Chaos and the Anti-Thread

[Diabolical Boids]

I make mention of middle America now and again. The America that no one in Europe gets exposed to much. The Coastal states with all their extremism steal all the bandwidth and they aren't big history buffs unless it's something to do with the 13 colonies or the Alamo or somehow amplifies their pretensions of coming from some aristocratic family in Europe.

This was an interesting find when I was pecking around. This particular show used to interview my grandfather, a local historian, so that's how I ran across it. Middle America preserves its European roots with something called living history.

People generally regard hillbillies or mountain people as stupid and simple.(The Coastals of course) And base it on the language the use.

Well guess where that language came from? And is still intact today up in the mountains.

Literally preserving a language that was thought to be lost hundreds of years ago.

Pretty interesting.

And that is what I sound like especially when I'm tired or excited. It was weird to think my accent was like someone from the Middle Ages. :lol:

vaim6dEzbJQ

[Emil El Zapato]

I make mention of middle America now and again. The America that no one in Europe gets exposed to much. The Coastal states with all their extremism steal all the bandwidth and they aren't big history buffs unless it's something to do with the 13 colonies or the Alamo or somehow amplifies their pretensions of coming from some aristocratic family in Europe.

This was an interesting find when I was pecking around. This particular show used to interview my grandfather, a local historian, so that's how I ran across it. Middle America preserves its European roots with something called living history.

People generally regard hillbillies or mountain people as stupid and simple.(The Coastals of course) And base it on the language the use.

Well guess where that language came from? And is still intact today up in the mountains.

Literally preserving a language that was thought to be lost hundreds of years ago.

Pretty interesting.

And that is what I sound like especially when I'm tired or excited. It was weird to think my accent was like someone from the Middle Ages. :lol:

vaim6dEzbJQ

I had a teacher that asked me to read a passage from a book, so I did...along with the accent from the print. She asked me where I got such an accent. Beeyotch! I hated her. I be bone with the accent. Just awhile back my older brother's son-in-law remarked that I had a 'cute' midwestern accent. My brother (Californian) tongue-in-cheek said dumb people talk like that. I used to think that for real. In my own defense, I say I pick up colloquial accents quickly. :)

[Emil El Zapato]

I cannot speak for the Kiwis, but here in Europe, yes, absolutely. We learn all about history throughout elementary school, and then once again but in far greater detail throughout middle and high school. And I do mean global history, going back all the way from the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Greece, the Roman Empire, China, and so on, up into the present times, politically, geopolitically, culturally — by which I mean the arts and architecture — and sociologically. Kings and queens, emperors and empresses, dynasties — you name it, we've learned about it.

Also, when I was young, there were several Flemish and Dutch television series that were aimed at children, and that were set in Antiquity or the Middle Ages. Some were about imaginary and/or fantastical events or characters, while others were more true to actual historical events and characters. There were also other historical and pseudo-historical television series that delved more into character development — based upon the work of a famous local author who lived in the first half of the 20th century — and that were aimed at a maturer audience of teenagers and adults.

One of the key differences between European culture and US American culture is that US American culture is incredibly insular, and intentionally so, because an insular culture feeds into feelings of nationalism and cultural self-importance, and both of those things are considered essential for supporting the self-deceiving, corporately controlled and consumerist society that the USA as a country is based upon. It is also this very alienation from what is happening in the rest of the world that makes the USA as a nation so paranoid and so militarily, geopolitically and economically aggressive towards other nations.

If countries could be represented in the form of individual characters in a school building, then the USA would be a neurotic and narcissistic teenager in self-denial, constantly running away from his own reflection in the mirror, playing-pretend that he's somebody else, and acting like a paranoid and arrogant bully towards other kids and even teachers, because he knows he's got enough members in his bully mob to be able to get away with it. He's the brawn that thinks it's a brain, because nobody questions his authority.

In general that is very true...I took elective courses throughout my secondary educational studies (I would get kicked out of the class and be forced to do self study) for World Geography and World History and then in college I took a few history courses but the one I rmember the most is American History. I remarked to the professor that the 'real history' of Early America was very different than what people thought it was. lol, no joke.

Europe obviously has a much more advanced written history but in terms of ancient American history was that was pretty blank in my day. Native American? what's that?!

I was reading about the Paleolithic, Neolithic, and Bronze age in Cumbria...weirdly enough the time travel book I'm reading right now is about the Bronze Age in Northern England.

Anyway, I guess I was curious if they taught 'ancient history'. It does sound like it but perhaps not in a formal school environment. It seems my Neolithic ancestors didn't inherit the 'bad' gene that most of the rest of Europe did...(ancestors of the Beaker people) they didn't get that far NorthWest. On the other hand, my Neanderthal cousins did not have much respect for the dead. They just burned them up and had their own minimal rituals. The Neos/Bronze age...started out like the Paleolithic, but graduated to Norse/Celtic ceremonies, and by later in the Iron Age were doing an amalgam of that and Roman.

[Aianawa]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWNgau-UueU&t=31s

[Aianawa]

That be dang interresting Dia Bee, real very, so much so it reminded me of Beaumonts true history of ancient britton plus some old languages that were a song as such when spokern, i feel back in time language was something all had in common, as story telling n body language and knowing n feeling your energy-ies surroundings was a thing , like is becoming agin imo.

[modwiz]

I make mention of middle America now and again. The America that no one in Europe gets exposed to much. The Coastal states with all their extremism steal all the bandwidth and they aren't big history buffs unless it's something to do with the 13 colonies or the Alamo or somehow amplifies their pretensions of coming from some aristocratic family in Europe.

This was an interesting find when I was pecking around. This particular show used to interview my grandfather, a local historian, so that's how I ran across it. Middle America preserves its European roots with something called living history.

People generally regard hillbillies or mountain people as stupid and simple.(The Coastals of course) And base it on the language the use.

Well guess where that language came from? And is still intact today up in the mountains.

Literally preserving a language that was thought to be lost hundreds of years ago.

Pretty interesting.

And that is what I sound like especially when I'm tired or excited. It was weird to think my accent was like someone from the Middle Ages. :lol:

vaim6dEzbJQ

Just got around to watching this. I live in Appalachia, SW Virginia.

My lady friend warshes her clothes and calls her muhver every day. And when she adds, she does maff.

She is super smart.:)

[Emil El Zapato]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWNgau-UueU&t=31s

pretty song, nay, beautiful song...one can see the passion and at the same time the spiritual reverie AND the meditative nature of it all.

[Emil El Zapato]

That be dang interresting Dia Bee, real very, so much so it reminded me of Beaumonts true history of ancient britton plus some old languages that were a song as such when spokern, i feel back in time language was something all had in common, as story telling n body language and knowing n feeling your energy-ies surroundings was a thing , like is becoming agin imo.

Danged if it don't be, Aianaweser.

[Diabolical Boids]

I had a teacher that asked me to read a passage from a book, so I did...along with the accent from the print. She asked me where I got such an accent. Beeyotch! I hated her. I be bone with the accent. Just awhile back my older brother's son-in-law remarked that I had a 'cute' midwestern accent. My brother (Californian) tongue-in-cheek said dumb people talk like that. I used to think that for real. In my own defense, I say I pick up colloquial accents quickly. :)

That's the first thing you think when someone asks you what your accent is: I don't have one. You do.

California can't talk, the Valley Accents aren't anything to be proud of where everyone sounds high.

Going to California reminds me of going to some third world nation where all the native people are closing in on you and pulling on your clothes, jabbering in some unknown primitive language and trying to make you buy goods made out of coconut shells. You buy? buy? you buy?

There's a whole science to this now, where linguists are using language studies the same way genetic studies uses genes to find out where people came from. I travel a lot so people are always asking where I got my accent. I drag them from one state to the other. My everyday, speaking quietly one is Northern Midwest so apparently, we do something weird with our consonants the way southern people do with vowels. Upper Northern Midwest is Norwegian, Swiss, French, a little Scots, and some Dutch so it varies by locality. There's an entire terminology and way the mouth and tongue move associated to one's origins on the globe that I can't even begin to explain.

*
The way Minnesota and Northern & Upper Michigan says eh? after everything or adds on AT after a question indicates where they came from in Europe. Eastern Canadians do that too. Have a nice day, eh? Where is the refrigerator.....at?

Lower midwest is where people say Code instead of Cold. They drop the Ls on words. My sister in law has the Smokey Mountain "We orta warsh the floor" accent but also drops her L's. People dropping L's is supposed to be because this region is loaded with people of German descent.

Before screen time and digital life intruded began destroying our five senses and relation to the world I remember traveling in Kentucky and having total strangers know where I was from and from what family because of the shape of my eyes and nose.

What accent you are used to in America also determines how well you understand people speaking accented English abroad apparently.

There's a show set in Yorkshire England, called Happy Valley, a cop show. Me and my sister can understand everyone perfectly because they cut off their words and speak fast the way they do in Appalachia, but my brother in law (German) can't understand a word of it and has to follow the closed captioning.

[Emil El Zapato]

That's the first thing you think when someone asks you what your accent is: I don't have one. You do.

California can't talk, the Valley Accents aren't anything to be proud of where everyone sounds high.

Going to California reminds me of going to some third world nation where all the native people are closing in on you and pulling on your clothes, jabbering in some unknown primitive language and trying to make you buy goods made out of coconut shells. You buy? buy? you buy?

There's a whole science to this now, where linguists are using language studies the same way genetic studies uses genes to find out where people came from. I travel a lot so people are always asking where I got my accent. I drag them from one state to the other. My everyday, speaking quietly one is Northern Midwest so apparently, we do something weird with our consonants the way southern people do with vowels. Upper Northern Midwest is Norwegian, Swiss, French, a little Scots, and some Dutch so it varies by locality. There's an entire terminology and way the mouth and tongue move associated to one's origins on the globe that I can't even begin to explain.

*
The way Minnesota and Northern & Upper Michigan says eh? after everything or adds on AT after a question indicates where they came from in Europe. Eastern Canadians do that too. Have a nice day, eh? Where is the refrigerator.....at?

Lower midwest is where people say Code instead of Cold. They drop the Ls on words. My sister in law has the Smokey Mountain "We orta warsh the floor" accent but also drops her L's. People dropping L's is supposed to be because this region is loaded with people of German descent.

Before screen time and digital life intruded began destroying our five senses and relation to the world I remember traveling in Kentucky and having total strangers know where I was from and from what family because of the shape of my eyes and nose.

What accent you are used to in America also determines how well you understand people speaking accented English abroad apparently.

There's a show set in Yorkshire England, called Happy Valley, a cop show. Me and my sister can understand everyone perfectly because they cut off their words and speak fast the way they do in Appalachia, but my brother-in-law (German) can't understand a word of it and has to follow the closed captioning.

Interesting, so where does this come from? My daughter always use to chide me for not pronouncing words correctly, this one in particular though I have worked to speak more proper English in 'professional' settings and incidentally, The Californians I met with didn't seem to have any accent really. (adopted family)

ruin: I pronounce it 'roon' with a U sound in it. I have a large amount of 'German' in me too (25%, my mother's mother)...Geneticists have a hard time differentiating in those parts of Europe unless they really are good.

[Diabolical Boids]

Just got around to watching this. I live in Appalachia, SW Virginia.

My lady friend warshes her clothes and calls her muhver every day. And when she adds, she does maff.

She is super smart.:)

You live in the GOOD part of the state. I bet she makes good "Cone Bred" too.

[Diabolical Boids]

Interesting, so where does this come from? My daughter always use to chide me for not pronouncing words correctly, this one in particular though I have worked to speak more proper English in 'professional' settings and incidentally, The Californians I met with didn't seem to have any accent really. (adopted family)

ruin: I pronounce it 'roon' with a U sound in it. I have a large amount of 'German' in me too (25%, my mother's mother)...Geneticists have a hard time differentiating in those parts of Europe unless they really are good.

Roon is, I think, Appalachia/ Middle west. It's supposed to be Roo In. But we say it more like rune.

I think I say roon too, because I know I say roont: ruined. Especially when my sister cooks. Didjya roonit?

I didn't know this til me and my sister started taping out casual conversations voices and realizing we don't talk properly. I'm very literate, all of us are well read, if not wonderful at pronunciation but we aren't going to be public speakers anytime soon.

This one is a stickler with me. Carafe. Like the coffee pot that comes with Mr. Coffee. If you want to drive me up the wall say it the way my sister does.

My sister (Coastal Virginia) pronounces it CAR RAFT.

I pronounce it CARE Ahhhh Fay.

No one knows who is right. I think mine is a French pronunciation and hers is mangled American English.

[Aragorn]

Roon is, I think, Appalachia/ Middle west. It's supposed to be Roo In. But we say it more like rune.

I think I say roon too, because I know I say roont: ruined. Especially when my sister cooks. Didjya roonit?

I didn't know this til me and my sister started taping out casual conversations voices and realizing we don't talk properly. I'm very literate, all of us are well read, if not wonderful at pronunciation but we aren't going to be public speakers anytime soon.

This one is a stickler with me. Carafe. Like the coffee pot that comes with Mr. Coffee. If you want to drive me up the wall say it the way my sister does.

My sister (Coastal Virginia) pronounces it CAR RAFT.

I pronounce it CARE Ahhhh Fay.

No one knows who is right. I think mine is a French pronunciation and hers is mangled American English.

You're both wrong. :onthequite:

The correct pronunciation in British English is "kuh'raff", and in American English, "kah'raff" — both with emphasis on the second syllable, and with a muted "e" at the end.

The word does indeed originate in French, but even the French don't vocalize the "e" at the end. If an "e" is to be pronounced in French as what the Anglo-Saxons pronounce as the "e" in "Ronald Reagan", then it'll be written as "é", and if it is rather to be pronounced as an elongated version of the "e" in "help" — although this will never occur at the end of a word in French — then it'll be written as either "è" or "ê", depending on the exact word. ;)

French is a very complicated language, but it does have certain simplifications in it, namely that the letters "k", "w" and "z" do not naturally occur in French words — they do however occur in certain regional dialects, such as Bréton. Inside a word, the "w" will always be spelled as "ou" — when referred to as an alphabetic character, it is pronounced as "double v" — and the "k" is always substituted by either a "c" or by "qu". And if a "c" is to be pronounced as an "s", then it must be spelled as "ç" if the vowel immediately following the "c" is either an "a", an "o" or a "u".

The non-existence of the "w" in proper French is why, when a francophone person — whether they be French, Belgian or Canadian — attempts to pronounce a "w" in a language where it is a natural character of the alphabet, it will sound like a shortened version of the "oo"-sound as pronounced by Anglo-Saxons in words like "spook". ;)

And thus, the French version of that famous song by the British band Queen would be "Oo'ee oo'eell, oo'ee oo'eell rock yoo!" :lol: :rock:

[Diabolical Boids]

You're both wrong. :onthequite:

The correct pronunciation in British English is "kuh'raff", and in American English, "kah'raff" — both with emphasis on the second syllable, and with a muted "e" at the end.

The word does indeed originate in French, but even the French don't vocalize the "e" at the end. If an "e" is to be pronounced in French as what the Anglo-Saxons pronounce as the "e" in "Ronald Reagan", then it'll be written as "é", and if it is rather to be pronounced as an elongated version of the "e" in "help" — although this will never occur at the end of a word in French — then it'll be written as either "è" or "ê", depending on the exact word. ;)

French is a very complicated language, but it does have certain simplifications in it, namely that the letters "k", "w" and "z" do not naturally occur in French words — they do however occur in certain regional dialects, such as Bréton. Inside a word, the "w" will always be spelled as "ou" — when referred to as an alphabetic character, it is pronounced as "double v" — and the "k" is always substituted by either a "c" or by "qu". And if a "c" is to be pronounced as an "s", then it must be spelled as "ç" if the vowel immediately following the "c" is either an "a", an "o" or a "u".

The non-existence of the "w" in proper French is why, when a francophone person — whether they be French, Belgian or Canadian — attempts to pronounce a "w" in a language where it is a natural character of the alphabet, it will sound like a shortened version of the "oo"-sound as pronounced by Anglo-Saxons in words like "spook". ;)

And thus, the French version of that famous song by the British band Queen would be "Oo'ee oo'eell, oo'ee oo'eell rock yoo!" :lol: :rock:

I'll post back when I'm done crying. The truth does actually hurt and so does having your beliefs and illusions shattered.

Kuh raff sounds so brutal like someone coughing. Care Ah Fey is musical alike a Carousel.

It's not fair. I hate English!

[Fred Steeves]

And that is what I sound like especially when I'm tired or excited. It was weird to think my accent was like someone from the Middle Ages. :lol:

vaim6dEzbJQ

I was surprised to see him here! That’s Bill Landry, a local legend here in these parts. My wife and I had the chance to meet him a few years ago, a hell of a guy, he’s a walking talking story teller and historian of many things long forgotten in todays world.

And when he gets your ear off camera, you get to hear the stories in this recent clip about witches and such, that unfortunately had to be left on the cutting room floor. He’s of course to polite to say it publicly, as he knows full well who the core of his viewership is here deep in the Bible Belt, but that’s why most never got to hear them.

He told us one about when a good friend of his, someone high up in the Cherokee Indian Tribe in Cherokee, North Carolina, was taking him for a tour through some sacred areas where he touched something he wasn’t supposed to, like a flower of something of the like, and it laid a cut into one of his fingers down to the bone.

A cautionary tale about being in a place you may ought not to be, and touching something maybe you shouldn’t be fooling with, but you can’t tell a story like that on tv.


https://www.wbir.com/video/news/local/a-last-hurrah-catching-up-with-bill-landry/51-09d41f58-
8ea1-4821-9969-3f2080ce1cee

There was another one not fit for tv, on how the common crow became one of his spirit animals. He was leading a small tour on foot in part of the mountain region, he somehow got turned around and wasn’t quite sure what the next move to get headed back towards home base should be, when a small flock of crows got his attention.

Long story short. At first the modern day white man part of him didn’t want to believe such a thing, but he followed his gut instincts anyway, and they led him right back to where they started. That was a life changing moment in his life.

So yeah, like I’m saying, one of the most interesting and knowledgeable people I’ve ever met. Bill Landry.

[Diabolical Boids]

I cannot speak for the Kiwis, but here in Europe, yes, absolutely. We learn all about history throughout elementary school, and then once again but in far greater detail throughout middle and high school. And I do mean global history, going back all the way from the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Greece, the Roman Empire, China, and so on, up into the present times, politically, geopolitically, culturally — by which I mean the arts and architecture — and sociologically. Kings and queens, emperors and empresses, dynasties — you name it, we've learned about it.

Also, when I was young, there were several Flemish and Dutch television series that were aimed at children, and that were set in Antiquity or the Middle Ages. Some were about imaginary and/or fantastical events or characters, while others were more true to actual historical events and characters. There were also other historical and pseudo-historical television series that delved more into character development — based upon the work of a famous local author who lived in the first half of the 20th century — and that were aimed at a maturer audience of teenagers and adults.

One of the key differences between European culture and US American culture is that US American culture is incredibly insular, and intentionally so, because an insular culture feeds into feelings of nationalism and cultural self-importance, and both of those things are considered essential for supporting the self-deceiving, corporately controlled and consumerist society that the USA as a country is based upon. It is also this very alienation from what is happening in the rest of the world that makes the USA as a nation so paranoid and so militarily, geopolitically and economically aggressive towards other nations.

If countries could be represented in the form of individual characters in a school building, then the USA would be a neurotic and narcissistic teenager in self-denial, constantly running away from his own reflection in the mirror, playing-pretend that he's somebody else, and acting like a paranoid and arrogant bully towards other kids and even teachers, because he knows he's got enough members in his bully mob to be able to get away with it. He's the brawn that thinks it's a brain, because nobody questions his authority.

If we know anything about European history, it's because curiosity took us on a course of self-study. It's not taught anywhere in depth unless there's a major in European history somewhere. I got interested in it because I found Tudor history fascinating and since that involved the Lowlands, France, Spain and Italy I sort of spread out from there. Kind of confusing because their territories were changing hands so much. Actually, I don't know anything too indepth about how their political structures now.

If someone asked me what I knew about Belgium it would be Thomas Crowell, the Reformation, wool, chocolate, waffles, Lutheranism, the printing presses of Antwerp, Flanders, . Nothing timely really,

It's easier when everything is a monarchy of some sort. German history was sort of confusing with Dukes of Everyplace and the Holy Roman Empire involved instead of a organized state like today. I kept having to pause and google an see where Guelders and Lorraine was. Or it they were still in Germany.

The term hate everyone likes to fling around?

That's how heat is said in the south here. "It's a hunnert deee-grees out. Ain't this hate something?"

Hate came from the word heat. Like heated emotions. Whatever they were, not strictly malice or unkindness which may nor not be heated. So Ironically when someone wants to get all emotional about something and they are objecting to the hate, they are actually objecting to the same heated emotions they are experiencing.

Ironically.

I am interested when the term electricity came into common use. Here or abroad.

In Appalachia they had to have rural electrification program, lots of folks didn't have any electricity even in the early 70's. Interestingly enough I have a lot of family members who can mostly pronounce electricity but not quite right.

The e on the front is either dropped or swallowed. 'Letricity.

What's funny is they can't say a past tense like Electrocuted.

They say Lexacute.

Or Lexacuted.

Some make a valiant effort towards pronunciation and say Eee-lexacuted.

It's weirdly startling when that comes out of someone's mouth. It's almost like you are hearing executed.

[Emil El Zapato]

This author, S.M. Stirling wrote a series of alternative history books with great kudos from Harry Turtledove, a highly regarded writer of the genre. I have been struggling a little bit with Stirling's books because of the way he defines his characters. As an example, in his first book, there were two Hispanic characters in it, Cuban and Puerto Rican, one started as a minor good guy but ended up being exiled to work the salt mines, the other a bad guy. The one thing they had in common: In their chosen colonies they both were charged and punished for rape with the bad guy taking a whupping from the main bad guy and the now bad good guy court-martialed and exiled. Given the books were written in the mid-'90s, I try to withhold judgment as people were not as woke back in that day.

The punchline is that this is the way he describes the Northern England Bronze Age pepos.
"Blond Proto-Celtic Comanches of the Bronze Age".

I discovered what I think is a mistake in the book; Supposedly the different tribes had councils at Stonehenge. Wrong part of the country and according to Turtledove, Stirling should have known better.

[Diabolical Boids]

I was surprised to see him here! That’s Bill Landry, a local legend here in these parts. My wife and I had the chance to meet him a few years ago, a hell of a guy, he’s a walking talking story teller and historian of many things long forgotten in todays world.

And when he gets your ear off camera, you get to hear the stories in this recent clip about witches and such, that unfortunately had to be left on the cutting room floor. He’s of course to polite to say it publicly, as he knows full well who the core of his viewership is here deep in the Bible Belt, but that’s why most never got to hear them.

He told us one about when a good friend of his, someone high up in the Cherokee Indian Tribe in Cherokee, North Carolina, was taking him for a tour through some sacred areas where he touched something he wasn’t supposed to, like a flower of something of the like, and it laid a cut into one of his fingers down to the bone.

A cautionary tale about being in a place you may ought not to be, and touching something maybe you shouldn’t be fooling with, but you can’t tell a story like that on tv.


https://www.wbir.com/video/news/local/a-last-hurrah-catching-up-with-bill-landry/51-09d41f58-
8ea1-4821-9969-3f2080ce1cee

There was another one not fit for tv, on how the common crow became one of his spirit animals. He was leading a small tour on foot in part of the mountain region, he somehow got turned around and wasn’t quite sure what the next move to get headed back towards home base should be, when a small flock of crows got his attention.

Long story short. At first the modern day white man part of him didn’t want to believe such a thing, but he followed his gut instincts anyway, and they led him right back to where they started. That was a life changing moment in his life.

So yeah, like I’m saying, one of the most interesting and knowledgeable people I’ve ever met. Bill Landry.

Wow! Really! He did an interview with my grandfather years back at Hensley Settlement right there above Cumberland Gap on the KY and TN state line. My grandfather being the son of one of the founders of the settlement. If you were know where that is. It's a national park now. Very strange and moving place, and I know what you mean about the people and the area down there being replete with their own sort of mysticism. Even if they are Bible Belters they have Appalachian medicine and respect for spirits. I've heard all sorts of stories about fire eyed dogs showing up at funerals and doppelgangers of people who are about to die wandering around in the hills. It's such an unspoiled place still it seems like there is room for those sorts of energies, way up away from the cities.

Edit: Your link isn't working. I wanted to see it.

[Diabolical Boids]

This author, S.M. Stirling wrote a series of alternative history books with great kudos from Harry Turtledove, a highly regarded writer of the genre. I have been struggling a little bit with Stirling's books because of the way he defines his characters. As an example, in his first book, there were two Hispanic characters in it, Cuban and Puerto Rican, one started as a minor good guy but ended up being exiled to work the salt mines, the other a bad guy. The one thing they had in common: In their chosen colonies they both were charged and punished for rape with the bad guy taking a whupping from the main bad guy and the now bad good guy court-martialed and exiled. Given the books were written in the mid-'90s, I try to withhold judgment as people were not as woke back in that day.

The punchline is that this is the way he describes the Northern England Bronze Age pepos.
"Blond Proto-Celtic Comanches of the Bronze Age".

I discovered what I think is a mistake in the book; Supposedly the different tribes had councils at Stonehenge. Wrong part of the country and according to Turtledove, Stirling should have known better.

The Comanches didn't travel or weren't nomads and couldn't come down from the north to Stonehenge? Not getting why that is a mistake.

I'm wondering how two Hispanic guys ended up among the Comanche Celts. Unless you are talking about two different books.

[Emil El Zapato]

The Comanches didn't travel or weren't nomads and couldn't come down from the north to Stonehenge? Not getting why that is a mistake.

I'm wondering how two Hispanic guys ended up among the Comanche Celts. Unless you are talking about two different books.

The same book (it's a series of 3) actually, the Hispanic guys are/were with the group that lived on an island in present-day Nantucket and were sent back to the Bronze Age by way of 'an act of God' or 'energy' in the form of a spacetime anomaly.

Stonehenge is in the south of the country, inland to get there through the forest chiefly. His books center on the northern coastal regions.

[Diabolical Boids]

The same book (it's a series of 3) actually, the Hispanic guys are/were with the group that lived on an island in present-day Nantucket and were sent back to the Bronze Age by way of 'an act of God' or 'energy' in the form of a spacetime anomaly.

Stonehenge is in the south of the country, inland to get there through the forest chiefly. His books center on the northern coastal regions.

Oh jeez. Well it sounds interesting but I'm thinking this is something better read than having someone explain it to me. :blink:

Only to say....Even in an alternate reality the coastal people are jerks.

[Aianawa]

Gotta huge surprise fortnite ago, me boy pointed out to me at market, you talk same as the person your talkin to, took most of day for me to see he was correct, indian or greek or aussie english i did parrot , not fully but enough to notice.

[Diabolical Boids]

Gotta huge surprise fortnite ago, me boy pointed out to me at market, you talk same as the person your talkin to, took most of day for me to see he was correct, indian or greek or aussie english i did parrot , not fully but enough to notice.

I read somewhere that was evolutionary when it was essential for people to blend in when in foreign or even hostile lands. Now it's just an unconscious way of connecting or putting people at ease. The mind is really a marvel of instant adaptation. It would seem like adopting an accent would take time, like learning the language the accent came from but apparently not.

I had an uncle that talked 17th century French in his sleep. My aunt taped him because she thought it meant he was having an affair. ha ha. . When he was conscious, he knew not a word of French and couldn't even manage an accent. The conscious mind and the subconscious mind are two entirely different lands.

Edit:

Oh!

And people with speech impediments? IF they adopt an accent they don't' have the impediment or difficulty in pronouncing the word if they are accenting it differently. I'd have to think about the Why of that one though.

[Emil El Zapato]

Oh jeez. Well it sounds interesting but I'm thinking this is something better read than having someone explain it to me. :blink:

Only to say....Even in an alternate reality the coastal people are jerks.

lol, that is true it would seem... :)

[Aragorn]

Stonehenge is in the south of the country, inland to get there through the forest chiefly.

Yep, been there, in 1981. :p





Gotta huge surprise fortnite ago, me boy pointed out to me at market, you talk same as the person your talkin to, took most of day for me to see he was correct, indian or greek or aussie english i did parrot , not fully but enough to notice.

I tend to do that too, and so does my brother. I even tend to do it in English, provided that I'm speaking to someone from a country where English is the native tongue — I vill not automatically spick Inglish like ze Germans, unless I really vont to do zat. But sometimes I do vont to, becoz it is von of my favorit aksents ven I vont to be funny. :p

But so, yeah, when I speak to an Aussie, I unintentionally start speaking Aussie English, and when I speak to a North American, I speak North American English — which is now my "native" English, even though I originally spoke Oxford English until I was in my mid-twenties. And I have a mild inclination toward Scottish and Irish too when speaking to people from there. ;)

I think it's related to how empathetic one is. You pick up the energies and the rhythm of the other person's language and you subconsciously adapt to them in order to streamline the communication. But having a knack for linguistics also helps.

In my case, there was also an additional factor, namely that I grew up in a small village that had virtually no accent, unlike in the surrounding towns and villages. It had a local dialect, yes, but with the exception of only a few words, the pronunciation of the vowels was all pretty much as it is in official Dutch, as opposed to in regions where the vowels are consistently pronounced differently from how they are written.

For instance, if I hear someone from Antwerp talking, then even if they speak official Dutch — as opposed to their Antwerp dialect — then they can still not hide that they're from Antwerp. And to the chagrin of the West Flemish people, whenever a West Flemish person is interviewed on television, you normally get subtitles with that, because nobody from outside of the West Flanders can understand them — they pronounce a "g" as an "h" and vice versa, and they mute certain consonants and stretch certain vowels. ;)

[Diabolical Boids]

What is Flemish exactly? Flanders used to be part of France, yes? Is it some sort of French language or a localized language on its own?

[Aragorn]

What is Flemish exactly? Flanders used to be part of France, yes? Is it some sort of French language or a localized language on its own?

The Flanders have been part of France, yes — well, the whole of Belgium was, actually — but they have also been part of the Netherlands at some point. Flemish is therefore officially referred to as Southern Dutch and supposedly only differs from Northern Dutch (as spoken in the Netherlands) in the meaning behind or the phrasing of certain expressions.

In terms of the official vocabulary and grammatical rules, there is no difference between Southern Dutch and Northern Dutch. However, the pronunciation does differ — analogous to the difference in pronunciation between, say, British English and Australian English. The Dutch as spoken in the Netherlands has evolved along different lines due to its influences from German and English, whereas the Dutch spoken in the Flanders has long been stagnating at the level of regional and very different sounding dialects due to the fact that even though some 65% of the Belgian population natively speaks Dutch and only some 30% natively speaks French, Belgium was officially a francophone country up until 1960, and it took a lot of protesting and political maneuvering before Belgium officially became trilingual — the third language being German, which is spoken in the so-called East Cantons, a region that Belgium inherited from Germany when the borders were redrawn at the end of World War I.

But so either way, up until 1960, Belgium was officially a francophone country, with a francophone government and a francophone upper class, consisting of the clergy, the aristocracy — notwithstanding the fact that the royal family was of German descent and had been raised in Dutch — and the bourgeoisie. As such, all official communication and documents were in French, and the generic Dutch as spoken in the Netherlands had never been widely adopted (until recently). As such, the Flemish people kept on speaking their regional dialects.

Nowadays, there is a push toward the use of generic Dutch, and the younger generations are starting to speak less in their local dialects, but they cannot hide the pronunciations of those local dialects even when speaking official Dutch. Furthermore, the Southern Dutch of the Flanders sounds very different from the Northern Dutch — which also does have its regional dialects, albeit that the differences between the regional pronunciations there are far less prominent than here in the Flanders. Flemish sounds much dryer than Northern Dutch, which sounds a lot juicier.

For instance, most Flemish people pronounce the "R" in the hard Spanish/Italian way, although there are also many who pronounce it in a throaty French way, and a small minority pronounces it in a slightly rolling way, or sometimes — if they have logopedic problems — as a "J" or a "W". In the Netherlands, the pronunciation of the letter "R" depends on where it is located in the word. If it comes in front of a hard vowel — like at the beginning of a word — then it is commonly pronounced in a throaty way, and if it is a word that ends in an "R", then it is often pronounced in a rolling way, similar (but not identical) to English. And then there are some cases where it is pronounced in a muted way, as in German.

Another example is the pronunciation of the "F", "V" and "W". In the Flanders, those are all pronounced the same way as in English, but in the Netherlands, a "V' is often pronounced as an "F", and a "W" as a "V" (as in German).

[Diabolical Boids]

Ohhhhhhhhhh. That makes sense.

Wow. I'm impressed at the acumen you use navigating that. I appreciate the time you took in laying that all out.

So basically, even if you are fluent in Dutch you might still have a hard time understanding what Southern Dutch are saying?

[Aragorn]

Ohhhhhhhhhh. That makes sense.

Wow. I'm impressed at the acumen you use navigating that. I appreciate the time you took in laying that all out.

So basically, even if you are fluent in Dutch you might still have a hard time understanding what Southern Dutch are saying?

Hmm, no, not really, unless it's West Flemish. :p In general, the Dutch people understand Flemish very well, and vice versa. It's just that certain expressions have a different meaning between Flemish and Northern Dutch — which can get quite hilarious :p — and due to the francophone domination here, most of the Flemish dialects have a lot of French words in them, albeit that they're not always pronounced in their original French manner anymore. For instance, if you wreck your car in the Netherlands, then it is referred to with the English term "total loss", whereas here in the Flanders, we use the French expression "perte totale".

Another difference — but the Dutch people understand this — is that in the spoken Dutch here in the Flanders, we still use older pronouns that originate in Old and Middle Dutch, along with the verb conjugation that goes with those, whereas in the Netherlands, they use the modern pronouns and verb conjugation. This is analogous to the use of "thou" and "thy"/"thine" in English versus "you" and "your". ;)

[Fred Steeves]

Wow! Really! He did an interview with my grandfather years back at Hensley Settlement right there above Cumberland Gap on the KY and TN state line. My grandfather being the son of one of the founders of the settlement.

I'd never heard of that settlement, but in looking it up, it's the kind of place that's right up Bill Landry's alley. Small world he interviewed your grandfather!


Edit: Your link isn't working. I wanted to see it.

Yeah, my bad, here it is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpRpmCQv3ng

[Emil El Zapato]

The Flanders have been part of France, yes — well, the whole of Belgium was, actually — but they have also been part of the Netherlands at some point. Flemish is therefore officially referred to as Southern Dutch and supposedly only differs from Northern Dutch (as spoken in the Netherlands) in the meaning behind or the phrasing of certain expressions.

In terms of the official vocabulary and grammatical rules, there is no difference between Southern Dutch and Northern Dutch. However, the pronunciation does differ — analogous to the difference in pronunciation between, say, British English and Australian English. The Dutch as spoken in the Netherlands has evolved along different lines due to its influences from German and English, whereas the Dutch spoken in the Flanders has long been stagnating at the level of regional and very different sounding dialects due to the fact that even though some 65% of the Belgian population natively speaks Dutch and only some 30% natively speaks French, Belgium was officially a francophone country up until 1960, and it took a lot of protesting and political maneuvering before Belgium officially became trilingual — the third language being German, which is spoken in the so-called East Cantons, a region that Belgium inherited from Germany when the borders were redrawn at the end of World War I.

But so either way, up until 1960, Belgium was officially a francophone country, with a francophone government and a francophone upper class, consisting of the clergy, the aristocracy — notwithstanding the fact that the royal family was of German descent and had been raised in Dutch — and the bourgeoisie. As such, all official communication and documents were in French, and the generic Dutch as spoken in the Netherlands had never been widely adopted (until recently). As such, the Flemish people kept on speaking their regional dialects.

Nowadays, there is a push toward the use of generic Dutch, and the younger generations are starting to speak less in their local dialects, but they cannot hide the pronunciations of those local dialects even when speaking official Dutch. Furthermore, the Southern Dutch of the Flanders sounds very different from the Northern Dutch — which also does have its regional dialects, albeit that the differences between the regional pronunciations there are far less prominent than here in the Flanders. Flemish sounds much dryer than Northern Dutch, which sounds a lot juicier.

For instance, most Flemish people pronounce the "R" in the hard Spanish/Italian way, although there are also many who pronounce it in a throaty French way, and a small minority pronounces it in a slightly rolling way, or sometimes — if they have logopedic problems — as a "J" or a "W". In the Netherlands, the pronunciation of the letter "R" depends on where it is located in the word. If it comes in front of a hard vowel — like at the beginning of a word — then it is commonly pronounced in a throaty way, and if it is a word that ends in an "R", then it is often pronounced in a rolling way, similar (but not identical) to English. And then there are some cases where it is pronounced in a muted way, as in German.

Another example is the pronunciation of the "F", "V" and "W". In the Flanders, those are all pronounced the same way as in English, but in the Netherlands, a "V' is often pronounced as an "F", and a "W" as a "V" (as in German).

:) that's freakin' nuts...I gave up on grammar in elementary school as it always made my head spin...

[Emil El Zapato]

The above-mentioned 2nd book has introduced another Hispanic character. This one is female and by implication a drunk, which renders her a less functional slave-wife but she is really good at making babies.

...Meanwhile back at the ranch, when reading the first book sometime last week I saw multiple references to the color blue and then the rest of the day I keep seeing it everywhere... print, TV, and videos and I thought it a weird coincidence. It wasn't really it was that my mind was focused on the color blue and it finally hit me why. Remember this is the Bronze Age. The color blue did not enter the public lexicon until the Iron Age, prior to that 'Blue' did not exist and was seen as a different shade of green. Can't name it, it doesn't exist at the physical conscious level. What the brain does and so all of us by derivation do is 'background processing'. It then hit me how the self progresses without conscious effort; background processing.

And that my friends is the wordful and practical explanation for the intuitive notion of 'effortless' or 'sprezzatura'.

p.s. I'm not sure if I should consider that a mistake or not. According, to George R.R. Martin and Harry Turtledove, Stirling is a masterful historian, not a biologist.

[Emil El Zapato]

I had the impression that Elen was having health problems.

[Aragorn]

I had the impression that Elen was having health problems.

She had Covid at the time, and after that she had computer problems — which, by her own admission, she also quickly resolved — but any excuse was good enough for her to take a long break from our Shire. Strangely enough, she would then still log in at Project Avalon and/or Eye-Rise.

[Wind]

Looks like MK Ultra Ted "Unabomber" Kaczynski died during the weekend at the ripe old age of 81.

Any takes on his manifesto (https://web.cs.ucdavis.edu/~rogaway/classes/188/materials/Industrial%20Society%20and%20Its%20Future.pdf) about technology and it's potential dangers? Quite relevant especially now.

kXL6DgUh4u8

[Emil El Zapato]

E-VDYPQV

Mutually Assured Destruction was initialized in 1962. Strategies changed in a major way after MAD. Before that the only stopgap was the sound of a big kaboom. Just in looking about a bit, it seems that a 'certain' political persuasion is wont to blurt out one of the commandments, "The U.S. overthrew the Ukrainian administration of Yanukovych. I say, not so fast, if one defines U.S. overthrow as standing in the U.S.'s front yard and cheering 'rah rah sis boom ba', I myself would not be inclined to judge too harshly:

Q. & A.
Why John Mearsheimer Blames the U.S. for the Crisis in Ukraine

For years, the political scientist has claimed that Putin’s aggression toward Ukraine is caused by Western intervention. Have recent events changed his mind?

By Isaac Chotiner

March 1, 2022
Vladimir Putin.

“He is not going to conquer all of Ukraine,” Mearsheimer says, of Putin. “It would be a blunder of colossal proportions to try to do that.”Photograph by Adam Berry / Getty

The political scientist John Mearsheimer has been one of the most famous critics of American foreign policy since the end of the Cold War. Perhaps best known for the book he wrote with Stephen Walt, “The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy,” Mearsheimer is a proponent of great-power politics—a school of realist international relations that assumes that, in a self-interested attempt to preserve national security, states will preëmptively act in anticipation of adversaries. For years, Mearsheimer has argued that the U.S., in pushing to expand nato eastward and establishing friendly relations with Ukraine, has increased the likelihood of war between nuclear-armed powers and laid the groundwork for Vladimir Putin’s aggressive position toward Ukraine. Indeed, in 2014, after Russia annexed Crimea, Mearsheimer wrote that “the United States and its European allies share most of the responsibility for this crisis.”

The current invasion of Ukraine has renewed several long-standing debates about the relationship between the U.S. and Russia. Although many critics of Putin have argued that he would pursue an aggressive foreign policy in former Soviet Republics regardless of Western involvement, Mearsheimer maintains his position that the U.S. is at fault for provoking him. I recently spoke with Mearsheimer by phone. During our conversation, which has been edited for length and clarity, we discussed whether the current war could have been prevented, whether it makes sense to think of Russia as an imperial power, and Putin’s ultimate plans for Ukraine.

Looking at the situation now with Russia and Ukraine, how do you think the world got here?

I think all the trouble in this case really started in April, 2008, at the nato Summit in Bucharest, where afterward nato issued a statement that said Ukraine and Georgia would become part of nato. The Russians made it unequivocally clear at the time that they viewed this as an existential threat, and they drew a line in the sand. Nevertheless, what has happened with the passage of time is that we have moved forward to include Ukraine in the West to make Ukraine a Western bulwark on Russia’s border. Of course, this includes more than just nato expansion. nato expansion is the heart of the strategy, but it includes E.U. expansion as well, and it includes turning Ukraine into a pro-American liberal democracy, and, from a Russian perspective, this is an existential threat.

You said that it’s about “turning Ukraine into a pro-American liberal democracy.” I don’t put much trust or much faith in America “turning” places into liberal democracies. What if Ukraine, the people of Ukraine, want to live in a pro-American liberal democracy?

If Ukraine becomes a pro-American liberal democracy, and a member of nato, and a member of the E.U., the Russians will consider that categorically unacceptable. If there were no nato expansion and no E.U. expansion, and Ukraine just became a liberal democracy and was friendly with the United States and the West more generally, it could probably get away with that. You want to understand that there is a three-prong strategy at play here: E.U. expansion, nato expansion, and turning Ukraine into a pro-American liberal democracy.

You keep saying “turning Ukraine into a liberal democracy,” and it seems like that’s an issue for the Ukrainians to decide. nato can decide whom it admits, but we saw in 2014 that it appeared as if many Ukrainians wanted to be considered part of Europe. It would seem like almost some sort of imperialism to tell them that they can’t be a liberal democracy.

It’s not imperialism; this is great-power politics. When you’re a country like Ukraine and you live next door to a great power like Russia, you have to pay careful attention to what the Russians think, because if you take a stick and you poke them in the eye, they’re going to retaliate. States in the Western hemisphere understand this full well with regard to the United States.

The Monroe Doctrine, essentially.

Of course. There’s no country in the Western hemisphere that we will allow to invite a distant, great power to bring military forces into that country.

Right, but saying that America will not allow countries in the Western hemisphere, most of them democracies, to decide what kind of foreign policy they have—you can say that’s good or bad, but that is imperialism, right? We’re essentially saying that we have some sort of say over how democratic countries run their business.


We do have that say, and, in fact, we overthrew democratically elected leaders in the Western hemisphere during the Cold War because we were unhappy with their policies. This is the way great powers behave.

Of course we did, but I’m wondering if we should be behaving that way. When we’re thinking about foreign policies, should we be thinking about trying to create a world where neither the U.S. nor Russia is behaving that way?

That’s not the way the world works. When you try to create a world that looks like that, you end up with the disastrous policies that the United States pursued during the unipolar moment. We went around the world trying to create liberal democracies. Our main focus, of course, was in the greater Middle East, and you know how well that worked out. Not very well.

I think it would be difficult to say that America’s policy in the Middle East in the past seventy-five years since the end of the Second World War, or in the past thirty years since the end of the Cold War, has been to create liberal democracies in the Middle East.

I think that’s what the Bush Doctrine was about during the unipolar moment.

In Iraq. But not in the Palestinian territories, or Saudi Arabia, or Egypt, or anywhere else, right?

No—well, not in Saudi Arabia and not in Egypt. To start with, the Bush Doctrine basically said that if we could create a liberal democracy in Iraq, it would have a domino effect, and countries such as Syria, Iran, and eventually Saudi Arabia and Egypt would turn into democracies. That was the basic philosophy behind the Bush Doctrine. The Bush Doctrine was not just designed to turn Iraq into a democracy. We had a much grander scheme in mind.

We can debate how much the people who were in charge in the Bush Administration really wanted to turn the Middle East into a bunch of democracies, and really thought that was going to happen. My sense was that there was not a lot of actual enthusiasm about turning Saudi Arabia into a democracy.

Well, I think focussing on Saudi Arabia is taking the easy case from your perspective. That was the most difficult case from America’s perspective, because Saudi Arabia has so much leverage over us because of oil, and it’s certainly not a democracy. But the Bush Doctrine, if you go look at what we said at the time, was predicated on the belief that we could democratize the greater Middle East. It might not happen overnight, but it would eventually happen.

I guess my point would be actions speak louder than words, and, whatever Bush’s flowery speeches said, I don’t feel like the policy of the United States at any point in its recent history has been to try and insure liberal democracies around the world.

There’s a big difference between how the United States behaved during the unipolar moment and how it’s behaved in the course of its history. I agree with you when you talk about American foreign policy in the course of its broader history, but the unipolar moment was a very special time. I believe that during the unipolar moment, we were deeply committed to spreading democracy.

With Ukraine, it’s very important to understand that, up until 2014, we did not envision nato expansion and E.U. expansion as a policy that was aimed at containing Russia. Nobody seriously thought that Russia was a threat before February 22, 2014. nato expansion, E.U. expansion, and turning Ukraine and Georgia and other countries into liberal democracies were all about creating a giant zone of peace that spread all over Europe and included Eastern Europe and Western Europe. It was not aimed at containing Russia. What happened is that this major crisis broke out, and we had to assign blame, and of course we were never going to blame ourselves. We were going to blame the Russians. So we invented this story that Russia was bent on aggression in Eastern Europe. Putin is interested in creating a greater Russia, or maybe even re-creating the Soviet Union.


Let’s turn to that time and the annexation of Crimea. I was reading an old article where you wrote, “According to the prevailing wisdom in the West, the Ukraine Crisis can be blamed almost entirely on Russian aggression. Russian president Vladimir Putin, the argument goes, annexed Crimea out of a longstanding desire to resuscitate the Soviet Empire, and he may eventually go after the rest of Ukraine as well as other countries in Eastern Europe.” And then you say, “But this account is wrong.” Does anything that’s happened in the last couple weeks make you think that account was closer to the truth than you might have thought?

Oh, I think I was right. I think the evidence is clear that we did not think he was an aggressor before February 22, 2014. This is a story that we invented so that we could blame him. My argument is that the West, especially the United States, is principally responsible for this disaster. But no American policymaker, and hardly anywhere in the American foreign-policy establishment, is going to want to acknowledge that line of argument, and they will say that the Russians are responsible.

You mean because the Russians did the annexation and the invasion?

Yes.

I was interested in that article because you say the idea that Putin may eventually go after the rest of Ukraine, as well as other countries in Eastern Europe, is wrong. Given that he seems to be going after the rest of Ukraine now, do you think in hindsight that that argument is perhaps more true, even if we didn’t know it at the time?

It’s hard to say whether he’s going to go after the rest of Ukraine because—I don’t mean to nitpick here but—that implies that he wants to conquer all of Ukraine, and then he will turn to the Baltic states, and his aim is to create a greater Russia or the reincarnation of the Soviet Union. I don’t see evidence at this point that that is true. It’s difficult to tell, looking at the maps of the ongoing conflict, exactly what he’s up to. It seems quite clear to me that he is going to take the Donbass and that the Donbass is going to be either two independent states or one big independent state, but beyond that it’s not clear what he’s going to do. I mean, it does seem apparent that he’s not touching western Ukraine.

His bombs are touching it, right?

But that’s not the key issue. The key issue is: What territory do you conquer, and what territory do you hold onto? I was talking to somebody the other day about what’s going to happen with these forces that are coming out of Crimea, and the person told me that he thought they would turn west and take Odessa. I was talking to somebody else more recently who said that that’s not going to happen. Do I know what’s going to happen? No, none of us know what’s going to happen.

You don’t think he has designs on Kyiv?

No, I don’t think he has designs on Kyiv. I think he’s interested in taking at least the Donbass, and maybe some more territory and eastern Ukraine, and, number two, he wants to install in Kyiv a pro-Russian government, a government that is attuned to Moscow’s interests.

I thought you said that he was not interested in taking Kyiv.

No, he’s interested in taking Kyiv for the purpose of regime change. O.K.?

As opposed to what?

As opposed to permanently conquering Kyiv.

It would be a Russian-friendly government that he would presumably have some say over, right?

Yes, exactly. But it’s important to understand that it is fundamentally different from conquering and holding onto Kyiv. Do you understand what I’m saying?

We could all think of imperial possessions whereby a sort of figurehead was put on the throne, even if the homeland was actually controlling what was going on there, right? We’d still say that those places had been conquered, right?

I have problems with your use of the word “imperial.” I don’t know anybody who talks about this whole problem in terms of imperialism. This is great-power politics, and what the Russians want is a regime in Kyiv that is attuned to Russian interests. It may be ultimately that the Russians would be willing to live with a neutral Ukraine, and that it won’t be necessary for Moscow to have any meaningful control over the government in Kyiv. It may be that they just want a regime that is neutral and not pro-American.

When you said that no one’s talking about this as imperialism, in Putin’s speeches he specifically refers to the “territory of the former Russian Empire,” which he laments losing. So it seems like he’s talking about it.

I think that’s wrong, because I think you’re quoting the first half of the sentence, as most people in the West do. He said, “Whoever does not miss the Soviet Union has no heart.” And then he said, “Whoever wants it back has no brain.”

He’s also saying that Ukraine is essentially a made-up nation, while he seems to be invading it, no?

O.K., but put those two things together and tell me what that means. I’m just not too sure. He does believe it’s a made-up nation. I would note to him, all nations are made up. Any student of nationalism can tell you that. We invent these concepts of national identity. They’re filled with all sorts of myths. So he’s correct about Ukraine, just like he’s correct about the United States or Germany. The much more important point is: he understands that he cannot conquer Ukraine and integrate it into a greater Russia or into a reincarnation of the former Soviet Union. He can’t do that. What he’s doing in Ukraine is fundamentally different. He is obviously lopping off some territory. He’s going to take some territory away from Ukraine, in addition to what happened with Crimea, in 2014. Furthermore, he is definitely interested in regime change. Beyond that, it’s hard to say exactly what this will all lead to, except for the fact that he is not going to conquer all of Ukraine. It would be a blunder of colossal proportions to try to do that.

I assume that you think if he were to try to do that, that would change your analysis of what we’ve witnessed.

Absolutely. My argument is that he’s not going to re-create the Soviet Union or try to build a greater Russia, that he’s not interested in conquering and integrating Ukraine into Russia. It’s very important to understand that we invented this story that Putin is highly aggressive and he’s principally responsible for this crisis in Ukraine. The argument that the foreign-policy establishment in the United States, and in the West more generally, has invented revolves around the claim that he is interested in creating a greater Russia or a reincarnation of the former Soviet Union. There are people who believe that when he is finished conquering Ukraine, he will turn to the Baltic states. He’s not going to turn to the Baltic states. First of all, the Baltic states are members of nato and—

Is that a good thing?

No.

You’re saying that he’s not going to invade them in part because they’re part of nato, but they shouldn’t be part of nato.

Yes, but those are two very different issues. I’m not sure why you’re connecting them. Whether I think they should be part of nato is independent of whether they are part of nato. They are part of nato. They have an Article 5 guarantee—that’s all that matters. Furthermore, he’s never shown any evidence that he’s interested in conquering the Baltic states. Indeed, he’s never shown any evidence that he’s interested in conquering Ukraine.

It seems to me that if he wants to bring back anything, it’s the Russian Empire that predates the Soviet Union. He seems very critical of the Soviet Union, correct?

Well, I don’t know if he’s critical.

He said it in his big essay that he wrote last year, and he said in a recent speech that he essentially blames Soviet policies for allowing a degree of autonomy for Soviet Republics, such as Ukraine.

But he also said, as I read to you before, “Whoever does not miss the Soviet Union has no heart.” That’s somewhat at odds with what you just said. I mean, he’s in effect saying that he misses the Soviet Union, right? That’s what he’s saying. What we’re talking about here is his foreign policy. The question you have to ask yourself is whether or not you think that this is a country that has the capability to do that. You realize that this is a country that has a G.N.P. that’s smaller than Texas.

Countries try to do things that they don’t have the capabilities for all the time. You could have said to me, “Who thinks that America could get the Iraqi power system working quickly? We have all these problems in America.” And you would’ve been correct. But we still thought we could do it, and we still tried to do it, and we failed, right? America couldn’t do what it wanted during Vietnam, which I’m sure you would say is a reason not to fight these various wars—and I would agree—but that doesn’t mean that we were correct or rational about our capabilities.

I’m talking about the raw-power potential of Russia—the amount of economic might it has. Military might is built on economic might. You need an economic foundation to build a really powerful military. To go out and conquer countries like Ukraine and the Baltic states and to re-create the former Soviet Union or re-create the former Soviet Empire in Eastern Europe would require a massive army, and that would require an economic foundation that contemporary Russia does not come close to having. There is no reason to fear that Russia is going to be a regional hegemony in Europe. Russia is not a serious threat to the United States. We do face a serious threat in the international system. We face a peer competitor. And that’s China. Our policy in Eastern Europe is undermining our ability to deal with the most dangerous threat that we face today.

What do you think our policy should be in Ukraine right now, and what do you worry that we’re doing that’s going to undermine our China policy?

We should be pivoting out of Europe to deal with China in a laser-like fashion, number one. And, number two, we should be working overtime to create friendly relations with the Russians. The Russians are part of our balancing coalition against China. If you live in a world where there are three great powers—China, Russia, and the United States—and one of those great powers, China, is a peer competitor, what you want to do if you’re the United States is have Russia on your side of the ledger. Instead, what we have done with our foolish policies in Eastern Europe is drive the Russians into the arms of the Chinese. This is a violation of Balance of Power Politics 101.

I went back and I reread your article about the Israel lobby in the London Review of Books, from 2006. You were talking about the Palestinian issue, and you said something that I very much agree with, which is: “There is a moral dimension here as well. Thanks to the lobby of the United States it has become the de facto enabler of Israeli occupation in the occupied territories, making it complicit in the crimes perpetrated against the Palestinians.” I was cheered to read that because I know you think of yourself as a tough, crusty old guy who doesn’t talk about morality, but it seemed to me you were suggesting that there was a moral dimension here. I’m curious what you think, if any, of the moral dimension to what’s going on in Ukraine right now.


I think there is a strategic and a moral dimension involved with almost every issue in international politics. I think that sometimes those moral and strategic dimensions line up with each other. In other words, if you’re fighting against Nazi Germany from 1941 to 1945, you know the rest of the story. There are other occasions where those arrows point in opposite directions, where doing what is strategically right is morally wrong. I think if you join an alliance with the Soviet Union to fight against Nazi Germany, it is a strategically wise policy, but it is a morally wrong policy. But you do it because you have no choice for strategic reasons. In other words, what I’m saying to you, Isaac, is that when push comes to shove, strategic considerations overwhelm moral considerations. In an ideal world, it would be wonderful if the Ukrainians were free to choose their own political system and to choose their own foreign policy.

But in the real world, that is not feasible. The Ukrainians have a vested interest in paying serious attention to what the Russians want from them. They run a grave risk if they alienate the Russians in a fundamental way. If Russia thinks that Ukraine presents an existential threat to Russia because it is aligning with the United States and its West European allies, this is going to cause an enormous amount of damage to Ukraine. That of course is exactly what’s happening now. So my argument is: the strategically wise strategy for Ukraine is to break off its close relations with the West, especially with the United States, and try to accommodate the Russians. If there had been no decision to move nato eastward to include Ukraine, Crimea and the Donbass would be part of Ukraine today, and there would be no war in Ukraine.

That advice seems a bit implausible now. Is there still time, despite what we’re seeing from the ground, for Ukraine to appease Russia somehow?

I think there’s a serious possibility that the Ukrainians can work out some sort of modus vivendi with the Russians. And the reason is that the Russians are now discovering that occupying Ukraine and trying to run Ukraine’s politics is asking for big trouble.

So you are saying occupying Ukraine is going to be a tough slog?

Absolutely, and that’s why I said to you that I did not think the Russians would occupy Ukraine in the long term. But, just to be very clear, I did say they’re going to take at least the Donbass, and hopefully not more of the easternmost part of Ukraine. I think the Russians are too smart to get involved in an occupation of Ukraine.

[Octopus Garden]

"In an ideal world, it would be wonderful if the Ukrainians were free to choose their own political system and to choose their own foreign policy.

But in the real world, that is not feasible. The Ukrainians have a vested interest in paying serious attention to what the Russians want from them."


This is true, Chuckie. Thank you for the post. When the invasion began, I was focused on the Ukrainian people and their desire for sovereignty. And that makes for a strong argument in the moral dimension, but not in the strategic one. Moral arguments have to be as all encompassing as strategic ones.

Canadians should be able to protect our sovereignty by joining a NATO like alliance, dominated by Russia and China, if one existed. But how would the U.S react? I would expect they would have a hairy fit and invade Canada immediately, and use every means at their disposal to ensure our complete destruction, if that is what it took.

It doesn't matter, morally, what anyone here wants--and many would like to see a complete separation from the US. The reality is, we are within its sphere of influence and to agitate for separation would turn out to be a moral failure, even if the idea was built on morally 'superior' ideals. We'd end up a smoking cinder with millions dead and how moral would that be?

[Octopus Garden]

I read somewhere that was evolutionary when it was essential for people to blend in when in foreign or even hostile lands. Now it's just an unconscious way of connecting or putting people at ease. The mind is really a marvel of instant adaptation. It would seem like adopting an accent would take time, like learning the language the accent came from but apparently not.

I had an uncle that talked 17th century French in his sleep. My aunt taped him because she thought it meant he was having an affair. ha ha. . When he was conscious, he knew not a word of French and couldn't even manage an accent. The conscious mind and the subconscious mind are two entirely different lands.

Edit:

Oh!

And people with speech impediments? IF they adopt an accent they don't' have the impediment or difficulty in pronouncing the word if they are accenting it differently. I'd have to think about the Why of that one though.

This is astonishing. What an interesting family you have! On a similar note, Quebec French is much closer to 17th century French than modern French. In Guadalupe, in Caribbean I saw an interesting exchange between a younger person speaking European French, serving my French Canadian friend. If looks could kill. Hooo boy. The French don't hold back. The waitress corrected my friend on either a word or pronunciation.

Another French Canadian friend told me that her son had a bit of a tough time when he lived and worked in Paris as his French was thought to be highly antiquated and that he was a dumb hick. So this whole theme that if you are rural your use of the language is stupid so therefore you must be too, isn't just an Anglo fixation.

Anglo-Canadians have their own peculiarities. We say sorry frequently. Sometimes instead of "excuse me" and sometimes just because we are polite and do feel shame more easily. It's drummed into us from infancy. That's a hold over from more recent immigration from Britain reinforcing all of the English inhibition that was already here.

The 'eh' has more meaning than this clip implies. In Central and Eastern Canada, instead of calling out, "Hi Brian!" for example. You might be more likely to call out, "Eh, Brian!" And of course it is affixed to the end of many declarations, as a polite way of asking your partner(s) in conversation, what they think, or if they agree. I think this comes more from Scots-Irish populations.

I spent my formative years in Central Canada and use 'eh' a lot. When I am writing I don't, which feels rude to me and like I am being a 'know it all.' If I was to converse with anybody here about any subject, you could be sure there would be at least one 'sorry' and a few 'eh's.'

But damn, do Canadians swear a lot! Holy Sh**! French Canadians and Anglos both. Mon Dieu! Merde!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPu0KRQZYBg

[Emil El Zapato]

"In an ideal world, it would be wonderful if the Ukrainians were free to choose their own political system and to choose their own foreign policy.

But in the real world, that is not feasible. The Ukrainians have a vested interest in paying serious attention to what the Russians want from them."


This is true, Chuckie. Thank you for the post. When the invasion began, I was focused on the Ukrainian people and their desire for sovereignty. And that makes for a strong argument in the moral dimension, but not in the strategic one. Moral arguments have to be as all encompassing as strategic ones.

Canadians should be able to protect our sovereignty by joining a NATO like alliance, dominated by Russia and China, if one existed. But how would the U.S react? I would expect they would have a hairy fit and invade Canada immediately, and use every means at their disposal to ensure our complete destruction, if that is what it took.

It doesn't matter, morally, what anyone here wants--and many would like to see a complete separation from the US. The reality is, we are within its sphere of influence and to agitate for separation would turn out to be a moral failure, even if the idea was built on morally 'superior' ideals. We'd end up a smoking cinder with millions dead and how moral would that be?

that's true, yet, I think it is a bit more complex than that. Missiles in Cuba were a definite no-no. Economic agreements pervade the Western hemisphere. With economics the battlefield of today, those money agreements are becoming synonymous with political and military agreements. You gotta trust somebody...which is one of Putin's problems, his paranoia doesn't allow for trust. And there's more.

The missiles in Cuba, 12-15 minutes to D.C., not much slack time. And essentially no MAD

[Emil El Zapato]

For anyone that is really interested in the honesty of the press, mainstream or otherwise. I've noticed that most people that disdain mainstream media are usually the most confused.

Deceptive Cuts Show Biden Out of Context, Not Evidence of Mental Decline
The pattern of clips taken out of context creates the implication that the president is unfit for office
Newswise

Fact Check By: Fact Check Staff, Newswise
Truthfulness: False

Claim:
Biden doesn’t know what on Earth he’s doing or at times where he even is.
Claim Publisher and Date: Laura Ingraham, host of Fox News The Ingraham Angle on 2022-04-05
Newswise — Earlier this week, former president Barack Obama paid a visit to the White House for an event celebrating the 12th anniversary of the passage of the Affordable Care Act.

Out of context video clips from the event began circulating on social media, first posted by the accounts for the RNC and Newsmax, as well as getting coverage in primetime cable news. The deceptively cut clips of the reception show President Joe Biden mingling among guests at the event, with his actions in the video presented as fodder to accuse the president of being in a state of mental decline.

Thoroughly debunked by Rolling Stone here, these videos, and more importantly, the accompanying commentary, are just the latest in a pattern of clips taken out of context to create the implication that the president is unfit for office.

Taken in proper context, the allegations are not supported by video evidence, earning these claims a rating of false.

“Biden doesn’t know what on Earth he’s doing or at times where he even is,” alleged host Laura Ingrahm, while airing one of the deceptively cut clips.

“Biden wandered off, looking vacant,” insinuated host Tucker Carlson, while airing the second.

However, these claims are undermined by what happens mere seconds after the video cuts.

Rolling Stone explains:

“The only problem is that both clips were taken out of context. Biden does look a little confused in the first clip, but it’s only because he’s looking for someone…The second clip ends right before Biden gets Obama’s attention and introduces him to someone.”

Clear context provided by the uncut video was pointed out by Twitter user @Acyn, after primetime hosts on Fox News ran the deceptive cuts. Providing the uncut video after the clips from Fox News, @Acyn points out the reasonable explanation for Biden’s actions not seen in the cut versions.

A screengrab shows the moment, in the first video, when an allegedly ‘confused’ Biden locates Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and invites her to the stage at 0:31 seconds. The second screengrab depicts the moment that Biden, watching as Obama shakes hands with guests, is able to get the former president’s attention and introduce him to someone waiting nearby at 0:09 seconds.

These allegations are not new. For example, during the 2020 Election, Fox News political analyst Britt Hume referred to Biden as ‘senile’ on more than one occassion.

“Senility is not a precise medical term, but is often used in place of the more precise and accepted medical term of ‘dementia,’” Kenneth Langa, Cyrus Sturgis Professor of Medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School, told Politifact here in October, 2020, when they fact-checked Hume’s comments after the presidential debate.

"It is possible that Biden may have more difficulties finding some words and speaking smoothly than when he was younger," Langa told Politifact at the time, “but that does not mean he is "senile" or even that he has "mild cognitive impairment.”

In September, 2020, The Conversation posted an in-depth discussion of deceptive video editing on Snopes.com here, authored by Michigan State University professor Dustin Carnahan, in which he warned, “If the fakers pull ahead of the detectors in this altered video arms race, the 2020 election could come to be seen as the start of an era when people can no longer be certain that what they see is what they can believe.”

Also in September 2020, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a bulletin warning that these attacks were being spread by a Russian disinformation operation.

In conclusion, readers are urged to approach these kinds of claims with a critical eye. This guide by the Washington Post provides some helpful suggestions.

[Diabolical Boids]

Wow. So it's not dementia, brain damage or age related.

It really is just because he is a random idiot.

[Emil El Zapato]

Wow. So it's not dementia, brain damage or age related.

It really is just because he is a random idiot.

If you insist, but he is very consistent in his pattern of thinking, idiots, normals, and geniuses have consistency in their own mental processes. It takes something else to judge those processes. Keeping in the forefront of one's mind that an external judgment of another's level of intelligence is fraught with its own pitfalls sometimes it is best to keep them to oneself.

[Diabolical Boids]

If you insist, but he is very consistent in his pattern of thinking, idiots, normals, and geniuses have consistency in their own mental processes. It takes something else to judge those processes. Keeping in the forefront of one's mind that an external judgment of another's level of intelligence is fraught with its own pitfalls sometimes it is best to keep them to oneself.

Very consistent. So consistent that people think he's mentally deficient.

The wonderful thing about Biden is that the more you notice he's mentally deficient the more his ardent supporters are compelled to prove that he is.

[Emil El Zapato]

I spoke with a pastor from Ukraine on Thursday and tried to get his thoughts on the war. I actually thought he was Russian (I thought I recognized the American he was with from my NASA days. I think it was obvious that he is pretty traumatized by the whole thing. He mentioned that he felt Jesus had saved him already many times. I told him that I had spoken with other people from war-torn countries to get their thoughts and feelings about it and how they would say that things start out with great panic but over time undergo a sense of normalization. Not him, he said there was an ongoing panic and went on to say that one day in a shelter, people were constantly praying and invoking Jesus. He said it was like a gigantic thunderstorm for 24 hours (he compared it to a storm we had on Wednesday night which I slept through).

I asked him about his view of the war trying to get an idea of what the Ukrainians thought about win/lose. He bypassed that completely and just said it is too crazy to explain. He said he is in the Houston, Texas area for about a month and then is going back. I think he needed the respite.

I did get a free bible out of it and I gave it to my daughter.

[Emil El Zapato]

Coincidentally, I also spoke to a Vietnamese-American lady whose father apparently spent 8 years in a North Vietnamese 'camp' after the rejoining of the countries. Their family was told it would be 3 months. They actually took her mother as well but she was released after 3 months. She mentioned that even now it is very difficult for former South Vietnamese to get opportunities that the North Vietnamese do. She had traveled there and she and a friend took a tour of Ho Chi Minh City and other parts. She got stranded for an extra day due to plane problems and then had her luggage delivered to her several days later.

She brought up the Koreans and betrayed an admiration for the South Koreans' complete unwillingness to reunite. She mentioned that she couldn't understand the North's obeisance to its fearless leader.

We had a good laugh about that. We both agreed it was best to just be told what to do. I said, yeah, "just tell me what to do and I'll do it", she responded while laughing, "Yeah, and you don't have to tell me twice".

[Diabolical Boids]

That is what commonly unites Trump and Biden supporters. Neither can understand the other's complete obeisance to their respective leaders.

You'd think that would be the easiest thing to understand.

Even I understand it and I don't even have a dog in that race. Be the observer....really its harder to be the spectator than the Trumpster or Bidenphile .


I guess the really unfair thing is that Biden is object of comedy and worldwide ridicule the way Trump used to be during his admin.

That's all shifted now,. Trump is a great white --okay, orange--terror out of office and Biden is still a goofy do nothing numbnutz and once led stumbling off the world stage they willhave to work over time to keep him relevant. Trump haters keep Trump relevant. They do his work for him,.

My sister lets Trump eat into her head to the point I'm ready to go to the vet and get a cone to put around her neck.

She snarls, I don't know why you put up with it. (Meaning why I'm not writing on the floor and chewing my own liver out over him because, yeah, that will show Trump!) I'll have a rent liver and Trump will be in his palace eating a cheeseburger with a supermodel. Hardly serves my self interests.


To love either is to become either in a certain sense.

[Emil El Zapato]

That is what commonly unites Trump and Biden supporters. Neither can understand the other's complete obeisance to their respective leaders.

You'd think that would be the easiest thing to understand.

Even I understand it and I don't even have a dog in that race. Be the observer....really its harder to be the spectator than the Trumpster or Bidenphile .


I guess the really unfair thing is that Biden is object of comedy and worldwide ridicule the way Trump used to be during his admin.

That's all shifted now,. Trump is a great white --okay, orange--terror out of office and Biden is still a goofy do nothing numbnutz and once led stumbling off the world stage they willhave to work over time to keep him relevant. Trump haters keep Trump relevant. They do his work for him,.

My sister lets Trump eat into her head to the point I'm ready to go to the vet and get a cone to put around her neck.

She snarls, I don't know why you put up with it. (Meaning why I'm not writing on the floor and chewing my own liver out over him because, yeah, that will show Trump!) I'll have a rent liver and Trump will be in his palace eating a cheeseburger with a supermodel. Hardly serves my self interests.


To love either is to become either in a certain sense.

I guess you could say that, but really most of Biden's 'supporters' are living in the real world...most of the clueless slo joe memes and comedy you see is mostly the right doing its usual character assassination. They have awakened to the reality that lying, cheating, and stealing on a constant basis is their only way to win. So be it, What I've been aware of for 40 years has become obvious to the rest of the West. The right is pushing hard to lead us full bore into fascism (In their minds a better way to retain power as truly no real choices need be made then, just installation of the fascist choice.)

https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/ft_2022.07.25_bidencharts_01.png?w=457

[Aragorn]

Q: What would happen if all Trump supporters and all Biden supporters were to join efforts at terraforming and colonizing Mars?

A: There'd be nobody left in North America to stop the native American peoples from taking back the land that was stolen from them, and traffic on the internet would drop by 70%.



Personally, I think it would be a marvelous idea.

:facepalm:

[Fred Steeves]

My sister lets Trump eat into her head to the point I'm ready to go to the vet and get a cone to put around her neck.

Didn’t see that one coming, thanks for the chuckle!

Head cones for those in need, safe and effective.

[Diabolical Boids]

I guess you could say that, but really most of Biden's 'supporters' are living in the real world...most of the clueless slo joe memes and comedy you see is mostly the right doing its usual character assassination. They have awakened to the reality that lying, cheating, and stealing on a constant basis is their only way to win. So be it, What I've been aware of for 40 years has become obvious to the rest of the West. The right is pushing hard to lead us full bore into fascism (In their minds a better way to retain power as truly no real choices need be made then, just installation of the fascist choice.)

https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/ft_2022.07.25_bidencharts_01.png?w=457

Yes citing a source that is historically the largest tax dodger ever, will lend Biden some credibility.

I gotta admit his admirers make him look good in comparison.

[Emil El Zapato]

Well, I didn't see too many undesirables on the list. A possible exception is Israel. What it tells me is that most of the people in Israel are not happy with what's his name.


Q: What would happen if all Trump supporters and all Biden supporters were to join efforts at terraforming and colonizing Mars?

A: There'd be nobody left in North America to stop the native American peoples from taking back the land that was stolen from them, and traffic on the internet would drop by 70%.



Personally, I think it would be a marvelous idea.

:facepalm:

I am 30% Native American and don't really care to have my ancestral lands back. I'm satisfied with my little hacienda... :) Even more happy about Taco Bell, it used to be McDonald's but I decided I could get low-rate traditional fare which is healthier.

[Fred Steeves]

https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/ft_2022.07.25_bidencharts_01.png?w=457


Yes citing a source that is historically the largest tax dodger ever, will lend Biden some credibility.

Psssssst, don't tell anybody... you know what that list really represents?

When Western elites are busily running around in search of cameras and microphones to brag about the whole world being on their side with concern to The Ukraine Project, it means the entire world save for a few misfit toys (that are on a different list if you know what I mean).

[modwiz]

https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/ft_2022.07.25_bidencharts_01.png?w=457



Psssssst, don't tell anybody... you know what that list really represents?

When Western elites are busily running around in search of cameras and microphones to brag about the whole world being on their side with concern to The Ukraine Project, it means the entire world save for a few misfit toys (that are on a different list if you know what I mean).

Yeah, Pew research. Who farted?:ttr:

Read it and hold your nose.

[Diabolical Boids]

Psst. Fred.

(whispers) I KNOW what you mean!

It didn't pass my attention only US allies were polled and or only shown. (literally laughs out loud)

Interesting how places like Brazil, Saudi Arabia, India or China --all economic powers--were excluded from the poll. Or their responses weren't shown.


Har har har dee har har.

[Emil El Zapato]

Psst. Fred.

(whispers) I KNOW what you mean!

It didn't pass my attention only US allies were polled and or only shown. (literally laughs out loud)

Interesting how places like Brazil, Saudi Arabia, India or China --all economic powers--were excluded from the poll. Or their responses weren't shown.


Har har har dee har har.

Or more likely refused to participate...Do we like the government philosophies of Brazil, Saudi Arabia, and China? Doesn't anyone ever think about their posts anymore? Who are we more intent on pleasing allies or adversaries? In any case, isn't the U.S. suppose to be bombing Brazil as I write? Gawd, you people are so confused, you confuse me.

[Diabolical Boids]

Or more likely refused to participate...Do we like the government philosophies of Brazil, Saudi Arabia, and China? Doesn't anyone ever think about their posts anymore? Who are we more intent on pleasing allies or adversaries? In any case, isn't the U.S. suppose to be bombing Brazil as I write? Gawd, you people are so confused, you confuse me.

We sure are dependent on Saudia Arabia and China in spite of what the West thinks about their philosophies. But we've always been the most politically hypocritical nation ever.

Confusion comes from the inability to look at things from a 360 way and only looking at perspectives that make us feel good. Practicing detachment isn't callousness its practicing detachment.

I wouldn't be the least surprised if the US is bombing a BRICs nation. I'd be more suprised if they weren't.

[Emil El Zapato]

We sure are dependent on Saudia Arabia and China in spite of what the West thinks about their philosophies. But we've always been the most politically hypocritical nation ever.

Confusion comes from the inability to look at things from a 360 way and only looking at perspectives that make us feel good. Practicing detachment isn't callousness its practicing detachment.

I wouldn't be the least surprised if the US is bombing a BRICs nation. I'd be more suprised if they weren't.

lol, really? I didn't say a damn thing about dependencies. Of course, there is a mutual INTERDEPENDENCE among the global communities, and that has always been the case, it is the reason for moves and countermoves. It has been an acknowledged state of affairs for decades that PEACE not war pays. It is the status quo. For now...

[Diabolical Boids]

lol, really? I didn't say a damn thing about dependencies. Of course, there is a mutual INTERDEPENDENCE among the global communities, and that has always been the case, it is the reason for moves and countermoves. It has been an acknowledged state of affairs for decades that PEACE not war pays. It is the status quo. For now...

Co dependency is the word you are looking for.

I guess peace is where you and Biden fail to see eye to eye on things, eh?

[Emil El Zapato]

Co dependency is the word you are looking for.

I guess peace is where you and Biden fail to see eye to eye on things, eh?

Wrong again, Boids, it is where Putler and mees dont see eyeball to eyeball. The Biden admin has done the only sane thing it could do. And please don't respond with the usual recriminations of the U.S. as the great Satan. How many nations has the U.S. declared independent and then occupied them and then used its citizens as cannon fodder or stripped them of all their natural resources and then left them broken and hungry? With the exception of the former administration, there has not been a splitting of families like cattle either. It's like calling the American left and right as equally f*cked up.

[Emil El Zapato]

By the way, I did agree with your assessment of Perghwhatshisname attempted coup. He turned back for reasons beyond he was satisfied with the 'deal' he got. If he doesn't come to a bad end fairly quickly that is a sign of Putin's ... something. Either Wagner is extremely valuable or Putin is losing ground.

[Diabolical Boids]

By the way, I did agree with your assessment of Perghwhatshisname attempted coup. He turned back for reasons beyond he was satisfied with the 'deal' he got. If he doesn't come to a bad end fairly quickly that is a sign of Putin's ... something. Either Wagner is extremely valuable or Putin is losing ground.

According to the news Putin was utterly destroyed by the coup that didn't happen. And no I don't believe that since Russia has been losing the war everyday for almost two years but still the war goes on.

I wonder if the whole thing was perhaps some diversionary tactic of Russia, but I can't really figure out to what end. When I asked the response was certain huffiness that means I touched a nerve but still remain dubious about the official story.

[Emil El Zapato]

According to the news Putin was utterly destroyed by the coup that didn't happen. And no I don't believe that since Russia has been losing the war everyday for almost two years but still the war goes on.

I wonder if the whole thing was perhaps some diversionary tactic of Russia, but I can't really figure out to what end. When I asked the response was certain huffiness that means I touched a nerve but still remain dubious about the official story.

Wind isn't prone to use certain tones or language, he is a bit of a gentleman actually. Online, I'm not...what he meant by theater and circus...well, I'll use a polite euphemism, a clusterf*ck.

The news that I listen to and read never makes such ridiculous claims. The impression that I get is that what is revealed is a big chink in Putin's armor. To me, this seems a very interesting scenario. Historically, it doesn't match up to the impressions of Putin. Either, he is or isn't a despot, a true despot would not let a subordinate threaten his power. I would think the other dude would go away unless he is too powerful for Putin. Thus Putin's invulnerability comes heavily into question.

As a diversionary tactic, it would not be useful for Putin's side. The only positive would be if he is trying to appear irretrievably weak to justify nukes. But if he breaks out the nukes everything is going to go boom and he will be the primary target. I suppose it wouldn't be the first time a loser tried to take the entire world with him down that endless rabbit hole called Hades. Nero comes to mind (even if that is more a historical myth than reality).

[Diabolical Boids]

Wind isn't prone to use certain tones or language, he is a bit of a gentleman actually. Online, I'm not...what he meant by theater and circus...well, I'll use a polite euphemism, a clusterf*ck.

The news that I listen to and read never makes such ridiculous claims. The impression that I get is that what is revealed is a big chink in Putin's armor. To me, this seems a very interesting scenario. Historically, it doesn't match up to the impressions of Putin. Either, he is or isn't a despot, a true despot would not let a subordinate threaten his power. I would think the other dude would go away unless he is too powerful for Putin. Thus Putin's invulnerability comes heavily into question.

As a diversionary tactic, it would not be useful for Putin's side. The only positive would be if he is trying to appear irretrievably weak to justify nukes. But if he breaks out the nukes everything is going to go boom and he will be the primary target. I suppose it wouldn't be the first time a loser tried to take the entire world with him down that endless rabbit hole called Hades. Nero comes to mind (even if that is more a historical myth than reality).

Gee that wasn't terribly hard to explain. Thanks.

[Emil El Zapato]

Gee that wasn't terribly hard to explain. Thanks.

Sure, happy to do it... :)

[Emil El Zapato]

As near as I can tell, the most recent efforts and estimates calculate that right now Putin has control of 20% of Ukraine, 17.2% of which is comprised of Crimea (territory held since 2014). I watched part of the Mushmeier interview with mushmouth (formally known as Greenwald and now disowned by what's her/his name...Manning). Mushmeier doesn't seem to realize that Ukraine has a number of Western power countries allied behind it with high support from most of the democratic nations of the world...as evidenced by the Pew research report that I posted a while back which in a very infantile fashion was pu'd by those that saw it. Has anyone ever checked the level of credibility that think tank carries? Probably not...<sigh>.

Biden stated the truth about the state of munitions and it was reported in all those lying and stupid mainstream media outlets...I also read, can't stand to watch people lie out of their asses, the non-mainstream fantasy covering outlets...but I never remember what I read because lies go in one ear, cause a neurological brain inflammation, and then pass out the other ear.

One of the talking heads, a sane former military commander, completely smashed the justification the Biden admin put forward to justify cluster munitions. And I was believing it was solid logic before I heard that. Interestingly the former commander never stated if he was in favor of it or not, but he had in the past some bad experiences with it in terms of collateral damage which was the reason for the justification that was put forth. Of course, Putin has never hesitated to use them.


Truth please, let's have the truth!

[Aianawa]

Ok Chuckstirrrr, here is a facet, maybe, from Clif >



Principles of Human Farming.
Welcome to the farm, mind where you step.
CLIF HIGH


JUL 8









SHARE





Principles of Human Farming.
Welcome to the farm, mind where you step.
Anxiety. A general daily state of low level anxiousness. A vague feeling of a ‘something’ coming from the future, as in a sense of pending doom.
Depression. A pervasive mental attitude dominated by negative thoughts, and negative emotions being applied to all thinking coloring all decisions, and perspectives. All thinking affected by the inability to anticipate positive change in the future.
Mind fog. Inability to think completely, and clearly. Inability to sustain thought. Lost thoughts, mental confusion, poorly formed thoughts, inability to sustain effort to reach conclusions.
Addiction. The general tendency toward addictive behavior built around any, and all, physical responses that relieve the daily state of anxiety and dread. The addictive behavior includes non-physical, perceived triggers of bodily relief responses. These can include religion, government,ideology, and tribalism.
Body malformation, and mal-operation. The generalized state of operating with less than optimal bodily functions. Hormones poorly formed, or incompletely formed. Body formation incomplete, or interrupted. Daily biochemical operation impaired to the point of creating persistent disease conditions.
The above is a partial listing of the effects on humans from an inadequate gut microbiome. These are just the major categories. A complete listing would run into the tens of thousands of identified health problems and states including such as autism, and cancer, and all forms of mental illness. We all know these states of ill-health, if not personally experienced, then just from the constant barrage of Big Pharma advertising around them. It is safe to say without the possibility of refutation, that all aspects of human life, both individually, and collectively, even up to the level of the society itself, are directly controlled on a daily basis by the state of general health of the individual’s gut biome.
There is no aspect of your life’s history that has free of impact from your gut bacteria. In a very real sense, your gut bacteria control, and direct your life. In a much more real sense, the LACK of certain gut bacteria, such as those producing the effects listed above, allow your mind and life to be controlled. The lack of specific gut microbiome bacteria strains, affect your ability to generate, and sustain, WILL POWER.
It’s complicated. It arises from the micro-biochemistry involved in cell mitochondrial interactions as well as sustaining biochemical transfer layers in your various systems, most frequently impacting the shared resources of the Vagus nerve complex. Lack of the L. Reuteri (96% of humanity no longer has this major, systemic control, and mind enhancement bacterium), and L. Gasseri strains, and others, will degrade the ability of the Vagus nerve in its functions, thus impacting all the connected major organ systems. As stated. It’s complicated.
The main premise here is not that complex, that is, that the invading force of Space Aliens needed to turn the wild humans into something more domesticated such that we could be more easily harvested for the biochemical treasures that our vagus nervous system creates.
Further the premise is that the Space Aliens started tinkering with our genetics, much as we do with cattle, to produce their domesticated version of a human. This necessitated that they first establish control of the wild humans, and to do that, this premise argues, they set about depriving their human stock of several specific strains of gut bacteria.
Then they started their GMO operation on the wild humans, using a CRSPR like device that burnt out the existing gene array (chromosome) at J2/J3 junction, thus reducing humans from 24 to 23 chromosome pairs.
The Space Aliens fucked up. They were aiming to make us dumb(er), and complacent, much as we have done to cattle. It is stated that domesticated cattle are about only a third as smart as their wild cousins. That was the goal of the Space Aliens, a dumb, and complacent humanity that would be easily harvested.
Their problem was that they also were trying to increase aspects of our biochemistry and physiology. They were/are harvesting adrenochrome from our Vagus nervous complex, and its specific, inner-abdominal fats (storage) structures. They wanted us to produce more adrenochrome, and to store more, thus more fat cells in-between the organs in the abdominal cavity.
Apparently the Space Aliens could not have it both ways. Their attempt to get humans to produce more adrenaline to be oxidized into their drug, adrenochrome, worked, but it also produced a tendency towards smarter, more perceptive humans. Oops.
After many many many failed experiments with hominids, the Space Aliens, due to developing circumstances, ended their GMO efforts. They were content with our productive capacities, but still needed their control over the herd such that we would not panic en masse at harvest season.
That is when their mind control system was developed and put into place on their Human Farm.
First thing that the Space Aliens did was to instruct their cattle on what could not be eaten. Many foods were restricted to humans. Further there were restrictions placed on how the foods should be prepared, then consumed.
One of the forms of scientific studies is what is called a ‘literature review’, or ‘meta study’, in which many other studies are analyzed. This material derives from such an effort. In our literature review, it is noted that every instance of a pantheon of gods showing up in human literature has always been followed by those humans being told not to eat pork, among other items.
This prohibition is so consistent as to beg for examination. Further, it cannot be explained by the diseases that can be passed from swine to humans as we are examining a global phenomenon, and disease was not ubiquitous, nor continuous enough to explain this constant prohibition that always arises first whenever the ‘gods’ are involved. The Devas of Vedic fame, the Theoae of the Greeks, the Elohim, the Annunaki, the Baal, the Molachi….all of these pantheons, including those in Meso-America interacting with the Aztecs all demanded that humans abstain from pork.
One of the results of the literature review of ancient documents provides some hints that the reason, the ‘why’ of this particular food prohibition was that pork fats taint human fats (adrenaline) with a flavor that the Space Aliens find unpalatable. There is a body of evidence on the interactions of the Space Aliens and humans in a personal body presence way to support this conclusion.
The other conclusion, that is that the space aliens don’t care about the human herd at an individual level, is also easily supported. It is in the interests of the Space Aliens that we be controlled to the point that harvest is not obstructed or reduced, and that the rate of harvest is reasonably consist over time. To that end, it is desirable from the view of the Space Aliens, to have overly large herds, of generally weakened individuals.
The general state of poor health not only makes individual members of the herd more easily controlled, and thus harvested, but also provides a slight increase in adrenaline production over time due to the constant stress of poor health, and environmental conditions.
The Space Alien overlords have a very sophisticated understanding of minds, mind control, biology, and environmental factors affecting each. They are equally sophisticated in understanding our social order, and as with all good managers, use the systems available for their purposes whenever possible.
A key area in herd management in human farming is to stop all human advancement, and restrict where ever possible, the path towards optimum health.
A healthy human is NOT an easily controlled, nor easily harvested herd animal.
In fact, for the Space Aliens, a healthy human is a menace.
The Space Aliens, going back many thousands of years, including the Akkadian Empire, Sumerian, Egyptian, and other empires in Meso-America, and Central Europe, all had the same sets of prohibitions of foods, spices, and preparation techniques. Further these civilizations also display a consistent resemblance to each other around writing being a ‘gift’ from the ‘gods’, as well as the institution of ‘scribes’ whose early, primary function, was recording for dissemination, the ‘commandments of the gods’.
If we examine the nature of the prohibitions at a global level, we find that the Space Alien created cultures specifically coerced use of antimicrobial, antibacterial spices and substances. These were not for human health. These were induced into the diet to force a continuing degradation of the gut biome around specific clades of microbiota including strains of L. Reuteri.
The Space Aliens were intent on depriving humans of both whole classes of microbiome bacteria, as well as individual strains of specific species. This was in support of the overall effort to control the human herd by ‘domesticating’ our gut biome to serve their control purposes as well as to increase adrenochrome production.
Other food restrictions were also commanded as they furthered the effort at mind control of the human herd. Restrictions on salt intake (going to ion control in Vagus nervous system as well as neuron networks in the brain), and other essential nutrients were put into place to effect the electrical efficiency of the human body, again, thus providing a degrading factor to aid in control, at individual, and collective levels.
Where ever is found food restrictions commanded by the ‘gods’, the Space Alien human farmer is revealed.
We see this, even now being attempted to be introduced yet again, by the mother WEFfers with their whole ‘you will eat ze bugz’ campaign. All the actions of the mother WEFfers point to them acting as the managers for the Space Aliens of the human farm that is Planet Earth. All their efforts can be summarized as being directed to getting the human herd under control, and ready to be harvested for their Space Alien masters.
Given the literature review, and the exposure of the Space Alien agenda in human diet restrictions, and given the recent language and actions of the WEF, along with the associated global control network, it appears that the WEF is being pressured by the thought of their Space Alien masters returning to catch them with the farm in disarray. Thus they are redoubling their efforts, as we have all witnessed. And though the results are less than they expected, they will keep on with their management program, even as the herd is breaking free from their mind control. The WEF and the global control structure is desperate, and becoming more so with every day, as they think there is a ‘owners’ meeting for the Planet Earth Human Farm in the near future.
Now, me? I favor the pirate model, the wild human point of view. I want to take these space aliens, and their management crew, and really fuck them up!
Fight Space Alien control. Fix your gut microbiome! Become a better, ungovernable, human. Resistance is NOT useless! Humanity will achieve Victory!

[Aianawa]

As Frank says, many truths.

[Emil El Zapato]

As Frank says, many truths.

For starters, I'm down with the gut biome...which is why I take probiotics every day... :)

[Emil El Zapato]

Ok Chuckstirrrr, here is a facet, maybe, from Clif >

Well, that was interesting...I'm gearing up.

[Aianawa]

From this email share or another, he feels probiotics you talkin of is wee starter in comparison to whats atm being created, great times ahead.

[Emil El Zapato]

From this email share or another, he feels probiotics you talkin of is wee starter in comparison to whats atm being created, great times ahead.

yeah, I hear you, Aianawa

I asked my shrink sister about reiki, she said she loves it....whatever that means? :)

[Emil El Zapato]

We need to track the direction that are mouthpieces are moving:

"What is wrong with Glenn Greenwald"

https://substackcdn.com/public/audio/96685aaa-0c76-4afb-949f-3ed1dede9090.mpga?post_id=44759828&download=true

[Aianawa]

Great tweet imo and very true

[Emil El Zapato]

The New York Post is not a credible journalistic source.

[Emil El Zapato]

‘Objects resembling explosives’ planted at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, says Kyiv
Volodymyr Zelenskiy says Russia plans to simulate attack but Moscow says Ukraine will mount its own offensive

Read all our Ukraine coverage
Guardian staff and agencies
Wed 5 Jul 2023 10.27 EDT
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has again claimed Russia may be planning to “simulate an attack” on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, claiming that Russian troops have placed “objects resembling explosives” on the roofs of buildings at the site.

Citing Ukrainian intelligence, Zelenskiy said the objects had been positioned on the roof of several power units of the power plant that is currently held by Russia.

Earlier on Tuesday, Zelenskiy briefed the French president, Emmanuel Macron, on Russia’s “dangerous provocations” at the plant in south-eastern Ukraine. He said he and Macron had “agreed keep the situation under maximum control together with the IAEA”, the UN’s nuclear watchdog.

On Wednesday, the IAEA said its experts based at the plant said they had not observed any indications of mines or explosives at the plant, but more access was needed to be sure.

“The IAEA experts have requested additional access that is necessary to confirm the absence of mines or explosives,” the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a statement. “In particular, access to the rooftops of reactor units 3 and 4 is essential, as well as access to parts of the turbine halls and some parts of the cooling system at the plant.”

Rescue workers and police officers attend anti-radiation drills in case of an emergency situation at Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant
Russia reducing its presence at nuclear plant, says Ukraine
Read more
Zelenskiy’s warnings echo comments he made last week at a joint news conference in Kyiv with the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez. “There is a serious threat because Russia is technically ready to provoke a local explosion at the station, which could lead to a [radiation] release,” Zelenskiy said at the time.

Russian troops seized the station, Europe’s largest nuclear facility, in February 2022. Each side has since regularly accused the other of shelling around the plant and risking a major nuclear mishap.

Renat Karchaa, an adviser to the head of Rosenergoatom, which operates Russia’s nuclear network, said Ukraine planned to drop ammunition laced with nuclear waste transported from another of the country’s five nuclear stations on the plant.

“Under cover of darkness overnight on 5 July the Ukrainian military will try to attack the Zaporizhzhia station using long-range precision equipment and kamikaze attack drones,” Russian news agencies quoted Karchaa as telling Russian television. He offered no evidence in support of the allegation.


A statement issued by the Ukrainian armed forces on Tuesday, quoted “operational data” as saying that “explosive devices” had been placed on the roof of the station’s third and fourth reactors and an attack was possible “in the near future”.

“If detonated, they would not damage the reactors but would create an image of shelling from the Ukrainian side,” the statement on Telegram said. It said the Ukrainian army stood “ready to act under any circumstances”.

In his nightly video message, Zelenskiy said Russia was planning to “simulate an attack” on the plant. “But in any case, the world sees – and cannot fail to see – that the only source of danger to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is Russia. And no one else.”

Zelenskiy and the Ukrainian military provided no evidence for their assertions.

On Friday Ukraine’s military intelligence directorate (GUR) claimed Moscow had approved a plan to blow up the station and has mined four of the six power units, as well as a cooling pond.

It also said that Russian troops were reducing their presence at the plant and that Ukrainian employees who stayed at the plant and signed contracts with Rosatom had been told to evacuate by Monday, preferably to Crimea.

While the reactors would be difficult to damage, according to former plant workers who spoke to the Guardian, the small cooling pond is vulnerable to an explosion, which could cause partial nuclear meltdown comparable to the 1979 Three Mile Island accident in the US. Oleksiy Kovynyev, a former senior engineer, said that in this scenario, most radiation would be contained, but that if ventilation channels were opened, radiation could be released.

[Emil El Zapato]

Sound familiar?

Only on Bizarro Earth...The United States was responsible for WW II?

We are not looking at existence as we experience it, only in the quantum world do things happen in a vacuum

[Emil El Zapato]

The Mises Institute is instrumental in the philosophy and work of Robert Higgs and Lew Rockwell, why does that last name sounds so familiar?

Lew Rockwell

Born Llewellyn Harrison Rockwell Jr.
July 1, 1944 (age 79)
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Spouse Mardelle Rockwell
Occupation kookoobooist

Part of a series on
Anarcho-capitalism (I guess anarcho-capitalism is now on the list of desirable viewpoints. How can an individual decry squeeze economic tactics against a warring nation and then support unbridled and unfettered capitalism? Honestly, I don't get it)


Part of a series on
Libertarianism
in the United States

This article may rely excessively on sources too closely associated with the subject, potentially preventing the article from being verifiable and neutral. Please help improve it by replacing them with more appropriate citations to reliable, independent, third-party sources. (May 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Llewellyn Harrison Rockwell Jr. (born July 1, 1944) is an American author, editor, and political consultant. A libertarian and a self-professed anarcho-capitalist, he founded and is the chairman of the Mises Institute, a non-profit dedicated to promoting the Austrian School of Economics.

After graduating from university, Rockwell took a job at Arlington House Publishers, a conservative publishing house. Through this work, he encountered the works and political theories of his mentor Murray Rothbard. Reading Rothbard led Rockwell to become an ardent believer in Austrian economics and what he calls "libertarian anarchism". After his ideological transformation, Rockwell went on to work as chief of staff to Congressman Ron Paul from 1978 to 1982 and partnered with Rothbard in 1982 to found the Mises Institute in Alabama, where as of 2021, Rockwell still serves as chairman.

Rockwell's website, LewRockwell.com, was launched in 1999. The website features articles about political philosophy, economics, and contemporary politics. The website's motto is "anti-war, anti-state, pro-market". The website is primarily home to right-libertarian authors, although left-wing anti-war writers have been featured.[third-party source needed]

Life and career

Rockwell was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1944. After college, Rockwell worked at Arlington House publishers and became acquainted with the works of Ludwig von Mises.

In the mid-1970s, Rockwell worked at Hillsdale College in fundraising and public relations. Rockwell met Murray Rothbard in 1975 and credited Rothbard with convincing him to abandon minarchism and reject the state completely.

Work for Ron Paul

One of the most nonsensical and racist kookooboos to ever disgrace the halls of American government, 2nd is his son (ME)

Rockwell was Ron Paul's congressional chief of staff from 1978 to 1982 and was a consultant to Paul's 1988 Libertarian Party campaign for President of the United States.[8] He was vice-chair of the exploratory committee for Paul's run for the 1992 Republican Party nomination for president.

Mises Institute

In 1982, Rockwell founded the Ludwig von Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, and is chairman of the board.

The Mises Institute published Rockwell's Speaking of Liberty, an anthology of editorials that were originally published on his website, along with transcripts from some of his speaking engagements.

Burton Blumert, Rockwell, economist, philosopher David Gordon, and Murray Rothbard.

View on Russia and the Bucha Massacre

"Vladimir Putin…is really the best friend of the people of the West" By Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr. March 4, 2022

Rockwell's perspective on Putin:" Russian invasion can still be stopped. All that’s required is that a pro-Russian government take power in Ukraine. This is what Putin wants." Rockwell continues reiterating, "If Ukraine gets a pro-Russian government, this would not be Russian “aggression. Rockwell questions if the Bucha Massacre could turn out to be "Voldomyr Zelenskyy and Ukraine, were responsible for whatever took place in Bucha".[third-party source needed] This belief by Rockwell contradicts the findings/investigation of the EU, the UN, the United States of America, and other independent organizations such as the International Red Cross.[improper synthesis?]

Paleolibertarianism

In 1985, Rockwell was named a contributing editor to Conservative Digest. During the 1990s, Rothbard, Rockwell, and others described their views as paleolibertarian to emphasize their commitment to cultural conservatism, even as they continued to hold anti-statist beliefs.

In a 2007 interview, Rockwell revealed he no longer considered himself a "paleolibertarian" and was "happy with the term libertarian." He explained, "The term paleolibertarian became confused because of its association with paleoconservative, so it came to mean some sort of socially conservative libertarian, which wasn't the point at all...."

Rockwell's website, LewRockwell.com, formed in 1999, features articles and blog entries by multiple columnists and writers. Its motto is "anti-war, anti-state, pro-market". There also is a weekly podcast called The Lew Rockwell Show. As of March 2017, it was in the top 10,000 websites in the United States. LewRockwell.com publishes articles questioning United States participation in World War II, opposing "economic fascism" and supporting Austrian economics and secessionism.[third-party source needed]

Brian Doherty of Reason wrote that the site's "Mises Institute-associated writers" tend to emphasize the domestic and international fallout from government action. Conservative writer Jonah Goldberg of National Review wrote that the site regularly hosts invective against icons of American mainstream conservatism, including National Review, The Weekly Standard, neoconservatives, and William F. Buckley Jr. A writer in The American Conservative described the site as paleolibertarian and "an indispensable source" of news on Ron Paul. The site has been criticized for presenting articles that advocate HIV/AIDS denialism, the view that HIV does not cause AIDS, and the view that vaccines cause autism.

In January 2008, during Ron Paul's 2008 presidential campaign, James Kirchick of The New Republic uncovered a collection of Ron Paul newsletters that contained "decades worth of obsession with conspiracies, sympathy for the right-wing militia movement, and deeply held bigotry against blacks, Jews, and gays." For instance, one issue approved of the slogan "Sodomy = Death" and said homosexuals suffering from HIV/AIDS "enjoy the pity and attention that comes with being sick".

Kirchick wrote that most of the articles contained no bylines. Numerous sources alleged that Rockwell had ghostwritten the controversial newsletters; Rockwell is listed as "contributing editor" on physical copies of some newsletters and listed as the sole Editor of the May 1988 "Ron Paul Investment Newsletter". Reason magazine reported that "a half-dozen longtime libertarian activists – including some still close to Paul" had identified Rockwell as the "chief ghostwriter" of the newsletters, as did former Ron Paul Chief of Staff (1981–1985) John W. Robbins.

Rockwell admitted to Kirchick that he was "involved in the promotion" of the newsletters and wrote the subscription letters but denied ghostwriting the articles. He said there were "seven or eight freelancers involved at various stages" of the newsletter's history and indicated another individual who had "left in unfortunate circumstances", but whom he did not identify, was in charge of editing and publishing the newsletters. Ron Paul himself repudiated the newsletters' content and said he was not involved in the daily operations of the newsletters or saw much of their content until years later. In 2011 Paul's spokesperson Jesse Benton said that Paul had "taken moral responsibility because they appeared under his name and slipped through under his watch".

Rockwell was closely associated with anarcho-capitalist theorist Murray Rothbard until Rothbard's death in 1995. Rockwell's paleolibertarian ideology, like Rothbard's in his later years, combines a right-libertarian theory of anarcho-capitalism based on natural rights with the culturally conservative values and concerns of paleoconservatism, and he identifies strongly with the modern Rothbardian tradition of Austrian economics. In politics, he advocates federalist or Anti-Federalist policies as means to achieve increasing degrees of freedom from central government and secession for the same political decentralist reasons. Rockwell has called environmentalism "an ideology as pitiless and Messianic as Marxism."[non-primary source needed]

Rockwell also served as Vice President of the Center for Libertarian Studies in Burlingame, California.

[Aianawa]

The numbers were crunched well in advance for all wars Chuchstirr, including ww3 now concluded with lots of mopping up., ? strange world otherwise.

[Diabolical Boids]

yeah, I hear you, Aianawa

I asked my shrink sister about reiki, she said she loves it....whatever that means? :)

I love it. It means I wake up and do it before I put a foot on the floor, I put it in my food, I do it at lunch, I do it when driving, I break up traffic jams with it, I cook with it, I make lights change with it, I send it with my eyes, I send it in the past, the present and future, I give it to the dogs the cats and the livestock, I do it to wake up , go to sleep with it. Do it in my sleep. I do it in hypnosis, my daughter does it and I love it (she's hands down one of the best I've ever met at it) we do it to everyone else. There's a woman that lives north of me that has the weirdest way of doing it and the most delightful energy. I told her I felt like I could turn vampire and just suck it right out of her i love it that much. She said she wouldn't let me but got my point. She has the best energy for the heart which makes sense because I love it. I love her Reiki too. I taught whoever wanted to learn it how to do it and loved doing that and they love it. My BF just gave me a big dose of it on my heart and solar plexus when I left her house a few minutes ago. She loves it and she doesn't even know wtf she's doing, she just does it. And loves it. And Reiki loves you in return. It adores you. If you love it, it will love you back.

I left to go on a trip a couple weeks ago, and two of the chickens escaped their enclosure literally moments before I was supposed to hit the road. WTF do I do? Do Reiki! I sent the energy out and the cat came along and shoo'd one of the chicks back int the enclosure. I was delighted and dumb founded. Then I thought, what are the chances of that happening twice. Pretty damn good cause the cat did it again. It's not my primary modality but its one I can do all the time because it makes everything else I do better. I can do Reiki even when I'm not doing Reiki.

I love it. There's no meaning to it, you just love it.
I put it in the hot tub today.

[Emil El Zapato]

I love it. It means I wake up and do it before I put a foot on the floor, I put it in my food, I do it at lunch, I do it when driving, I break up traffic jams with it, I cook with it, I make lights change with it, I send it with my eyes, I send it in the past, the present and future, I give it to the dogs the cats and the livestock, I do it to wake up , go to sleep with it. Do it in my sleep. I do it in hypnosis, my daughter does it and I love it (she's hands down one of the best I've ever met at it) we do it to everyone else. There's a woman that lives north of me that has the weirdest way of doing it and the most delightful energy. I told her I felt like I could turn vampire and just suck it right out of her i love it that much. She said she wouldn't let me but got my point. She has the best energy for the heart which makes sense because I love it. I love her Reiki too. I taught whoever wanted to learn it how to do it and loved doing that and they love it. My BF just gave me a big dose of it on my heart and solar plexus when I left her house a few minutes ago. She loves it and she doesn't even know wtf she's doing, she just does it. And loves it. And Reiki loves you in return. It adores you. If you love it, it will love you back.

I left to go on a trip a couple weeks ago, and two of the chickens escaped their enclosure literally moments before I was supposed to hit the road. WTF do I do? Do Reiki! I sent the energy out and the cat came along and shoo'd one of the chicks back int the enclosure. I was delighted and dumb founded. Then I thought, what are the chances of that happening twice. Pretty damn good cause the cat did it again. It's not my primary modality but its one I can do all the time because it makes everything else I do better. I can do Reiki even when I'm not doing Reiki.

I love it. There's no meaning to it, you just love it.
I put it in the hot tub today.

wow, that's amazing, I had no idea...

[Aianawa]

Yip amazing Chuckstirr, very similar to my life also , just had a reiki salad with me chops n steak lol.

[Emil El Zapato]

Conspiracy Fact: Randolph Hearst manipulated public opinion in his journalistic empire to induce the behavior of the U.S. Of course, he was a hardcore rightist corporatist. Hearst's actions once were called 'yellow' journalism (I thought) but subsequently have been referred to as 'blue' journalism. The Mandela Effect?

[Emil El Zapato]

Yellow Journalism

Crucible of Empire

William Randolph Hearst: The Spanish-American War is often referred to as the first "media war." During the 1890s, journalism that sensationalized—and sometimes even manufactured—dramatic events was a powerful force that helped propel the United States into war with Spain. Led by newspaper owners William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer, journalism of the 1890s used melodrama, romance, and hyperbole to sell millions of newspapers--a style that became known as yellow journalism.

The term yellow journalism came from a popular New York World comic called "Hogan's Alley," which featured a yellow-dressed character named the "the yellow kid." Determined to compete with Pulitzer's World in every way, rival New York Journal owner William Randolph Hearst copied Pulitzer's sensationalist style and even hired "Hogan's Alley" artist R.F. Outcault away from the World. In response, Pulitzer commissioned another cartoonist to create a second yellow kid. Soon, the sensationalist press of the 1890s became a competition between the "yellow kids," and the journalistic style was coined "yellow journalism."

Yellow journals like the New York Journal and the New York World relied on sensationalist headlines to sell newspapers. William Randolph Hearst understood that a war with Cuba would not only sell his papers, but also move him into a position of national prominence. From Cuba, Hearst's star reporters wrote stories designed to tug at the heartstrings of Americans. Horrific tales described the situation in Cuba--female prisoners, executions, valiant rebels fighting, and starving women and children figured in many of the stories that filled the newspapers. But it was the sinking of the battleship Maine in Havana Harbor that gave Hearst his big story--war. After the sinking of the Maine, the Hearst newspapers, with no evidence, unequivocally blamed the Spanish, and soon U.S. public opinion demanded intervention.

Today, historians point to the Spanish-American War as the first press-driven war. Although it may be an exaggeration to claim that Hearst and the other yellow journalists started the war, it is fair to say that the press fueled the public's passion for war. Without sensational headlines and stories about Cuban affairs, the mood for Cuban intervention may have been very different. At the dawn of the twentieth century, the United States emerged as a world power, and the U.S. press proved its influence.

[Aianawa]

Lol your funny, only the minions as such beLIEve there be a rite n left.

[Emil El Zapato]

Lol your funny, only the minions as such beLIEve there be a rite n left.

Well ok, there are different ways to demo the splitting of minds (worldviews): barbaric vs. conscious, deficit vs. advantage, misanthropic vs. loving, dysfunctional vs. healthy, whacked vs. fortunate. I'm sure I will think of others better than these and soon as I hit the submit button but these will work for now. Aianawa, you are somewhat of a mystery to me (the Capricorn aura) but I know you have a heart. In the end, that is what matters.

[Emil El Zapato]

I worked in Austin, TX some years ago and I promised my daughter that if I ever saw Governor Abbott, wheelchair or not, I would pelt him with eggs... I'm sure a review of the Governor's politial affiliation isn't necessary to repeat. A different species is in play here, I have no doubt and it ain't the immigrants. They have been here for over 20,000 years.

I did a THOROUGH search on Google for any right-wing sources for this story but much to my surprise none were reporting it. It has been reported on a national basis, so rest assured it is the truth.

Texas troopers told to push children into Rio Grande, deny water to migrants, records say
https://s.hdnux.com/photos/01/33/50/36/24020916/3/600x0.jpg
Migrants cool themselves in the waters of the Rio Grande after crossing to the U.S. from Mexico near a site where the state is installing large buoys to be used as a border barrier
along the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass. (I worked with a software engineer that grew up there, he was scared shitless of the border patrol.)

WASHINGTON — Officers working for Gov. Greg Abbott’s border security initiative have been ordered to push small children and nursing babies back into the Rio Grande, and have been told not to give water to asylum seekers even in extreme heat, according to an email from a Department of Public Safety trooper who described the actions as “inhumane.”

The July 3 account, reviewed by Hearst Newspapers, discloses several previously unreported incidents the trooper witnessed in Eagle Pass, where the state of Texas has strung miles of razor wire and deployed a wall of buoys in the Rio Grande.

According to the email, a pregnant woman having a miscarriage was found late last month caught in the wire, doubled over in pain. A four-year-old girl passed out from heat exhaustion after she tried to go through it and was pushed back by Texas National Guard soldiers. A teenager broke his leg trying to navigate the water around the wire and had to be carried by his father.

The email, which the trooper sent to a superior, suggests that Texas has set “traps” of razor wire-wrapped barrels in parts of the river with high water and low visibility. And it says the wire has increased the risk of drownings by forcing migrants into deeper stretches of the river.

The trooper called for a series of rigorous policy changes to improve safety for migrants, including removing the barrels and revoking the directive on withholding water.
“Due to the extreme heat, the order to not give people water needs to be immediately reversed as well,” the trooper wrote, later adding: “I believe we have stepped over a line into the inhumane.”

The incidents detailed in the email come as Abbott has stepped up efforts in recent weeks to physically bar migrants from entering the country through his Operation Lone Star initiative, escalating tensions between state and federal officials and drawing increased scrutiny from humanitarian groups who say the state is endangering asylum seekers. The most aggressive initiatives have been targeted at Eagle Pass.

The state has also now deployed a wall of floating buoys in the Rio Grande, which triggered complaints over the weekend from Mexico.

Federal Border Patrol officials have issued internal warnings that the razor wire is preventing their agents from reaching at-risk migrants and increasing the risk of drownings in the Rio Grande, Hearst Newspapers reported last week.

The DPS trooper expressed similar concerns, writing that the placement of the wire along the river “forces people to cross in other areas that are deeper and not as safe for people carrying kids and bags.”

The trooper’s email sheds new light on a series of previously reported drownings in the river during a one-week stretch earlier this month, including a mother and at least one of her two children, who federal Border Patrol agents spotted struggling to cross the Rio Grande on July 1.

According to the email, a DPS boat found the mother and one of the children, who went under the water for a minute. They were pulled from the river and given medical care before being transferred to EMS, but were later declared deceased at the hospital. The second child was never found, the email said.

The governor has said he is taking necessary steps to secure the border and accused federal officials of refusing to do so.

“Texas is deploying every tool and strategy to deter and repel illegal crossings between ports of entry as President Biden’s dangerous open border policies entice migrants from over 150 countries to risk their lives entering the country illegally," said Andrew Mahaleris, Abbott’s press secretary. "President Biden has unleashed a chaos on the border that’s unsustainable, and we have a constitutional duty to respond to this unprecedented crisis.”

Jerry Lara/San Antonio Express-News
The DPS trooper’s email details four incidents in just one day in which migrants were caught in the wire or injured trying to get around it.

On June 30, troopers found a group of people along the wire, including a 4-year-old girl who tried to cross the wire and was pressed back by Texas Guard soldiers “due to the orders given to them,” the email says. The DPS trooper wrote that the temperature was “well over 100 degrees” and the girl passed out from exhaustion.

“We provided treatment to the unresponsive patient and transferred care to EMS,” the trooper wrote. A spokesperson for the Texas National Guard did not respond to a request for comment.

In another instance, troopers found a 19-year-old woman “in obvious pain” stuck in the wire. She was cut free and given a medical assessment, which determined she was pregnant and having a miscarriage. She was then transferred to EMS.

The trooper also treated a man with a “significant laceration” in his left leg, who said he had cut it while trying to free his child who was “stuck on a trap in the water,” describing a barrel with razor wire “all over it.” And the trooper treated a 15-year-old boy who broke his right leg walking in the river because the razor wire was “laid out in a manner that it forced him into the river where it is unsafe to travel.”

In another instance, on June 25, troopers came across a group of 120 people camped out along a fence set up along the river. The group included several small children and babies who were nursing, the trooper wrote. The entire group was exhausted, hungry and tired, the trooper wrote. The shift officer in command ordered the troopers to “push the people back into the water to go to Mexico,” the email says.

The trooper wrote that the troopers decided it was not the right thing to do “with the very real potential of exhausted people drowning.” They called command again and expressed their concerns and were given the order to “tell them to go to Mexico and get into our vehicle and leave,” the trooper wrote. After they left, other troopers worked with Border Patrol to provide care to the migrants, the email said.

Considine acknowledged that DPS was aware of the email and provided the additional agency emails in response. Those emails detail seven other incidents reported by federal border agents in which migrants were injured on the wires, including a child who was taken to the hospital on Thursday with cuts on his left arm, a mother and child who were taken to the hospital on Wednesday with “minor lacerations” on their “lower extremities,” and another migrant taken to San Antonio on July 4 to receive treatment for “several lacerations” that required staples.

Victor Escalon, a DPS director who oversees South Texas, wrote in an email Friday to other agency officials that troopers “may need to open the wire to aid individuals in medical distress, maintain the peace, and/or to make an arrest for criminal trespass, criminal mischief, acts of violence, or other State crimes.

“Our DPS medical unit is assigned to this operation to address medical concerns for everyone involved,” Escalon wrote. “As we enforce State law, we may need to aid those in medical distress and provide water as necessary.”

[Diabolical Boids]

Eggs? Throwing eggs at a disabled man in a wheel chair. That's a good idea. How about throwing eggs at FDR. Is that a good idea? I suspect not.

What happened to stop the hate! ?

Why do haters hate so much? Explain the dynamics of it to me. Where does all they hypocrisy come from?

[Emil El Zapato]

Eggs? Throwing eggs at a disabled man in a wheel chair. That's a good idea. How about throwing eggs at FDR. Is that a good idea? I suspect not.

What happened to stop the hate! ?

Why do haters hate so much? Explain the dynamics of it to me. Where does all they hypocrisy come from?

Have some respect for razor wire...miscarriages, children drowning, and severe lacerations.

[Fred Steeves]

Eggs? Throwing eggs at a disabled man in a wheel chair. That's a good idea. How about throwing eggs at FDR. Is that a good idea? I suspect not.

There's much freedom in dehumanizing one's enemies. The man in the wheel chair is part of an oft described "sub-species". 'These people are the cause of our problems, they are inferior to us, therefore they are fair game if/when the right opportunity arises'.

History often repeats itself, play it again Sam.

[Emil El Zapato]

There's much freedom in dehumanizing one's enemies. The man in the wheel chair is part of an oft described "sub-species". 'These people are the cause of our problems, they are inferior to us, therefore they are fair game if/when the right opportunity arises'.

History often repeats itself, play it again Sam.

As I've stated before Fred, every once in a while you nail it...


I've seen Abbott on stage and talk about his great level of human empathy because of what he endured in his accident...Guess what, if life tries to teach us lessons he was absent that day.

He's an animal! Like so many of his subspecies.

Incidentally, 'inferior' is your addition to the concept, not mine...I would choose to say 'different'. Nature endures all kinds!

[Diabolical Boids]

Have some respect for razor wire...miscarriages, children drowning, and severe lacerations.

So the dynamics can't be explained because ...?

So if someone takes issue with misleading and incongruent statements that pleads for hate to stop even as it wallows in acts of hates (hypocrisy) and that results in eggs being tossed at you, its an equal justice. You established that, and no one else by your own thoughts and deeds. We tend to receive what we put out. That includes Abbott. That includes me. That includes you.

Hate and violence isn't putting you on the right side of history. It's never put anyone on the right side of history no matter how self righteously indignant we feel.


As I've stated before Fred, every once in a while you nail it...


I've seen Abbott on stage and talk about his great level of human empathy because of what he endured in his accident...Guess what, if life tries to teach us lessons he was absent that day.

He's an animal! Like so many of his subspecies.

Incidentally, 'inferior' is your addition to the concept, not mine...I would choose to say 'different'. Nature endures all kinds!

Maybe he annoys you so badly because life is teaching you a lesson also that you won't learn?

[Emil El Zapato]

So the dynamics can't be explained because ...?

So if someone takes issue with misleading and incongruent statements that pleads for hate to stop even as it wallows in acts of hates (hypocrisy) and that results in eggs being tossed at you, its an equal justice. You established that, and no one else by your own thoughts and deeds. We tend to receive what we put out. That includes Abbott. That includes me. That includes you.

Hate and violence isn't putting you on the right side of history. It's never put anyone on the right side of history no matter how self righteously indignant we feel.



Maybe he annoys you so badly because life is teaching you a lesson also that you won't learn?

Well, that's a good point, Boids...

ok, I'll be honest about my 'feelings'. Well, first I would never throw eggs at anyone. My 'feelings' are screaming that there is something seriously wrong with that guy, If one didn't know better, they would think 'that' tree fell on his head. Yet, he is Governor of an entire state of many that are just like him. It's probably a heavy competition between the counts of trees and people, but, in truth, likely many more trees. I don't think I hate him, if we were at a drinking party, I might piss on his head but that's the extent of it...but I've done that to friends...so, no hate, just boiling disgust.

And to your 2nd...I will forego my real opinion, but in answer, I seriously doubt it.

[Diabolical Boids]

Well, that's a good point, Boids...

ok, I'll be honest about my 'feelings'. Well, first I would never throw eggs at anyone. My 'feelings' are screaming that there is something seriously wrong with that guy, If one didn't know better, they would think 'that' tree fell on his head. Yet, he is Governor of an entire state of many that are just like him. It's probably a heavy competition between the counts of trees and people, but, in truth, likely many more trees. I don't think I hate him, if we were at a drinking party, I might piss on his head but that's the extent of it...but I've done that to friends...so, no hate, just boiling disgust.

And to your 2nd...I will forego my real opinion, but in answer, I seriously doubt it.

Yes that's being human. Which is something we have to rise above. But literally if speaks an acts no better than the evil conservatives they are condemining your reputation suffers not Abbots when you act like Abbot. Then it comes across a pot vs kettle sort of thing. Projection.

There is no motivation for people who want to rise above it all to support you or help you when you act like the people you claim you are better than. And losing your own credibility doesn't do you any favors. It's like the ego just kicking yer arse all over and leaving you to hold the bag and blame.

[Emil El Zapato]

Yes that's being human. Which is something we have to rise above. But literally if speaks an acts no better than the evil conservatives they are condemining your reputation suffers not Abbots when you act like Abbot. Then it comes across a pot vs kettle sort of thing. Projection.

There is no motivation for people who want to rise above it all to support you or help you when you act like the people you claim you are better than. And losing your own credibility doesn't do you any favors. It's like the ego just kicking yer arse all over and leaving you to hold the bag and blame.


You might find this hard to believe, but I always begin as the most reasonable guy in the room, until there is no reciprocity then it all goes to hell in a handbasket. A shrink once told me that was a bad approach, but I didn't give a poopoo, I believe in balance.

[Diabolical Boids]

What I'm saying is that the country is in serious shape because of politicians. When the people who want things to change start acting like the politicians, they are not apt to help each other or unite in any constructive way.


You might find this hard to believe, but I always begin as the most reasonable guy in the room, until there is no reciprocity then it all goes to hell in a handbasket. A shrink once told me that was a bad approach, but I didn't give a poopoo, I believe in balance.

I would be asking myself why I never get any reciprocity.

I'd love to believe you believe in balance but the amount of hatred expressed doesn't let me go there. I can be diplomatic and play nice but I don't have to be stupid.


Not that you are conscious of it.

But that's probably why you don't get reciprocity.

[Emil El Zapato]

What I'm saying is that the country is in serious shape because of politicians. When the people who want things to change start acting like the politicians, they are not apt to help each other or unite in any constructive way.



I would be asking myself why I never get any reciprocity.

I'd love to believe you believe in balance but the amount of hatred expressed doesn't let me go there. I can be diplomatic and play nice but I don't have to be stupid.


Not that you are conscious of it.

But that's probably why you don't get reciprocity.

:) Question for the day: Who is the biggest contrarian on the board?

[Emil El Zapato]

:) Question for the day: Who is the biggest contrarian on the board?

One thing that white people have always misunderstood about me...I see flaws in almost everything (hard admission) but I don't hate...hate requires action...that's not me. I grew up in a mixed-race family. My extended family contains most races and ethnicities. I am of mixed ethnicity. I understand...well and I articulate that understanding...and that is pretty much the extent of it.

I will watch for all the thank yous for this post.

[Diabolical Boids]

:) Question for the day: Who is the biggest contrarian on the board?

The board of what?

[Emil El Zapato]

The board of what?

:) board of directors, of course.

[Diabolical Boids]

One thing that white people have always misunderstood about me...I see flaws in almost everything (hard admission) but I don't hate...hate requires action...that's not me. I grew up in a mixed-race family. My extended family contains most races and ethnicities. I am of mixed ethnicity. I understand...well and I articulate that understanding...and that is pretty much the extent of it.

I will watch for all the thank yous for this post.

So basically you call for hateful actions but you'd not sully yourself with actually doing it.

There's a word for that.


One thing that white people have always misunderstood about me...I see flaws in almost everything (hard admission) but I don't hate...hate requires action...that's not me. I grew up in a mixed-race family. My extended family contains most races and ethnicities. I am of mixed ethnicity. I understand...well and I articulate that understanding...and that is pretty much the extent of it.

I will watch for all the thank yous for this post.

White hate alert.

[Emil El Zapato]

So basically you call for hateful actions but you'd not sully yourself with actually doing it.

There's a word for that.



White hate alert.

lol...maybe...shit, I don't know at this point...maybe, I have MPD, though I did have a shrink who once told me that he didn't think I was dysfunctional...it was more of a case of the people I interacted with and I had the need to learn to protect myself. Here's one that you can play with. I am a sacrificial lamb... Nyuk! Nyuk! Nyuk!


So basically you call for hateful actions but you'd not sully yourself with actually doing it.

There's a word for that.



White hate alert.

not by necessity. I once stated that I would gladly put a bullet in Saddam Hussein's head. I think I meant that. Anything to remove a diabolical entity from the face of the Earth.

[Octopus Garden]

So the dynamics can't be explained because ...?

So if someone takes issue with misleading and incongruent statements that pleads for hate to stop even as it wallows in acts of hates (hypocrisy) and that results in eggs being tossed at you, its an equal justice. You established that, and no one else by your own thoughts and deeds. We tend to receive what we put out. That includes Abbott. That includes me. That includes you.

Hate and violence isn't putting you on the right side of history. It's never put anyone on the right side of history no matter how self righteously indignant we feel.



Maybe he annoys you so badly because life is teaching you a lesson also that you won't learn?

Chuckie is on the side of sanity and compassion--or maybe you are unfamiliar with this?

"As a part of a bill critics have dubbed the “Death Star” bill—an expansive law that preempts legislation in eight key areas of local government—the Legislature has overridden local ordinances that require giving workers water breaks. Otherwise known as House Bill 2127, it was signed into law by Governor Greg Abbott on June 6.

Since then, 11 people between the ages of 60 and 80 have died of heat-related illness in Webb County, the Associated Press reported. Most did not have air-conditioning in their homes. A teen and stepfather died while hiking in extreme heat at Big Bend National Park, per a National Park Service release. According to the Texas Tribune, at least nine inmates, including two men in their 30s, died in Texas prisons that lack air-conditioning. And at least three workers have died after collapsing on the job while laboring in triple-digit heat: a post office worker in Dallas, a utility lineman in East Texas, and a construction worker in Houston."

https://www.texasobserver.org/texans-die-from-heat-exhaustion-after-governor-bans-water-breaks/

[Emil El Zapato]

Chuckie is on the side of sanity and compassion--or maybe you are unfamiliar with this?

"As a part of a bill critics have dubbed the “Death Star” bill—an expansive law that preempts legislation in eight key areas of local government—the Legislature has overridden local ordinances that require giving workers water breaks. Otherwise known as House Bill 2127, it was signed into law by Governor Greg Abbott on June 6.

Since then, 11 people between the ages of 60 and 80 have died of heat-related illness in Webb County, the Associated Press reported. Most did not have air-conditioning in their homes. A teen and stepfather died while hiking in extreme heat at Big Bend National Park, per a National Park Service release. According to the Texas Tribune, at least nine inmates, including two men in their 30s, died in Texas prisons that lack air-conditioning. And at least three workers have died after collapsing on the job while laboring in triple-digit heat: a post office worker in Dallas, a utility lineman in East Texas, and a construction worker in Houston."

https://www.texasobserver.org/texans-die-from-heat-exhaustion-after-governor-bans-water-breaks/

Thank you very much, OG... Wind posted a video some time back about collective psychosis. I think we are witnessing it in action. We've explored a number of the reasons why here and for quite a good while. :) But very few are paying attention or at the very best willing to admit to the obvious.

[Fred Steeves]

"As a part of a bill critics have dubbed the “Death Star” bill—an expansive law that preempts legislation in eight key areas of local government—the Legislature has overridden local ordinances that require giving workers water breaks. Otherwise known as House Bill 2127, it was signed into law by Governor Greg Abbott on June 6.

I'm not here to defend the man in the wheel chair, but let's look at this hit piece with some objectivity in mind. For starters, nothing in Texas HB 2127 says anything about worker water breaks. I read it.
https://legiscan.com/TX/supplement/HB2127/id/355218

Second, OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) covers water at the workplace. They can shut you down.
https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/regulations/standardnumber/1926/1926.51




Since then, 11 people between the ages of 60 and 80 have died of heat-related illness in Webb County, the Associated Press reported. Most did not have air-conditioning in their homes. A teen and stepfather died while hiking in extreme heat at Big Bend National Park, per a National Park Service release. According to the Texas Tribune, at least nine inmates, including two men in their 30s, died in Texas prisons that lack air-conditioning. And at least three workers have died after collapsing on the job while laboring in triple-digit heat: a post office worker in Dallas, a utility lineman in East Texas, and a construction worker in Houston."
https://www.texasobserver.org/texans-die-from-heat-exhaustion-after-governor-bans-water-breaks/[/QUOTE]

This piece is also disingenuous, at best. Starting with the headline:


PUBLIC HEALTH

TEXANS DIE FROM HEAT AFTER GOVERNOR BANS MANDATORY WATER BREAKS
House Bill 2127 preempts local governments from enacting legislation in eight areas—with potentially deadly results.
https://www.texasobserver.org/texans-die-from-heat-exhaustion-after-governor-bans-water-breaks/

Okay, so apparently people are already dying from the Texas summertime heat after Governor Death Star signs this bill from his wheelchair (while ducking eggs :)), even though it doesn't actually go into effect come September 1.




Since then, 11 people between the ages of 60 and 80 have died of heat-related illness in Webb County, the Associated Press reported. Most did not have air-conditioning in their homes. A teen and stepfather died while hiking in extreme heat at Big Bend National Park, per a National Park Service release. According to the Texas Tribune, at least nine inmates, including two men in their 30s, died in Texas prisons that lack air-conditioning. And at least three workers have died after collapsing on the job while laboring in triple-digit heat: a post office worker in Dallas, a utility lineman in East Texas, and a construction worker in Houston.
https://www.texasobserver.org/texans-die-from-heat-exhaustion-after-governor-bans-water-breaks/



None of these people died because of the bill (which is not yet law), there's a prolonged heatwave in the American Southwest, including Texas. That's why they died.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/texas-power-use-hits-record-high-again-amid-heat-wave-2023-07-18/

It's not the evil republican governor's fault that some people don't have air conditioning, that hiker's died, or outside laborers died. The lack of A/C in prisons can certainly be hung around his neck, but again that's not part of this "death star" bill, and the US as a whole entity is shameful in the way it treats prisoners (even democrat governors. :p)

This is Texas big city liberal outlets, at war with a republican governor in a republican state; in other words, when all the rhetoric is boiled down, what we're really looking at here is more like Texas rough and tumble internal politics in play.

[Diabolical Boids]

I'm not here to defend the man in the wheel chair, but let's look at this hit piece with some objectivity in mind. For starters, nothing in Texas HB 2127 says anything about worker water breaks. I read it.
https://legiscan.com/TX/supplement/HB2127/id/355218

Second, OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) covers water at the workplace. They can shut you down.
https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/regulations/standardnumber/1926/1926.51




https://www.texasobserver.org/texans-die-from-heat-exhaustion-after-governor-bans-water-breaks/

This piece is also disingenuous, at best. Starting with the headline:


https://www.texasobserver.org/texans-die-from-heat-exhaustion-after-governor-bans-water-breaks/

Okay, so apparently people are already dying from the Texas summertime heat after Governor Death Star signs this bill from his wheelchair (while ducking eggs :)), even though it doesn't actually go into effect come September 1.




https://www.texasobserver.org/texans-die-from-heat-exhaustion-after-governor-bans-water-breaks/



None of these people died because of the bill (which is not yet law), there's a prolonged heatwave in the American Southwest, including Texas. That's why they died.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/texas-power-use-hits-record-high-again-amid-heat-wave-2023-07-18/

It's not the evil republican governor's fault that some people don't have air conditioning, that hiker's died, or outside laborers died. The lack of A/C in prisons can certainly be hung around his neck, but again that's not part of this "death star" bill, and the US as a whole entity is shameful in the way it treats prisoners (even democrat governors. :p)

This is Texas big city liberal outlets, at war with a republican governor in a republican state; in other words, when all the rhetoric is boiled down, what we're really looking at here is more like Texas rough and tumble internal politics in play.[/QUOTE]



All common sense stuff. And as bad and worse goes on in blue states. But its never evil when it happens there. Like I say...people acting like politicians.

[Octopus Garden]

So yes, apparently this is bullshit, Fred. Seemed like something Abbot would do though.


https://ogletree.com/insights/texass-hb-2127-death-star-law-doesnt-strike-back-against-employers-workplace-safety-and-health-responsibilities/

[Aianawa]

Dear oh dear, so you CULTeevatted n nurtured then expressed some putrid with toxic topping then validated even though incorrect. One mirror may not be enough.

[Emil El Zapato]

Dear oh dear, so you CULTeevatted n nurtured then expressed some putrid with toxic topping then validated even though incorrect. One mirror may not be enough.

I'm not convinced as yet, I have been taken in by 'expectations' ONCE before, expectations are a big no no. I'll take my time but I will continue to look at it.

[Emil El Zapato]

So yes, apparently this is bullshit, Fred. Seemed like something Abbot would do though.


https://ogletree.com/insights/texass-hb-2127-death-star-law-doesnt-strike-back-against-employers-workplace-safety-and-health-responsibilities/

Ogletree Deakins is a leading labor and employment law firm. As advocates for management, we have a reputation for legal excellence and client service.


Ogletree Deakins is a leading labor and employment law firm. As advocates for management, we have a reputation for legal excellence and client service.

If I had to take a stance on how I 'felt' about advocates for management...well, you know... :(

[Fred Steeves]

So yes, apparently this is bullshit, Fred. Seemed like something Abbot would do though.


https://ogletree.com/insights/texass-hb-2127-death-star-law-doesnt-strike-back-against-employers-workplace-safety-and-health-responsibilities/

U.S. republicans had their brains broken by Capt. Chaos, and went on to show their asses to the entire world as we all witnessed, and will likely witness again. But for now, in this particular instance, they are the adults in the room.

US democrats had their brains broken by Capt. Chaos, and they have their own special version of showing their asses to the entire world. In this building and ongoing case it's becoming acceptable, even fashionable, to wrap one's self in the robes of holy righteousness, twist around what someone has said or done, and then proclaim "this is what they did". That's what this piece on Greg Abbott did. Obviously this doesn't mean he's a good guy, but when we go after someone, it's only fair to be accurate in doing so, otherwise we're just going to wind up ripping each other to shreds.

Which is what we're already in the process of doing...

So the next obvious step is to stop anyone from doing said terrible things, and the best way to do that is to stop them, for the good of the people, from doing and these dangerous things. The best way to do that is to stop them from voicing these dangerous ideas and opinions. It's on full display in the US Congress in these censorship hearings, as some people's opinions are so dangerous, they must be silenced even during a censorship hearing.

Kim Iverson is a Lefty (not to be confused with a democrat), and I think she has an accurate take on this. And note: These are the same people who thought a better place for journalist Matt Taibbi, might just be behind bars because they were mortally offended by "The Twitter Files":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIX4Ozs8R8A&t=446s

[Emil El Zapato]

U.S. republicans had their brains broken by Capt. Chaos, and went on to show their asses to the entire world as we all witnessed, and will likely witness again. But for now, in this particular instance, they are the adults in the room.

US democrats had their brains broken by Capt. Chaos, and they have their own special version of showing their asses to the entire world. In this building and ongoing case it's becoming acceptable, even fashionable, to wrap one's self in the robes of holy righteousness, twist around what someone has said or done, and then proclaim "this is what they did". That's what this piece on Greg Abbott did. Obviously this doesn't mean he's a good guy, but when we go after someone, it's only fair to be accurate in doing so, otherwise we're just going to wind up ripping each other to shreds.

Which is what we're already in the process of doing...

So the next obvious step is to stop anyone from doing said terrible things, and the best way to do that is to stop them, for the good of the people, from doing and these dangerous things. The best way to do that is to stop them from voicing these dangerous ideas and opinions. It's on full display in the US Congress in these censorship hearings, as some people's opinions are so dangerous, they must be silenced even during a censorship hearing.

Kim Iverson is a Lefty (not to be confused with a democrat), and I think she has an accurate take on this. And note: These are the same people who thought a better place for journalist Matt Taibbi, might just be behind bars because they were mortally offended by "The Twitter Files":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIX4Ozs8R8A&t=446s

no...I'm not an 'order' follower but Iverson is a talking 'personality'. Completely biased and so not to be listened to with serious intent. Maybe the intent was to not let Junior embarrass himself for too long. In actuality, though to try to shut him up is stupid on the face of it.


no...I'm not an 'order' follower but Iverson is a talking 'personality'. Completely biased and so not to be listened to with serious intent. Maybe the intent was to not let Junior embarrass himself for too long. In actuality, though to try to shut him up is stupid on the face of it.

Thing is, times have changed dramatically with all the social media...We live in a world now, where people think that a cart should go before the horse. "Malinformation"... yes, that should be censured.

[Diabolical Boids]

Chuckie is on the side of sanity and compassion--or maybe you are unfamiliar with this?

"As a part of a bill critics have dubbed the “Death Star” bill—an expansive law that preempts legislation in eight key areas of local government—the Legislature has overridden local ordinances that require giving workers water breaks. Otherwise known as House Bill 2127, it was signed into law by Governor Greg Abbott on June 6.

Since then, 11 people between the ages of 60 and 80 have died of heat-related illness in Webb County, the Associated Press reported. Most did not have air-conditioning in their homes. A teen and stepfather died while hiking in extreme heat at Big Bend National Park, per a National Park Service release. According to the Texas Tribune, at least nine inmates, including two men in their 30s, died in Texas prisons that lack air-conditioning. And at least three workers have died after collapsing on the job while laboring in triple-digit heat: a post office worker in Dallas, a utility lineman in East Texas, and a construction worker in Houston."

https://www.texasobserver.org/texans-die-from-heat-exhaustion-after-governor-bans-water-breaks/

I was totally unaware that the desire to do acts of violence upon a disabled man due to our own personal bias and emotional violence was compassion.

And fortunately even after the *yawn* daily chastisement I still do not feel it is compassion. If we want to virtue signal and shame people we're going to have step up our game.

People never tire of the self-righteous indignation.

Addictive, in'nit?

Maybe prison reform is better option than blame or violence. How involved is the Chuckster involved in petitioning for prison reform. Seems to me that's where the compassion lies at.

Maybe growing up and realizing the sun isn't political but it is hot and causing a lot of problems out west is more compassionate.

All in all this like me blaming you because we can't breath due to Canadian forest fires. Which is true. But really not your fault although I could twist reality to make it seem that way with clever obfuscation and a dollop of victim energy.

[Emil El Zapato]

I was totally unaware that the desire to do acts of violence upon a disabled man due to our own personal bias and emotional violence was compassion.

And fortunately even after the *yawn* daily chastisement I still do not feel it is compassion. If we want to virtue signal and shame people we're going to have step up our game.

People never tire of the self-righteous indignation.

Addictive, in'nit?

Maybe prison reform is better option than blame or violence. How involved is the Chuckster involved in petitioning for prison reform. Seems to me that's where the compassion lies at.

Maybe growing up and realizing the sun isn't political but it is hot and causing a lot of problems out west is more compassionate.

All in all this like me blaming you because we can't breath due to Canadian forest fires. Which is true. But really not your fault although I could twist reality to make it seem that way with clever obfuscation and a dollop of victim energy.

I don't even know what virtue signaling is? Did you get that from the bunch of psychotics at Fox News. If I were to guess the formal definition of virtue signaling I would say it is another diversion from reality. Virtue, on the other hand, is having an understanding of right and wrong and the willingness to grapple with it when faced with choices.

[Diabolical Boids]

I don't even know what virtue signaling is? Did you get that from the bunch of psychotics at Fox News. If I were to guess the formal definition of virtue signaling I would say it is another diversion from reality. Virtue, on the other hand, is having an understanding of right and wrong and the willingness to grapple with it when faced with choices.

Why Am I Not Surprised.

[modwiz]

Why Am I Not Surprised.

I think virtue signaling is a form of secret hand gestures used by Qanon.:ttr:

[Aianawa]

Ta 4 vid from Hill, Fred. There will still be people who agree with malinformation, feel they need to have safety, feel safe n havin fears is part of being human lol fear of being wrong till there be no wrong is rite plus malinformation may be helpfullll when your ready.

[Emil El Zapato]

Not exactly a scintillating report but pretty much accurate. One sticking point for me is that SK's are always characterized as 'control freaks'. Women particularly like that aspect because it reinforces their 'satisfying belief' that all men are controlling m*therf*ckers. Truth is, the need for control is not by necessity an intrinsic behavior, it is more a need for control to satisfy the intrinsic fantasy. It is hard to find a willing participant for a snuff episode. I heard another 'expert' discuss the 'no emotions' thing because as he said, a psychopath is like a shark. Not entirely true, the 'flat affect' is an inborn physiological trait that forms a building block for the developing sexual sadist. Thus the need for 'stimulation'.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRPPUdQca2U

[Aianawa]

Mmmmm complex indeed Chuckstirr, ego cunning melded with pain body hurts and memory with a dab of sincere victum, an entree main n pud rolled into one n spat out because ones hungrey lol, no idea what your in or onto or on. We could be a pear at two ends at times lol.

[Emil El Zapato]

Mmmmm complex indeed Chuckstirr, ego cunning melded with pain body hurts and memory with a dab of sincere victum, an entree main n pud rolled into one n spat out because ones hungrey lol, no idea what your in or onto or on. We could be a pear at two ends at times lol.


Exactly Aianawa!

What am I into...AB Normal blood types and psychology. More like was really...I lived in close proximity to a mass murderer and serial killer both in the burg of Wichita, KS. I went to high school with one of the original sniper attackers, had people squashed by trains in my growing-up neighborhood, had a middle school friend that murdered a woman on his paper route, experienced a true-life murder plot (neighborhood), and had a community husband/wife murder plot go national with a movie and all (I knew many of the extras in it) and met the cast of the movie in a local bar (naturally, I gave them a hard time concerning their acting abilities) and I'm sure there is more that I am forgetting.

And resolving my lifelong frustration with women... :)

[Aianawa]

Yip , best friend growin up is known as the winz murderer, another did his wife then himself but kids spared, another couple close family truama's loses n oldest boy few years back leavin to oiriginal home, that one fucked up my massive trust in god/universe a wee bit, so much honour in that this happenings seen nowadays for me, best one advice i gave to a friend couple moons ago was you amazing bastard, you came in with drug alckohle and sex addictions and your alive doin the good work, you organized and did n worked with and released on behalf all that consciousness bits n pieces, fuck your some holy man in my book brother, he got it.

[Emil El Zapato]

Yip , best friend growin up is known as the winz murderer, another did his wife then himself but kids spared, another couple close family truama's loses n oldest boy few years back leavin to oiriginal home, that one fucked up my massive trust in god/universe a wee bit, so much honour in that this happenings seen nowadays for me, best one advice i gave to a friend couple moons ago was you amazing bastard, you came in with drug alckohle and sex addictions and your alive doin the good work, you organized and did n worked with and released on behalf all that consciousness bits n pieces, fuck your some holy man in my book brother, he got it.

Amen Aiawawa...Amen.

[Emil El Zapato]

It's a bit of a story but my daughter and her partner transported a patient that was unconscious from an opioid overdose with normal blood pressure and heart rate but low respiration rate, so they treated him on scene and then rushed him to the hospital. He survived the trip but two hours later died. It was the 2nd time that day/night an ambulance had been called to the residence. The first time the patient refused to go to the hospital stating that he just felt fatigued. It seems he had marked his body to be donated to science and was suffering from a terminal illness with an expiration date of approximately a year. My daughter felt that it might have been a suicide but there was no way to make that determination beyond he didn't appear a typical OD.

After they finished the run to the hospital upon returning to their ambulance they saw this and my daughter snapshotted it. That particular vehicle had been in operation for the previous 12 hours and nothing unusual about its appearance was noted. She said after taking the picture she rolled down the window and the entire image was removed but the 'handprint'

2820

Last week I had a dream that my cat died. I thought he was dead but then he started talking to me and said, "I'm not dead, I'm just sleeping". I got a call today that my older brother had died.

[Emil El Zapato]

I've had two days of off-my-rocker dreams...very violent and 'active' Like when my dad died.

[Emil El Zapato]

I dreamed last night that I was driving a road in a blizzard, up and down icy roads and hills on the way to a cemetery. It was symbolism pointing to specific family members that are in a relationship fashion removed from my immediate family. Not sure what it means right now. There was a bridge that was clogged with cars for whatever reason. I missed the turn onto the main highway because of the weather and ended up in a coffee shop with a waitress that had markings on her face due to weathering but it was interesting because it resembled a tattoo with geometric patterns.

[Aianawa]

Be thankfullll you have dreams, been many many years since mine lofted away, do have an alive walking dreamy being thingy happening more n more though, lifes a dream.

[Octopus Garden]

So sorry to hear about your brother, Chuckie. I hope he didn't suffer too much. He likely was the cat in your dream and the, "I'm not dead, just sleeping," is reassurance that it isn't over for him, even if it seems like it. He's just transcended and that is likely pretty tiring!

I mean you have to do a 'meet and greet' with all of your dead ancestors, etc...meet Jesus, if you're a Christian. You know...zzzz I get tired just thinking about what all might be involved. Oh yeah..the life review too! Blessings to you!:)

[Emil El Zapato]

So sorry to hear about your brother, Chuckie. I hope he didn't suffer too much. He likely was the cat in your dream and the, "I'm not dead, just sleeping," is reassurance that it isn't over for him, even if it seems like it. He's just transcended and that is likely pretty tiring!

I mean you have to do a 'meet and greet' with all of your dead ancestors, etc...meet Jesus, if you're a Christian. You know...zzzz I get tired just thinking about what all might be involved. Oh yeah..the life review too! Blessings to you!:)

yeah, I agree completely...thanks for acknowledging, I did expect it from you (that's a compliment)... :)

[Diabolical Boids]

Yip , best friend growin up is known as the winz murderer, another did his wife then himself but kids spared, another couple close family truama's loses n oldest boy few years back leavin to oiriginal home, that one fucked up my massive trust in god/universe a wee bit, so much honour in that this happenings seen nowadays for me, best one advice i gave to a friend couple moons ago was you amazing bastard, you came in with drug alckohle and sex addictions and your alive doin the good work, you organized and did n worked with and released on behalf all that consciousness bits n pieces, fuck your some holy man in my book brother, he got it.

That's inspiring. Most everything is about addiction. Some of the most spiritual people come from some really fucked up places...`like Lame Deer, that great spiritual teacher of the Americas. If they don't get stuck in victim mode, they all have one thing in common. They reach out to the universe and tell it they want to change. And change they will. When we reach out to the universe, we are reaching out to ourselves.

Why does it fuck up our faith in God? Why do we make it about us? Because it IS about us? God wants us to be happy. If being miserable makes us happy well then there we go. We can go our whole lives being miserable, depressed, frightened, angry, a victim (because it makes us happy) of various inner and outer dis-ease making excuses for ourselves, or worse, and until we tell God/ the Universe we would like to change we will remain that way and keep blaming God. We are blaming ourselves. Where is God at but inside us? Part of us? We have the same (almost) capacity to create as God, we just lack God's intelligence, but we can access our higher intelligence. I'm not denying shit is fucked up and people are fucked up but we are the one's doing it. And we know it. Like an addict we can't stop ourselves until we put out that clear intent for change. We are the change, but are we doing it for the better?

Delores Cannon said something about this being a lunatic asylum of the universe. A few other commentators on the human condition have as well. Maybe more specifically its one big AA meeting, all about addiction.

Think about that. If that is true, we are all mentally, emotionally, spiritually ill until we make that intent to the universe to change. To heal, not be healed. To pray, not pray for.

Just heal.

[Aianawa]

Beautifullll, sharin that ta.

[Emil El Zapato]

This is a classic object 'lesson' in how corporations dominate at least American politics: Fitch just downgraded the U.S. credit rating despite how well it is doing when weighed against world economies.


Overall, we rate Fitch Ratings Right-Center Biased based on political affiliation to the Republican party. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to a clean fact-check record.

[Diabolical Boids]

It's not in the least unusual for a downgrade in credit in the face of any number of these factors historic inflation, a shaky dollar, stagnating wages, lackluster labor report and a crumbling economy. All of which Democrats think is something praiseworthy. Mutilating your kids is praiseworthy! Aborting toddlers at age two is praiseworthy!

Psychological divide not political divide. Economy is math, not wishful thinking.

Because the US economy is better than economies of other nations that the US recently depressed doesn't mean it's a good or credit worthy. It's means we aren't teetering on the ledge quite as wildly as our allies in destruction.

[Aianawa]

Hello there on other side of see saw, could you let rest of playground be aware of how well USA is doing, green deal thingy must be amazing, what else ?

[Aianawa]

Oh similar time posting Dia Bee, both posts directed n for you Chuckystirr

[Diabolical Boids]

Hello there on other side of see saw, could you let rest of playground be aware of how well USA is doing, green deal thingy must be amazing, what else ?

The green deal is a deal to waste more money for optics and to allow corporations to profit from a bit. The electrical plan isn't going anywhere. There's no plans for electric as an alternative energy source. It's merely expansion of electric vehicles and devices, not a plan for the same to replace anything. They will not be replacing fossil fuels. They've suspended drilling and energy independence so corporations can make a buck in EV for a bit the same way Covid made a buck for big pharmas. It's capitalism disguised as something heroic. We don't have an electrical grid, we have no plans to fix the grid , there's no coherent plan for charging stations for EV already in existence. No one can give up their fossil fuel vehicles because of the lack of plans and the lack of making that infrastructure a reality. You need to have something to build on in terms of comprehensive green plan and we don't have it. If they were serious, we'd see an uptick in hydro and other alt forms of sustainable energy those are all struggling. In Ohio we watched the green party install thousands of wind turbines. Now the same party is petitioning to have them taken down and stalling new installations. It's idiotic and they can't be taken seriously the way they flip flop all over the place like fish out of water. While the woke may fall for it they more pragmatic folks with the funds to back projects are not and will not.

We have a little green it to satisfy those who want to dabble in it as a fad. The greensters don't live green in all other respects. If they did then the government would eventually follow and open up space for expansion. But they are waiting for the government to hand them a green future and the government just gives it lip service. We will have to build more nuclear plants and coal plants which defeats the purpose of a green future, and there's no plans for that. That's something China already has underway, which also defeats the purpose. Fortunately the Dems and green party have a the monster under the bed they can blame. China and Russia.

We need the cooperation of Mexico and Canada to have an EV green future and we aren't getting it because there's nothing serious to bring to the table. You just don't bring Biden and Trudeau to the table to Mexico. It's a poorer nation but it's not a stupid nation. Ditto with the nations whose cooperation we really need to have a green future and that would be China. They just laugh at us. It's just corporations taking advantage of the sleepwalkers as usual. The people who don't live with their heads in the clouds and keep the trains running on time, have already pointed out when, why and how we will not a green future. Not in 2030, not in 2050. It just something to distract the woke people and idiots. It's a fad, a means for businesses to tuck away a little money at the expense of the citizen. As usual. That's all.

[Diabolical Boids]

Oh yeah and those awful people in Europe the one's Biden says are standing in the way of global electrification but are in reality people who want to heat their homes in the Winter...They'll be standing in the way too intentionally or unintentionally of a comprehensive green plan. Biden has presented himself as nice but ineffectual and weak so many times that those people who actually want a green future are turning on him because weak and ineffectual people can't accomplish anything.

I mean the same weak people will blab on and on about how much success he's had and wonderful job he's doing (he's not triggering me! He's wonderful!) but they can't ever list or even name what it is he succeeded at. Falling downstairs and off bikes isn't exactly going to save the world.

[Emil El Zapato]

It's not in the least unusual for a downgrade in credit in the face of any number of these factors historic inflation, a shaky dollar, stagnating wages, lackluster labor report and a crumbling economy. All of which Democrats think is something praiseworthy. Mutilating your kids is praiseworthy! Aborting toddlers at age two is praiseworthy!

Psychological divide not political divide. Economy is math, not wishful thinking.

Because the US economy is better than economies of other nations that the US recently depressed doesn't mean it's a good or credit worthy. It's means we aren't teetering on the ledge quite as wildly as our allies in destruction.

It was the 2nd time in history...The only other time was when Barack Hussein Obama was president.

[Diabolical Boids]

It was the 2nd time in history...The only other time was when Barack Hussein Obama was president.


Second time from Fitch. It's not shocking that Obama 1.0 and 2.0 have failed to secure a good credit rating. They did and have done nothing to do so. Fantasy meets math.

[Emil El Zapato]

Second time from Fitch. It's not shocking that Obama 1.0 and 2.0 have failed to secure a good credit rating. They did and have done nothing to do so. Fantasy meets math.

It's ok if you admit I'm right, Boids...I promise, I won't hold it against you.

[Diabolical Boids]

It's ok if you admit I'm right, Boids...I promise, I won't hold it against you.

You are totally correct that Biden and Obama had and have issues stabilizing the economy. No disagreement from me.

That you think failure to stabilize the economy is a superpower worth virtue signaling is where we don't agree.


Besides Vern's question was about a green plan before the obfuscation had to begin.

[Emil El Zapato]

You are totally correct that Biden and Obama had and have issues stabilizing the economy. No disagreement from me.

That you think failure to stabilize the economy is a superpower worth virtue signaling is where we don't agree.


Besides Vern's question was about a green plan before the obfuscation had to begin.

:) I'm thinking Aianawa's mirror works with a reverse image...

[Emil El Zapato]

In Scotland, the rewilding movement looks to the past to plan its future
by Kieran Dodds on 21 June 2021


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsGsl6Ck694&t=13s

Scotland, host of the COP26 climate summit this November, is the site of an ambitious rewilding project with a centuries-long timeline for restoring the forests that once blanketed the now-familiar landscape of barren moors.

The effort brings together a patchwork of private landowners, government landholdings and conservation charities, all working to restore the habitat through tree planting.
Scotland’s forests cover 19% of its land area, the highest proportion of the four nations that comprise the U.K.; but as a whole, the U.K. is one of the least forested countries in Europe, at 13% compared to the average 38% across the EU.

Advocates of rewilding say it’s about “helping nature to manage itself”: “We kick-start this process by planting trees so in 30 to 50 years, we can walk away.”
SCOTLAND – “To restore the landscape we need cathedral thinking,” says Thomas Macdonell gazing up at a stand of ancient pines within Glen Feshie, Scotland, where he has worked as director of conservation and forestry for the past two decades. Under three different landowners, the former engineer has transformed this valley into a flagship site for rewilding in Scotland.

But there is a long way to go.

“What we are doing now goes beyond my lifespan and the owner of the estate’s lifespan. To give people a different vision, I came up with a 200-year plan for the estate,” Macdonell said. This rolling timescale offers a dramatic reimagining of the Scottish landscape, one that informs his everyday work but is now also influencing contemporary political ambition in the U.K.

Thomas Macdonell, the conservation manager of Glen Feshie for Wildlands Ltd., a flagship site for rewilding in Scotland, pictured with a copy of Landseer’s Monarch of the Glen, an iconic work in Scottish landscape painting. Image courtesy of Kieran Dodds.
In November, global leaders will gather in nearby Glasgow for the pivotal COP26 climate summit. Given the recent isolation of the pandemic, it will present a highly valued opportunity for policymakers, leaders and environmentalists to push for change but also highlight solutions and successes on a grand scale. The Scottish Rewilding Alliance (SRA) is calling on the Scottish government (a devolved power within the U.K.) to become the world’s first rewilding nation ahead of the summit, where ecosystem management has become a key consideration of policies. This builds on the Scottish government’s pledge to increase protection of land surface for nature from 22.7% to 30% by 2030. The SRA is calling for 30% of land not only to be protected but actively restored.

The definition of rewilding itself is difficult to pin down, but has attracted a movement as diverse as the habitats that supporters hope to restore. The variety of rewilding efforts varies in the U.K. from the reintroduction of extinct megafauna like lynx, beavers or wolves, to planting wildflower seeds on city roundabouts. They all have on one thing in common: a baseline, tacit understanding that the U.K. needs to be wilder.

The U.K. has one of the lowest forest cover of any nation in Europe at only 13%, less than half the European average (38% across the EU) and an increase of only 1% in the last quarter century. For Scotland, the most northerly of the four nations in the U.K., the expanse is proportionally a little higher, rising from 5% to 19% in the last 100 years. Much of the forest is commercial plantation (which contributes $1.4 billion to the national economy) but, according to rewilders, is less biodiverse. Only one-fifth of Scotland’s forests are native woodlands.

“We have lost most of the larger predators in Scotland and to a certain extent ungulates,” says Andrew Kitchener, the principal curator of vertebrates at National Museum of Scotland.

“We used to have elk, aurochs [a type of wild cattle], brown bear, wolf and lynx. We could restore all of these species, there is enough space, but we do need to do a lot of habitat restoration, as I don’t think there is enough habitat for these species”

In Scotland, the rewilding challenges are rooted in a complex lineage of political and social history. But arguments over biodiversity tend to revolve around the land management of two species in particular: sheep and red deer.

Glen Feshie’s long roads

Until the year 2000, Glen Feshie was the quintessential Scottish Highland sporting estate. It was purchased in 1790 by the York shipping company for its Scots pine trees that were used to build the trading ships that plied the British colonies. In the mid-19th century, mass migration removed much of the Highland population (known as the clearances) with many shipped off to the colonies. Glen Feshie families left for Canada, where some pioneered timber extraction on the shores of Lake Ontario.

This new, emptier landscape attracted sports shooters to hunt the burgeoning population of red deer.

Victorian artist Edward Landseer sealed this romantic, de-peopled vision of the Scottish wilderness for the popular imagination in his painting “Monarch of the Glen” in 1851. The majestic stag under fearsome, misty crags, is instantly recognizable, but Landeer’s vision of wilderness, like that of later Hollywood films and television, belies the reality that his view was in large part a man-made wilderness.

“This was the picture of unsustainability,” Macdonell says. “I felt I had worked out in my head how to regenerate the forest so I spoke to my boss at the time and he was passionate about it. He allowed me to stick to the vision. Then the death threats came.”

Macdonell’s first major action, in 2003, was to reduce deer numbers from 45 per square kilometer to just two deer/km2 to allow natural regeneration of trees on the bare moorland. The decision sparked fury from both traditional estates and animal rights activists — one group concerned for livelihoods, the other for animal welfare.

“I am not anti-deer,” Macdonell says, “quite the opposite. They are the sculptors of the forest.”

He points to a granny pine standing alone above the heather and explains how its branching trunk was formed as deer grazed the sapling 260 years ago, stimulating lateral growth.

Red deer (Cervus elaphus) are a woodland species, but the lack of food on the moors and the densities (often kept unnaturally high by sporting estates) halted natural regeneration as well as perpetuating the view of deer on barren moors as the de facto highland vista.

At five deer/km2, Macdonell says, you get resinous tree species regenerating; at two deer/km2, you get broadleaf species.

“I remember sitting under a tree looking down on the river thinking: ‘I wonder if everyone else is right and I am wrong?’”

Macdonell told people the change would take three years to make an impact, but as the time approached, his ambition seemed liked a fantasy.

“The deer had been killed, I had fallen out with everyone, I’d had death threats but nothing was showing,” he says.

“Then, all of a sudden, I spied something green nearby and I found all these new trees were coming up! That was the eureka moment.”

Those little shoots now tower over Macdonell, and the wide glen bristles green with thousands of new trees, seeded from the granny pines spared from becoming ships for the British Empire.

In 2006, Anders Povlsen, a Danish fashion retail billionaire, bought the Glen Feshie estate and has since become the U.K.’s largest private landowner, with 13 estates in Scotland committed to rewilding covering 220,000 hectares (544,000 acres) under the Wildland Limited company. Of these, four estates, including Glen Feshie, are in the southwest of the Cairngorms National Park authority, covering 27,316 hectares (67,500 acres). Povlsen’s financial backing is a major part of Glen Feshie’s success, but it’s not everything.

“Whatever you do, do it well, do it once, taking everything into consideration not just the financial,” Macdonell says. “In other organizations they are under pressure to be doing things. If you don’t have a scheme on the go you are considered to be lazy. But what is the right thing to do? You’ve got a finite time as a human where you are in a position to do something. I am lucky to have been here for 20 years and hope to be here for another few. That is quite unusual.”

Glen Feshie is the original work of art for Macdonell, with no active planting and minimal management. “I call it the Mona Lisa part of the estate,” he says. “We don’t touch it as I would make a mess.” From the start there would be no replanting of trees, no burning of heather for grouse shooting, and no felling of recent tree plantations, even when they looked geometric and artificial.

“I think in landscape scale conservation, the bravest thing to do at times is to do nothing and observe and watch,” Macdonell says.

Beyond this work of art, Wildland Limited has planted 6 million native trees across the vast moorland, employing a design team to plot trees in GPS polygons — a team of planters with iPads, but overseen by Macdonell’s artistic eye. The goal is to restore the ancient Caledonian forest, dominated by Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) but also containing other native broadleaf species including common alder (Alnus glutinosa), downy birch (Betula pubescens), aspen (Populus tremula), sessile oak (Quercus petraea), goat willow (Salix caprea) and bird cherry (Prunus padus).

The staff team debate where species would naturally occur, blending with commercial plantations and smoothing out the landscape. They have even planted an orchard as a natural memorial on the site of a cleared village from the 19th century.

Unique rewilding efforts
The country that gave the world the “father of the national parks,” John Muir, only created its first national park in 2002, and its second, the Cairngorms, in 2003, as Macdonell was beginning his great experiment. But national park sites in the U.K., unlike their U.S. cousins, encompass wilderness areas as well as large inhabited areas with a complex network of private landowners, and include towns and villages.

An outside visitor would struggle to see where the park begins and ends, which is fine for walkers, as the right to roam is enshrined in Scots law. This local challenge is also an opportunity where the park can model best practices that flow beyond the invisible perimeter.

The park may operate practically over large areas as a planning authority, but the vision for wildness remains at its core. Cairngorms National Park covers 4,528 km2 (1,748 square miles) across the mountainous heart of Scotland, incorporating the U.K.’s only arctic-alpine plateau, remnants of ancient pine forest, and carbon-capturing blanket bog.

Like-minded landowners within the park have formed Cairngorms Connect to collaborate on the 200-year rewilding ambition. They include private companies, like Povlsen’s Wildland Ltd., government landholdings, and conservation charities like the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, whose purchase of the Abernethy reserve here in 1988 was the largest purchase in Europe by a voluntary conservation organization.

This partnership approach is a key strength of the rewilding movement in the U.K., created by necessity of being on this small island with high population density.

Before Glen Feshie, a great deal of groundwork had already been laid, and one grassroots group was already reimagining the landscape in the south of Scotland, just over an hour from Glasgow.

Borderlands
The Scottish Borders hills are a series of high summits and deep glens rolling southward from the industrialized central belt, where 70% of the population live, toward and across the English border. The southern uplands appear smooth from a distance, covered in boggy grasslands grazed low by sheep and patchworks of fire-scarred heather moors managed for game shooting. This was not always so.

“From the 13th century the Border Reivers were active in this area, stealing cattle from each other and the English,” says Adrian Kershaw, a psychiatric nurse turned site manager of the Corehead reserve near Moffat, now owned by the Borders Forests Trust.

Stolen cattle were hidden in the Devil’s Beef Tub, a natural hollow, and the woods here were where Scottish leader William Wallace gathered his army for his first attack on the English during the wars of independence at the turn of the 14th century.

“The idea of hiding there seems difficult to imagine today except this was all once covered in trees,” Kershaw says.

Today, the Beef Tub retains its trademark deep bowl shape encircled by higher peaks with a scattering of sheep on the otherwise barren landscape. “They started clearing the trees from the 1700s,” Kershaw says, “and with the sheep grazing they were just never coming back.”

The Borders Forest Trust began life 25 years ago as a group of 40 individuals united to rewild one single catchment to create the 607-hectare (1,500-acre) Carrifran Wildwood. The idea was so singular and appealing that it was funded by donations from around 600 supporters buying up the land on the first day of the new millennium. Since then, they have expanded, like at Glen Feshie, by acquiring neighboring sheep farms, first to Corehead (639 hectares, or 1,579 acres) in 2009, and then Talla & Gameshope (1,832 hectares, or 4,527 acres) in 2013, connecting over to the original site at Carrifran Wildwood. Together, the trust’s “Wild Heart of Southern Scotland” covers a total of 3,078 hectares (7,606 acres), but its reach is even wider.

“Our strength is our ability to buy land,” says Nicola Hunt, the head of land management for the trust. “But we also work with private landowners which covers about the same amount of land again. We have such degenerated land in Scotland but it has given us realization we have made a mess of it and a desire to restore it.

“Now we really see the difference,” she adds. “It wasn’t our initial vision to expand more widely but the success made us feel we can do this. Coming off the hill one day there was a red squirrel with a hazelnut in its mouth and I thought, ‘now, this is proper woodland’ where once it was sheep and grass.”

Two million trees, all native species, have been planted across the Wild Heart. A tenth of them were planted by a loyal clan of volunteers, many of them schoolchildren. The trust employs eight staff, four part-time and four full-time, and hires contractors for the wider work of land management, drawing on a range of funding sources. The engagement of local communities is a central part of taking the vision beyond their land.

“It is rewilding,” Kershaw says, “but we stayed away from the term for a time because of its link to reintroducing wolves and bears. We are rewilding with trees. We don’t only conserve but we create things — it’s restoration. We are putting things back to how they once were.”

“Rewilding is about helping nature to manage itself,” Hunt says. “We can restore the land to self-management. We kick-start this process by planting trees so in 30 to 50 years, we can walk away.”

Turning the clock back offers a window on Scotland’s possible future. Two decades on and the first fruits of this rewilding process are clear to see for locals and governments.

“Local people reimagine the landscape,” Kershaw says, “and slowly the perception changes.”

Questions remain around how to make ecological sustainability financially sustainable.

The Borders Forest Trust started with crowdfunding and is today sustained through a wide range of grant-giving bodies. Both the trust and Wildland Ltd. suggest funding for ecological services like carbon sequestration and flood mitigation is something leaders at the climate summit in Glasgow this November can facilitate — an approach the U.K. and Scottish governments are already moving toward, at least in theory.

In line with many traditional sporting estates, Wildland Ltd. hasn’t managed to break even. In 2020, its 13 estates lost a combined $5.9 million as the pandemic hit, a drop of $1.28 million on the year before. It says its focus on high-budget tourism, including sports shooting, is a work in progress but central to the vision of becoming both financially and ecologically sustainable. “We have one of the world’s greatest business minds,” Macdonell says, “so it’s just a matter of time.”

[Wind]

ZQ3cf-vssF0

[Emil El Zapato]

If Kuklinski ever gets worthy of it, he will get his visit from the Military-Industrial Complex. Everyone cooperates whether they want to or not. :)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeEOb5z-5ko

UFO WHISTLEBLOWER KEPT SECURITY CLEARANCE AFTER PSYCHIATRIC DETENTION - The Intercept
The star witness of Congress’s UFO hearings, David Grusch, retained his clearance despite alleged substance abuse issues, FOIA documents reveal.

Ken Klippenstein
August 9 2023, 2:50 p.m.

“NON-HUMAN” BIOLOGICAL MATERIAL recovered from purported UFO crash sites. A decadeslong secret program to reverse-engineer extraterrestrial aircraft. A government cover-up employing “administrative terrorism” to silence truth-tellers.

These are some of the extraordinary claims made to Congress by Maj. David Grusch, a 36-year-old retired Air Force intelligence officer who also served as an adviser to the Pentagon’s Unidentified Aerial Phenomena task force. Last month, the House Oversight Committee opened an investigation after Grusch claimed he was retaliated against for blowing the whistle on the U.S. government’s alleged UAP recovery program.

Security clearances of the sort Grusch has held are subject to strict requirements, including regarding psychological episodes and substance issues. Grusch has used his high-level clearance to shore up his credibility, telling the committee: “I was cleared to literally all relevant compartments and in a position of extreme trust in both my military and civilian capacities.”

But police records obtained by The Intercept under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act reveal that on October 1, 2018, Grusch was committed to a mental health facility based in part on a report that he “made a suicidal statement” after Grusch’s wife told him he was an alcoholic and suggested that he get help.

“Husband asked [complainant] to kill him,” a police incident report produced by the Loudoun County sheriff states. “He is very angry guns are locked up.”

Grusch did not respond to a request for comment emailed via his lawyer or to a voicemail left on his phone. But on Tuesday evening, Ross Coulthart, an Australian independent journalist who covers UFOs and has interviewed Grusch, posted a statement attributed to Grusch on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

“It has come to my attention that The Intercept intends to publish an article about two incidents in 2014 and 2018 that highlights previous personal struggles I had with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Grief and Depression,” the statement reads. “As I stated under oath in my congressional testimony, over 40 credentialed intelligence and military personnel provided myself and my colleagues the information I transmitted to the Intelligence Community Inspector General (ICIG) and I took the leadership role to represent the concerns of these distinguished and patriotic individuals.”

Grusch’s wife, Jessica Grusch, did not respond to several requests for comment.

A former colleague of Grusch’s expressed shock that he retained his clearance after the 2014 incident, which was also documented in public records obtained by The Intercept.

“I think it’s like any insular group: Once you’re in, they generally protect their own,” said the former colleague, who asked not to be named because they feared professional reprisals.

The former colleague said that the 2014 incident was known to Grusch’s superiors, a claim that Coulthart appeared to confirm in an interview on NewsNation, a subscription television network owned by Nexstar Media.

“The intelligence community and the Defense Department clearly accepted there was no issue because he was allowed to keep his security clearance,” Coulthart told Chris Cuomo Tuesday night.

“Waiting for You to Kill Me”
On the evening of October 1, 2018, Grusch’s wife contacted the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office to report that Grusch “was drunk” and suicidal, according to the incident report.

“She told him that he was an alcoholic and that he needed to get help,” according to a narrative account from the sheriff’s office. “He replied, ‘I’ve just been waiting for you to kill me.’”


Though the names are redacted, the documents describe a husband and wife at a home that Grusch and his wife owned at the time, according to Loudoun County records. The property has since been sold. The incident report also describes the subject as “Air International Guard” and previously Active Duty Air Force; Grusch served in the Air Force and the Air National Guard.

The man “could be violent, very strong,” the report notes, adding that he might be suffering from PTSD. “Sometimes makes these threats when drunk,” the report continues. “Has never harmed himself.”

The narrative case report describes law enforcement officers detaining Grusch under an emergency custody order and taking him to a local emergency room, where a mental health specialist decided to ask a magistrate to issue a temporary detention order. Based on the order, an officer transferred Grusch to Loudoun Adult Medical Psychiatric Services, an inpatient program in the Inova Loudoun Cornwall Medical Campus in Leesburg.

A separate police report dated October 13, 2014, describes a similar incident: a 27-year-old male “threatening suicide” at a property that county records show was owned at the time by Grusch and his ex-wife, Kendall McMurray. That property has since been sold. The report notes that “he is violent” and “has access to a weapon.”

McMurray did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

“Every decade there’s been individuals who’ve said the United States has such pieces of unidentified flying objects that are from outer space,” Turner said. “There’s no evidence of this and certainly it would be quite a conspiracy for this to be maintained, especially at this level.”

Grusch emerged as the hearing’s star witness, but his evidence was largely secondhand: When asked, Grusch said he hasn’t seen any of the recovered alien vehicles or bodies himself. While two former Navy fighter pilots alleged unidentified aerial phenomena, neither said anything about their provenance. Grusch was alone among the witnesses in attributing them to extraterrestrials.

“My testimony is based on information I have been given by individuals with a longstanding track record of legitimacy,” Grusch said in his opening statement.

Shortly after The Intercept reached out to Grusch for comment for this story, Coulthart went on Cuomo’s show and said that The Intercept was planning to publish “confidential medical records” about Grusch that had been leaked by the intelligence community. Coulthart, an ardent defender of Grusch, told NewsNation that “Grusch believes the government may now be behind an effort to release his medical records in an effort to smear his credibility.”

“This is a document that would be, if the media had done the right thing, it would be in his police department file, in the file in the county sheriff’s office,” Coulthart said in his interview with Cuomo. “But Dave has checked today, because he assumed that the journalist had done his homework and just asked the local sheriff for the files. The sheriff has confirmed it did not come from him. The only other place that had this information is the intelligence community, Dave’s personal files inside the intelligence community, where quite properly, when anybody is security assist, things like this have to be looked at, and somebody inside the intelligence community leaked it.”

Coulthart went on to compare the purported leak to Richard Nixon’s attempts to discredit Daniel Ellsberg, who shared the Pentagon Papers with the New York Times.

“I think there should be an inquiry into the circumstances of how sensitive records pertaining to a decorated combat veteran’s file found their way to a journalist not through the proper channels,” Coulthart said. “This could’ve been requested under FOI, as is normal, but the county sheriff has confirmed that did not happen.”

In an interview Wednesday morning, Burchett repeated the false claim that Grusch’s medical records had been leaked, going as far as to say that “someone needs to lose their job.”

The records were not confidential, medical, or leaked. They are publicly available law enforcement records obtained under a routine Virginia FOIA request to the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office and provided by the office’s FOIA coordinator. Copies of The Intercept’s correspondence with the sheriff’s office are being published with this story.

In a clip from a previous interview with Coulthart that was included in Tuesday’s Cuomo segment, Grusch suggested that his struggle with PTSD was behind him.

“I served in Afghanistan and I had a friend that committed suicide after I got back,” Grusch told Coulthart. “I dealt with that for a couple years and I’m proud as a veteran not to become a statistic. Totally took care of that issue in my life and it doesn’t affect me anymore.”

Echoes of Roswell
Coulthart’s comments would not be the first instance of misinformed media coverage of Grusch’s case. The law firm representing Grusch, Compass Rose Legal Group, issued a statement in June warning of “misstatements” in media reporting about the nature of their representation of Grusch, which they stressed was “narrowly scoped.”

“The whistleblower disclosure did not speak to the specifics of the alleged classified information that Mr. Grusch has now publicly characterized, and the substance of that information has always been outside of the scope of Compass Rose’s representation,” the statement says. “Compass Rose took no position and takes no position on the contents of the withheld information.”

Grusch’s ability to keep his security clearance appears to contrast with the government’s treatment of other employees. Shortly after President Joe Biden’s inauguration, for example, dozens of White House staffers were reportedly denied clearances for past marijuana use — including in states where it was legal.

In June, technology website The Debrief first reported on Grusch’s whistleblower disclosure, casting him as a “decorated former combat officer” — a phrase echoed repeatedly by Coulthart.

“I’d like to point out that finding a decorated veteran who believes all sorts of insane conspiracy theories is not remarkable,” cracked Jack Murphy, a former Army Ranger turned journalist. “I know many, and some would love it if I wrote stories about George Soros, JFK, etc.”

The Debrief article was co-authored by Leslie Kean, whose 2017 New York Times article helped drive much of the current wave of interest in UAPs.

The Defense Department has flatly denied possessing “any verifiable information to substantiate claims that any programs regarding the possession or reverse-engineering of extraterrestrial materials have existed in the past or exist currently,” Pentagon spokesperson Sue Gough has said.

“The recent UFO hearing is an embarrassment to everyone involved,” Steven Aftergood, a longtime critic of government secrecy and former director of the Federation of American Scientists’ Project on Government Secrecy, told The Intercept. “It’s a symptom of the broader degradation of congressional discourse: by providing a forum for preposterous claims and failing to challenge them, the House committee makes legitimate oversight more difficult.”

During the committee hearing, Luna referenced the 1947 discovery of mysterious aerial debris in the desert in Roswell, New Mexico, as evidence of long-standing contact with UFOs. Jesse A. Marcel, a military intelligence officer — and, like Grusch, an Air Force major at the time — said that the debris was extraterrestrial in nature, but it later became clear that it was actually the remains of a weather balloon designed to detect atmospheric conditions indicative of Russian nuclear testing.

For many years, the Pentagon refused to explain the weather balloon’s true purpose due to its highly classified nature as part of Project Mogul, a top-secret Air Force program designed to detect Soviet bomb tests. Many took the secrecy, which was indeed excessive, to mean that the government must be covering up the existence of extraterrestrial aircraft.

Aftergood said the misconception at the heart of the recent House hearing is similar to the legends that grew out of the events in Roswell: “The embarrassment of the House hearings stems not so much from the issue itself but from the failure to distinguish what is real from what is fantasy.”

[Emil El Zapato]

Things are getting amp'd up:

Putin is placing hypersonic missiles on nuclear subs. That is for sure not a good thing for any country. It really could escalate things in a very dangerous way. He might be playing for keeps. A paranoid should be in a mental hospital not leading a country. (It was 'behind the scenes' the motivation behind getting rid of Sadam Hussein.)

Saddam Hussein's Paranoid Personality Disorder

The famous person of my choice that suffers from the psychological disorder paranoid personality disorder is Saddam Hussein. Saddam Hussein was the fifth president of Iraq and ruled for more than two decades from 16 July 1979 – 9 April 2003. He was seen as a face of the country 's military conflicts between Iran and the United States. His presidency evolved into a dictatorship that upset many of the people. He publically became an aggressive dictator that was starting conflicts with many countries and creating enemies. The reasons behind his many conflicts and disputes with the other nations was his paranoia. “He doubted all of his companions, family members, and everyone around him”(). Saddam Hussein became irrational with his decisions and …show more content…

People who suffer from these disorders usually seem strange. One characteristic of someone who suffers from PPD is paranoia. It contains a large amount of suspicion and mistrust with no specific reason. This disorder is usually starts during the person’s childhood or early adolescence. The sufferers source of paranoid personality disorder is unknown, but it could be linked to biological and psychological factors that come from heredity. People with family members who have schizophrenia are usually more at risk to receive paranoid personality disorder. The disease is commonly found in more men than in women and affects around 2.3% and 4.4% of the general …show more content…

[Wind]

Did you know that Saddam's eldest son Uday was a sadistic psychopath? There's a movie about him too.

jt-0oTNiaxk

[Emil El Zapato]

Did you know that Saddam's eldest Uday was a horrible psychopath? There's a movie about him too.

jt-0oTNiaxk

yes, but I had forgotten...what a madboy he was...

[Emil El Zapato]

This is interesting to me: My niece carries genes from Japan and I carry genes from Northeastern China, coincidentally her mother's side is from Clovis, New Mexico.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCJXFZ6hG7I

For Aianawa:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDtgFGPoobo

[Emil El Zapato]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2DqdOw6Uy4

[Emil El Zapato]

It looks like Prigozhin didn't make it. May his hellish soul rest in peace.

[Wind]

It looks like Prigozhin didn't make it. May his hellish soul rest in peace.

Yeah, looks like Putin ordered it. It didn't take long which isn't that surprising.

e0xbHW_HmV4

[Emil El Zapato]

Spanish kiss on world wide TV is sexual assault:

:bs:

[Wind]

Spanish kiss on world wide TV is sexual assault:

:bs:

What's that about?

Have you heard about Carlos Santana controversy about his transgender rants?

[Aianawa]

Did he flake out on stage a wee while ago ?

[Emil El Zapato]

How dare you cast aspersions against St. Carlos of Santanna.

FIFA ... isn't that the correct acronym for World (Soccer/Football).

[Aragorn]

Have you heard about Carlos Santana controversy about his transgender rants?

I guess that may actually be the very reason why Chuckie keeps on dissing on him. :sarcastic:

Maybe the snowflake Wokemons™ need to brush up a little on Carlos' background before judging his stance or jumping to conclusions. Carlos was born in Mexico, but he was brought into the USA by a guy who was sexually abusing him. Therefore you cannot blame him for being homophobic/transphobic. Not everyone thinks that gender is only an illusion and that we should all fuck (or allow ourselves to be fucked by) everything that moves.

I myself do not hate homosexuals or trans-people, and I respect everyone for who they are, as well as that I can appreciate the suffering that most trans-people have had to go through in their life before and during their transition — and maybe even afterwards still — but as a heterosexual man who's been "accosted" by male homosexuals/bisexuals — and once by a male-to-female trans-person — on more occasions than I care to remember, I myself am always very wary around (male) homosexuals and male-to-female trans-people. If you've never had that happen to you, then count yourself lucky, because I can assure you that it's quite a traumatic experience, and especially so if it happens more than once.

And I am certainly not exactly the most attractive guy on the block, nor do I think that I look even remotely gay. So there's something not right about that picture, and therefore, I can perfectly relate to Carlos' sentiments — not that I know what exactly he all says about that subject, but still. And I myself wasn't even raped — inappropriately touched, yes — but Carlos was, and repeatedly so, even, while he was only a young and defenseless boy.





Did he flake out on stage a wee while ago ?

Yeah, he did. I don't know what caused that to happen, but he's not a young man anymore — I think he could be pushing 80 by now. :noidea:

[Emil El Zapato]

Well, even Saints can have issues...it's human...

[Wind]

Maybe the snowflake Wokemons™ need to brush up a little on Carlos' background before judging his stance or jumping to conclusions. Carlos was born in Mexico, but he was brought into the USA by a guy who was sexually abusing him. Therefore you cannot blame him for being homophobic/transphobic.

I only became aware of that fact (https://youtu.be/q3U54KNLoUA) yesterday, it's quite sad. I suppose such traumas can explain a lot.

I also became aware of Santana back when the album Supernatural came out, it blew my young mind.

jZfqhU9dsCc

[Fred Steeves]

I myself do not hate homosexuals or trans-people, and I respect everyone for who they are, as well as that I can appreciate the suffering that most trans-people have had to go through in their life before and during their transition — and maybe even afterwards still — but as a heterosexual man who's been "accosted" by male homosexuals/bisexuals — and once by a male-to-female trans-person — on more occasions than I care to remember, I myself am always very wary around (male) homosexuals and male-to-female trans-people. If you've never had that happen to you, then count yourself lucky, because I can assure you that it's quite a traumatic experience, and especially so if it happens more than once.

Huh. The only times I recall being hit on by other guys was way back before I didn't have a car yet, and hitchhiked a lot. Even did a cross country coast to coast with a buddy of mine just for kicks. Anyway it was never a big deal though, just politely decline the proposition, thank them for the ride upon arrival at whatever destination, and that would be that.

[Diabolical Boids]

When a culture becomes that permissive then naturally the predators and opportunists come to the forefront to take advantage, and everyone gets washed with the same brush. In terms of the trans community, I've seen more examples of using trans to exploit others and to predate on others than I have of actual transgenderism.

That's why historically we had what people might consider oppressive laws that kept people in their place. The only person who thinks a "Don't Rape Children" law is oppressive is someone who wants to rape a child.

It's because of humanity's propensity for excess and crossing other people's boundaries. There really are more people like that than we are inclined to admit in our desire to see good in everyone. And the reason we didn't know that people were like that is because we had laws that didn't allow them to express their boundary crossing and predation on others.

That's why we historically did not have "anything goes "cultures that lasted for very long anywhere in the world. The more hedonistic, outrageous and unbridled a culture becomes the more the days of that culture are numbered. The explosion in transgenderism is clearly a fad, an excuse for excess and more sober and responsible minds in and out of the trans community are warning against it now in ways that can't be ignored or covered up by the media.

With this kind of permissiveness abounding in America you really cannot keep up the pretense that America is ALSO this terribly oppressive, laced and suffocating nation and only WASPS are allowed to roam freely. You can't have it both ways. And that is going to bring the whole house of cards down.

And the day of canceling and silencing people by screaming they are racist, transphobic are over too. There's such a thing as overplaying your hand. Now that literally everyone is racist and transphobic the shock and moral outrage has worn off.

[Wind]

You can't make this shit up.

US Evangelicals Call Jesus “Liberal” and “Weak” (https://newrepublic.com/post/174950/christianity-today-editor-evangelicals-call-jesus-liberal-weak)


"The editor in chief of Christianity Today is warning that evangelical Christianity is moving too far to the right, to the point that even Jesus’s teachings are considered “weak” now.

Russell Moore resigned from the Southern Baptist Convention in 2021, after years of being at odds with other evangelical leaders. Specifically, Moore openly criticized Donald Trump, whom many evangelical Christians embraced. Moore also criticized the Southern Baptist Convention’s response to a sexual abuse crisis and increasing tolerance for white nationalism in the community.

Now he thinks his religion is in crisis.

Moore told NPR in an interview released Tuesday that multiple pastors had told him they would quote the Sermon on the Mount, specifically the part that says to “turn the other cheek,” when preaching. Someone would come up after the service and ask, “Where did you get those liberal talking points?”

“What was alarming to me is that in most of these scenarios, when the pastor would say, ‘I’m literally quoting Jesus Christ,’ the response would not be, ‘I apologize.’ The response would be, ‘Yes, but that doesn’t work anymore. That’s weak,’” Moore said. “When we get to the point where the teachings of Jesus himself are seen as subversive to us, then we’re in a crisis.”

Moore said he thinks a large part of the issue is how divisive U.S. politics are, which is now spilling over into the church. He pointed to how a lot of issues are “packaged in terms of existential threat,” leading to the belief among everyone, not just evangelical Christians, that “desperate times call for desperate measures.”

It makes sense, then, that evangelical Christians would embrace Trump, who portrayed himself as the answer to many of those supposed existential threats. Trump both campaigned and governed on a largely evangelical Christian platform. He moved the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem; he cracked down on immigration from majority-Muslim countries; and he appointed multiple conservative judges, including to the Supreme Court, which has swung sharply right.

He made good on his anti-abortion promises when the high court removed the nationwide right to the procedure in June. Many LGBTQ protections were rolled back under his watch, and during the June 2020 protests over George Floyd’s murder by police, he tear-gassed demonstrators so he could take a heavily posed picture with a Bible in front of St. John’s Church near the White House.

And as Trump swings ever further right, it makes sense that people who believe he will solve their problems will follow blindly."

[Emil El Zapato]

You can't make this shit up.

US Evangelicals Call Jesus “Liberal” and “Weak” (https://newrepublic.com/post/174950/christianity-today-editor-evangelicals-call-jesus-liberal-weak)

Christians gave up Christianity and defaulted to Judaism quite awhile back. It is possible that they don't comprehend the difference.

I forgot to mention that Carlson is a minion of the 'False Profit' Rupert Murdoch!

[Wind]

Christians gave up Christianity and defaulted to Judaism quite awhile back. It is possible that they don't comprehend the difference.

You mean that to them Jesus means nothing?

[Emil El Zapato]

I just saw that my favorite serial killer is in the national news today...Dennis Rader, The BTK Strangler. He's been accused of 3 more murders. Sketches of females bound have been uncovered, Notably in barns. I lived in Wichita while he was active and got involved in his comeback in the early 2000's. I spent most of my day on a forum dedicated to his capture (didn't help my career, much). But anyway, I dreamed of a round barn which actually precipitated a government construction company to take large equipment to a farmhouse in western Kansas. As it turned out Rader's office was a converted historical round barn. It was a surreal experience for me, I was doing active 'alternate states' at the time to get images. I hit several images. One of his home, how he was setting things up, etc. It was very weird for me. Almost paranoia like in some ways.

[Emil El Zapato]

My recently departed brother's granddaughter:

Apparently a 1st place in a competition. It's not hard to tell we share no genetics. Actually not even my brother's. It was his wife's, that died about a year-and-a-half ago daughter from a 1st marriage.

2825

[Diabolical Boids]

You can't make this shit up.

US Evangelicals Call Jesus “Liberal” and “Weak” (https://newrepublic.com/post/174950/christianity-today-editor-evangelicals-call-jesus-liberal-weak)


As usual Trump is placed at the center of even this. The cosmic scape goat. That's more Judean than Christian.

Still its funny. Christianity survived 2000 years and then Trump came along.....

I suppose we WILL throw the entire world under the bus, people will destroy what they hold near and dear even their own sanity, over one man.

In effect now, Trump is causing some sort of global transformation event by default. Not a pretty one certainly, but when people go that bat shit over one person....

He's like the anti Anti Christ.

[Emil El Zapato]

Amen sister, pretty damn close in my books...

[Emil El Zapato]

What did Nostradamus say about the 3rd AntiChrist wearing a turban...OrangeJesus in fact does wear a turban. It is why Fucker Carlson predicts the attempted assassination.

I didn't mention that Carlson is a minion of the 'False Profit' - Rupert Murdoch

[Diabolical Boids]

What did Nostradamus say about the 3rd AntiChrist wearing a turban...OrangeJesus in fact does wear a turban. It is why Fucker Carlson predicts the attempted assassination.

I didn't mention that Carlson is a minion of the 'False Profit' - Rupert Murdoch

Yes what did Nostradamus say about television personalities back in the 16th century? Because that was such a deep and unsettling interest back when Europe was just emerging from the dark ages. Did he leave any quatrains about Joan Rivers?

[Aianawa]

Clif high of recent data sharing, talked regards the collapse of religeons bar budhaism, them being alien planted n controll mechanisims but Trump will likely say, yip i will take that kudos also lol.

[Emil El Zapato]

Yes what did Nostradamus say about television personalities back in the 16th century? Because that was such a deep and unsettling interest back when Europe was just emerging from the dark ages. Did he leave any quatrains about Joan Rivers?

I don't believe so, only male New York City personalities. The fact that he was into patriarchy can be witnessed by his notable lack of mentions regarding St. Joan of Arc, the 1st LGBTQ+ Wokemon.


Clif high of recent data sharing, talked regards the collapse of religeons bar budhaism, them being alien planted n controll mechanisims but Trump will likely say, yip i will take that kudos also lol.

bar Buddhism is an indicator of personal bias thus a lack of balance and continuity.

[Emil El Zapato]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhPGMYzQ_tc

[Wind]

VOPcoNhlN2E

[Emil El Zapato]

All I can do is shake my head in disbelief...It is hard to even find a way to mentally evaluate those people.

[Diabolical Boids]

All I can do is shake my head in disbelief...It is hard to even find a way to mentally evaluate those people.

Someone didn't watch the video.

[Emil El Zapato]

Someone didn't watch the video.

I watched it...What did I miss?

[Aragorn]

Joan of Arc, the 1st LGBTQ+ Wokemon.

You wish. :rolleyes: :facepalm:

[Emil El Zapato]

You wish. :rolleyes: :facepalm:

lol...sure I do! :)

[Aragorn]

Joan of Arc, the 1st LGBTQ+ Wokemon.

You wish. :rolleyes: :facepalm:

lol...sure I do! :)

Yeah well, you can put those historical-revisionist fantasies away again, because Jeanne d'Arc didn't have anything whatsoever to do with LGBTQ+, nor with being a Wokemon™.

She wore men's clothes because it protected her from sexual objectification and subsequent rape attempts during her travels, and because it was more convenient in battle. She also wasn't a lesbian, Non-Binary™ or transgender-wannabe, but she was a devout Catholic and she had taken the vow of virginity in order to remain "pure". Nevertheless, several rape attempts were made against her while she was in prison.

As for her visions, it is quite possible that she suffered from schizophrenia, because I seriously doubt whether Heaven — or at least, what Catholics believe Heaven would be — would concern itself with geopolitics.

What is true, is that she was wrongfully accused, convicted in a fraudulent and politically motivated trial in which even the corrupt legal proceedings of the time were sidestepped in order to guarantee her conviction and horrible execution at only 19 years of age.

Mentally ill or not, the girl was very saintly, wise for her age, brave, and a heroin-turned martyr. But she was no Wokemon™, and she certainly was not an LGBTQ+ activist.

[Emil El Zapato]

yeah, that's what I said... :)

[Aragorn]

yeah, that's what I said... :)

No, it's not. Quite the opposite.

[Emil El Zapato]

No, it's not. Quite the opposite.

lol...

[Diabolical Boids]

Yeah well, you can put those historical-revisionist fantasies away again, because Jeanne d'Arc didn't have anything whatsoever to do with LGBTQ+, nor with being a Wokemon™.

She wore men's clothes because it protected her from sexual objectification and subsequent rape attempts during her travels, and because it was more convenient in battle. She also wasn't a lesbian, Non-Binary™ or transgender-wannabe, but she was a devout Catholic and she had taken the vow of virginity in order to remain "pure". Nevertheless, several rape attempts were made against her while she was in prison.

As for her visions, it is quite possible that she suffered from schizophrenia, because I seriously doubt whether Heaven — or at least, what Catholics believe Heaven would be — would concern itself with geopolitics.

What is true, is that she was wrongfully accused, convicted in a fraudulent and politically motivated trial in which even the corrupt legal proceedings of the time were sidestepped in order to guarantee her conviction and horrible execution at only 19 years of age.

Mentally ill or not, the girl was very saintly, wise for her age, brave, and a heroin-turned martyr. But she was no Wokemon™, and she certainly was not an LGBTQ+ activist.

WE know she was not woke because her supporters, her followers, her army would have burnt her at the stake ending the Arc crusade before it began.

It was common for women of some means at that time to don trousers for long travel, or at least special pantaloons for riding. Surely not all of them were struggling with identity issues or were lesbians. Of course not. This is a disingenuous stance made for attention.

Unless you've been on a horse for an extended length of time one doesn't realize how it will peel the skin from your inner legs unless properly protected. That holds true anytime in history. They could have put her in a litter but being astride a horse indicates nobility as the term was understood then. Some women of significance had to preserve their dignity whereas common women did not so various attitudes of dress and posture were adopted depending on the situation. Obviously the Arc crusade was political and religious statement and she was dressed accordingly. And history shows us that women of significance often donned armor and to don armor like Katherine of Aragon Tudor and her mother Queen Isabella of Spain. Had nothing to do with Wokeism or other emotional illnesses.

[Emil El Zapato]

lol ...

[Emil El Zapato]

I've been trying to figure out why Senator Menendez of New Jersey would commit crimes. I first checked his record (He's a good Dem and so that wasn't it). Then this morning I got the clue I was looking for, his wife.

The word for the day: Anhedonia.

[Wind]

Your average QAnon follower?

uXwRgnZ990I

[Diabolical Boids]

Your average QAnon follower?

uXwRgnZ990I

They usually aren't city dwellers.

That's just Toronto, particularly that area around Hard Rock cafe. It's a place to uhm, ...Ahem....*People Watch*. In a minute, a Krishna Parade with a painted elephant peeing in the street will pass through and things will settle down for a few minutes.

You won't find many conservatives let along right wing nut jobs in Toronto. It's a predominantly and imminently liberal city.

The more I think of it the more I'm thinking liberal and conservative (nut jobs or not) in North America are way different than in Europe.

[Wind]

That's just Toronto, particularly that area around Hard Rock cafe. It's a place to uhm, ...Ahem....*People Watch*. In a minute, a Krishna Parade with a painted elephant peeing in the street will pass through and things will settle down for a few minutes.

Just watch out for the vampires in Waterloo.

[Diabolical Boids]

Just watch out for the vampires in Waterloo.

I guess your pretty safe in Loo Loo unless you are trying to buy a hockey league, he he. Sounds like this guy made it to the silver screen.
https://tvovermind.com/blackberry-waterloo-vampires-live-viral-video-explained/

I don't think it holds a candle to the evil murdering clown posses allegedly stalking people in southern Ontario and the Great Lakes area. There were so many copy cats that one could actually see clowns lurking around at twilight.

[Aianawa]

Your average QAnon follower?

uXwRgnZ990I

Very important interview imo, reporter said nada, lets hope it catches on and not just with nutters.

[Emil El Zapato]

Just for kicks, this is a picture of my biological half brother. Would you believe he's not into diversity and especially not wokeism... :) He's not all bad though, he did send a message once saying,"Don't let the bastards get you down"

2837

[Diabolical Boids]

Yeah he looks like he could change a tire.

[Emil El Zapato]

lol...maybe...I'm sure he could talk a good game about it anyway.

[Wind]

True story, yesterday after many weeks I went to visit the library and I also went to the philosophy section which is one my my few favorite sections there. I was looking at a few books there, picked up a few to look them closely. One was about Bushido, but the other one was In Praise of Folly by Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam. I knew nothing of the book or about the guy although the name was familiar. I didn't loan the book though. Yet today I saw this news, a strange coincidence. Maybe it is indeed just a coincidence, but it still made me wonder.

"In In Praise of Folly, Erasmus' alleged main point or thesis is that foolishness brings people happiness and keeps people productive, whereas too much wisdom and prudence bring pain, depression, doubt, and lower levels of productivity."

I happened to read this (http://experimentaltheology.blogspot.com/2010/10/theodicy-and-no-country-for-old-men.html) essay about No Country for Old Men too as we were talking about it.

Student gunman kills three in Rotterdam university shooting (https://apnews.com/article/netherlands-shooting-rotterdam-hospital-581641b1e418653bd194842951fecbb6)


The Hague, Netherlands (AP) — A lone gunman wearing a bulletproof vest opened fire in an apartment and a hospital in the Dutch port city of Rotterdam on Thursday, killing three people, including a 14-year-old girl, police said.

The shooting sent patients and medics fleeing the Erasmus Medical Center in downtown Rotterdam, including some who were wheeled out of the building in beds. Others barricaded themselves into rooms and stuck hand-written signs to windows to show their location.

Police Chief Fred Westerbeke told reporters that the shooter was a 32-year-old student from Rotterdam. He was arrested at the hospital carrying a firearm. His identity was not released, and the motive for the shootings was still under investigation.

He first shot and killed a 39-year-old woman and seriously injured her 14-year-old daughter at an apartment close to where the suspect lived, Police Chief Fred Westerbeke said. Police said the girl later died of her injuries.

The shooter then went to the nearby Erasmus Medical Center where he shot and killed a 43-year-old man, a teacher at the academic hospital, police said. He also started fires at the scenes of both shootings.

The identities of the victims were not released.

The suspect was cooperating with police, Westerbeke said.

“It was a black day,” said Rotterdam Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb.

Dutch King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima expressed their sympathy on social media. “Our hearts go out to the family and friends of the victims of the violence this afternoon in Rotterdam,” the royal pair wrote. “We also think of everybody who lived in fear during these terrible actions,” they added.

The Erasmus Medical Center appealed on social media for people not to go to the hospital, but later said it was reopening. It said that all appointments scheduled for Friday would go ahead as planned.

There have been scores of small explosions and at homes and businesses across Rotterdam this year, blamed on rival drug gangs. There was no immediate suggestion that Thursday’s shooting was linked to the feuding drug gangs.

[Emil El Zapato]

Serious synchronicity there...

[Wind]

Serious synchronicity there...

A bit freaky I must admit.

[Wind]

Maybe you can relate to this.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CFY6k8oUUAAG-1h.jpg

[Emil El Zapato]

Maybe you can relate to this.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CFY6k8oUUAAG-1h.jpg

I can, me and the cat haven't been on friendly terms this past week or two. I keep making him uncomfortable...I've limited his lounging places and he doesn't like it.

[Octopus Garden]

True story, yesterday after many weeks I went to visit the library and I also went to the philosophy section which is one my my few favorite sections there. I was looking at a few books there, picked up a few to look them closely. One was about Bushido, but the other one was In Praise of Folly by Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam. I knew nothing of the book or about the guy although the name was familiar. I didn't loan the book though. Yet today I saw this news, a strange coincidence. Maybe it is indeed just a coincidence, but it still made me wonder.

"In In Praise of Folly, Erasmus' alleged main point or thesis is that foolishness brings people happiness and keeps people productive, whereas too much wisdom and prudence bring pain, depression, doubt, and lower levels of productivity."

I happened to read this (http://experimentaltheology.blogspot.com/2010/10/theodicy-and-no-country-for-old-men.html) essay about No Country for Old Men too as we were talking about it.

Student gunman kills three in Rotterdam university shooting (https://apnews.com/article/netherlands-shooting-rotterdam-hospital-581641b1e418653bd194842951fecbb6)

Wow Wind! Incredible. You know what's going to happen now. It's going to be a major Erasmus day for me tomorrow. So Merry Erasmus!


WE know she was not woke because her supporters, her followers, her army would have burnt her at the stake ending the Arc crusade before it began.

It was common for women of some means at that time to don trousers for long travel, or at least special pantaloons for riding. Surely not all of them were struggling with identity issues or were lesbians. Of course not. This is a disingenuous stance made for attention.

Unless you've been on a horse for an extended length of time one doesn't realize how it will peel the skin from your inner legs unless properly protected. That holds true anytime in history. They could have put her in a litter but being astride a horse indicates nobility as the term was understood then. Some women of significance had to preserve their dignity whereas common women did not so various attitudes of dress and posture were adopted depending on the situation. Obviously the Arc crusade was political and religious statement and she was dressed accordingly. And history shows us that women of significance often donned armor and to don armor like Katherine of Aragon Tudor and her mother Queen Isabella of Spain. Had nothing to do with Wokeism or other emotional illnesses.

Interesting about women in men's dress!

[Emil El Zapato]

Having some fun with the local community this morning. But be aware the following video is one of my direct ancestors: According to the DNA testing site CriGenetics. The primary geneticist is a Nobel Prize Winner:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYKKbhA2_fI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWczeJPPoXU

[Wind]

Wow Wind! Incredible. You know what's going to happen now. It's going to be a major Erasmus day for me tomorrow. So Merry Erasmus!

I don't know what's going to happen and that's what bugs me. I can only have feelings about the current energies or sense something. It's like my intuition is getting stronger, but it doesn't mean I can predict things. Otherwise I would know better how to prepare my days. It's like I that I am guided to get some messages and that's pretty much it. Merry Erasmus day too, whatever that might be!

Today it seems to have been a chaotic day in Israeal. Though I don't condone terrorist actions, Israel's ultra right wing government has been pushing the Palestinians into this with their selfish, greedy and cruel actions. It's cause and effect. That whole place is a mess.

rxqoYOIBp1s

[Emil El Zapato]

I don't know what's going to happen and that's what bugs me. I can only have feelings about the current energies or sense something. It's like my intuition is getting stronger, but it doesn't mean I can predict things. Otherwise I would know better how to prepare my days. It's like I that I am guided to get some messages and that's pretty much it. Merry Erasmus day too, whatever that might be!

Today it seems to have been a chaotic day in Israeal. Though I don't condone terrorist actions, Israel's ultra right wing government has been pushing the Palestinians into this with their selfish, greedy and cruel actions. It's cause and effect. That whole place is a mess.

rxqoYOIBp1s

yeah, I agree... Biden has made a strong statement but... I suspect he will under the covers petition Israel to get over itself. I hope so anyway.

The attackers sound crazed as hell...

[Aragorn]

Biden has made a strong statement but... I suspect he will under the covers petition Israel to get over itself. I hope so anyway.

Don't count on it. The USA, the UK, and pretty much everything else in the West has always unconditionally supported Israel ever since it was created, because Israel symbolizes the western presence in (and dominion over) the Middle East. Plus that Judaism is the root of all Abrahamic religions, and that many US Americans — including those in power — adhere to either Judaism or (some flavor of) Christianity, while the separation between church and state in the USA has always been very nebulous among both parties.


The attackers sound crazed as hell...

If you were in their shoes, so would you be. The way Israel has been treating the Palestinians over the decades since the end of World War II has always been eerily reminiscent of how the Nazis treated the Jews, and that was already long before Israel begot the ultra-right-wing government it currently has.

The situation over there has always been highly volatile, but lately the Israeli government has been stepping up on its oppression and dehumanization of the Palestinian people. So it was only a matter of time before things would explode.

And you can tell how desperate the Palestinians are — forget about the Islamist terrorist groups that are supporting this conflict for a moment — because they know all too well that they cannot win this war, even if other western nations were to refrain from intervening. The Israeli military is well-equipped, well-trained, and stronger in numbers than the Palestinian armed groups, who are only amateurs by comparison.

So the Palestinians know all too well that it's a lost cause and that they will be mercilessly eradicated by the Israelis. It's not about winning anymore, but about rather dying for their freedom than to continue living in bondage under a cruel and relentless occupier.

[Wind]

So the Palestinians know all too well that it's a lost cause and that they will be mercilessly eradicated by the Israelis. It's not about winning anymore, but about rather dying for their freedom than to continue living in bondage under a cruel and relentless occupier.

Exactly. They have very little choices left. If you were cornered, what would you do?

The problem is that the Israeli government wants them out. They want the whole cake.

The creation of Israel was probably not a good choice, yet hypocritical western governments support it.

[Octopus Garden]

I don't mean to be glib here, but so much of this could have been avoided if a safe haven for the Jewish people had been carved out of Northern Saskatchewan. Aside from mosquitos the only hostile group they may have had to contend with would have been Ducks Unlimited.

I feel for all involved but aside from our govts who have ulterior motives most people will support Gazans and Hamas in this battle. It's a great tragedy for all peace loving people who just want to live humbly and fairly whether they be Israeli or Palestinian.

[Emil El Zapato]

Hi OG:

I wanted to comment on Zeihan:

There are elements that he might not be considering given his 'traditional and historical war' perspective. An analogy can be drawn between 'terrorism' and conventional warfare. Ukraine has the mindset to wage a 'nontraditional' war for ages, despite the downside of a 'demographic' issue, this conflict is of the nature that will draw mercenaries as long as mercenaries exist. Example given, the Middle East. There is a historical analogy, as well, in the Baltic countries during WWII, they resisted until they won victory...Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania were caught between the Nazis and the Russkies but managed to hold out. Despite, the right's willingness to sacrifice Ukraine to satisfy fascist drives, I believe the supply coalition will not breakdown. Russia is just too big of a risk for the world, including would be allies like China. Fascist authoritarians have no desire to share power unless there is self-enabling value in it and then only as long as needed.

And then there are the F-16's. Those weapons have been reluctantly kept out of the fight for the most part because Putin is nuts, but as push comes to shove they will arrive. Israel is currently forked and will keep them and their adversaries engaged and at bay and unable to aid Putin.

I noticed Zeihan has the same birthdate as mine ... not the year...Along with Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, and George Foreman... yazzah!

:) I also have that same globe that he is holding in one of his pictures...yazzah! yazzah! Yahoo! Wakabanga!!

[Octopus Garden]

Hi OG:

I wanted to comment on Zeihan:

There are elements that he might not be considering given his 'traditional and historical war' perspective. An analogy can be drawn between 'terrorism' and conventional warfare. Ukraine has the mindset to wage a 'nontraditional' war for ages, despite the downside of a 'demographic' issue, this conflict is of the nature that will draw mercenaries as long as mercenaries exist. Example given, the Middle East. There is a historical analogy, as well, in the Baltic countries during WWII, they resisted until they won victory...Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania were caught between the Nazis and the Russkies but managed to hold out. Despite, the right's willingness to sacrifice Ukraine to satisfy fascist drives, I believe the supply coalition will not breakdown. Russia is just too big of a risk for the world, including would be allies like China. Fascist authoritarians have no desire to share power unless there is self-enabling value in it and then only as long as needed.

And then there are the F-16's. Those weapons have been reluctantly kept out of the fight for the most part because Putin is nuts, but as push comes to shove they will arrive. Israel is currently forked and will keep them and their adversaries engaged and at bay and unable to aid Putin.

I noticed Zeihan has the same birthdate as mine ... not the year...Along with Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, and George Foreman... yazzah!

:) I also have that same globe that he is holding in one of his pictures...yazzah! yazzah! Yahoo! Wakabanga!!

Same birthday! He was adopted too, right? Maybe you were separated at birth? You were born first and his was a long gestation for your mother!

I like Zeihan's take as it is counter-bias. He is pro- Ukraine, but sees the situation for what it is. Ukraine is undermanned, undergunned, way over powered. I personally don't think it's a winnable situation for Ukraine either.

Ukraine's ability to recruit mercenaries to wage acts of terrorism, may be possible. Acts of terrorism would be considered spec ops and require a high level of expertise and intimate 'on the ground' knowledge of the region.

Gaza was able to attack Israel because Hamas was using not just weaponry and expertise, from the outside, but highly committed, angry locals who know every nook and cranny of their own territory and surrounding regions. More than anything though, they know each other. They know who to trust and who not to trust. That takes a life time or decades of exposure, living right in Gaza.

Anyway, that's my take. Putin is an autocratic dictator and there is real danger for Americans, domestically, to have a close relationship with right wing dictators. If Trump wins the election or takes over, he will pull the US into Putin's orbit. So there's that.

Who knows how that would shake out in foreign policy, geo-political realignment? China is collapsing economically. Their grand plans for the future, the belt and road initiative, may stop in its tracks or be stalled for decades.

Until just prior to 2014, Russia was much more open. American covert operations in Ukraine pushed Putin further into "right wing dictator, madman" territory. A powerful nation can't operate with impunity covertly, then blame the leaders of countries effected for becoming a bit paranoid about what America's next step might be.

Anyway, don't want to labor the point. So will finish here!:dog::)

[Wind]

Well this surely isn't looking good. I feel sorry for all the people affected by this.

https://twitter.com/Maks_NAFO_FELLA/status/1711130680552247575
iEplSugcLkE

[Emil El Zapato]

Well this surely isn't looking good. I feel sorry for all the people affected by this.

https://twitter.com/Maks_NAFO_FELLA/status/1711130680552247575
iEplSugcLkE

This is why the United Nations was founded...Where are the Blue Hats? They've disappeared.

[Emil El Zapato]

Well, it happened today and I guess it was inevitable. I had my first encounter with a 'Karen' (if I understand correctly). She scuffed the wrong dude while trying to win her case by even bringing in management. She didn't have a handicapped leg to stand on. She limped away with her helmet on her head a very unhappy complainer.

I did feel badly afterwards, but she really had no case, she just wanted to cause a fuss.

[Wind]

I hope this won't escalate into something bigger. Stupid politicians want everything else besides peace.

cvsqpl8fOyQ

[Aragorn]

I hope this won't escalate into something bigger. Stupid politicians want everything else besides peace.


Personally, I think there's no plausible cause whatsoever to even remotely believe that the state of Israel — and the Hasidic Jews in particular — feels anything other than a profound hatred and disdain for the Palestinians, considering how they've been treating them so far. They even continue expanding their illegal settlements into Palestinian territory, and the whole world is standing by and doing nothing at all while this evil continues.

By consequence, I believe that when Netanyahu says it is only the beginning, and that they will exercise revenge, they are really planning on retaliating as brutally and cruelly as they're making it sound. For the radical Zionist Jews, a Palestinian is worth less than a worm, and knowing full well that they can get away with everything before the United Nations — and the West in particular — they've got nothing to fear from the international community. Besides, the US is already sending over weapons and troops.

It is therefore telling that the two major bogeymen of the West — Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping — are both suggesting what the United nations should have already established a long time ago, which is a two-state solution. It has been proposed before, but the Israeli government — even before it took on these far-right proportions as they exist now — has thus far always refused, with full support from the USA.

That all said, I will also add that I am feeling thoroughly disgusted with our supposedly neutral state-sponsored news media over here. A few days ago they were still referring to the Israeli government as "far-right", but today they are no longer making any mention of that, while at the same time referring to Hamas as "an extremist organization", and for that matter, repeatedly so.

Also note that Netanyahu is now referring to Hamas as IS, also known as ISIS, the terrorists of the Islamic State. Anything will do for riling up the hatred for the Palestinians even more before the Israeli population and the international eye, right?




Note: I do not condone the attacks, nor the violence, the abductions and the executions against innocent Israeli civilians, and I do also consider Hamas dangerously fanatic — and yes, they do have an Islamist wing, which has ties to Hezbollah — but that's still a far cry from being blind to the plight of the Palestinians and the Nazi-like behavior of the state of Israel.

And as I said earlier, Hamas knows that this is going to be a losing war. They know that there's no way on Earth that they can ever win this. Or to put it differently, they know all too well that it would be foolish to expect any other outcome for the Palestinians than total annihilation. Therefore, the very fact that they still decided to go ahead with it should be evidential enough of how desperate they are, and how they are willing to rather die standing up than continue living on their knees.

I am disgusted by the human race. I really am. :unsure:

[Gio]

Yes this entire fiasco-mess smells to high heaven ...
Just like the Kennedy assassination, 911, etc ... etc ...

[Wind]

I am disgusted by the human race. I really am. :unsure:

I agree with what you wrote and I am disgusted by the hypocrisy. Humanity itself is disappointing.

Too much hatred and conflict. The question is if Israel can actually do anything it wants without consequences.

[Aragorn]

I agree with what you wrote and I am disgusted by the hypocrisy. Humanity itself is disappointing.

Too much hatred and conflict. The question is if Israel can actually do anything it wants without consequences.

Yes, they can, just like the USA itself. Israel and the USA are two peas in one pod. And don't they know it! :mad:

[Fred Steeves]

It is therefore telling that the two major bogeymen of the West — Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping — are both suggesting what the United nations should have already established a long time ago, which is a two-state solution. It has been proposed before, but the Israeli government — even before it took on these far-right proportions as they exist now — has thus far always refused, with full support from the USA.

(Chuckling) well they're the enemy, which means they're bad people, which means they harbor nothing but bad intentions, which means, at the very least, they should never be listened to. Rinse, lather, repeat.


Also note that Netanyahu is now referring to Hamas as IS, also known as ISIS, the terrorists of the Islamic State. Anything will do for riling up the hatred for the Palestinians even more before the Israeli population and the international eye, right?

Huh, I haven't heard that yet, but it certainly doesn't surprise me. Just off the top of my head Netanyahu must be well aware that he is both center stage of the world's attention, and that the rest of the world doesn't share his disgust of Palestinians, but slap a boogie man face to it and...

And speaking of boogie men, I've even heard rantings of the evil one himself, old Vlad Putin, having a hand in this fire. Anything to help feed the latest Two Minutes of Hate (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvGmOZ5T6_Y).


Yes this entire fiasco-mess smells to high heaven ...
Just like the Kennedy assassination, 911, etc ... etc ...

Funny you should say that Gio, I heard some rhetoric being used yesterday that brought me right back to post September 11, 2001. (That's not a place I want to see again...)

There's a lot more going on here than meets the eye. I can't see it, yet, but I surely do smell that familiar stench.

[Aianawa]

Hard to know the differing truths real wise atm, hatred being seen is important to the usual players, but things have set up splashing all over the place, lol who does one believe after ongoing silliness last few years, most media is kaput regards integritty, polly teshins soulless n lacklustor, certaintee is charging change everywhere and pain on a micro level appears very very important to know n dredge atm.

[Emil El Zapato]

I hope this won't escalate into something bigger. Stupid politicians want everything else besides peace.

cvsqpl8fOyQ

After watching the video that Gio posted about the Palestinians intransigence to compromise makes me reluctant to lay all the blame on Israel, but at the same time Israel obviously doesn't really want compromise either. Zeihan and others blame the problems on religion but I disagree, it goes deeper than that. As Israel has gone farther right and the Arab nations remain far right things have fomented to the boiling point. One could almost believe that they deserve each other. The Arab bad guys are running the show and therein lay many of the problems.

The good guys of the world really need to unite and reseparate the area. I remember the assassination of Anwar Sadat and how really sad it made me that such a good and honest player was forcibly removed from the scene.

[Emil El Zapato]

Yes, they can, just like the USA itself. Israel and the USA are two peas in one pod. And don't they know it! :mad:

I think that is a little harsh...the past few liberal administrations have tried to put pressure on Israel to be human while the other side has in unprecedented fashion invited the Israeli authoritarians over for tea and crumpets. Biden might actually be a throwback to everything for Israel, I truly hope not.

[Wind]

The times are peculiar and rather explosive it seems.

https://twitter.com/igorsushko/status/1711790689552662917

[Emil El Zapato]

The times are peculiar and rather explosive it seems.

https://twitter.com/igorsushko/status/1711790689552662917

yeah, I just heard Biden making a strident appeal to support Israel. It's interesting, Ukraine and Israel. We'll see how that goes, I'll be watching for the party line split. My guess would be on both the right and left there will be support for Israel (the left will issue a warning to Israel to be more fair to the Palestinians). The right will suggest that the best solution for Palestine is to just kill them all and let God sort 'em out. My car mechanic is from Palestine and has always been a pretty decent guy. Though, I met another guy from Palestine that thought women that were 'loose' an abomination against God. The right will continue to try to end aid for Ukraine.

To apologize for Biden before all the naysayers show up, I would say that he has to take this approach because if the Arab nations sense any equivocation in the U.S. position, it could end in another world war. If not Nuclear flag waving.

[Emil El Zapato]

My cat hasn't entered my bedroom for over a week. I'm starting to think he believes I rejected him by bringing in that raccoon as a replacement pet. There is something definitely wrong with him, I don't know if it is psychological or physical. Arthritis, heart problem, I can't tell and not really sure what to do. I'm considering asking my daughter to look him over, but pets aren't her specialty... :)

[Wind]

My cat hasn't entered my bedroom for over a week. I'm starting to think he believes I rejected him by bringing in that raccoon as a replacement pet. There is something definitely wrong with him, I don't know if it is psychological or physical. Arthritis, heart problem, I can't tell and not really sure what to do. I'm considering asking my daughter to look him over, but pets aren't her specialty... :)

Would catnip work with him?

[Emil El Zapato]

Would catnip work with him?

One experiment I did on him when he was younger was to try to OD him on catnip. It worked, he doesn't seem affected by it anymore.

[Wind]

This interview aged like fine wine. We sure got a dystopian society, especially in the brainwashed USA.

alasBxZsb40

[Emil El Zapato]

How's your doggie doing?

my cat got to go on an opium trip late last week.

[Wind]

How's your doggie doing?

He's doing just fine.


my cat got to go on an opium trip late last week.

Provided by you or the vet?

[Emil El Zapato]

He's doing just fine.



Provided by you or the vet?

:) the vet

[Wind]

I had to take this article through Google translate so if there are any errors you know why.

Populists in the footsteps of Narcissus (https://politiikasta-fi.translate.goog/populistit-narkissoksen-jaljilla/?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=fi&_x_tr_pto=wapp#pll_switcher)

"The pioneer of social psychology and radical humanism, Erich Fromm (1900–1980), entered the US book lists when Donald Trump was elected federal president. In particular, his work Escape from Freedom (1941) aroused great interest. The analysis of authoritarian nature and the idea of ​​a mass flight from oppressive freedom seemed to fit well with the prevailing political situation.

As important a work as Escape from Freedom is, Fromm offers an even more relevant current analysis in his book Between Good and Evil (1964). In this work, he presents the idea of ​​group narcissism, which as a phenomenon has come up in discussions as an explanation for the Brexit result, for example. However, the analysts of collective narcissism have forgotten to mention Fromm's studies in their reference lists, even though he is an absolute pioneer in the study of this social phenomenon.

A narcissistic worldview

In the 1930s, the Frankfurt School presented a significant analysis of authoritarian nature and its connection to fascism. Modern theorists see in these studies a direct connection to the wave of populism that has risen in recent years.

Although the prevailing time has obvious authoritarian features, it is not the most apt description for the present. The authoritarian nature wants to sadomasochistically submit to power, but at the same time also subdues its inferiors. The situation affects which role a person with this type of character will take.

According to Fromm's analysis, the narcissist instead admires himself as the greatest and most beautiful. He doesn't really need to put others down as long as they understand that the narcissist is at the center of everything.

Fromm emphasizes that narcissism occurs in different forms. For example, in the stage of primary narcissism, the child has not yet developed to recognize the outside world as separate from himself. The situation is different for a mentally ill person, because in this form of narcissism reality is no longer conveyed as realistic.

Fortification makes the narcissist even more fearful, and practically everyone else becomes a potential enemy.

A narcissist believes that the outside world cannot hurt him. As a result, the narcissist imagines that there are no limits to his powers or limits to his desires: "so they lie with countless women, kill countless people, build castles everywhere," Fromm states in Between Good and Evil.

The more a narcissist strives to be like a god, the more isolated he becomes. This entrenchment, in turn, makes him even more fearsome, and practically everyone else becomes a potential enemy. Fear, on the other hand, is to be overcome by always adding more power and being even more merciless towards others.

The world's greatest narcissists

Fromm believes that numerous rulers throughout history have met the hallmarks of narcissists. According to him, the paranoid pursuit of power is like the madness of the Roman emperors, where reality is tried to be forced to conform to the individual's own narcissistic images. Everyone has to admit that it is the emperor who is the greatest and most powerful person - or actually a god among people.

Narcissists hate criticism. Such a person typically responds to criticism by getting angry or depressed, or by denying the validity of the entire review. The more narcissistic a person is, the less they accept criticism from others or admit that they have failed.

According to Fromm, the most dangerous aspect of narcissism is the distortion of rational evaluation. Of course, many narcissists give reasonable-sounding reasons for their assessments, but they are always more or less deceptive, even if the individual himself fully believes in them.

A person whose self-admiration and self-righteousness knows no bounds seeks recognition from others. Fromm's example of this is a celebrity who feeds his narcissistic worldview by gaining the admiration of millions of people.

In essence, the narcissist thus tries to change reality to match his own imaginings. Success removes any nagging doubts and replaces it with certainty. Social media would seem to be an excellent platform for narcissists in this regard.

In a group madness is condensed

A narcissist's self-admiration can also extend beyond the skin. In this case, the narcissist praises everything related to himself. This can mean, for example, the object of his romantic love, because this is precisely the object of his love. When an external object becomes a part of the narcissist in this way, it begins to acquire excellent qualities.

On the basis of the former, Fromm derives his most original insight: individual narcissism can also turn into mass narcissism, when, for example, the religion, political ideology or nationality represented by the individual becomes the object of narcissistic passion.

In this case too, everything from the outside appears more worthless, more dangerous and more immoral. My community is God's choice and a haven of righteousness.

Group narcissism has a clear realpolitik consequence.

Group narcissism has a clear real-world political consequence: a community that is unable or unwilling to adequately take care of the basic well-being of its members offers its members narcissistic satisfaction in order to keep dissatisfaction with their own lives at bay. The economically disadvantaged derive narcissistic satisfaction from the pride afforded by extolling the greatness and success of their own community. Even if a person's own gifts and starting points are not enviable, he feels important when he is part of the most admirable group in the world.

If an individual were to claim that he alone is the most intelligent, beautiful and admirable person in the world, and everyone else is dirty, stupid and mentally ill, the narcissistic nature of such a person would be easily demonstrated. However, the situation is more difficult to understand when a similar claim is directed at an entire nation.

Of course, this can be criticized from the outside (because all other nations are despised), but those who share a narcissistic attitude feel flattered and rational because others around them agree. The rest of the world just doesn't understand their excellence.

From the Aryans to Brexit and America's greatness

Fromm brings up racial racism in Germany and South America as examples of mass narcissism. An inflated self-image of, say, one's own Aryan excellence demands that one's own group is imagined to be superior to the controls. Similar features also occur in religious denominations.

Fromm admits that, for example, the Catholic Church has promoted good things for centuries, but it has also nurtured pathological narcissism at the same time. The idea that the Pope is Christ's vicar and the Church is the only source of salvation strengthens group narcissism.

Whereas the idea of ​​God should lead to human humility, narcissistic power is drawn from it. According to Fromm, this happens in all religious fundamentalism. The essence of narcissism is summed up in the overestimation of one's own position and in the hatred directed at everyone who disagrees.

The essence of narcissism is summed up in the overestimation of one's own position and in the hatred directed at everyone who disagrees.

Criticism directed at one's own doctrine means a hostile attack on the narcissist, and criticism directed at outsiders, on the other hand, is a return to the truth. The same principle also extends to the field of politics.

Today, Britain wants to defend its own interests by leaving the European Union. Similarly, in the United States, efforts are being made to make the federal government the largest again. Similar sounds can be heard on a smaller scale in Finland as well.

The idea of, for example, closing the borders - although those who demand this rarely explain what closing the borders means - or cutting development aid by appealing to the interests of the citizens of one's own country are symptoms of shared narcissism. On the other hand, the recent discussion about the unemployment security activation model, where the rights of a certain group of citizens are interfered with in the name of the citizens' interest, is the mass narcissism of a certain social group.

In the pathology of mass narcissism, the core is the same everywhere: the lack of objectivity and rational evaluation.

The content varies, the core remains

In Fromm's own time, the clearest political struggles were between communism and capitalism. In the circle of both of them, there was a passionate belief in the superiority of one's own system and the vileness of the opposite side. Both tried to present themselves as a human image, although psychologically speaking it was about defending and feeding their own narcissism.

Although the book Between Good and Evil is already more than 50 years old, the analysis presented in it shows that, for example, talk about the post-truth era does not really contain anything new. For decades, masses of people have reinforced their own perceptions of reality in ways that factual information doesn't particularly matter.

Both half a century ago and in the current political era, appealing to emotions is a way to gain popularity. Of course, fragments of truth are still included in the narratives, but the show can be full of gross errors, as long as the overall story is appealing.

The most significant background factor of mass narcissism is fear, which is defended with anger.

The most significant background factor of mass narcissism is fear, which is defended with anger. If narcissism is wounded, it is healed by crushing the offender and thus the offense is, as it were, nullified. Such a narcissist may be large in economic or violent terms, but rarely in a humanistic perspective: "The half-crazy leader is often the most successful until his lack of objective judgment, his rage reaction to any setback, and his need to maintain an image of his omnipotence lead him to make mistakes that lead to his downfall ”, Fromm writes.

Far from self-love

Fromm is very particular about never using self-love as a synonym for narcissism. A person can love himself, but this way of relating to himself is completely different from the way of a narcissist.

Self-love can only grow and develop in an open relationship with oneself and the surrounding reality. Narcissism, on the other hand, is the result of the inability to have a productive relationship with the outside world.

Also, self-admiration should not be confused with narcissism. A person can be proud of their own work and achievements without being ravaged by a severe personality disorder.

The pathological narcissism described by Fromm, on the other hand, is not about the things a person does or produces, but above all the things he owns. The difference between these communally shared tendencies is discussed in more detail by Fromm in his work To Have or to Be? (1976).

According to Fromm, the counterforce of narcissism is humanism, which recognizes the human race as one.

Each person represents humanity and all of humanity.

There are no privileged groups that can declare their own excellence on the basis of, for example, their financial holdings. Narcissism, both group and individual, challenges this notion. Stopping it is, according to Fromm, a decisive question, perhaps even regarding the fate of the whole of humanity.

In the end, a person's goal is to overcome his own narcissism and break away from his delusional self-image. This is the highest goal of spiritual development. In this case, the individual can feel like a citizen of the world and part of the whole of humanity.

The large-scale realization of this ideal requires both social, economic and political changes. In Fromm's words, it is "possible only in so far as numerous peoples, eventually all, become unanimous and are ready to reduce their national sovereignty in favor of the sovereignty of humanity, not only in political but also in emotional realities." Both individuals and communities could be proud of such a development."

[Emil El Zapato]

Well, I certainly agree!

[Wind]

Looks like Fred signifies peace. :p

https://64.media.tumblr.com/58212564a7cb501bb799e66daab0b76c/bcc9de1fa5005221-90/s1280x1920/1a8e05bc8f080d3e2698a8b89d94c93f87430136.jpg

[Emil El Zapato]

Looks like Fred signifies peace. :p

https://64.media.tumblr.com/58212564a7cb501bb799e66daab0b76c/bcc9de1fa5005221-90/s1280x1920/1a8e05bc8f080d3e2698a8b89d94c93f87430136.jpg

lol...not in the U.S.

[Wind]

X6iKdWaqRlw

[Aragorn]

And here comes Ciaràn (https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/nov/01/storm-ciaran-danger-to-life-warnings-issued-for-parts-of-england)... I can already hear all kinds of stuff flying around and tumbling over behind the building, and this is only just the beginning... :nails:

:unsure:

[Emil El Zapato]

And here comes Ciaràn (https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/nov/01/storm-ciaran-danger-to-life-warnings-issued-for-parts-of-england)... I can already hear all kinds of stuff flying around and tumbling over behind the building, and this is only just the beginning... :nails:

:unsure:

I saw that this morning...quite unusual it seemed.

[Emil El Zapato]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY2x3CIO0ZA

My daughter said it was clusterf*ck...Swat acting mucho macho, Firefighters taking up EMT bandwidths, Fire Chief not able to properly set up Triage and Galveston PD not doing a safety clearing for the medical personnel. Typical stuff, I would say...

[Emil El Zapato]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hf59qwKG7cM

[Emil El Zapato]

I'm pretty sure that the first tornado shot is from Andover Kansas. (I verified that it is) My brother's band lead singer lost her home as a result.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wp8BcySnwwM&t=327s

https://www.tiktok.com/@davaug/video/7213080489668939054?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc - Michen_888 tiktok actual drone footage

This photo was taken from my brother's driveway:

2845

[Emil El Zapato]

My brother is on the left in his band...'his' band is a controversial 'perspective'

The family redneck...(In truth, there are plenty of us but declining in numbers) I try to talk him out of it, but he won't give... :)

[Emil El Zapato]

I had a first conversation with my oldest half sister. Apparently she's a real badass, sure talked like it...She has a history of managing a software company which is where she started her career. A pioneer of sorts. Later she went on to managing staff for hospitals. She is about a year and a half younger than I, and is anxious to get back to work after some serious health issues.

She impressed me as very 'bright', so, of course, I had to get me in and I admonished her that as the oldest sibling I was by default the 'smartest'. It was a joke and it fell flat as a pancake. She didn't even crack a grin vibe. :)

[Emil El Zapato]

Profound thought for the day: Well maybe not, though I was in my mental flowzone when it occurred to me, but, of course, I didn't spend the night at a Holiday Inn Express.

At what level does a person relinquish their principles in favor of what they desire? Sounds like the emotional development of a 5-year old. But that is not as low as we can go as humans. At birth a baby is left to the mercy of instinct, an instinct for survival. And there we have the gist of the average MagaLander. For ever Trumpers applying logic to the phenomenon it becomes obvious that they feel their survival is threatened. Is that the whole story? I don't think so, the question remains where does the fear that invokes the instinct come from? Let me illustrate:

Earlier today I was walking through the park, holding my dong, and reminiscing. No, not really, I wasn't reminiscing. I happened upon a young mother with her, I'm guesstimating her 2.5 year old son. He was running and saying, "I running away!" His mother scurried after him and he abruptly stopped and started running towards her, yelling with joy, "I running very fast!". As I passed the mother, I said, "He's really running fast" and she replied, "Yeah, he can go backwards, too". So, i look at the kid and say, "Wow, that is really good!". In the blink of an eyelash, the kid says in the best adult language ever uttered by a virtual toddler (with the possible exception of my daughter and Aragorn), "The police are coming!". I was guffawing meanwhile his mother was rushing him readying to pounce on him. I don't know, I have this sneaking suspicion it might have something to do with the things we are exposed to at a very early stage.

But yesterday, that was another day. On my neighborhood board there was a thread that had been started by a Hispanic woman from Mexico. Her son had been bilked by a scammer purportedly selling an IPhone, he had been saving money from his job around his high school schedule. She started the post to 'warn' other parents to be wary of this guy and probably many others. Some people were sympathetic and had offered to donate some money and I guess what were older phones but after a short while, things diverged, people were accusing her of running a scam, including setting up one of those 'donate board things'. There was absolutely no evidence that she had done anything of the sort, nothing. Naturally, after awhile the thread was overrun and shut down.

I posted to her that I had a practically brand new IPhone 13 that I would give to her son and somehow through the grapevine the message got through to her. Evidently, I had started a new thread, but anyway, later she came to pick it up and expressed much thanks, I thought she was going to kiss my feet, but she wouldn't accept my invitation to step into my living room, hmmm, and related in her broken English how ashamed she was because people didn't trust her and thought she was a bad mother. I reiterated in my broken English that too many people are just fuckheads.

The moral of the story is that there are literally hundreds if not thousands of people on the forum and 5 of them responded to my post with a thanks. I responded back to one of them and stated that, "I don't have a problem taking a chance on people, if they are scamming for personal gain that is between them and their God."

[Emil El Zapato]

Ok, so maybe I was wrong...

2848[/SIZE]

[Emil El Zapato]

Dreamland:

I dreamed that Aliens attacked the entire world with 'Lava bombs' and then nukes, and then a good faction started dropping anti-metallic bombs which came close to impact but didn't blow because they repelled from the impact.

It was wild, it started where I wasn't working, so I was at my brother's house trying to help with a construction company that was doing some minor updates on his house. Long story short, his house ended up collapsing with my help and 'their' incompetence. It was obvious that my brother would not be financially responsible (I was worried about that) and then the entire neighborhood started collapsing and then the community and then the region. When a group of people recognized that we were under attack and saw the encroaching lava climb elevation, we all ran in high panic literally for the hills. We were stuck and desperate, people were in impromptu fashion performing music for the huge crowds. Then the lava started climbing again and more panic ensued, a small group of us banded together and there was one guy that was obviously an accomplished 'survivor', very intelligent and was making all the right moves so I followed his ass... :) We climbed a metal tower to stay above the inferno but it was then the Alien beings started attacking with advanced weapons, so still following we managed to maneuver our way around the tower to avoid getting blasted. At one point we got separated as we were both targeted by the Aliens. One took a special interest in 'getting' me. So we started, in a manner of speaking, dueling with each other. They were shapeshifters and the alien took on the persona of a human. He was extremely smug and superior to 'us'. I tricked him and caught him off guard and forced him off the tower, he just bounced into a sploosh and recovered. At one point he stated that he had analyzed my DNA and was surprised to learn that my DNA was composed of 24 different Alien species. Then I managed to hook up with the first guy and as we were getting ready to get the puck out of there, a cartoonish friendly 'grey' started pantomiming that we should follow him up a secret passage in the tower. We did for awhile and then started suspecting that it was a trap and took off running...I guess I woke up at that time.

Pretty strange dream and emotions.

[Emil El Zapato]

Tomorrow is my 1st day that I have had to report physically to work in over 3.5 years. I'm not looking forward to it, at all. I'm too old for this sh*t. :(

[Wind]

Tomorrow is my 1st day that I have had to report physically to work in over 3.5 years. I'm not looking forward to it, at all. I'm too old for this sh*t. :(

Have you been able to work from home all this time?

[Emil El Zapato]

yes, And I don't wan't to change. I lost my last job which was perfect for me because I didn't want to compromise on the the work from home thing and I paid the price. Though, I got paid full salary for nine months without doing a day of work. It is embarrassing to be such a loser. I don't plan on doing it that long. I've always been pretty good at getting what I wanted from my masters and I was not always a favorite among co-workers because of it. Such is life, one has to work for those little life's perks that at least I have always wanted.

[Emil El Zapato]

Vlad the Impaler, Henry Irving, or Walt Whitman. Here's my bid:

Given Stoker’s hero worship of Whitman, literary scholars have looked for evidence of the poet’s influence on Dracula. A cryptful of critics spent the late 1980s and 1990s fixating on the novel’s morbid sensuality and what it suggested about homosexuality. It was on this issue that they frequently located Whitman’s fingerprints. Belford regards Whitman’s influence as “profound,” noting that the Count and Whitman share common physical traits. “Each has long white hair, a heavy moustache, great height and strength, and a leonine bearing. Whitman’s poetry celebrates the voluptuousness of death and the deathlike quality of love.”

Stoker didn’t leave any explicit clues behind to suggest whom he had modeled Count Dracula on. But given that Whitman wasn’t averse to a little hero worship, he might have liked being turned into an immortal creature with a lustful fan base.

When Stoker died in 1912, Sotheby’s auctioned off his library. Whitman’s lecture on Lincoln, which he bequeathed to Stoker, sold for $25.

[Wind]

COqq7862wcU

[Emil El Zapato]

Kissinger always left a nasty taste in one's mouth. You know I actually really admired Nixon. I thought he was brilliant despite being mentally ill and a dirty dealer. I was very naive in those days. In a way, rebelling against all the screaming about how horrible the U.S. was, per the hippies. That's the thing about me, I never take the side against whom everyone is aligned, especially if the maligners don't ever consider different perspectives.

[Emil El Zapato]

my bio aunt died a couple days ago so I ordered and sent flowers to the family. On the order receipt it said, "We hope to serve you again soon.

I replied that they should rethink that...of course, they sent me a return message bearing no relationship to the message I sent. Gawd, life is killing me! :)

[Wind]

Gawd, life is killing me! :)

Life is deadly, didn't you know? At least you're the one still alive. ;)