sounds like no one comes in or out, not just that immigration would be affected — like the small AZ border crossing that the feds suddenly closed with no warning, leaving the folks living and working in the local vicinity who regularly, (legally,) crossed the border, stuck. It sounds like collective punishment. “If I can’t get what I want, then nobody gets what they want!”

    #151369
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Oh yah,

    Fani Being Probed

    Hahahahahahahaha!

    Boy Howdy, Wade is really not gonna like being probed either!

    .

    #151370
    Oroboros
    Participant

    I gotta admit the French really know how to get it on when protesting.

    I’d love to see manure sprayed on every federal building in DC

    Hahahaa!

    Housing down police vehicles with Poo!

    .
    Most Excellent!

    #151371
    Oroboros
    Participant
    #151372
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    @ Dr D
    Painting.
    Agreed. There is way too much focus on the girl’s crotch. I have NEVER seen a girl of any age sit that way with a skirt hiked up in that manner— not even a toddler — skirts do not fall that way naturally, the skirt was “artfully” placed that way.

    #151373
    zerosum
    Participant

    The french really know how to apply “people power”

    #151374
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    Lawns
    Yesterday, one of my sons reminisced about the small lawn we used to have under the two citrus trees. The kids loved playing on it when they were small…but it was under two citrus trees, did not get enough sun, and after about six or seven years was very sparse, so I put the hen yard under the citrus trees. Hens gleefully pecked out the remaining grass. It remains their space 10 years later, nothing green there grows, and the hens bask in the sun or shade and take dust baths.

    There are few lawns where I live — out of about 20 homes on the street only four or so have lawns out front. I welcome the lawns. See, we are at stage 1 drought, and every quarter the water bill contains a statement comparing my home’s water usage with neighboring homes. Mine is high — because my front yard contains an edible garden, and only a quarter of it is irrigated by water from the shower. I hope to bring all of the rainwater from my roof to the gardens as well, and my intention is for that to further reduce my dependence on city water for the garden…but in the meantime, the neighbors with lawns make me less of an outlier for the water that I use in my yard. I have a general concern that at some point there will be penalties for using more water than the neighborhood average….

    #151375
    tboc
    Participant

    Define insanity:
    Insanity is the belief that there is more than there is.

    There was a contract to develop a residential structure in Seagrove Beach, Florida. The contract originated from a single investor’s plans to utilize single family residences as commercial rental properties. During the time of the first draft a real estate agent partnered with the original investor. The real estate partner convinced the investor that the structure should reflect features of all of the most popular and most valuable properties moving westward from from Grayton Beach.

    The residence was to be four floors placed on one of the originally platted lots in the Seagrove subdivision. A mansion on a postage stamp. Light frame construction was the chosen structural medium.

    Moving forward from the first draft the real estate agent relayed the design intent to the person doing the (can’t use the correct word here without getting in trouble with the Florida Department of Business Regulation). The plans for the structure were being developed in a BIM program. When the design intent for the third floor was received there was an immediate question sent to the real estate agent. The question was, “What is going to hold this up?” The investor was copied in all communications. The response was immediate, a phone call which of course cannot be copied without a conference call. The voice on the phone said, “Don’t worry the engineers will figure it out.” The returned reply, “This is light frame construction”. The voice on the phone once again said, “Don’t worry the engineers will figure it out.”

    Structural engineers work from the top down. Mass, environmental forces, load path, foundation. We don’t know what it is but we have a name for it, Gravity. You know, that thing the Alchemist brought forth a formula for.

    The model was completed. All of the features of the ornamental facade were modeled so the engineers would be able to quickly and easily begin their calculations. The cantilevered elements were modeled as place holders for the engineers structural elements. Like the man falling from the top floor exclaimed, “all good so far”. The completed model was sent to a wooden truss vendor and a few days later, “You Have Mail”. “Hey cracker, there’s no load path”. Rhu Rho. “I will send another structural layout next week”. Have you ever heard fingers laughing as they touched the keyboard. Two weeks later, “Load path present, light frame will not carry the load”. You know, fiber bending and all that.

    A few days later seated around a nice table looking out at the mountain of Mountain Drive were gathered the investor, the real estate agent, a contractor, two structural engineers and the modeler. Just a coincindence, but the modeler was selected on the recommendation of the engineers. The mathematician of the engineers looked at the modeler and asked this question, “Did anyone say -“This is a bad idea”?
    The real estate agent responded, “Yes”. The mathematician replied, “You should have listened”.

    At this point the investor asks, “Can it be built?” The mathematician replies, “Yes with steel super structure”. Investor, “how much?” Mathematician engineer, “Thumbnail, 2 mil plus the cost of the designed facade”. Have you ever been in room where several people stopped breathing simultaneously? Try to get the last draw of your contract at that point. (The Art of the Deal – who doesn’t get paid)

    The 3d renderings of the model were beautiful. The dreams of profit were, well, beautiful dreams of profit. Every person seated at the table with the exception of the mathematician and the modeler lived in a fantasy. All of the digital information remains, the postage stamp was incorporated in the lot immediately to the north and a portion of another structures is in place. In Seagrove Beach the fantasy continues to grow and is as vibrant and surreal as it was when the first subdivision of that government block occured.

    The entire project from inception to collapse is an example of how the most beautiful model can exist in mental and digital space and where there is no load path or foundation there is no reality.

    Start with whichever economic school you wish, and you will find the same human weakness. That weakness is insanity as defined above. The most beautiful model of a dream is a beautiful model of a dream. To believe at this point in the twenty first century that the global economy is profit based is to have a model of a dream as your reality.

    The flow of money is the sole driver of the global economy. Derivatives are the fantasy reservoir of money imagined, that will flow through human endeavor and require the building of another fantasy reservoir of imagined money. A few went apoplectic, including all standard definitions, the last time this was written. The skim of the flow of money is the global economy.

    What has been the worry of some realists since October 2, 2024? The fear the flow of money would slow and the derivatives securties chain of calls would collapse the entire global economy right down to the ATM in the parking lot of your bank, is the terror at hand. When the velocity of the flow falls below the volume of skim – collapse. Be completely assured, profit has nothing to do with any of it, it is insanity.

    #151376
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    The problem is not at the border, folks. Just like the Jan 6 protestors were walking thru the wrong doorways in the wrong building.

    The problem is the network of power THAT YOU ARE STILL ACCEPTING AS ACCEPTABLE (as evidenced by the fact that you are still …..demonstrably …..accepting it.

    When you stop accepting its orders and stop bowing to the mounting pressures to comply, and refuse to go along with that suicidal bullshit AT ALL, then it’s power vanishes in that instant.

    I know that you are not yet convinced quite enough just yet, as in possessing sufficient certainty to put belief into nonretractable ACTION. But you will be soon. Be ready for that moment. Be prepared. It will happen as fast as the blink of an eye so it’s going to help to have your ducks in a row.

    #151377
    Oroboros
    Participant

    “as evidenced by the fact that you are still accepting it…..”

    Greg Abbott isn’t, he’s calling Dark Brandon’s hand

    This is not a good ‘look’ for Pedo Jo-Joe and the NeoZioCon Jobs

    So you and who’s army is gonna make me take down the razor wire…

    Here’s the only border Pedo Presidementia is interested in protecting…..Ukronaziland’s

    Not going so well for the West

    Maybe we should mine the border like Russia did in the Donbass

    #151378
    zerosum
    Participant

    Is the US at war?
    Is the US at peace?

    I don’t know.
    I didn’t hear, or see, or smell gun smoke.

    I was not told.
    Is it real?
    Is it deepfake?

    I’m busy.
    The football game is on.

    #151379
    Dr. D
    Participant

    Benton, It actually reminded me of an old movie. All the Leftist adore it. Called ‘Cradle Will Rock” about Communists getting one over on those stoopid Capitalists who like, “work” instead of making theatre. Damn them for letting us eat!!! Scene is here, https://youtu.be/rqPE0YYgwjI?t=1656 But there’s a later scene too, I think, where he’s getting drunk with the loose Harlem Jazz ladies. If memory serves.

    #151380
    Oroboros
    Participant

    What is the real purpose of the German nuclear phase-out, and why is the policy shrouded in so much silence and mystery?.

    Short answer: because of the Green Nazi Party in control in Germany at the moment

    Ecological Warwhores

    “Back in December, for example, the erstwhile leftist thug and former Green Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer demanded the rearmament of Europe in response to the “imperial ideology of Putin.” Specifically, he insisted that the European Union requires its own “nuclear deterrent.”

    “Fischer has a long history of deploring the dangers of nuclear power, and his party was of course responsible for shutting down the last German nuclear plants in April of last year.

    In the bi-polar world of Fischer:

    1) Nuclear power plants are too dangerous to countenance

    2) It was fine to demand disarmament during the Cold War

    3) But now “the world has changed” and Europe needs nuclear weapons.

    Gosh, even high school physics taught me the only way to produce the non-natural element of plutonium, essential for nuclear weapons, is in Ta-Da >>>>> commerical nuclear reactors

    You know, the ones the German Green Nazis shut down last year.

    Germany is basically alone in the world in its simultaneous insistence on Net Zero goals and its phobia of nuclear energy.

    Hahahahaaha!

    Deutschland Unter Allen!

    .

    #151381
    Veracious Poet
    Participant

    Mankind: a shipwreck in the making, with a lifelong fixation on reshuffling the deck chairs, to the sound of a solipsistic tune.

    Q.E.D.

    #151382
    Oroboros
    Participant

    The Green Nazis of Deutschland want to destroy the ‘nation-state’ of Germany.

    [1] Blow up the Nord Stream pipeline and have no one in the German Press or politicians talk about it, cutting off affordable Russian gas and making Germany dependent on Empire of Lies LNG at triple the cost, thus making Germany PERMANENTLY noncompetitive on the global market place stage. CHECK

    [2]. Be sure there is no backup nuclear power to fill in the huge intermittent energy gaps in wind, solar, hydro. CHECK

    [3]. Put farmers out of business first with high fossil fuel costs for farm equipment, then make fossil fuel powered farm equipment illegal, only electric tractors. CHECK

    [4] Spend the rest of the severely contracted Germany budget on free stuff for the now unemployed immigrant population and send the rest to their brother Regular Old Nazis in Ukronaziland. Double CHECK

    Last one out of German, blow the candle out!

    Prost!

    .

    #151383
    WES
    Participant

    Per MoA/DownSouth: Members of Ukraine’s Rada are caught in a Catch 22 situation of their own making.

    They face passing a new mobilization bill that basically exempts nobody except those who can continue to pay ever larger sums of money. This bill is very unpopular. They have been stalling the bill for as long as possible. But time has now( run out.

    They also can not quit the Rada as too many have already left, nor can they now leave the Ukraine either.

    They are, one by one, being pressured by the NAZIS SBU to vote yes or face retribution against themselves and family. Obviously many Rada members thought, when worst came to worst, they could simply escape by leaving. That door is now closed. Only the smart Rada members manage to escaped.

    Remaining Rada members know passing the mobilization bill also signs their own death warrant.

    Vicky Nuland is quite pleased that the Ukrainians are fighting to the last Ukrainian, as planned.

    #151384
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    @DrD
    About that very-dark-shade-of- pink movie, Cradle Will Rock.

    Somehow I missed that one and didn’t even known it existed until you mentioned it here and posted the link.

    Very interesting piece of work (and I mean “piece of work” in all of the various ways that term is used). The cast list reads like the roster of Hollywood’s entire A-List, which ought to tell us something without even bothering to hit the Play button.

    I would expect an enormous heap of impressive acting vignettes, with all that talent crammed into one flick, and even bigger, towering, heaps of steaming horse shit. I might watch it one of these days, if I can gird up the stamina to make it through 2 hours and 12 minutes of slyly insinuated Commie propaganda in one sitting. Maybe if I wore some kind of Personal Protection Equipment. Where in the hell did I put those hip waders and gas mask?

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