Mar 272024
 
 March 27, 2024  Posted by at 10:32 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , ,


John La Farge Girls Carrying a Canoe, Vaiala in Samoa 1891

 

US, UK and Ukraine Could Be Behind Moscow Terror Attack – FSB Chief (RT)
US Backs Itself Into Corner By Blaming IS For Crocus Hall – Zakharova (TASS)
The Evidence On The Crocus Gang Attack In Moscow (Helmer)
Crocus City Hall Terror Attack Cast Slur Upon West (Sp.)
EU Leaders Have Decided To Militarize, So What Now? (Drize)
‘Day May Come’ For EU Troops In Ukraine – Kiev (RT)
Trump: Israel Has To Finish the War, It’s Losing a Lot of Support (Antiwar)
‘Serious Concerns’ Raised About NY Judge’s Trump Judgment (ET)
Pelosi, Accused of Insider Trading, Makes Major Stock Move (Sp.)
The DNC Moves To Block Third Party Candidates (Turley)
RFK Jr Picks Nicole Shanahan As VP, May Seek Libertarian Nomination (ZH)
‘Literally Anybody Else’ Announces US Presidential Campaign (RT)
‘Triumph’ for Assange But Battle Far From Over (Sp.)

 

 

 

 

https://twitter.com/i/status/1772696421675774006

 

 

https://twitter.com/i/status/1772661091128004874

 

 

Macgregor

 

 

Simonyan

 

 

Shellenberger

 

 

 

 

“When asked whether the US, Britain and Ukraine could be behind the terrorist attack, the FSB chief responded: “We think that this is so..”

US, UK and Ukraine Could Be Behind Moscow Terror Attack – FSB Chief (RT)

The US, UK and Ukraine may have been behind last Friday’s terrorist attack on a concert venue in a suburb of Moscow, which claimed lives of 139 people and left around 200 injured, according to the head of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB). Aleksandr Bortnikov told reporters on Tuesday that the authorities are currently trying to establish the identity of everyone involved in the attack, both inside and outside Russia. When asked whether the US, Britain and Ukraine could be behind the terrorist attack, the FSB chief responded: “We think that this is so. In any case, we are now talking about the information that we have. This is general information, but they [investigators] also have concrete results.” Bortnikov’s statement to the media follows a meeting of the expanded board of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Russia. The FSB director told reporters that the intelligence service will do everything necessary to identify the direct organizers and sponsors of the terrorist attack.

On the evening of March 22, a group of men armed with assault rifles attacked the Crocus City Hall music venue in the Moscow suburb of Krasnogorsk, just before a concert by the rock band Picnic was due to start. The 7,500-capacity venue was almost full at the time of the attack. The terrorists killed guards, shot concert-goers on sight, then started a fire that quickly spread throughout the building. At least 139 people, including three children, were killed in the attack, the chair of the Russian Investigative Committee, Aleksandr Bastrykin, reported on Monday. Around 200 people were injured, according to the latest data. After the attack, Russian security services detained 11 people connected to the incident, including those believed to be the gunmen who carried out the attack. Moscow’s Basmanny Court has since arrested seven other suspects who are accused of helping organize the terrorist attack.

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“It took them only a few hours to get to a microphone, turn on the lights, summon the press and draw a conclusion about who is to blame..”

US Backs Itself Into Corner By Blaming IS For Crocus Hall – Zakharova (TASS)

The US has backed itself into a corner by jumping the gun to lay blame on the Islamic State terrorist group (IS, outlawed in Russia) for the terrorist attack on Crocus City Hall even as the incident was still in progress, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said. “The very fact that within the first 24 hours [after the attack], even before the fire was put out, the Americans started screaming that it wasn’t Ukraine, I think, is a piece of incriminating evidence. I can’t classify it otherwise; it is evidence in and of itself,” the diplomat said on air during a Sputnik radio broadcast. “The second fact to note concerns the clamor by the US that this assuredly was the work of ISIS (former name of IS – TASS),” the spokeswoman pointed out.

“Of course, the speed with which they were able to [come to such forthright conclusions] is astonishing. It took them only a few hours to get to a microphone, turn on the lights, summon the press and draw a conclusion about who is to blame for this horribly bloody terrorist attack,” Zakharova said. “I think they’ve boxed themselves into a corner, because as soon as they started screaming that it was ISIS, all those people who work in international relations, who are political scientists and experts, recalled and reminded everyone else what ISIS really is,” the diplomat said. “You are behind all those ISIS-type structures, you – the United States, Great Britain – yourselves brought them into being,” she concluded.

Biden ISIS-K 2021

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“..the men drove due south and on the highway near Khatsun, they were about 100 kms from the Ukraine border..”

The Evidence On The Crocus Gang Attack In Moscow (Helmer)

For the time being, the only evidence connecting the four shooters to the Ukraine is the direction they were taking when their vehicle was stopped by the security forces. In a shootout the car overturned, and three of the gunmen fled into the forest beside the road, leaving one man injured in the car. The head of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Alexander Khinshtein, is the source for press reporting on the site of the interception. That was on Highway E101 about seven kilometres south of the P-120 intersection east of Bryansk city. From Bastrykin’s report, and from an award ceremony in Bryansk on Monday for the forces who made the capture – Federal Security Service (FSB), Interior Ministry, National Guard, and border forces of the Defense Ministry — the getaway was being tracked for some time before it reached the P-120 intersection.

At that point, if the four men planned to head for Belarus, they would have turned right, followed the south circular road around Bryansk, and then turned left on to the A-240 towards the Belarus border, about 100 kms to the southwest. Instead, the men drove due south and on the highway near Khatsun, they were about 100 kms from the Ukraine border. There have been reports they were expecting to make a rendezvous with accomplices they believed would guide them to safety over the Ukraine border, and to payday. Or, as Moscow sources speculate, to their execution by the Ukrainians. Speculation, however, including analysis of the cui bono, who gains type, the sequence of statements from Washington, and the history of association between the US, British and Ukrainian secret services and Tajik mercenaries, creates a balance of probabilities, but not an explanation beyond reasonable doubt.

“Of course, we must also answer the question of why the terrorists, after committing their crime, attempted to flee specifically to Ukraine,” the president said at his meeting with security officials on Monday. “Who was waiting for them there? It is clear that those supporting the Kiev regime do not wish to be implicated in acts of terrorism and be seen as sponsors of terrorism. But there are indeed numerous questions.” Public comments to reporters on Tuesday by the FSB chief Alexander Bortnikov and Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev have answered with emphasis on the Ukrainians, backed by the US and UK. Boris Rozhin (Colonel Cassad) has followed their remarks with a detailed statement of the history of the intelligence service operations before the Crocus attack, and a circumstantial detail of Ukrainian border drone operations in the area and on the night the getaway car was headed through Bryansk region.

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“Joe Biden, the Biden family, the Clinton family, John McCain, Lindsey Graham and George Soros (directly or indirectly) apparently have deep, unexplained ties to oligarchs and individuals inside Ukraine..”

Crocus City Hall Terror Attack Cast Slur Upon West (Sp.)

The Crocus City Hall, a music venue located in the Moscow region, was still burning when White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby asserted to the press that “there is no indication” that Ukraine was involved in the shooting. The US State Department doubled down on Ukraine’s supposed non-involvement on March 23, despite Russia’s investigation being far from over. A social media account allegedly belonging to ISIS* released a statement of responsibility hours after the attack. As if that were not enough, an additional statement by the group popped up later, accompanied by what appeared to be bodycam footage of the attack. The repeated statements have only triggered skepticism among netizens and international observers, especially given that the Russian Security Service (FSB) announced that four suspects with contacts in Ukraine had been arrested while en route to the Eastern European state on Saturday. New evidence suggested the case is far more complicated than Team Biden imagined.

“The Biden Administration has scant credibility left whether in official statements or in off-the-record communications, particularly when it comes to matters outside America’s nominal ‘borders’,” Wall Street analyst and investigative journalist Charles Ortel told Sputnik. “The real question is what shadowy actors acquired the resources and training to perpetrate these vile acts and who are the ultimate paymasters, masterminds and ‘beneficiaries’.” According to Washington, the perpetrators belonged to ISIS-Khorasan, the terror group’s affiliate that is active in Afghanistan and the surrounding region. However, there are at least two reasons why international commentators reacted to Team Biden’s assertions with disbelief, according to Ortel.

“Joe Biden, the Biden family, the Clinton family, John McCain, Lindsey Graham and George Soros (directly or indirectly) apparently have deep, unexplained ties to oligarchs and individuals inside Ukraine who have funneled money into and outside Ukraine, for which there has never been an honest and rigorous accounting,” the analyst said, referring to Washington policymakers’ motif to divert any possible suspicions from Ukraine. Team Biden’s finger-pointing at Islamists does not make matters any easier for the West, the analyst continued. The attack spells reputational damage to the West given its intelligence operatives’ decades-long hand-in-glove cooperation with jihadist elements, involving using them as proxies.

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They have no army. Can’t build one overnight either.

EU Leaders Have Decided To Militarize, So What Now? (Drize)

The EU does not intend to die for the Donbass. This was stated by its foreign policy commissioner Josep Borrell last week. The leaders of the countries of the Western European bloc will discuss increasing defense spending and decide on the fate of frozen Russian assets at their next summit. Borrell urged his colleagues not to inflame the situation and frighten ordinary people for nothing. The senior official was referring to recent comments made by French President Emmanuel Macron, who has spoken of possibly sending troops into Ukraine. From the Kremlin’s standpoint, the behavior of Western leaders so far seems indecisive, but serious changes could be afoot. The next EU summit could be described as historic. The main issue is not even the fate of Russia’s frozen assets, but the fact that, perhaps for the first time, the bloc is discussing the transition to a military economy.

As European Council President Charles Michel put it, the time has come to change the paradigm of defense and security relations. The essence of this is that Western Europe was totally unprepared for war. Nobody expected it, and nobody even thought it was possible. What were their priorities? Climate – they wrote guidelines for farmers on how much carbon monoxide their cows should emit so that they don’t spoil the environment. What else? Gender neutrality, multiculturalism, gender equality – against such a happy, rosy background, they forgot about the military threat. Now they have to catch up. They will have to trade in not only their economic but also their political yardsticks so that the electorate really and seriously believes in a Russian threat. That, too, will require considerable investment.

There are no details yet, but the extreme poles have been outlined. The tone has been set by Macron. The French president has not ruled out sending troops to Ukraine. Some of his allies have expressed alarm at this and are denying the possibility in every possible way. However, the reality is that nothing can be ruled out, including this scenario, especially if the Ukrainian front line falls. To avoid all this, they need to find the means to help Kiev more actively. Incidentally, Donald Trump spoke about this when he was in office – they did not listen. But he was right. Now, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas has said that the policy of increasing military spending is political suicide for her, but there is no other choice.

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Imagine the protests.

‘Day May Come’ For EU Troops In Ukraine – Kiev (RT)

The conflict between Moscow and Kiev could reach a stage where EU countries have to deploy combat troops to Ukraine in order to counter Russian advances, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba has warned. In an interview with Politico on Monday, Kuleba complained about the decline in Western military aid for Kiev in recent months. “Give us the damn Patriots,” he said, referring to the US-made air-defense missile systems, which, he insisted, Kiev needs to target Russian jets that launch aerial guided bombs. Moscow’s increased reliance on these upgraded munitions is why “Ukrainian troops are losing positions,” the foreign minister claimed. Kuleba once again expressed regret over the resistance of Republican lawmakers to attempts by the administration of US President Joe Biden to push through another $60 billion in assistance for Ukraine.

He also dismissed a question about Germany’s reluctance to supply long-range Taurus missiles, saying he is “tired of answering this. Sorry.” However, French President Emmanuel Macron, who said last month that he “cannot exclude” the possibility of soldiers from NATO countries being sent to Ukraine, avoided Kuleba’s criticism. “We were pleased to see President Macron evolve in that direction,” the foreign minister said. The French leader’s remarks led to a wave of denials from the leaders of other NATO member states, who insisted there are no such plans to send Western troops to Ukraine. Kiev never asked for “European combat troops’ boots on the ground,” but EU leaders need to get used to the idea that “the day may come,” Kuleba stressed.

“I’m perfectly aware that Europeans are not used to the idea of war. But this is a carelessness Europeans simply cannot afford – neither for themselves nor their children,” because “if Ukraine loses, [Russian President Vladimir] Putin will not stop,” he said. Putin said earlier that claims by Kiev and its foreign backers that Russia will target NATO states are “nonsense.” However, in another interview, the president stressed that Moscow will treat Western troops as “interventionists” if they are deployed to Ukraine, and would respond accordingly. The deputy chairman of the Russian State Duma, Pyotr Tolstoy, warned Macron last week against directly engaging Russia on the battlefield. “We will kill all French soldiers who set foot on Ukrainian soil. Every single one that comes,” Tolstoy said in an interview with French broadcaster BFMTV.

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“It’s a very bad picture for the world. The world is seeing this…every night, I would watch buildings pour down on people..”

Trump: Israel Has To Finish the War, It’s Losing a Lot of Support (Antiwar)

Former President Trump said in an interview with Israel Hayom over the weekend that Israel made a “big mistake” by broadcasting images and videos of the destruction in the Gaza Strip, saying it’s losing Israel “a lot of support.” Trump said he would have done the same thing as Israel in response to the October 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel but said it was time to “finish your war” as global opinion is turning on Israel. “You gotta get it done. And, I am sure you will do that. And we gotta get to peace, we can’t have this going on. And I will say, Israel has to be very careful, because you’re losing a lot of the world, you’re losing a lot of support, you have to finish up, you have to get the job done,” Trump said. When asked by the interviewer about how he would respond to the “wave of anti-Semitism” since October 7, Trump replied, “Well, that’s because you fought back. And I think Israel made a very big mistake. I wanted to call [Israel] and say don’t do it.

These photos and shots. I mean, moving shots of bombs being dropped into buildings in Gaza. And I said, oh, that’s a terrible portrait. It’s a very bad picture for the world. The world is seeing this…every night, I would watch buildings pour down on people,” Trump said. The interviewer then claimed that “terrorists” were hiding in the buildings. Trump replied, “Go and do what you have to do. But you don’t do that. And I think that’s one of the reasons that there has been a lot of kickback. If people didn’t see that, every single night I’ve watched every single one of those. And I think Israel wanted to show that it’s tough, but sometimes you shouldn’t be doing that.” Trump also took shots at Democrats for the growing criticism of Israel from within the party.

“Some 15 years ago, Israel had the strongest lobby. If you were a politician, you couldn’t say anything bad about Israel, that would be like the end of your political career. Today, it’s almost the opposite. I’ve never seen you have AOC plus three, these lunatics, frankly. But you have AOC plus three plus plenty of others. And all they do is talk badly about Israel, and they hate Israel, and they hate the Jewish people,” he said. Trump said the Hamas attack on Israel wouldn’t have happened if he was still president, something he has repeatedly claimed in recent interviews. “It was an attack that I blame on Biden because they [Hamas] have no respect for him. He can’t put two sentences together. He can’t talk. He’s a very dumb person,” he said.

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Only SCOTUS can stop this.

‘Serious Concerns’ Raised About NY Judge’s Trump Judgment (ET)

After a New York court reduced former President Donald Trump’s bond to appeal his civil fraud case, several legal analysts weighed in on the decision. On Monday, a state appeals court agreed to hold off collection of the former president’s more than $454 million civil fraud judgment if he puts up $175 million within 10 days. If he does, it will stop the clock on collection and prevent the state from seizing the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s assets while he appeals. Greg Germain, a law professor at Syracuse University in New York, said that President Trump may have a strong case to challenge Judge Arthur Engoron’s ruling in February that he must pay $455 million in his civil fraud case. “I think the $175 million reduction … shows that the appellate division has serious concerns about the validity of Judge Engoron’s decision,” Mr. Germain told Newsweek.

While he believes the judgment was “seriously flawed,” the professor said that President Trump will have a difficult time overturning the judge’s “findings that his financial statement was grossly overstated.” “The standard for the appeals court to review factual findings is ‘clearly erroneous,’ which means that there was no evidence in the record to support the judge’s findings. Engoron was very careful to cite to the record for his factual findings, which were very solid,” Mr. Germain said. But the judge, he added, “made no attempt to determine what portion of the profit was solely due to the financial statement as opposed to other factors” before handing down his ruling. The former president “has some strong legal arguments to make on appeal,” Mr. Germain added. “Unfortunately for him, I think he’s so focused on denying that he did anything wrong that the strong legal arguments may be lost in his unwinnable arguments on the facts.”

The former president has said he did nothing wrong, adding that he actually undervalued his net worth when communicating with banks and insurers at the center of the civil fraud lawsuit. He said that the case is politically motivated, and that both the New York attorney general and Judge Engoron are biased against him. Meanwhile, a constitutional scholar said that the bond for an appeal should be been reduced to basically nothing. “The Court of Appeals may have felt that they can’t prejudge the evidence, and so to reduce the bond further would have been heavy-handed,” George Washington University professor Jonathan Turley told Fox News on Monday. “I actually think they could have reduced this bond to virtually nothing, because the amount set by [Judge Arthur] Engoron was absurd.” In a post on social media, Mr. Turley wrote that the New York appellate court may “restore a degree of objectivity and restraint missing on the trial level,” referring to the Engoron decision. “Both Engoron and [New York Attorney General Letitia] James would have gained greater credibility if they recognized the obvious unreasonableness of the original demand,” he continued.

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“Her net worth is thought to be over $100 million, although her current salary as a US congresswoman is just over $220,000..”

Pelosi, Accused of Insider Trading, Makes Major Stock Move (Sp.)

Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) raised eyebrows recently with the revelation the former US House Speaker placed a big bet on a little-known San Francisco tech startup. A disclosure made last week showed the powerful Democratic Party politician purchased $5 million in stock of the privately-held company Databricks, a cloud data company. The stake is one of dozens Pelosi holds in US tech companies, some obscure and some well-known such as Tesla and Microsoft. The lawmaker has reportedly invested more than $120 million in stock purchases since entering federal government in 1987. Her net worth is thought to be over $100 million, although her current salary as a US congresswoman is just over $220,000. Pelosi has never been convicted of criminal wrongdoing in her investment activity, although her portfolio’s impressive return of 65% last year might suggest the legislator is more informed than average traders. US stock indices grew an average of 26% in 2023.

“From an ethical perspective, I believe it is extremely harmful for politicians to trade individual stocks,” said Chris Josephs, the founder of a stock trading service, to US media. “There are numerous jobs out there that don’t allow employees [to conduct] trading, yet our most powerful Americans can.” Pelosi opposed attempts to ban lawmakers from buying and selling stocks in 2021 under the claim such activity could be viewed as insider trading. “We are a free-market economy,” she said at the time. “They [Congress members] should be able to participate in that.” Former director of the US Office of Government Ethics Walter Shaub slammed the argument as “ridiculous.” “She might as well have said ‘let them eat cake,’” said Shaub, referring to famous comments by the French queen Marie Antoinette. “Sure, it’s a free-market economy. But your average schmuck doesn’t get confidential briefings from government experts chock full of nonpublic information directly related to the price of stocks.”

Late last week it was announced that an activist involved in pro-Palestine protests at the California lawmaker’s home had been arrested on felony vandalism charges. Cynthia Papermaster, 77, is reportedly being held on a $50,000 bond. “We want to see a permanent and immediate ceasefire,” said Papermaster in an interview recently. “We can’t control what the Israelis do, but we can control what our own government does, or at least that’s the aspiration.” Pelosi called for the anti-war activists to be investigated by the FBI in an appearance on US television after the incident earlier this year. Pelosi first claimed the demonstrators were being paid by China, then later clarified she believed Russia was behind the act of civil disobedience. The former House speaker joins the ranks of opponents of US civil rights with her comments; detractors frequently claimed racial justice protests in the 1960s and 70s were fomented by Russia to sow discord in the United States.

Tucker Tulsi
https://twitter.com/i/status/1772516274418880932

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“That can only work reliably if there is no other choice for citizens tired of the duopoly and the political (and media) establishment..”

The DNC Moves To Block Third Party Candidates (Turley)

The last time that the Chicago Democratic Convention was held in Chicago in 1968, the resulting riots led to one of the greatest Freudian slips in American politics. Mayor Richard Daley declared “the policeman isn’t there to create disorder; the policeman is there to preserve disorder.” The Democratic National Committee has now added its own gem: the Democratic Party is not here to preserve democracy, it is here to prevent democracy. That’s because the DNC is seeking to block third party candidates from ballots — Robert Kennedy Jr., Cornell West, and Jill Stein. All three are liberal and are considered a threat to Joe Biden. This effort will likely include any ticket put forward by the No Labels group, seeking a moderate alternative to the two parties. Mary Beth Cahill, the former interim DNC CEO, and long-time DNC staffer Ramsey Reid will lead this effort. According to media reports, former Buttigieg campaign aide Lis Smith will lead the effort with another Buttigieg alumni, Matt Corridoni.

This effort includes not just a public campaign against Kennedy and Stein as spoilers, but “legal action” to solve the problem by denying voters a choice. The media does not appear at all alarmed or critical of the effort to limit democratic choice. The Washington Post stated clinically “Democrats are taking third-party threats seriously this time.” Taking it seriously appears to mean using legal means to keep them from the ballots. It is true that the main political parties have challenged qualification signatures and paperwork in the past. However, the reports indicate a systemic effort geared toward reducing the choices for voters. What is striking is that this is coming from democratic groups and the DNC, which are raising money on the “save democracy” narrative. The contradiction is spellbinding. On the same sites promising to oppose the third party candidates, the DNC and other groups push the narrative that only the Democrats are working to protect the right to vote.

The Post reports that Democrats have studied the Hillary Clinton campaign and vowed not to allow third party candidates to drain away millions of voters as they did in 2016. Of course, the comparison is particularly telling because in both 2016 and 2024, the DNC chose the least popular Democratic candidates. Polls showed that Clinton was the worst possible candidate for the party, but the Clintons had control over the DNC and state party organizations. Of particular concern is the fact that Trump beat Hillary Clinton in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan by only 67,000 votes. In just those states, Libertarian Gary Johnson and the Green Party’s Stein received more than half a million votes. Rather than actually pick a candidate that most citizens want, the DNC wants to replay the 2016 strategy of forcing the choice between two evils in a Biden-Trump choice. That can only work reliably if there is no other choice for citizens tired of the duopoly and the political (and media) establishment. So Kennedy, Cornell, and Stein just have to go.

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Imploding?

RFK Jr Picks Nicole Shanahan As VP, May Seek Libertarian Nomination (ZH)

The Wall Street Journal reports that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has picked Nicole Shanahan, a California-based attorney who was previously married to Google co-founder Sergey Brin, as his running mate for his long-shot presidential bid, according to people familiar with the decision. Shanahan, 38, also runs a foundation focused on reproductive rights, criminal justice and the environment. Before backing Kennedy’s independent bid, Shanahan had previously been a donor to Democratic campaigns, including supporting Joe Biden’s election in 2020. Kennedy was slated to announce his choice Tuesday in Oakland, Calif., where Shanahan grew up. Shanahan, a political novice, was thrust into the spotlight over her public split with Brin amid a brief alleged affair she had with Elon Musk in 2021 that ruptured the billionaires’ long friendship, The Wall Street Journal reported. After the article published, Musk denied the allegations and Shanahan later followed suit.

It isn’t clear yet whether Shanahan plans to assist by tapping into her own wealth. Ahead of the announcement, Kennedy’s campaign manager confirmed on X that Shanahan was under consideration, along with several others including New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers and Mike Rowe, host of Discovery Channel’s Dirty Jobs. Meanwhile, lured by the promise of turnkey ballot access across the country, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr is seriously considering a run to win the Libertarian Party presidential nomination. However, his stance on the Israel-Gaza war and other issues could make his candidacy a tough sell with non-interventionist libertarians. Navigating the varied and complex patchwork of state ballot-access qualifying rules is one of the most grueling and expensive impediments to anyone seeking to challenge America’s two-party duopoly — to say nothing of the legal challenges filed by the Republican and Democratic parties along the way. So far, reports Politico, Kennedy’s backers say they’ve cleared the key hurdles in just eight states.

Meanwhile, it’s already pretty much a given that the Libertarian Party will be on the ballot in all 50. The top ticket will be selected by delegates at the party’s national convention in Washington DC over Memorial Day weekend. Selected by state conventions, those delegates are free to vote for whomever they like at the national convention. Kennedy’s flirtation with Libertarian Party members has been simmering since last year, and has included appearances on libertarian podcasts and an interview with Reason magazine. His most direct outreach came with a February appearance at the party’s California state convention, which has been credited for helping set a new California Libertarian convention attendance record. “I’ve always been aligned with libertarians on most issues,” Kennedy told Reason last summer. “I mean, there’s tweaks that I have.”

Some of those tweaks are doozies. For example, Kennedy said if Congress passed a so-called assault weapon ban, “I would sign it.” (On the other hand, he also said, “Anybody who tells you that they’re going to be able to reduce gun violence through gun control at this point, I don’t think is being realistic.”) He’s also called for a $15 national minimum wage, more free childcare, and abolishing interest on all federal student loans. However, it’s Kennedy’s statements on Israel-Palestine that seem to have caused the most damage to his prospects with staunchly non-interventionist libertarians — which is to say, most libertarians — who oppose entangling alliances, foreign aid, and US-enabled warfare. Kennedy has called for the United States to arm the “moral nation” of Israel, has expressed skepticism about a ceasefire in Gaza, and said “the Palestinian people are arguably the most pampered people by international aid organizations in the world.” Some libertarians are also put off by Kennedy’s embrace of controversial Israel advocate Shmuley Boteach.

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And why not… ‘Mickey Mouse’, ‘Jesus Christ’, and ‘Batman’..

‘Literally Anybody Else’ Announces US Presidential Campaign (RT)

Texas voters could get the chance to cast their ballots for a man named ‘Literally Anybody Else’ this November, if his long-shot scheme to protest the US’ two-party system is successful. Math teacher and military veteran Dustin Ebey formally changed his name to ‘Literally Anybody Else’ earlier this month, and is now scrambling to gather the 113,151 signatures required to appear on Texas ballots as an independent candidate, WFAA News reported on Friday. “I’m not delusional,” Else told the outlet. “This will be very hard to do, but it’s not impossible. My hope is to have Donald Trump, Joe Biden, and then Literally Anybody Else right underneath,” he continued, explaining that “I really want there to be an outlet for folks like me who are just so fed up with this constant power grab between two parties that has no benefit for the common person.”

“This isn’t about me… more so as it is an idea,” Else told WFAA. “We can do better out of 300 million people for president.” Else is far from the only American dismayed at a Trump/Biden rematch. A NewsNation poll conducted in January found that 59% of registered voters were ‘not too enthusiastic’ or ‘not at all enthusiastic’ about seeing the pair compete for the presidency again. However, despite majorities in both parties calling for fresh faces, Trump easily defeated all of his Republican rivals during the last three months’ primaries, while Biden faced no competition from any high-profile Democrats. Else faces an uphill struggle to even enter the race. First, he has until May 13 to collect 113,151 signatures from registered voters who did not vote in either the Republican or Democratic primaries in Texas.

Having achieved this, he must replicate the feat in every other US state and territory, all of which have similar rules for independent candidates. Failing this, he could register as a write-in candidate. However, he would then have to build up a national profile and convince voters to actually write in ‘Literally Anybody Else’ on election day. No write-in candidate has ever come close to being elected president of the US, although two US senators have won office this way since the 1950s. Voters often write in undeclared candidates as a means of prank or protest, with ‘Mickey Mouse’, ‘Jesus Christ’, and ‘Batman’ all picking up a handful of votes in 2020.

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“..this again gives him an opportunity to prevent spending the rest of his life in a US prison. So that is always welcome..”

‘Triumph’ for Assange But Battle Far From Over (Sp.)

Julian Assange will not be extradited immediately to the US, a London High Court has ruled. Likewise, Washington has been given three weeks to provide “satisfactory assurances” that the WikiLeaks founder will face a fair trial, could rely on the First Amendment, and will not be subject to the death penalty. The Tuesday ruling by the London court grants the WikiLeaks founder an opportunity to continue his fight against extradition to the US where he faces a whopping 18 charges, all bar one under the Espionage Act, Sputnik interlocutors have explained. “The court decision is a great triumph for freedom of speech and journalism conduct,” Andy Vermaut, a Belgian human rights activist and the president of the World Council for Public Diplomacy and Community Dialogue, told Sputnik. “This ruling illuminates the enduring struggle for freedom of the press and the rights of individuals to uncover truths that are in the public’s best interest.”

While the court’s ruling spells a victory for the Assange legal team, the WikiLeaks founder is being granted permission to appeal on only three of the nine grounds, remarked Taylor Hudak, an independent investigative journalist. She noted that people “do feel that this was somewhat of an injustice.” “The court has given the United States government three weeks to issue satisfactory assurances on those three grounds of appeal,” Hudak told Sputnik. “[Assange] is permitted to appeal on the First Amendment issue, that is whether or not he will be given First Amendment protections in the United States, that he is not prejudiced at trial due to his nationality, and that the death penalty not be imposed.”

“Another point to make is that he will not be immediately extradited, obviously, and this again gives him an opportunity to prevent spending the rest of his life in a US prison. So that is always welcome,” the independent journalist continued. The battle is far from over, pointed out Dr. David William Norris, a political commentator and former teaching fellow at a college in Birmingham. “The United States authorities will not relinquish their efforts to get hold of Assange and see him imprisoned for the 175 years they have promised him. It would be, as we all recognize, a death sentence,” Norris warned while speaking to Sputnik.

Stella

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Cheese rennet

 

 

China one side
https://twitter.com/i/status/1772607719716868526

 

 

Facetime
https://twitter.com/i/status/1772633886092054827

 

 

Blend in
https://twitter.com/i/status/1772538115564904585

 

 

Owl
https://twitter.com/i/status/1772613727306543352

 

 

Golf bird
https://twitter.com/i/status/1772631686552879521

 

 

Elephant


https://twitter.com/i/status/1772644817488531916

 

 

 

 

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Home Forums Debt Rattle March 27 2024

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 61 total)
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  • #155607

    John La Farge Girls Carrying a Canoe, Vaiala in Samoa 1891   • US, UK and Ukraine Could Be Behind Moscow Terror Attack – FSB Chief (RT) • US Back
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle March 27 2024]

    #155609
    aspnaz
    Participant

    John La Farge Girls Carrying a Canoe, Vaiala in Samoa 1891

    He has obviously never been to Samoa, the girls are attractive and have tits, but look nothing like that!

    #155610
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Speaking from my former life in engineering, the Baltimore bridge footage clearly shows charges detonating at critical structural points along top members of the bridge.

    The Empire of Lies Mediawhores are trying to spin this as “electrical cables breaking” in those beams along the top of the bridge.

    Pure bullshit, electric lines in large bridges are strung below the traffic deck for easy maintenance.

    But the Duh’merican sheeple are thick as a brick and will buy into any explanation as long as it’s simple, like they are.

    #155611
    Oroboros
    Participant

    From up above on the MacGregor link:

    — Ignorance, the root and stem of all evil

    #155612
    boilingfrog
    Participant

    It always strikes me as so odd that the same people that are so militantly “Non-binary” on certain issues …can simultaneously be so absolutely militantly “Binary” on other issues…but I guess that’s the nature of our species.

    It has been curious, though, to bring this “observation” up in conversation however.

    We are a selectively rational species, it would seem…

    #155613
    Red
    Participant

    Oroboros I’ve been going over the footage frame by frame and can’t see anything that looks like an explosion anywhere, to my eye, can you point them out?

    #155614
    Dr. D
    Participant

    Plastic Chemicals Are Inescapable—and They’re Messing With Our Hormones

    Researchers say the U.N.’s global plastics treaty must reduce production and protect public health.” Popular Science
    What? That’s an unhinged evidence-free conspiracy theory, PopSci and I don’t appreciate it.

    “The Tyranny of Expectations: Winning the battle but losing the war, from Ukraine to Israel.” Foreign Affairs

    No, you’re losing the battle AND losing the war.

    “Police Scotland To Stop Investigating Crimes While Enforcing New Anti-Free Speech Law

    Speaking of losing both the battle and the war. So Scots, when are you going to back-alley justice these guys instead? They’ll WISH the Bobbies were enforcing then.

    “Escobar: The Nuland/Budanov/Tajik/Crocus Connection

    It’s a given, but it doesn’t mean we’re innocent. You can either KNOW, know she was not up to required levels of sophistication and denial, then decide, although you’re 100% on board,(Vikki’s Derp State higher-ups) burning Vikki now makes Russia your ALLY, as you say “Yeah, Vlad, we had this rogue agent, sorry old chap, and we’re working just as hard as we can to stop them.” While you are not, you are trolling them with non-warnings like the non-warning of, “Moscow” “Concert” “Sometime in infinite future.” Duh, ya don’t say.

    OR they may ACTUALLY been allowed to walk around, to sink Blue, sink the NeoCons, Hand Ukraine to Russia, but the controllers suddenly realized the LEVEL to which Nuland got off the ranch wither her K-Pop connections and MI6 and are ACTUALLY doing the above of coordinating with FSB to find and stop now-off-the-ranch people and plans, but why would Russia care? I mean, sure, but 1) you wouldn’t trust us anyway 2) What difference would it make at this point? Or any of the above, in any combination except that we weren’t involved and didn’t do it, because that’s totally implausible and ridiculous.

    See what I mean? The only thing we DO know is, ISIS isn’t a real entity, like Osama, the Muslim Brotherhood and almost all others. And they DO things in a certain way, of which they did none of this time. This is like the KKK hiring a Black Antifa member as their accountant, then moving home offices to Brooklyn. Like: I don’t THINK if you do NOT walk like a duck, do not QUACK like a duck, that you are still a duck. Sorry. Tuck surgery or something. The Tajiks are part of this. Morons FOR money, on-line, no contact, NOT martyrs, screw it all up, on Ramadan, against a now PRO-Islam state (Russia), Defending Gaza (Russia Sorta), then flee to the one place they are trying NOT to implicate: Ukraine. Let me count the ways…

    Anyway, I was thinking of Nuland’s new little monsters and her “Little Surprises” for Putin. Each more pointless than the last. Maybe in her endless blood lust for killing children she forgot the POINT of terrorism? To win? Each attack brings them closer to LOSING. And Losing more than they (The U.S. for instance) had meant to bet and bargain for.

    But: NeoCons. Like the Nazis before them, they are losing losers who lose everywhere, all the time, since they were born. So…who keeps backing them with apparently INFINITY money and INFINITY air-cover for their failed, dismal careers? Like the Tajiks, they are worthless, mongoloid morons. They are not running anything. I want their handlers.

    “It’s All Much Worse Than I Thought
    “Over the last three years, we have come to learn of the role that our own government officials have played”

    Oh my sweet summer child…. Where were you during Mockingbird and Church, all out on Wikipedia before you were born? Each generation thinks they invented it…

    “When asked whether the US, Britain and Ukraine could be behind the terrorist attack, the FSB chief responded: “We think that this is so..”

    Well yeah, and we’re the obvious suspects, but “Could ALIENS be behind it?” the answer is also “Yes”, that is a possibility. That’s why we have EVIDENCE and INVESTIGATIONS to find out not who we WANT to have done it, but who ACTUALLY did it. I fear the West can no longer understand the difference.

    “The US has backed itself into a corner by jumping the gun to lay blame on the Islamic State”

    They knew who it was before the bullets had stopped flying.
    They know who it WASN’T with perfect certainty immediately after.
    Before any evidence or investigation exists.

    They always know before asking. It is always evidence free. They always prove a negative.

    “Advisor John Kirby asserted to the press that “there is no indication” that Ukraine was involved in the shooting.”

    Proves a negative. As this is one of the most common, most stupid, and most transparent fallacies, every mainstream reporter immediately fell for it and weren’t suspicious at all.

    As European Council President Charles Michel put it, the time has come to change the paradigm of defense and security relations.”

    …And sell war bonds.

    “they forgot about the military threat. Now they have to catch up”

    Uh-huh. What is that quote? “By deception we shall rule you”? No, they think about nothing BUT killing and war since they were tiny babies. Death is the only thing that makes their hearts swell. It was only to DENY the deaths, mass-murders, the joy and elation at seeing mangled children…so they can get away with and keep doing it. THIS is their, Europe’s, actual army and state of war. As you know, do it economically, outsource to Gladio, but also have the United States do it. Until the very last Red Man in the U.S. is dead.

    “The conflict between Moscow and Kiev could reach a stage where EU countries have to deploy combat troops to Ukraine in order to counter Russian advances, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba has warned.”

    Um, why? Newsflash: Nobody gives a s—t about your country. If you all died tomorrow no one would care. If the whole area rose into space like “Ultron”, and the earth re-formed like a soap bubble, no one would notice. Sorry, the truth hurts sometimes. Do more better and we’ll all say “We can’t risk the loss of French cooking! Or Japanese Animae!” Or something. That means LITERALLY no one will fight for you, because they neither know, nor care, you exist. Sorry. Maybe that’s bad of us, but it’s true.

    Like I said, if they draft us, if they draft Frenchmen to do this, they will pick up the gun and shoot OUR LEADERS and save ourselves a walk. Won’t even be a second thought. Because, when you don’t exist, there’s only Us, and a Leader, who is trying to kill us. Problem solved, but that still doesn’t mean you exist or will get anything. We still won’t care.

    “And, I am sure you will do that. And we gotta get to peace, we can’t have this going on.”

    Yeah, committing genocide looks bad n’ stuff! Does that make him the only candidate who’s even slightly against it now?

    Engoron case: This is a huge distraction. What are we NOT looking at? Like Truth Social IPO? After decades running an Epstein racket, P Diddy is in custody. Under the BIDEN Administration? Surely that’s impossible. Who’s running things?

    “• The DNC Moves To Block Third Party Candidates (Turley)

    Free Speech. Show us who you are.

    “• RFK Jr Picks Nicole Shanahan As VP, May Seek Libertarian Nomination (ZH)

    I mean, he already knows his only option is to be chosen by Congress, and that’s still open, so… That may also be why Ramaswamy was asked to bow out to leave RFK as the Congressional option, not him. But that implies a very small, relatively well-defined list of groups who are running things. There is good evidence both that they are a few in number, and that there is much control.

    ““the Palestinian people are arguably the most pampered people by international aid organizations in the world.”

    That is entirely true. However, the situation is, WE are paying to have them all murdered, to a man, AND WE are ALSO paying to have them aided and supported. …Just like every other nation in the Middle East. We’re Aiding, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Jordan, Syria (one side) Saudi, Yemen, Egypt, Israel, Turkey, and so on. ALL of them. Every. Single. One. There is however, one group we are NOT siding with and NOT paying: AMERICANS. Funny ol’ World.

    And that’s our fault! Of course! Why’d you make me hit you, woman?

    “• ‘Literally Anybody Else’ Announces US Presidential Campaign (RT)

    Reminds me of the joke “Who wins if Trump and Biden get in a street fight?” A: Everyone.

    “..this again gives him an opportunity to prevent spending the rest of his life in a US prison. So that is always welcome..”

    I know, right??? By spending the rest of hi life waiting for trial in a British prison instead.

    Congratulations, Julian! You Won!! “What did I win?” Another year in solitary!!! Aren’t you proud?

    “”If you expose the interests that are driving war, they will come after you,”

    Yes, but it’s deeper than that. You can be pro war or anti war, that’s all part of the “Plan”. “Everybody has a “Plan” the Joker says. It’s when you’re not following The Plan, “Everybody loses their minds!!!!” What Assange was doing was dropping back a second level, like The Matrix, where you could see being either Pro or Con made no difference: it was just a deeper lie and control from the same people. All sorts of antiwar people are allowed to walk around although they have a hard time of it. Assange would show the ANTI-war people are ALSO being paid by the same hidden few.

    “90% of American Cheese” …isn’t cheese. Taste it and tell me I’m wrong.

    “Elephants” …like the Crocus Music Hall, speaking English. Apparently American English.

    #155615
    Dr. D
    Participant

    I also disagree: I don’t see anything strong or unusual enough to be an explosion. Show me more, but I’m skeptical.

    Also: WHY? It’s a lead-pipe guarantee the ship can take out the bridge. it would be difficult and leave like 1,000 tons of evidence when there’s no need. The whole POINT is deniability.

    #155616
    oxymoron
    Participant

    Yeah I reckon it’s just a simple plan to smash a GIANT ship into a critical part of a critical piece of infrastructure tied to the supply chain of the East Coast of the US.

    #155617
    Oroboros
    Participant

    In the video, the announcer points to a series of small bright flashes on TOP of the bridge structure in a series.

    There should be no bright flashes coming from these critical structural points on the bridge, like at the top mid-points

    https://twitter.com/i/status/1772661091128004874

    #155618
    tboc
    Participant

    “And I will say, Israel has to be very careful, because you’re losing a lot of the world, you’re losing a lot of support, you have to finish up, you have to get the job done,” Trump said.”

    “you have to finish up, you have to get the job done,”

    #155619
    Oroboros
    Participant

    The Baltimore bridge had Thermite charges along the top and possible bottom.

    “Thermite is a pyrotechnic composition of a metal powder and a metal oxide that produces an exothermic oxidation-reduction reaction known as a thermite reaction.

    Most varieties are not explosive, but can create short bursts of extremely high temperatures focused on a very small area for a short period of time. The thermite is simply a mixture of metal, often called the “fuel” and an oxidizer. “

    #155620
    zerosum
    Participant

    RIM found some interesting thoughts.

    My story vs your story is irrelevant what is important is the greatest credibility
    (Evidence, finger-pointing, proxies, the reality is that nothing can be ruled out, including this scenario, especially if the Ukrainian front line fall, the policy of increasing military spending is political suicide)

    Control the narrative. Don’t kiss and tell.

    “Go and do what you have to do. But you don’t do that. (Put it on TV). And I think that’s one of the reasons that there has been a lot of kickback. If people didn’t see that, every single night I’ve watched every single one of those. And I think Israel wanted to show that it’s tough, but sometimes you shouldn’t be doing that.”

    “Some 15 years ago, Israel had the strongest lobby. If you were a politician, you couldn’t say anything bad about Israel, that would be like the end of your political career. – Trump
    ———-

    #155621
    tboc
    Participant

    Street view from Fort Carol is gone from Google Earth this morning.
    There was no extensive guard piling system protecting the support piers at Francis Scott Key bridge. Travel along the intracoastal waterway from Escambia Bay on Santa Rosa Sound to Choctawhatchee Bay and you will find piling guards protecting the piers at each bridge crossing the Sound.

    “The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function.” Albert Bartlett – 1969

    The increase in mass of modern shipping compared to that when the Key bridge was designed seems not to have been taken into account at all. Perhaps this event will clarify the depth of vulnerability facing the citizens of the United States within the entire infrastucture. How many years have groups of engineers discussed the deplorable state of our bridges and highway overpass systems?
    A nation that imports the majority of it’s fuindamental needs can be brought to it’s knees in a matter of weeks. The flow of goods along our interstate highway system depends on centralized hubs and “just in time” that can be reduced to not in time in hours.

    The exponential growth of global communication and the total lack of understanding of that reality is certainly an example our greatest shortcoming. Picking a fight when you are outnumbered 7/1 is a clear example of inability to understand the exponential function. Over the horizon, indeed!

    #155622
    tboc
    Participant

    Thomas Jefferson, in his Notes On The State of Virginia.

    ” Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever; that considering numbers, nature and natural means only, a revolution of the wheel of fortune, an exchange of situation is among possible events; that it may become probable by supernatural interference! The Almighty has no attribute which can take side with us in such a contest.”

    Whether enslaving the black man or attempting to enslave the entirety of the other it is engaging in a fools errand. History may not repeat but 1948 is coming back and the shoe is on the other foot.

    #155623

    In the movies, some Russians would have let one of the shooters go and they would have followed him back to handlers.

    #155624
    jb-hb
    Participant

    There was no extensive guard piling system protecting the support piers at Francis Scott Key bridge.

    Yeah that raised an eyebrow when I was looking via street view etc yesterday.

    But they do have rather substantial pilings/islands to the left and right of the channel right before you get to the bridge. Fairly close in, but separated from the actual bridge supports.

    Unless a ship is turning hard after passing them, they really should be enough protection. The engineers probably reasoned anything nimble enough to corner that quick is either small enough or going slow enough. Or it’s big and sluggish and can’t corner fast enough to hit. But the bridge was designed before such things as maneuvering bow thrusters.

    I watched the track the ship took – it did a perfect tight cornering maneuver around the protective island on the right and IMHO only barely managed a head on collision by absolutely cranking its righthand turn. Had it stopped turning at all it probably would have scraped its side or missed.

    Obvious from both the video footage and the tracking video.

    They are saying in the news that the police closed off the bridge, but I saw the lights of traffic going back and forth with my own eyes in the footage yesterday. It seems doubtful that no cars were on the bridge.

    I watched the video a few times yesterday before coming to that conclusion. It’s now gone from yesterday’s posting. Various Zerohedge commenters think there are now doctored versions circulating with an explosion in the ship’s bridge or on the bridge added. Idunno.

    The response seems more similar to the ginormous Ohio poison mushroom cloud than say 911.

    #155625
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    The Democrats’ idea of preventing liberal 3rd party candidates on the ballot is highly flawed. They are supposing that it will be easy to present their candidate as “better than Trump” in a purely 2-option race. This is foolishness. We already had Trump as president, so we know what he is like. I disagree with Trump on many issues but he was tolerable, and his presidency was much better for the US than Biden’s has been. I enjoy voting for the candidate of my choice, whether or not that person will likely win. The fact of the matter is, a third party candidate is more likely to garner my vote from *Trump*, not from Biden. In a 2-option race I would vote for Trump without hesitation.

    #155626
    zerosum
    Participant

    Simple Simmon says, “Dirty fuel makes engine stop.”

    #155627
    zerosum
    Participant

    Obama and Bill Clinton join Biden on campaign trail.
    (Here comes the power behind the puppets …. Michelle and Hillary. Hehehehehe)

    #155628

    The explosion video I looked at on zh was footage of the crimean bridge explosion. The poster was scolded pretty well, iir.

    #155629
    jb-hb
    Participant

    Afewknowthetruth, for 3 years I’ve watched you post tens of thousands of words here about CO2.

    Clearly, CO2 is the most important issue to you.

    Communism is the greatest emitter of CO2

    Yet Communism has had a cloak of invisibility for years now. You can’t see it.

    The invisibility cloak extends to posts here in TAE about Communism’s CO2 output.

    How come you can’t see Communism’s ginormous, grim, ferocious CO2 creation?

    Does it have anything to do with you posting a manifesto here at TAE from a self avowed Marxist ecoterrorist who advocates for democide and whose favorite saying is “We need to tear it all down!” (where have we heard that before?)

    Does it have anything to do with you adhering perfectly to his creed?

    Does it have anything to do with you “educating” us here on our False Consciousness as coined by Engels, ported over to race as “White Consciousness” or sexuality as “Binary-Cisgendered” etc? Only Through The Lens Of Climate Change/Climate Meltdown?

    Let’s do it. Let’s fight the real enemy together. Communism. Biggest producer of CO2

    And we can, together, give some effusive praise to western countries in Europe as well as the US for decreasing CO2 output while increasing GDP and population. After all, you like the things you uh, like right? So thank all of us here at TAE in Europe and the US like you deeply want to while we deplore Communism together.

    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F6nUCpHXIAAWOhX?format=jpg&name=small

    #155630
    John Day
    Participant

    I appreciate decorum in comments, as evidenced yesterday in the debates between Dr. D and AFKTT.

    Climate on the surface of the earth is complex. Solar inputs force a lot of it, of course, but less is said about changes in solar energy transfer to our planet over the eons, or the decades…

    Water vapor does a lot. CO2 is a greenhouse-gas.

    Ozone is in a very deep, though diffuse layer, through which pass high energy photons, neutrons and electrons from the sun, the charged particles having transited the magnetosphere (weakening) already. Despite being a low concentration, ozone molecules block the incoming energetic photons and particles self-sacrificially, splitting apart, and later re-forming to do it all again.

    CO2 does work as a greenhouse gas at low concentrations, somewhat similarly, by reflecting certain heat wavelengths back down to earth, yet passing higher frequency visible and UV wavelengths coming in from the sun. Where does CO2 come from? Multiple sources, like humans burning things, volcanoes, and temperature-dependent surface oxidation without flames.

    Water vapor can reflect heat and light both ways, and a current debate is the degree to which the hydrologic cycle, especially from mature forests, influences global climate, and weather, through the “biotic pump” over forests drawing moist oceanic air inland to precipitate rain.

    Are water cycles the missing piece of the climate crisis puzzle?
    https://harthagan.substack.com/p/article-are-water-cycles-the-missing

    Restoring the earth’s damaged temperature
    regulation is the fastest way out of the climate crisis.
    Cooling the planet with plants
    https://medcraveonline.com/IJBSBE/IJBSBE-09-00237.pdf

    #155631
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    The United States Blob thinks that it can sweep the Crocus City Hall Massacre off the front pages, out of peoples’ minds, and thus no longer of importance to anyone. Just as they have always done with so many atrocities before. Well, in my opinion that despicable strategy is not going to work this time.

    I think that Russia is going to proceed to do precisely as they have clearly stated they will do, and they have communicated that stated aim across the full breadth of the most powerful individuals and institutions that constitute the official Russian nation.

    Justice will be visited upon every single person who had anything to do with that heinous act of cold blooded mass murder, that was perpetrated solely for terrorist purposes.

    Those perpetrators, with no exceptions, had better get their affairs in order and make peace with God, because Russia has a long track record of doing what they say they will do.

    #155632
    jb-hb
    Participant

    CO2 does not cause atmospheric warming.

    Neither methane clathrates nor water vapor can help prove CO2 warming.

    Afewknowthetruth brings them in as allies/support for proof of CO2 warming WHILE claiming CO2 warming will cause both of these things.

    Things that CO2 supposedly CAUSES cannot possibly support CO2 causing warming unless you abandon things like time and causality. The methane clathrates heated themselves – see, CO2 warming.

    #155633
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    The FSC Bridge fiasco has so many CIA fingerprints on it that they might as well post their confession on Billboards. They think it was a brilliant play, and in many ways it was. It knocked out 10% of America’s physical capacity to make and ship things. It distracts from the evil debacles in Ukraine and Palestine, sets up yet another excuse to crack down on EVERYTHING in the run-up to the 2024 National Elections. Genius, in a suicidal sort of way. It’s as though the Blob was screaming, “I’m going to kill myself and take all of you with me and there is nothing that you can do about it!”

    The part they overlooked (indeed the part they ALWAYS overlook) is that their increasingly vile and visible evil deeds are waking everybody up as to who the Blob is, and what that Blob really wants to do.

    Here it has been all this time that the crooks of the world thought they were signing on to a HEIST. Nobody told them anything about it being a goddam SUICIDE. This revelation is precipitating quite a lot of re-thinking by the crooks of the world, and they are VISIBLY changing their minds and strategies about how this whole mess ought to be managed going forward.

    Here’s my bottom line: Zionist Israel has got to go, and the Blob has got to lose its legal immunities. No more “sovereign cities” or legislated National Security Council. Crime has to be against the law again.

    #155634
    jb-hb
    Participant

    All this crying and raging about “anti-semitism” comes down to just one thing.

    The end of the gravy train.

    No more free shit for Israel.

    Tell ya what, I’m gonna love the hell out of jews and isreal with all my heart and all my strength, and due to that abiding love, cut you off from all the free shit, because of how much I love you, because it is bad for you like hard drugs. The withdrawal will feel bad, but it is for your own good.

    It’s been kind of hilarious seeing the Daily Wire enthusiastically implode itself over this stuff.

    #155635
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    No human document is perfect. How could it possibly be? But some are less perfect than others, and to that long list I would place the United States Constitution near the top of the list of REALLY bad ideas.

    Carefuly note that I’m not talking about the Declaration of Independence or the Bill of Rights. They’re finer than fine. I’m talking about the CONSTITUTION. You know, the rule book that had all of those much lauded and formidable “Checks & Balances” that were going to make everyone safe from tyranny.

    Well, DUH!

    How long does it take a scoundrel to figure out that taking charge of the whole kit and kaboodle was as simple as having a small number of like-thinking conspirators to COLABORATE on managing all of the checking and balancing?

    Meanwhile, those SAME purported “checks and balances” can be used to LEGALLY stop dead in its tracks any movement to correct the mortally faulty system. Game, set & match. Checkmate. Game over. You lost.

    Sorry about the sacred cow rotting away right out there in the open where everyone can see it. But hey, it is a dead cow, so what else can it do but rot.?

    #155636
    John Day
    Participant

    EXCLUSIVEEXCLUSIVE: The RINO Plan To Ban Trump From The 2024 Ballot Is Underway
    https://slingshot.news/exclusive-the-rino-plan-to-ban-trump-from-the-2024-ballot-is-underway/?amp=1

    Republican Representative Mike Gallagher, who represents the 8th Congressional district of Wisconsin, announced earlier this year that he would be retiring from the House of Representatives after serving his current term in Office.

    On February 10th, 2024, Gallagher made the public announcement that he would not seek re-election to his position in 2024, further diminishing the slim majority Republicans currently hold in the House of Representatives.

    Gallagher joins the ranks of 14 other House Republicans who have also announced that they will not seek re-election heading into 2024.
    Yesterday Rep. Gallagher announced that he will be retiring from his position in the House earlier than expected, stating that he would officially resign his seat on April 19th, 2024. This places Gallagher on a list of several other Republican officials who have resigned from their positions in the House since the Republican takeover of the chamber in 2022.

    The Republican Party currently holds just 218 seats in the House, while the Democrats currently hold 213. Colorado Representative Ken Buck officially vacated his seat on Friday, March 22nd, pulling the Republican majority down an additional seat.

    Once Mike Gallagher departs on April 19th, the House Republican majority will have shrunk to just 217, the bare minimum needed to advance legislation in the body. As it stands, the Republican Party is just one retirement away from losing their majority in the House, and once again handing unilateral control of Washington D.C. to the Democratic Party and Joe Biden.

    Revealing an apparent sinister nature to Gallagher’s retirement, and the timing of the decision, Wisconsin law would afford a special election for Republicans to elect his replacement if Gallagher had just retired days earlier. If Gallagher had chosen to leave office anytime before the second Tuesday in April, a special election to choose his replacement would have occurred.

    Since Gallagher has decided to retire on the 19th, the second Friday of April, his seat will remain vacated until it is eventually filled by the winner of the 8th district of Wisconsin in the 2024 Election.

    Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene has called out Gallagher for his decision to leave office after the deadline for a special election and has even called for Gallagher to be expelled from Congress before the looming deadline.

    To understand the impact that Republicans losing their majority in the House of Representatives would have on the 2024 Election, we mustn’t look further than the recent Supreme Court decision regarding former President Donald Trump’s ballot access in the upcoming election.

    The Supreme Court definitively stated in that ruling that Congress, not the individual States, had the right to bar an individual from access to the Presidential ballot. If Republicans can maintain their majority in the House, the prospect of Trump being removed from the Presidential ballot is practically impossible.

    Should the Democrats regain control of the House before the 2024 Election, the prospect of President Trump being removed from the Presidential ballot becomes an almost certain possibility.

    #155637
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    Hey, I’ve got a bright idea for some or several patriotic geeks out there in the ether. How about an open source collaboration to create an ideal National Constitution?

    Such a document would have no binding legal force behind it, of course, other than what free and capable individuals choose for themselves.

    But it sure would be interesting to see what the combined peoples of Earth come up with.

    #155638
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    I bet you could talk Linus Torvalds into such a project . He is the father of open source Linux operating system and really knows the ropes of how to get it rolling, running and rocking better than anyone.

    #155639
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    Come to think of it, why not Open Source EVERYTHING?

    #155640
    WES
    Participant

    True to Hollywood, the Russian FSB let the terrorists lead them directly to their Ukrainian handlers before capturing them alive.
    Clearly the FSB hasn’t lost their old KGB’s Hollywood movie touch!

    #155641
    WES
    Participant

    The unelected EU Brussels efforts to obtain direct taxation powers appears more and more to be towards using the Ukrainian war as it’s emergency crisis to justify grabbing direct taxation powers.

    That the Uniparty has doubled down on the Ukrainian war is the signal that Trump will not be elected president Nov 2024.
    The second clue is Biden is campaigning from his basement.
    Third clue is the non news that Biden is trailing Trump in polls.

    It is interesting how the democrats can stop candidates in all of the other parties from running!

    #155642
    thomasjkenney
    Participant

    re: open source gov

    Bruce Schneier is your ‘nexus point’ for that. He’s written extensively on the subject, and attends conferences of like-minded for the purpose. Some is hogwash, some is dangerous, some very interesting, and some downright brilliant.

    re: bird ball

    Notice that the bird is throwing the ball at the pavement. Knowledge of physics, and that the ball has special properties not apparent at a glance. Cats do physics too.

    ———————————————————————–

    It is my belief that Samoans are among the elite of human genetic material. Uneducated guesstimate, that.

    #155643
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    If you think that the government of the United States can be “reformed” in such a way that it goes back to obeying the rules as you believed they were intended when written, then I have two things that I would like you to consider.

    The first thing is to ask yourself this question with full honesty (which you CAN do because you don’t have to tell anyone else anything about your answer, at all) : Are you sure that you know very much about the nitty gritty of what our present government actually is?

    And the second re-examination is to imagine, step by step, how one might go about actually carrying out, in the real world, any of those reformative actions on the actual government as it currently exists. What sort of lever, or fulcrum or applied force would be used upon which particular person or object? Are any of those actions even possible when the levers, pivots, and people are each of them already corrupted in their present form?

    My opinion is that only the creation of a parallel system might work, while the corrupt system can only be allowed or assisted (or dissuaded from) destroying itself. Why interrupt an opponent while it is obsessively engaged in making a mistake that will render it impotent (or even absent) as a foe? Time and effort would be much better spent building something good (the acknowledged necessity of self-defense notwithstanding).

    #155644
    John Day
    Participant

    Biden Vows to Fight Ban on Pride Flags at U.S. Embassies After Signing It
    Joe Biden was apparently fooled into signing into law a ban on flying gay pride flags at American embassies, with his administration vowing to fight the measure despite his signature approving it.

    Biden Vows to Fight Ban on Pride Flags at U.S. Embassies After Signing It

    #155645
    Dr D Rich
    Participant

    How many folk here ever “drove”, as in conned, a several hundred foot ship?
    Scott Ritter?

    As one poster noticed, that ship “not under power”, took a hard turn to starboard. Something bad “happened” after the “power was restored”.

    Unevenly?
    Panicked commands in the exact opposite direction? Doubtful. There’s a pilot onboard for the sea and anchor detail. That f*cker knows his shit.

    Rudder commands alone wouldn’t do it.
    Twin screws in opposite directions coupled with a bow thruster and rudder hard over can “twist” the vessel rapidly on the spot so to speak.

    “Shift your rudder”

    Panicked response?

    John Paul Jones:
    “I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast; for I intend to go in Harm’s way,”

    #155646
    John Day
    Participant

    Lying Poorly https://drjohnsblog.substack.com/p/lying-poorly

    The current stage of play on the human global chessboard is that net oil extraction peaked in November 2018, and that is the economy, or a better marker for it than equity markets and financial statistics. This is known in the halls of power, but not spoken. Various control narratives, like Global Warming, COVID and War are being overlaid. People are being turned against each other, as are nations, so that the shadowy-puppet-masters can maintain their “ownership” of the means of production, and control over the people of our fair planet.

    The Honest Sorcerer, Meet The Gator: Growing Energy Demand
    The problem is, that a significant portion of oil produced in the US for example distills into motor gasoline, which cannot be used to drive heavy machinery or turned into any other fuel. Another good chunk of a barrel of oil goes into making plastics, lubricants, asphalt and a countless other chemicals… So if you consider that only 12 gallons of diesel (corresponding to 1.66 million Btu) can made from a 42 gallon barrel (containing 5.8 million Btu), then you realize that only 29% of the energy contained in a barrel of oil can be actually used to power the economy of goods and services. And now, with oil extraction taking 25% of that barrel’s energy to maintain, the economic gain of adding an additional barrel of capacity shrinks to a mere 4% — entirely eaten up by refineries distilling oil into fuels.
    So, purely in terms of mathematics, we are already in a dead state, “where the [global energy] system is in complete equilibrium with its surroundings, making it incapable of performing work” — i.e. no amount of surplus energy can be extracted from it. In case you were wondering why the economy appears to be at a standstill (or in an outright decline in some places), look no further for an answer. We are already producing just enough diesel to keep replacing existing infrastructure and lost oil and mineral extraction to depletion, with barely anything left to expand the production of commodities with.
    https://thehonestsorcerer.substack.com/p/meet-the-gator-growing-energy-demand

    US insists UN resolution calling for Gaza ceasefire will have “no impact at all” (“So who’s gonna’ make me?”)
    Biden administration officials made it clear that they allowed the resolution to pass because it is “non-binding” and will have “no impact at all” as the US continues to arm and support Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
    The resolution declares that the Security Council “demands an immediate ceasefire for the month of Ramadan, respected by all parties, leading to a lasting sustainable ceasefire, and also demands the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.”… [“All” appears to mean Israeli “detainees”, also.]
    ..Israel canceled a planned delegation to the White House, which was to discuss the Rafah situation. The White House has called this an “overreaction” on Israel’s part. Israeli leaders have continued to signal that a Rafah ground operation is imminent, even as the US and other allies have warned against it at least until civilians can be moved from harm’s way.
    https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2024/03/26/qrmj-m26.html

    US wants war on Gaza to continue, Biden-Netanyahu dispute ‘theatrical’
    The deputy chief of the Islamic Jihad Resistance movement tells Al Mayadeen that the US-Israeli relationship is strategic and extends beyond that between Biden and Netanyahu.
    https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/us-wants-war-on-gaza-to-continue–biden-netanyahu-dispute–t

    Another Israeli soldier admits to implementing the ‘Hannibal Directive’ on October 7
    Captain Bar Zonshein recounts firing tank shells on vehicles carrying Israeli civilians on October 7. “I decide that this is the right decision, that it’s better to stop the abduction and that they not be taken,” he told Israeli media outlets.

    Another Israeli soldier admits to implementing the ‘Hannibal Directive’ on October 7

    #155647
    John Day
    Participant

    WAR CRIME: IDF destroys main surgical wing of Al-Shifa Hospital, sabotaging ceasefire negotiations
    https://www.naturalnews.com/2024-03-26-idf-destroyed-surgical-building-al-shifa-hospital.html

    Israel Unleashes Major Airstrikes On Syria & Deep Inside Lebanon
    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/israel-unleashes-major-airstrikes-syria-deep-inside-lebanon

    ‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 173: Israel continues attacking Gaza’s hospitals, kills 7 people in Lebanon
    Following the UN Security Council ceasefire resolution, Israel continued its attacks on Gaza hospitals, killing 76 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, in southern Lebanon, Israel killed 7 Lebanese people during cross-border fighting.

    ‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 173:  Israel continues attacking Gaza’s hospitals, kills 7 people in Lebanon

    18 Killed In Gaza Trying To Reach Aid As Pentagon Vows More Airdrops
    So far the Pentagon has delivered at least 17 airdrops of nearly 500,000 meals, but the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry has said that just on Monday alone 18 people died trying to desperately access the aid, much of which landed in the sea.
    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/18-killed-gaza-trying-reach-aid-pentagon-vows-more-airdrops

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