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The United States government (and it’s proxy nations) are restricting all content, and information out of China. In it’s place they are placing propaganda, all designed as a prelude to war.
This post discusses one such event.
In October 2022, CGTN produced a video discussing the construction of a road system in South East Europe. This video is able to be viewed inside of China, but NO WHERE ELSE.
Even though they are using the American You-Tube platform. The video (even though in English) is ONLY viewable inside of China. Imagine that!
As shown by this screen shot…
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And even now, using a VPN I cannot access it.
I NEED to access it only from inside of China, as shown here…
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Well, MM recorded the video and put it up on the MM channel.
Please check it out and observe what you are forbidden to see and learn…
Watch it now before it is banned from my “channel”.
Early Friday morning Nancy Pelosi’s home in San Francisco was broken into. Her husband Paul Pelosi was violently assaulted.
Paul Pelosi was taken to the hospital.
The attack is under investigation.
UPDATE 3:32 EDT —
Mr. Pelosi is reportedly undergoing brain surgery at this hour, after being beaten in the head with a hammer.
The alleged assailant, 42-year-old David DePape of Berkeley, CA, is under arrest.
42-year-old David DePape
The Chief of San Francisco Police reports the following: “At approximately 2:27 this morning, San Francisco police officers were dispatched to the residence of Speaker Nancy Pelosi regarding a priority well-being check. When the officers arrived on scene, they encountered an adult male and Mrs. Pelosi’s husband, Paul,” Scott said during a press conference.
“Our officers observed Mr. Pelosi and the suspect both holding a hammer. The suspect pulled the hammer away from Mr. Pelosi and violently assaulted him with it. Our officers immediately tackled the suspect, disarmed him, took him into custody, requested emergency back up, and rendered medical aid.”
The Chief went on to report:
“The suspect has been identified as 42-year-old David DePape. Mr. Pelosi and Mr. DePape were transported to a local hospital for treatment.
This is an active investigation currently being led by the San Francisco Police Department’s Special Investigations Division. We are working closely with our partners from the FBI, the U.S. Attorney’s office, the U.S. Capitol Police, and our district attorney here in San Francisco County, D.A. Brooke Jenkins, and her team.
The motive for this attack is still being determined. Mr. DePape will be booked at the San Francisco County jail on the following charges: attempted homicide, assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, burglary, and several other additional felonies.”
The U.S. Capital Police, FBI, and US Attorney’s office are all involved and additional charges are considered highly likely.
FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE | Kronsteen Outlines His Plan To Blofeld and Klebb
China outnumbers the U.S. for the first time in this ranking of the world’s ‘best’ universities
International student enrollment at U.S. colleges and universities peaked in the 2015-2016 academic year and has been falling since then, the Institute of International Education said, citing visa concerns, competition from other countries with better access to work visas, and stronger social and political ties between China and other nations.
Here are the top 10 universities in Asia:
Tsinghua University (China)
National University of Singapore (Singapore)
Nanyang Technological University (Singapore)
Peking University (China)
Chinese University of Hong Kong (China)
University of Hong Kong (China)
King Abdulaziz University (Saudi Arabia)
University of Tokyo (Japan)
Shanghai Jiao Tong University (China)
Zhejiang University (China)
Artificial intelligence is among the few fields that both the U.S. and China regard as strategic national priorities. The Biden administration signed the National AI Initiative Act of 2020 into law in 2021, aiming to collapse Chinese leadership in the field.
Creamy Tomato Basil Soup with Mini Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
You’ll love the rich creaminess of this delicious soup with Greek yogurt!
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Ingredients
Tomato Soup
1/4 cup olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup)
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
2 cans (14.5 oz each) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 container (5.3 oz) Liberté® Greek plain yogurt
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (1 oz)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil leaves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Sandwiches
3 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
6 slices (1/2 inch thick) whole-grain bread
3 slices (1 oz each) Cheddar cheese, cut in half
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil leaves
9 (4-inch) wooden skewers
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Cat rescued from street won’t stop talking
Does Chinese leadership understand that if China invades the country of Taiwan it will become a pariah just as Russia did for invading Ukraine, and will suffer catastrophic economic damage?
China is already a pariah among western governments (US and EU); the only reason there have not been sanctions on China so far is because their economies depend on Chinese products. In other words, if they introduced sanctions on China, they would have serious inflation and shortages which would likely lead to social unrest.
However, based on the West’s recent actions and behavior, I expect the US and EU to introduce sanctions against China even if China does not take action against Taiwan because they are obviously desperate to stop the Eurasian bloc (China/Russia/Asia/Middle East/Africa/Latin America) from becoming more powerful. The US has become so desperate to prevent rising Chinese influence that it will take action against China even if it hits American consumers hard.
Most importantly, the US is desperate to stop the spread of de-dollarization for international trade, because that will result in much less demand for US dollars. If there is less demand for US$, then US global influence goes down too. Russia has started this by demanding rubles in payment for Russian gas, and it is giving other countries ideas including India, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states about diversifying their foreign currency reserves.
The US doesn’t seem to realize that by forcing other governments to take pro- or anti- stances against Russia, it is alienating most of the non-Western world. Most of the non-Western world, with the exception of Japan, do not consider the Russia/Ukraine war to be a matter where they should take a stand because it does not affect their interests. On a humanitarian level, they sympathize with all the people forced to become refugees, but this has happened before with Iraq, Syria, Libya and Afghanistan. What makes Ukraine so special?
Gradually, the world is waking up and realizing that the global economic system which the West favors has been designed by only 15% of the world’s population (Europe and North America), but does not take into account the interests of the other 85% of humanity. This 15% minority is fighting to keep control using “western values, freedom and democracy” as its main argument, and the other 85% is rebelling and proposing another system based on respect, equality and on UN values.
The Chinese leadership wants to take a steady path and avoid involvement in unnecessary conflicts so that it can deal with internal issues in China without rocking the boat as long as possible. The US is starting fires all over because it sees its influence shrinking. The Europeans have been fools because they have surrendered their political independence to the US, and have no independent path to the future.
Could Russia or China ever realistically supersede the US as a superpower?
China certainly could and is, in fact, a superpower.
Militarily, China isn’t quite as advanced as USA but in all other respects, China is generally America’s peer.
Militarily, China is #2 in the world, a close second
Economically, China is the world’s factory and main economic engine
Financially, China, along with many other countries, are moving away from the US Dollar
BRICS is creating an alternative reserve currency to the US Dollar
Technologically, China surpasses USA in many areas
Diplomatically, China has garnered much support around the world, thanks to BRI, BRICS, RCEP and SCO
OCTOPUSSY | Train chase
Boston Cream Pie
Boston Cream Pie is a heavenly combination of light, buttery layer cake, creamy vanilla custard and rich chocolate icing. That’s right—technically, it’s a cake! The original Boston Cream Pie title is a holdover from a time when cakes and pies were typically baked in the same type of pan. Master this Boston Cream Pie recipe, and you’ll always have a showstopping dessert for birthdays and other special celebrations. Passionate bakers will no doubt enjoy the challenge of making each component of this homemade Boston Cream Pie recipe from scratch, from the cake to the custard and the icing. And because it’s kitchen-tested, it really is possible to whip up the very best Boston Cream Pie on the first try.
“This is a delicious way to cook pork. I got this recipe from my boyfriend who is from Puerto Rico. This also makes excellent, moist meat for Cuban sandwiches.”
8 teaspoons salt (or 1 teaspoon of salt per pound of meat if you are using a smaller cut of meat)
Directions
Wash the pork shoulder.
With a sharp knife, make 1 inch deep cuts into the pork.
With mortar and pestle crush garlic, oregano and black pepper together. Add olive oil, vinegar and salt. Mix well.
Spoon some of the garlic mixture inside the small cuts around the pork, and spread remaining mixture all over the pork.
Place pork in an aluminum turkey pan (skin side up); cover with aluminum foil tightly. Refrigerate at least 8 hours. (I have marinated this for as long as two days.).
Bake in pre-heated 325 degree Fahrenheit oven for about 5 to 6 hours.
Remove aluminum foil and bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for another hour or until skin is crisp. Closely watch this so you don’t burn the skin (chicharrone).
Pork should be well-done and tender.
European MPs Humiliate The U.S. On World Stage
From a confidential source…
...highly recommend you find a way to view this link. Russian academic; recent.
Recent Academic TheoryMore 2.Basically confirms all you have been saying for years, and what the Commander has been saying in the Domain Q&A, too.
Also confirms how much the Russians actually know about the West's grand 'secret'-- heh heh-- plans, as well as other stuff indirectly that I'd heard but dismissed as irrelevant to my life over the years: the NSA was really set up to monitor global comms in order to ascertain 'who else' knew about ET and Roswell. And who else ET may have been in contact with, obviously. At a level waaay above that of whatever rotational muppet happens to be in the White House.
This also reveals how much the Russians actually know about US and muppet vassals are up to wrt the former Ukraine and much more besides. When these very serious and righteous people make their move, the whole world really will tremble.
I think you're readership may find this of interest; it's pretty blow-away material and delivered so casually to a room full of serious people; Russia's future leadership doubtless among them,
Hope all's well on your end, something BIG is incoming obviously, and I have a sneaky feeling it's gonna hit where nobody is expecting-- and as you've said so many times, much of it will remain unreported; probably until folks living close hear a series of very loud bangs, of course!
I think also that a reality Slap for SKorea and Japan is imminent, too-- one can feel something brewing in the air. They've been threatening NKorean sovereignty lately, and there was a massive explosion in the middle of the night followed by a colossal blaze at a US base near the NKorea border a few weeks ago. Massive. The 'news' said that-- get this-- a missile took off from one-- mystery-- location in SKorea and accidentally-- heh heh-- crash landed at another one.
Fancy that!
Nobody was injured, apparantly-- heh heh again-- and the story was scrubbed-- and I mean scrubbed by the evening of the following day. Even video taken by nearby residents of the truly massive blaze.
I personally believe either China, NKorea or a faction of the SKorean military opposed to being muppets of rapidly deteriorating US imperialism struck at something the Americans had at that base that shouldn't have been there. Or they were getting ready to strike at the NKorean base launching the ICBMs, recently, and somebody pooped their plans.
Even in SKorea where freedom of the press is non-existent, that was a major display of who's really in charge, and the ability to cover things up.
Stay safe, out there.
Part 2 from the same source…
This guy also confirms what you've been saying: all 'news' is just spin for the sheeple; and the REAL news-- that the US was defeated militarily by Russia and allies in Syria-- defeated permanently, as far as the US army goes.
Totally outclassed.
All the US has left is the biowar and nuclear option-- and that both are being considered RIGHT NOW against Russia and China in a serious escalation using muppet state 'Ukraine' as cover.
As you also say: look for what's not being reported.
Bullied Cat Bursts Into Tears By A Man’s Love Who Became His First Friend
Sugar Cookie Apple Cheesecake Pie
Betty Crocker™ sugar cookie mix makes this apple pie – complete with a rich cheesecake layer – easy to throw together, but the taste is nothing short of impressive.
Elon Musk has taken control of Twitter and ousted the CEO, chief financial officer, and the company’s top lawyer, two people familiar with the deal said Thursday night.
The Sources couldn’t say if all the paperwork for the deal, originally valued at $44 billion, had been signed or if the deal has closed. But they said Musk is in charge of the social media platform and has fired CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal and Chief Legal Counsel Vijaya Gadde. Neither source wanted to be identified because of the sensitive nature of the deal.
The departures come just hours before a deadline set by a Delaware judge to finalize the deal on Friday. She threatened to schedule a trial if no agreement was reached.
Although they came quickly, the major personnel moves had been widely expected and almost certainly are the first of many major changes that Mr. Musk, the mercurial Tesla CEO will make.
Musk privately clashed with Agrawal in April, immediately before deciding to make a bid for the company, according to text messages later revealed in court filings.
About the same time, he used Twitter to criticize Gadde, the company’s top lawyer. His tweets were followed by a wave of harassment of Gadde from other Twitter accounts. For Gadde, an 11-year Twitter employee who also heads public policy and safety, the harassment included racist and misogynistic attacks, in addition to calls for Musk to fire her. On Thursday, after she was fired, the harassing tweets lit up once again.
Musk’s changes will be aimed at increasing Twitter’s subscriber base and revenue.
In his first big move earlier on Thursday, Musk tried to soothe leery Twitter advertisers saying that he is buying the platform to help humanity and doesn’t want it to become a “free-for-all hellscape.”
The message appeared to be aimed at addressing concerns among advertisers — Twitter’s chief source of revenue — that Musk’s plans to promote free speech by cutting back on moderating content will open the floodgates to more online toxicity and drive away users.
“The reason I acquired Twitter is because it is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence,” Musk wrote in an uncharacteristically long message for the Tesla CEO, who typically projects his thoughts in one-line tweets.
He continued: “There is currently great danger that social media will splinter into far right wing and far left wing echo chambers that generate more hate and divide our society.”
Musk has previously expressed distaste for advertising and Twitter’s dependence on it, suggesting more emphasis on other business models such as paid subscriptions that won’t allow big corporations to dictate policy on how social media operates. But on Thursday, he assured advertisers he wants Twitter to be “the most respected advertising platform in the world.”
The note is a shift from Musk’s position that Twitter is unfairly infringing on free speech rights by blocking misinformation or graphic content, said Pinar Yildirim, associate professor of marketing at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.
But it’s also a realization that having no content moderation is bad for business, putting Twitter at risk of losing advertisers and subscribers, she said.
“You do not want a place where consumers just simply are bombarded with things they do not want to hear about, and the platform takes no responsibility,” Yildirim said.
Musk said Twitter should be “warm and welcoming to all” and enable users to choose the experience they want to have.
Friday’s deadline to close the deal was ordered by the Delaware Chancery Court in early October. It is the latest step in a battle that began in April with Musk signing a deal to acquire Twitter, then tried to back out of it, leading Twitter to sue the Tesla CEO to force him to go through with the acquisition. If the two sides don’t meet Friday’s deadline, the next step could be a November trial that could lead to a judge forcing Musk to complete the deal.
But Musk has been signaling that the deal is going through. He strolled into the company’s San Francisco headquarters Wednesday carrying a porcelain sink, changed his Twitter profile to “Chief Twit,” and tweeted “Entering Twitter HQ — let that sink in!”
And overnight the New York Stock Exchange notified investors that it will suspend trading in shares of Twitter before the opening bell Friday in anticipation of the company going private under Musk.
Yesterday, Twitter’s top lawyer, Vijaya Gadde, cried during a staff meeting over Elon Musk’s acquisition of the company.
Vijaya Gadde
Gabbe has played an instrumental role in barring people from the platform including President Donald Trump
GOLDFINGER | “Do you expect me to talk?”
Not all together here…
Meet Gal, the sweetest cat ever… Yet, we came to realize she’s not entirely “there” with her mind.
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When we took her in, last September, she was so small I could hold her in my hand, her fur was infested by fleas and her eye was completely closed. When my grandmother — 80 and more years of experience with any sort of animal — saw her, she simply said: “that cat won’t survive”
She wouldn’t eat, almost as she couldn’t recognize the smell of food, even though our other cat was there enjoying his meal; even if she was past the time of breastfeeding I had to feed her milk with a syringe. And Gal would spit it out most of it — beware, she didn’t throw up, she just refused to be fed!
How she survive those first weeks is a mystery.
Then we found out her eye problem was permanent: due to a genetic malformation or to an injury in her early life, one of the membranes of her left eye wasn’t retractile anymore. So now we have to clean her from time to time, otherwise she can’t open the eye due to the mucus.
There’s a lot of other little things that prove Gal is a strange cat: she has no concrete idea of her surroundings (the other day we found her wondering around the garden, it’s a miracle the dog didn’t smell and attack her! But she was totally okay with trespassing his territory), she seems incapable of running in a straight line (she often ends falling because she can’t balance her weight — it’s a partly hilarious and partly heartbreaking scene to see) and she “forgets” things.
If she’s, for example, catching a ball and the ball goes under the couch (or in any other place she can’t see it) she stops, looking around with a lost attitude… And then goes on catching something else, usually our other cat’s tail.
But she’s also sweet, loving and beautiful in her own way. We’ll never regret taking her in!
Nuclear blackmail. Escalation scenarios. Konstantin Sivkov
NB: Konstantin Sivkov (Navy Captain 1st Rank, retired) holds a doctorate of military sciences and is the deputy president of the Russian Academy of Missile and Artillery Sciences.
“If the population growth is not hampered by any obstacles then this population doubles in every 25 years and consequently increases in each subsequent 25-year period in geometric progression”, from the book Thomas Malthus “An Essay on the Principle of Population” buy this and other books in the bookstore “Day”. Make Your Day – subscribe to a unique channel archive Day. Support our project link in description of the video.
Only the West needs nuclear weapons. Only the west. And the West needs them for the following reasons. Because winter is coming.
Western sanctions brought not just .. not led to the collapse of the Russian economy, but on the contrary put on the brink of collapse the European economy.
And in these conditions the Europeans … if Russia persists through the winter.
Now, when the “greenery” withers and falls, cold weather comes, winter .. Ukrainians will have it much worse than now. It will be easier for us to attack and act.
Therefore, under these conditions, Western elites are in a position where they are about to die as result of the revolution, actually, inside countries, their own countries.
This is brewing there.
Especially against the backdrop of cold weather this will be inevitable, in the apartments, in the houses, when problems begin with food .. with food supplies, with other goods.
When their factories stop, completely shut down as the result of the lack of gas shortage, or rather its absense.
And they – yes, they need a nuclear war now.
Because they have not been able to mobilize their peoples to go to war, yet. A regular war.
But to unleash a nuclear war and against the backdrop of a nuclear war and the resulting threats of radioactive contamination to wide, large areas on the territory of Ukraine, on the territory of Poland, Germany, other countries in Europe and then mobilize the European population to a war against Russia, this may well be part of their plan.
Therefore, they are extremely interested in doing this.
Now, a natural scenario can be suggested to explain how this may be realized and why they scream [in the media].
Because Russia will use nuclear weapons.
There are two clear options here.
The first option is that .. the Americans, the americans themselves fire a missile MGM-140 ATACMS in the direction from East to West, in this direction [showing with his hand] – from East to West, from one territory controlled by the Armed Forces of Ukraine to a nuclear power plant located in the west of Ukraine, with it being destroyed. ATACMS missile.
Not one, but several ATACMS missiles.
As a result, a new Chernobyl is created .. Chernobyl is possible, by the way, Chernobyl might be hit.
Cannot be completely ruled out.
After that, Russia is blamed for this.
Then starts.. .
As a result of the ensuing radioactive catastrophe, huge territories are contaminated on the very Ukraine and, most importantly, the contamination is also on the territory of Poland, Hungary, Germany.
They punish Hungary for her independent policy and interaction with Russia.
Fallout in Poland is to activate the Polish people to go to war with Russia.
Germany in order to provoke their retaliatory actions. (presenter) Well, along the way, Belarus and western regions of the Russian Federation. (Sivkov) Quite right, this too. Here’s one such scenario.
Further, naturally, our troops will have to solve problems also in these regions that are covered with the radioactive dust, this will be problematic, and the task focus will no longer be the fighting war, but deactivation tasks.
Here was the first one. Further it entitles them to use the most powerful machinery to accuse Russia of a nuclear strike – it will already be reported as a nuclear attack, so they will act decisevely, including the use of nuclear weapons against Russian troops.
It cannot be excluded that this will give NATO a moral right to enter into a full-scale war with launching missile strikes, already full-scale packages of missile strikes on our territories.
This will become a full-scale war.
This will be the justification for a full-scale war and NATO’s entry into the war against Russia. Including with the use of tactical nuclear weapons.
The second scenario might be as following.
That they strike with a nuclear bomb. B-61 modification 12. It can be dropped on a nuclear power plant, or, maybe, it will be dropped just on the Ukrainian troops, which .. the bomb can be dropped from MiG-29 aircraft.
We also have MiG-29 aircraft in service. And again they will blame Russia. Also they can use the bomb without MIG-29 aircraft. We do not know what upgrades the missile system ATACMS went through, but what the Americans have now are ultra-small caliber nuclear weapons, which are sufficiently small and which are already optimized for use with submarines with Trident II D5 missiles.. as the warheads of the Trident II D5 missile.
These munitions were created relatively recently and designed for just such cases, to wage a war within the .. on a limited theater of war.
Therefore, to put such a nuclear weapon on ATACMS, design a similar modification of ATACMS, the Americans obviously could.
And then the same, exactly the same scenario – the strike with already nuclear ATACMS of some group of the Ukrainian troops and then all the same scenario to blame Russia. (host) And the next question.
How do you explain what is now everywhere, the world’s current special interest .. interest, naturally, in the “quotation marks”, to nuclear weapons, moreover .. everyone and everywhere started talking about how nuclear weapons is OK to use, that if earlier they claimed that there can be no winner in a nuclear war, that it will be a collective suicide, now they publish that it was a mistaken view, and, in principle, nuclear weapons are perfectly acceptable, no catastrophe will happen, it’s an efficient ammunition.
Well, a little more powerful than all rest.
That’s why a nuclear war is possible.
So how you do you rate these claims?
Moreover that they come from very high-ranking .. from high-ranking people in the west and, plus, they come from well-known analytical centers of the West.
All this is hardly accidental. (Sivkov) Let’s start with the fact that nuclear weapons, unfortunately, has become not only a political, but also a military weapon.
And the reason for this was that we went through a deep disarmament, nuclear disarmament.
When the concept of the nuclear winter was created, when these nuclear winter concepts were developed, then from each side – USA and from the side of Soviet Union, there were more than 30 thousand nuclear warheads each, and these were of very large caliber, about ten times more powerful on average, on average, than [inaudible – “what now”?]
Then [at that time] – yes, mutual exchange with these 30 thousand nuclear warheads would lead to a nuclear winter, no problem.
But now the number of nuclear warheads on both sides decreased by almost 10 times, well, not 10 times, but five times.
And the total number of the warheads is no longer 60, but 14 thousand. And the potential of these warheads, the power of these warheads decreased significantly.
Therefore, there will be no nuclear winter.
And exactly because of that the hotheads started talking about the possibility of a nuclear war, because nuclear weapons have become an instrument of practical politics, practical applications.
Therefore, those who carried out nuclear disarmament were criminals, who brought the world to the brink of a nuclear war. This is something that needs to be clearly noted.
And all this chatter “Oh, how it is dangerous that there is so many” this is either a complete cretinism, or malicious intent.
One or the other. I tend to think that it was the second.
I’m more inclined towards the second option.
Since all this chatter was going on at thje time when Americans opted out of the control of the missile defense systems treaty and moreover they were intensively increasing their capabilities.
Now on the merits .. Igor Sergeevich, don’t you think it’s strange that Klaus Schwab announced in 2021 that, they say, mundial world, that is, a world without states and led by a world government will be built by 2030. (host)
I remember, I remember.
You and I did a separate broadcast on this topic, that their deadlines were running out. (Sivkov) Well, what is he, an idiot?
Well, kind of maybe.. (host)
Of course he is not.
He may be a pervert, anyone, but he is not a fool.
That’s for sure. (Sivkov)
Yes. So, what is their plan about what to do under these conditions? That is, a mondial world can be built [only] under the conditions that the sovereignty of China and India has been destroyed.
Is it conceivable to achieve by the methods of hybrid wars and even with a direct military intervention, to destroy the sovereignty of China in such short time? Definitely not.
To do this, you need, well, I think, no less than half a century, if not longer.
Can it be done through economy or using informational methods? Well, these are the constituents of a hybrid war. Also no.
There is only one tool that allows it to be done and it is a nuclear blackmail.
A nuclear blackmail becomes possible if the country, which carries out this nuclear blackmail has absolute superiority in the system of nuclear weapons and has a guaranteed confidence that there will be no a retaliatory nuclear strike. That’s when nuclear blackmail is possible.
Then they could say “I’m here now will hit you with a nuclear strike, and you have nothing to hit me with in return.
Even if you try, all your attacks will be repulsed.”
Is it possible under the current conditions to carry out such a nuclear blackmail for the United States when there is a nuclear fist on the Russian side, and it is equivalent to the American one?
Of course not. Of course not.
Therefore, the implementation of this scenario .. this scenario is the only one possible survival scenario of the western world in the form in which we know it today, a parasitic world, it is possible only if they take control of Russia. Specifically, of its nuclear potential.
Moreover, as you and I discussed previously, it is fundamentally important for the West not to dismember Russia, but take it in its entirety. Because if it were to desintegrate, then with great probability a part of the Russian nuclear potential, the scientific potential of Russia, will be in the hands of the Chinese and the problem will not be solved.
Just take the entire Russia, change their president, plant a puppet that will agree to work for the West.
That’s what Serdyukov wanted to do.
He wanted the Russian armed forces to become an instrument of the West. When they imposed Mistral on us, imposed all kinds of Iveco cars, now known under the nickname “Gus”, well, in short, the foreign-made weapons.
And the army brigade formation principles … brigade principles of structuring of the armed forces of the Russian Federations at that time – they were meant to be a part of the NATO army.
That is, we were to solve problems on the ground, and the air support, artillery support, naval support – that will be done by the United States of America and NATO.
That’s about the picture which one could see at that time. Apparently. Or so I guess, judging by the direction the activities of Mr. Serdyukov and his team, when they were saying that we do not need tanks.
So the T-95 tank, top secret, was announced by one high-ranking chief at the very .. during a public event, its tactical and technical characteristics revealed, and then this program was closed altogether.
It’s a different story, a separate story of betrayal. That’s why Russia is under attack now. And at the same time it is important for them not to destroy Russia as a whole structure [inaudible], but to take control over it.
Then they could get a joint nuclear potential.
The combined potential of the Americans and Russia will be in a position to dictate anything to anyone.
That’s why now they’re starting to shift the perception to prove to the world that the use of nuclear weapons is a perfectly acceptable thing .. A completely acceptable thing.
This is the first moment. Second moment. In addition to this scenario, there is another scenario in case if Russia is not defeated, but there is still a need to organise a revolution there.
One of the most effective instruments for such a coup would be a military defeat of Russia at some remote war theater.
If it turns out that it is not possible to achieve such defeat fighting with convential weapons, without the use of nuclear weapons, it turns out that the American theory suggests the possibility of a so-called limited nuclear war, when the nuclear weapons … nuclear weapons are used in the territories not directly related to either the territory of Russia, or the US.
That is, without risk of a nuclear exchange between our countries, all the way to a general nuclear war. But [instead] fight with tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of some other country.
That is, for example, Ukraine, Poland, Germany – nobody in America cares about a small nuclear war there in order to defeat Russia with the use of nuclear weapons, well, and then it would lead to the overthrow of President Putin. That’s how NATO thinks.
This is the theory of a limited nuclear war. It is precisely these two aspects that, as I said previously, which demand that open propaganda, a justification of the use of nuclear weapons in a war. NATO, USA, global elites openly started preparations for a nuclear war.
How it will begin, we have already discussed with you.
But additionally I would like, Igor Sergeevich, to turn to the history. This is a very important moment.
Once upon a time, during the Soviet Union, the world was divided into two camps, one capitalist, the other Socialist.
They waged local wars among themselves, competed for the spheres of influence. But that was happenning in the third world countries. And those countries that focused on the west, sent to USA, … to Western countries and Europe their resources without much thinking that it is an unfair exchange system.
That is, they gave their resources for a pittance, and the West sold them its high-tech products at very high prices.
And this imbalance provided a high standard of living for the Western civilization.
Western politicians thought that, well, probably thought judging by their actions, that their civilization, their mode of production, capitalist mode of production, this was really a pinnacle of everything.
Remember that Fukuyama’s “end of history” and all such. Capitalism is the pinnacle of everything, it is an absolute perfection. And liberal capitalism in particular. It was then that these ideas about the permissibility of debauchery, those .. AC-DC ..
Here, I remember how all these things [inaudible]. But that this well-being is based on .. an inadequate exchange, that by itself .. the system itself is extremely inefficient, they forgot.
They poured mud on the Soviet system, in which everything was different, where the Soviet Union did not recived anything from anyone much, in particular, but on the contrary, gave, helped and supported.
And when the Soviet Union began to fall apart when collapsed the Warsaw Pact, they celebrated the victory. But they did not understand one .. simple truth… the consequences of this event.
The consequences of this event were that for the other countries of the world that used to export cheap raw materials, for them the western roof was no longer needed. And they began to sell these raw materials for the corresponding prices. And then Western products could no longer compete with the Chinese, where there was a very cheap labor force.
This had two effects.
On the one hand, this led to a sharp industrialization of China, where they began to transfer capitalists enterprises, without them the Chinese miracle would have never happened.
On the other hand, this led to deindustrialization, naturally, of the West and the symptoms of growing crisis in the Western societies.
And so there was a decision that they had enough of this freedom with the raw materials.
They must be put under control.
A provocation was staged in 2001, 11 September and the West, United States started an America’s operation to take over Iraq and Afghanistan. Afghanistan is the most important communication route, there are reserves .. the largest reserves of uranium ores, on the one hand.
And Iraq is a foothold for further capture of the entire Middle East in general.
But it turned out that America did not have an army.
It was discovered.
That is, it had aviation, it had a fleet, but the actual army capable of getting on the ground and risking their lives, at close range fight to control territory, for this there as no army. [inaudible] in Iraq and Afghanistan were defeated.
So something else had to be done.
And that’s where the controlled chaos theory comes into play.
The last coffin.. the last nail in the Arab spring coffin was hammered by Russia in 2015-18, putting an end to the war in Syria, destroying ISIS.
What was left to the West? The West has left with only one oiption – to use nuclear weapons.
The West no longer had military power, a sufficient general purpose power, the West no longer had economic power, and the liberal ideology that was used to be one of the pillars to spread the Western influence, was completely discredited.
All they had left was a nuclear cudgel.
But to this nuclear cudgel, to the possibility of using of this nuclear cudgel, Russia was an obstacle.
This is exactly why now Russia is under such an all-out attack. And they had been preparing it for a long, long time.
The West, if it loses this war, if it loses this fight for Russia, if Russia stands, it will mean the end of the West.
And by the way, an interesting thing is what is now starting to happen in the West. If we consider the Western Civilization to be similar to a community of the same type of individuals, of the same kind, spiritually of the same kind, who are fit for each other, then in the West now there is a state of cannibalism in its wildest form.
Now the United States of America and Great Britain, that is, the Anglo-Saxon axis, are trying to solve their crisis problems at the expense of the Old Europe.
And these problems, associated with the termination of the energy deliveries to Western Europe, and in particular, the destruction of this gas pipeline, it’s all aimed at one thing only – to achieve the deindustrialization of Western European economy, force the industry of Western Europe to move to USA.
That is the meaning of this whole action.
(the host) It is clear now. Thank you, Konstantin Valentinovich. I thank you for taking part in our program. And I remind you that Day TV was visited by a doctor of Military sciences, Deputy President of Russian Academy of Missile and Artillery Sciences, Konstantin Valentinovich Sivkov. Goodbye oprichny people, find the reports in the telegram channel of the newspaper tomorrow .
007 Meets DR. NO
Will the US actions against China over chips really set the Chinese tech sector back 100 years?
Only 100 years?! You bet, will be at least 1,000 years, or maybe, better back to the Stone Age!
And then, you might find one day, your country would have to import chips from China, and the products you use would be embedded with Chinese chips. LOL
The whole Western world, especially the nuclear powers, even later the Soviet Union, had blocked nuclear technology from entering into China back in the 1050s and 1960s. Then what?
The first Chinese nuclear test was conducted at Lop Nur on October 16, 1964. Then in less than 32 months, China detonated its first hydrogen bomb on June 14, 1967. Now, China’s nuclear arsenal is the world’s third largest, and China has, more importantly, also developed its nuclear technology for peaceful use, boasting the second largest number of nuclear power units in operation or under construction in the world.
China was officially barred from visiting the International Space Station (ISS) by the United States in 2011. Then what?
China is nearing its completion of the construction of its own space station -Tiangong, with many visits there already done by Chinese astronauts, three of them are right now flying over us in the station. With the ISS retiring sometime in 2030, China’s Tiangong will be the only space station in the world.
China has been under the tough blockade of Western military techonologies, especially high-end, advanced ones. Then what?
China has successfully tested several times of its hypersonic missiles, among the first nations who have achieved success in this most advanced weapon development.
Also, China has finished its third air-craft carrier, with a fully indigenous design, featuring a CATOBAR system and electromagnetic catapults, one of the most advanced in the world.
And China has its J-20, a twinjet all-weather stealth fighter aircraft with precision strike capability. The Y-20, a large military transport aircraft, the first cargo aircraft to use 3D printing technology to speed up its development and to lower its manufacturing cost.
Similar cases also include the tunnel boring machines, giant cranes, giant excavators, deep-sea drilling machines……You name it. Then what?
China has self developed all of them, not only meeting its own market needs, but also exporting them at a much more affordable price than their Western competitors. What’s more ironic is, some of them have been exported even to those countries who had previously blocked their techonologies into China!
So, in the short term, yes, China is sufferting from the heavy blow from the US, but in the long run, the US and its allies would not only lose the lion’s share of chip market here in China, but will have also to face a strong competitor in semi-conductors, or chips, or something alternative which have similar functions, in the not-too-far-away future, maybe in their own market, and also in the global market.
But during the process, the US would have dried up its influence as a banner-holder of liberal market economy, its credibility as the rule-setter who betrays its own rules, its reliability to its allies since all of them would have to suffer along with the US, and hence, its soft power in leading the world.
Nothing much to gain, but a lot to lose, yet, the US is determined to ride on the self-devastating road. The faster it runs, the quicker the fall of its hegemony.
THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN | Bond and Scaramanga’s Dinner Party
Rhubarb Pie
Don’t let baking with rhubarb intimidate you—it’s easier than you think, and we’ll walk you through every step. Plus, the results of our Rhubarb Pie recipe are mind-blowingly delicious. With a flaky crust and sweet and tart flavor of the rhubarb filling, our recipe for Rhubarb Pie will soon become a summer go-to. Our Rhubarb Pie recipe comes together in four simple steps with one incredible result. Once your Rhubarb Pie has cooled, grab your spoons and enjoy.
Rhubarb, originally from china, was once considered a vegetable, but because of its modern applications in baking is treated and categorized as a fruit today. Some nutritionists even consider rhubarb a superfood due to its low caloric content and its high levels of calcium.
Even better, it tastes spectacular in desserts like pies, cakes, and crisps. It’s easy to see why this scratch-made rhubarb pie is a classic with its sweet and tart flavor and buttery crust. If you’re short on time, you can add this filling to a ready-made pie crust, but we recommend making a homemade pie crust — it’s worth the extra effort, we promise! Still have a bundle of rhubarb left in your garden?
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Ingredients
1 box (14.1 oz) refrigerated Pillsbury™ Pie Crusts (2 Count), softened as directed on box
2 to 2 1/3 cups sugar
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon grated orange peel, if desired
6 cups chopped (1/2-inch pieces) fresh rhubarb
1 tablespoon cold butter, if desired
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China moves up the sanctions escalator
Great chat.
"I’m Chinese. I hear two wise Greek men speaking. I nod my head."
Last month, Paypal announced they would start fining their clients upwards of $2500 if, in Paypal’s sole discretion, the client engaged in “Misinformation.” So many customers closed their accounts, Paypal’s stock price sunk and the company announced it was all a mistake and they weren’t doing it. Today we find, the $2500 penalty is back!
The screen shot below is taken from Paypal’s Terms of Service located HERE:
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The Acceptable use Policy makes clear, the following can cost you $2500:
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So, let’s say you use Twitter, and on your Twitter channel, you post something that PAYPAL, in its sole discretion, is “misleading.”
Now, many people think “they can’t do that.”
Yes, they can . . . but only if YOU AGREE TO IT. And you are deemed to automatically agree to it if you continue to keep and use your Paypal account!
They can grab the money and you can’t even sue them over it, because you agreed that such decisions are based on THEIR sole discretion, and you continued to have and use the account.
So it seems to many people, the only legal way to avoid suffering this arbitrary $2500 penalty, is to CLOSE your Paypal Account.
That’s what many, many people did last month when this issue first became public. So many customers of Paypal closed their accounts, that the company began offering people a whopping fifteen dollars ($15) if they would keep the account open.
When that didn’t work, Paypal announced that this whole issue was a mistake, they weren’t going to do it.
Now, a couple weeks later, when the deluge of customers quitting has stopped . . . here it is again!
What does that tell you about the integrity of Paypal? Here is what some people are saying:
Remember, if you simply leave your Paypal account open, you are CONSENTING to them being able to penalize you $2500 each time you do or say something which, in THEIR sole discretion, violates THEIR policy.
If you have a Paypal account, many people think that closing it is the right move.
‘Reality Check’: China’s BRI geopolitical gambit or project of the century?
A must watch. If blocked in your nation (United States, UK, some European nations), you can click on the link HERE. I urge you all to watch it, and while you are watching it, ask yourself why it is blocked in your country.
I’m kind of busy throwing together some you-tube videos so this post is going to be a tad light. But I have a great movie at the end. I hope you enjoy it!
This reminds me of the American leadership
A fine Mel Brooks Classic. Oh, piss boy…
Do you think China’s technology power will change in the next five years?
How many Americans knows that at the present not 5 years time. China is already registering twice the amount of US patents in America!
There are really almost no American’s who is aware that China has actually grasped and leads in most key technologies today, let alone 5 years time. How many Americans knows that China leads 5G technologies over the US by a mile! And not adopting the Huawei technologies is as good as leaving the US behind the world!
Do you know that each year China brings out at least 100 times the amount of STEM engineering students compared to the US even though the US is only 4 times smaller in population?
How many American’s realised that China Shenzhen city is the only city in world that has self driving Taxis and every bus is an EV? Not many. Because of your media, you guys knows very little about China except narratives meant to demonised China!
There are 40 cities bigger than New York today. Never mind 5 years time.
Albert Brooks with Robert Cameron Books
Welcome to “Judgement City”…
Full Metal Jacket – Act 2 Intro
“I fuck you long time. Me so horny.”
I was pregnant.
5 years ago now my old man my DLH tuxedo was just acting so odd. He was obsessed with my stomach; would sleep on top on it every chance he got. The final straw was when I put down wet food and he chose to go lay on my stomach instead. That was weird he loved his wet food.
I dragged him to the vet for a check up; everything checked out fine he was completely healthy. A few days later it clicked for me. I called my best friend told her about the cat and thinking maybe he was right; so she got me a pregnancy test and what do you know that cat WAS right.
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He knew our twin daughters were coming well before we did. After they were born he chose to be their guard cat. He would sleep outside their bedroom door every night. He would lay in between the two cribs on the floor for naps just to make sure his babies didn’t need anything. He never once tried to get in with them but always made sure he was watching them.
Our girls are 4 now and my old man is a much older man but he absolutely lives for them. He still sleeps in the hallway every night in between their rooms. Just in case they need anything.
I know now when he’s trying to communicate with me I need to listen and I do.
Pelted by Hot Dogs – Joe Dirt
Smile when the world shits on you.
Do you think China’s current epidemic prevention policy is good or bad for the Chinese people?
It’s obviously good for the Chinese people. It saves lives. It protects Chinese society. An out-of-control outbreak could harm China much more than the economic hit that China is experiencing.
Look what happened to USA, a country that did NOT follow proper epidemic prevention policy: over a million dead Americans!
Duh.
Hot Damn! It’s The Soggy Bottom Boys! | O Brother, Where Art Thou?
“Hot damn. It’s the Soggy Bottom Boys!”
RUSSIAN MINISTRY OF DEFENSE AND INTELLIGENCE BUREAU (FSB) SHOUTING FROM ROOFTOPS: UKRAINE TO DETONATE “DIRTY” NUCLEAR DEVICE
According to a statement from the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD), the detonation BY UKRAINE, of some type of radioactive device, is now imminent. Ukraine is losing its war with Russia so badly, they are preparing to cause a doomsday radiation scenario to get NATO to come into the war on the side of Ukraine.
According to Russia’s MoD, the following additional acts will also be undertaken by Ukraine:
Kakhovska Dam and Dnipro Dam will be blown up
A dirty nuclear bomb or tactical nuclear weapon will be detonated in Kherson
All six Reactor units at the Zaporizhzhya nuclear plant will be blown up.
The Kakhovska Dam is shown below on the Google satellite map, which can be scaled to show an enlarged area, for readers to see the region:
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The Dnipro Dam is even larger, and can be viewed on a similar Google Map shown below:
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If one or both these Dams are blown up by Ukraine (or anyone else) they will release an unimaginable torrent of water, which will flood and destroy gigantic areas of land downstream. The primary area that will be wrecked by such a release of water, will be Kherson, one of the four Oblasts (states) that recently voted to leave Ukraine and become part of Russia.
Just yesterday the Hal Turner Radio Show reported that Russia Defense Minister Shoigu had telephone conversations with his counterparts from the US, France, Turkey and other nations, directly warning them that Ukraine is planning to do these things because Ukraine is losing the war and they are utterly desperate to cause NATO to enter the fight on the side of Ukraine (Story Here)
Today we can also report that Sergei Naryshkin the secretive head of Russia’s Federal Security Bureau (FSB) has come out PUBLICLY to say they have VERIFIED COVERT INTELLIGENCE that Ukraine is already well underway in preparation to do these things.
Defense Minister Shoigu and FSB Head Naryshkin are among the highest ranking people in the Russian government. They are out there putting THEIR NAMES on this information. That is a risk to their careers and public standing, yet they are shouting from the rooftops that Ukraine is already undertaking the steps to carry out such attacks.
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Men in these types of positions do not lay their careers and reputations on the line, lightly. Yet both men are doing exactly that!
Zaporozyhe Nuclear Power Plant
Far and away, the worst aspect of these alleged plans by Ukraine, is an attack upon all six reactors at the Zaporozyhe Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) located in yet another Oblast (state) which recently voted to leave Ukraine and become part of Russia.
The map below shows a COMPUTER MODEL of the radiation release from just ONE of the six nuclear reactors at that power plant:
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As you can see on the map below, the radiation would quickly be carried by prevailing winds, to then saturate Poland, and continue moving into Germany.
NATO has already publicly said that if a radiation incident in Ukraine causes radiation to travel into NATO countries, then NATO will consider it an “attack” and will invoke NATO Treaty Article 5 collective self defense.
Russia has long ago made clear that if NATO declares Article 5 collective self defense against Russia, “it will be a war no one will win.”
As most educated people know, the only war “no one will win” is a nuclear war.”
So if Ukraine undertakes the attacks outlined above, and radiation travels into Poland or other NATO countries, causing NATO to declare Article 5, then the world is — at that moment – in a nuclear war.
No warning.
That is the state of affairs in our world, this 24th day of October, 2022.
Get right with God.
Fast.
UPDATE 12:16 PM EDT —
Another phone call between U.S and Russian Military Officials on the supposed Ukrainian “Dirty Bomb.
TODAY, October 24, Russian Gen. Gerasimov also spoke by phone with the Chairman of the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Milley. The topic – yes you guess it – a dirty bomb.
The FILE PHOTO below shows the two top-ranking Generals, Milley and Gerasimov:
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This is the 3rd Call about the Topic just in the past week alone, definitely an extremely worrying sign.
Crock-Pot Chicken With Black Beans & Cream Cheese
“I love this Crock-Pot chicken recipe for two reasons: one, my family loves it and two, it is so easy to make! I got this recipe from my sister. She has two children of her own, and they love it too! It’s also the best leftovers in the world — if there are any!”
Take 4-5 frozen, yes, frozen, boneless chicken breasts put into crock pot.
Add 1 can of black beans, drained, 1 jar of salsa, 1 can of corn drained.
Keep in crock pot on high for about 4-5 hours or until chicken is cooked.
Add 1 package of cream cheese (just throw it on top!) and let sit for about 1/2 hour.
All done and enjoy!
So they just admitted it’s ALL a total lie?
Very interesting.
Is the United States the most evil country in the world?
Yes without a doubt.
The US has caused and responsible for hundreds of millions of death world wide beginning in the US itself. Carrying out genocide on it’s probably a hundred million native Americans. Today their population is down to a mere few million mostly living in ghettos dressed as reserves.
Next the murdered and worked to death tens of million African slaves through rape, torture and abused for several hundred years. Upon the abolishing of slavery, the African American were discriminate till today. Their cruelty knows no bounds. Many black babies of slaves were fed to crocodiles for fun by Mississippi farmers. Upon the abolishing slavery, the whites regularly carrying out lynching.
Next they turned to the Caribbean’s and Latin America where tens of millions were murdered to ensure they become are subservient and submissive to the yanks. They are the First Nation to use nukes on humans in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. They are the first to carry out biological weapons on its native population and chemical warfares on the Vietnamese and Koreans.
They murdered and carpet Muslim nations to kill millions of Muslims in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, Somalia… today they threaten Russia and China with Nukes. Their media lies and spread fabrications to demonised any nations, societies and religious group not willing to be submissive and subservient to them. They sanction and blockade nations and starved and murder innocent men, women and children on their pretentious intentions.
No country or nations comes even close to the US on its evil intent. Not even the Nazis who actually learned from the Americans.
A year ago in these pages I explained why China dominates the West Pacific. Since then, things have developed not necessarily to Australia’s advantage.
Last year, for example, a US carrier docked at Darwin Port had zero chance of surviving a volley of Chinese DF-26D anti-ship ballistic missiles and a 50-50 chance in open ocean. Its chances are now zero in both circumstance. A new surveillance satellite with onboard AI recognizes and identifies individual warships, tracks them through rain and storm, and transmits better-than-human information to HQ in real time 24×7. Time on target is infinite, so PLAN shore command screen-shares and discuss the information directly with battery commanders, eliminating delays and miscommunication. The same ships are also tracked by a million human sailors in China’s fishing fleets, by gigantic drones that spend months in the stratosphere, by the PLAN’s ‘undetectable’ conventional subs, by a network of passive receivers on the ocean floor. ‘Spray and pray’ is not a Chinese thing. Missiles are expensive.
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Afterthought: What admiral would sail a $30 billion battle fleet and 7,000 sailors in range of such weapons when his air wing is a thousand miles beyond operational range?
Firstest with the Mostest
While never denying its power, Mao called the US military-industrial complex a ‘paper tiger’. One hard, early punch in the nose, he said, is worth 100 later, and the punch he delivered in Korea shattered and routed the US Army. The PLAN is prepared to repeat that lesson.
Early next year, Xi will commission five new Burke Class destroyers simultaneously, all of whose thousands of missiles outrange and out-punch their USN counterparts. China has the biggest, most modern, newest, most powerfully armed fleet afloat, manned by the world’ best educated¹ and motivated sailors.
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Nasty Air Force!
The PLAAF’s (now mass produced) J-20 Mighty Dragons have an unparalleled combination of range, speed² and payload. In their 2-seater version, the copilot controls three drones that zip ahead to draw fire or attack targets. There is no room in the F-35 fuselage for a second seat, and the F-35 will be our frontline fighter through 2050.
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Asymmetry in the Pacific
Any attack on Chinese territory would draw an equally powerful counterstrike on the US West Coast. Of this there is absolutely no doubt.
China’s ICBMs are longer ranged than America’s, and carry more powerful payloads faster and, says Fred Reed,
Defense is impossible.
Missile defenses are meaningless except as money funnels to the arms industry. This is not the place to go into decoys, hypersonics, Poseidon, maneuvering glide vehicles, bastion stationing, MIRV, just plain boring old cruise missiles, and so on. Coastal cities are particularly easy targets, being vulnerable to submarine-launched sea-skimming missiles. Washington, New York, Boston, San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle for starters. All gone.
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Be Prepared
If worse comes to worst, Chinese and Russian preparations for ICBM exchanges are excellent, while the US has no effective defense at all.
Does it strike you as odd that undefended America is provoking a nuclear exchange with the two best defended nations on earth, and which have superior intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance superiority, and can easily strike the US at strategic and operational depths?
Fair Weather Friends
Internationally, Biden is a pariah, even insulted to his face, while Xi and Putin are rock stars. Xi, having risked $3.5 trillion helping poor countries develop, is God of Plenty to Putin’s God of War, and the Putin-Xi bromance has deepened with age. Putin’s reaction to his first standing ovation from other national leaders: “For God’s sake, sit down!”. Matteo Salvini, Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister, makes no secret of his admiration.
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Defending Your Life- Courtroom scene 1
How will you fare?
Our party’s over
We squandered our natural riches, degraded our human resources and hocked (financialized) our assets. Former friends now decline our invitations or, if they come, bring people we can’t stand, then leave early and surly³. Africa couldn’t make it. Turkey’s almost out the door. The Saudis, like the Turks, spent billions on Russian S-400 systems, have said their goodnights. Latin America is waiting for a cab.
The neighborhood has gone downhill in the last 40 years, we’ve maxed our credit cards and, in front of six billion people, we’ve been stealing stuff that other countries entrusted to our care.
By Christmas next year it will be over bar the shouting.
Ukraine will be de-Nazified and its ports in Russian hands. NATO weapons will be back at their 1979 locations. Intra-EU cooperation will be a memory. Washington will have a shrinking economy, expanding inflation, 35 million Covid invalids, mass homelessness, and, for the first time since the 20’s, mass hunger⁴. Already, there are more illiterate, homeless, hungry children, drug addicts, poor people, prisoners, suicides, and executions in America than in China.
The Money Distribution | Hazard Pay | Breaking Bad
You make a lot. You lose a lot.
Theirs is getting started
By Christmas next year, the world will have a new reserve currency. To forestall Ukraine’s fate, Taiwan Customs and China Customs⁵ will merge⁶.
TSMC will still produce the world’s high end chips, but unfriendly buyers may experience paperwork delays. Beijing’s new foundry will be mass producing the world’s first photonic chips, made with Chinese equipment and IP, signaling the end of copper circuitry and the dawn of an era of higher speeds and lower power consumption.
At that point, it will be obvious that the American century has ended.
1
Chinese soldiers have a three year advantage over their US counterparts in STEM subjects. (2020 PISA).
2
The J-20 cruises supersonically without afterburners.
3
A SE Asian Ambassador was overheard cursing President Biden in his presence, and another loudly upbraided colleagues for rising when Biden entered.
4
In 2021, 53 million Americans turned to food banks to put food on the table.
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China Customs, in continuous service for 2200 years, already processes 52% of Taiwan’s exports, and integration would be trivial.
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China Customs already processes the majority of Taiwanese exports.
The Russian Permanent Representative to the UN, has formally notified the UN Secretary General, in writing, that Ukraine’s plan to detonate a “Dirty Bomb” will be viewed by Moscow as “Nuclear Terrorism.”
Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia penned a letter to the UN Secretary General, outlining Ukraine’s plan to detonate a radiological “dirty bomb” so as to create an excuse for NATO forces to enter the fight on the side of Ukraine. We have a portion of that letter, shown below.
In it, he states “The authorities in Kiev and their Western backers will bear full responsibility for all consequences of such irresponsible action” and goes on to bluntly warn “We will regard the use of the dirty bomb as an act of nuclear terrorism.”
It should be pointed out to readers of this story that under Russia’s public nuclear doctrine, the Russian Federation makes clear the explosion of a dirty bomb is viewed as the equivalent to a first nuclear strike against Russia; they can and will respond to nuclear terrorism with the use of their own nuclear weapons.
Here is part of Nebenzia’s letter to the UN Secretary General:
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Yesterday, the Hal Turner Radio Show reported that The Russian Defense Minister had four separate telephone conversations with his counterparts in the US, UK, France, and Turkey over the past few days, in which he alerted his counterparts that Russia has VERIFIED Intelligence that Ukraine is in the final stages of constructing a radiological “dirty Bomb. Worse, he told his counterparts Ukraine also has military plans to bomb all six nuclear reactors at the Zaporoahye Nuclear Power plant to cause a massive radiation incident. In addition, that story reported the secretive head of Russia’s FSB, publicly warned that Kiev is planning to use a “dirty Bomb.” (Story Here)
Ukraine knows from public statements, that NATO will deem any radiation incident inside Ukraine, which causes radiation to drift over NATO member countries, as an “attack.” NATO has already publicly made clear that if NATO member countries are doused with radiation from the Ukraine-Russia conflict, they will invoke Article 5 of the NATO Treaty, collective self-defense, and enter the fight on the side of Ukraine.
Russia has already made clear that if NATO declares Article 5 collective self defense against Russia, “it will be a war no one will win.” Readers intuitively know that the only war “no one will win” will be a nuclear war.
So at this stage, Russia is now shouting from the rooftops that Ukraine is preparing to use a dirty bomb. Russia will view it as an act of nuclear terrorism. NATO will enter the fray if radiation drifts over NATO countries, and if NATO enters the fray, Russia has made clear it will be a war no one will win.
The world is literally sitting on a precipice, overlooking an abyss: nuclear war.
And if Ukraine does, in fact, detonate a radiation device, the escalations will happen so fast, almost none of us will have any warning that the nukes are launched. For most of us, the only information we’ll get is when we start seeing the brilliant, white, flashes that begin to vaporize us.
U.S Troops Sent To Ukraine Border
Duh!
Schnitzel
“Yum! Given to me by a German neighbor, very simple and delicious.”
Russia has notified the U.S. that its annual nuclear exercise has begun and that it will include launches of nuclear capable missiles starting Wednesday.
The annual exercise has been described by U.S. officials as “routine” around this time of year but nevertheless will take place against heightened Russian rhetoric about using nuclear weapons in Ukraine.
The Russian “Grom,” which in English translates to “Thunder,” nuclear exercise, typically involves large-scale maneuvers of strategic nuclear forces, including live missile launches, a senior military official said earlier this month.
Officials have expected the annual exercise for several weeks but only recently received notification from Russia.
Joe’s Apartment (1996) 1080p
Here’s a real treat. The full movie of this great comedy. I hope you love the singing cockroaches!
The United States continues to collapse, and everyone is pointing fingers at each other. On television, and on the internet it’s about race. On the military, and political schedules, it’s about Russia and China. In the streets, it’s woke society, and in our backyards it’s inflation. Everyone is wondering “what is going on?” and “when will this end?”. No answers here, friends.
But it still has a way to go before rock bottom is hit. You all are just in the shit, knee deep. It’s going to get worse, sorry to say. But you can control it.
Affirmation prayers.
Friends.
Society and community.
Being helpful.
Be the best you that you can be. Smile. Be extra nice and do nice things. All will turn out fine. I believe in you.
Ape prostitution
I suppose we are all just apes, eh?
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Can the USA contain China?
It is not possible to contain China in the short-, medium, or long-run.
China has a rich history of civilization and culture that are indigenous as well as copied from other traditions. Dynastic and government cycles rise and fall, but in the ultimate, the rich civilization and culture prevail. The hundred years or so commonly referred to as the century of humiliation, is but a blip in its history. The current is the ascendency of that blip. If we take the period of each cycle at 300 years, the CPC has a very long way to go. It is not even 100 years – only at the first century of the cycle.
The nature of this ascendency is a youngish China in growth terms, rising and taking-off. Government is strong, well trusted at home and respected abroad. People are determined and confident – riding on a broad escalator with space for the more ambitious and capable to climb up as they ride. Rising educated workforce and middle class. Society is stable, emphasizes affordability of services, social mobility, and equality of opportunities. Military has been modernized, continues to strengthen, and is well equipped to defend the country. Economy remains on centrestage. Urbanisation and developments are being spread out to the less developed regions. Centres of specialisations are created in the established regions. Pillars of growth are technology & innovation, digitalisation, and green economy. In the foreign space, BRI will increase in size and gains stature.
Political: Country is united. Sovereignty is secured. Strong government, enjoying high trust of the people, decisive policy and effective execution. People in high state of wellbeing, confident, disciplined, and determined. Respect for law and order.
Social: No food shortages. End of extreme poverty. Continue to uplift livelihood & living standard. Rising education, housing, public health, and recreational amenities. Focuses of government: Affordability of housing and public services, equality of opportunities, social mobility, and leveling of urban/rural income, and between regions. Target to double the middle-class from about 400 million now in 10 to 15 years.
Economics: Spreading out development & growth as well as urbanisation into inland and western regions. Consolidation, synergies and specialisations in the coastal and eastern regions, such as Greater Bay Area in southern China. Manufacturing hub and centre of international supply-chain. Growing educated workforce, riding on STEM education. Pillars of growth: Technology & innovation (strategic industries, foundation technologies, software, patents, and R&D …..), Digital economy (payment systems, digital Yuan, and applications of 5G & other technologies throughout the economy ….), and Green economy (renewables and supply-chain from critical materials, EVs, and public transport ….).
Defence: Already a nuclear power. Armed forces undergone modernisation, from command and control, through troops training, through mechanization, equipment, and weaponry. The process to strengthen and broaden their capabilities is ongoing. Well capable to achieve the mission to defend the country on land, sea, and air.
Foreign Relations: Well respected and growing in stature through good relations, equality of relationships, trade & investments, trade agreements, BRI, and supply of Covid vaccines. China’s economic growth has raised many boats. Its rise has been peaceful, no wars, no gunboats follow its trade missions, no exploitations of foreign countries. China does not proselytize and demands other countries to do its ways.
So we conclude – US is incapable of containing China, even including all its allies. How to contain a population of 1.4 billion people – capable, confident, disciplined, and determined – from rising and achieving their aspirations? It is just not possible.
And yet the US is determined, why? Would it not be better served to cooperate and collaborate instead? It should just recognize that hegemony is passe.
Why is Singapore so safe?
In late 1993, Singapore experienced a large increase in car vandalism. The investigation ultimately led police to the Singapore American School where several students were questioned. Michael Fay, an American, who had moved to Singapore to live with his mother and her new husband, was one of those questioned.
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Fay pled guilty to vandalizing cars (and stealing road signs).
He was sentenced to four months in jail, a monetary fine, and six strokes of the cane.
The US Government got involved and then President Clinton called the punishment ‘extreme’. Due to Clinton’s public comments, the punishment was reduced to four strokes.
On May 5, 1994, Fay received his punishment.
After his caning, Fay stated that it was hard to sit for the first few days but he was able to walk and do push ups in his cell. There was some blood which he likened to a typical nose bleed.
After his release, Fay returned to the US. He began sniffing butane to forget what happened in Singapore. He ultimately entered rehabilitation and has stayed out of the public eye. In 2005 he returned to university to finish his bachelor’s degree.
Singapore continues to have one of the lowest crime rates in the world.
I think the moral of the Michael Fay incident is do not mess with Singapore.
Why hasn’t the US been able to develop an industrial development policy as effective as China’s?
During the peak of American power after WWII, no industrial policy was necessary because the US had been producing 50% of world goods and GDP and was able to retain the best engineers and scientists who are able to materialize any industry project. As the world becomes more competitive together with the never-ending war of foreign interference, and diminishing government funding, the industry policy has once more come to the fore of Uncle Sam.
There are two main reasons why the US has not been able to develop an effective industrial policy despite many tries. First, the US always relies on the market to determine industrial policy and the market is transient and fizzles away as quickly as it comes. Second, even with policy in hand and legislated law behind it, the incompetent bureaucracy often failed to implement on time, within budget, and meet the intended policy goal due to political division and corruption. Case in point, the Texas Supercollider project went bust after several trillion wasted efforts, and 50+ billion for the Artemis project is having a hard time getting off the ground vs the 4 billion spent by the Tiangong project by China.
America today
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How do I keep my cat entertained when I’m away?
Put out a box
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For all Americans living abroad: Have your thoughts on America changed since you moved?
Most definitely. I used to think much more highly of America and its people than I do now, having lived in England the better part of the past three-plus years.
Just knowing that it’s much less likely that me or anybody I know will be shot, or have to choose between groceries and medicine, has removed layers of stress that I didn’t realize I had in America.
Knowing that the government won’t allow me or my family to become homeless, or to have to go without electricity and heat, if we fall on hard times, has made me realize the United States government never really gave a shit about my well-being.
I’m not trying to say there aren’t tens of millions of Americans who work very hard every day to improve America. I know that the problem is Republicans who confuse surviving in a state of desperation with freedom.
But whatever I suspected were America’s problems before have been confirmed by living abroad. Decent Americans are held hostage by a cruel, backward, brainwashed minority of right-wingers, who’ve made America a great country for the wealthy but a terrible country for the masses.
I won’t be going back for more than a holiday to visit relatives.
Are there any times when correlation proves causation?
No, it cannot “prove” a causation, but the detail is interesting.
Further scientific investigation may demonstrate a reproducible, or strong, correlation, but is that a causation? No matter how far you take this, a correlation doesn’t suddenly become a causation because they are quite different.
Causality has no strict scientific definition, and it defies reductive analysis. Writers such as Russell and Norton have rightly argued that it is merely an empirical principle: something that we use to rationalise the dynamical change around us.
When there is sufficient proximity (spatial and/or temporal) between the supposed cause and the effect then we can infer a causation, but science has to establish a causal chain (A caused B which then caused C, etc.) based upon accepted examples of lower-level causal instances. But applying reductionism to such instances will always reach a level where the notion of causality no longer applies, and where we just have discrete particle interactions (which are symmetrical in time) or even quantum entanglement.
So, although science cannot define causation, it has an accepted set of explanations that constitute instances of causation. When it can explain some new correlation in terms of those accepted instances then it can be construed as a causation. Noting, of course, that nothing is ever proved beyond doubt in science (cf. Karl Popper).
Is it weird that my cat follows me?
My 3 follow me all over the place. The entire day consistently. Assuming they tumble to rest around evening time and I take a stab at sneaking discreetly up to bed, I have around 5 mins (once in a long while) to really get in bed before they barrage me. Regularly, while I’m cleaning my teeth, they will look out either for the sink or in the bed (not so quietly!).
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In American politics, corruption is expected and accepted. Why?
It’s built that way.
Because American legislators aren’t constrained by party-line voting, as they are in other parliamentary democracies, they get to claim that they represent their constituents. They are, in actual fact, individually free to vote how they ‘feel,’ and how they ‘feel’ is up for sale or rent.
Combined with the ongoing requirement to fund-raise for the upcoming campaign, this leaves them open to bribes – okay: campaign contributions – from wealthy and powerful patrons. This wouldn’t be as prevalent, were they required to vote along party lines: why bribe back-bencher so-and-so, when it’s the big-wigs’ who’ll decide on the direction of the party? And bribes at THAT level are far more expensive, and far harder to conceal.
So, the system encourages individual legislators to become beholden to powerful interests, to a degree not seen in other nations, governed by outwardly-similar bodies.
USPSTF member Lori Pbert, a clinical psychologist and professor at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School in Worcester, told the Washington Post that these mental health screening recommendations were being evaluated even before the COVID-19 outbreak, but said the era of lockdowns has had an impact on mental health throughout the country.“Covid has taken a tremendous toll on the mental health of Americans,” Pbert told the Washington Post. “This is a topic prioritized for its public health importance, but clearly there’s an increased focus on mental health in this country over the past few years.”
Ever notice how they keep saying it was Covid? As if flu could wreck a civilization. Why won’t they say “Lockdown?” It wasn’t the flu; it was the governments of the world that were and are the problem. And will it ever occur to them that if locking everybody in their homes and wrecking the economy can cause depression, that perhaps, and call me crazy, personal and business liberty in a free country with a free economy might make folks happy?
No, they want to “screen” everybody so they can enjoy the damage they’ve done to your family, especially your children. Nobody trusts doctors anymore, so this plan of theirs pretty much solves itself in the free market of ideas.
It’s plain to see this will eventually be used to categorize and deal with “malcontents” and “disrupters” who reject centralized control over their lives. Paraphrasing their god Sigmond Freud, before you blame depression and anger, make sure you are not, in fact, surrounded by total jerks ruining your life!
If cats ruled the world…
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Is having a child born into U.S. citizenship the best thing that could happen to a prospective parent from another nation?
No.
I’m Irish, and if I were in America and there was even the slightest chance I’d go into labour while I was there, I’d be on the first plane home.
Not just because I couldn’t afford the medical bills, but because the US has no advantages for my child. Irish schools are better (judging by international ranking) and free. Health care is better (judging by international ranking) and free. Okay, some American universities are better, but the Irish ones are all excellent, and going to them won’t result in years of debt.
Ireland is also a more chilled country to live in. We go out without locking the door. We don’t worry about guns. And we have wi-fi on the bus.
Spinach and Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breast
“Ready, Set, Cook! Hidden Valley Contest Entry. I love creating my own recipes and menus for people. I have been doing this since I was about 12 years old. I put together a birthday party with lots of freshly prepared food and cake that I prepared for my mom. I had help from my cousins and friends who were my assistants and servers. The party was a great success and I have been doing this ever since. I made this chicken dish 8 years ago and it was the only thing different my mom would eat so I made sure I perfected the dish just for her and of course others. I usually brine my chicken in a mixture of salt, brown sugar and water for at least 45 minutes”
Butterfly chicken breast and drizzle with olive oil.
Sprinkle chicken breast with Hidden Valley Seasoning and Dressing Mix and set aside.
In a saute’ pan cook spinach until spinach has started to cook down. Remove spinach from heat and add to a medium bowl with Parmesan cheese, half of the mozzarella cheese, bread crumbs and beaten egg and olives. Mix all ingredients until well incorporated.
Place a large spoonful of spinach mixture in the middle of each chicken breast and fold over, covering the spinach mixture completely.
Sprinkle with remaining cheese and place on baking sheet and bake on 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until thermometer reaches 165 degrees when chicken is tested.
Is the United States the most evil country in the world?
Yes. Name one other country that has waged endless wars around the globe causing massive death and destruction.
Name one other country that has sanctioned dozens of countries causing untold human suffering.
Name one other country that has allowed over a million of its citizens to die from COVID-19.
Name one other country that incarcerates its own citizens in greater number and greater rate than any other country in the world.
Name one other country that slaughtered millions of indigenous people to steal their land.
Name one other country that is taking us to the brink of nuclear armageddon in Ukraine and Taiwan.
In order to conform to the Congress resolution on banning Xinjiang products and services, Walmart and Sam’s Clubs stores in China removed all their Xinjiang products.
This demonstrates that the family which owns these companies, which have been in China nearly 30 years, did not consult with any of their China staff before making this move. The corporate management only cares about US laws, and follows them all over the world.
This has led to Chinese consumers turning in their Sam’s Club membership cards and demanding refunds. Other competitors such as Carrefour and Hema are offering special promotions on Xinjiang products to bring in all the unhappy Walmart and Sam’s Club shoppers.
The Chinese government has not taken any action on the Walmart move, but if they do act, it will not be pretty for Walmart’s China business, which is one of the companies most profitable markets after the US.
Why is it so difficult for non-Americans to take vacations in the United States?
It is not so difficult as it is expensive. Their good hotels are outrageous whereas their cheaper hotels are total crap. Same with their transportation. Their infrastructure is mediocre at best so traveling by bus or train is a real hassle I tell you.
Then foreign tourists have to worry about the crime factor. It is very easy to wind up in the wrong area and be in danger. This is something that people don’t have to worry about in other countries.
Oh, then there is the severe lack of public toilets. And if you do find one, chances are you need to hold your breath and close your eyes while you use it. Horrible! Also be prepared to tip for everything – at least 15% or more, regardless of the quality of the service you receive.
USA looks really good on TV but in reality it is a far different picture. Unless one is very rich, foreign tourists need to be prepared for this shock before they arrive.
Almost All Corporate Executives Believe That Economic Conditions Are About To Get Significantly Worse
Are the months ahead going to be very painful for our economy?
This is something that I have been arguing for a long time, and apparently the vast majority of corporate CEOs now agree with me.
Of course economic conditions are not exactly good at this moment. Core U.S. inflation just rose to a 40 year high, mortgage rates just hit the highest level in more than two decades, home values are plummeting all over the nation, and retail sales in the United States unexpectedly fell in September. If you think that the U.S. economy is performing well right now, there is a very large bridge on the west coast that I would like to sell you. Unfortunately, it appears that economic conditions are about to get significantly worse. In fact, one recent survey found that 98 percent of corporate CEOs are planning “for a U.S. recession over the next year or year and a half”…
Nearly all CEOs are readying for the U.S. economy to fall into a recession, according to a survey released Thursday by The Conference Board.The survey, The Conference Board Measure of CEO Confidence, found that 98% of CEOs indicated they were preparing for a U.S. recession over the next year or year and a half. That figure is five percentage points higher than in the third-quarter survey.
Talk about a consensus.
But why is the number only 98 percent?
What are the other 2 percent thinking?
This week we also learned that a model created by Bloomberg economists is now forecasting a 100 percent chance of a recession within the next 12 months…
A U.S. recession is effectively certain in the next 12 months in new Bloomberg Economics model projections, a blow to President Joe Biden’s economic messaging ahead of the November midterms.The latest recession probability models by Bloomberg economists Anna Wong and Eliza Winger forecast a higher recession probability across all timeframes, with the 12-month estimate of a downturn by October 2023 hitting 100%, up from 65% for the comparable period in the previous update.
Of course it is pretty easy to forecast a recession when we are already in one.
But I don’t want to let that detail detract from the point that I am trying to make.
The point that I am trying to make is that the business community is bracing for things to get really bad in the months ahead.
And there are some sectors of the economy where things are already falling apart at a frightening pace.
Home sellers are slashing their asking prices at a record clip as surging mortgage rates drive a downturn in the US housing market, according to a recent report from real estate firm Redfin.About 7.9% of home listings reported price drops during the four-week period ending Oct. 9, according to a rolling average compiled by Redfin. That figure marked a record high and a significant uptick compared to the same period last year, when just 4% of listings reported price cuts.
A new housing crash is here.
And just like we witnessed in 2008, it is going to cause immense pain for Wall Street.
Sadly, there is a lot of pain on Main Street as well.
Every single day, more Americans are falling out of the middle class and into poverty. As a result, our homeless population is absolutely exploding.
If you can believe it, the New York Post is reporting that there are approximately 120 tent cities in Washington D.C. right now…
In the past two years, homeless encampments have exploded in Washington D.C., as both the city and federal governments lifted enforcement measures during the COVID-19 pandemic — and made it a no-brainer for itinerants to lay down roots by providing for their every need.A tour by The Post of the district’s major tourist areas this week found at least 35 vagrants in residence at a National Park Service site two blocks from the White House; more than 20 in the green spaces surrounding the State Department complex; and five across the street from the infamous Watergate Hotel.And these sites accounted for less than 5 percent of the estimated 120 tent cities in Washington D.C.
Wow.
If things are this bad already, what will our major cities look like once economic conditions really start to spiral out of control?
Unfortunately, the man in the White House is in an advanced state of mental decline, and he is in complete denial about what is happening…
The comment came during a conversation with a reporter at a Baskin Robbins in Portland, Oregon, who asked the president if he had any worry about the strength of the U.S. dollar amid rising inflation.With a chocolate chip ice cream cone in his hand, Biden answered: “I’m not concerned about the strength of the dollar. I’m concerned about the rest of the world. Our economy is strong as hell.”
Really?
Our economy is “strong as hell”?
I understand that he is trying to help Democrats do well in November, but nobody is going to believe such a delusional statement.
At this moment, the U.S. economy is in the worst shape that it has been since 2008, and the Federal Reserve seems determined to push us over the edge by raising interest rates even more.
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard left open the possibility that the central bank would raise interest rates by 75 basis points at each of its next two meetings in November and December, while saying it was too soon to make that call.The Fed hiked rates by 75 basis points for the third straight meeting last month, to a target range of 3% to 3.25%. Officials projected 125 basis points of tightening for the rest of the year, suggesting a 75 basis-point move in November and 50 basis points in December. A further 25 basis points of tightening was penciled in for 2023, according to their median estimate.
It would be absolutely suicidal to raise rates by 75 basis points in each of the next two months.
But I think that the Fed might do it anyway.
In any event, the “Great American Economic Meltdown” that so many of us have been waiting for is here, and that is going to mean a tremendous amount of pain for all of us in 2023 and beyond.
In 2008, the Fed was able to contain the bleeding by pushing interest rates all the way to the floor and by pumping massive amounts of fresh money into the financial system.
This time around the Fed isn’t going to be able to make such dramatic moves because they are scared to death of inflation.
We really are facing a nightmare scenario, and virtually every CEO in America realizes that tough times are ahead.
Things could have turned out very differently if our leaders had made better decisions in the years leading up to this crisis.
But that didn’t happen, and so now we all get to suffer as a result.
Cats. I love this picture.
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Is the conflict between USA and China because USA is not able to hurt China economically like it did to other nations by simply moving its companies from China and create economic troubles as China has been able to create its own brands and company?
The conflict is because the USA is treating China as a military threat when it is simply economically ascendant and has a far superior industrial policy.
We are entering a multi-polar world with China ascendant in Asia and America still the largest economy in the west.
The world will see more global institutions with China’s fingerprints on them, instead of legacy institutes mostly shaped by America.
The existing global institutions will see more influence ceded to China as well.
But the USA has created significant structural problems for itself. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, it has massively increased its military spending, and given large tax cuts to the richest Americans.
It has squandered its status as the trading and reserve currency on those policies instead of health care, education and maintaining infrastructure.
And now it’s seen 40 years of stagnant or declining real value income for 80% of its citizens, its infrastructure is crumbling, its literacy rate has dropped to 88% and its life expectancy has declined by years.
In the same period, China mostly didn’t spend money on its military, invested in health care, invested in infrastructure and invested in education. It took 850 million human beings out of poverty in China alone. Now its literacy rate and life expectancy exceed America’s, with literacy vastly exceeding it. It now graduates more PhDs annually, and files more patents annually. It has a permanently manned space station it put up by itself, and landed rovers on the Moon and Mars.
Its industrial policy means that it is now the only scaled manufacturer of multiple clean technologies necessary for decarbonization.
Want tens or hundreds of thousands of electric buses and trucks? Only Chinese firms have done that and keep pumping them out.
Want solar panels? China.
Increasingly if you want reasonably priced wind turbines, the answer is China.
Want high-speed rail? China has built 40,000 km of it in 15 years, while Europe’s 19,000 is stagnant, and the USA has one stretch of occasionally higher speed rail. Etc. Etc. Etc.
America did not invest in the things which will enable it to compete. And it did invest in its military.
Combine first 3 ingredients; sprinkle over both sides of chicken.
Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook 7 to 8 minutes on each side or until chicken is done.
Transfer chicken to a platter; keep warm. Reduce heat to medium-low; add vinegar and honey to pan. Simmer 1 minute or until glaze thickens; stir constantly. Pour glaze over chicken.
Yesterday I was in Costco (American bulk grocery shopping company). I saw this:
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Quora wont let me upload video. But it’s an LED panel with a looping video.
Yay, progress.
My first LED panel sighting inside a store.
I live in Silicon Valley, the world number 1 high tech capital of the world.
Except, these were literately everywhere I turned my head in China starting around 2008, 2010.
US still used printed posters and painted billboards then.
Yes, I did think about importing these LED panels to the US. Only I couldn’t get enough capital to form a company.
It’s not bashing USA. It’s reality. Silicon Valley, world high tech capital, is really lagging behind the world.
Internet? My house is limited to 50Mbps because they have nothing faster to offer. Fiber? Been waiting for that for 15 years, AT&T!!!
5G? Don’t call it 5G when it’s slower and less stable than the old 4G LTE. I still have to run out of the restaurants or stores, waving my phone in the air to get signal.
Electric vehicles? We have that. We also fight over EV charging stations because we don’t have enough to go about. I am very scared to drive my EV to a new place because hunting for EV charging station is a pain. Yes, they have apps to show stations on the map. Except, a lot of them are behind private properties like companies or apartment complexes.
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For a radius of 20 miles, I only have 1 charging station I can charge. All the rest are … not accessible. This station is privately owned by a Chinese gentleman. Without him, I have to drive so far to even charge my EV.
This is the technological drama of Silicon Valley, America’s most innovative technology capital of the world.
A Rufus story…
“Some great guy in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada found a tiny kitten frozen outside that had no vital signs and was not breathing. A real miracle happened when he brought it inside of a warm subway car and did some kitty CPR. The kitten begins to breathe again and started to move around.”
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What made you smile today?
I smiled but also had some tears when I saw the “before” photo.
Poor kitty was found with puncture wounds, infected lacerations and a crushed spine, most likely the result of an attack by a larger animal.
He had been brought in to the Vancouver Animal Emergency and Referral Centre by a BC SPCA officer.
He could barely move and one of his ears was badly damaged.
The next morning, BenBen was transferred to the BC SPCA hospital to continue treatment and was there for about 10 days.
He was deemed unadoptable and was scheduled to be put down.
At the last minute, veterinarian technician Sandy Windover stepped in, took him home and now BenBen is able to run and jump. He will have to take pain medication, but he has a new life and that is all good.
This cat who was abandoned twice, but now only knows a life filled with love.
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Thank goodness for the kind humans who rescue and give a good home to kitties like poor BenBen.
Jason and the Argonauts 1963 Movie
Here’s a real treat. The full movie, and it’s glorious!
Today, this post will be one of my you-tube videos. I believe that it is critically important that everyone understand and appreciate what a Rufus is, and how it manifests. While I talk a lot about it, it means much more than heroic action. It means compassion and understanding, and to stand up for the little guy.
Many of the snippets are in Chinese, and the dialog is in Chinese, but you can guess what is going on and infer the dialog.
One is a daughter …
One is an employee…
One is a relative…
The dialog can get confusing in the translation. Translation is from the Wechat scan function, switched to translate into English.
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A Rufus builds people up. They don’t tear them down.
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A Rufus stands by the downtrodden and supports them.
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A Rufus accepts people as they are.
The roles are not important.
What is important is whether these people are making the world a better place, or are they being selfish, demanding, uncaring and obstinate.
Watch for yourself.
Then, pay attention to the reactions of the innocent bystanders who overhear the discussion. Watch them leap into action as only a real Rufus would…
The crazies continue with their insane plans. You and I and our loved ones are all trapped … squeezed between the giants… like lettuce in a McDonald’s Big Mac sandwich. Nothing much to do, but keep on, keeping on and to wish for the best.
Keep up on your affirmation campaigns and monitor your fate forecasts. You will be fine.
Just remain calm. Smile, and play a role in your communities. As Rob has said (paraphrasing) follow the formula and your life will change for the better. Big thanks! Listen to New Rob!
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told his French counterpart in a telephone call on Sunday that the situation in Ukraine was rapidly deteriorating and trending towards “uncontrolled escalation.”
In a phone call with French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu published by the Russian side, Shoigu said Moscow had concerns Ukraine could use a “dirty bomb” in the conflict, without providing evidence to support the suggestion that Ukraine might use such a weapon.
“They discussed the situation in Ukraine which is rapidly deteriorating,” the defense ministry said in a readout of the call. “It is trending towards further uncontrolled escalation.”
Today’s telephone call with the French Defense Minister comes immediately after similar calls with the US and Turkish Defense Ministers.
Russia is telling all the key parties that the situation is getting very much worse.
According to incoming information, the Kiev regime is preparing a false flag “provocation” on its territory related to the detonation of the so-called “dirty bomb” or low-yield nuclear weapon.
From various sources it became known that under the leadership of Western backers, Kiev has already begun the practical implementation of this plan. The leadership of the Eastern Mining and Processing Plant, located in the city of Zhovti Vody, Dnepropetrovsk region, as well as the Kiev Institute for Nuclear Research, was tasked with making the very “dirty bomb.” Work on it is already reported to be at the final stage.
At the same time, on behalf of Volodymyr Zelensky, employees of the Office of the President of Ukraine from his close circle, are conducting covert contacts with representatives of the UK on the issue of a possible transfer of nuclear weapons components to the Kiev authorities.
The calculation of the organizers of the provocation is that if it is successfully implemented, most countries will react extremely harshly to the “nuclear incident” in Ukraine. As a result, Moscow will lose the support of many of its key partners, and the West will again try to raise the issue of depriving Russia of the status of a permanent member of the UN Security Council and increase anti-Russian rhetoric.
The idea itself, seems psychotic to most observers, but such seems to be the level of desperation in Kiev.
So, in the past 2 days, the Russian defense minister Shoigu has called his counterparts in the US, UK, France, and Turkey, and told them all the same message about the “dirty bomb”.
This is very worrying.
Toad The Wet Sprocket – Something’s Always Wrong (Official Video)
Do Chinese people have a positive or negative view of America’s government and its policies?
Well, lessee…
The US government has a policy of demonizing China with lies and false accusations of genocide, forced labour, concentration camps, etc.
The US government has a policy of sanctioning the shit out of China (e.g., 5G, semiconductors, etc.).
The US government has a policy of interfering in China’s domestic politics (e.g., Hong Kong, Taiwan, Xinjiang).
The US government deprives its people of affordable health care and housing, practices mass incarceration, allows rampant gun violence and systemic racism, interns illegals immigrants in concentration camps at its southern border, spies on its citizens through PRISM (Edward Snowden), let over a million Americans die from Covid needlessly, etc.
The US government has policies of overthrowing foreign regimes, interfering in foreign elections, invading foreign countries, sanctioning foreign countries, etc.
What do you think? Duh!
The Black Crowes performs “Remedy” at Gathering of the Vibes Music Festival 2013
Set the tone…
How did you become the accidental owner of a pet?
One evening at work. One of my colleagues starts to chat with me and the mail courier. He shows us a picture on his phone, saying “look what [wife’s name] found in our barn.”
It was four tiny fuzz balls. Kittens hiding where their mother left them. They couldn’t have been more than four weeks old.
Suddenly, I blurted out, “I will take one.” My colleague looked at me. “What?” He asked me to repeat myself, and with only a little hesitation, I said again, “I will take one.”
The weeks after were a bit stressful as the kittens were captured and taken to see a vet. One of them died; they called him the runt but even the one I got was somewhat small.
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I named him also hastily because the vet I called needed a name for the schedule. “Tito”, I told the voice on the phone. He was no more than five weeks old when I brought him to my apartment.
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I played with him a lot in order to socialize him a little; but he’s been apart from his siblings. When I first got him I brought him to my place in a tiny shoebox. Now I have a proper carrier for him and lots of other cat things.
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Tito has grown. As you can see, he knows how to give bunny kicks when he plays with his football.
The result of the 20th CPC Congress
For those of you who are in the West; especially the United States. ou live within a bubble of ignorance. Here’s the results of the 20th CPC congressional elections…
Xi is totally victorious. They’re all his supporters.
The CPC XX Congress Politburo Standing Committee :
1- Xi Jinping
2- Li Qiang
3- Zhao Leji
4- Wang Huning
5- Cai Qi
6- Ding Xuexiang
7- Li Xi
Tonic – If You Could Only See
Are we seeing a bifurcation of the world order underway led by USA and China respectively.
Which countries may be part of the US led World Order and which may be part of the China led World Order?
This is a very good question with clear facts. Yes the single polar is well and truly over. The US is clearly in a very desperate situation right now. It is doing 3 things that it thinks is the last throw of the dice which will have a very small chance of success but highly lightly will boomerang back at the US and hurt and harm America and the west badly like the Ukrainian war.
These are one, to provoked and lure Russia into a war that they clearly cannot win without going nuclear and killing the entire planet. And they are losing their pants.
Two, they thought the could decoupled from China and contained them. For me, they themself will be contained and their companies will be decoupled dron the World.
Thirdly they weaponised the only weapon, the dollar that will simply end their only useful defence to keep themselves sustainable. What they achieved is torturing their own very few allies left.
The US can count on the equallly pathetic and desperate UK, they can allways bully Canada and Australia their fellow native slaughters and the despicable colonial powers France Belgium, Netherlands and Denmark and Sweden. Sure their slave vassal nations Germany, South Korea and Japan has no choice but to back the US.
The rest of the world either support China and Russia outright or gently lean towards them due to trade, due to a brighter future, disgusted to years of coercion by the west or hated the US bullying. There lies the problem for the US?
Sure they could still command the economies of 30% of the world but the 70% is simply not with them. In population it is worst, 85% of the world supports China and Russia.
A bigger issue is throughout the west, their own people will rises up one by one, like in Italy, UK, Australia, Germany, Serbia, Hungary, Sweden, France. One by one their own people will throw them out.
The US has firmly nailed their own coffin shut.
Chilean Sopaipillas with Pebre
Chilean sopaipillas are a delicious street food made up of fried dough with sweet or savory toppings, like pebre, a Chilean chopped salsa. Sweet or savory, round or square. Sopaipillas are a delicious part of the heritage of Chilean cuisine.
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What are sopaipillas?
Sopaipilla is the name given to a traditional fried dough in Chile and other countries in the Americas.
The Chilean version is very popular during the rainy months, but in recent times it has become a typical snack that you can find throughout the year.
Sopaipillas are sold in the streets in little carts carrying large pans full of boiling oil that offer clients fresh, just made, warm sopaipillas.
The possibility of toppings is very varied: chili sauce, pebre, mustard, cheese, icing sugar, honey, sauerkraut, mayonnaise, just to mention a few.
Where do sopaipillas come from?
The recipe for this fried dough treat arrived in the Americas with the Spanish colonizers who called them sopaipa, a word of Arabic origin that means “bread dipped in oil”.
The Araucanians (nomadic hunters in Chile) named them sopaipilla in honor of a bird from the region.
The South American contribution was to serve them soaked in a syrup made with chancaca (unrefined sugar and molasses) flavored with cinnamon and orange or lemon peel.
The traditional recipe, typical of central Chile, uses cooked squash which gives the dough a little bit of an orange color.
Northern and southern sopaipillas are often made without squash. The recipes vary from house to house, some making them with yeast and others with baking powder.
The recipe I am sharing today is for southern sopaipillas.
These sopaipillas have a spongy, donut-like texture in the center and some crispiness on the edges.
The dough comes together very quickly. It’s a soft dough, easy to handle, made with ingredients you might already have in your pantry.
Once the dough is ready, you have two options.
You can roll out the dough with a rolling pin and use a round cutter or a glass to cut as many sopaipillas as you can. Bring the rest of the dough together and roll it out and cut again, until all the dough has been used.
The second option is to divide the dough into 8 equal portions and flatten each one with your hands or a rolling pin.
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No matter how you shape the sopaipillas, make sure to prick each one with a fork before frying.
As any fried dough, these are best eaten the same day they are made.
Chris Cornell – Billie jean & Black hole sun
What are some toppings for sopaipillas?
As I mentioned before, there is a great variety of toppings in Chile for sopaipillas.
soaked in syrup right after frying (use the syrup recipe from Chilean picarones)
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What would happen if China started to reclaim Taiwan?
Nothing will happen in 5 hours Tsai Ing wen will be in a Chinese jail together with 500 of the most corrupted and idiotic traitors serving time seeking forgiveness for letting the US play them like a fiddle, without a single soul in Taiwan and China bothering to listen.
in 12 hours every sing cent stolen by them through the US corruption will be confiscated and in 48 hours every go back to work and live happily ever after. Every CIA agent will be striped naked singing away all their sins and allowing China to know who they work with.
A quarter of humanity will rejoice and 6 out of 7 billion human on earth celebrate. CIA an the US state department will rant and grunt for a few days. US will pretend to ride their aircraft carrier hiding behind Japan burning fuel they don’t have.
99.99% of Taiwanese will be happy and the 500 corrupted traitors families in the thousands flies into the US to add to your corrupted population and live happily amongst thieves. With land and homes given by the US for services rendered. Very soon KKK will visit them to remind them of their skin colour.
Why is Huawei infrastructure equipment especially popular in developing economies?
Huawei infrastructure equipment does not rely on previous generations of equipment or upgrades. For instance, Huawei 5G infrastructure equipment does not require the installation of 3G or 4G equipment.
This means that an African, Asian or South American nation, if it gives the contract for its national telecommunications infrastructure to Huawei, can go from having no infrastructure, to having a telco infrastructure which is more modern than the US or UK in one single bound. And it is built to support the Internet of Things (IoT).
Not only that, but it is cheaper than anything offered by Nokia or Ericsson.
The strategy for western companies, for a long time, has been to lock developing economies into their system and technology upgrade cycle as much as possible. This meant that once the first order went through and the equipment was installed, they would be locked into their prices, and their development cycles for good. North American telco infrastructure providers have been slower at launching 5G because their main North American and European customers are still recovering their investment costs on 4G. Why introduce 5G when they are still recovering their costs on 4G? Milk the customers as long as they can wait before launching 5G!
However, the Chinese government has not worked that way because it has always wanted to be on the leading edge of technology, and it doesn’t care if companies lose money, because in many cases, the companies which lose money are Chinese state-owned businesses. The big example is China Telecom, which had a monopoly on all telephone business before 2000. Because it had a monopoly on fixed-line telephone business, it was very slow to roll out mobile phone services.
The Chinese government and ruling Chinese Communist Party knew that the future was all about mobile phone technology and services, so what did it do? It set up a whole new mobile phone service provider named China Mobile, and China Mobile hired its own management team which did not include any China Telecom personnel. Who provided the infrastructure, base stations and other equipment to China Mobile? A younger and smaller Huawei.
Many in the west have this idea that because China is ruled by the Chinese Communist Party, it is a corrupt monopoly. If only it were that simple; it doesn’t work that way. The party believes in China having the most modern technology, and if a state-owned enterprise does not embrace the next generation of technology fast enough, it gets left at the side of the road like China Telecom, and it creates another state-owned enterprise to drive the next generation of growth or, as it does now under Chinese president Xi Jinping, support strong private companies like Tencent and Alibaba. The Chinese government really does not care about whether these companies are profitable or not, it just wants them to adopt and launch the latest technology and equipment so that China can be a technology leader.
China Mobile has been Huawei’s single biggest customer for mobile infrastructure equipment. This means that all of its equipment is launched and tested out first on the China Mobile network before it gets sold anywhere else. It means that if the Chinese government says that it wants China to have a 5G network in 2020, instead of the 2024 or later which the US is committing to as a launch date, then China is going to get the 5G network first. In the US, because the leading service providers have lobbyists who write the legislation which favors their business, new technology is delayed for business and profitability reasons, and these companies are all privately-owned public companies.
The benefit for Huawei when selling its equipment in developing economies, is that their sales personnel can say that the equipment has been launched and tested on China Mobile’s network in China, and that if they want to see it working, all they need to do is send their personnel to China to see and test it in action.
For African, Asian and South American governments, the advantage of choosing Huawei is that they break the monopoly which North American and European companies used to have on their infrastructure. Once they upgrade, they will basically take on the technology upgrade cycle of China, not the west. China’s technology upgrade cycle is driven by technology, not business profitability.
This is how many nations in Africa, Asia and South America will leapfrog the telco infrastructure of the US and UK in the next decade. They will skip generations of technology infrastructure to go straight to 5G without having to adopt any of the in-between technology.
I believe that this is the real reason for opposing Huawei; the security issue is a red herring.
This stray Kitty
This stray Kitty adopted me a little over a year ago. I love her to pieces! I’ve always thought her tail looked a little funny, like slightly shorter than a regular cat, I thought. Also her fur is so thick, but silky too. And her round features are so adorable and when we talk to each other, she trills and chirps… oh and when she runs, it’s so hilarious!
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Evanescence – Bring Me To Life (Live)
What experience have you had which made you understand China is not an “evil” country, out to crush the West?
Believe it or not, I grew up in China think that China is an evil country out to crush the West, oppress the people, and limits our freedom.
Yeah, I was that type of teen back in the day.
That all changed when I left China to study as an overseas student in the US in 2011.
The first thing I did after settling down in my highschool dorm was to search on google for a bunch of “banned” information on CCP and Chinese history, you know, 1989, the cultural revolution, the great leap forward, the usual.
I spent days viewing the documentaries, reading the articles, going through the comments about CCP and its policies.
I thought I would be happy.
But I was horrified and humiliated.
Of course, the information that I now have access to was more than what I was hoping for. Yet the one thing I’ve never realized is the sheer hostility that many Westerners has, not only towards CCP but towards every single Chinese that are not actively licking the West’s butts.
In their eyes, we are backward, undeveloped, brainwashed puppets that don’t deserve a right to voice our opinions.
The only thing we should be wanting is for the Western saviors to grant us freedom and democracy.
I thought the Western society, especially the United States of America, should be about openness to different ideas. Democracy should be about accepting differences and celebrating the cooperation between different people.
I was dead wrong.
I saw just how ignorant the West can be, how they thought they know everything about China and believes that the Chinese don’t know anything about the West, how all Chinese are supposedly living under tyranny and oppression.
They have zero willingness to hear what we Chinese has to say because all Chinese are “brainwashed.”
I became skeptical of what I’ve believed in this whole time.
I realized that what the West wants is not an advanced, free China.
They want a collapsing China.
As the years go on, I became increasingly pro-China. Every time I return from the US, I see progress happening, I see people in China living a better life than before.
Cashless payments, better housing, improved public infrastructure, happier people; China is actively working for a better world.
Yet in the US, all I saw was partisan politics, people that do nothing but yell at each other, never to think about reaching a common ground. As a result, society as a whole sees zero progress.
I am now a completely different person than I was eight years ago.
And you know what?
I’m fucking proud to be Chinese.
System Of A Down – Chop Suey! live
Chilean pebre
Pebre is a Chilean spicy sauce (similar to pico de gallo) that is typically accompanied by bread. Although, it is so versatile that it can be enjoyed as an accompaniment to salads, rice, beans, empanadas, and sopaipillas.
The basic recipe for Chilean pebre has onions, cilantro, and chili peppers. It’s fresh and flavorful.
Pebre can be made a few hours before it’s served to let the flavors come together.
The vegetables for pebre are chopped very small by hand. Some prefer to use a food processor and make it runnier.
Chose your favorite method!
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While in the States it is common to first think of New Mexican sopaipillas, that sweet donut-like treat coated in cinnamon sugar, give this traditional Chilean version a try and see what you think about savory sopaipillas or different sweet toppings!
Ingredients
For The Pebre
1/2 c tomato, seeded and diced
1/2 c white onion, diced
1/4 c fresh cilantro, chopped
1 tsp garlic, minced
1 jalapeno, finely chopped
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp lime juice
Salt and black pepper (to taste)
For The Sopaipillas
1 1/2 c flour
1/2 tsp instant yeast
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 Tbsp butter, at room temperature
1/2 c warm water
2 c vegetable oil, for frying
Instructions
For The Pebre
Mix all the ingredients in a medium sized bowl. Cover, and place in the refrigerator until ready to use. Pebre is best eaten the day it is made.
For The Sopaipillas
In a large bowl, add flour, yeast, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Whisk to mix.
Cut the butter into the dry ingredients using a pastry cutter or two forks. Add the warm water and mix until the dough comes together.
Knead the dough for 3 to 5 minutes with your hands. Cover and let it rest for 10 minutes.
Divide the dough into 8 equal portions; shape each piece into a smooth ball. Cover and let it rest for 5 minutes.
Flatten each sopaipilla with the tip of your hands or use a rolling pin (to 1/4 inch thick). Prick with a fork.
Heat the oil on medium-low, until hot, but not smoking. Fry 2 to 3 sopaipillas at a time for 1 to 2 minutes on each side, or until golden brown.
Transfer the fried sopaipillas to a paper towel-lined baking sheet to drain and cool slightly.
Serve with pebre.
Korn – Freak On A Leash
The Food Crisis Of 2023 Is Going To Be Far Worse Than Most People Would Dare To Imagine
I am trying to sound the alarm about this as loudly as I can. The global food crisis just continues to intensify, and things are going to get really bad in 2023. As you will see below, two-thirds of European fertilizer production has already been shut down, currency problems are causing massive headaches for poor nations that need to import food, global weather patterns continue to be completely crazy, and the bird flu is killing millions upon millions of chickens and turkeys all over the planet. On top of everything else, the war in Ukraine is going to restrict the flow of agricultural and fertilizer exports from that part of the world for a long time to come, because there is no end to the war in sight. In essence, we are facing a “perfect storm” for global food production, and that “perfect storm” is only going to get worse in the months ahead.
Global hunger has been on the rise for years, and the UN World Food Program is warning that we are heading for “yet another year of record hunger”…
The world is at risk of yet another year of record hunger as the global food crisis continues to drive yet more people into worsening levels of severe hunger, warns the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in a call for urgent action to address the root causes of today’s crisis ahead of World Food Day on October 16.The global food crisis is a confluence of competing crises – caused by climate shocks, conflict and economic pressures – that has pushed the number of severely hungry people around the world from 282 million to 345 million in just the first months of 2022. The U.N. World Food Programme scaled up food assistance targets to reach a record 153 million people in 2022, and by mid-year had already delivered assistance to 111.2 million people.
Eventually, there will be billions of people that don’t have enough to eat on a regular basis.
In all my years, I have never seen hunger spread so rapidly. In fact, there are large numbers of people that are now facing starvation in the backyard of the United States…
The United Nations is warning that hunger in one of Haiti’s biggest slums is at catastrophic levels, as gang violence and economic crises push the country to “breaking point”.Nearly 20,000 people in the capital’s impoverished Cité Soleil area have dangerously little access to food and could face starvation, the UN says,Across Haiti, almost five million are struggling with malnutrition.“Haiti is facing a humanitarian catastrophe,” a top UN official said.
But most people in the western world won’t care until they are going hungry themselves.
Unfortunately, that day may be a lot closer than a lot of people ever imagined.
Right now, a whopping two-thirds of all fertilizer production capacity in Europe has already been shut down because of the skyrocketing price of natural gas…
Europe’s fertilizer crunch is deepening with more than two-thirds of production capacity halted by soaring gas costs, threatening farmers and consumers far beyond the region’s borders.Russia’s squeeze on gas shipments in the wake of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine is hurting industries across Europe. But fertilizer companies are being especially affected because gas is both a key feedstock and a source of power for the sector.
There simply will not be enough fertilizer for European farmers in 2023.
And there won’t be enough for everyone else that depends on fertilizer production from Europe.
This is a really big deal, because without fertilizer we would only be able to feed approximately half the planet.
Do you want to volunteer to be among those that don’t get enough food?
Meanwhile, the surging U.S. dollar is causing immense headaches for food importers all over the world…
In Ghana, importers are warning about shortages in the run up to Christmas. Thousands of containers loaded with food recently piled up at ports in Pakistan, while private bakers in Egypt raised bread prices after some flour mills ran out of wheat because it was stranded at customs.Around the world, countries that rely on food imports are grappling with a destructive combination of high interest rates, a soaring dollar and elevated commodity prices, eroding their power to pay for goods that are typically priced in the greenback. Dwindling foreign-currency reserves in many cases has reduced access to dollars, and banks are slow in releasing payments.
The value of the U.S. dollar has been spiking because the Federal Reserve has been raising interest rates.
When the value of the dollar goes up, poor countries have to pay a lot more for food in their own local currencies.
So the Federal Reserve is actually making the global food crisis worse by hiking rates.
But they are going to keep doing it anyway.
At the same time, global weather patterns continue to go completely haywire.
This summer we witnessed the worst drought in Chinese history, Europe endured the worst drought in 500 years, and the western U.S. continued to suffer through the worst multi-year megadrought in at least 1,200 years.
Needless to say, all of this drought is absolutely devastating agricultural production.
According to the Washington Post, “more than 80 percent of the U.S. is facing troubling dry conditions” right now. In the middle of the country, this has caused a horrific crisis for barge traffic along the Mississippi River…
The barge industry is quite important. It’s crucial for moving aluminum, petroleum, fertilizer and coal, particularly on the Mississippi River and its tributaries. About 60% of the grain and 54% of the soybeans for U.S. export are moved via the noble barge. Barges touch more than a third of our exported coal as well.Right now the barge industry — and all of us who depend on its wares — is mired in a crisis. Water levels on the Mississippi River Basin are at its lowest point in more than a decade.
Last week, approximately 2,000 barges were struck at one point.
Sadly, very dry conditions are expected “over the next several weeks”, and so things are not likely to get better any time soon…
Low water levels and dredging shuttered barge traffic heading north and south on the Mississippi last week. At one point, more than 100 towboats and 2,000 barges were stuck waiting. The blocked-off section of the river, between Louisiana and Mississippi, reopened Monday. Traffic is limited to one way, according to Petty Officer Jose Hernandez of the U.S. Coast Guard.That’s certainly better than zero-way traffic, but the Mississippi is still expected to become even more parched. Lisa Parker, a representative of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, told FreightWaves that drier conditions are expected over the next several weeks. The river is slurping up water reserves right now, Parker added, but those reserves will eventually run out.
As a result of this crisis, rates to move goods by barge have gone through the roof, and we could ultimately see massive amounts of agricultural produce rot before it can get to consumers…
Since many barges are stuck and cannot move at all, barge prices are reportedly hyperinflating. As of this writing, the highest USD per ton price shown is $90.44. Prior to the massive spike, it was under $10 to move a ton of goods.The vast majority of the now-stranded bean piles and other farm goods were intended for major export terminals in the Gulf of Mexico. While at least some of them appear to be covered and ventilated, how long will they really last before spoiling?
On another note, we continue to see crabs die off at a staggering rate.
In fact, it is now being reported that the winter harvest of snow crab in Alaska has been suspended because the crab population has experienced a catastrophic decline…
Alaska officials have canceled several crab harvests in a conservation effort that sent shock waves through the crabbing industry in the region.Officials canceled the fall Bristol Bay red king crab harvest and, for the first time on record, are also holding off on the winter harvest of snow crab, according to multiple reports.The decision comes after stark recent population declines of the animals. Data from an NOAA eastern Bering Sea survey shows a 92% decline in overall snow crab abundance from 2018 to 2021, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game confirmed to USA TODAY. An 83% decline occurred from 2018 to 2022, as some small crab entered the population in 2022, according to the department’s Division of Commercial Fisheries.
And thanks to the global bird flu pandemic, birds continue to die in staggering numbers as well.
If you can believe it, nearly 100 million chickens and turkeys have already been wiped out during this pandemic in the United States and Europe alone, and experts are warning that this pandemic will only intensify now that cold weather is arriving.
Those of you that have been to the grocery store lately already know that egg prices, chicken prices and turkey prices have surged to absolutely crazy levels. At this point, prices are so high that one recent survey found that one out of every four Americans plans to skip Thanksgiving this year in order to save money…
One in five Americans are unsure if they will be able to cover the costs of Thanksgiving this year, and one in four plan to skip it to save money, a recent Personal Capital survey found.The state of economic affairs in President Joe Biden’s America is affecting Americans’ holiday plans. According to the survey, one quarter of Americans are planning to skip Thanksgiving this year to save money, and one in five “doubted they would have enough money to cover the costs of Thanksgiving this year.”More specifically, one-third expect their 2022 Thanksgiving dinner to be “smaller,” and 45 percent, overall, said they are “finically stressed” by Thanksgiving.
The comment came during a conversation with a reporter at a Baskin Robbins in Portland, Oregon, who asked the president if he had any worry about the strength of the U.S. dollar amid rising inflation.With a chocolate chip ice cream cone in his hand, Biden answered: “I’m not concerned about the strength of the dollar. I’m concerned about the rest of the world. Our economy is strong as hell.”
You believe him, don’t you?
Our leaders would have us believe that all of the problems that we are facing right now are just temporary and that a golden new age of peace and prosperity is just around the corner.
But if that is true, why are they so eager to have us eat bugs?
A tremendous amount of time, energy and resources is being put behind a campaign to promote insects as one of the solutions to the rapidly growing global food crisis.
But I don’t plan to eat bugs, and I am sure that you don’t either.
Unfortunately, there isn’t going to be nearly enough food for everyone on the planet in 2023, and millions upon millions of deeply suffering individuals will soon be desperately hungry.
They can push bug eating all they want, but that isn’t going to fix our problems. Right now, they have absolutely no solutions that will prevent large numbers of people from starving to death during the difficult years that are in front of us.
Everlast – What it’s Like (Official Music Video)
It’s Not Working! The Fed’s War On Inflation Is FAILING And That Has Very Serious Implications For Our Future
Earlier this year the Federal Reserve declared war on inflation, and since that time we have seen a series of interest rate hikes that has been absolutely breathtaking. We knew that this would negatively impact the financial markets, and we have already seen trillions of dollars in asset values wiped out. We also knew that this would negatively impact the housing market, and right now housing prices are plummeting all over the nation. But Fed officials assured us that any short-term “pain” would be worth it because inflation would be brought under control. Unfortunately, that hasn’t happened. In fact, on Thursday we learned that the core consumer price index has just hit “the highest level since 1982”…
A closely watched measure of US consumer prices rose by more than forecast to a 40-year high in September, pressuring the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates even more aggressively to stamp out persistent inflation.The core consumer price index, which excludes food and energy, increased 6.6% from a year ago, the highest level since 1982, Labor Department data showed Thursday. From a month earlier, the core CPI climbed 0.6% for a second month.The overall CPI increased 0.4% last month, and was up 8.2% from a year earlier.
The Fed has been repeatedly hitting inflation with an over-sized sledgehammer, and it isn’t working.
Prices just continue to surge higher month after month.
Prices at the grocery store continued to soar last month, adding even more pressure to shoppers’ wallets.The food at home index, a proxy for grocery store prices, increased 0.7% in September from the month prior and a stunning 13% over the last year, according to new government data released Thursday.
Fed officials assured us that they had everything under control, but it was just a charade.
Thursday’s report makes it exceedingly clear that the Fed’s plan is failing in a major way…
“This inflation report today was an unmitigated disaster,” wrote Christopher S. Rupkey, chief economist at Fwdbonds, a financial markets research company. “It shows whatever Fed officials are doing, it is just not working.”
So will the Fed change course?
Of course not.
Instead, they are going to give us more of the same.
According to Fox Business, it is being anticipated that another 75 basis point rate hike is on the way in November…
The report will also have significant implications for the Federal Reserve, which has embarked on one of the fastest tightening paths in decades. Policymakers have already approved five straight rate hikes, including three back-to-back 75-basis-point increases, and have shown no signs of slowing down.Following the hotter-than-expected September inflation report, the central bank is widely expected to approve a fourth straight 75-basis-point increase when policymakers next meet at the beginning of November.
As I warned many months ago, these rate hikes are not going to solve the inflation crisis.
But they will absolutely kill the housing market.
This week, mortgage rates surged close to 7 percent…
Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates reached their highest level in more than 20 years this week and are likely to climb even further as the Federal Reserve has all but promised more rate increases in its battle to tamp down persistent inflation.Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reported Thursday that the average key 30-year rate climbed to 6.92 percent from 6.66 percent last week. Some lenders are now even offering rates above 7 percent.Last year at this time, the rate was 3.05 percent.
If the Federal Reserve keeps hiking rates, that will just push mortgage rates higher and higher.
And that will inevitably push home prices much lower.
A home-price slump taking place across popular housing markets in the Sun Belt and other regions could result in some relative bargains for shrewd homebuyers, according to market data released Monday.The median home listing price has plunged by more than 10% in Austin, Texas, since June, according to an analysis conducted by Realtor.com. That marked the steepest decline of any city in the US over that period.
If you are a potential homeowner that has been forced out of the market by rising mortgage rates, you could try to rent a place while you wait for home prices to fall.
But thanks to raging inflation, rents are absolutely skyrocketing in many of our largest cities…
The latest numbers were released in Realtor.com’s September report, and showed that median rent across the country as a whole rose 7.8 percent last month, and remained a whopping 25 percent higher than pre-pandemic rents.The 10 cities with the highest median rent increases last month were Chicago at 23.9 percent, Boston with 19.9 percent, New York with 18.2 percent, Providence with 16.7 percent, Oklahoma City at 13.8 percent, Miami with 13.2 percent, Kansas City at 11.2 percent, San Jose with 10.7 percent, Cleveland with 9.8 percent, and Hartford with 9.6 percent.
I still remember the days when I could rent a nice apartment for 300 dollars a month.
Sadly, those days are long gone. In fact, one couple in New York recently decided to move out of the city entirely when the rent on their one-bedroom apartment went from $5,000 a month to $7,000 a month…
Last May, Charlotte, 31, and her husband packed up their one-bedroom apartment on Christopher Street after learning the rent would likely skyrocket from $5,000 per month to $7,000. The couple loved living in the West Village, but homeownership was out of reach, even with her job in finance and him being in tech.They were both working from home, so they could live anywhere. It was time, they decided, to leave New York.
Can you imagine paying $7,000 a month for a one bedroom apartment?
That is nuts!
Unfortunately, our whole system is going crazy at this point.
Inflation is systematically destroying our standard of living, and the middle class is shrinking a little bit more with each passing day. The Social Security Administration just released wage statistics for 2021, and the numbers that they have given us are quite stunning. As you will see below, half of all American workers made less than $3,133 a month last year. Once upon a time, you could live a very comfortable middle class lifestyle on $3,133 a month. But thanks to inflation, such a wage now puts you just barely above the poverty level. The decisions that our leaders have been making are absolutely eviscerating the middle class, and that should deeply trouble all of us.
You can find the new Social Security Administration wage report right here. The following are some statistics that I pulled out of the report…
-More than 30 percent of all American workers made less than $20,000 last year.
-More than 41 percent of all American workers made less than $30,000 last year.
-More than 52 percent of all American workers made less than $40,000 last year.
-More than 62 percent of all American workers made less than $50,000 last year.
These numbers tell us that most Americans are just barely scraping by, but our leaders want us to buy into the illusion that most people are “doing well” these days.
Of course that isn’t even close to the truth.
According to the Social Security Administration, the median wage for 2021 was just $37,586.03…
By definition, 50 percent of wage earners had net compensation less than or equal to the median wage, which is estimated to be $37,586.03 for 2021.
If we were still living in 1980, that would be fine.
But we aren’t in 1980 anymore.
In 2022, the poverty level for a household of five in the United States is $31,040.
That means that a worker in the United States making the median wage would be earning just enough to lift a family of five above the poverty line.
If you divide $37,586.03 by 12, that gives you a median monthly wage of $3,132.17.
For purposes of this article, I will round up and call it $3,133.
Half of all American workers make more than that per month, and half of all American workers make less than that per month.
And it is important to remember that this figure is before taxes are taken out.
Ouch.
Meanwhile, the cost of living continues to spiral out of control. Recently, the average rent on a single family home in the United States reached $2,495 a month…
Rent prices for single family homes swelled during the first half of 2022, hitting a national average of $2,495 a month — a 13.4% increase compared to the same period in 2021, according to a new report from national real estate brokerage HouseCanary.
If you are only earning $3,133 a month and you have to spend $2,495 a month for rent, that leaves you next to nothing for everything else.
For example, all of us have to eat.
But these days a single shopping cart full of food will easily run you more than 300 dollars.
And that is if you are trying to be really frugal.
Gasoline has also become extremely expensive.
All the way back in 1960, a gallon of gas cost just 31 cents.
Today, gas is approaching 7 dollars a gallon in some parts of California.
I could go on and on with more examples of the rapidly rising cost of living. Heating bills are expected to soar this winter, health insurance has gotten absurdly expensive, and new vehicles cost so much that most Americans can no longer afford them.
If things are this bad already, what will conditions be like for the middle class as the economy deteriorates in 2023 and beyond?
The worst housing crash since 2008 has now started, the financial markets are on pace for their worst year since 1969, and big companies all over America are starting to lay off people in large numbers.
Alarmingly, some of the biggest layoffs are actually being conducted by the big tech companies. In fact, we just learned that Microsoft will be laying off approximately 1,000 workers…
Microsoft will lay off about 1,000 employees, the company confirmed Tuesday.Although it is not confirmed if the layoffs are isolated in gaming divisions, employees who work for Xbox and other Microsoft-owned studios said they were being laid off, the Washington Post reported. Axios first reported the layoffs Monday evening.
Even Jeff Bezos, who is usually extraordinarily optimistic, is warning people to “batten down the hatches”…
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos warned America’s to ‘batten down the hatches’ as he shared a tweet warning of a likely impending recession.Bezos – who is the world’s second-richest man – tweeted a video of Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon saying there was a ‘good chance’ of a downturn.The Amazon founder – who has a $137 billion fortune – signaled his agreement by captioning the tweet: ‘Yep, the probabilities in this economy tell you to batten down the hatches.’
Even non-billionaire-but-still-rich person Gwyneth Paltrow is losing sleep over it.“The economy sucks,” she told the Hollywood Reporter this week. “I’m just worried about next year and how bad the recession’s gonna be.”Other celebrities are weighing in, too. Last month, rapper Cardi B ranted about inflation and interest rates. “How are people surviving? I want to know.”
If the middle class is steadily eroding during relatively stable times, what is going to happen once the economy really begins to unravel?
There is so much anger all over the United States right now, and the vast majority of the population is simply not prepared for what is ahead.
I have been writing about the demise of the middle class for more than a decade, and the condition of the middle class has never been worse than it is right now.
At one time America had the largest and most prosperous middle class in the history of the world, and that was a wonderful thing.
But now very dark times for the middle class are here, and there doesn’t appear to be much hope on the horizon.
Motley Crue – Home Sweet Home (Live – Crue Fest)
GT Voice: Nightmare for US chip firms just beginning after latest ban
By Global Times Published: Oct 20, 2022 08:35 PM
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US chipmaking equipment supplier Lam Research on Wednesday warned of a $2 billion to $2.5 billion revenue hit in 2023 from Washington’s latest export controls on advanced semiconductors and equipment to China, which covers about 30 percent of the US company’s sales, Reuters reported.
Lam Research is just the latest chip firm to forecast a sales loss due to the US’ chip ban. Last week, Applied Materials estimated a $250 million to $550 million drop in net sales in the quarter ending October 30, with a further impact expected in the coming months.
While comments from the US business community about the latest round of US tech crackdown on China seem muted, their worrying sales outlook is not an isolated situation, but one that concerns all companies in the global chip supply chain, particularly those in the US. Indeed, the nightmare caused by the US’ chip ban for its own firms may have just started.
It is understandable that in an environment dominated by Washington’s political pressure and distorted public opinion against China, business leaders may keep their heads down toward unilateral US intervention in the highly globalized semiconductor sector.
But it is more essential than ever for businesses to speak out about the impact of such moves instead of staying quiet. The world needs to hear the numbers to know how much damage the industry is facing because of US geopolitical gambits. As the losses accumulate, the commercial impact on Washington’s policy will also increase.
It is no secret that as the US repeatedly tightened curbs on high-tech exports to China, especially in the semiconductor sector, in an apparent attempt to contain China’s independent development and breakthroughs in science and technology, the market outlook for US chip companies has significantly darkened.
Even before the latest US crackdown moves, chip firms had already been suffering. Of the 15 largest chip companies reporting for the September quarter, 10 are expected to report decelerations in revenue growth compared with the June quarter, according to a Wall Street Journal report last week.
Their plight worsened after the Biden administration unveiled “the most aggressive” export control rules earlier this month, aiming to curb sales of advanced semiconductors and equipment to China.
China is the world’s largest market for chips, and it imported about $400 billion worth of semiconductors in 2021, accounting for nearly 60 percent of the global chip market. US high-tech companies are the biggest beneficiaries of the massive Chinese demand, which is their biggest source of profits. It is unthinkable for any chipmaker to lose such a large market. It would greatly affect their spending plans and in turn cause an indirect loss of sales for semiconductor equipment suppliers like Lam Research and Applied Materials.
With the global semiconductor sector facing a plunge in sales of personal computers and smartphones amid recession worries, Washington’s latest chip ban has seriously destabilized the global industrial chain. The policy, which appears to completely ignore the impact on the wider chip industry, seems more like the Biden administration flexing its muscles and playing tough with China in the run-up to the US mid-term elections.
But far from ensuring US dominance in the chip sector, the export controls could hurt US tech companies the most in terms of sales, and curtail their research and development investment.
From China’s perspective, it has a huge market, and it is doubtful whether the US can use unilateral executive orders to prevent non-US chip companies from conducting normal cooperation and trade with China. If non-US companies don’t join, unilateral US bans will actually undercut US companies’ competitiveness by depriving them of the Chinese market.
US restrictions will only accelerate the development of China’s chip sector, because the Chinese market won’t wait for the US to come to its senses. If the Chinese chip sector catches up quickly and no longer relies on imports, it will not be a $2.5 billion loss for a single US company, but hundreds of billions of dollars of loss for the chip industry.
Biden Says String Of Incoherent Words & Walks Away
12 Reasons Why It Is Impossible For Any Rational Person To Be Optimistic About The U.S. Economy At This Point
Things haven’t looked this bad for the U.S. economy since 2008. We are in the midst of the worst inflation crisis in decades, the housing market has started to collapse, some of the largest companies in America have begun laying off workers, and economic activity is slowing down all around us. Of course Joe Biden is telling us that our economy is “strong as hell”, but that is just because he wants his party to do well in the upcoming elections. Ultimately, anyone that takes a truly objective view of things is forced to admit that the outlook for the months ahead is incredibly bleak. The following are 12 reasons why it is impossible for any rational person to be optimistic about the U.S. economy at this point…
#1 According to a recent Gallup survey, two-thirds of Americans believe that economic conditions are getting worse. When such a large proportion of the population starts behaving as though an economic downturn is coming, that actually makes an economic downturn even more likely. So many Americans are starting to hold on to their money more tightly, and that is having lots of ripple effects.
#2 The second largest auto lender in the United States just announced that it “saw charge-offs for retail auto loans quadruple in the third quarter”. We are also seeing credit card delinquencies start to rise. We certainly aren’t at 2008 levels yet, but we are moving in that direction.
#3 Cargo traffic at the Port of Los Angeles just declined to the lowest level that we have seen since the early days of the pandemic. As I noted earlier, economic activity is beginning to slow down all over the nation. One recent survey discovered that 98 percent of corporate CEOs believe that a recession is coming, and those CEOs are behaving accordingly.
#4 Major retailers such as Walmart and Target have been canceling billions of dollars in orders as they seek to cut back inventory levels. In all my years, I have never seen our largest retailers cancel so many orders just prior to the holiday season. Are they expecting the next couple of months to be a total bust?
#5 Existing home sales just fell to a 10 year low. We all knew that the housing market was going to implode once the Federal Reserve started to aggressively raise interest rates, but at this point that implosion is happening faster than most of the experts had anticipated.
#6 U.S. homebuilder sentiment has declined for 10 months in a row. That is a brand new record. I really feel sorry for you if you are a homebuilder or if you work for one. The months ahead are not going to be pleasant for you.
#760,000 real estate deals were called off in the month of September alone. I was stunned when I first saw that number. All over the country buyers are realizing that they agreed to pay too much and are feverishly trying to back out of deals while they still can.
#8 Mortgage demand has plunged to the lowest level in 25 years. Things never even got this bad during the downturn of 2008 and 2009. To me, this is a really troubling sign.
#9 Ian Sheperdson, the chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, is projecting that home prices could fall 20 percent over the next year. Hopefully that will not happen, but there is also a possibility that they could fall even further than that. We will just have to wait and see how rapidly this new crisis plays out.
#10 U.S. diesel inventories have fallen to the lowest level since 2008. This is something that we will want to watch very carefully, because the U.S. economy runs on diesel.
#11 The core consumer price index has just surged to “the highest level since 1982”. Even though the Federal Reserve has been on an insane rate hiking spree, our inflation crisis continues to rage out of control. And as prices continue to soar, our standard of living is being absolutely eviscerated.
#12 A model created by Bloomberg economists Anna Wong and Eliza Winger indicates that there is a 100 percent chance of a recession within the next 12 months. Of course it is entirely possible that their model could be wrong. But without a doubt this is not a good sign.
Right now, even some of our society’s most relentless optimists are warning that tough economic times are ahead.
For instance, in a post on Twitter Elon Musk just suggested that we could be suffering through a recession until the spring of 2024…
If Elon Musk is any type of financial prognosticator, the market and economy could be in trouble for more than a year to come.When prompted in a Twitter thread early on Friday morning, the Tesla CEO said that he thought the current recession would last “probably until spring of ’24”.
Because he is such an optimist, Musk believes that economic conditions will turn around eventually.
Previous generations of Americans handed us the keys to the most prosperous economy that the world has ever seen.
But instead of managing it carefully, we have piled up the biggest mountain of debt in the history of the planet, we have transformed Wall Street into the globe’s largest casino, and we have systematically destroyed the reserve currency of the world.
Thanks to a very long series of incredibly foolish decisions by our leaders, we are now facing a war with Russia, a collapse of the housing market, a global food crisis, a global inflation crisis and a worldwide financial meltdown simultaneously.
The entire system is starting to crumble all around us, but most people still believe that things will “return to normal” at some point.
Personally, I would love to see things “return to normal”, but unfortunately it appears that is not likely to happen any time soon.
The Wallflowers – 6th Avenue Heartache (Official Video)
My tribute to mid 1990s Boston.
What did Hu Jintao do at the CCP congress to upset Xi Jinping?
The Western Media blasted the headlines that Hu Jintao was thrown out of the Congress by the Xi Faction!!!!
Yet 40 minutes later he was BACK. Nobody reported on the fact that a leader who was thrown out was miraculously back.
The man was Sick
Three weeks earlier, he had cut short an event due to similar reasons.
In fact the only reason why Hu Jintao didn’t go home directly but returned back despite his obvious illness was to ensure that no rumours spread about.
Firstly – Hu Jintao was present for all Six Days of the Congress. Yet he didnt stay on and kept going and coming. If he was truly disgraced – He would never have been allowed to come to the Congress.
Secondly If you notice the Video, Hu Jintao staggered. He felt light headed. He rose, placed a hand on Xis shoulder for support and sat back down. Immediately two Security Officials arrived and Sook Chai, the Executive Security in Charge informed Xi Jingping that Hu would be taken to the Medical Infirmary. The Building has a huge medical infirmary capable of conducting Neurosurgery and having many units of A+ve to AB -ve Blood.
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Hu Jintao looks terrible. His Security Detail promptly asks him if he is okay or whether he needs medical attention.
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Hu Jintao is taken for Medical Attention. Imagine if he were to vomit or heave on that table. He would lose face. Imagine if he were to crap in his pants. The man is 80+ years old.
Look at the dignity with which the Regional Secretary guides Hu Jintao outside.
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Hu Jintao apologizes to Xi Jingping. Notice his hand behind Xis Back. He pats XJP on the back and apologizes.
XJP is embarrassed. He wants the Incident to be flawlessly perfect and he knows there will be a lot of speculation. Yet he acknowledges Jintaos exit.
Notice the Grip on his right hand. To prevent him from falling down.
He is escorted out. You can see the Secretary behind Hu Jintao, cautiously propping his back.Does this look like a forced exit? It’s an Old Man who is fearing collapse, being taken out for Medical attention.
The Others are Embarrassed. It’s a huge loss of face to fall sick during such a ceremony. He shouldn’t have come but if he didn’t, that would fuel massive speculation.
Notice the Man on the Right of Premier Li?
He is Hu Jintaos closest ally. Yet he isn’t escorted out. He remains seated and firm.
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Like I said – Had Hu Jintao really been disgraced, he wouldn’t have been allowed to attend the event in the first place.
Yet he not only attended the event but sat on the Primary Table.
So Hu Jintao did upset everybody.
His illness disrupted the event
That’s it.
The rest is Western Propaganda
Explosion at Russian Factory that makes Warhead Charges for Missiles
There has been a large explosion at a Russian factory which makes charges for missile systems, and for Rocket engines, in the city of Perm, Russia, about 1500km northeast of Ukraine border.
The factory has been working 3 shifts, 24/7, to manufacture charges for GRAD and SMERCH rockets.
According to locals, the Perm Gunpowder Plant, which produces Grad and Smerch weaponry for Russian troops, reportedly went up in flames.
The building also makes engine charges for aircraft missiles, booster systems for cruise missiles and products for the A-135 missile defence system.
According to officials 4 people dead, 4 missing
Pumpkin Pie
When it comes to Thanksgiving, our eyes go right to the dessert table, searching for homemade Pumpkin Pie. With a flaky crust, smooth pumpkin filling and sweetened whipped cream, what’s not to love about Pumpkin Pie? This is the best Pumpkin Pie recipe we’ve ever made, thanks to its incredible flavor profile and simple instructions. If there are leftovers–which are usually hard to come by–we’ll even have Pumpkin Pie for breakfast!
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Ingredients
Pat-in-the-Pan Pastry
1 1/3 cups Gold Medal™ all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons cold water
Filling
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 can (15 oz) pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk
Sweetened Whipped Cream
3/4 cup whipping cream
2 tablespoons sugar
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Biden asks Congress for $33 billion in aid for Ukraine as war drags on
Here’s a nice art interlude. Please enjoy this post.
I know that there are some people in the MM audience who can ABSOLUTELY relate to these comix. I hope that it resonates with you all. Please enjoy this nice little interlude.
31-year-old Lainey Molnar is on a mission to empower women, and she’s using her creative expression to do so. Molnar creates honest comics that cut through all of the filters and focus on women’s role in society and the way it perceives them.
“I believe that the pressure on women comes from both inside our own community and outside, be it family, media, or men,” the artist told Bored Panda. “It is incredibly hard to navigate all of their expectations and reach the milestones society has set out for us, like maintaining the perfect size and shape, being maternal but also ambitious, strong but also sensitive, staying youthful and fresh while gracefully accepting the aging process, looking ideal but not overdoing plastic surgery. I could go on and on and on, and we are all so tired of this.”
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You could say the series was a long time in the making. Molnar, who is from Hungary and works as a digital business strategist, deals with content creators and women-owned businesses to align their goals with their social media, facilitating growth. “I started my career as my country’s first personal blogger and ran my blog and the fashion store attached to it for almost 8 years, wrote a guidebook for powerful women, and I also wrote for women’s magazines.”
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Drawing and art in general has been Molnar’s hobby for over two decades now. “After my blogging days, I stepped away from the limelight because of the habitual online harassment I received, so when [the place I live in] went into lockdown [due to the pandemic] earlier this year, I decided to create a comic-style avatar for myself and started posting drawings about her to process what I’m going through (or all of us go through) as a woman under the pressure of society and just simply… life.”
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I hope that you enjoyed this little treat of art, commentary and fun. Have a great day! And remember… I believe in you!
Do you want more?
I have more articles like this one in my Art Index here…
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
And is in the process of crossing all of China’s red lines, as well.
101st Airborne division being sent to Romania, ostensibly to partake in exercises. Poor saps dont know they are being sent as sacrificial lambs. A false flag on their own troops is a perfect way to declare war. Ukronazis will be happy to oblige, Im sure.
Posted by: DaVinci | Oct 22 2022 18:51 utc | 3
The 20th CPC Congress has ended. The Western “news” hasn’t reported on it at all, except for the event of Hu JinTao being helped out of the chamber. The Western “news” is all about being “forcefully removed” and all that nonsense. The poor guy is very old, and these long meeting are strenuous. Not to worry though. He’s fine and under the care of medical professionals.
Plenty of activity in Europe and the United States madness is out of control. Mid-term elections are next week, and a new brand of insanity will embrace Washington DC. Sigh.
So don’t expect any REAL change. Just more of the same.
Explosives-Laden Drone, UNDETONATED – Found near Nord Stream Pipeline Bomb Blast Site
Sweden Police investigating the recent explosion which blew up three out of four natural gas pipelines between Russia and Germany, found an explosives-laden, but UN-DETONATED, underwater drone, near the fourth pipeline which did NOT get blown up. A wire which would have controlled the explosion of that drone, was found to have been severed.
The police called-in the Sweden Army Ordnance Disposal Unit, to recover the undetonated drone, and to render it safe.
The drone is now impounded and with it, the first conclusive proof of WHO carried out the bombing of Nord Stream.
Sweden immediately Classified the drone and the investigation as needing to be concealed for “national security” reasons.
The model of drone makes clear who the perpetrator is. Sweden is not revealing the drone model or any other information surrounding it.
News media coverage of the recovery of this drone has been forbidden by Swedish authorities. The Hal Turner Radio Show is not subject to Swedish authority and is herewith publicizing this information pursuant to the freedom of the press, protected by the US Constitution, Amendment One.
At this time, we will not say if we know the drone model, the types of explosives on it, or which country operates such drones. We will decide at a later date as to whether or not to reveal any other information we may already possess, as the revelation of any such information would very likely be Casus Belli to start an actual war.
It is expected that once repaired, the drone will be returned to the United States Navy to resume operations. - MM
Robin Trower – Lady Love – 3/15/1975
Betty White Was a World War II Volunteer
If you are like me, World War II seems like it was an extremely long time ago. The fact is, Betty White was not only alive during this time, she actually served. White took a break from her work in the entertainment business to volunteer and support the troops. She served as a volunteer in the American Women’s Voluntary Services.
White drove trucks with military supplies, among other duties. When White died in 2021, the U.S. Army even acknowledged her with a tweet, saying that “Not only was she an amazing actress, she also served during WWII… A true legend on and off the screen.”
They said it best. Not too many actors and actresses would sacrifice their dreams for the good of our nation, but that just goes to show what a special person Betty White was.
Ancient Incense Clocks: A Timely Glow
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Checking the time hasn’t always been as easy as glancing at your smartphone. In ancient times, humans would determine the time by using devices made of sand, stone, shadows, wheels, and more. One ancient clock that doesn’t get mentioned often enough is the famous incense clock. Run primarily by fire, the incense clock was popular in China during the early Qing Dynasty, before mechanical clocks were accessible to all levels of society.
A unique concept compared to other ancient clock systems, incense clocks were simple to use, yet intricate in appearance. They were also essential to daily life, as people could also use these clocks like timers by lighting specific spots in the maze to burn at a ‘countdown’, which may have been helpful during cooking or working. But how exactly did these clocks work, and why were they used for so long?
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Incense Clocks Burned Through Time
Incense clocks were as intricate as they were accurate. To make the clocks burn for an entire day, they had to be designed like small mazes. Although they were small enough to fit into the palm of your hand, their tiny carvings would impressively loop around the entire face of the clock to form a detailed, perfectly spaced maze. The clocks were made of durable, fire-resistant metals so they could not be warped or scorched by the heat of the flame.
The incense clock consisted of multiple trays. The bottom tray contained tools needed to operate the clock, including a tiny shovel and a damper. The next tray up contained ashes to lay out along the incense trail, while the top tray contained different stencils for the clock. Each stencil was designed to burn for slightly different amounts of time. Although time itself did not inherently change, the stencils were designated for specific seasons. Since day lasted longer during the summer, and night lasted longer during the winter, they had different stencils to specify this change in daytime versus nighttime.
Users of the clock first used the damper to smooth the ashes in the middle layer. The layer had to be perfectly flat, or else the incense might have stopped prematurely during the day. Once the layer was flat, a stencil would be chosen according to the time of year. The stencil would then be placed on top of the flat ash layer, and the pattern would be carved out using the sharp end of the shovel. Once the shape was carved, incense could be added and lit.
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On top of this lit incense would be the top layer, the incense clock’s lacy lid. This lid was intricately designed, but was also essential to the operation of the clock. It would help vent smoke and control oxygen exposure. This simple lid helped prevent the incense from burning too quickly or being snuffed out prematurely.
If the incense clock did burn out prematurely, not all hope was lost. Since these clocks were used so frequently, it was fairly easy to determine the relationship between the time of day and the location burned on the clock. Individuals using the clocks could either restart the clock from the current time by comparing it to a clock that was still running, or could generally estimate how much time was left on the clock.
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Incense Clock Variations: From Chimneys to Sniffs
Over the years, additional versions of the incense clock were developed. While many still used the traditional maze clock, others used newer versions that had small chimneys across the top lid. Those using this type of incense clock could determine the time by observing which chimney had smoke coming out of it at different times of the day. Others were more creative with the clock, and sometimes used different types of incense or scent chips throughout the maze, so they could tell the time just by sniffing the clock!
Ancient alarm clocks were also produced using incense clocks. Since incense clocks were operated by fire, they could also be used to develop a type of alarm. One of the simplest examples of this is the metal ball alarm clock. An incense clock would have a few tiny metal balls attached to it by thin threads. These threads would then be hung over the top of the incense clock. Once the incense clock burned to the threads, they would break and drop the tiny metal balls into a bowl below, creating a loud ‘alarm’.
This ‘alarm clock’ was so common that a giant version was once made for the emperor to help him wake in time for visitors or other special events. While they were common, some were worth considerably more in value, since the most beautiful incense clocks took more craftsmanship to develop. A simple incense clock had an ordinary block maze, but luxury incense clocks would have detailed, one-of-a-kind stencils that only the wealthy could afford.
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Who Needs Mechanical Clocks Anyways?
Incense clocks are over 1,300 years old, but historians continue to be fascinated by their long-standing accuracy. Due to their accuracy and affordability, they were used by average families for several centuries to tell and measure time. Plus, they made an attractive addition to any home with their intricate designs and warm glow.
Although we eventually turned to mechanical and now electronic clocks, our relationship with time has remained the same. Tracking time helps us make plans and complete tasks without worry. The next time you set your morning alarm (or alarm s), remember that it could be worse – you could be dependent on some fire and thread.
Conway Twitty – Slow Hand 1983
Russian Ambassador: Washington has . . . crossed all Red Lines . . .
Washington has long crossed all red lines drawn by Moscow, Russian Ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov said in an interview with the Rossiya-24 TV channel.
“They [the Americans] have long crossed all these red lines,” he said in response to a question.
In this regard, the Russian envoy pointed to the Nord Stream incident. “I strongly believe that it’s not an individual or a group that is behind this act of sabotage but a government, which has technological capabilities and specially trained people,” Antonov stressed.
Russian-American relations are in an extremely bad shape. […] Nevertheless, I am firmly convinced that Russia and the US are doomed to at least talk about problems of strategic stability,” the envoy said.
Meanwhile, the envoy noted that Washington’s rhetoric towards Russia hasn’t changed.
“I have to admit that no changes happened in rhetoric of the White House, the Department of State and, most importantly, the Pentagon. There is still only one goal: to pressure Russia, to impose new sanctions, to demolish Russia,” the diplomat said.
When asked which party Russia would like to see as the winner of the US elections, Antonov said the elections are a US internal affair.
“It’s up to the Americans who they choose. <…> We will try to build pragmatic, equitable relations with any people who will be in the White House, the Capitol and the State Department,” he said.
The countries (USA and Russia), despite the difficulties, are not yet(!) on the verge of a nuclear conflict”.
An American comments…
This is hard to admit, but as someone who grew up in the USA I was taught in a thousand ways that this country sets every standard and deserves deference from everyplace else on earth.
It was so ingrained that I didn’t even know it was an assumption … until I was outside the states and it was obvious that the USA is not the center of the universe.
People are doing just fine all over the place without, you know, being us.
What’s more, the myth we tell ourselves is that everyone in the world would live here if they only could.
No, they wouldn’t.
A whole lot of people see us as a collection of fools, greedheads, and bumblers who happen to have been born in a place with a lot of natural resources.
Since Trump, of course, the idea that our system of government is magically self-correcting is also under serious question.
Belarus Orders Its Schools To Open, Clean, Paint, and Stock BOMB SHELTERS
All schools in the country of Belarus have been ordered to open, clean, paint, stock, and prepare for use, their BOMB SHELTERS.
If any of the shelters were not completed, the construction work is to resume immediately to completion!
When asked why this had to be done, authorities told school officials “in case of war.”
During the period when Belarus was a state of the old Soviet Union, the construction of all official public buildings had to include the construction of a bomb shelter against nuclear war. So the shelters have been there for years . . . just not used for anything much.
Now, the schools have been ordered to get those shelters ready.
What does THAT tell you about the coming spread of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and the coming involvement of other countries?
American moves to Australia
I moved to Australia when I was 20 and I thought people were going to be speaking English. I was wrong.
Me, “I’m going to McDonald’s, you want me to get you a breakfast burrito?”
Shane, “Oi Maccas Fair Dinkum mate! Had to ruck up early for the physio and me ute was out of petrol so stopped at the servo and asked the Sheila if they had brekky but noooouaahho just lollies so ive been getting aggro”
None of the sounds that just fell out of your head were words. Do you want a burrito or not?
Alabama – Mountain Music (Official Video)
Major Undersea Communications Cable Cut off southern France
A major Internet cable in the South of France was severed yesterday at 20:30 UTC, impacting subsea cable connectivity to Europe, Asia, and the United States and causing data packet losses and increased website response latency.
Cloud security company Zscaler reports that they made routing adjustments to mitigate the impact. However, users still face problems due to app and content providers routing traffic through the impacted paths.
“Zscaler is working with the content providers to have them influence their portion of the path,” reads a notice from Zscaler.
“If you experience slowness with specific applications, especially applications hosted overseas, please contact the application provider and refer them to this trust post.”
The repair crews moved quickly on the scene but had to wait for the police to collect evidence before they were allowed to work on restoring the damage.
At 23:00 UTC, it was confirmed that the incident had impacted three links: Marseille-Lyon, Marseille-Milano, and Marseille-Barcelona.
This undersea cable cut comes as Scotland is also dealing with cuts to TWO undersea communications cables connecting the mainland to the Shetland Islands (Story Here)
(Hal Turner Remark:Gee, after someone blew up Russia's Nord Stream undersea natural gas pipelines, suddenly a lot of other undersea infrastructure is being damaged. I wonder why?)
Janie Fricke It Ain’t Easy Bein’ Easy live 1986 Classic Country
Folk from New Zealand would be arrested in the United States…
In the USA it is against the law…
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‘Peaceful modernization’: China’s offering to the Global South
Xi Jinping just offered the Global South a stark alternative to decades of western diktats, war, and economic duress. 'Peaceful modernization' will establish sovereignty, economy, and independence for the world's struggling states
President Xi Jinping’s work report at the start of the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) this past Sunday in Beijing contained not only a blueprint for the development of the civilization-state, but for the whole Global South.
Xi’s 1h45min speech actually delivered a shorter version of the full work report – see attached PDF – which gets into way more detail on an array of socio-political themes.
This was the culmination of a complex collective effort that went on for months. When he received the final text, Xi commented, revised and edited it.
In a nutshell, the CPC master plan is twofold: finalize “socialist modernization” from 2020 to 2035; and build China – via peaceful modernization – as a modern socialist country that is “prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, and harmonious” all the way to 2049, signaling the centenary of the foundation of the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
The central concept in the work report is peaceful modernization – and how to accomplish it.
As Xi summarized, “It contains elements that are common to the modernization processes of all countries, but it is more characterized by features that are unique to the Chinese context.”
Very much in tune with Confucian Chinese culture, “peaceful modernization” encapsulates a complete theoretical system. Of course there are multiple geoeconomic paths leading to modernization – according to the national conditions of any particular country. But for the Global South as a whole, what really matters is that the Chinese example completely breaks with the western TINA (“there is no alternative”) monopoly on modernization practice and theory.
Not to mention it breaks with the ideological straitjacket imposed on the Global South by the self-defined “golden billion” (of which the really “golden” barely reach 10 million). What the Chinese leadership is saying is that the Iranian model, the Ugandan model or the Bolivian model are all as valid as the Chinese experiment: what matters is pursuing an independent path towards development.
How to develop tech independence
The recent historical record shows how every nation trying to develop outside the Washington Consensus is terrorized at myriad hybrid war levels. This nation becomes a target of color revolutions, regime change, illegal sanctions, economic blockade, NATO sabotage or outright bombing and/invasion.
What China proposes echoes across the Global South because Beijing is the largest trade partner of no less than 140 nations, who can easily grasp concepts such as high-quality economic development and self-reliance in science and technology.
The report stressed the categorical imperative for China from now on: to speed up technology self-reliance as the Hegemon is going no holds barred to derail China tech, especially in the manufacturing of semiconductors.
In what amount to a sanctions package from Hell, the Hegemon is betting on crippling China’s drive to accelerate its tech independence in semiconductors and the equipment to produce them.
So China will need to engage in a national effort on semiconductor production. That necessity will be at the core of what the work report describes as a new development strategy, spurred by the tremendous challenge of achieving tech self-sufficiency. Essentially China will go for strengthening the public sector of the economy, with state companies forming the nucleus for a national system of tech innovation development.
‘Small fortresses with high walls’
On foreign policy, the work report is very clear: China is against any form of unilateralism as well as blocs and exclusive groups targeted against particular countries. Beijing refers to these blocs, such as NATO and AUKUS, as “small fortresses with high walls.”
This outlook is inscribed in the CPC’s emphasis on another categorical imperative: reforming the existing system of global governance, extremely unfair to the Global South. It’s always crucial to remember that China, as a civilization-state, considers itself simultaneously as a socialist country and the world’s leading developing nation.
The problem once again is Beijing’s belief in “safeguarding the international system with the UN at its core.” Most Global South players know how the Hegemon subjects the UN – and its voting mechanism – to all sorts of relentless pressure.
It’s enlightening to pay attention to the very few westerners that really know one or two things about China.
Martin Jacques, until recently a senior fellow at the Department of Politics and International Studies at Cambridge University, and author of arguably the best book in English on China’s development, is impressed by how China’s modernization happened in a context dominated by the west: “This was the key role of the CPC. It had to be planned. We can see how extraordinarily successful it has been.”
The implication is that by breaking the west-centric TINA model, Beijing has accumulated the tools to be able to assist Global South nations with their own models.
Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, is even more upbeat: “China will become a leader of innovation. I very much hope and count on China becoming a leader for innovation in sustainability.” That will contrast with a ‘dysfunctional’ American model turning protectionist even in business and investment.
Mikhail Delyagin, deputy chairman of the Russian State Duma Committee on Economic Policy, makes a crucial point, certainly noted by key Global South players: the CPC “was able to creatively adapt the Marxism of the 19th century and its experience of the 20th century to new requirements and implement eternal values with new methods. This is a very important and useful lesson for us.”
And that’s the added value of a model geared towards the national interest and not the exclusivist policies of Global Capital.
BRI or bust
Implied throughout the work report is the importance of the overarching concept of Chinese foreign policy: the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and its trade/connectivity corridors across Eurasia and Africa.
It was up to Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin to clarify where BRI is heading:
“BRI transcends the outdated mentality of geopolitical games, and created a new model of international cooperation. It is not an exclusive group that excludes other participants but an open and inclusive cooperation platform. It is not just China’s solo effort, but a symphony performed by all participating countries.”
BRI is inbuilt in the Chinese concept of “opening up.” It is also important to remember that BRI was launched by Xi nine years ago – in Central Asia (Astana) and then Southeast Asia (Jakarta). Beijing has earned from its mistakes, and keeps fine-tuning BRI in consultation with partners – from Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Malaysia to several African nations.
It is no wonder, that by August this year, China’s trade with countries participating in BRI had reached a whopping $12 trillion, and non-financial direct investment in those countries surpassed $140 billion.
Wang correctly points out that following BRI infrastructure investments, “East Africa and Cambodia have highways, Kazakhstan has [dry] ports for exports, the Maldives has its first cross-sea bridge and Laos has become a connected country from a landlocked one.”
Even under serious challenges, from zero-Covid to assorted sanctions and the breakdown of supply chains, the number of China-EU express cargo trains keeps going up; the China-Laos Railway and the Peljesac Bridge in Croatia are open for business; and work on the Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway and the China-Thailand Railway is in progress.
Mackinder on crack
All over the extremely incandescent global chessboard, international relations are being completely reframed.
China – and key Eurasian players at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), BRICS+, and Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) – are all proposing peaceful development.
In contrast, the Hegemon imposes an avalanche of sanctions – not by accident the top three recipients are Eurasian powers Russia, Iran and China; lethal proxy wars (Ukraine); and every possible strand of hybrid war to prevent the end of its supremacy, which lasted barely seven and a half decades, a blip in historical terms.
The current dysfunction – physical, political, financial, cognitive – is reaching a climax. As Europe plunges into the abyss of largely self-inflicted devastation and darkness – a neo-medievalism in woke register – an internally ravaged Empire resorts to plundering even its wealthy “allies”.
It’s as if we are all witnessing a Mackinder-on-crack scenario.
Halford Mackinder, of course, was the British geographer who developed the ‘Heartland Theory’ of geopolitics, heavily influencing US foreign policy during the Cold War: “Who rules East Europe commands the Heartland; Who rules the Heartland commands the World Island; Who rules the World Island commands the World.”
Russia spans 11 time zones and sits atop as much as one third of the world’s natural resources. A natural symbiosis between Europe and Russia is like a fact of life. But the EU oligarchy blew it.
It’s no wonder the Chinese leadership views the process with horror, because one of BRI’s essential planks is to facilitate seamless trade between China and Europe. As Russia’s connectivity corridor has been blocked by sanctions, China will be privileging corridors via West Asia.
Meanwhile, Russia is completing its pivot to the east. Russia’s enormous resources, combined with the manufacturing capability of China and East Asia as a whole, project a trade/connectivity sphere that goes even beyond BRI. That’s at the heart of the Russian concept of Greater Eurasia Partnership.
In another one of History’s unpredictable twists, Mackinder a century ago may have been essentially right about those controlling the Heartland/world island controlling the world. It doesn’t look like the controller will be the Hegemon, and much less its European vassals/slaves.
When the Chinese say they are against blocs, Eurasia and The West are the facto two blocs. Though not yet formally at war with each other, in reality they already are knee deep into Hybrid War territory.
Russia and Iran are on the frontline – militarily and in terms of absorbing non-stop pressure. Other important Global South players, quietly, try to either keep a low profile or, even more quietly, assist China and the others to make the multipolar world prevail economically.
As China proposes peaceful modernization, the hidden message of the work report is even starker. The Global South is facing a serious choice: choose either sovereignty – embodied in a multipolar world, peacefully modernizing – or outright vassalage.
Perception of time in Chile
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George Strait – Fool Hearted Memory (Featuring Johnny Gimble)
Communications to the Shetland Islands, UK, have been severely disrupted after a subsea cable was “damaged.”
Police have declared a major incident after the south subsea cable between the islands and the mainland was cut.
The force said some landlines and mobiles were not usable and that officers were patrolling to try to reassure residents.
Repairs to another cable connecting Shetland and Faroe are ongoing after it was damaged last week.
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First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said it was an emergency situation for the island.
The Scottish government’s resilience committee had met and was working with partner agencies to ensure support was provided, she added.
She said the assumption was the damage was accidental, adding: “There is nothing to suggest otherwise, but work is continuing to assess exactly what the cause of the problem has been.”
MP for Orkney and Shetlands Alastair Carmichael told the BBC he had raised the issue with the UK government, but understood it could be days before communications were restored.
He said the priority was fixing the issue but that resilience would also need to be looked at in future.
American body shape
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Hang On, Your TAX dollars are paying for this?
Sounds like a slush fund and a payoff.
Toad the Wet Sprocket – Crazy Life – Live in San Francisco
I just love to sing this at the KTV.
Egyptian Hawawshi (Stuffed Pita)
Hawawshi is a traditional Egyptian stuffed pita street food. It’s much like a burger baked inside pita bread. The spiced meat filling is packed with flavor and when combined with the crisp bread, makes a delicious snack.
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Many cultures have some form of handheld meat pie or sandwich that makes a perfect grab-and-go snack or meal. In some places, these are found at street stalls or small stores which lure you in with their tasty smells.
This is one of the classic snacks that you’ll find in Egypt and it’s easy to see why.
What are the origins of hawawshi?
Hawawshi is named after its creator, Ahmed al-Hawawshi, who was a butcher in Cairo. He created the dish in the 1970s by creating the signature meat filling in his products.
He would sell them from his stall around Cairo’s streets.
The dish soon caught on as a tasty snack. It was relatively inexpensive too, being made with ground beef (typically chuck).
These days, you’ll find them sold at stalls and restaurants, as well as made at home around the country.
The original version was made using baladi bread, which is like a slightly thick round pita bread made with part or all whole wheat flour. This is the most common version found in most of the country today as well.
However, in Alexandria, the meat filling is typically wrapped between two pieces of raw dough and everything is baked together.
What is hawawshi filling?
You’ll find a few variations in the filling ingredients, but variations are more in quantity than in actual ingredients.
The filling is typically ground beef, onion, garlic, green pepper, as well as parsley, and some dry spices.
Some recipes include tomato, either as fresh or as paste, but not all.
The spices are some of the most typical in Egyptian cuisine, as you might find in the sabaa baharat spice blend (which you can certainly use rather than the individual spices). These often include some or all of coriander, cumin, nutmeg, allspice, pepper, and paprika.
How to fill the bread
Using ready-made bread is generally the easiest way to make hawawshi. And you have a couple of different ways to cut and fill them.
You can either cut them in half and put some filling in the half-circle piece. Or, you can cut a slight opening on the side of the whole bread and fill from there.
Filling a whole bread round generally keeps the meat a little juicier while with the half-round, you get a slightly crisp meat edge on the side.
Filling the half bread is a little easier but certainly, both are very doable. So it really just depends on what you prefer.
Exactly how full you make them is also up to your taste.
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Hawawshi is an easy and flavorful savory bite that only needs a few ingredients with delicious results.
Serve them with tahini sauce on the side for dipping.
They make a great addition to a meze meal, to enjoy as a snack, or serve as part of a party platter. It’s no wonder this street food has become so popular.
Ingredients
3 baladi bread (or pita pockets)
For the filling
1/4 large onion (or 1/2 of a small/medium onion), finely chopped
1/4 green pepper, finely chopped
1/2 tomato, finely chopped
1 small clove garlic, minced
1/2 lb ground beef (80% – don’t use lean for this)
2 Tbsp chopped parsley
For the spice seasoning*
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp coriander
1/4 tsp cumin
1/8 tsp paprika
1/8 tsp allspice
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp cardamom
1/8 tsp pepper
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 400F. Brush a large baking sheet with a little oil.
Either cut the bread rounds in half, or cut a slit along the edge on one side, around 2 inches in length.
Finley chop the onion, pepper, and tomato, and crush or finely chop the garlic.
Mix together the ground beef, onion, pepper, tomato, garlic, parsley, and spices. Mix everything well so the ingredients are well-distributed – this is often easiest done by hand.
Divide the mixture between the bread rounds and fill as far as possible, taking care not to break the bread. Spread the filling relatively evenly towards the edges.
Place the filled bread on the baking sheet and brush both sides of the bread with a little oil.
Bake in the preheated oven for approximately 15 minutes, then turn and bake for another 5 minutes, approximately, until the bread is browned and gently crisp on both sides and the meat is cooked through. (The center of the filling should register 150-155F when with a thermometer.)
Best served warm, or they can be served at room temperature. Typically served with tahini sauce on the side to dip.
Hank Williams, Jr. – “A Country Boy Can Survive” (Official Music Video)
Nap time
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Betty White commercial!
Betty White made her way into America’s heart, not on television but on the radio. She started her career in the 1930s on a dramatic radio program called Empire Builders. At this time, she was only eight! Of course, White was an ambitious youngster, so she was not satisfied with just being on the radio.
White auditioned for many parts throughout the 1940s, finally securing her first break. It wasn’t a movie role but rather a small television commercial, thanks to a conversation with producer Frank Van Hartesveldt in an elevator.
Her line? Just saying the word “Parkay,” the butter brand. She nailed it, obviously!
After this small success, she never looked back. White would go on to feature in many commercials throughout a storied career.
WTF?
You have to be shitting me? You have to pay to use a toilet????
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Merle Haggard – Are the Good Times Really Over (I Wish a Buck Was Still Silver)
I could also sing this song at a KTV.
Betty White loved animals
One of the things that made Betty White so lovable is that she had so much love to give! She even had enough love for our four-legged friends. She hosted a show called The Pet Set in 1971, which featured famous people and their pets!
White also turned down a movie role because of her love of pets. She was offered the role of Helen Hunt’s mother in the movie As Good As It Gets, starring Jack Nicholson. One of the movie’s most memorable scenes showcases Nicholson’s character getting frustrated with a dog outside his door. Nicholson’s character then throws the dog down his apartment building’s trash chute. While I don’t think this scene was written to be deliberately cruel to animals, White would not stand for it. She asked the director (James L. Brooks) if they could cut or rewrite the scene. They refused and recast White’s role instead (to Shirley Knight).
It is certainly rare for an actor to turn down a role out of principle. That’s another reason you can’t help but love Betty White!
Charly McClain Danicng Your Memory Away
China story
I never heard such a thing. But, it’s a cute story. Eh?
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Lemonheads -Rudderless
Great KTV song.
TV CLAIM: Nuclear Bomb Set in Mykolaiv – Will Be Detonated By Ukraine to Blame Russia
Television stations in both Russia and in Ukraine are broadcasting claims that a nuclear bomb is in Mykolaiv, Ukraine, and will be detonated. Yet in Russia, the TV stations say this is a Ukrainian plot to blame Russia so as to get NATO to come into the war, but in Ukraine their TV is saying it is a Russian Bomb because Russia is losing the war.
HAL TURNER ANALYSIS AND EDITORIAL OPINION
With BOTH sides now claiming there is a nuclear bomb in Ukraine that WILL be detonated, many on both sides are being lead to believe this is now factual – although there is NO PROOF.
The map below shows Mykolaiv, so readers can familiarize themselves with the area:
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For its part, the United States and its NATO vassals, have been playing this up for weeks in the western media, falsely claiming that somehow Russia is losing the war, and must therefore resort to a nuclear attack.
For its part, Russia has pointed out that Ukraine had the largest standing army in Europe when Russia began its Special Military Operation in February. When it began, Russia committed less than ten percent of its actual army to the fight.
In less than 6 months, that ten percent of the Russian Army destroyed the Ukraine Army so badly, they had to start asking for donations of weapons from NATO, and begin conscripting men all the way up to 60 years old.
In fact, just this week, Ukraine is enacting legislation for conscripting boys ages TWELVE (12) thru seventeen (17).
Russia also points out that in those 6 months, Russia has taken 163,000 square kilometers of Ukraine, and has legally annexed four full states: Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporozyhe. If that’s “losing” then there must be some strange, new, definition of “losing.”
As such, the Russians say, Russia has no need and no plans to use any nuclear weapons. Besides, they say, if a nuclear bomb detonates in Ukraine, the fallout will likely drift into Russia and they definitely don’t want that.
These facts are irrefutable, and do favor Russia’s position that there is no need to use any nuclear device.
Speculation about Ukraine, however, is another story. It is factually correct that Ukraine’s Army has been decimated on the battlefield. It is factually correct that Ukraine had to begin conscripting men as old as age 60. It is factually correct that Ukraine is now enacting legislation to draft boys ages 12 thru 17.
With these established facts, it is clear to any thinking person that Ukraine is in dire straits and needs NATO to enter the war in order to have any chance of even surviving, never mind winning. The ONLY way to get NATO to enter the war, is if Russia uses Chemical, Biological, or Nuclear weapons.
So the notion that Ukraine is going to detonate a nuke so as to trigger NATO’s entry into the war, is not far fetched at all. Ukraine is losing the war, it desperately needs NATO entry and that would be achieved if a nuke detonates.
The question, of course, is . . . . who gave Ukraine the nuke?
That aside, if a nuclear explosion does take place anywhere in Ukraine, and Russia is immediately blamed, it is widely expected that NATO would immediately enter the hostilities on the side of Ukraine, and by doing so, would instantly trigger World War 3.
Russia, if they actually were NOT the ones who did it, would see this as having THEIR TROOPS hit with a nuclear attack which, under Russian nuclear doctrine, would then permit Russia to use nuclear weapons.
Result: Instant nuclear war. With no warning for any of us.
That is the precarious situation the world finds itself in this 21st Day of October, 2022.
This Imeruli Khachapuri is a delicious Georgian cheese-filled bread. You can eat it as a snack or pair it with a fresh vegetable salad for a full meal. This recipe is very easy to make and perfect for beginners.
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What is Khachapuri?
Khachapuri is a traditional Georgian savory cheese-filled bread.
There are quite a few variations of this dish from different regions of Georgia.
And, possibly the most popular one, Imeruli (Imeretian) Khachapuri is a flatbread with a cheese-based filling.
What Cheese Should I Use to Make Imeruli Khachapuri?
Khachapuri is traditionally made with a mix of local Imeruli and Sulguni cheeses, which are very popular in Georgia. It’s also often made with just Sulguni cheese.
But is it possible to find these cheeses if you live somewhere far away from Georgia?
Or, maybe, there are some cheeses that are similar and could be used instead?
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I decided to find out, and visited a grocery store that specializes in European products.
I asked if they sell Imeruli or Sulguni cheese or something similar. I didn’t have any luck with Imeruli cheese. But to my surprise, I was told that they did in fact have Sulguni cheese available at the store. Of course, it wasn’t imported from Georgia, but it still had a Sulguni cheese label on it.
The lovely grocery store clerk also explained to me that the Sulguni cheese is also sold labeled as Spanish or Portuguese Fresh Cheese.
Substitutions For Sulguni Cheese
Even if you don’t find Sulguni or Spanish Fresh Cheese, you can still make delicious khachapuri.
An excellent substitution for Sulguni cheese is low moisture mozzarella cheese, which can be mixed with feta or dry cottage cheese to make the filling for this cheese bread.
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Do I Use Yeast in Imeruli Khachapuri?
The dough for khachapuri can be prepared with or without yeast.
I prefer to make it without yeast because it’s faster, and Imeruli khachapuri doesn’t really need to rise that much.
The variation without yeast is usually prepared using matsoni, which is a fermented dairy product popular in Armenia and Georgia. It’s also an ingredient that you probably won’t find in your grocery store if you live in North America or Australia.
Matsoni can be replaced with kefir, buttermilk, or plain yogurt.
How to Make Imeruli Khachapuri
Start by preparing the dough and the filling following the instructions provided in the recipe card.
Once you are ready to shape the khachapuri, follow these four steps:
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Step 1. Lightly dust a smooth, dry surface with a little bit of flour to make sure the dough doesn’t stick. Take a dough ball, place it on the prepared surface, and start flattening it with your fingers forming a circle. You can also use a rolling pin.
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Step 2. Place 1/4 of the filling onto the dough.
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Step 3. Pull the edges of the dough to the top and pinch them together. Press firm because you don’t want the dough edges to fall apart when you start rolling the khachapuri in the next step.
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Step 4. Flatten the khachapuri again, first with your fingers and then with a rolling pin—this time you have to be careful not to tear the dough. If you see an air bubble forming inside, punch a hole in the dough with a toothpick or with the end of a knife to let out the air. Try to roll the khachapuri as thin as you can or at least 6.5 or 7 inches in diameter.
Now It’s Your Turn
If you live far away from Georgia in a country that doesn’t allow to import Georgian dairy products and decide to make some khachapuri, you will have to make a few substitutions. But don’t let it stop you!
Even if you don’t have access to matsoni or Sulguni cheese, you can still make delicious Imeruli khachapuri.
Making khachapuri is a great way to start exploring Georgian cuisine and learn more about the rich culture of this beautiful country.
Ingredients
For the dough
3/4 cup kefir, buttermilk, or plain yogurt, room temperature or slightly warm
1 egg, beaten
1 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 cups all purpose white flour + 1/4 cup for flouring the surface
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 Tbsp butter
For the Filling
1/2 pound Sulguni cheese*
1 egg, beaten (optional)
pinch of salt (optional)
Instructions
Make the dough**
Add the kefir, egg, sugar, and salt to a large bowl. Mix to combine.
Add the baking soda and mix for a few seconds until you see the bubbles.
Sift half of the flour into the bowl with the wet ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon or spatula until smooth consistency.
Add the vegetable oil and continue mixing until the oil is incorporated into the dough.
Sift the rest of the flour into the bowl and start kneading the dough with your hands.
Scrape the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead the dough until it’s smooth and no longer sticky.
Divide the dough into four parts and form balls. Put the dough balls back into the bowl and cover the bowl with plastic wrap and a tea towel. Set aside to let the dough rest for about 20 to 30
minutes.
Prepare the filling
Grate the cheese, place it into a bowl. Add the egg if using, mix, and and season with salt. Divide the filling into four portions.
Shape the khachapuri
First, flatten a dough ball with your fingers and then roll it with a rolling pin into a circle.
Place ¼ of filling in the middle of the dough circle.
Pull the edges of the dough to the top of the filling and pinch them tightly together to enclose the filling inside.
Carefully flatten the khachapuri using your fingers and/or a rolling pin. Be careful to not tear the dough. If you see a bubble forming inside, pinch the dough with a toothpick to release the air. Try to roll as thin as you can or at least 6.5 or 7 inches in diameter. Repeat with each dough ball.
Cook khachapuri
Melt the butter in a microwave or on the stove top.
Heat a skillet over medium heat***.
Place a khachapuri onto the skillet and cook until golden and lightly charred in some places, for about 3 minutes, flip and cook on the other side.
Once the khachapuri is cooked through and the cheese has melted, transfer it onto a flat plate and generously brush with the melted butter.
Repeat with the remaining khachapuri. Serve right away.
Notes
*If you can’t find Sulguni cheese, use low moisture mozzarella mixed with feta cheese or dry cottage cheese. I find 2 parts or mozzarella and 1 part of feta or dried cottage cheese works well. Make sure to taste for salt content.
**If you have a standing mixer, you can use it to make the dough.
***It’s usually recommended to cook khachapuri on a dry skillet. But on some skillets, khachapuri tends to burn if no oil is used. So, when it doubt, lightly oil the skillet with vegetable oil.
Listen to the Radio 1982 Don Williams
FOUR **MORE** REGIONS IN UKRAINE TO HOLD SECESSION REFERENDUMS TO JON RUSSIA
BREAKING NEWS – SAT. OCTOBER 22, 2022 — Four more Oblasts (states) presently in Ukraine, will hold Public Referendums on Seceding from Ukraine to join Russia!
We are talking about the Nikolaev, Odessa, Dnepropetrovsk and Kharkiv regions.
More details coming . . . Check back.
The Lemonheads – “It’s A Shame About Ray” Live on Letterman
Moscow Hospitals Ordered to Equip and Stock Operating Rooms in BOMB SHELTERS
The Moscow, Russia, Public Health Authority has issued ORDERS to all hospitals to commence equipping and stocking Operating Rooms in the BOMB SHELTERS located in or near each hospital.
If the Hospital does not have its own Bomb Shelter, it must equip and stock an operating room in the nearest actual bomb shelter, starting immediately.
This ORDER comes just one day after a Presidential Decree placing all regions of Russia on “Basic war Preparation” with several Border regions placed on Elevated War Preparations, and four areas of former Ukraine placed on High War Preparation.
On Going Seriously Boom
A visualization of what Western imbeciles are playing with, that could finish us all off.
Pleasurable excitement ripples through the usual boredom of Washington, and the resident curiosities enjoy exquisite frissons, over the possibility of nuclear war over the Ukraine.
Some official of the EU, or maybe it was the mediocrity in the White House with the truculence problem, but anyway, one of the geniuses ruling the planet’s fate, has said that if Russia used nukes, the Russian army would be destroyed, grrr, bowwow, woof.
Exactly how it would be destroyed, the sayer didn’t say.
Anyway, the threats and counter threats swirl around the idea that a nuke war between Russia and the West might occur. Maybe, with tactical nukes in the Ukraine, about which nobody gives a rat’s nether region.
The world is full of damned fools.
But: The general staffs of both Russia and China are, whatever else you may think of them, sane.
They know of America’s massive nuclear forces.
They are not going to launch an atomic war.
Sane behavior cannot be relied on with Washington’s second-rate lawyers, but the generals in the Pentagon are not crazy.
They like hobbyist wars and big budgets, but if Biden ordered a nuclear strike, they would be likely to suddenly remember that Congress has to declare war and, seeing that their radar screens were empty of incoming missiles, say, “Mr. President, we are not authorized to do that.”
And recommend a committee.
What would such a war be like? Let’s guess.
America is fragile.
We don’t notice because it works smoothly and because when a local catastrophe occurs—earthquake, hurricane, tornado—the rest of the country steps in to remedy things.
The country can handle normal and regional catastrophes.
But nuclear war is neither normal nor regional. Very few warheads would serve to wreck the United States beyond recovery for decades. This should be clear to anyone who actually thinks about it.
Defense is impossible.
Missile defenses are meaningless except as money funnels to the arms industry. This is not the place to go into decoys, hypersonics, Poseidon, maneuvering glide vehicles, bastion stationing, MIRV, just plain boring old cruise missiles, and so on.
Coastal cities are particularly easy targets, being vulnerable to submarine-launched sea-skimming missiles.
Washington, New York, Boston, San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle for starters— all gone.
A modern country is a system of systems of systems, interdependent and interconnected—water, electricity, manufacturing, energy, telecommunications, transportation, pipelines, and complex supply chains.
These are interconnected, interdependent, and rely on large numbers of trained people showing up for work.
Modern warheads are not the popgun squibs of Hiroshima.
Talking of repair any time soon after the nuclear bombing of a conurbation is foolish because the city would have many hundreds of thousand of dead, housing destroyed, massive fires, horrendously burned people with no hope of medical care, and in general, populations too focused on staying alive to worry about abstractions like supply chains.
The author paints a picture that even idiotized populations can use to understand the danger hanging over all of us. And all of it, let’s make that clear, is criminally unnecessary.
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The elimination of transportation might cause more death than the bombs. Cities, suburbs, and towns cannot feed themselves. They rely on a constant, heavy influx of food grown in remote regions.
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This food is shipped by rail or truck to distribution centers, as for example Chicago, whence it is transshipped to cities like New York. Heavy megatonnage on Chicago would disrupt rail lines and trucking firms. Trains and trucks need gasoline and diesel which come from somewhere, presumably in pipelines. These, broken by the blast, burning furiously, would take time to repair. Time is what cities would not have.
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What would happen in, say, New York City even if, improbably, it were not bombed? Here we will ignore the likelihood of sheer, boiling panic and resultant chaos on learning that much of the country had been flattened.
In the first few days there would be panic buying with shelves at supermarkets being emptied.
Hunger would soon become serious.
By day four, people would be hunting each other with knives to get their food. By the end of the second week, people would be eating each other. Literally. This happens in famines.
Most things in America rely on electricity.
This comes from generating plants that burn stuff, usually natural gas or coal. These arrive on trains, which would not be running, or in trucks, not likely to be running. They depend on oil fields, refineries, and pipelines unlikely to function. All of the foregoing depend on employees continuing to go to work instead of trying to save their families.
So—no electricity in New York, which goes dark.
This means no telephones, no internet, no lighting, and no elevators. How would this work out in a city of high rises? Most people would be nearly incommunicado in a lightless city.
Huge traffic jams would form as people with cars tried to leave—to go where?—as long as gasoline in the tank lasted.
Where does water come from in New York?
I don’t know, but it doesn’t flow spontaneously to the thirtieth floor. It needs to be pumped, which involves electricity, from wherever it comes from to wherever it has to go. No electricity, no pump. No pump, no water. And no flushing of toilets. River water could be drunk, of course.
Think of the crowds.
In all likelihood, civil society would collapse by the end of the fourth day.
The more virile ethnics would surge from the ghettos with guns and clubs to feed. Police would have disappeared or be either looking after their families or themselves looting.
Civilization is a thin veneer.
The streets and subways are not safe even without a nuclear war. The majority would be unarmed and unable to defend themselves. People who had never touched a gun would suddenly understand the appeal.
If you think this would not happen, give my best to Tinker Belle.
Thus it would not be necessary to bomb a city to destroy it, only to cut it off from transport hubs for a couple of weeks.
An attacker would of course destroy many cities in addition to the necessary infrastructure. Those who plan nuclear wars may be psychopaths, or just insular geeks fiddling with bloodless abstractions, but they are not fools.
They have carefully calculated how to most seriously damage a target country. In no more than a couple of months, perhaps two hundred million people would starve to death. Do you think this fantastic?
Tell me why it is fantastic.
Parenthetically, in my days of walking the E-ring in the Pentagon, I read manuals on how to keep soldiers fighting after they had received lethal doses of radiation.
They don’t die immediately and, depending on dosage, might be administered stimulants to keep them on their feet, or so the manuals said. These manuals also discussed whether these walking dead should be told that they were about to die.
The authors used the evocative phrase “terrain alteration” to describe landscapes with all the trees lying on their sides, and we have all heard of “overkill.” After a nuclear war, millions would slowly die of radiation—read up on Nagasaki and Hiroshima—and burned corpses would rot in the streets, too numerous for burial by survivors with other things on their minds.
How would the next season’s crops be planted?
Answer: they wouldn’t be.
Where would fertilizer come from? Parts for tractors, trucks, harvesters? Making these requires functioning factories which require electricity, raw materials, and workers. If the attacker chose to hit agricultural lands with radiation-dirty cobalt bombs, these regions would be lethal for years.
Nuclear planners think about these things.
Among “defense intellectuals,” there is, or was when I covered such things, insane talk of how America could “absorb” a Russian first strike and have enough missiles in reserve to destroy Russia.
These people should be locked in sealed boxes and kept in abandoned coal mines.
Note also that Biden, Blinken, and Bolton, bibbety bobbety boo, and their families, live in DC, the priority target.
While the rats are aboard the ship, they won’t sink it.
If they are discovered boarding a Greyhound out of Washington at three a.m., dressed as washerwomen, it will be time to worry.
Today, the American Navy has confronted and accepted the fierce reality that China has the “upper hand” in the South China Sea.
That China has established strong defensive positioning and capabilities.
And that America has spent it’s time and efforts in other areas and towards other objectives. Now it must face the fact that it’s military has some glaring holes in it’s offensive capabilities. And it is reluctantly admitting to this situation.
Up until just a few months ago the entire American military and the funding and development mechanism for it just ridiculed the idea that either China or Russia had any technology that could match that of the United States.
Their argument has been that America is superior in every way, that the American military is battle tested, and fully funded and staffed with fine well-trained American soldiers, and that the technologies involved are more than a match for anything that could possibly be fielded by either China or Russia.
America is a nation of Rambo’s they argue. America has a warrior culture. America is a policeman for freedom™ and democracy™.
Not true.
However, when you meet a moron, you just smile, and continue on your way…
Is it okay to criticize CCP on WeChat? I’m going to China next year and worried about if this will affect my study abroad.
As a foreigner living in China, I have a few thoughts:
First, welcome to China! You’ll probably hear that a lot, mostly from Chinese people. I’ve lived here for over seven years, and I still get it. It can be annoying, but the vast majority of Chinese people love their country and are both happy and proud to share it with you.
Second, don’t confuse the CPC (that’s the correct abbreviation for the Communist Party of China) and the government of the PRC (the People’s Republic of China). They are not one-and-the-same. The vast majority of CPC members joined in order to make life better for other people. A friend of mine, who lives in the city that I used to live in, is a CPC member, and he volunteered to help with health checks at the highway entrance into the city (that is not his job, mind you. He volunteers. His actual job is that he runs a little shop that sells alcohol and cigars). Along similar lines, there was a viral video that came out about a year ago of a group of people driving in the countryside of Xinjiang. Their car went off the road, and a herdsman and his friend helped push them back onto the road. When the people offered him some money, he refused. His Mandarin Chinese wasn’t very good, so to show why he refused, he opened his coat to reveal the CPC pin on his lapel, and everyone understood completely:
https://youtu.be/bBinzzWQ6hs
Third, there’s not much to complain about in China. Sure, it’s annoying when there are new blockages for VPNs, but it doesn’t usually last all that long, and it can be annoying to do nucleic acid tests for Covid so often (as of writing this, my city does them every other day. Just about a week ago, we were doing them every single day, but there was an outbreak a couple of weeks ago – thankfully, due to these measures, the outbreak resulted in only about 10 cases in a city of over one million people). Outside of those, and the annual health check required for the visa renewal (no food or drink beforehand means that I have to wake up early and can’t drink any coffee), there’s really nothing that I can think of to complain about.
Fourth, so long as you don’t break the law by doing something stupid, like taking drugs, there won’t be any problems.
The Ugly American
When will the West respect China?
Within ten years. I went on a visit to China last year. Most of what we are fed in the press about China in the UK is negative: human rights, Tienanmen Square, blocked Google, smog, Hong Kong democracy, dictatorship etc.
I arrived in Kunming, Yunnan expecting to find the sense of oppression I had experienced in eastern Europe in the late 1970s and to be struggling with pollution etc.
I walked around with my mouth open! No pollution, clean streets, no beggars/homeless, wide variety of independent shops and food outlets, moderate traffic, !!electric motorcycles!!, well run places to stay, delicious food (so much better than UK ‘Chinese takeaway), very little sexualisation of women (either clothes or depiction in adverts), everyone with a 15cm smartphone, great internet access, people hiring bikes with an app on their phone.
Where shall I stop?
Once the truth starts to filter to the general population, respect will grow.
Of course there will be resistance. We in the West cannot bear the idea that our version of ‘democracy’ is not the best for everyone. It will take us a while to understand the role of the Chinese Communist party and the benefits of a system like that.
Addition 1: We are told that China suppresses religion – but in Dali there is a three-sources temple in the town – Confucius, Tao, Buddha – and the Confucius Centre in the centre has been completely rebuilt in the last few years. On the outskirts there is the Guan Yin temple. Ordinary folk out shopping come in all the time to say a prayer etc. I sensed their genuinely spiritual experience.
Addition 2: I also realised why China was advancing so fast – they work steadily! Wherever I looked people seemed to be just ‘getting on with it’. I sensed this was a deep habit, centuries old in the population.
Addition 3: Dancing in the park! Amazing. Just a group of people with a music-system doing musical Tai Chi. Another small group playing instruments in the park. So unselfconscious. Just enjoying themselves.
Update 2020: My prediction is probably now wrong. A dark cloud has descended over China/West relations. There is a growing China-phobia in the UK. People with no knowledge of China, who, when I wrote this post 2 years ago, would have little to say about China, now are experts making cold-war-like statements.
I responded recently to a very good article by a Harvard professor warning against a new cold-war with China. I was immediately vilified by comment writers (as was the author), accusing me of being a Chinese troll, or perhaps the author of the article. Very disturbing.
The main driving force for this is that western commentators blame China for their COVID19 deaths because of the delay in reporting in Dec 2019. The very slow and inadequate responses by the UK, US and now Brazil and all the consequent deaths are blamed in China, not on the inadequate response.
China is not perfect, but the inaccurate picture I reported 2 years ago has been transformed into something more dangerous.
Tortang Giniling (Filipino Beef Omelette)
Tortang Giniling is a Filipino ground beef omelette. It is unique in that the omelette is made more like a fritter and is filled with lots of beef and veggies. It is a delicious recipe for breakfast or for a light lunch or snack.
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Filipino Ground Beef Omelette
Tortang giniling is a simple Filipino omelette made with ground beef.
This omelette isn’t like your traditional omelette where the egg batter is cooked and folded around cheese and other fillings.
Rather, this Filipino omelette is made in more of a fritter style. The beef and vegetables for the filling are first sauteed and then transfered to a bowl. Once they have cooled slightly, they are mixed with beaten eggs.
This batter is then ladled onto your hot skillet in the same way you would ladle pancake batter onto a hot griddle, making small, roughly 3 inch, round omelette fritters.
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What does “Tortang Giniling” mean?
“Torta” is a word that you find variations of used in many cultures (Spanish, for example, and a variant in the French “tarte”). It is used to describe a number of dishes, but it often refers to a flat cake, of sorts.
In the Philippines, a “torta” refers to an egg fritter, or omelette.
“Giniling” is the Tagalog (one of the major languages spoken in the Philipines) word for “ground meat”.
Tips for making Tortang Giniling
With all the vegetables and meat right inside this omelette, flipping it can get tricky if you use too large of a pan and let your batter spread over too large of an area.
That’s why we like to make these into pancake-sized omelettes (or fritters). (Roughly 3 inches in diameter.) This will make flipping these ground beef omelettes easier.
To those of us in the States, this sounds like a bit of an unusual breakfast, but if you like savory breakfast dishes, this is definitely worth a try.
If savory breakfasts aren’t your thing, this makes for a great lunch or snack as well!
Ingredients
1 Tbsp oil
1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tomato, diced
1 lb ground beef
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp ground black pepper
½ c peas
5 eggs, lightly beaten
Vegetable or canola oil, for frying
Instructions
In a large skillet, heat oil over medium high heat. Add the onion and garlic and saute until softened, 2-3 minutes.
Add the diced tomato to the skillet and continue cooking for 5 minutes, letting the tomatoes release their juices.
Add the ground beef to the vegetables and saute until browned, 5-7 minutes.
Add the salt and pepper. Mix well. Taste the mixture and adjust the salt and pepper as desired.
Transfer the mixture to a medium bowl. Add the peas and let the mixture cool slightly.
Once the meat mixture has cooled, add the beaten eggs and mix well.
Wipe out the skillet you used for the meat and heat a little oil in it, over medium heat. Reduce the heat to medium low and spoon ¼ c of the egg and beef mixture into the skillet, flatten the mixture and shape it roughly into a 3-4 inch patty. (Depending on the size of your skillet, you may be able to cook more than one omelette at a time. Just be careful not to overcrowd the pan, or flipping the omelettes will be difficult.)
Cook the omelette for 2-3 minutes on the first side. (If your omelettes cook faster than this, your pan is too hot. Reduce the heat for the next batch.)
Flip the omelette and cook for an additional 1-2 minutes on the second side, until golden.
Transfer the omelette to a paper towel-lined plate and continue with the remaining batter. (Keeping the plate with the cooked omelettes in a very low oven will keep them warm until all are made.)
Black Hawk Down: Hostile streets
Military capabilities
The following article is part of a series of articles that argues that no military technology is going to negate a MAD-level nuclear response to American military action. MAD is an anachronism for Mutually Assured Destruction. No matter what the American leadership might want to believe, there is no such things as “reasonable” or “safe” nuclear weapons.
Use of any type of weapons against a major power will result in a very dangerous response.
Mutually assured destruction is a doctrine of military strategy and national security policy in which a full-scale use of nuclear weapons by two or more opposing sides would cause the complete annihilation of both the attacker and the defender.
It is based on the theory of deterrence, which holds that the threat of using strong weapons against the enemy prevents the enemy's use of those same weapons. The strategy is a form of Nash equilibrium in which, once armed, neither side has any incentive to initiate a conflict or to disarm.
-Wikipedia
And this needs to be said.
For President Joe Biden and the entire neocon cabal strongly believe that they can unleash military action against either, or both Russia and China and NOT trigger a MAD level response.
"Does being “ahead” have any practical meaning, however? Is there a genuine contest for advantage that translates into their gaining an upper hand in some sense or other? The clear answer is “NO!” It is strategically meaningless. Why? Because it in no way alters the logic of Mutual Assured Destruction."
This article is titled “Russia’s Lead Over the US in Hypersonic Weapons Gives them No Practical Strategic Advantage in Geopolitics” by Michael Brenner and found on Zerohedge. It was written Tue, Jan 21, 2020 and republished with very little editing. You can read the Comments on the site directly if that is your desire. I normally do not post “doom porn” from Zerohedge, but it does have good and meaty articles from time to time.
This is one of them. Enjoy.
Russia’s Lead Over the US in Hypersonic Weapons Gives them No Practical Strategic Advantage in Geopolitics
Deployment of Russia’s hyper-sonic missiles is causing heartburn in the West. Media headline the news as a dramatic breakthrough on a par with the first Sputnik. “Experts” are rushed into play like those self-styled pundits pronouncing when the initial exit polls appear on Election Day. Pentagon officials assure us that the United States is at the top of the nuclear game and able to respond to (if not exactly match) anything that the Russians can put out there.
Ninety eight percent of all this instant reaction is “fog-horning.” It simply signals that something big and important is out there even though we don’t have a clear picture of its actual shape or dimensions — or its significance. That’s normal. What counts is moving swiftly to the “searchlight” stage of close observation and hard thinking. Whether analysts, official or otherwise, get there is problematic. We’re out of practice when it comes to serious strategic appraisal. After all, we’ve been flailing about in Afghanistan for almost two decades with no realistic aim or evaluation of the chances of achieving it by whatever means at whatever cost. The disorientation on Syria is even greater. There, we haven’t as much as figured out who are the “bad guys” and who are the “good guys” — except for ISIS.
If you can’t differentiate friend from foe for want of rigorous strategic analysis, your actions are predictably erratic — little more than the expression of mental fibrillations. The same can be said for the rest of the Missile East.
The Washington consensus is sure about one thing: Russia is a mortal enemy. We sanction the Russians, we denounce the Russia, we coerce our European partners into ostracizing them, we conjure frightful images of Vladimir Putin while ignoring just about everything he says (as if they were Hitlerian rants). Still, no one seems able to provide a crisp formulation of what the Russian threat is — other than getting in our way in places where we demand to have full sway: Syria, Libya, Iran, Turkey, Ukraine, Georgia.
Of course, we also accuse them of working relentlessly to undermine American democracy. Yet, that remains debatable as does everything that bears the dubious label of “Washington consensus.” Anyway, whatever minuscule role the Kremlin might have in the accelerated unravelling of the American Republic, it barely registers amidst the hammer blows struck by the craziness of President Donald Trump, his enablers and a largely compromised, abject resistance.
Cold War Dread
Understandably, it is not that easy to overlook nuclear weapons. It wasn’t that long ago that many of us were tormented by the dread of a prospective Armageddon, when the Cold War carried manifest dangers, when the air was thick with hostility and menace.
In October 1962, Americans were terrified over Soviet missiles in Cuba, as this newspaper map showing distances between Cuba and major North American cities demonstrates.
Those acute fears gradually faded over the 40 years of the nuclearized Cold War. We came to live with the Bomb — if not to love it. Subsequently, concerns shifted to the risks associated with nuclear weapons proliferation among less stable states in more fraught places.
The reasons for this sedating were three-fold.
Above all was the “balance of terror.’’ Leaders among the major nuclear powers absorbed the fundamental truth that not only was the notion of “winning” a nuclear war an oxymoron — but also that any use of nuclear weapons inexorably would escalate into acts of collective suicide. The survivors would envy the dead — as Nikita Khrushchev one said. That conviction became formalized in the doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction.
Second, it was reified by a number of treaties and understandings: START I,II (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty), the Anti-BallisticMissile Treaty (ABMT), the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, introduction of the Hot Line between the White House and the Kremlin, and the several arms reduction accords signed when Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in Moscow. Their collective purpose was to ensure that no conceivable advantage might be gained that would jeopardize — however slightly — the balance of nuclear power, i.e. the assurance that any resort to nuclear weapons was tantamount to the death of civilization.
Finally, a number of technological developments reinforced Mutual Assured Destruction: the deployment of submarine launched ballistic missiles — SLBM (immune to location and possible destruction in a “first strike” — thereby, guaranteeing a retaliatory capability); improved controls that reduced the chances of an “accidental” or miscalculated launch; and the moratorium in placing ballistic missile defenses around major population centers that could have the effect of removing their “hostage” status.
The last has turned out to be a largely redundant measure since the strenuous efforts of the Pentagon/NASA as well as their Soviet/Russian counterparts to devise a workable BMD all have come up well short of producing anything meaningful.
U.S. President Gerald Ford and Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev sign joint communiqué to limit strategic offensive arms, 1974. (Wikimedia)
Unfortunately, two policy developments have awakened the nuclear issue from its somnambulant state. One is Washington’s abandonment of arms control treaties that were important parts of the nuclear stability package. George Bush removed us from the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty(while observing its provisions), and effectively voided restrictions on ballistic missile defense in the vain hope of countering remote threats from prospective nuclear powers (Iran), bolstering the sense of security of some East Europeans (a non-solution to a non-problem)and – frankly – to get under the Russians’ skin. Barack Obama had neither the conviction nor political courage to reverse those retrograde moves.
Under Donald Trump, there has been a comprehensive plan to break free of all manner of restrictive commitments — military, diplomatic or economic. Deployment of regional BMD systems directed at Russian, Chinese and North Korean forces has been expanded despite their demonstrated efficiencies (one version could not even protect Saudi oil complexes or U.S. air bases in Iraq from primitive Iranian missiles).
Modernization of Nuclear Arsenals
The other troubling development concerns the modernization of nuclear arsenals by both the United States and Russia. President Barack Obama committed us to a trillion-dollar program to refine and upgrade American warheads and delivery systems over the next 20 years. The strategic rationale is obscure.
The Russian hypersonic missile development is a parallel development. In a purely technical sense, they obviously are “ahead” of us. And that irritates the hell out of the American security establishment.
Does being “ahead” have any practical meaning, however? Is there a genuine contest for advantage that translates into their gaining an upper hand in some sense or other? The clear answer is “NO!” It is strategically meaningless. Why? Because it in no way alters the logic of Mutual Assured Destruction.
Theoretically, there are only two imaginable ways to do that. The most significant would be development/deployment of a massive, truly effective BMD system that shields population centers and other critical, high value sites from retaliatory attack. That has shown itself to be impossible – even if the initiator of an attack succeeded in reducing the other side’s retaliatory forces by some significant fraction.
A totally disarming first strike in principle could be the second method logically to qualify MAD. It cannot be done, though.Fortunately. The combination of SLBMs, cruise missiles, and increased warhead lethality makes the idea of a disarming first strike a pipe dream of military strategists disengaged from reality. Hypersonic weapons do not change that calculus.
Accuracies of MIRVed warheads were lowered to 100 feet many years ago.(CEP, or Circular Error Probability = 50 percent chance of landing within radius.) Reducing that to 20 feet, therefore, is pointless – the silo is destroyed either way unless its missile has been “launched on warning” (tripwire automaticity as ultimate assurance of retaliatory strike). Similarly for missile defense.
Then, there is the question of an incoming missile’s speed. Current ICBMs that may give 18 minutes warning do not permit any defensive measures to be taken. If they arrive on target within six minutes, there is no additional benefit to the attacker. Today’s missiles that follow a straight trajectory cannot be intercepted — with or without their distracting decoys.
The fact that “swerve” capable hypersonic missiles can mambo their way to the target adds nothing to their effectiveness. Anyone who tells you that the Russians gain a strategic advantage thereby is lying — either in order to extract larger sums for R & D from the Treasury or to accentuate irrational fears of Russia.
President Vladimir Put visiting an exhibit of advanced weapons before meeting with Russia’s Defence Ministry Board, December 2019. (The Kremlin)
Finally, no reasonably sane leader would risk national suicide for a 1 percent chance of getting away with a first strike and surviving retaliation. There is no stake worth even contemplating it. Indeed, that logic holds even were there an impossible 50 percent chance of pulling it off.
Today, the United States and Russia are not engaged in a life-or-death struggle for world domination or for ideological vindication. Ascribing anything like that notion to Vladimir Putin is simply a sign of mental derangement – ours, not his. The same holds for the super-power competition between the United States and China.
So, if this line of reasoning is compelling, why did Russia’s leaders bother with investment of great sums to produce hyper-sonic missiles? The answer is a matter of speculation. Doubtless, technological and bureaucratic momentum has much to do with it. These sorts of long-term programs take on a life of their own — just as they do in Washington. The is no more reason for the United States to squander a trillion dollars in refining our nuclear arsenal as two successive administrations have committed us to doing.
In Russia’s case, there likely is another factor at work. Historically, Moscow leaders have exaggerated American technical capabilities; they have something of an inferiority complex on this score despite their own remarkable accomplishments. It is particularly acute in the nuclear realm — most especially in regard to ballistic missile defense.
This goes back to Nixon’s proposed Safeguard system, followed two decades later by Reagan’s Star War’s plans. Neither of which in actuality had the potential to alter the strategic balance. This free-floating strategic anxiety should be placed in historical perspective. There is a touch of paranoia in the Russian strategic mind — engraved by the events of the 20th century.
Some of this sentiment is conveyed by Putin’s remarks in announcing the deployment of hypersonic missiles: “We’re used to being in the position of catching up. That no longer is the case. Russia is the only country that has hypersonic weapons.”
To some unknowable degree these neuralgic points in the Russian psyche have been stimulated by the aggressive American program to surround Russia with BMD systems.
“Might it just be conceivable that the United States could perfect them, make it work, and somehow jeopardize the credibility of our nuclear deterrent? Why are they expending so much money and effort? Why do those BMD sites make Poland and the Baltics feel more secure when they are in fact militarily useless and it makes no sense for us to attack them?”
Informed analysis suggests that the answer is negative to all these questions. The alternative explanation: U.S. leaders are inclined to do feckless things; they are strategically obtuse.
The broader lesson is that there is truth to the old adage: “Russia never is as strong as it seems; Russia is never as weak as it seems.” We wrote it off as a world power in the 1990s and never since made the proper adjustment. That perception may have contributed to the glaring failure of the United States’ intelligence community in missing Russia’s remarkable break-throughs in weaponry.
It’s intelligence that counts more than Intelligence.
What are the implications of China’s Communist Party choosing Xi Jinping as its leader for life?
He may be elected for another 5 year term. He is not “chosen for life”.
He is the Titular head of the Country. He is the spokesperson and the Chinese People’s representative.
As Commander-in-chief of the army he is not allowed declare war.
Being party General Secretary, he is a very powerful figure.
He does not RULE. As Chairman his role is consultative and decisions are taken by the Council, approved (or sometimes overruled) by the Chinese People’s Congress.
I think a person should think and maybe study basic facts before formulating a question.
By the way FYI the CPC has about 2430 members, 847 of whom belong to 7 parties other than the CCP. Among the members of the Council there are at least 2 Senior Ministers who belong to parties other than the CCP.
As an aside, purely my own assessment, I get the impression that the main priority of each of the members of the Chinese People’s Congress is the welfare of the Chinese People.
Super 6-1 Shot Down
Quick and Easy Calzones Recipe
Quick and Easy Calzones filled with pepperoni, mozzarella cheese and marinara then topped with Italian seasoning and parmesan. Not only are these calzones so easy to make, but they taste absolutely amazing!
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Quick and easy calzones is one of our family favorite, picky eater approved recipes that we can make fast on those busy weeknights. If you love a good homemade pizza recipe, then you are going to love this one!
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This recipe is great because each person can pick their own toppings (if you want) and then there is no fighting about what is on the pizza! Or, you can make them all the same and serve it as an appetizer.
We have done it both ways, and either way is amazing. So, make sure you bookmark, pin, or save this recipe so you can find it quickly when you need an easy dinner recipe to make.
Ingredients Needed For Our Quick and Easy Calzones Recipe:
Refrigerated pizza crust (your favorite kind)
Marinara sauce
Shredded mozzarella cheese
Pepperoni slices
Melted butter
Italian seasoning
Grated Parmesan cheese
How To Make Our Quick and Easy Calzones Recipe:
Begin by preheating your oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit.
Then, spray a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray and set it aside.
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Now, get out your refrigerated pizza crust and cut it into 6 equal squares (as best as you can).
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Next, in the middle of each of the squares place about 2 tablespoons (or more if you like extra sauce), a little less than ¼ cup of shredded mozzarella cheese, and 4 pepperoni slices.
Take one corner of the square and fold it over to another corner to form a triangle.
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Once you have formed a triangle around the calzone fillings, use a fork and go around the open sides and press it into the dough to seal it closed.
Next, place each of the filled calzones on the prepared baking sheet.
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Using the melted butter, get out a pastry brush and spread some of the melted butter on top of each of the calzones and then sprinkle some of the italian seasoning and grated parmesan cheese on top.
Then place the baking sheet in the oven for 10-12 minutes and bake them until the tops are golden brown.
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When they are done, take them out and serve them hot with warm pizza sauce for dipping!
Make the Dough Yourself
If you do not want to use refrigerated dough, you don’t have to! You can make homemade dough and use it in place of the refrigerated dough.
There’s a lot going on in the world right now. The seriously BIG news is not really being reported in the West.
This is the 20th CPC Congress.
And during it, the Chinese leadership has gathered the rest of the world (minus the USA and it’s toadies) together and are plowing forward aggressively, strongly resolute in a bight future.
This is freaking the USA out, as the November elections are to appear soon, and the messy USA political scene is about to go “crazy on steroids”.
Biden launched the Chip ban, and there’s a lot of bullshit “news” about it. But, don’t you all worry too much about that…
Biden has just about dealt a “death blow” to American electronics operations of all sizes and shapes. If you erase their customer base, the factories close shop and the workers go become baristas at Starbucks.
Fact. This.
Let’s go through the events during this period of time.
Hey! Look at this idiot!
A true and real idiot. I elect him to suffer the fate he so earnestly desires.
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And HERE is Redacted commenting on this statement. You MUST click on this link and listen to their commentary.
Did you watch the video, at least a five or ten minute section? Then good. Now, check this out…
China is an organized nation that works together…
I made up this little short you-tube video. It shows what happens to Chinese people when an emergency happens. China is a force to be reckoned with.
You-tube age-restricted the video. So you will have to click on a few buttons to view the Rufus video.
You-Tube reasoning for age-restrictions
x
What is the point?
China is organized. Unified, and acts as one.
If the United States actually believes that it can provoke and start a war with China, and Russia at the same time, it has absolutely no idea of what a hornets nest it will unleash.
China can mobilize the entire 1.4 billion people to design cutting edge IC chips if it has to.
The USA is a fool, playing around with dynamite. It’s going to have it’s dick blown off if it continues.
Speaking of American freedom ™…
Here’s an answer that was banned on Quora. It’s considered to be “spam”.
x
Is the US not the powerful, wealthy, developed, and great country like everyone tells you? Even China is a better country than the US.
USA is a powerful, wealthy, developed, and great country. But this tells only HALF of the story…
Being a “great” country is not necessarily a positive thing. Great Britain was great because of the British Empire. France was great because of the French Empire. Spain was great because of the Spanish Empire. But these empires were built upon cruel colonialism, built on the backs of enormous human suffering.
And so it is with the American Empire. How much blood has been shed throughout its history?
There is a reason that most countries polled in December 2013 by Gallup called the United States the greatest threat to peace in the world, and why Pew found that viewpoint increased in 2017. But i…
But I want to be fair. All nations have checkered histories, especially if you look back far enough. Let’s focus on the recent past, say, the last 30–40 years, the period of time when we and our children are witnessing massive changes in the geopolitical landscape…the decline of the American Empire, the rise of modern China, and the recovery of Russia.
In the last several decades, we’ve seen USA fight dozens of wars, rack up a huge national debt, sanction dozens of countries, experience political chaos (e.g., the Capitol Hill riots), struggle with numerous social problems such as crumbling infrastructure, rampant gun violence, homelessness, opioid epidemic, mass incarceration, etc.
And let’s not forget 9/11, the longest war in US history (Afghanistan), and over a million dead Americans from COVID-19.
USA doesn’t sound so great anymore.
Contrast America with China…
China hasn’t fought a single war since 1979.
China rose from a totally impoverished nation into the world’s largest economy by purchasing power parity.
China built the world’s most spectacular infrastructure of roads, bridges, high-speed rail, airports, etc.
China finally eradicated extreme poverty in 2020, elevating over 850 million people, according to the World Bank.
China is helping developing countries build their infrastructure through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
China is forging positive alliances such as BRICS, RCEP and SCO.
China has the lowest Covid deaths among all the major economies (5,226).
So I leave everyone with one final question: What is great with USA today?
If China is so peace loving, why is it spending so much on expanding and modernising its military?
Isn’t it obvious???
The USA has bullied, destroyed and ruined countless nations who didn’t grovel and obey them.
China won’t grovel and obey that demon nation. She wants peace and is peaceful but with the USA’s evil and cowardly dishonest slander of China and the USA’s massive military presence all around China, then you really can’t blame China for defending itself.
You would be very stupid to criticise China in the shadow of the USA’s massive military spending. Especially as China has a much better health care system, infrastructure and society than the dying USA. The USA desperately needs to spend more on its population, but chooses to spend it on military instead. China has helped its population miraculously and is able to spend on self defence.
I see no argument against China here.
AOC HUMILIATED Over Funding Nuclear War
What’s Up with All the Blacks on Television?
This is what is going on in the USA today. The society is falling apart. America is in full collapse. A race war is raising it's nasty head.
America seems to be facing...
A race war, a pandemic, multiple nuclear wars with multiple nations, famine, and full collapse of the government. -MM
Unless you’ve been living under a rock or have thrown your television out the window, you’ve probably noticed how frequently Blacks are shown on TV and in the movies. It’s not like the old days when token Black actors played minor and inconsequential roles. Blacks were rarely portrayed as important persons in professional roles such as doctors, lawyers, school administrators and scientists because it didn’t reflect their actual place in society. Such portrayals would have been seen as contrived and unrealistic by most Americans because there were comparably few Blacks who were doctors, lawyers, school administrators and scientists.
Blacks in television and the movies were commonly portrayed as hustlers, pimps, and low-level street criminals. They were rarely portrayed as college-educated, and those Blacks who sought to obtain an education were often depicted as attending night school to get their high school diploma. This wasn’t a cruel and “racist” portrayal of Blacks, but one that accurately characterized what far too many of them were like (and yes, there were exceptions then just as there are exceptions now).
Those days are over. Today, almost every commercial and almost every movie features a Black person in a leading role. This has been occurring for at least the past five years. At first it was gradual, but it wasn’t long before it increased to the point where even ‘normies’ began to recognize an obvious pattern of overrepresentation of Blacks or “people of color” on television. Foreigners watching American television might be tempted to think that Blacks are the dominant U.S. demographic, yet they comprise only slightly above 12% of the overall population. Even at 12%, it’s a dangerously high number when one considers the skyrocketing levels of crime Blacks in America commit. They have managed to make unsafe and almost unlivable every major U.S. city — a truth the mainstream media refuses to concede even though it’s abundantly apparent that America has a serious Black crime problem.
One doesn’t need to be “red-pilled” or “racist” to see that the entirety of our nation’s media outlets is preoccupied with portraying Blacks in ways the vast majority of them are not. How so? Racially mixed couples (usually a Black man with a White wife) are constantly presented as the norm. Though there has been an increase in racially mixed marriages in America, I doubt it’s as common as portrayed on television commercials. They even show White men with Black wives which is even rarer.
The image of such mixed couples portrayed by the media is always idealistic and pristine. They live in perfect, designer-style homes, and the image is almost always of a wealthy or above-average income family with beautiful racially mixed children. Though this may sometimes be case, I have rarely witnessed this sort of thing in all my years. Usually, the White female is morbidly obese and settles for a Black guy because no White guy wants her. The Black guy is most often a street thug or aspiring ‘rapper.’ He’s happy to be with any White woman even if she’s visually repugnant to most men, and of course, he won’t be around when the babies come.
The Black actor on Television is always portrayed as witty and well-spoken. Often, he’s the alpha male. He or she is always smarter and more perceptive than any White man in the room. White males are almost always portrayed as weak, and socially awkward or imbecilic. They must be constantly corrected by both the Black male and White female actors in any commercial or TV sitcom. This is such a common theme that only the most biased would deny its truth. Whether it’s the cool Denzel Washington, the multi-talented Jamie Foxx, or the all-wise Morgan Freeman, Blacks are better and smarter than any White guy portrayed on television.
Yet despite the constant praise given to Blacks for their “achievements” and “culture” by a fawning media, they have produced nothing of real value in the world, at least in comparison to what Whites have produced over the centuries. Years ago, I discussed this very point with a Black gentleman who tried to persuade me of the great intelligence and ingenuity of Black people. He pointed to a host of modern skyscrapers and complex architectural designs found in some African countries. In his mind, this demonstrated the equality if not the superiority of Blacks over Whites. It didn’t seem to occur to him that all of it was the result of what Whites previously invented many years earlier and which they graciously shared with Blacks under their tutelage.
It’s important to remember that Africans in all their history never even invented a second story building let alone beautiful cathedrals and towering skyscrapers. The first Christian missionaries upon arrival on the Dark Continent were appalled at the ignorance, superstition and blood-thirsty nature of the Africans they encountered. Cannibalism was a common occurrence and was an integral part of African tribal existence. Moreover, Africans had not invented the wheel nor even a codified language. That came years later under the direction of White missionaries. Yet the sort of Wakanda mythology that prevails in America today has permeated the thinking of almost all Blacks and a sizable portion of the White population too. No fair-minded person wants to point out such uncomfortable truths about Blacks, but when complete lies and fabrications are spread about them, there is the need to set the record straight, especially because any shortcomings of Blacks are automatically attributed to White evil.
If one wants to get a perspective of just how ineffectual and backwards Blacks are in creating the kinds of societies that Whites take for granted, I’d recommend the documentary Empire of Dust (2011). It chronicles the frustrating and often futile efforts of Chinese workers to get Blacks in the town of Kolwezi (Congo) to mine the immensely valuable resources available to them. Lao Yang is repeatedly stunned at the level of incompetence, lack of organization and forethought of the Congolese Blacks to take steps in improving their country. The simplest tasks take weeks and even months to accomplish because of problems in the supply chain, mistakes that could have easily been avoided, unskilled laborers, language barriers, and constant bribery which grinds everything to a halt.
At one point, Yang complained to his Black translator and assistant, Eddy, as to why the Congolese people never improved conditions after French colonial rule. Yang tells him, “You went backwards, not forwards. You neglected the things others had left to you. What’s more, you completely destroyed them!” Eddy had no answers because he knew it was true.
What Yang finally realized after spending time with Blacks was the opposite of any Wakanda fairy tale. He discovered that Blacks accomplish very little in terms of productivity even when given the resources and direction they need. They tend to waste all that’s handed to them and, as Yang discovered, they destroy it too.
When apartheid ended in the early 1990s, for instance, the entire nation of South Africa that was previously ruled by Whites was handed over to South African Blacks. Yet it wasn’t long before they managed to turn it into a corrupt and criminal cesspool. Blacks don’t seem to understand the value of what is before them even when it’s shown to them. They are disorganized and embarrassingly incompetent. Is it any wonder why China has managed to mine the abundant natural resources of Africa rather than indigenous Africans themselves?
There is another documentary that likewise illustrates the rather primitive nature of Africans. It was released in 1966 by two Italian filmmakers and shot over a period of three years: Africa Addio (Farewell Africa). It’s a graphic portrayal of African Blacks and the chaos and bloodshed that ensued after colonial rule. The film illustrates the downfall that occurs when Blacks are left to their own devices. Their more primitive traits are unleashed with no restraint. This is not a movie for the fainthearted. Its value is found in showing how dependent Blacks are upon the White man if they want a civilized society with law and order – the very thing that Blacks historically have been unable to create on their own.
Thus, when America’s media and entertainment industry places Blacks on such exalted pedestals, it reveals how absurd things have become in this once-great nation. It exposes what complete fabrications we live under and which we as Whites are expected to believe without question.
What’s the purpose of so much overrepresentation of Blacks and racially mixed couples on television and in the movies? What is the end goal?
Corporate Profits
There is undoubtedly a financial motive involved. Manufacturers and corporations feel the need to keep up with the changing racial demographics of the U.S., and so they intentionally choose minorities to represent their products since it’s likely to have a broader public appeal. The bottom line for such corporations is understandably large profits. They want to reach as many consumers as possible in order to create great wealth for their shareholders. Thus, if there is a declining White population and a growing minority population, and since Whites don’t seem to mind being portrayed as relatively weak, unmasculine, and stupid, they will make whatever marketing shifts they need to in order to reach any new or increasing demographic. Since financial profits are the bottom line, any concerns over Whites being slowly erased from television sitcoms, commercials and movies plays no role in their marketing strategies.
Hollywood’s Promise to Rectify Past Wrongs
The increasing presence of Blacks and other minority groups is part of Hollywood’s promise to make television and movies less White. Their rational is that Black talent has been held back, that they have not been treated fairly throughout the movie industry’s history, so they are now trying to rectify past wrongs by giving Blacks a greater presence in all forms of entertainment. This is essentially how the motion picture industry frames it. I find it disingenuous at best.
Yet there are other reasons, ones that have a more sinister purpose behind them.
To Signal that a New People Have Arrived
The overrepresentation of Blacks and other minority groups on TV and commercials is intended to signal that a new people have arrived and that White America is history. No longer are Whites seen as the dominant and most important demographic in America. Blacks and an ever-increasing Hispanic demographic are the new Americans. This did not occur overnight. Instead, it played out over a period of about 60 years. It was the result of American corporations wanting cheap labor coupled with millions of apathetic Americans who chose to ignore what was occurring at their southern border. Both legal as well as illegal non-White immigration contributed to our current circumstances. All the while our elected representatives stood by and did nothing of any real significance to stop the flood of invading hoards. President Reagan, in fact, gave millions of them amnesty in 1986 which only exacerbated the problems we faced as a country.
In the past, when one conjured up the image of an American, they naturally thought of a Caucasian. One did not immediately think of a Black or a Mexican. This is no longer the case. We are taught that an ‘American’ is anyone who happens to land on U.S. soil regardless of whether he’s Hispanic, negro, Asian, Middle Eastern or whatever his racial ancestry might be. This, of course, stands in stark contrast to what our American founders would have thought about Blacks and Mexicans for in no way would they have viewed them as our equals or even as rightful citizens. Yet that matters little in today’s America where what our Founders envisioned for the country has been almost completely jettisoned.
To Demoralize Whites
The overrepresentation of so many Blacks on television is meant to demoralize Whites. Its purpose is to make us seem less and to even feel less than who we are. This explains why Blacks are always portrayed as cooler and smarter than Whites. Even our White women are portrayed as smarter than White males. None of it is accidental. All of it is meant to demean us racially, to make us feel inferior, and to condition the entire country to believe that White people are not needed. They are, at best, merely tolerated but even this won’t be for much longer if the anti-Whites have their way. This is why anti-White racism is so widely sanctioned in the U.S. No other racial group, other than Whites, is permitted such opprobrium and overt discrimination. It’s socially acceptable in the U.S. to denigrate White people. And the greater tragedy it is that Whites are more than happy to lead the charge! I can’t think of any other racial group — other than Whites — that works so hard to abolish themselves.
The degradation of Whites in all forms of entertainment becomes even more disturbing when one realizes that we are not being subdued or outclassed by a superior or more intelligent race of people, but essentially by sub-Saharan negroes and their descendants — a racial group that’s only slightly more intelligent than the lowest aboriginals! Talk about rubbing salt into the wound. The powers-that-be have made sure that not only are Whites gradually erased from the very nation their ancestors founded, but they are erased by a vastly inferior racial group — one that not only possesses on average significantly lower intelligence levels than Whites — but which has a long history of strong criminal proclivities and an inability to function in western civil society. It’s perhaps the ultimate insult. But this was its purpose all along.
To Promote and Normalize Miscegenation
The presence of so many racially mixed couples on television is meant to persuade us that marrying out of one’s own race is normal and a good thing. It’s intended to make us think it’s proper. Its ultimate purpose is to dilute our European bloodline. It’s intended to make us mutts, to have no real identity, no real culture, no deep-seated ancestral roots.
But mark this well: The push for racial miscegenation is only for White people. Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians are permitted to retain their unique racial identities, including all that is distinctive of them as peoples. And they are encouraged to do so too. As Whites, we are encouraged to celebrate their racial identities and their cultural uniqueness but to loathe all that is unique to us as a people. That so many White people in America would subscribe to this way of thinking shows just how badly we have been propagandized for the past sixty years.
Who is Behind So Much of This?
The question naturally arises: Who’s behind all of this and why? There can be little doubt that a host of elite Jews and Jewish organizations stand as the central figures behind most of what’s occurring (along with plenty of White sycophants eager to please their Jewish masters) — especially plausible given the very prominent, even dominant role that Jews play in the media which of course is the main purveyor of these messages. This is not to say that every single Jew without exception has as his or her goal to deracinate White people and to make them minorities in their own countries. The average Jew, I suspect, has no such goals and may not even think in such terms, although most of them would likely support Third-World immigration into the West for perceived humanitarian reasons — the very thing they would not support if such immigration were occurring in Israel.
Yet there is a wealthy and powerful cabal of Jews throughout the West who have worked tirelessly to destroy all vestiges of White racial identity. It’s not so much “white supremacy” they fear (however defined) but organized White solidarity; the fear that Whites might unite on behalf of their own racial and cultural interests; and especially the fear that Whites might discover the culturally subversive ways of Jews and muster the courage to give them the final boot. It’s happened so many times in history that it’s naïve to imagine that perceptive Jews don’t think of it often. Their proclivities toward hysteria, overreach and a victimhood mentality help keep far too many of them in a constant state of paranoia over this very possibility.
There can be no reasonable denial that Jews largely run Hollywood, including the media and an array of social media platforms that guarantee the constant presence of Blacks on television and the movies. Countless names could be mentioned to confirm such an assertion, including Israeli-born billionaire and mega-producer, Arnon Milchan, Bob Iger (Chairman/CEO of Walt Disney Company), David Geffen, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and Steven Spielberg (co-founders of Dreamworks SKG), Jason Blum (founder/CEO of Blumhouse Productions), Aaron Sorkin (prominent writer and producer), David Herzog (Viacom President), and the list goes on. Some Jews are quite proud of it, and they’re not afraid to admit it. Jay Michaelson is one such person. In an article he wrote titled, “The Oscars are Too White – and That’s a Jewish Problem” (The Jewish Daily Forward, February 1, 2016), he posits the following:
“The Jews control Hollywood.” It’s one of those anti-Semitic tropes that, we all know, contains a certain grain of truth. “Control,” no — not with that ominous, conspiratorial connotation. But “helped create”? “Disproportionately populate?” Sure. From the founding of California’s motion picture industry (well documented in books like Neal Gabler’s “An Empire of Their Own: How Jews Created Hollywood”) to the present day, Jews have played an outsized role as its producers, agents, directors and writers.It’s not just a myth. Which is why the at-least-equally disproportionate exclusion of people of color from the Academy Awards — the phenomenon hashtagged as #OscarsSoWhite — is a Jewish problem.But it’s also a Jewish opportunity, because if Jewish leaders took the initiative to address the crisis proactively, the Jewish “elephant in the room” could instead be a powerful force for change . . . If the academy were an actual academy in the true sense of the word, it might recognize the present-day effects of historical injustices — part of what we call white privilege — and take affirmative actions to correct them. But the academy isn’t a real academy, it’s a club. Specifically, it’s like a 1950s private social club. Apart from Oscar winners, members must be referred in. Now, this situation is finally changing. The academy’s president, Cheryl Boone Isaacs, is a woman of color. And, in response to the recent outrage, the governing board took some important steps: abolishing life membership, and doubling female and minority membership by 2020.These steps are valuable, but the academy is a symptom of a larger, industrywide problem . . . Here’s where Jewish leadership could play a role. Suppose L.A.’s celebrity rabbis urged Jewish film makers to take the initiative in diversifying the industry as a whole, not just the academy specifically. Suppose those movers and shakers personally committed to more recruitment, more support and more training of women and people of color in the film industry at large. None of this would require government programs, quotas or race-based hiring. Rather, imagine if the Spielbergs and Geffens of L.A. endowed scholarships for minority students working in film, internship opportunities at their own shops, and proactive efforts to reach out to those from disadvantaged communities. And imagine if they did so as Jews — generally, in the case of Hollywood, non-practicing and non-religious Jews, but still members of what Justice Felix Frankfurter once called “the most persecuted minority in history.” If a public alliance of American Jewish filmmakers took personal initiative to fix this unjust, embarrassing and ugly situation, they could make a real difference.
Michaelson not only concedes that Jews created and “disproportionately populate” the motion picture industry, but he publicly urges Hollywood moguls to recruit and hire even more minorities for leading roles. The result inevitably leads to the displacement of White actors in Hollywood — Whites, although underrepresented, are noticeably missing from Michaelson’s recommendations. Such blatant discrimination wouldn’t be tolerated in today’s racially correct climate if its subjects were Black or Hispanic, but no eyebrows are raised when the subjects are White.
The reasons behind Jewish cultural subversion remain the same whether it’s national immigration policy, the promotion of pornography, gay and LGBTQ+ rights, gay marriage, or the slow and steady erasing of Whites on television, commercials and the movies — namely, to make Whites a despised minority in the very country they’ve founded so that what occurred in Germany between the years 1933 to 1945 may never occur again. Jews may not at first agree with this point, but if you press them long enough, many of them will concede that White racial solidarity remains a constant fear of theirs.
Discerning Jews know they cannot rule when Whites are aware of their racial identity and are strongly connected to it. They oppose all forms of nationalism (other than their own) among Whites because it produces the very solidarity that threatens them and which they seek to destroy. Whites united and racially conscious of their heritage invariably creates the kind of society in which Jews remain as outsiders, and they know it all too well.
For Jews to be successful in our societies, they must sever our racial bonds and create division and strife among us. They use a divide-and-conquer playbook to dispossess our people. Yet panic erupts among them once we discover their playbook and make it known to others. That’s why even veiled public references about Jews are quickly denounced by Jewish activist groups such as the ADL (e.g., “rootless cosmopolitans,” “internationalists,” or even references to George Soros’s political activism). Consider as an example the recent overreaction by Jews over Kanye West’s statements in “naming the Jew” as responsible for originating cancel culture The general public, then, must at all costs be prohibited from learning anything negative about Jews lest they start to connect the dots and see for themselves.
Conclusion
For Whites in America, there is no easy way out of our problems. There is probably a multiplicity of paths that can be taken to help reverse current trends as opposed to one definitive plan. Yet I doubt any of it will prove effective so long as Whites remain divided and under the spell of so much propaganda and deception. Perhaps the greatest need now is for racially aware Whites to work on educating our people. Unless we work to awaken as many as we can about our racial and cultural concerns, little progress will result. Failure to get our people to think differently will only encourage them to side with our enemies.
Rory Gallagher – Shadow Play 1979 Live Video
MSNBC’s open race hate should worry you deeply
Yes it should.
This is the FOX network response to the last article. It’s all a sign of collapse.
What the hell is happening in Haiti??
The US is preparing a brutal, unjustified, unprovoked invasion of Haiti and virtually no one seems to be covering it.
Even in the “alternate media” circuit it’s just redacted with Clayton Morris who’s talking about it, not even Brian Berletic of new atlas, the Alex’s of the Duran, Gonzalo Lira, Scott Ritter seem to be aware.
Posted by: FieryButMostPeaceful | Oct 21 2022 16:02 utc | 2
Robin Trower – Extermination Blues – Seattle 1993
https://youtu.be/F_qEyzOfQ_8
Pork chop scene – Blood In Blood Out (1993)
Funny. We NEVER got porkchops at the ADC.
Energy problems solved
China announces deep water gas field discovery having “proven reserves exceeding 50 billion cubic meters.” China’s ability to develop ultra-deep- water platforms and associated expertise marks another area where it’s gained technological sovereignty.
“I took a recipe I found online and used it as the base for mine. This stuff is dynamite! This dish explodes with flavor…OMG Mac and Cheese has everything you want from mac and cheese: creamy, melty, stretchy cheese sauce with notes of cheddar, Colby Jack, and Monterey Jack. This makes a tender pasta/cheese with a topping of crunchy, toasted breadcrumbs. And OMG Mac ‘n Cheese is a dish where everyone will want your recipe! (bacon is optional) ”
China is the world's largest market for chips, and it imported about $400 billion worth of semiconductors in 2021, accounting for nearly 60 percent of the global chip market. US high-tech companies are the biggest beneficiaries of the massive Chinese demand, which is their biggest source of profits. It is unthinkable for any chipmaker to lose such a large market. It would greatly affect their spending plans and in turn cause an indirect loss of sales for semiconductor equipment suppliers like Lam Research and Applied Materials.With the global semiconductor sector facing a plunge in sales of personal computers and smartphones amid recession worries, Washington's latest chip ban has seriously destabilized the global industrial chain. The policy, which appears to completely ignore the impact on the wider chip industry, seems more like the Biden administration flexing its muscles and playing tough with China in the run-up to the US mid-term elections....US restrictions will only accelerate the development of China's chip sector, because the Chinese market won't wait for the US to come to its senses. If the Chinese chip sector catches up quickly and no longer relies on imports, it will not be a $2.5 billion loss for a single US company, but hundreds of billions of dollars of loss for the chip industry.
Overall losses to western companies related to the New Cold War are already in the $billions, which also means loss of tax revenue and jobs/income for workers. It’s yet another way of deindustrialization. The D-Party’s Big Tech allies are going to hurt bigtime as the result will be the complete loss of the Chinese market which will be coupled with the shrinkage of domestic and European markets because of Biden’s policies. They’ll become the Bankers Dictatorship’s newest victims.
Global Times has published its Sixth installment in its series of articles related to the 20th Party Congress, which contains links to the first five. Here’s the article’s introduction:
Expounding on the "great socialist modern country" as "prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious, and beautiful", Xi noted at the opening session on Sunday the need to better tell China's stories, make China's voice heard, and present a China that is credible, appealing, and respectable."We will strengthen our international communication capabilities, make our communication more effective, and strive to strengthen China's voice in international affairs so it is commensurate with our composite national strength and international status," he said.How will China realize its socialist modernization and present an image that is commensurate with this idea?Observers said the country's international image and appeal are ultimately defined not only by the course of its progress, but also by its means of development and how it engages with and what it brings to the global community.
For those who have yet to read Xi’s address to the 20th Party Congress, here’s the link to the copy provided by Pepe Escobar in his latest article.
I suggest downloading the 64-page document for future reference and for comparing its content to the Joint Declaration made by China and Russia last February.
Russia prepares for next phase. Putin orders creation of special coordination council
Coordination…
A video from China
This is from the CCP.
This is what real Chinese propaganda looks like. Not the typical fan-video made by residents. This is a professionally produced video.
But, please listen to the message.
As someone living in China, I can positively tell you that this video IS THE FEELING that most everyone in China has today.
I strongly; MOST STRONGLY, suggest everyone watch this very short video.
I come from the people, have my roots among the people, and I am dedicated to serving the people. Nothing can separate me from the 1.4 billion plus Chinese people.
My name is the Communist Party of China.
America is dangerous. It’s time for Australia to distance itself | The Canberra Times
Malcolm Fraser was right about “our dangerous ally”. In this article subtitled “The dangerous warmongering nation we need to avoid, and no it’s not China” writes that the United States is lethal to all who work with it. Indeed, the US is in the process of losing another Anglo-Saxon eye.
What are your thoughts on Xi Jinping’s recent consolidation of power within the Chinese Communist Party?
I think it’s a good thing. Nobody wants a weak leader. Xi is a strong, capable leader. He has accomplished a great deal during his tenure and we look forward to a lot more good stuff from him in the future.
Xi eliminated most of the corruption in the Chinese government.
Xi launched the most ambitious infrastructure project in human history known as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
Xi eradicated absolute poverty, finally!
Xi galvanized the world’s nations with peaceful alliances such as BRICS, RCEP and SCO.
Xi pursued diplomacy throughout the Middle East rather than bombing the shit out of the region.
Xi negotiated with the Taliban instead of invading and occupying Afghanistan for 20 years.
Xi launched China’s first supercarrier, the Type 003 named Fujian.
Xi launched China’s own space station named Tiangong.
Xi hosted the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.
Xi protected the population from COVID-19 with the lowest death toll (5,226) among the major economies. (USA had over a million Covid deaths!!!)
It is a fact of politics that all politicians seek to consolidate power. This is not necessarily a bad thing if the politician is intelligent, capable, fair, peaceful, and visionary.
Isaac Vs The Strongest Guy | The Orville S03E06
You-Tube banned the CPC
Yuppur. Can’t have the Chinese government having a channel on you-tube.
Banned
Boston Lab Creates EVEN MORE DEADLY Strain Of COVID
THE problem is that they look at China as if it was themselves.
Great discussion.
THEY EXPECT CHINA TO BEHAVE THE WAY THEY DO. "
Spot on ! Dr Ferguson !
David Ferguson is Honorary Chief English Editor for Foreign Languages Press in China. He supervised the English edition for the major book by President Xi Jinping : The Governance of China.
In psychodynamics, it's called PROJECTION. It's a very powerful unconscious/subconscious psychological coping mechanism.
A thief sees everyone as potential or actual thieves.
A plunderer sees everyone as potential or actual plunderers.
A bully sees everyone as potential or actual bullies
A rapist sees everyone as potential or actual rapists.
A liar sees everyone as potential or actual liars, etc.
And when that "everyone" is a "someone" and that "someone" is a "near peer", to use the utmost conceited lexicon of the Western ruling classes, the OBSESSIVE PROJECTION becomes MADLY disproportionate because their fragile sense of self and of safety is eroded...
PROJECTION in psychodynamic parlance is A PRIMITIVE DEFENSE MECHANISM, the persons or the groups massively using it are not very advanced in their personal or collective epistemological journey and there is no real cure except PAIN & FEAR to stop their agressions or simply preventing them harming others in their unending compulsive actings out.
I have only one advice for the Sovereigns (China, Russia, Iran, etc.) but it's rather rhetorical from me because they don't need my advice, needless to say.
I just want to remind everyone what President Xi Jinping said lately :
"fierce storms ahead ".
KEEP YOUR POWDER DRY.
God Bless America 2011 – Killing Chloe parents scene
Reacher teaching KJ junior a lesson.
https://youtu.be/vI9AhoPopPs
The Significance of the CPC’s 20th Congress at a time of Global Instability and Multiple Crises
Why is this meeting so important?
Why does China keep vetoing sanctions against Syria?
This photo was taken at the United Nations vote on the Syria issue in 2012. When the United States, Britain, France, led by the western countries insisted on military intervention in Syria. Only China and Russia voted against it.
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After China and Russia voted against it, Susan Rice stopped the Chinese ambassador to the United Nations Baodong Li and accused him of making her sick.
For China and Russia to veto the draft resolution on the issue of Syria, the permanent representative of the US in United Nations Susan Rice said “I AM VERY ANGER.” in the interpretation of the statement by the draft resolution was not passed。And she claimed that any further bloodshed shall be responsible for them(China and Russia).
We know what happened next. Now you tell me who was responsible for years of war and death in Syria.
War can not solve the problem. But once the war began, we must solve the problem once and for all. So in the beginning, China opposed the use of force to resolve the Syria issue. Because once the war began, it was broken up, whether military or civilian.
Last year, when the Syria army was ready to enter Aleppo. The West has called for a truce, and China has voted against it. Also for the people of Syria, The truce merely delayed the disease and did not solve the problem. The complete elimination of the enemy, in order to achieve a permanent peace.
Tell you a little story.
In 2012, China’s Middle East expert, war correspondent Guoxiang Wang was in Syria that time. He told the story after returning China.
After the United Nations voted for the Syria issue. The second day, he saw it on TV in the restaurant.
Suddenly a young man from Syria came up and asked, “are you Chinese?”.
He said: yes, I am.
The young man said: Can I give you a hug?
Guoxiang Wang: For what?
The young man said: Only China and Russia voted against it, thank you for not invading Syria.
Thank you for not invading Syria. You’re invading them!
Now you know WHY!
Best Judge Judy episode EVER. Evil Step mom. Sub!
“God Bless America (2011)” – Cinema Scene
30-Minute Veal Marsala
“This classic dish has incredible flavor plus in less than 30 minutes, you can enjoy it! VIDEO https://youtu.be/kCo0zRxapnQ”
Season the flour with paprika, salt, and pepper; stir to combine and set aside. Just before cooking, dredge the cutlets on both sides with flour and shake to remove any excess.
In a large skillet over medium-high heat, add oil and 1 tablespoons butter. When it gets hot, add veal and cook until golden, about 1 to 1 ½ minutes per side. Place them on a baking sheet and transfer to the preheated oven to keep them warm.
Reduce the heat to medium and add the remaining 2 tablespoons butter to the skillet before adding the mushrooms; season with pepper. Cook until soft, 5 minutes. Add shallots and garlic; sauté for only one minute.
Add Marsala wine and broth, scraping the bottom of the pan to dislodge any brown bits. Increase the heat to medium-high and bring the mixture to a boil. Return the heat to medium and cook until the liquid is reduced by half, about 5 minutes.
Add heavy cream, rosemary and thyme; stir well. Return the cutlets to the skillet and spoon the sauce over; cook for 2 minutes. When serving, sprinkle on fresh chopped parsley. Serve with linguine or fettuccine.
FETTUCCINE:
After the noodles are cooked and drained, add some butter and a ¼ cup of Parmesan cheese. Stir well before adding the remaining ¼ cup of cheese and some fresh chopped parsley.
Drone Attack | The Bourne Legacy
What is the Chinese government’s opinion on American politics?
It’s pretty obvious. The Chinese government thinks that American politics is broken, chaotic, and undemocratic.
Remember the January 6 Capitol Hill riots?
US Congress is essentially bought and paid for by the capitalist elite, in particular, the military-industrial complex. That’s why America fights an endless series of wars around the world.
The US government does not take care of its people, leaving many homeless, depriving them of affordable health care, allowing rampant gun violence, practicing mass incarceration, failing to protect them from COVID-19 which killed over a million Americans, and so on.
The US government has weaponized the US Dollar allowing it to sanction dozens of countries and causing untold human suffering in the process. It’s one of the biggest abusers of human rights in the world.
The Chinese government thinks it works much better than the US government. That’s hard to deny.
‘Peaceful Modernization’: China’s Offering to the Global South
President Xi Jinping’s work report at the start of the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) this past Sunday in Beijing contained not only a blueprint for the development of the civilization-state, but for the whole Global South.
Xi’s 1h45min speech actually delivered a shorter version of the full work report – see attached PDF – which gets into way more detail on an array of socio-political themes.
This was the culmination of a complex collective effort that went on for months. When he received the final text, Xi commented, revised and edited it.
In a nutshell, the CPC master plan is twofold: finalize “socialist modernization” from 2020 to 2035; and build China – via peaceful modernization – as a modern socialist country that is “prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, and harmonious” all the way to 2049, signaling the centenary of the foundation of the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
The central concept in the work report is peaceful modernization – and how to accomplish it.
As Xi summarized, “It contains elements that are common to the modernization processes of all countries, but it is more characterized by features that are unique to the Chinese context.”
Very much in tune with Confucian Chinese culture, “peaceful modernization” encapsulates a complete theoretical system. Of course there are multiple geoeconomic paths leading to modernization – according to the national conditions of any particular country.
But for the Global South as a whole, what really matters is that the Chinese example completely breaks with the western TINA (“there is no alternative”) monopoly on modernization practice and theory.
Not to mention it breaks with the ideological straitjacket imposed on the Global South by the self-defined “golden billion” (of which the really “golden” barely reach 10 million).
What the Chinese leadership is saying is that the Iranian model, the Ugandan model or the Bolivian model are all as valid as the Chinese experiment: what matters is pursuing an independent path towards development.
How to develop tech independence
The recent historical record shows how every nation trying to develop outside the Washington Consensus is terrorized at myriad hybrid war levels. This nation becomes a target of color revolutions, regime change, illegal sanctions, economic blockade, NATO sabotage or outright bombing and/invasion.
What China proposes echoes across the Global South because Beijing is the largest trade partner of no less than 140 nations, who can easily grasp concepts such as high-quality economic development and self-reliance in science and technology.
The report stressed the categorical imperative for China from now on: to speed up technology self-reliance as the Hegemon is going no holds barred to derail China tech, especially in the manufacturing of semiconductors.
In what amount to a sanctions package from Hell, the Hegemon is betting on crippling China’s drive to accelerate its tech independence in semiconductors and the equipment to produce them.
So China will need to engage in a national effort on semiconductor production.
That necessity will be at the core of what the work report describes as a new development strategy, spurred by the tremendous challenge of achieving tech self-sufficiency. Essentially China will go for strengthening the public sector of the economy, with state companies forming the nucleus for a national system of tech innovation development.
‘Small fortresses with high walls’
On foreign policy, the work report is very clear: China is against any form of unilateralism as well as blocs and exclusive groups targeted against particular countries. Beijing refers to these blocs, such as NATO and AUKUS, as “small fortresses with high walls.”
This outlook is inscribed in the CPC’s emphasis on another categorical imperative: reforming the existing system of global governance, extremely unfair to the Global South.
It’s always crucial to remember that China, as a civilization-state, considers itself simultaneously as a socialist country and the world’s leading developing nation.
The problem once again is Beijing’s belief in “safeguarding the international system with the UN at its core.” Most Global South players know how the Hegemon subjects the UN – and its voting mechanism – to all sorts of relentless pressure.
It’s enlightening to pay attention to the very few westerners that really know one or two things about China.
Martin Jacques, until recently a senior fellow at the Department of Politics and International Studies at Cambridge University, and author of arguably the best book in English on China’s development, is impressed by how China’s modernization happened in a context dominated by the west: “This was the key role of the CPC. It had to be planned. We can see how extraordinarily successful it has been.”
The implication is that by breaking the west-centric TINA model, Beijing has accumulated the tools to be able to assist Global South nations with their own models.
Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, is even more upbeat: “China will become a leader of innovation. I very much hope and count on China becoming a leader for innovation in sustainability.”
That will contrast with a ‘dysfunctional’ American model turning protectionist even in business and investment.
Mikhail Delyagin, deputy chairman of the Russian State Duma Committee on Economic Policy, makes a crucial point, certainly noted by key Global South players: the CPC “was able to creatively adapt the Marxism of the 19th century and its experience of the 20th century to new requirements and implement eternal values with new methods. This is a very important and useful lesson for us.”
And that’s the added value of a model geared towards the national interest and not the exclusivist policies of Global Capital.
BRI or bust
Implied throughout the work report is the importance of the overarching concept of Chinese foreign policy: the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and its trade/connectivity corridors across Eurasia and Africa.
It was up to Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin to clarify where BRI is heading:
“BRI transcends the outdated mentality of geopolitical games, and created a new model of international cooperation. It is not an exclusive group that excludes other participants but an open and inclusive cooperation platform. It is not just China’s solo effort, but a symphony performed by all participating countries.”
BRI is inbuilt in the Chinese concept of “opening up.” It is also important to remember that BRI was launched by Xi nine years ago – in Central Asia (Astana) and then Southeast Asia (Jakarta). Beijing has earned from its mistakes, and keeps fine-tuning BRI in consultation with partners – from Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Malaysia to several African nations.
It is no wonder, that by August this year, China’s trade with countries participating in BRI had reached a whopping $12 trillion, and non-financial direct investment in those countries surpassed $140 billion.
Wang correctly points out that following BRI infrastructure investments, “East Africa and Cambodia have highways, Kazakhstan has [dry] ports for exports, the Maldives has its first cross-sea bridge and Laos has become a connected country from a landlocked one.”
Even under serious challenges, from zero-Covid to assorted sanctions and the breakdown of supply chains, the number of China-EU express cargo trains keeps going up; the China-Laos Railway and the Peljesac Bridge in Croatia are open for business; and work on the Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway and the China-Thailand Railway is in progress.
Mackinder on crack
All over the extremely incandescent global chessboard, international relations are being completely reframed.
China – and key Eurasian players at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), BRICS+, and Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) – are all proposing peaceful development.
In contrast, the Hegemon imposes an avalanche of sanctions – not by accident the top three recipients are Eurasian powers Russia, Iran and China; lethal proxy wars (Ukraine); and every possible strand of hybrid war to prevent the end of its supremacy, which lasted barely seven and a half decades, a blip in historical terms.
The current dysfunction – physical, political, financial, cognitive – is reaching a climax. As Europe plunges into the abyss of largely self-inflicted devastation and darkness – a neo-medievalism in woke register – an internally ravaged Empire resorts to plundering even its wealthy “allies”.
It’s as if we are all witnessing a Mackinder-on-crack scenario.
Halford Mackinder, of course, was the British geographer who developed the ‘Heartland Theory’ of geopolitics, heavily influencing US foreign policy during the Cold War: “Who rules East Europe commands the Heartland; Who rules the Heartland commands the World Island; Who rules the World Island commands the World.”
Russia spans 11 time zones and sits atop as much as one third of the world’s natural resources. A natural symbiosis between Europe and Russia is like a fact of life. But the EU oligarchy blew it.
It’s no wonder the Chinese leadership views the process with horror, because one of BRI’s essential planks is to facilitate seamless trade between China and Europe. As Russia’s connectivity corridor has been blocked by sanctions, China will be privileging corridors via West Asia.
Meanwhile, Russia is completing its pivot to the east. Russia’s enormous resources, combined with the manufacturing capability of China and East Asia as a whole, project a trade/connectivity sphere that goes even beyond BRI. That’s at the heart of the Russian concept of Greater Eurasia Partnership.
In another one of History’s unpredictable twists, Mackinder a century ago may have been essentially right about those controlling the Heartland/world island controlling the world. It doesn’t look like the controller will be the Hegemon, and much less its European vassals/slaves.
When the Chinese say they are against blocs, Eurasia and The West are the facto two blocs. Though not yet formally at war with each other, in reality they already are knee deep into Hybrid War territory.
Russia and Iran are on the frontline – militarily and in terms of absorbing non-stop pressure. Other important Global South players, quietly, try to either keep a low profile or, even more quietly, assist China and the others to make the multipolar world prevail economically.
As China proposes peaceful modernization, the hidden message of the work report is even starker. The Global South is facing a serious choice: choose either sovereignty – embodied in a multipolar world, peacefully modernizing – or outright vassalage.
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Is China’s President Xi Jinping the most powerful leader in the world?
Yes, without a doubt.
Others have pointed out that Xi must work within a collective leadership, that China does not have global military power projection, that China has little control over the developed nations in the G7. However, Xi is powerful because he has massive support within his party and within China’s population of 1.4 billion people.
Xi guided many key policies that protected the people from a pandemic, launched the most ambitious infrastructure project in human history (BRI), galvanized many countries in powerful alliances such as BRICS, RCEP and SCO, launched China’s first supercarrier (Fujian), built the world’s largest navy, launched China’s own international space station (Tiangong), eradicated absolute poverty, etc. Name one other leader who has accomplished so much in just two terms of office.
POTUS is powerful for two reasons only:
The world’s largest military which USA uses to fight an endless series of wars around the world.
The US Dollar as reserve currency which USA weaponizes to sanction dozens of countries and cause untold human suffering in the process.
This is not the kind of power China wants, and none of us should support it.
Xi Jinping is the most powerful leader in the world precisely because he is peaceful and benevolent, and he chooses diplomacy over warfare, and he makes friends with countries in Latin America, Africa, Middle East, Asia, and even in Europe. Thanks to Xi, BRICS is working on creating an alternative reserve currency to the US Dollar, so even this second pillar of US power will not stand for much longer.
The people who run things in this country don’t deserve your respect or allegiance. They are at war with you. They want you and your children dead.
Welcome to the New Age, where authority has no authority and does not deserve to act with any authority, but will act as if it does, anyway, and then lie to you about it. Nowhere is this quandary more vivid than in the racketeering operation formerly known as medicine.
As if there has not already been enough official fuckery over the lab-birthed Covid-19 virus, the CDC’s Vaccine Advisory Committee voted on Thursday to add Pfizer’s and Moderna’s mRNA shots to its childhood vaccine schedule. The vote was 15 to 0 — a final supreme gesture of contempt for the people of this land.
Had none of the committee members seen reports of mRNA-vaccinated children dropping dead from myocarditis induced by the vaccines? Or read about the effect of the vaxxes on the reproductive organs? Or the enhanced incidence of cancer? Or heard about the damage that the shots instigate in human immune systems? If not, that would be astounding. The news is all over the place (if not in the mainstream news media). Was any of this discussed in their deliberations? I don’t think so, but we may never know.
Adding the mRNA shots to the official vaccine schedule will make permanent the liability shield their makers enjoy under the current emergency use authorization (EUA). Pfizer and Moderna are now off-the-hook for any responsibility, unless fraud over the vaxxes is proven in a court of law. Given the vast evidence of harms done by these products, will that be a difficult thing to do? Consider: cases for fraud can be brought in any jurisdiction of the USA, not just in the notoriously corrupt DC federal district court, which does not recognize crime for what it is (crime).
This is the first time that a pharmaceutical under an EUA has been admitted to the childhood vaccine schedule. The Vaccine Advisory Committee said it was okay because it consulted with the Department of Justice’s Office of General Counsel, and the lawyers there said it was okay. One might ask: is it within the purview of the DOJ’s Office of General Counsel to review the medical criteria for such a decision? The answer must be no. How are they qualified? You may be certain they did not parse the drug trial data on the mRNA products, or study the official reports of deaths and injuries. In short, they know nothing. Their authority in the matter is vacated.
Since many states and localities go by the CDC’s vaccine guidelines, as well as pediatricians, then millions of children will be required to get the shots to attend school. So, the CDC has not only put an as-yet-untold number of kids on the road to disability, infertility, and death, but it may have coincidentally destroyed public schooling in America.
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The so-called “uptake” on mRNA shots for children has been paltry. Parents do not want their kids to get the shots. Do you know why? I’ll tell you: Because, unlike the experts who sit on the CDC’s Vaccine Advisory Committee, many parents have actually read about the serious adverse reactions in young people who get the shots. And many more have heard enough horrifying rumors — despite the criminal delinquency of the major news media in ignoring any negative news about the vaxxes — prompting these parents to steer clear of vaxxing their children. Other countries have officially and altogether discontinued mRNA vaxxes for children. Do you think that’s for no reason?
If the schools require mRNA shots, then many parents will not send their kids to these schools. Parents have plenty of other reasons to want to withdraw their kids from public schools, not least the pervasive race-and-gender hustle that is replacing actual pedagogy in this country. The schools are now hostage to Marxist lunatics, launched from colleges and universities that are likewise captured by Marxist lunatics. They seek to overturn Western Civilization and its long train of accomplishments in discovering how the world works. They seek to replace all that with a set of wishful fairy tales that don’t comport with reality. Why would any sane parent subject their child to such a wicked regime? Might this not provoke a rebellion against paying the exorbitant school taxes all across America?
Beneath all of this lies the subterranean flow of enormous sums of money to the Pharma companies that virtually own the US public health bureaucracy. Anthony Fauci’s minions, dispersed among the various agencies under the US Department of Health and Human services, plus those in the ancillary CDC, have been pulling hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in royalties from patents associated with the mRNA products. And they’ve continued to haul in that schwag during the three-year fracas over the bad faith origins of Covid 19 and the deceitful introduction of these so-called “vaccines” — which do not stop the transmission of the disease and present manifold dangers to those who take them.
Everything the authorities tell you about all this is a lie. They are turning desperate because the time is at hand when they will actually have to answer for their crimes against the people of this country. They don’t deserve your respect and they surely can’t command your compliance.
Léon: The Professional: Still alive (HD CLIP)
Do you think the United States has enough confidence and strength in the face of both China and Russia?
Consider this: Since the Second World War, USA has not had one military victory against a powerful adversary. Not one victory in over 75 years!!! Think about that for a moment.
All USA can do is bully much weaker nations like Afghanistan, Bosnia, El Salvador, Grenada, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Panama, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Yemen, Yugoslavia, etc.
What can USA do against a military peer like China and Russia? Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Zippo.
Going to war with a nuclear superpower is suicide. Both China and Russia have massive militaries and massive nuclear inventories.
Look at the proxy war in Ukraine backed by USA and NATO. Russia is winning. (Don’t listen to Western mainstream media.) Despite all the money and arms that they’ve been shovelling into Ukraine, Ukraine is a dead man walking.
No, USA does not have enough confidence.
China’s fighting spirit diplomacy
Today’s Global Times recap ends with this editorial about China’s “fighting spirit” diplomacy.
Such words are refreshing to read:
The strongest reaction to the fighting spirit of China's diplomacy comes from the US and Western public opinion and some political elites. This shows that only those with sinister motives will be irritated.
How many of China's partners feel threatened and uneasy from China's diplomacy?
Even if Washington is sparing no effort to sow discord around the world, what other countries are concerned about is actually the consequences of such actions and the pressure from the US.
Fighting is a necessary form of Chinese diplomacy, which is important means to seek cooperation and avoid conflicts, and often creates preconditions for cooperation in reality.There is a mild, reserved and introverted aspect of traditional Chinese culture, which is meanwhile also embodied in the style of China's diplomatic work.
However, self-restraint is in no way a sign of China's submission to powerful forces.
Chinese people not believe in fallacy nor are we afraid of evil forces.
We'll advance despite difficulties.
The determination to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity and safeguard the fundamental development interests of the Chinese nation is unshakable and rock-solid.
Dare to fight reflects the diplomatic understanding and will, while being good at fighting tests diplomatic wisdom and steadiness.
The purpose and goal of China's foreign policy is very clear, that is, to maintain world peace, boost common development, and promote building a community with a shared future for mankind.In fact, the international community understands and applauds the fighting spirit of China's diplomacy, because the fighting emphasized by China is a defensive one based on bottom-line thinking.
For the vast number of developing countries that are deeply threatened by power politics, such a fighting is of universal significance.
It is impossible for China's diplomacy to become hideous because of its fighting spirit.
On the contrary, the grim face of US-style "offensive realism" diplomacy has been increasingly seen by the world.
No matter how much makeup it puts on, it cannot be covered.
The fighting spirit will make China's diplomatic image more vivid, richer and sincerer and give it more room for action.
As the world gathers together to combat the last Imperialist Power, China’s diplomatic stance provides a rallying point, and its goals provide a basic manifesto the RoW can agree upon.
I imagine we’ll continue writing/commenting on the New Cold War for the next several years.
Given that China is an authoritarian state, how do its citizens view democracy in the United States?
They view democracy in the United States as a joke and a tragedy…
Last year, they had a near-insurrection with the Capitol Hill riots.
US politics is deeply divided and paralyzed.
US infrastructure is crumbling and decaying.
Millions of Americans can’t afford health care.
Homelessness is rampant in the major cities.
Gun violence is rampant across the country.
Blacks suffer from systemic racism.
USA practices mass incarceration.
USA suffers from a nationwide opioid epidemic.
During the pandemic, over a million Americans lost their lives to Covid.
What has democracy done for the American people???
The Chinese regard their own country as the most democratic in the world!
So I challenge the assertion that China is an authoritarian state.
DIO – Heaven And Hell (Live 1986)
If Taiwan is part of China, instead of threatening to attack, why isn’t the CPC just sending 20 million unarmed people to live there and changing the Taiwan system from the inside?
Something even better has happened.
More than two million people from Taiwan have moved to live and work in Mainland China.
The value of trade between China and Taiwan is greater in value than that between China and the US.
China has set no deadline for a peaceful reunification.
It has clearly delineated two red lines that Taipeh has been very careful not to cross. But the US and its allies keep stirring the pot and encouraging some elements of the Taiwanese population towards a misstep.
Here’s a little-known fact: A lot of China’s historical artifacts and treasures were taken to Taiwan when the KMT escaped to the island after it was defected by the PLA. Visit the National Museum of Taiwan and you will see these on display. To view the full collection, you would have to visit multiple times assuming they change exhibits annually.
Some people in Taiwan readily acknowledge this. Some say it keeps them safe from a military attack that might see these priceless relics destroyed.
Oh, and the KMT took a lot of money too.
Conan the Barbarian – Conan vs Doom Warriors [HD]
Take away the hi-tech weapons, and it’s all the same.
Somme over the top
We have to remember what a horror war actually is.
The China/Taiwan Conflict, Explained From Both Sides
Fair and balanced. Two sides of the story. Not what you would see in the Western “news”.
This is a Patreon video that I am releasing to the general pubic and MM readership. I hope that it finds you well and that you all obtain some good information from it. This post will interrupt the normal flow of MM postings of latest (cough, cough) “news”.
President Xi Jinping’s 1h45min speech at the opening of the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing was an absorbing exercise of recent past informing near future. All of Asia and all of the Global South should carefully examine it.
The Great Hall was lavishly adorned with bright red banners. A giant slogan hanging in the back of the hall read, “Long Live our great, glorious and correct party”.
Another one, below, functioned like a summary of the whole report:
“Hold high the great flag of socialism with Chinese characteristics, fully implement Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, carry forward the great founding spirit of the party, and unite and struggle to fully build a modern socialist country and to fully promote the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.”
True to tradition, the report outlined the CPC’s achievements over the past 5 years and China’s strategy for the next 5 – and beyond. Xi foresees “fierce storms” ahead, domestic and foreign. The report was equally significant for what was not spelled out, or left subtly implied.
Every member of the CPC’s Central Committee had already been briefed about the report – and approved it. They will spend this week in Beijing studying the fine print and will vote to adopt it on Saturday. Then a new CPC Central Committee will be announced, and a new Politburo Standing Committee – the 7 that really rule – will be formally endorsed.
This new leadership line-up will clarify the new generation faces that will be working very close to Xi, as well as who will succeed Li Keqiang as the new Prime Minister: he has finished his two terms and, according to the constitution, must step down.
There are also 2,296 delegates present at the Great Hall representing the CPC’s over 96 million members. They are not mere spectators: at the plenary session that ended last week, they analyzed in-depth every major issue, and prepared for the National Congress. They do vote on party resolutions – even as those resolutions are decided by the top leadership, and behind closed doors.
The key takeaways
Xi contends that in these past 5 years the CPC strategically advanced China while “correctly” (Party terminology) responding to all foreign challenges. Particularly key achievements include poverty alleviation, the normalization of Hong Kong, and progress in diplomacy and national defense.
It’s quite telling that Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who was sitting in the second row, behind the current Standing Committee members, never took his eyes off Xi, while others were reading a copy of the report on their desk.
Compared to the achievements, success of the Xi-ordered Zero-Covid policy remains highly debatable. Xi stressed that it has protected people’s lives. What he could not possibly say is that the premise of his policy is to treat Covid and its variants as a U.S. bioweapon directed against China. That is, a serious matter of national security that trumps any other consideration, even the Chinese economy.
Zero-Covid hit production and the job market extremely hard, and virtually isolated China from the outside world. Just a glaring example: Shanghai’s district governments are still planning for zero-Covid on a timescale of two years. Zero-Covid will not go away anytime soon.
A serious consequence is that the Chinese economy will most certainly grow this year by less than 3% – well below the official target of “around 5,5%”.
Now let’s look at some of the Xi report’s highlights.
Taiwan: Beijing has started “a great struggle against separatism and foreign interference” on Taiwan.
Hong Kong: It is now “administered by patriots, making it a better place.” In Hong Kong there was “a major transition from chaos to order.” Correct: the 2019 color revolution nearly destroyed a major global trade/finance center.
Poverty alleviation: Xi hailed it as one of three “major events” of the past decade along with the CPC’s centenary and socialism with Chinese characteristics entering a “new era”. Poverty alleviation is the core of one of the CPC’s “two centenary goals.”
Opening up: China has become “a major trading partner and a major destination for foreign investment.” That’s Xi refuting the notion that China has grown more autarchic. China will not engage in any kind of “expansionism” while opening up to the outside world. The basic state policy remains: economic globalization. But – he didn’t say it – “with Chinese characteristics”.
“Self-revolution”: Xi introduced a new concept. “Self-revolution” will allow China to escape a historical cycle leading to a downturn. And “this ensures the party will never change.” So it’s the CPC or bust.
Marxism: definitely remains as one of the fundamental guiding principles. Xi stressed, “We owe the success of our party and socialism with Chinese characteristics to Marxism and how China has managed to adapt it.”
Risks: that was the speech’s recurrent theme. Risks will keep interfering with those crucial “two centenary goals”. Number one goal was reached last year, at the CPC’s 100th anniversary, when China reached the status of a “moderately prosperous society” in all respects (xiaokang, in Chinese). Number two goal should be reached at the centenary of the People’s Republic of China in 2049: to “build a modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced and harmonious.”
Development: the focus will be on “high-quality development”, including resilience of supply chains and the “dual circulation” economic strategy: expansion of domestic demand in parallel to foreign investment (mostly centered on BRI projects). That will be China’s top priority. So in theory any reforms will privilege a combination of “socialist market economy” and high-level opening, mixing the creation of more domestic demand with supply-side structural reform. Translation: “Dual-circulation” on steroids.
“Whole-process democracy”: that was the other new concept introduced by Xi. Translates as “democracy that works”, as in rejuvenating the Chinese nation under – what else – the CPC’s absolute leadership: “We need to ensure that people can exercise their powers through the People’s Congress system.”
Socialist culture: Xi said it’s absolutely essential “to influence young people”. The CPC must exercise ideological control and make sure the media fosters a generation of young people “who are influenced by traditional culture, patriotism and socialism”, thus benefitting “social stability”. The “China story” must go everywhere, presenting a China that is “credible and respectable”. That certainly applies to Chinese diplomacy, even the “Wolf Warriors”.
“Sinicise religion”: Beijing will continue its drive to “Sinicise religion”, as in “proactively” adapting “religion and the socialist society”. This campaign was introduced in 2015, meaning for instance that Islam and Christianity must be under CPC control and in line with Chinese culture.
The Taiwan pledge
Now we reach the themes that completely obsess the decaying Hegemon: the connection between China’s national interests and how they affect the civilization-state’s role in international relations.
National security: “National security is the foundation of national rejuvenation, and social stability is a prerequisite of national strength.”
The military: the PLA’s equipment, technology and strategic capability will be strengthened. It goes without saying that means total CPC control over the military.
“One country, two systems”: It has proven to be “the best institutional mechanism for Hong Kong and Macau and must be adhered to in the long term”. Both “enjoy high autonomy” and are “administered by patriots.” Xi promised to better integrate both into national strategies.
Taiwan reunification: Xi made a pledge to complete the reunification of China. Translation: return Taiwan to the motherland. That was met with a torrent of applause, leading to the key message, addressed simultaneously to the Chinese nation and “foreign interference” forces: “We will not renounce the use of force and will take all necessary measures to stop all separatist movements.” The bottom line: “The resolution of the Taiwan issue is a matter for the Chinese people themselves, to be decided by the Chinese people.”
It’s also quite telling that Xi did not even mention Xinjiang by name: only by implication, when he stressed that China must strengthen the unity of all ethnic groups. Xinjiang for Xi and the leadership mean industrialization of the Far West and a crucial node in BRI: not the object of an imperial demonization campaign. They know that the CIA destabilization tactics used in Tibet for decades did not work in Xinjiang.
Shelter from the storm
Now let’s unpack some of the variables affecting the very tough years ahead for the CPC.
When Xi mentioned “fierce storms ahead”, that’s what he thinks about 24/7: Xi is convinced the USSR collapsed because the Hegemon did everything to undermine it. He won’t allow a similar process to derail China.
In the short term, the “storm” may refer to the latest round of the no holds barred American war on Chinese technology – not to mention free trade: cutting China off from buying or manufacturing chips and components for supercomputers.
It’s fair to consider Beijing keeps the focus long-term, betting that most of the world, especially the Global South, will move away from the U.S. high tech supply chain and prefer the Chinese market. As the Chinese increasingly become self sufficient, U.S. tech firms will end up losing world markets, economies of scale, and competitiveness.
Xi also did not mention the U.S. by name. Everyone in the leadership – especially the new Politburo – is aware of how Washington wants to “decouple” from China in every possible way and will continue to provocatively deploy every possible strand of hybrid war.
Xi did not enter into details during his speech, but it’s clear the driving force going forward will be technological innovation linked to a global vision. That’s where BRI comes in, again – as the privileged field of application for these tech breakthroughs.
Only this way we can understand how Zhu Guangyao, a former vice minister of finance, may be sure that per capita GDP in China in 2035 would at least double the numbers in 2019 and reach $20,000.
The challenge for Xi and the new Politburo right away is to fix China’s structural economic imbalance. And pumping up debt-financed “investment” all over again won’t work.
So bets can be made that Xi’s third term – to be confirmed later this week – will have to concentrate on rigorous planning and monitoring of implementation, much more than during his previous bold, ambitious, abrasive but sometimes disconnected years. The Politburo will have to pay way more attention to technical considerations. Xi will have to delegate more serious policymaking autonomy to a bunch of competent technocrats.
Otherwise, we will be back to that startling observation by then Premier Wen Jiabao in 2007: China’s economy is “unstable, unbalanced, uncoordinated and ultimately unsustainable”. That’s exactly where the Hegemon wants it to be.
As it stands, things are far from gloomy. The National Development and Reform Commission states that compared to the rest of the world, China’s consumer inflation is only “marginal”; the job market is steady; and international payments are stable.
Xi’s work report and pledges may also be seen as turning the usual Anglo-American geopolitical suspects – Mackinder, Mahan, Spykman, Brzezinski – upside down.
The China-Russia strategic partnership has no time to lose with global hegemonic games; what drives them is that sooner rather than later they will be ruling the Heartland – the world island – and beyond, with allies from the Rimland, and from Africa to Latin America, all participating in a new form of globalization. Certainly with Chinese characteristics; but most of all, pan-Eurasian characteristics. The final countdown is already on.
IT’S ON! Biden just moved us closer to war with China
Perspective
Below are just a few commonly learned phrases in Chinese language lesson in school:
谋定而思动 : planned before thinking of taking action
三思而后行: think 3 times before action
不打没有把握的战 do not enter into a war without confident
谨言慎行: discipline in words careful in action
So, We can observed from the Chinese leadership all the above quality.
Whereas:
the crusaders teach their children "show and tell" in school, confidently say anything including bullshitting at will.
So, their politicians are good at bullshitting without sense of responsibility, discipline, and sense of shame.
Therefore, I believe that well spoken and habitual liars 🤥 in Western political and media establishment have got nothing to do with IQ but culture.
And the less well spoken but wiser Chinese leadership is also linked to culture and not IQ.
Russia: “No Point” to continued Diplomatic Presence in the West
In a shocking statement today, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said “Russia sees no point in maintaining diplomatic presence in the West.”
He continued by saying “It makes no sense, and we have no desire to maintain the same presence in Western countries. Our people work in conditions that can hardly be called human. They face constant problems, threats of physical attacks.”
Lavrov went on to reveal “the Russian foreign ministry is currently carrying out a “geographical reorientation” of its activities both abroad and in the central office” suggesting a potential downgrade of Russia’s diplomatic presence in the West.
Hal Turner Remarks
Will this be a pretext for quiet embassy evac before the nukes launch?
When Diplomacy is shut off, we all know what comes next.
You know, if the United States or its NATO allies had one shred of self-respect, or one grain of honor, this whole Ukraine thing would never have taken place. But the people running the United States Government seem to me to have no honor – at all. They gave assurances to Russia that NATO “would not move one inch eastward” then later did the exact thing they assured Russia would NOT be done. That set in motion DECADES of betrayal of Russia, which have no lead us to the brink of actual nuclear war.
Our assurance was given, and recorded in official US State Department Records, on February 9, 1990. A portion of those records appear below.
The long and short of it is this: At a meeting in Moscow between then US Secretary of State James Baker, then Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, and then Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze, Baker spoke about the then-pending re-unification of East and West Germany. Baker expressly stated (Page 5):
“I want you to know one thing for certain: The president and I have made clear that we seek no unilateral advantage in this process.”
On the very next page (Page 6), Baker explicitly stated:
“We understand the need for assurances to the countries in the east. If we maintain a presence in a Germany that is part of NATO, there would be no extension of NATO’s jurisdiction for forces of NATO one inch to the east.”
For all those ignorant morons cheering Ukraine, let me educate you with facts and evidence proving we in the west – and the government of Ukraine – are in the wrong. Here are the official US State Department records proving the United States assured the Soviet Union upon the re-unification of East and West Germany, “there would be no extension of NATO’s jurisdiction for forces of NATO one inch to the east:”
OK, so there you have it. Official records from the US State Department. At this point, I would like to ask YOU, when you read that, how did you interpret NATO not moving “one inch to the east?”
For me, I took this to mean exactly what it said. No more eastward expansion. How about you?
Well, guess how the US government under the NEXT President, Bill Clinton, chose to interpret it.
The US Government chose to interpret it as applying ONLY INSIDE RE-UNIFIED GERMANY.
Under Clinton, the position of the United States became . . . the wider context of these assurances was not to expand NATO eastwards at all and that NATO should have stopped at eastern Germany. Sure, that was the context when the assurances were discussed. Yet no such assurances or promises were ever given, nor could they be given without consent of parliaments of NATO states. In western statesmanship you can’t bind a future government without an act of parliament (Congress, Senate or what have you) or a precedent by the supreme (Constitutional or what have you) court. Even if some sort of assurance was given to the Soviet Union or Russia, that assurance was only as good as the term of the executive that made it.
And that . . . that right there . . . is what set in motion the massive eastward expansion of NATO, right up to the border of Russia.
When Baker, Gorbachev, and Shevardnadze met, the nearest NATO base to Russia was 1200 miles away. As you sit wherever you are right now reading this, the nearest NATO base to St. Petersburg, Russia, is only 100 miles away. THAT’s how close NATO has gotten to Russia.
It went like this:
Re-unified Germany became a NATO member in 1990, as discussed between the men named above.
In December of the next year, the Soviet Union dissolved itself on Christmas Day.
Since the big, bad, Soviet Union no longer existed, there was -factually – no longer a reason for NATO to exist. The reason NATO was created was to protect western Europe from Soviet Communism. That all ended on Christmas Day 1991, and NATO should have ended with it. It didn’t.
Nine years later, under President Bill Clinton, our “assurances” against NATO expansion, went right out the window.
In 1999, NATO admitted former Soviet States Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary.
Then in 2004, under President George W. Bush, he undermined his own father’s Presidential assurances, and NATO admitted former Soviet states Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Romania, and Bulgaria. (How’s that for “honorable?”)
With the admission of Estonia, NATO troops got onto bases only 100 miles from St. Petersburg, Russia.
Here’s a map/timeline of NATO’s expansion:
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The Russians balked. Loudly. And that’s when they were told, show us the Treaty or your claims have no merit. Right then and there, Russia found out that the word of a US President, was worthless.
And at the time, there wasn’t much Russia could do about it. They were still repairing the damage of 70+ years of filthy Communist rule, and, by the way, still paying off the DEBTS of the former Soviet Union.
Bet you didn’t know that about Russia, did you? RUSSIA HONORED ALL THE OLD SOVIET DEBTS.
Yet all that somehow wasn’t good enough for the West. In 2009, NATO expanded again. In 2014, the West overthrew the democratically elected President of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovich, by financing and facilitating violent riots in the streets of Ukraine. When Yanukovich was overthrown, the US and EU financed the election of pro-western puppets in Ukraine, to bring Ukraine into NATO, so as to be able to put US missile defenses inside Ukraine.
Russia flatly refused to allow this to happen. Russia pointed out that US missiles in Ukraine would have about a five minute flight time to Moscow, and about a 7 to 10 minute flight time to Russia’s nuclear missile silos. Russia made clear all the way back then, that Ukraine joining NATO was a “red line” for them that Russia would not tolerate.
NATO (The US and EU) ignored Russia. NATO expanded again in 2017, and formally began considering Ukraine and Georgia (to the south of Russia) in 2019.
Russia balked over and over, and was ignored.
In late December, 2021, Russia put forth a Treaty proposal to obtain iron clad, legally enforceable security guarantees. NATO laughed at the proposal and threw it in the trash.
Four days later, Russia delivered the same Treaty Proposal via Diplomatic Courier, to the White House, to #10 Downing Street in London, and to the Presidents/Prime Ministers of all NATO countries, making the exact same proposal but this time saying “If Russia cannot obtain iron clad, legally enforceable security guarantees via Diplomatic means, it will obtain them by military or military-technical means.”
The US and NATO took about three weeks to respond, and when they did, the Treaty was again rejected out of hand, to the sounds of laughter.
About a month later, on February 24, 2022, Russia did exactly what they said they would do and began a Special Military Operation to De-militarize and de-Nazify Ukraine.
The West, stunned that Russia did exactly what they said they would do, erupted in a hissy fit, and started helping Ukraine. And the meddling of the West has now gotten us to the point, where we are literally ONE MISTAKE AWAY from actual nuclear war.
All this because we in the West did not honor our assurances, then commenced an aggressive campaign to literally surround Russia with NATO troops, bases, and missiles.
If you were the Russians, how would you feel? What would YOU do?
Diplomacy failed.
Russia has no choice but to act militarily now, and it is all because we in the West lied, broke our word, and surrounded Russia with missiles.
Now, it may be only weeks until nuclear war destroys us all.
All for lack of honor. By us.
We are in the wrong here.
Jurassic Park (1993) – Nedry Gets Eaten Scene | Movieclips
Ready to “pull a Russia” on China…
After suffering from the economic consequences of BREXIT, looting Russian sovereign fund and private property boomerang energy crisis, inflation, mass poverty, and internal disintegration, the world most nasty crusaders still think they have the power to take on China as enemy...
Now I understand how barbarian empire like the Roman empire can disintegrate into nothing more than a memory in school text book without being bullied.
Cross-party group of lawmakers ask UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss to pursue action as a ‘pathway to introducing targeted sanctions’
Unlike the US, Britain did not issue sanctions against individual Hong Kong and mainland Chinese officials over controversial national security law.
The meat was so tender it just fell apart when I tried to cut it…But what set this recipe above the others was the gravy!!! I love anything smothered in gravy!
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Ingredients
2 & 1/2 to 3 lb pork loin, trimmed of all visible fat
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 tbs vegetable oil
2 cups chicken broth
2 tbs lemon juice
3 tsp soy sauce
3 tbs cornstarch
salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
Season the pork loin lightly with salt. In a small bowl combine the garlic powder, ginger, dried thyme, and black pepper. Rub the seasoning over the surface of the pork loin.
In a skillet heat the oil and brown the pork loin on all sides. Transfer the pork to the crock pot. Combine the chicken broth, lemon juice, and soy sauce; pour over the pork loin.
Cover and cook on low heat for 8 to 10 hours, or on high for 4 to 5.
After cooking, transfer the roast to a platter and keep warm.
To make the gravy, pour the liquid from the crock pot into a measuring cup. Skim off the fat. Measure two cups of the liquid, adding water if needed. Transfer to a sauce pan reserving 1/2 cup of the liquid.
Stir the cornstarch into the reserved liquid, then stir into the liquid in the sauce pan. Heat, stirring frequently, until the gravy is thick. Taste and season with salt and pepper, if needed. Serve the roast with the gravy.
Push for Liz Truss to resign. Economic crisis in France deepens
Russia Destroys Satellite Uplink Station outside Odessa, Ukraine – all NATO Gear inside
Russia has destroyed the Satellite Uplink Earth-station of the communications center of Ukraine.
To destroy it, a special operation was organized by the Russian Army. After first pinpointing its location, it was hit using high-precision weapons.
The destruction of this earth station – at least for the time being – has totally shut down Ukraine’s secure government communications network, and has stopped the flow of NATO intelligence to Ukraine’s government distribution network. Military planners are no longer able to get real-time intelligence via space satellite communications with NATO!
This creates extremely serious problems for the Ukrainian government to organize operations and secure communications.
“In the area of Palievka settlement, Odesa region, the communications space station of the Government Communications Center of Ukraine was destroyed, ” the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation said during a routine briefing.
According to the Russians, “ the consequences of the impact will be seen after the last pass by the Sentinel-2 and WorldView spacecraft.
Intelligence community information is that the earth station was fully outfitted with NATO secure communications gear, and allNATO targeting data passed to the Kiev regime through this center. Its destruction is a massive blow to the Ukrainians.
Biden’s Empty Threats To Saudi Arabia Are Laughable
RUSSIA DECLARES MARTIAL LAW IN FOUR NEW REGIONS; PUTS ALL OF RUSSIA ON WAR-READINESS ALERT
Martial law has been introduced in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions because all four regions are being attacked by Ukraine’s Nazi Army for voting to leave Ukraine and become part of Russia.
Martial Law takes effect at Midnight, local time, tonight.
Far more worrisome is a separate Decree issued by President Vladimir Putin this afternoon in Moscow. That second Decree says:
A) In all regions of the Russian Federation, except for the center and south of Russia, a regime of “basic war readiness” is being introduced.
B) In Russia’s border regions a “medium level of war readiness” is introduced, AND;
C) In regions of the Central Federal District and the Southern Federal District a “high level of war readiness” is introduced.
This is precisely the type of alerting situation one might expect if the Russian nation goes to actual war. The fact that the ENTIRE nation is put on “Basic” war readiness, is the giveaway.
One would expect the border regions to be on some level of alert and one would also expect the regions nearest Ukraine to be on a higher level of alert. But to put the ENTIRE country on Basic war readiness alert is the undeniable signal that the situation with Ukraine is headed directly to an actual MASSIVE (think “world”) war.
. . . soon.
Legislature: Secret Sessions
Yesterday, the lower House of the Russian legislature, called the “Duma” for the first time, went into “secret” session. Live TV coverage, similar to C-SPAN in the USA, was ordered to shut off cameras and leave the Chamber.
Today, the upper house of Russia’s legislature, called the “Federation Council” (similar to the US Senate) met openlyu in the morning, where President Putin issued the Decrees mentioned above. Then, Putin turned the session over to Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council, Dmitry Medvedev, and the chamber went into Secret Session, cutting off all cameras, and ordering media and spectators OUT of the chamber.
IMMORTAL (Official) – “ALL SHALL FALL” music video HD
My former colleagues from my years working with the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force have told me why UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace flew urgently to Washington, DC yesterday. This is an unmitigated disaster in the making .
Dorothy – Black Sheep
Ukraine Fires 6 HIMARS at Power Station/Dam trying to Flood Kherson – all Intercepted!
The Ukrainian Nazi Army fired six (6) American-supplied HIMARS Multiple Launch Rockets at the Kakhovskyaya Hydroelectric Power Plant, shown above, in an effort to cause massive flooding of the Kherson region, for leaving Ukraine and becoming part of Russia. All 6 HIMARS shells were intercepted and destroyed.
The location of this power station is shown on the small map below:
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Had the Dam been hit and collapsed, all the water to the north of the Dam would have gone into uncontrolled release. The flooding would have been forty feet deep in parts of Kherson located south of the Dam.
Yesterday, acting on covert intelligence, the Russians began evacuation of the civilian population in areas of Kherson likely to have been affected if the Dam was destroyed and flooding came in. Upwards of sixty thousand (60,000) civilians evacuated, some of whom are shown in the news video below:
Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces launched another offensive against Kherson, in the exact same locations as their prior failed attempts:
The Ukraine Nazi Army went on the offensive in the south, trying to break through to Berislav in the Kherson region. Ukraine has even brought a reserve into battle. It appears it is not possible to for Ukraine to break through now. The battlefield map below tells the story:
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Russian Su-25 attack aircraft and Ka-52 “Alligator” helicopters are working on the Nazis and stopping them for now.
The fighting is described as “fierce.”
Aliens- Combat Drop Alternate Version
Godsmack – I Stand Alone (Official Music Video)
Poor Mans Prime Rib
This Poor Mans Prime Rib Recipe is seriously the best way to cook a roast. It makes an inexpensive piece of meat taste like prime rib! Tender and delicious!
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Ingredients
3 pound beef eye of round roast
1 tsp Garlic Powder
1 tsp Onion Powder
salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F (260 degrees C). Season the roast with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder; and place in a roasting pan or baking dish. Do not cover or add water.
Place the roast in the preheated oven. Reduce the temperature to 475 degrees F (245 degrees C). Roast for 21 minutes (seven minutes per pound) then turn off the oven and let the roast sit in the hot oven for 2 1/2 hours. Do not open the door at all during this time!
Remove the roast from the oven, the internal temperature should have reached at least 145 degrees F (65 degrees C). Carve into thin slices to serve.
Alice In Chains – Rooster (Official HD Video)
Average Americans in New York City: So Ignorant, there’s almost no hope . . .
So, we all know there’s a big military conflict between Russia and Ukraine, right? Typical Americans in NYC were asked to point to Ukraine on a map. Watch the level of intellect, education, and engagement of these “typical” Americans . . .
The Biden administration intensified its war on China last week when it detonated a thermonuclear bomb at the heart of Beijing’s booming technology industry. In an effort to block China’s access to crucial semiconductor technology, Team Biden announced onerous new export rules aimed at a “comprehensive supply cut-off” of essential semiconductor technology which– according to one analyst– led to an “immediate operations paralysis.” The terror unleashed by the announcement was aptly summarized in a thread posted at Jordan Schneider’s Twitter account from a translated thread at @lidangzzz (See above quote)
Naturally, the Chinese government was blindsided by the draconian new rules which include “all Chinese advanced computing chip design companies” and will undoubtedly “ensure the elimination of all American products and technologies from the entire ecosystem.” The new sanctions regime will likely inflict significant damage on China’s thriving technology industry while causing considerable harm to US partners who were not consulted on the matter. But while the announcement was a complete surprise, it does fit with the much more extensive list of hostile US actions towards China in the last few months. Some of these include:
While in no way exhaustive, the list should give the reader some sense of the uptick in belligerence that is presently aimed at Beijing. Hectoring China has become a full-time job which is not entirely unexpected as US-China “containment” policy dates back as far as the Cold War. What’s different now –as Biden’s 2022 National Security Strategy indicates– is that the US sees itself in the midst of a “great power struggle” in which the primary enemy is China who is regarded as “the only competitor with both the intent and, increasingly, the capability to reshape the international order.” (NSS) In other words, the Biden administration is admitting that we are at war with China and that we must use any means necessary to prevail in that conflict. As foreign policy analyst Andre Damon recently noted, the NSS is not a strategy for the defense of the Republic but a “blueprint for World War 3”.
Indeed, so containment alone will no longer suffice. What is required is increasingly provocative actions that will help to isolate, vilify and, ultimately, weaken China so that it becomes a “responsible stakeholder” in the “rules-based system”. In other words, Biden seeks a compliant vassal who will click his heels and do as he is told.
Sound familiar?
Biden’s onerous new export rules fit perfectly within this broader strategy of persistent confrontation and hostility. It also jibes with the oft-repeated neoconservative view that there is “no hope of coexistence with China as long as the Communist Party governs the country.” So, once again, we can see that the administration’s attacks on China are not merely designed to “contain” Chinese development but are also aimed at regime change. We believe that the recent ratcheting up of Biden’s Tech War has nothing to do with national security concerns (like “still-emerging fields of artificial intelligence and quantum computing”) but is actually another desperate attempt to preserve Washington’s loosening grip on global power. Here’s how author Jon Bateman summed it up in an article at Foreign Policy Magazine:
“The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) announced new… limits on the export to China of advanced semiconductors, chip-making equipment, and supercomputer components. The controls… reveal a single-minded focus on thwarting Chinese capabilities at a broad and fundamental level.... the primary damage to China will be economic, on a scale well out of proportion to Washington’s cited military and intelligence concerns….This shift portends even harsher U.S. measures to come, not only in advanced computing but also in other sectors (like biotech, manufacturing, and finance) deemed strategic. The pace and details are uncertain, but the strategic objective and political commitment are now clearer than ever. China’s technological rise will be slowed at any price.” (“Biden is Now All-In on Taking Out China”, Jon Bateman, Foreign Policy Magazine)
There it is in black and white. The US is going to do whatever it takes to preserve its top spot in the global order “come hell or high water.” And Bateman is right, there will undoubtedly be “even harsher U.S. measures to come, not only in advanced computing but also in other sectors (like biotech, manufacturing, and finance)” And that, of course, means more sanctions and tariffs, more disruption to vital supply-lines, and higher costs for everything. If you thought the war with Russia impacted energy prices, “You ain’t seen nothing yet!” Winding back 40 years of globalization is going to be an excruciating experience tantamount to major dental surgery absent the Novocain. This is from Reuters:
“The U.S. is scrambling to tackle unintended consequences of its new export curbs on China’s chip industry that could inadvertently harm the semiconductor supply chain, people familiar with the matter said….as of midnight Tuesday, vendors also could not support, service and send non-U.S. supplies to the China-based factories without licenses if U.S. companies or people are involved. As a result, even basic items like light bulbs, springs, and bolts that keep tools running may not have been able to be shipped until vendors are granted licenses. And without the minute-by-minute support the foundries need, they could begin shutting down, one source said...
The U.S. planned to review licenses for non-Chinese factories in China hit by the new restrictions on a case-by-case basis, but even if approved that could create delays in shipments. Licenses for Chinese chip factories were likely to be denied.” (“U.S. scrambles to prevent export curbs on China chips from disrupting supply chain“, Reuters)
See what I mean? More supply-line disruption means higher prices, more battered household budgets, and fewer American families able to scrape by on their shrinking wages. Does anyone in Washington think about these things before they set the wheels in motion? The Biden administration is so obsessed with containing China, it is willing to send US standards-of-living off a cliff while bringing the world even closer to nuclear annihilation. Here’s more background from an article at the Asia Times:
The US measures won’t affect China’s sensors, satellite surveillance, military guidance and other strategic systems because the vast majority of military applications use older chips that China can produce at home…..The new US restrictions won’t stop China’s 2,000 surface-to-ship and surface-to-surface missiles from targeting US aircraft carriers in the Western Pacific, or US air bases in Guam and Okinawa, and they won’t prevent China’s more than 1,000 interceptors from aiming long-range air-to-air missiles at US planes…
It will also elicit an all-out Chinese effort to replace American chip-making and design technology. CapEx and R&D will shrink drastically in the US semiconductor industry while China allocates a massive budget to the sector.
On a five- or ten-year horizon, America’s technological edge in semiconductor design and fabrication is likely to vanish. As capital budgets collapse in the Western semiconductor industry, the damage to the US and other Western economies is likely to be greater than the harm inflicted on China...an all-out US ban on chip sales to China would eliminate 37% of the revenue of US semiconductor companies, lead to … the loss of 15,000 to 40,000 highly skilled direct jobs in the US semiconductor industry.”..
At worst, the damage to China’s economy is likely to be temporary… But the impact of the incipient depression in the Western semiconductor industry may well do permanent harm. (“China chip ban a US exercise in extreme self-harm”, Asia Times)
So, it could all backfire like the poorly thought-out sanctions on Russia that have thrust all Europe into an unprecedented energy crisis?
Yep, that’s what he’s saying. The new rules will cause China some short-term pain but—in the long run—they will only hurt American industry. It’s another classic example of ‘cutting off your nose to spite your face’, which appears to be Biden’s MO on a great number of issues.
It’s worth noting, that the Biden plan is another giant leap towards “de-globalization. (which is the reimposing of cross-border trade barriers in order to prevent further economic integration and lower costs.) For decades, business and political leaders have been touting the virtues of offshoring businesses and outsourcing jobs as if that was the true expression of God’s divine plan. But now that China’s growth threatens US global hegemony, foreign policy elites have done a quick 180. Now the globalization genie must be drawn-and-quartered and shoved back into his bottle so the West can preserve its primacy by effectively divorcing itself from the Chinese powerhouse.
By the way, “decoupling” is the new buzzword among foreign policy wonks. What the word implies is that the US must implement “some degree of technological separation from China, but shouldn’t go so far as to harm U.S. interests in the process.” In other words, Washington is on track to selectively terminate many areas of commerce with China while trying not to shoot itself in its own foot.
Good luck with that.
So, where is all of this heading, you ask?
To more conflict, more confrontation, higher prices, lower standards of living and, eventually, a disintegration of the prevailing order. That much is certain. The problem, of course, is that the China hawks now control the levers of power in Washington which means that the attacks on China will intensify, decoupling will accelerate, and a massively-destabilizing international crisis will soon follow.
The Biden administration is squandering American power on unilateral actions it cannot enforce and that will no have meaningful impact on China’s development. They’d be better off looking for ways to ease the transition to a new world, then pathetically trying to turn back the clock to the bygone “unipolar moment”.
It is disheartening to read news out of the United States today. But, I know from my business dealings that businesses out of America are more keen than ever to work with China. What is the disconnect?
What I am seeing is a two caste system in the United States.
The ruled people; who own and operate businesses, and a ruling class who are crazy, delusional and on drugs with utopian ideological visions that have no basis on reality.
...I ask this because of the stubborn adherence to outdated (meaningless words). Because these guys claim they are "Communists"; the power of what they realize and what they say is down the drain.
"Oh that is just communist babble."
What the heck is communism?? I have asked that many times to this group. As far as I can see it is a theory or a fantasy that has never existed. Even all Soviet leaders stated clearly that "our system is just socialism - - - eventually leading to the true communism - - - ".
To western billionaires and all their main stream media, Communists are those evil people that we must kill by any and all means available. Any form of infiltration or terrorism is fair game when killing "COMMUNISTS". Any amount of budget is worth it, or don't even use a budget; we'll wink at every form of black money. It is what runs the world since 1917.
It is a lame word, meaning that the word does more damage than it communicates good intent. It is only for the "in-crowd".
Why not make up new terminology. But not:
Socialism with Chinese Characteristics, or
Communism with Chinese Characteristics, or
Marxism with Chinese Characteristics, (for a new era).
Don't you have any words of your own? Why use the western words, honed to pierce your heart? And attempt to express your highest motivations with them?
And what is "Capitalism"? I call it the "Cult of Absentee Ownership". In other words, "I" get to Own ever last thing that you need to survive; I own your house, your job, your bank, your insurance, your hospitals, your doctors, your minerals and energy facilities, your farms, your food producers, all distribution of any goods, your refineries, your gas stations, your streets and toll ways, your electric transmission lines, your water systems, your sewer connections, your schools, your teachers, your parks and recreation, your entertainment, your Internet connection, your telephone service, all supplies of clothing, I own your closet.
Wake Up; ass hole. It is all mine, and the first thing when you wake up each morning, you MUST PAY ME, to live.
Why? Because I have my thumb on your neck, and it is going to stay that way. This is glorious FREEDOM and DEMOCRACY, (which I forgot to add, I own your democracy).
The United States today is a pile of oil-soaked shit, on fire, and the “elected officials” are Hell-bent on spraying kerosene on it.
This crazy mix is not going to do the world any good, and WILL result in a great deal of hardship for Americans.
The Forbidden Thought
The dominating systems of our world require us to feel weak, afraid, and insufficient. They couldn’t continue if most of us didn’t feel that way. And so the friends and operators of these systems must oppose the opposite assumption: That we are not inadequate.
I’ve watched popular culture for a lot of years, and I can tell you that since the 1970s, one concept, above all, has been forbidden in intellectual circles: Man as a glorious creature.
If you’d like to prove that to yourself, say a few things like these at a cocktail party:
Western civilization has accomplished so many good things that it’s mind-blowing.
Most people are basically decent and don’t need to be controlled.
I see so much goodness in humanity.
Humanity is ascending toward the gods (or heaven, or whatever).
Then, if you’d really like to see a reaction:
The human race is magnificent.
The responses you get should be educational.
Why This Thought Is Hated
One reason why people respond so violently to this idea is simply self-defense: At this point, nearly every adult has built his or her world around the belief that people are bad: They’ve taught it to their children, showed their enlightenment by stating such things at parties and so on. To admit the opposite wouldn’t just be to admit they were wrong; it would tear down their infrastructure of meaning and status. Few people have the courage for such things.
Another reason is simply that they fear being shamed. People who say such heretical things are quickly ridiculed by holders of status. That’s tyrannical, of course, but it’s all too easy to stay inside the conspiracy of compliance. It’s dangerous, even if heroic, to defy powerful people.
Buckminster Fuller described the institutional necessity of inadequacy back in 1981:
There’s a built-in resistance to letting humanity be a success. Each one claims that their system is the best one for coping with inadequacy.
In other words, the dominance hierarchies running things all claim that theirs is the right way to fix human inadequacy. So, if you claim that humans are adequate, you’re also saying that those systems aren’t necessary… and ruling systems don’t like to be called unnecessary.
Promoting Darkness Is a Big Business
It’s also the case that the promotion of darkness is a huge business. News channels are little more than fear delivery systems, but they are a major business. Social media is considerably worse, and it delivers darkness in your own, internal voice.
And, obviously, advertisers need you to feel insecure. Ads that don’t make you feel insecure, inadequate or guilty don’t pull nearly as well as those which do. That’s just a human weakness that’s being scientifically exploited.
It can be interesting to see how all of this appears to outsiders. Back in the 1950s, the new president of Indonesia, Sukarno, visited the US and had this to say:
I find only one fault with Americans. They’re too full of fear. Afraid of B.O. Afraid of bad breath. They’re haunted by the fear that they’ll never get rid of dandruff. This state of mind I cannot understand.
And we shouldn’t understand it either. We are magnificent creatures… the only creatures in the known universe who create willfully and seemingly without limit. We’ve eradicated diseases, learned to feed billions of people, created machines that move us across the ground tremendous distances safely and reliably, created machines that fly us around the world and at incredible speed; we’ve harnessed the information stores of humanity and made them available to anyone, almost for free and almost anywhere.
None of that is arguable, and yet we still think we’re just a step above refuse.
Take An Honest Look
Turn off the TV, turn off your cell phone. Walk through a park for a while to let the stream of negativity subside a bit. Then take a fresh look around.
Yes, some dark things can still be found, but you’ll see most people simply going about their business: working, cooking, shopping, tending to children, driving their cars. They do these things well, or at least well enough, nearly all the time. Shouldn’t they get credit for that?
We are improving, unfolding, evolving creatures. Yes, much improvement remains, but we are moving in that direction.
And consider this, please: The sea of negativity that surrounds us is an anti-evolutionary poison. It serves stasis and sacrifice-collecting. It does not serve progress.
I’ll close with another quote (slightly edited) from Bucky Fuller:
I decided man was operating on a fundamental fallacy: that he was supposed to be a failure. I decided that man was, in fact, designed to be an extraordinary success. His characteristics were magnificent.
We are not inadequate, we’ve just been made to think so.
**
Paul Rosenberg
From Dusk Till Dawn: The bar is full of vampires
Russia Destroys Satellite Uplink Station outside Odessa, Ukraine – all NATO Gear inside
Russia has destroyed the Satellite Uplink Earth-station of the communications center of Ukraine.
To destroy it, a special operation was organized by the Russian Army. After first pinpointing its location, it was hit using high-precision weapons.
The destruction of this earth station – at least for the time being – has totally shut down Ukraine’s secure government communications network, and has stopped the flow of NATO intelligence to Ukraine’s government distribution network. Military planners are no longer able to get real-time intelligence via space satellite communications with NATO!
This creates extremely serious problems for the Ukrainian government to organize operations and secure communications.
“In the area of Palievka settlement, Odesa region, the communications space station of the Government Communications Center of Ukraine was destroyed, ” the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation said during a routine briefing.
According to the Russians, “ the consequences of the impact will be seen after the last pass by the Sentinel-2 and WorldView spacecraft.
Intelligence community information is that the earth station was fully outfitted with NATO secure communications gear, and allNATO targeting data passed to the Kiev regime through this center. Its destruction is a massive blow to the Ukrainians.
We Were Soldiers – The Final Battle Scene
Chip war policy hurting US firms more than China
New Commerce Department chip and equipment bans against China are hitting US semiconductor company shares hardest
On October 7, the US Department of Commerce expanded licensing requirements for exports of advanced semiconductors and the equipment that’s used to make them to cover all shipments to China and not just shipments to particular companies.
The share prices of companies expected to be affected had already dropped, discounting previously announced sanctions and the downturn in the semiconductor cycle that was already underway.
From their 52-week highs to recent 52-week lows:
Intel (INTC) was down 56%;
Micron (MU) was down 50%;
Nvidia (NVDA) was down 69% (its products having been directly targeted by the Biden administration); and
AMD (AMD) (also directly targeted) was down 67%.
Among US semiconductor equipment companies:
Applied Materials (AMAT) was down 57%;
Lam Research (LRCX) was down 59%; and
KLA (KLAC) was down 45%.
Outside the United States, ASML (ASML) of the Netherlands was down 59% from 52-week high to 52-week low. Japanese equipment makers Tokyo Electron (TYO 8035) and Screen Holdings (TYO 7735) were down 50% and 44%, respectively.
Japanese semiconductor makers Renesas (TYO 5723) and Rohm (TYO 6963) were down only 27% and 28%, but they focus on automotive and industrial semiconductors, not the artificial intelligence and high-performance computing devices that obsess the Biden administration. Their 52-week lows were last March.
SMIC (HKG 0981), China’s top IC foundry, was down 40% while TSMC (TPE 2330) was down 43% – a relatively strong performance under the circumstances.
In terms of share price performance and investor returns, American companies and ASML have been hit harder than the Chinese. That might seem ironic considering the measures target China, but it is the market’s discounting mechanism at work.
US government policy is aggravating what was already shaping up to be a severe industry downturn – and friendly fire is a real problem.
On its earnings call on October 13, TSMC announced that it had decided to reduce 2022 capital spending to US$36 billion from about $40 billion due to falling global demand for semiconductors and rising costs.
Management had planned to spend $40 billion to $44 billion this year but said in July that actual spending would be at the bottom of that range. Compared with the $30 billion spent in 2021, projected growth has dropped from a maximum of 47% to 33% and is now 20%.
Mitigating factors for TSMC include a one-year authorization from the US government to continue with the expansion of its facilities in Nanjing and the possibility of a rebound in demand when China’s Covid restrictions are loosened. But TSMC CEO C C Wei also told the media that “We expect probably in 2023 the semiconductor industry will likely decline.”
At the end of September – when announcing results for its fiscal year 2022, which ended on September 1 – US memory chip maker Micron told investors that the company’s capital spending would be cut by a third, from $12 billion to about $8 billion, in the year ahead.
Construction spending should more than double, “to support demand for” the second half of the decade, “but spending on wafer fab production equipment is likely to decline by nearly 50% due to “a much slower ramp of our 1-beta DRAM and 232 layer NAND [the company’s newest and most advanced products] versus prior expectations.”
Furthermore, “To immediately address our inventory situation and reduce supply growth, we are selectively reducing utilization in both DRAM and NAND.” Reports from Micron and its South Korean and Japanese competitors indicate that memory chip production has been cut by about 30%.
Samsung’s approach to capital spending is similar to Micron’s. Its “shell first” strategy is to build clean rooms first so it can install equipment flexibly and rapidly when the time comes. On October 4, Samsung announced plans to launch a 2-nanometer foundry process (matching TSMC) by 2025 and a 1.4-nanometer process by 2027.
As the global economy weakens and US high-end decoupling from China accelerates, the outlook for semiconductor capital spending continues to deteriorate. Last March, market research organization IC Insights forecast a 23.5% increase to $190 billion in calendar 2022.
That industry capital spending figure was reduced to $185.5 billion in August but the announcements from TSMC and Micron point to a sharper decline. Handel Jones, CEO of American consulting firm International Business Strategies, estimates the figure at $160 billion, an increase of only 4% over last year’s $153.9 billion.
x
IC Insights itself qualified its August forecast, writing that “a menacing cloud of uncertainty looms on the horizon. Soaring inflation and a rapidly decelerating worldwide economy caused semiconductor manufacturers to re-evaluate their aggressive expansion plans at the midpoint of the year. Several (but not all) suppliers – particularly many leading DRAM and flash memory manufacturers – have already announced reductions in their capex budgets for this year.
“Many more suppliers have noted that capital spending cuts are expected in 2023 as the industry digests three years of robust spending and evaluates capacity needs in the face of slowing economic growth.”
When the dot.com bubble burst in 2000, semiconductor capital spending dropped 55% in two years. The Lehman Shock triggered a 57% decline, also over two years. Now, capital expenditure is dropping back from an all-time record high, suggesting a decline of similar magnitude and perhaps duration.
On October 12, The Wall Street Journal reported that US equipment makers including KLA and Lam Research have halted installation and support of equipment at China’s Yangtze Memory Technologies Co (YMTC) while assessing the new US Commerce Department rules. The share price of Japanese NAND flash memory maker Toshiba (TYO 6502), which competes with YMTC, jumped 10% on the news.
YMTC’s NAND flash memory is good enough for Apple and there is no evidence that its technology was stolen, so this can be considered an escalation of US policy from the punishment of bad actors to an all-out attempt to stifle Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing and thus roll back the development of China’s economy.
In addition, a new Commerce Department regulation that “restricts the ability of US persons to support the development, or production, of ICs at certain PRC-located semiconductor fabrication ‘facilities’ without a license” is already disrupting the operations of Chinese companies.
By forcing numerous executives and engineers of Chinese extraction to choose sides, it brings decoupling down to the personal level.
Data from Tokyo Electron show the company’s total sales of semiconductor production equipment up 2.6 times in the five years to March 2022 (the company’s fiscal year ends in March). The increase was led by a 5.7x increase in China, which grew from 12% to 26% of total sales.
In the two years to March 2022 alone, sales in China increased by 2.7x. That suggests that the Chinese semiconductor industry has purchased enough equipment to see it through the next two or three years, at least.
Tokyo Electron’s performance in other regional markets was not exceptional. Sales were up 2.7x in Korea, 2.6x in the US, 2.5x in Japan, 1.8x in Europe, 1.6x in Taiwan (which started at a high level), and 2.1x in Southeast Asia and other regions.
As Japan’s largest and the world’s third-largest maker of semiconductor production equipment, with a diversified product portfolio, Tokyo Electron is representative of the industry as a whole.
x
Source: data from Tokyo Electron
The Chinese can no longer rely on US equipment suppliers and European and Japanese suppliers must follow US rules if their products incorporate US technology, so China will step up its import substitution campaign.
Sanctions on China have already caused large losses for American semiconductor and equipment companies, and more are probably on the way. Furthermore, in the next up-cycle, the China opportunity for foreign suppliers is likely to be much diminished.
Four rooms funny scene – japanese subtitle
Biden Is Now All-In on Taking Out China
The U.S. president has committed to rapid decoupling, whatever the consequences.
By Jon Bateman, a senior fellow in the Technology and International Affairs Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
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The United States has waged low-grade economic warfare against China for at least four years now—firing volley after volley of tariffs, export controls, investment blocks, visa limits, and much more. But Washington’s endgame for this conflict has always been hazy. Does it seek to compel specific changes in Beijing’s behavior, or challenge the Chinese system itself? To protect core security interests, or retain hegemony by any means? To strengthen America, or hobble its chief rival? Donald Trump’s scattershot regulation and erratic public statements offered little clarity to allies, adversaries, and companies around the world. Joe Biden’s actions have been more systematic, but long-term U.S. goals have remained hidden beneath bureaucratic opacity and cautious platitudes.
Last Friday, however, a dense regulatory filing from a little-known federal agency gave the strongest hint yet of U.S. intentions. The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) announced new extraterritorial limits on the export to China of advanced semiconductors, chip-making equipment, and supercomputer components. The controls, more so than any earlier U.S. action, reveal a single-minded focus on thwarting Chinese capabilities at a broad and fundamental level. Although framed as a national security measure, the primary damage to China will be economic, on a scale well out of proportion to Washington’s cited military and intelligence concerns. The U.S. government imposed the new rules after limited consultation with partner countries and companies, proving that its quest to hobble China ranks well above concerns about the diplomatic or economic repercussions.
In short, America’s restrictionists—zero-sum thinkers who urgently want to accelerate technological decoupling—have won the strategy debate inside the Biden administration. More cautious voices—technocrats and centrists who advocate incremental curbs on select aspects of China’s tech ties—have lost. This shift portends even harsher U.S. measures to come, not only in advanced computing but also in other sectors (like biotech, manufacturing, and finance) deemed strategic. The pace and details are uncertain, but the strategic objective and political commitment are now clearer than ever. China’s technological rise will be slowed at any price.
To understand the strategy behind these new controls, it helps to look at what preceded them. A multitude of U.S. measures have limited the flow of technology to and from China in recent years. Chief among these is the Entity List, which bars designated firms from importing U.S. goods without a license. The number of unique Chinese companies on this list quadrupled, from 130 to 532, between 2018 and 2022. Leading Chinese chip companies, supercomputing organizations, and software and hardware vendors have all landed on the list. Even so, BIS exercised its discretion to license large amounts of nonsensitive exports to listed companies.
South Africa will not be bullied into taking sides in Ukraine-Russia war, says minister Naledi Pandor
South African International Relations and Cooperation Minister Naledi Pandor said attempts to bully countries into taking sides in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war is unacceptable.
In Short
South African minister Naledi Pandor on Monday hosted US Secretary of State Antony Blinken
She said that South Africa would not be bullied into taking sides in Russia-Ukraine war
It was important for all to respect different opinions held by different nations, she said
By Geeta Mohan: South Africa would not be bullied if certain countries mount pressure into taking sides in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, International Relations and Cooperation Minister Naledi Pandor said. Attempts to bully countries into taking sides in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war is unacceptable, Naledi Pandor said.
The minister was referring to taking sides between Russia, China and the West in the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. The US has been pursuing to isolate China in African countries. Relations between South Africa and the US have been strained after the former remained neutral over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Naledi Pandor said she was glad that Blinken had confirmed that the US had not asked South Africa to choose sides (between Russia and Ukraine). However, she said that her government had experienced pressure from certain countries in Europe to align with their policy on Ukraine.
On Monday, Naledi Pandor hosted US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is on a three-nation Africa tour.
The South African minister also criticised a US bill, which she says could penalise African countries for not towing the line on the Ukraine conflict, known as the “Countering Malign Russian Activities in Africa Act.”
“The recent legislation passed in the United States of America by the House of Representatives, we found a most unfortunate bill that we had hoped the media would say more about. Because when we believe in freedom as I’m saying, it’s freedom for everybody you can’t say because Africa is doing this, you will then be punished by the United States. So that’s been a disappointing passage of legislation by one House, and we hope the other house will not agree to such offensive legislation,” the minister said.
‘RUSSIA, A NEGLIGIBLE ECONOMIC PARTNER’
The minister said it was important for all to respect different opinions held by different nations.
“We are after all, sovereign nations that are recognised as equal in terms of the UN Charter. We may differ in terms of economic power and economic ability to influence developments in different parts of the world, but what will make the world work is if we respect each other.” “One thing I definitely dislike is being told: ‘You choose this or else!”, Pandor reaffirmed.
The minister said Russia was a ‘very negligible’ economic partner for South Africa.
“Our trade with Russia is less than four billion dollars annually, compared to the USD 20 billion with the US. So, this fear that we exist under some putsch is a totally an unfounded belief of the relationship that we have with either country,” Pandor asserted.
“We have been quite clear in saying that we advocate for peace because we knew what would happen. We knew that there would be destruction, death and desolation; and that is what we are all seeing. Let us make every effort to get peace,” Pandor said.
‘SENSE OF PATRONIZING BULLYING’
“I’m glad that Secretary Blinken has confirmed that America is not asking us to choose. I don’t recall any attempt by the United States to do that. But in terms of our interaction with some of our partners in Europe and elsewhere, there has been a sense of patronizing bullying toward “you choose this or else,”Naledi Pandor said.
How might the U.S.-China trade war end?
There are three possible scenarios;
[1] A draw. 55% chance.
A status quo is maintained. A polarized world results. A West and an East, and trade between them ends.
This is the “Cold War 2” scenario, and it appears that the world is approaching this situation. The length of duration is unknown.
What is known is that, historically, the cold war will end when one of the major nations undergoes domestic collapse. Then after that collapse, the cold war ends, and a new geopolitical reality takes hold.
The nation that survives is the nation with [1.1] high popularity of it’s government and leaders, that has [1.2] a large manufacturing base, that [1.3] has a strong network of geopolitical strengths, and [1.4] friends, and one that has [1.5] access to energy and [1.6] raw materials. As well as a [1.7] strong currency.
In this scenario, which is highly likely but not guaranteed, we see a decade or longer cold war.
We will see a continued collapse of the United States (and it’s proxy nations) domestically, and an inability to accomplish the simplest basic forms of governance.
There would be great swaths of illness, and death.
The American society would be in complete free-fall, American companies would be in conflict with the desires of the elected, and eventually the discord and turmoil would necessitate a serious change in what the United States is and what it represents.
China, on the other hand, would continue to grow and the growth would accelerate. The “Global South”; home of most of the World’s population, it’s resources, it’s energy and it’s manufacturing would be thriving. While the West; centered by the United States would be approaching mid-18th century level lifestyles.
[2] The USA wins the trade war. <10% chance.
A physical conflict occurs on all levels. The United States destroys China, and in the ruins, carves it up and plunders it. The rest of the world become American proxy nations.
This is the stated goal of both political parties in America, the government, and all the neocon publications. Though the actual words are softer with a great deal of rhetorical fluff.
It is also a fine descriptor for the tone and the pace of all documents out of the White house, and the various American government organs, as well as all of the conservative alternative news outlets.
The problem with this scenario is that it has been constantly tested, revised, tested again, and again, and again. In each and every test, and report, China always wins. The only scenarios that suggest the United States win is when ever Russia is completely destroyed, and reduced to a non-functioning entity, as well as China being isolated with zero support from any other nation.
At this time, because [1] Russia is not collapsed, nor is it in the process of collapsing, and [2] the accuracy of the RAND and War College reports have to be taken at face value, as well as [3] China is not alone, and has a large network of friends globally…
… this scenario appears to be unrealistic, and will probably not occur.
[3] China wins and ends up being dominant in trade. >35% chance
To achieve this scenario, a suppression of the aggressive elements in the United States is necessary. A physical conflict occurs at all levels. Hot hostilities are engaged and implemented by the United States against China in the belief that China is can be effectively suppressed via proxy and other events done in secret.
This scenario clearly shows that the United States mistakes “being peaceful” with “being a pacifist”.
China, a nation with over 6000 years of continuous warfare, takes preemptive action.
Large munitions, of new and novel type, are detonated within the United States geographical land mass. This aggravates an already unstable domestic situation.
China wins and allows the domestic problems internal to the United States to eat it alive. A new world order ensues, and it is modeled by the SEO model. The United States is broken apart into smaller nations. The United States becomes a footnote in the history books.
Contrary to what everyone in the United States believes, Russia and China are joined at the hip as in one brand new nation.
To fight China is to fight the entire SEO.
America doesn’t have the skill, the resources, the energy, the cred, the talent, the knowledge, the desire and the ambitions to accomplish such an enormous undertaking.
China is not frozen in time. Many Western commentators seem to believe that China is stuck in 1997. China today is a massive, simply massive organized force.
Everyone has opinions, and we all form our opinions based upon our experiences. You all must take note that the nations involved in this situation have better intelligence of what is actually going on rather than what is presented to the public. And because of that, they will act accordingly.
It is precisely this reason, why I have presented the percentage likelihood of scenario manifestation above. Cold war draw at 55% probability.
One last point…
When the CIA remote viewed the year 2025, from their offices in 2008, it was NOT the cold war draw that manifested.
How is China dealing with US sanctions on its semiconductor industry? Will China collapse because of it?
The US will collapse because of that. China will feel some mosquito bite for a few days and move on.
What the US did is to push away China’s friendliness and generous overtures to share a loaf of bread. China maturely thought to itself, if China does everything the US will have nothing to live on. Hence it allows room for the US to get a cut so to speak.
But the US, is so full of it fought that China will be cut off and stranded without key technology. Fat hopes. In 3 years China will match them, in 5 years China will be ahead. In 10 years the US will be sitting on a white elephant obsolete technology.
China has the market, the US don’t, China is sitting in Asia and East Asia, the most humongous market. US is straddle between Carribbean, Latin American market and a 30 million Canadian together their market size match a province in China!
The US never learnt, space center, the US cut China out, today it is assembling the most modern and tecnological space center in space, while the white elephant US space center is about to be demolished for good. GPS, China knew the US is unreliable it made a more accurate and higher resolution Beidou, today it commands 2/3 of the world’s market!
Thanks America the fool. You just commited suicide.
Samsung returns back to China!
From Vietnam BACK to China…
https://youtu.be/OYU4FsTHh_I
Cui bono? The Big Picture
by Eric Arthur Blair for the Saker blog
(note: the author is not Russian, knows no Russians and has never been to Russia)
Further to my last “Motive, Means and Opportunity” summary regarding who blew up the Nordstream pipelines (the USA), let us stand back and look at the bigger global picture today. Let us ask “Cui bono?” with regard to the entire Ukrainian debacle.
First of all, we need to be absolutely clear that this insane FUBAR Ukraine situation was 100% concocted, fabricated and engineered by the USA, certainly since the droolin’ Nuland / lamebrained McCain / CIA Maidan coup of 2014, but even dating back before that.
There are few situations in life where one party can be found to be 100% guilty and evil and morally bankrupt, and where the other party is 100% acting in self defence and self preservation.
However history will show that with respect to this Ukraine situation, the USA was 100% the evil aggressor and Russia was 100% acting in self preservation and in defense of civilian Russian speakers in Ukraine.
This is truly a war of good against evil and in case you still haven’t got the message yet, let me repeat: the USA Deep State is EVIL.
This reality is indisputably obvious to any semi-comatose person remotely interested in historical, documented FACTS. For those with any remaining doubts, they need to listen to this comprehensively researched three part podcast summary by a journalist and a military historian (both Anglophones). They actually obtained their information from Western mainstream media sources before those reports and articles mysteriously vanished from the Google search algorithms (or were relegated to 500th priority on the search list) after 24 Feb 2022.
It is unfortunate that the stupid sheeple of the West, probably 99% of the “golden billion”, believe the exact opposite of the Truth, which is testimony to the incredible effectiveness of the relentless lying propaganda pooped out from the AngloEuroZionist mainstream media sewer outlets ever since 24 Feb 2022.
Until the two recent terrorist bombings (Nordstream pipelines and Kerch bridge), Russia had been reacting in a highly restrained manner to the US and US proxy aggravations. The US started provocations many years ago and contemptuously rebuffed multiple opportunities for peaceful settlements. Russia will soon end it. How? With the humiliating defeat of Ukraine for sure, but more widely we will see the economic devastation of Europe (apart from those who buy energy in Rubles – eg Hungary and Turkey) and eventually the destabilization of the USA: perhaps with civil war and revolution in the USA, resulting from its own inevitable economic collapse. The latter two eventualities were never Russia’s intended goal, but will be unintended consequences of the malicious actions of the US and EU themselves, blowback or karma if you like.
So what motivated the USA to provoke Russia to invade Ukraine? What parties hoped to benefit from it (hint: definitely not the US public) and what were the short, medium and long term goals of the US Deep State? Context is everything and we need to view the big picture, which can be found in Andrei Martyanov’s excellent book which was nicely summarized in this review.
In short: US industrial, economic and social decay, all entirely self inflicted over the past several decades, have led to the decline of the USA as a functional society and hence to the impending loss of its unipolar global hegemony. This is a situation that the megalomaniacal “indispensable nation, shining beacon on a hill” ideologues simply cannot accept.
It is vital to understand exactly how this hollowed out mockery of a former empire continues to limp along in a moribund fashion right now, just prior to its complete self-inflicted collapse:
Most important is to understand how the US fraudulent “economy” works. The best commentator regarding this is the brilliant Real World Economist* Professor Michael Hudson whose works are too numerous for me to mention https://michael-hudson.com/ In brief, the US economy largely operates as a global blood sucking parasite, by extracting wealth from the rest of the world and by keeping weaker countries under the its jackboot (AKA economic Neocolonialism). The major mechanism for this is the exuberant privilege of the US dollar as the International Reserve Currency, a privilege no other country has.
This scam operates in tandem with other mechanisms that were contrived and designed and tweaked and refined to suit the US “rules based order” ever since Bretton-Woods in 1944 (which established the precursors to the World Bank, WTO and IMF, with the simultaneous designation of the USD as IRC), the abandonment of the gold standard in 1971 by Nixon and especially the US creation of the Petrodollar. This was a Godfather type “offer you can’t refuse” that the USA presented to the Middle Eastern Oil producers. It was a protection racket that the Gulf States sequentially signed up to and was completed by 1974. Oil, an essential commodity, could only be bought from the Gulf States in USD, all other currencies were refused. Where could a country get USD from? Why from the USA of course, in exchange for real world products. The Petrodollar enabled the USA to obtain limitless high quality imported products for free by simply electronically “printing” US dollars, quite apart from getting free oil. It was the first class ticket on a gravy train of unimaginable wealth far exceeding the wildest fantasies of the most avaricious, rapacious, greedy robber barons. If the US could get imported goods for free, why bother to fund US domestic industries? Why not offshore their industrial production? So that is exactly what the US did.
Petrodollar recycling involved the investment of excess oil profits from the Middle Eastern States in US debt securities / treasury bonds, which further propped up the fiat US dollar, even though the USD had no intrinsic value in itself. The value of the dollar was based entirely on the confidence of those who invested in those US “assets”. It was a confidence trick based on a protection racket. This is what enabled the US to rack up trillions of dollars in debt, backed up by the savings from foreign countries, to fund 800+ US military bases around the world. This is a debt that will never be repaid when this whole Ponzi scheme collapses.
All this is coming to an end. The Neocons believe that the only way such US global parasitism can continue to operate is to subjugate the “World Island” ie. Eurasia. To “regime change” Putin and Xi and to ultimately Balkanise the whole of Eurasia, each banana republic to be “led” by a US puppet dictator. This wet dream “strategy” is derived entirely from the well worn CIA playbook. Such actions had been repeatedly inflicted by the US on practically every state of Latin America (the “Monroe doctrine”) and on Global South countries over many decades. The US Neocons believe that the subjugation of Eurasia is the only way to resurrect the dead corpse of Bretton-Woods and the Petrodollar and to force the rest of the world to continue funneling their Real World valuable commodities and products to the USA for free.
Much has been written about the Mackinder declaration that “who controls the World Island controls the world“, a sentiment echoed by Zbigniew Brzezinski in his book ‘The Grand Chessboard’ and certainly adhered to by the US Neocons who run the Deep State. This is why the sock puppet Biden, or more specifically his handlers, have been provoking dangerous confrontations in Ukraine and in the East China Sea ever since Biden’s “election”. The US has gone back to its “gunboat diplomacy” historical roots, thuggish bastardry which worked in the past to bully other countries into compliance, but which cannot work today against nations that now possess hypersonic missiles. Such US behavior is a “hail Mary” pass, the last desperate act of a failing unipolar hegemon.
The above account describes the USA’s long term Grand View, better termed a Grand Delusion. Given the advanced state of decay of the US and the unstoppable rise of China and Russia militarily, industrially, economically and socially, there is zero prospect of the USA prevailing. There are only two possible outcomes: either the USA backs down or there will be global nuclear Armageddon. There is nothing in between.
Morally and ethically speaking alone, the only correct and proper and decent action is for “Exceptionalistan” to back down. They should count themselves lucky that the rest of the world has no appetite for revenge against the US after centuries of it perpetrating genocide, slavery, racism, foreign skulduggery and exploitation of the rest of the world. However the Global South is more preoccupied with their own well being, they will simply ignore the putrefying carcass of the USA, they are only interested in “win-win” interactions with partners who actually play fair, who abide by actual UN International Law and not by the US rigged “rules based order”.
What about short and medium term more limited perspectives? What specific parties hoped to gain from a war in Ukraine? The usual suspects: the Military-Industrial-Complex, the US fossil fuel industry and possibly the US banking/financial sector.
The MIC: How does the US MIC profit from perpetual war? By all rational accounts the US invasion and occupation of Afghanistan was a miserable failure. However the US persisted at it for 20 years, the longest war in US history. Why? Because was a massive financial windfall for the MIC, it was the gift that kept on giving. It funded numerous McMansions and luxury yachts for the MIC executives and MIC Washington lobbyists. Please refer to appendix two at the end of this document for the explanation of exactly how the Afghan debacle, and indeed all of the USA’s endless invasions and interventions, worked in financial favor of the MIC.
Today, sending “billions of dollars” worth of US ordnance to Ukraine (much of it outdated and obsolete) represents a massive financial windfall for the US MIC. It is the only way they could profitably dispose of stuff they could never legally sell. It does not matter if 30% of it goes missing (eg Javelin missiles to be sold by terrorists from car boots) nor if the rest gets blown up by the Russians. Of course, such obsolete ordnance will need to replaced with overpriced new versions to replenish the US inventory, which will be funded by ever larger sums of taxpayers’ money, to the detriment of US publicly funded roads, rail, schools, healthcare, libraries, etc, etc.
The US fossil fuel industry: In my previous “Whodunnit” article I mentioned that blowing up the Nordstream pipelines was the only way that super expensive US LNG could ever be exported to Europe.
US fracked LNG is far more expensive** than piped Russian conventional gas and far more environmentally destructive, with far higher carbon emissions. In order to understand why different energy sources incur vastly different expenses in their production and distribution, it is essential to understand the concept of EROI (energy returned over invested) as well as the full life cycles of the different energy sources: from extraction to processing to transportation to end user. Such explanation is beyond the scope of this article. Suffice to say that high EROI energy sources are cheap to harvest and deliver, however low EROI energy sources are expensive to harvest and deliver and indeed may represent a financial net loss. Such has been true for fracked US shale oil, another Ponzi scam which was never profitable at ANY oil price (even >$100 per barrel). It was a misbegotten project that was bulldozed through using market hubris, blatant fraud, low interest bank loans and inappropriate government subsidies. Such economic stupidity and fraud is also true for the overseas export of fracked US shale gas, even before considering the expensive energy requirements to liquefy it (cooling down to around minus 163 deg C), with continued energy needed to refrigerate it during transportation in specialist highly insulated tankers (now in short supply around the world) and the multi billion dollar investments required for specialist handling at purpose designed export and import terminals (not yet built).
The USA has depleted all its economically viable sources of oil and gas, all its remaining sources have woefully low EROI and hence are super costly (energy wise and hence price wise) to extract, process and transport.
Fracked shale oil is nothing like crude oil, it has the API index and volatility of paint thinner, which is why the trains used to transport it are called “bomb” trains. You cannot make diesel, the indispensable workhorse fuel, from fracked shale oil.
Russia, along with the Caspian area, has in aggregate gone past the peak of oil production, with declining EROI (with only a few fields pre-Peak eg Kashagan). However compared with the USA, the Eurasian oil and gas sources have a far higher EROI, which is IMPOSSIBLE for the US to economically compete with. The fact the the USA is now depleted of easy, cheap oil is the reason they are now stealing oil from Syria and also why they hijacked several Iranian oil tankers. Pipeline terrorism was the only way the US could sell uneconomic LNG to Europe, just as provoking a war was the only way the US could “sell” their obsolete old ordnance to Europe. Dirty tricks and devious skulduggery is how the US “free market” and “rule based order” operates, indeed how it has always operated.
The US financial sector: It was the drug crazed dream of the USA that sanctioning Russia would cause Russia to economically collapse which would then spur a coup d’etat against Putin. This goal backfired spectacularly after Russia demanded energy payments in Rubles, which caused the Ruble to appreciate beyond all expectations.
Sanctioning Russia’s fossil fuel exports only caused the European and global price of oil and especially natural gas to skyrocket, leading to a huge financial windfall for Russia, which by now has largely compensated for the US theft of $300 billion of Russia’s foreign reserves. In times of global uncertainty, many nations move their financial assets into US treasury bonds / securities as a default “safe haven” which has kept the US dollar value afloat so far. However those nations now also realize that their savings could be arbitrarily stolen at any time by the US “rules based order”, hence they are figuring out ways to shift their reserves. At present the European currencies have fallen against the USD, primarily as a result of their own energy sanctions against Russia which has caused the recession of their own economies. The European industrial sectors are poised to collapse from energy starvation. Once the BRICS+ currency arrangements and financial systems, which bypass the USD, get up and running, there will be massive flight of away from US bonds and securities and the massive international repatriation of US dollars back to the US, which will result in hyperinflation and devaluation of the US dollar, resulting in their inability to afford any imports. Along with the deindustrialised condition of the USA, resulting in no significant domestic manufacturing, that all spells extreme poverty for “Exceptionalistan”.
In summary: any initial hopes by the US banking/financial sector that they might benefit from the Ukrainian war have at best resulted in the USD remaining neutral so far, but will inevitably lead to the accelerated collapse of the USD.
CONCLUSION: The USA is screwed. Get over it.
Joe Dirt: Flirting at the fairground HD CLIP
COVERT INTEL: New Symbol and Tactical Armbands for “new” Troops into . . . Ukraine
A new Symbol for military vehicles has been spotted near the Ukraine conflict, it is shown below: A triangle with the number “2” inside it. In addition, a new tactical band, is also now being observed on troops near the Ukraine conflict: Solid Red, as seen in the image above.
These symbols and red tactical arm bands are being observed on military vehicles and troops in Ukraine.
In letter to North Korea’s Kim, China’s Xi calls for communication, unity, cooperation
SEOUL – In a letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ahead of a historic congress of the ruling Chinese Communist Party, Chinese President Xi Jinping said it was more important than ever that Beijing and Pyongyang enhance communication, unity and cooperation, North Korea’s state media reported on Sunday.
The letter was in response to congratulations Mr Kim sent for the congress, which is scheduled to begin on Sunday.
Mr Xi is poised to win a third five-year term as general secretary of the ruling Communist Party, the most powerful job in the country, at the congress.
Mr Xi expressed willingness to strengthen the relationship between China and North Korea, and “make a great contribution to providing two countries and their people with greater happiness and defending peace and stability in the region and the rest of the world”, North Korea state news agency KCNA said.
The reported expression of support comes as North Korea tested a record number of ballistic missiles and made preparations to resume nuclear testing for the first time since 2017.
North Korea says its latest military activities, which also included artillery drills and flights by warplanes, are in response to displays of force by South Korea and the United States, which have staged their own military drills to protest the North’s tests.
Kill Bill: Vol. 1 | “My Name Is Buck” (HD) – A Tarantino Film Starring Uma Thurman | 2003
https://youtu.be/2JqFDdvZgHM
What are the challenges that China faces as it tries to become a leading Western-style democracy?
China won’t try to become a Western-style democracy. It tried in 1912 and it ended in total disaster.
There is absolutely no reason whatsoever for China to try again. It has nothing to gain. It’s not worth the risk.
There is nothing wrong with China’s current political system. It works well. It has delivered enormous benefits to the Chinese people…
China built the world’s largest economy by purchasing power parity in just 35 years, starting from a totally impoverished nation.
China finally eradicated extreme poverty in 2020, elevating over 850 million people, according to the World Bank.
China built the world’s most spectacular infrastructure of roads, bridges, high-speed rail, airports, etc.
China built the world’s second largest military, including its own supercarriers (Fujian), stealth aircraft, and hypersonic missiles.
China is at the forefront of space exploration, having built its own navigation satellite system (BeiDou), having landed on the dark side of the moon (Chang’e 4), having landed a rover on Mars (Zhurong), having built its own space station (Tiangong).
China protected it population from COVID-19, keeping the death toll to an astonishingly low 5,226. Compare that to USA’s death toll of 1,090,802.
And China did all this without firing a shot. China hasn’t fought a single war since 1979. Western democracies have been embroiled in wars for decades (Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Ukraine, Yemen, etc.).
The challenge for China, if there is one, is that the Chinese aren’t blind and stupid. They can see clearly what’s wrong with Western-style democracy.
Brilliant discussion of Germany’s announcement it knows who destroyed Nordstream BUT will not disclose…
Brilliant discussion of Germany’s announcement it knows who destroyed Nordstream BUT will not disclose it!! And Sweden will not begin an investigation of Nordstream‘s demise.
UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace takes “emergency trip” to US amid Nuclear war fears
UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace cancelled his appearance in front of the House of Commons Defense Committee on Tuesday and flew to the US for “emergency meetings” in the Pentagon and White House. The fact that he flew, rather than use secure communications, suggests the subject matter is actual nuclear war and they don’t want comms intercepted.
Armed Forces Minister James Heappey said Mr. Wallace was meeting with his US counterpart for “the sort of conversations that [are] beyond belief really, the fact we are at a time when these sorts of conversations are necessary.”
A defense source said: “The Defense Secretary is in Washington DC to discuss shared security concerns, including Ukraine. “He will be visiting his counterpart at the Pentagon and senior figures at the White House.”
[HD] Twin Peaks – Jimmy Scott sings “Sycamore Trees” in the red room
BMW to axe UK production of electric Mini and relocate to China | BMW | The Guardian
BMW is to axe all UK production of the award-winning electric Mini and relocate it to China, dealing a major blow to hopes that Britain could be a global hub for zero-emission vehicle manufacture.
BMW makes 40,000 electric Minis per year at its Cowley factory on the outskirts of Oxford.
In an article published by the Times on Saturday, it was confirmed that BMW Oxford’s production of electric vehicles will end next year as part of plans to reshape the carmaker’s lineup from 2024.
The move is a further blow to the UK’s ambition to become a leader in global electric car manufacturing, following Honda’s decision to quit Britain in 2016.
BMW’s joint venture with Great Wall Motor means their hatchback and small SUV models will now be made in east China, as will the next generation zero-emission Mini Aceman.
A new, electric version of the largest Mini model, the Countryman, will, BMW has confirmed, be manufactured at its plant in Leipzig.
Let’s focus on the period from 1979 to today when China made its spectacular economic rise. China did not fight a single war, whereas USA fought dozens of wars and in the process caused unimaginable death and destruction. This is the very definition of evil.
During this same period, USA sanctioned dozens of countries for not complying with US foreign policy and in the process caused untold human suffering. This is the very definition of evil.
During this same period, USA ran the Guantanamo Bay camp which imprisoned around 780 Muslims and tortured dozens of them. This is well-documented and is the very definition of evil.
China has been accused of running “concentration camps” in Xinjiang. However, these camps were vocational schools that gave Uyghurs employment opportunities to live better lives and hopefully make them give up their separatist leanings. Even if you think they were coerced to attend, it’s a damn sight better than being tortured. The Uyghur participants were allowed to go home on weekends to be with their families. What horrors!
Over the past decade, USA supported an evil regime in Ukraine that practiced ethnic cleansing in Donbas. USA pushed Russia into fighting a proxy war thanks to NATO expansion that threatened the very existence of Russia. USA kept the war going, despite Russia’s and Ukraine’s desire for diplomacy, and in the process caused countless deaths. This is the very definition of evil.
Now, USA is trying to foment another proxy war, this time with China over Taiwan. China does not want war but USA is relentless. Pure evil.
What has China done that is so evil?
China is overtaking USA economically and technologically.
China is helping developing countries build their infrastructure through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
China is forging economic and security alliances such as BRICS, RCEP and SCO.
China is inviting all nations to participate in its space station program, including the United States (which banned China from the ISS in 2011).
China is protecting its territorial integrity in South China Sea and Taiwan. To do this, China is building up its military.
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This kind of evil is nothing compared to American evil.
NATO Starts Nuclear Drill “Steadfast Noon” with 60 aircraft, B-52 bombers and other missile carriers
NATO on Monday launched its regular nuclear deterrence drills in western Europe.
The 30-nation alliance has stressed that the “routine, recurring training activity” — which runs until October 30 — was planned before Moscow invaded Ukraine and is not linked to the current situation.
It will involve US B-52 long-range bombers, and up to 60 aircraft in total will take part in training flights over Belgium, the United Kingdom and the North Sea.
The nuclear drills – which do not involve live bombs – are taking place amid heightened tensions after Russia repeatedly threatened nuclear strikes in Ukraine following major military setbacks on the battlefield there.
“Steadfast Noon” is likely to coincide with Moscow’s own annual nuclear drills, dubbed “Grom,” which are normally conducted in late October and in which Russia tests its nuclear-capable bombers, submarines and missiles.
The drills that will involve 14 countries and up to 60 aircraft, including the most advanced fighter jets on the market and U.S. B-52 long-range bombers that will fly in from Minot Air Base in North Dakota, the statement said.
This drill takes place every year, like Russia does, but always over different countries and locations. This time it involves locations & training flights to be conducted over Belgium, Great Britain and the North Sea.
Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man (5/12) Movie CLIP – Talk is Cheap (1991) HD
What is the situation with democracy in China?
It’s very good. China is a truly democratic nation. However, China’s democracy does not hew to the Western model of democracy which is sadly broken.
German companies pour more investment in China, as ‘decoupling’ hype wanes – Global Times
Despite some German politicians and media outlets that hype an industrial “decoupling” from China, German enterprises have been continuously investing in China, attracted by the enormous size of the Chinese market.
The latest example is Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW), a German state-owned investment and development bank, which will lend 69.52 million euros ($67.75 million) for a railway project linking North China’s Tianjin city and Beijing Daxing International Airport. The loan term is 15 years, including a 5-year grace period, China’s Ministry of Finance (MOF) said on Sunday.
The total investment in the project amounts to 11.65 billion yuan ($1.64 billion), MOF said.
If a project is financed by German banks, chances are large that it is also a “sweet pastry” for the global capital markets, Chen Jia, an independent research fellow on international strategy, told the Global Times on Sunday.
Chen pointed out that Germany has been attaching great importance to China’s infrastructure sector when it comes to investment, because China’s infrastructure projects are well known for stable, long-term investment returns.
In the first half of 2022, German companies’ direct investment in China hit a record high, surpassing the level of tens of billions of euros, according to a report by the German Institute for Economic Research, more commonly known as DIW Berlin, which was released in August.
Do you think that many Europeans are in some way jealous of Americans? Like they feel Americans have it too good. Honestly.
Let me see.
I get five weeks paid holiday leave.
I am entitled to 9 months paid maternity leave, then 3 months unpaid, (men get 2 weeks paid paternity) my job would be waiting for me when I returned.
I was off sick for 4 months, I was paid full pay and I didn’t lose my job even though I couldn’t return to doing the work I did before, an alternative role was found for me.
My company can’t sack me as I am now disabled.
When I was off sick I spent 3 weeks in hospital, I had emergency surgery followed by care in hospital transfer by ambulance to a convalescent hospital to help me recover and since the physiotherapy and lots of medication, the only part of this I paid for is about £110 a YEAR to cover the cost of ALL medication.
I live in a country where religious nuts can’t make laws.
I live in a country where death by shooting is rare.
I live in a country where women can make choices about their own body
My country isn’t perfect but I am happy living here and I am definitely not jealous of people living in USA
Do they have a president for life now?
No. Xi Jinping can be voted out of office in the future if he fails to perform well.
China is not the only country with no term limits. There’s also Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and UK, for example. Tell me, is Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau PM for life?
They’re STILL Doing it: BOSTON UNIVERSITY ‘CREATES’ NEW COVID STRAIN WITH ‘80% KILL RATE’
With life returning to normal as Covid-19 wanes, a new Covid strain which has 80% kill rate has been CREATED in the United States.
A team of Boston University scientists claim that they have made a hybrid virus — combining Omicron and the original Wuhan Beta strain — that killed 80 per cent of mice in a study.
Experts have slammed the scientists for “playing with fire” and engaging in such “dangerous virus manipulation” research which has not been peer-reviewed.
Professor Shmuel Shapira, a leading scientist in the Israeli Government, said: ‘This should be totally forbidden, it’s playing with fire.’
There are theories that a virus manipulation research in China may have started the pandemic. A lab in China’s Wuhan, where the coronavirus was first detected, carried out similar research on bat coronaviruses.
Dr Richard Ebright, a chemist at Rutgers University in New Jersey said the research is a clear example of gain of function research. “If we are to avoid a next lab-generated pandemic, it is imperative that oversight of enhanced potential pandemic pathogen research be strengthened,” he added.
Researchers extracted Omicron’s spike protein — the unique structure that binds to and invades human cells — and attached it to the original wildtype strain that first emerged in Wuhan at the start of the pandemic. The scientists call this new hybrid virus “Omicron-S”
The researchers looked at how mice fared against the new hybrid strain compared to the original Omicron variant. “In…mice, while Omicron causes mild, non-fatal infection, the Omicron S-carrying virus inflicts severe disease with a mortality rate of 80 percent,” they wrote in the paper.
However, rodents survived and experienced only ‘mild’s symptoms when they were exposed to the standard Omicron strain.
“It is especially concerning that this new US-government ePPP research – like the previous US-government ePPP research on chimeric SARS-related coronaviruses at Wuhan Institute of Virology that may have caused the pandemic – appears not to have undergone the prior risk-benefit review mandated under US-government policies. If we are to avoid a next lab-generated pandemic, it is imperative that oversight of ePPP research be strengthened,” Ebright said.
We Were Lied To About Vaccines ADMITS Pfizer!
Forever…
Xi Jinping Breaks His Non-Militarization Pledge in the Spratlys
What's China supposed to do? Wait until the British gunboats return before starting to defend itself?
Earlier this week, satellite imagery released by a U.S. think tank shows, for the first time, evidence of military point-defense capabilities on various China-controlled features in the Spratly Islands. The Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies found that “China appears to have built significant point-defense capabilities, in the form of large anti-aircraft guns and probable close-in weapons systems (CIWS), at each of its outposts in the Spratly Islands.”
If so, why do people want to go to China if they don’t have the same freedoms as in the United States of America?
China provides different kinds of freedom. Frankly, US freedoms are worth shit.
Chinese freedoms:
freedom from dying in a pandemic
freedom to have food on the table and a roof over your head — in USA, over half a million Americans are homeless
freedom to have affordable health care and education
freedom from rampant and random gun violence — in USA, mass shootings on a daily basis!
freedom from systemic racism — in USA, BLM and “I can’t breathe”
freedom from mass incarceration — in USA, the highest number and the highest rate in the world!
freedom from opioid addiction on an epidemic scale
freedom to have a living wage — in USA, minimum wage is still stuck at 1960s level
So please tell me, what freedoms do Americans have that are worth anything?
Cheesy Hamburger Casserole
This Cheesy Hamburger Casserole is just as easy to make as Hamburger Helper, and you can control the ingredients. Great weekday meal and the kids love it!
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Ingredients
1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
1 large onion, diced
1 tablespoon canola oil
salt, to taste
pepper to taste
1/2 teaspoon oregano
2 cloves chopped garlic
1/2 teaspoon paprika
one 28-ounce can pureed tomatoes, or your favorite sauce
16 ounce box macaroni noodles
1/2 cup each grated cheddar and mozzarella cheeses
Instructions
Sweat the onions in the oil with a three-fingered pinch of salt. Add the beef and cook it, breaking it up as you do. Add another three-fingered pinch of salt or two, along with the dry seasonings. Add the tomatoes and bring to a simmer, then reduce the heat to low and cook for an hour.
Cook the macaroni in boiling water till it’s half done. Drain it and add it to the tomatoes. (I wanted this to stretch into two meals, so I used the whole box, but if you want your dish to be very tomatoey and beefy, you might want to add only half the macaroni). Stir it into the sauce. Taste it and add cheese and cover or transfer it to a large baking dish and cover it with foil. It can be refrigerated for up to two days, or frozen a few weeks.
If refrigerated bake it in a 400 degree oven till it’s piping hot (about 45 minutes if it’s cold to room temperature). Just before you’re ready to eat, remove the foil, cover macaroni with the cheese and broil till the cheese is bubbly.
US inflation numbers are really bad. Biden says everything is under control
Really bad.
Three Good Pieces On The War In Ukraine
I am busy with renovation work but here are three good pieces about the war in Ukraine:
> Plainly put, the Europeans have been nicely played by the Americans. India should take note of the US’ sense of entitlement. Basically, the Biden administration created a contrived energy crisis whose real aim is war profiteering.
...
India should expect the defeat of the US and NATO, which completes the transition to a multipolar world order. <
> Increasingly, European publics are likely to blame the United States for policies that fuel inflation and bring on economic recession, especially as their currencies weaken against the dollar. The U.S. sanctions on Russia will be seen by many as self-serving attempts to dominate Western Europe.A new iron curtain is now being imposed on Russia — this time by Western policy — even as the United States announces more measures to confront and “contain” an assertive China. This will result, inevitably, in more cooperation between Russia and China. Also, the increasing use of economic sanctions to achieve political purposes will encounter push-back with a greater volume of international trade conducted in national currencies other than the U.S. dollar.As Europe is weakened and more countries suffer from U.S. sanctions, coalitions to resist U.S. dominance will flourish. Geopolitical competition will take precedence over action to deal with common problems, even as international conflict intensifies them.What all the parties to the conflict in Ukraine seem to have forgotten is that the future of mankind will not be determined by where international borders are drawn — these have never been static in history and doubtless will continue to change from time to time. The future of mankind will be determined by whether nations learn to settle their differences peacefully. <
> What makes the "I stand with Ukraine" version of the Twitter mob unique is that it brings together two forces that used to be sworn enemies of one another—the woke Left and the neoconservative Right. It turns out they share many of the same loathsome ideological and personality traits, and have a similar "slash and burn" approach to political engagement. It's a new political marriage.
...
This shift is disorienting, but on a purely tactical level, it makes a certain amount of sense. Neocons invented the cancellation game before there was even a Twitter board on which to play it. Neocons arrogantly dismiss the other side's point of view as argued in bad faith and not worth considering, and label anyone who dares question the cause as a heretic or traitor.
...
Warping the debate in this way allows delusional and contradictory thinking to go unchallenged. Thus, we get the argument that Putin is a madman who will kill indiscriminately to achieve his aims—but he is also somehow definitely bluffing about using nuclear weapons. And he's only using that bluff because he's losing the war—but if he's not stopped in Ukraine, he will go on to conquer the rest of Europe. Putin's regime must fall because he has killed or jailed all the liberal reformers and yoked himself to a hardline Far Right, but somehow he will be replaced by a liberal reformer when his regime collapses.It's nonsensical, and a real debate would expose some of the delusions in this thinking. But we aren't allowed to have one.As long as this woke-neocon alliance is allowed to set the terms of the debate, we will continue to see a one-way ratchet toward greater and more dangerous escalation of this conflict. <
Russia’s Deputy Chairman of its state Federation Council (Senate) had strong words for Israel about supplying weapons to Ukraine . . .
Dmitry Medvedev doesn’t post a lot on his social media (Telegram) account, but when he does . . . Oh Boy!
Writing on his channel Monday, Medvedev put it blunty:
"Israel seems to be going to supply weapons to the Kyiv regime. A very reckless move. It will destroy all interstate relations between our countries. I'm not talking about the fact that the Bandera geeks were Nazis, and remained so. Just look at the symbolism of their modern henchmen. If they are supplied with weapons, then it is time for Israel to declare Bandera and Shukhevych their heroes..."
When Medvedev says “It will destroy all interstate relations between our countries.” he means it.
Israel is sleepwalking right towards Armageddon.
Eggs Benedict
Hot buttered English muffins, Canadian-style bacon, and poached eggs are topped with a heavenly drizzle of hollandaise sauce. Breakfast does not get any better than a classic Eggs Benedict!
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FOR THE EGGS:
Salt
2 Tbsp. white vinegar
4 eggs
2 English muffins, split
3 Tbsp. butter
4 slices Canadian bacon
FOR THE HOLLANDAISE:
12 Tbsp. unsalted butter
3 egg yolks
2-3 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
For the eggs: Bring a medium skillet of salted water to a simmer over medium heat; add vinegar. Crack eggs into 4 small dishes. Slip eggs into simmering water, turn off heat, cover, and cook until whites are just firm, 4 minutes. Transfer eggs with a slotted spoon to a bowl of ice water and set aside.
Preheat oven to 200 F. Toast muffins, then spread with some of the butter. Transfer to 2-4 plates; keep warm in oven. Melt remaining butter in a medium skillet over medium heat. Fry bacon until browned, about 5 minutes. Place bacon on muffins; keep warm in oven.
For the hollandaise: Melt butter in a small pan over low heat. Whisk egg yolks, lemon juice, 1 tbsp. water, and salt and pepper to taste in a heavy, nonreactive saucepan until pale yellow; then cook, whisking constantly over medium-low heat, until whisk leaves a trail in eggs, about 8 minutes. Remove pan from heat. Add butter 1 tbsp. at a time, whisking constantly, until sauce thickens; gradually pour in remaining butter, whisking constantly, leaving milky solids behind.
Reheat eggs in a skillet of simmering water for 1 minute; transfer with a slotted spoon to paper towels to drain. To serve, carefully place egg on bacon, and spoon some hollandaise on top. Garnish with parsley, if you like.
It’s Official: It’s ALL a Lie | Redacted with Natali and Clayton Morris
What is interesting about this video is that it deconstructs the propaganda about Ukraine. It’s fascinating, and disgusting at the same time. The intro is LONG. Start around 37 minutes.
I miss an A&W root beer in a frosty glass, served in the drive in. And the waitresses that come to the side and serve it to you with the piping hot french fries.
For the longest time, I watched as all the local fast food restaurants were bought up by the big chains of McDonald’s, Burger King, Big Boy, and Jax. Very few remained. Mostly in out of the way small towns.
But when I moved to Milford, Massachusetts, there were a number that remained. And they still kept the old traditions; the girls on skates. The door side, curb side service. The nice cute dresses and all the rest. I’ll be truthful, I’d pay MORE for the experience instead of a standard corporate fast food menu.
Say…
How do you all like the corporate world of big social media? Big government? Big arms manufacturers, Big trolls, and all the rest? Is it really making your life better?
I don’t think so.
Here’s some articles of the signs of the times (not the falon gong bullshit). The world is changing rapidly, and your are going to see a peak out mid to the end of next year. Be ready…
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Pulp Fiction: I’m Winston Wolfe, I solve problems (HD CLIP)
Banana-Chocolate Chip Muffins
All natural fat free yogurt helps make these muffins moist and delicious!
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Ingredients
3/4 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2 small)
1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil
3/4 cup Yoplait® All Natural Fat Free plain yogurt (from 2-lb container)
1 egg
1 3/4 cups Gold Medal™ all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup chocolate chips
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The Food Crisis Of 2023 Is Going To Be Far Worse Than Most People Would Dare To Imagine
It's NOT a global crisis. It's a regional crisis centered in the Western nations. -MM
I am trying to sound the alarm about this as loudly as I can. The global food crisis just continues to intensify, and things are going to get really bad in 2023. As you will see below, two-thirds of European fertilizer production has already been shut down, currency problems are causing massive headaches for poor nations that need to import food, global weather patterns continue to be completely crazy, and the bird flu is killing millions upon millions of chickens and turkeys all over the planet. On top of everything else, the war in Ukraine is going to restrict the flow of agricultural and fertilizer exports from that part of the world for a long time to come, because there is no end to the war in sight. In essence, we are facing a “perfect storm” for global food production, and that “perfect storm” is only going to get worse in the months ahead.
Global hunger has been on the rise for years, and the UN World Food Program is warning that we are heading for “yet another year of record hunger”…
The world is at risk of yet another year of record hunger as the global food crisis continues to drive yet more people into worsening levels of severe hunger, warns the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in a call for urgent action to address the root causes of today’s crisis ahead of World Food Day on October 16.The global food crisis is a confluence of competing crises – caused by climate shocks, conflict and economic pressures – that has pushed the number of severely hungry people around the world from 282 million to 345 million in just the first months of 2022. The U.N. World Food Programme scaled up food assistance targets to reach a record 153 million people in 2022, and by mid-year had already delivered assistance to 111.2 million people.
Eventually, there will be billions of people that don’t have enough to eat on a regular basis.
In all my years, I have never seen hunger spread so rapidly. In fact, there are large numbers of people that are now facing starvation in the backyard of the United States…
The United Nations is warning that hunger in one of Haiti’s biggest slums is at catastrophic levels, as gang violence and economic crises push the country to “breaking point”.Nearly 20,000 people in the capital’s impoverished Cité Soleil area have dangerously little access to food and could face starvation, the UN says,Across Haiti, almost five million are struggling with malnutrition.“Haiti is facing a humanitarian catastrophe,” a top UN official said.
But most people in the western world won’t care until they are going hungry themselves.
Unfortunately, that day may be a lot closer than a lot of people ever imagined.
Right now, a whopping two-thirds of all fertilizer production capacity in Europe has already been shut down because of the skyrocketing price of natural gas…
Europe’s fertilizer crunch is deepening with more than two-thirds of production capacity halted by soaring gas costs, threatening farmers and consumers far beyond the region’s borders.Russia’s squeeze on gas shipments in the wake of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine is hurting industries across Europe. But fertilizer companies are being especially affected because gas is both a key feedstock and a source of power for the sector.
There simply will not be enough fertilizer for European farmers in 2023.
And there won’t be enough for everyone else that depends on fertilizer production from Europe.
This is a really big deal, because without fertilizer we would only be able to feed approximately half the planet.
Do you want to volunteer to be among those that don’t get enough food?
Meanwhile, the surging U.S. dollar is causing immense headaches for food importers all over the world…
In Ghana, importers are warning about shortages in the run up to Christmas. Thousands of containers loaded with food recently piled up at ports in Pakistan, while private bakers in Egypt raised bread prices after some flour mills ran out of wheat because it was stranded at customs.Around the world, countries that rely on food imports are grappling with a destructive combination of high interest rates, a soaring dollar and elevated commodity prices, eroding their power to pay for goods that are typically priced in the greenback. Dwindling foreign-currency reserves in many cases has reduced access to dollars, and banks are slow in releasing payments.
The value of the U.S. dollar has been spiking because the Federal Reserve has been raising interest rates.
When the value of the dollar goes up, poor countries have to pay a lot more for food in their own local currencies.
So the Federal Reserve is actually making the global food crisis worse by hiking rates.
But they are going to keep doing it anyway.
At the same time, global weather patterns continue to go completely haywire.
This summer we witnessed the worst drought in Chinese history, Europe endured the worst drought in 500 years, and the western U.S. continued to suffer through the worst multi-year megadrought in at least 1,200 years.
Needless to say, all of this drought is absolutely devastating agricultural production.
According to the Washington Post, “more than 80 percent of the U.S. is facing troubling dry conditions” right now. In the middle of the country, this has caused a horrific crisis for barge traffic along the Mississippi River…
The barge industry is quite important. It’s crucial for moving aluminum, petroleum, fertilizer and coal, particularly on the Mississippi River and its tributaries. About 60% of the grain and 54% of the soybeans for U.S. export are moved via the noble barge. Barges touch more than a third of our exported coal as well.Right now the barge industry — and all of us who depend on its wares — is mired in a crisis. Water levels on the Mississippi River Basin are at its lowest point in more than a decade.
Last week, approximately 2,000 barges were struck at one point.
Sadly, very dry conditions are expected “over the next several weeks”, and so things are not likely to get better any time soon…
Low water levels and dredging shuttered barge traffic heading north and south on the Mississippi last week. At one point, more than 100 towboats and 2,000 barges were stuck waiting. The blocked-off section of the river, between Louisiana and Mississippi, reopened Monday. Traffic is limited to one way, according to Petty Officer Jose Hernandez of the U.S. Coast Guard.That’s certainly better than zero-way traffic, but the Mississippi is still expected to become even more parched. Lisa Parker, a representative of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, told FreightWaves that drier conditions are expected over the next several weeks. The river is slurping up water reserves right now, Parker added, but those reserves will eventually run out.
As a result of this crisis, rates to move goods by barge have gone through the roof, and we could ultimately see massive amounts of agricultural produce rot before it can get to consumers…
Since many barges are stuck and cannot move at all, barge prices are reportedly hyperinflating. As of this writing, the highest USD per ton price shown is $90.44. Prior to the massive spike, it was under $10 to move a ton of goods.The vast majority of the now-stranded bean piles and other farm goods were intended for major export terminals in the Gulf of Mexico. While at least some of them appear to be covered and ventilated, how long will they really last before spoiling?
On another note, we continue to see crabs die off at a staggering rate.
In fact, it is now being reported that the winter harvest of snow crab in Alaska has been suspended because the crab population has experienced a catastrophic decline…
Alaska officials have canceled several crab harvests in a conservation effort that sent shock waves through the crabbing industry in the region.Officials canceled the fall Bristol Bay red king crab harvest and, for the first time on record, are also holding off on the winter harvest of snow crab, according to multiple reports.The decision comes after stark recent population declines of the animals. Data from an NOAA eastern Bering Sea survey shows a 92% decline in overall snow crab abundance from 2018 to 2021, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game confirmed to USA TODAY. An 83% decline occurred from 2018 to 2022, as some small crab entered the population in 2022, according to the department’s Division of Commercial Fisheries.
And thanks to the global bird flu pandemic, birds continue to die in staggering numbers as well.
If you can believe it, nearly 100 million chickens and turkeys have already been wiped out during this pandemic in the United States and Europe alone, and experts are warning that this pandemic will only intensify now that cold weather is arriving.
Those of you that have been to the grocery store lately already know that egg prices, chicken prices and turkey prices have surged to absolutely crazy levels. At this point, prices are so high that one recent survey found that one out of every four Americans plans to skip Thanksgiving this year in order to save money…
One in five Americans are unsure if they will be able to cover the costs of Thanksgiving this year, and one in four plan to skip it to save money, a recent Personal Capital survey found.The state of economic affairs in President Joe Biden’s America is affecting Americans’ holiday plans. According to the survey, one quarter of Americans are planning to skip Thanksgiving this year to save money, and one in five “doubted they would have enough money to cover the costs of Thanksgiving this year.”More specifically, one-third expect their 2022 Thanksgiving dinner to be “smaller,” and 45 percent, overall, said they are “finically stressed” by Thanksgiving.
The comment came during a conversation with a reporter at a Baskin Robbins in Portland, Oregon, who asked the president if he had any worry about the strength of the U.S. dollar amid rising inflation.With a chocolate chip ice cream cone in his hand, Biden answered: “I’m not concerned about the strength of the dollar. I’m concerned about the rest of the world. Our economy is strong as hell.”
You believe him, don’t you?
Our leaders would have us believe that all of the problems that we are facing right now are just temporary and that a golden new age of peace and prosperity is just around the corner.
But if that is true, why are they so eager to have us eat bugs?
A tremendous amount of time, energy and resources is being put behind a campaign to promote insects as one of the solutions to the rapidly growing global food crisis.
But I don’t plan to eat bugs, and I am sure that you don’t either.
Unfortunately, there isn’t going to be nearly enough food for everyone on the planet in 2023, and millions upon millions of deeply suffering individuals will soon be desperately hungry.
They can push bug eating all they want, but that isn’t going to fix our problems. Right now, they have absolutely no solutions that will prevent large numbers of people from starving to death during the difficult years that are in front of us.
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Harry Tuttle…heating engineer at your service (or Have you got a 27B-6?) – [Brazil movie]
Declan Hayes
October 13, 2022
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To call the savages General Armageddon faced in Syria or the Nazis he now faces in Ukraine devils would be to libel devils, Declan Hayes writes.
General Sergey Surovikin, aka General Armageddon, the new commander of Russian air, land and sea forces serving on the Ukrainian front, is blessed to have served alongside Syria’s Brigadier General Soheil Hassan, aka The Tiger, whom the late Robert Fisk said was one of the scariest men he had ever met in his long and very colourful life.
Sadly, when one is faced with hordes of jacked up jihadists or NATO funded Nazis, one needs the Tiger, General Armageddon and the Armed Forces of Syria and Russia they command to save the day, as the songs of John Lennon and George Harrison just don’t cut it.
To read NATO’s accounts of these two heroes, who can be seen photographed together in this article, one would imagine they obliterate their enemies for fun and not out of necessity.
In that, NATO’s media jackals deliberately conflate these men with their enemies, NATO’s proxies in both Syria and Ukraine, whose war crimes are as well documented as they are ignored by NATO’s media and political mouthpieces.
General Hassan’s Tiger Forces, as the cutting edge of the Syrian resistance, drove NATO’s killers out of each of their bolt holes, one after the other.
Their patriotic campaign was made much easier by the logistics and other practical support Iran and Russia gave them and the irregulars supporting them. At the heart of that support was General Surovikin, aka General Armageddon, a veteran of the Chechen and other campaigns.
Because it suggests that he obliterates all that stands in his way, Surovikin’s Armageddon NATO nickname is infinitely more revealing of NATO’s hypocrisy than it is of how either Surovikin or the front line Russian forces he now commands fight their wars. It is the Americans and their British and other toadies who fight like they are The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse as witnessed by their shock and awe terror campaign on Iraq and how they levelled the Iraqi city of Fallujah and the Syrian city of Raqqa and all therein.
The Americans destroyed Raqqa because the combined forces of Russia and Syria, along with their gallant allies from the Fertile Belt, stood on the verge of victory.
The Americans destroyed their own expendable stooges so they, in Syria’s east, in conjunction with Israel’s air force in the west and south, could continue to pulverize the women and children of Syria and steal their resources.
General Armageddon’s Russians, on the other hand, boxed differently.
They brokered regional peace deals throughout Syria and even allowed NATO’s cut-throat retreat on the green evacuation buses to Idlib. But even there, NATO’s ISIS operatives could not act honorably and there were several instances of those savages murdering the drivers, with their most egregious crime being the slaughter of 120 Shias, over 80 of them being children, in the 15 April 2017 al Rashidin bus bombing, the facts of which Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney and NATO’s other morally challenged assets in Ireland and Syria are hell bent on suppressing.
To call these savages General Armageddon faced in Syria or the Nazis he now faces in Ukraine devils would be to libel devils. This is not to say that the Russian Armed Forces are cuddly creatures who spend their down time strumming John Lennon and George Harrison numbers on their ukuleles.
They are not.
What they are is a disciplined fighting force who give their enemies plenty of prior warnings before they take their gloves off and put their knuckle dusters on.
NATO, on the other hand, knocks out civilian structure and obliterates anything that moves on day one..
That is what they did in North Korea, Raqqa, Fallujah and countless other places that need not now detain us, except to say that General Armageddon’s forces have not yet brought such apocalyptic firepower to bear in either Syria or Ukraine.
This is to bring us to the important point that we are not armchair Napoleons who can opine with any authority on what the forces of Russia, Syria or Iran’s Quds force should do on any of their various fronts. Though the Tiger likes his poetry, war is not a time of poetry books but a time of strategy, tactics and cold, hard and calculated moves with the pieces one has. It is a time for the Wagner Group, Kadyrov’s Chechens, Hassan’s Tiger Forces and General Armageddon to do what they excel at and, under General Armageddon’s command, to do it in Wagnerian harmony.
This is not to write off Lennon’s Give Peace A Chance or Harrison’s Bangladesh songs but to sing with the Byrds, that “there is a time for every purpose under heaven, a time of love, a time of hate, a time of war, a time of peace”. NATO likes a good war, as long as it can profit from the carnage and its own military aged youngsters don’t spit the dummy. That is why they expend so much resources on cross wiring our youth.
Though the time for peace is predicated on other variables we elucidate below, first see how NATO has thoroughly permeated modern culture to stop peace getting its chance. Don’t even bother looking at that Irish embarrassment Bono sucking up to Zelensky in Kiev or the Bush organized crime family in America. Instead, like the Byrds, “turn, turn, turn” and look at the BBC infiltrating Liverpool’s Kop (called after Spion Kop of Boer genocide infamy) to hijack a vibrant people’s culture they obviously knew absolutely nothing about and, like Hitler and Mussolini (forget that Duke of Wellington public schoolboy crap) before them, cared about only in so far as it could further their imperial designs, in banning Russia from Qatar 2002, as much as politically emasculating England’s gullible youth from 1964 onwards. NATO’s BBC parasites have warped the Beatles’ songs of peace not only in Liverpool and in Belmarsh Prison where, Julian Assange, the truest of today’s peace advocates, is incarcerated in a dungeon that should instead hold John Bolton, Tony Blair, Bill Clinton and the other lickspittles of NATO’s evil empire.
Though it is true that the genie who is Julian Assange lies incarcerated, if the barbarians in His Majesty’s Foreign Office, in MI5 and in their equivalent American and Australian groupings reading this do not know what powers a genie possesses, let me explain. Because prophets like Assange who speak truth to power show how flimsy such power really is, if and when youth’s idols rally behind Assange’s banner of truth and follow the examples of George Harrison, John Lennon, Roger Waters, Muhammad Ali and many more like them, then NATO’s power will crumble like the ongoing ephemeral nightmare it is.
So, welcome to our Apocalypse, General Armageddon,.
For our young men to abandon their football terraces and X boxes to see John Lennon’s vision of giving peace a chance, the vision Rachel Corrie and so many others died for and that Julian Assange is being slowly murdered for, the entire civilized world needs you, General Armageddon, to finish your morning coffee and do what you and the Tiger do best.
God speed.
Labyrinth – As The World Falls Down (David Bowie)
Davor Slobodanovich Vuyachich
October 14, 2022
NATO, apart from being a fake defense alliance and collective security system, is not only a company in the business of wars and arms sales.
In November 2019, French President Macron warned his European allies that NATO was in a state of brain death. Maria Zakharova, the spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, reacted quickly at the time, asserting that Macron had given a very accurate description of the situation in NATO. Although Macron, speaking of NATO’s brain death, was referring primarily to American arbitrariness and the tendency of the USA not to consult with its European and other allies, the diagnosis he gave three years ago remains completely valid to this day.
NATO is a brainless monster that wastes human lives with the same ease with which it wastes the taxpayer funds of the member states of that infamous military alliance. NATO’s official budget for this year amounts to 1.7 billion dollars for military needs and an additional 328 million dollars for the operation of its civilian structures. These figures may actually, seem quite modest when compared to this year’s British and American military budgets, which amount to £48 billion and a whopping $800.85 billion, respectively. However, NATO is a tool of war in the hands of the U. S. and the UK anyway, and it is impossible to separate one from the other, so these budgets simply have to be added together and considered as a single budget.
NATO, apart from being a fake defense alliance and collective security system, is not only a company in the business of wars and arms sales. More than anything else, NATO is a tool of global terror, military pressure, coercion, and blackmail and as such, sooner or later it had to cross lines that can only be crossed once. Like an arrow that has been irreversibly shot and is flying toward Russia, NATO has shown that it does not have mechanisms for maneuvering, retreating, and stopping. In short, one gets the impression that there is no longer any moral or at least rational control over NATO, that is, that it is really brain-dead and therefore very dangerous for the survival of civilization and humanity itself. According to the official version of the interpretation of the global political reality, the democratically elected political leadership of NATO members is the one that manages this military alliance and makes decisions that are an expression of the collective will, based on the principle of consensus.
The official interpretation of the way decisions are made in NATO, unfortunately, is a sweet fairy tale that only the ignorant and naive can believe today. The countries of the European Union and other NATO members, with a few exceptions, are ruled by teams of politicians who are nothing more than ordinary American agents of influence. Today, historians know that after the end of the Second World War, the CIA rigged elections in Italy for decades in order to prevent the completely legal and democratic coming to power of left-wing political parties that were pro-Soviet and that would have led Italy out of NATO and the Western military-political bloc. If those early, initial operations of the CIA in Italy were an exception in their beginning, today they have become the rule, and there is no doubt that overseas power centers completely control the European political scene. If anyone doubts such claims, they should think for a moment and compare, for example, two British prime ministers, Winston Churchill, a top intellectual, charismatic and energetic person, and the current prime minister, Liz Truss, whose intellectual abilities and education, to be very compassionate and considerate since we are talking about a lady, incomparably more modest and beyond any doubt, far below the level required of serious statespeople.
It would be also a crime to compare a political giant like De Gaulle, who in 1966 far-sightedly and wisely withdrew France from NATO membership, and Macron, even though the latter was clever enough to set a brave and quite accurate diagnosis of the disease that NATO is suffering from. So, the USA, or rather, let’s be honest, that notorious American-British deep state, through one of its many tools of terror, that is, through the CIA, practiced the art of soft coups on the Italians, and it was such a successful endeavor that it continued to be used throughout Europe. Thus, in Europe, as well as in the rest of the world under American control, democracy has been de facto abolished. And the clearer it was to the ordinary citizens that democracy was killed, the more often and with Goebbelsian persistence it was mentioned in the empty speeches of European political quasi-leaders — the spineless American puppets. Overseas oligarchs did not want to ever again take risks with strong leaders such as De Gaulle and Churchill, people who had not only charisma but also their own strong political will and decisively acted only in accordance with the interests of their nations.
That’s why those powerful people from the darkest geopolitical shadows, those mysterious masters of our destinies who firmly rule the collective military-political West and their servants, replaced the former authentic national leaders with wretched clowns and third-rate actors. They can easily control those empty-headed puppets exactly because they finance their coming to power and maintain them in those positions for as long as necessary. Despite all the pedantry and thorough work, and such terrifying machinery as the CIA and MI6, it still happened that some people of firm convictions, determined to protect national interests at any cost, broke away from them. That is why Erdogan in Turkey and Orban in Hungary continue to defy the interests of the overseas deep state, even though their homelands are still members of NATO. Let’s remember how in 2016, a military coup was attempted against Erdogan and his legal government with the use of parts of the ground army, gendarmerie, tanks, navy and aviation, which were organized, controlled, and led by a corrupt part of the Turkish army officers. It is very possible that in the near future, similar scenarios are being prepared in Hungary, for Viktor Orban and let us believe that he will be ready to deal with them. Despite those two exceptions to the rule, the truth remains that the control of all other members of the European Union and NATO by the elites for the U. S. and the UK is complete.
This leads us to the simple conclusion that there is no control of the democratically elected leadership of the NATO member states over the largest military alliance in the history of mankind, just as after all, there is no democracy in those countries with a few mentioned exceptions. Macron was right; NATO is an organization without a functional brain. But if that is so, the question arises, who in that case has all this terrifying military power at his disposal? Is American President Biden, as the head of the most powerful state of that alliance, the person who can decide on peace and war, on the continuation of life, or on the increasingly certain nuclear Armageddon that he himself warned about a few days ago? If it is true that Biden is the strongman we are looking for, then Macron’s diagnosis of NATO’s brain death would find a more than appropriate tragicomic coincidence in the evident deterioration of Biden’s mental health. The signs of his illness from Alzheimer’s disease or some other form of degenerative neurological disease followed by advanced dementia are more than noticeable and clear to everyone, both his political opponents and allies. Because of his deplorable mental state, the Republican camp is increasingly announcing that Biden will be impeached at the first opportunity.
However, Biden is not that dark lord of NATO, because such great power could never be in the hands of a politician completely deprived of not only health but also the strength of character, ideological consistency, political will, and charisma. No, Sleeping Joe is just a helpless figurehead in the hands of the really powerful people, which we will unhesitatingly expose in this article. Of course, he is neither the first nor the last American president who only pretends to be that. The last American president who actually exercised all the powers given to him by the U. S. Constitution, who served until the end of his term, and left the White House alive, was Dwight Eisenhower. The next man to try to be the real president of the USA, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, was assassinated before the end of his first term. So, American presidents long ago became puppets with no real power in the hands of the infamous American deep state. That state within the state was created for their needs by the alienated plutocratic elites, which is made up of the crème de la crème of the Jewish business lobby, joined with a subordinate partner, the Anglo-Saxon business lobby, and a multitude of smaller partners.
So, we can safely say that the circles dominated by the Zionist and WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) powers have real and full control over NATO. Oh, thank God, you’ll say, if only it wasn’t a demented Biden who could push the red buttons by mistake, and you’d be dead wrong. The ruling clan is not an association of young, cheerful and energetic people full of life, but rather a gerontocratic club. They are mostly people who, despite having powers worthy of demigods, have of course, not been able to defeat their own transience and mortality. In order to better understand the psychology of these gerontocrats, you need to abstract for a moment and imagine how you lived a life full of seductive excitements in which everything was always within your reach; from the most glamorous sexual partners, mansions with swimming pools and heavenly gardens, garages full of the most expensive sports cars and private jets to the ownership of companies weighing billions of dollars.
Imagine that you had everything, and that driven by pure greed, you were destroying entire countries and nations with the same ease with which children destroy aliens in video games, but that you face the end of your own life, that you have been prolonging by all possible means for decades, but you are aware that you can cheat death no longer, even though you have billions of dollars at your bank accounts. Unfortunately, in the hands of such people are the doomsday weapons at NATO’s disposal. You will easily conclude for yourself that these people are capable of dragging us all into the abyss of nuclear war because their minds are disturbed by a toxic combination of enormous power and fear of their own transience before which we are all equally powerless. Ordinary people would find solace and the meaning of their existence in peace of religion and dedication to God. However, these people are used to being worshiped by other people all their lives, convinced that with their endless wealth they themselves have risen among the gods and immortals. People overwhelmed by that kind of pain and anger should never be in control of NATO but unfortunately, they are.
NATO is truly brain-dead because there is no control over it by any moral or rational force. Not only NATO but the entire so-called collective political West with all its vassals and pets such as Israel, a conglomerate that we could call Sodom of the modern age, is in the hands of dying old men with a perverted psyche — that is finally, the dead brain we were looking for! The awareness that the future of all of us is in the hands of such people must be deeply disturbing for any enlightened and intelligent person. Unfortunately, no matter how hard we try to deceive and lull ourselves into sweet dreams of security offered by the non-existent Western democracy; this truth remains undeniable and can no longer be ignored. NATO is not led by thinking and moral people, but by a council of old men whose characters have been eaten away by a life of wealth, privileges, and abundance. The armies of officials, officers, and employees of NATO are not actually in charge and they only have the option of applauding catastrophically bad and every day worse decisions. How did the brain-dead NATO bring humanity to the brink of destruction?
A whole series of fundamental mistakes were made when making decisions to start the project of expansion of the North Atlantic Alliance towards Siberia. One of the most fatal decisions was made at the NATO summit in Bucharest in 2008, when the desire of Ukraine and Georgia to join NATO was welcomed and approved. For decades, the people who manage NATO have completely wrongly analyzed and predicted Russia’s possible reactions and its future moves in relation to their increasingly aggressive expansion towards Moscow. Russia’s reaction after that summit was seemingly absent, but in reality, Russia secretly began preparing for an inevitable military conflict with NATO that same year. And if you think that the Russians did not prepare well for this war, it is only because the Russians do not show their cards too early. Let’s recall the shock experienced by the Nazis when they saw the Soviet T-34 tanks in action, which they did not even know existed. The Kremlin is now saving its best and most powerful weapons and tactics for the inevitable full conflict with NATO armies and it is quite certain that Russians will give them a very unpleasant surprise.
Fatal mistakes were also made when creating psychological profiles of Vladimir Putin and his closest associates. Seeing through a former experienced intelligence officer and hardened politician like the Russian president proved to be too difficult a task, but the Anglo-Saxon mind is such that it tries to satisfy the form and do the job as best it can. Vladimir Putin has been profiled as a politician who, guided by the highest religious and moral principles, will never reach for weapons of mass destruction. That is why NATO, with that stupid and arrogant self-confidence so characteristic of the Anglo-Saxons, continued its expansion towards the Urals and the desired prize — Siberia.
The same teams of analysts and experts tremble in fear of North Korea, which has from 20 to a maximum of 55 nuclear warheads compared to Russia’s 6,000 because they estimated that North Korean leader Kim Il-Jong would use his most formidable arsenal and wipe the American military bases in South Korea and Japan off the face of the earth without any hesitation. If Western analysts were a bit wiser, more professional, and less arrogant, they would have realized that under Putin’s inscrutable poker face, there is a strong and old-fashioned, steel-willed Soviet man who is fanatically consistent and determined to preserve the integrity and safety of Russia at all costs — even at the cost of being forced to order Russian forces to use weapons of mass destruction. Only recently, politicians in the West are slowly beginning to realize that Putin is not bluffing at all. Among the first to realize this was former German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who at the end of September warned her colleagues to take Putin’s warnings very seriously.
Much earlier, speaking on October 18, 2018, at the 15th meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club in Sochi, Putin touched on the topic of a possible nuclear war between Russia and NATO, but then the collective West did not listen to him carefully enough. Putin then said that the Russians, as victims of a nuclear attack, would go straight to heaven as martyrs, while the aggressors would simply drop dead because they would not even have time to repent for their sins. Although on that occasion he emphasized that Russia would never be the first to carry out nuclear strikes on NATO countries and their allies, Putin was severely criticized in the West precisely because of this statement, which was assessed as very aggressive, threatening, and intimidating. Maybe then some light bulbs in the dead brain turned on for the first time, but as I said, NATO does not have any strategy for getting out of situations that lead to armed conflict because it is used to easy victories that do not require withdrawal and regrouping, let alone giving up aggression.
Only in the last few weeks has NATO realized that they may have gone too far with the pressure on Russia and that no matter how confident they were before, there is a more than real possibility of a total nuclear war and the realization of Putin’s warning from four years ago. The computer simulations that NATO uses to practice various war strategies and tactics and their combinations completely lack algorithms that could take into account the famous Russian soul because it cannot be represented simply as a series of numerical parameters. The ability of the Russians to make merciless sacrifices for their motherland, despite having been proven so many times in the past, is still something unfathomable to the mind of Western man, and that is why it has also not been included in the calculations. That is why it is not surprising that the mass special psychological operations of disinformation, deception, and the attempt to manipulate Russian public opinion, whose implementers were mostly Ukrainian operatives who speak Russian perfectly, experienced total failure.
Not only has Putin not been overthrown in the color revolution that Western intelligence agencies have been trying to foment in Russia for two decades, but the Russian president is more popular than ever before. The response to the mobilization, much to the regret of Western analysts, was several times larger than necessary, and this is a fact that the Western mainstream media persistently tries to hide. Instead of the required 300,000 reserve soldiers, over a million applied already, so that the Russian military enlistment offices will have the opportunity to choose the people with the most experience and knowledge among those who already served in the Russian armed forces. Therefore, all the assessments on the basis of which NATO de facto declared war on Russia, which is currently being waged in former parts of Ukraine, that is in Donbas and Novorossiya, were completely wrong. There was no color revolution, Putin has not lost his popularity, the sanctions against Russia are not working and worst of all for NATO, things in Russia itself are slowly moving towards full mobilization. NATO is now in a position where it needs a healthy and functioning brain more than ever before, but it just doesn’t have it. NATO needs an exit strategy from its participation in the war in Ukraine, Donbas and Novorossiya, but the council of dying elders wants one last rush of adrenaline in their blood, and their pride won’t let them to back down as they should.
What kind of country is this Ukraine, when because of it and its supposed sovereignty, because it is in fact just an American blindly obedient vassal, we have come to the very edge of a thermonuclear war? The American business magnate and investor, Elon Musk, has asked himself that question these days — still a young man who wants to live and enjoy the fruits of his labor and therefore, the exact opposite of plutocrats and gerontocrats for whom NATO is just a toy and a doomsday weapon at the same time. And after Musk decided to inform himself better, he was suddenly presented with a picture of Ukraine that is very different from the one portrayed in the Western mainstream media. Suddenly, Musk became aware of all the lies about Russia that the Western public is being poisoned by their mainstream media literally from the end of World War II until today. His proposal to cede Crimea to Russia and to hold another referendum in the four regions that joined Russia, this time under the control of the United Nations, drove the Ukrainian leadership and nationalists into frenzy.
Historically, Ukraine is just a Russian border province, which is the correct translation of its name from the Russian language. As such, it is in fact a part of the glorious and at the same time, often tragic Russian history. However, as a state within a state, it was created by the Bolsheviks after their October Revolution because part of their ideology was the destruction of all nations, in this case, the Russian people. Today, absurdly, it is led by Zionist Jews closely connected to Washington and Israel, like Zelensky himself, even if he is just a mere puppet and a bad actor, while the most hardened Nazis are bleeding and dying for it. Built on Bolshevik, Zionist and Nazi foundations and traditions, this kind of country was predestined to internal discord and ruin.
Until 2014 and the coup in Kiev directed by the CIA and MI6, known as Euromaidan, Russia had cordial relations with its western neighbor if for no other reason, then because of the 8 million ethnic Russians and 18 million inhabitants of Ukraine whose native language was Russian. However, Ukraine stood in the way of NATO’s expansion toward the Urals and Siberia and had to be turned into anti-Russia by all possible means, and used as a weapon against the Russian Federation. In fact, Americans, as we have all realized, simply buy the people they need and their services and it was quite easy for them to find corrupt people in Ukraine. That’s how the American intelligence laboratories created that monster with the body of a pig and the head of a chimpanzee. This mindless beast immediately pounced on defenseless Russian civilians and began a slaughter that was supposed to provoke Russia into a reaction at a time when it was still unprepared for a war that it knew would inevitably mean a full military confrontation with NATO.
Yes, Russia always knew that its eventual military intervention in Ukraine, and former Ukrainian regions, would very quickly, but without any doubt, lead to a full conflict with NATO. The only question is whether the people who really run the North Atlantic Alliance were aware of it. However, after almost eight years of trying to solve the problems diplomatically, in the autumn of 2021, Russia became aware of the accumulation of Ukrainian troops toward Crimea and Donbas and was forced to intervene and that was the beginning of the Special Military Operation that is still ongoing. The relatively small Russian expeditionary forces, far fewer than the Ukrainian ones, lured a large part of the Ukrainian forces into the defense of the capital with a phony blitzkrieg toward Kiev. In the meanwhile, Russian forces made key territorial gains in the south, which was actually their main goal. Instead of attacking and suffering heavy losses, which, according to military theory, would be 3 to 4 times higher than the Ukrainian ones, the Russian generals chose to defend themselves and in that way slowly destroyed the Ukrainian army, forcing them to suffer huge losses as attackers, which in the opinion of military experts, are almost ten times higher than the Russian ones. Now, four former Ukrainian regions: Lugansk, Donetsk, Zaporozhye, and Kherson decided to join Russia in a referendum, thus in a completely legal and democratic way. It is a decision that is irrevocable and that the Russian Federation will defend with all possible means.
However, despite being very intelligently designed, Russia’s Special Military Operation is running out of time. By the time this article is published, the Special Military Operation may evolve into the Special Anti-Terrorist Operation not only in Donbas and Novorusiya but in Ukraine itself. However, if we take into account the recently stated personal position of the Deputy President of the National Security Council of Russia Dmitry Medvedev, it is not impossible that Russia will enter into a full military conflict with Ukraine. Namely, Medvedev asserted that Ukraine with the current Nazi political regime represents a constant, direct, and clear threat to Russia. Much earlier, it has become clear to the Kremlin that the Ukrainian leadership does not have its own political will, which is an expression of the will of the people, and that peace negotiations with them are impossible or at best lead absolutely nowhere.
The goal of the Russian Special Military Operation, however, was originally nothing more than to force the Ukrainian leadership to negotiate and conclude a favorable peace for Russia. And indeed, in March, the Ukrainian delegation was ready to reach a peace agreement that would satisfy both sides and which implied Ukraine’s permanent withdrawal from intention to join NATO. The peace agreement was not signed solely because of Washington’s direct and energetic intervention, and immediate and strong political pressure on Kiev. The overseas power centers insisted on continuing the war. Hand on heart, even if a peace agreement was reached with Ukraine, Russia could not really rely on it.
By violating the Minsk agreements, Ukraine has shown that it cannot be trusted. Quite simply, Ukraine is a typical puppet state that is governed primarily from Washington and London, just as its army is commanded by NATO generals and other officers. Finally, the September Ukrainian offensive exposed the presence of tens of thousands of NATO troops in Ukrainian uniforms. This is not about mercenaries-adventurers who came to kill Russians for money, excitement, or out of pure hatred. We talk about top professional soldiers from Western countries, most of whom have rich and long-term combat experience from other wars. About five thousand professional NATO soldiers from Poland fought in the Ukrainian offensive near Krasny Liman alone. The Polish leadership in Warsaw, die-hard national-chauvinists, for some reason have not yet realized what terrible and fatal consequences the fact that Polish soldiers are killing Russian soldiers and civilians at this moment, will have on their country and them. There won’t be much time for regrets.
All this means that Russia will have to abandon the format imposed on it by the Special Military Operation very soon indeed because it seems that only a complete occupation of Ukraine can bring an end to the war. Second, Russia faced not only the fact that it is now de facto at war with the North Atlantic Alliance, but also that an official and completely open military conflict with it can no longer be avoided. Leaders and spokesmen of NATO, such as Jens Stoltenberg, the 13th Secretary General of NATO, persistently denied that they are at war with Russia, but irrefutable facts speak against them. First of all, the crews of advanced systems such as M142 HIMARS, or the crews of German and other NATO tanks, armored vehicles, anti-aircraft, and missile systems, require experienced crews composed of professional NATO soldiers.
There are reports that NATO outside the borders of Ukraine is currently rapidly training Ukrainian pilots on F-16 and F-15 fighter jets, and that the Ukrainian squadrons of mixed national composition will appear over Ukraine very soon. The markings on the planes will be Ukrainian, but the pilots will not only be Ukrainians but experienced professionals from NATO countries, primarily Americans. Therefore, it is an irrefutable fact that NATO is already in a military conflict with Russia, because not only does it arm Ukraine, but it also provides support in terms of personnel, including command staff and combat troops, especially special units, as well as financial, logistical, and intelligence support and assistance to its war efforts. NATO, of course, knows that it is at war with Russia and that is exactly what it wanted, but it is in no hurry to declare it a factual situation until it uses all the Ukrainians, and after them perhaps also all the Poles, Romanians, Latvians, Lithuanians, and Estonians and other members of second-rate Europeans who, after all, exist only to serve as cheap labor and cannon fodder for the more “noble” Westerners. Also, by avoiding an official war with Russia, NATO wants to keep its military bases and offensive potential intact as long as possible. Because of all this, Russia may be forced to design this new, far more complex war operation in such a way as to pull NATO out of the hole in which it is hiding and to completely expose its undoubted participation in the war against Russia.
Ukraine and NATO cannot defeat Russia. There is not a single outcome of the military conflict between Ukraine and NATO on one side and Russia on the other, which leads to the defeat of Russia and the victory of NATO and their vassal Ukraine. American and NATO officials are warning Russia these days that they will react harshly and by all means, that is, with nuclear strikes on Russia, if it carries out tactical nuclear attacks on Kiev or other targets in Ukraine. Such accusations are absolutely meaningless. Kiev is a holy city for Russians, the Russian capital of the medieval Russian state — Kievan Rus, and besides, Ukraine is simply too close to the Russian borders and Russia’s ally Belarus. Radioactive particles would spread in all directions and kill not only the Ukrainians but also the Russian and Belarusian soldiers and civilians. The Russians will certainly not carry out nuclear strikes without an absolute necessity, but if the Americans bring missile systems that could carry nuclear warheads and if such missiles are fired at Russian forces and territories, that could, of course, be a reason for an immediate Russian nuclear response. This is the biggest danger of the Russian-Ukrainian military conflict.
Misinterpreted Ukrainian missiles flying toward Russian forces or territories could instantly trigger a massive Russian nuclear attack on all NATO countries as well as other hostile countries. At the same time, NATO is seriously dealing with the absolutely insane and inadmissible idea of finding any pretext under which, in accordance with the American nuclear doctrine, preventive nuclear strikes on Russia would be carried out. That is why the mainstream media in the West are slowly preparing the ground for such a decision, persistently insisting that the Russians bomb the Energodar nuclear power plant in the Zaporozhye region, which is under the control of none other than the Russian forces themselves. Anyone who doubts this should independently check on the maps whether this area is under the control of Russian forces or not. In other words, the Western mainstream media claim that the Russians are persistently bombing themselves! The goal of Ukraine’s heavy bombing of the nuclear power plant is not to destroy the Russian forces that secure it. Contrary to common sense, Ukrainians are bombing the power plant itself with the aim of causing the leakage of radioactive materials into the atmosphere. Russian forces would be blamed for that very dangerous nuclear incident, and that would give NATO the desired excuse to launch tactical nuclear strikes against Russian forces or to even carry out strategic nuclear strikes deep into Russian territory.
Unlike the American military doctrine, Russian military doctrine does not foresee any preventive nuclear strikes. If Russia ever really decides to use nuclear weapons, it will most certainly not be in Ukraine because, as we have already established, that would be pure suicide. Even if Russia really wants the destruction of Kiev and other large Ukrainian cities, it has more than devastating conventional means at its disposal for such a goal, which it has never used so far. So far, the Russians have not used their most powerful conventional bomb ATBIP (Aviation Thermobaric Bomb of Increased Power), also known as the “Father of All Bombs” (FOAB), in Ukraine, which in terms of strength is in the range of smaller tactical nuclear weapons that it replaced in the Russian arsenal. Before the Russians would reach for tactical nuclear weapons, which is an extremely unlikely scenario, they would most certainly try to attack Ukrainian troops, command centers, and fortified military facilities with their most powerful thermobaric weapons, and they have not done that even once.
What might actually happen, and might make sense from a military point of view, is that if Russia is provoked by NATO’s undeniable direct involvement in a war against its own military forces and civilians, it will launch nuclear strikes with its unstoppable weapons on the decision-making centers that they are not really in Kiev, which the Russian leadership knows very well, but in Washington, London, Brussels, and other large cities of the Western Hemisphere. This is a very real threat to the NATO aggressor that they should finally become aware of. Russian President Putin, speaking in his recent speech about possible Russian nuclear strikes on the decision-making centers, most certainly did not mean Kiev or any other Ukrainian city because real decisions are not made there, just as it is well known that Zelensky is only an actor who does who obeys American orders.
Therefore, those hypocrites from the West can immediately stop “caring” for Ukraine, which, as the poorest country in Europe, for the sake of their megalomaniac goals, they pushed into a war against the largest country in the world, which also has the largest nuclear arsenal. The responsible gentlemen from Washington, London, Brussels, and other big American and European cities should very seriously start worrying about themselves because Russia is not bluffing at all by threatening with its nuclear weapons. On the contrary, considering that not only its territorial integrity is threatened, but its very survival itself, Russia issues one of the last warnings before realizing its threats. Russian nuclear weapons are unstoppable! NATO has no way to stop Russian missiles such as RS-28 Sarmat (NATO reporting names: SS-X-29, SS-X-30, Satan II), 3M22 Zircon (NATO reporting name SS-N-33), or Kh −47M2 Kinzhal (NATO reporting name Killjoy) and they know it very well. An even more dangerous Russian weapon against which there is absolutely no defense is the Poseidon, an underwater unmanned vehicle, which is powered by nuclear propulsion and has nuclear warheads with a power of 10 megatons (667 times more destructive than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima). Just one Russian nuclear submarine can completely destroy the entire U. S. East Coast. People who, like an arrow, shot NATO irreversibly towards Russia should be extremely worried about all this.
Finally, even if NATO could surprise Russia as it wishes, and completely unhindered, with practically no resistance, in ideal conditions, extremely effectively attack all Russian command centers, military bases, nuclear-armed facilities, mobile units with a nuclear arsenal, and major cities, Russia’s formidable Perimeter system, known in the West by the picturesque name “Dead Hand” would ensure the total destruction of all NATO countries in return. This Doomsday system was designed in Soviet times but has been constantly upgraded and modernized. It is fully automated and if for some reason communication with the Russian command centers were to be interrupted, it would assume that the Russian leadership had been destroyed and would completely independently launch all nuclear warheads and destroy all those states that the Russian Federation considered hostile. “Dead Hand” itself, is completely resistant to nuclear strikes, electronic jamming, or any other means at NATO’s disposal. So, even if Russia were to be completely destroyed, NATO still could not win but would also disappear in the unstoppable, retaliatory nuclear strikes of a dead Russia.
So what is brain-dead NATO trying to do in Ukraine? Obviously, NATO’s tactics are such that they want to wage war against Russia, cowardly, today hiding behind Ukrainian backs while there are still Ukrainians ready to fight for them, and tomorrow hiding behind Poles and Romanians and so on. It exposes all the cynicism of the Judeo-Anglo-Saxon gerontocrats and plutocrats. They look at the terrible bloodshed and enormous human tragedоssiya as an exciting gladiatorial match to the death, in which they recline in comfortable armchairs on the other side of the English Channel and the Atlantic, snacking on popcorn, eating hamburgers, drinking beer and whiskey as if it is about a sports competition or a Hollywood super-spectacle movie.
They don’t realize that Russia can easily cross all those water barriers and make them answer for all the crimes they committed. NATO’s main goal is to make the war last as long as possible, not only in order to exhaust Russia financially, militarily, and morally but above all in order to destroy Europe and its economic power. The Judeo-Anglo-Saxon elites have no friends, but only servants and slaves, and they never really liked the fact that Europe was strengthening economically. First of all, the destruction of Germany and its economic power and the influence it achieves is a priority of the power centers in Washington and London. It could be said that the destruction of Germany, but also France is just as important to the overseas power centers as the destruction of Russia.
All this NATO play on the brink of nuclear war could prove fatal for all of humanity. Russia is slowly but surely losing patience, but it seems that its increasingly harsh warnings will not be taken seriously by the dead brains of NATO until volleys of missiles with nuclear warheads are finally fired at them. The best evidence that Russia has decided to take off its gloves is the appointment of a very brave, determined, energetic, and aggressive general, as General Surovikin undoubtedly is, to the post of commander-in-chief of Russian forces in the former and current territories of Ukraine. From the first day of his command, General Surovikin announced to Ukraine, which at that moment was celebrating the damage to the Kerch (Crimean) bridge for which it took responsibility, that it was threatened with a total disaster, for which they owe thanks to their mentors from the West who dragged them into a conflict they cannot possibly win. It is difficult to understand the amount of irresponsibility and complete lack of intelligence of those people who consciously and deliberately chose to provoke a nuclear superpower such as Russia and force it to intervene militarily in Ukraine and in now former Ukrainian territories. It is difficult to understand the inability of NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg, who is in fact only the spokesperson of that criminal organization, to understand that Russia has launched a counter-offensive which, if the Western hawks do not come to their senses, could, according to the old tradition, end up in European capitals, while London and Washington would end up as radioactive wastelands.
Admittedly, we must be grateful to Stoltenberg, who came forward these days and clumsily admitted that NATO is, as Russia claims, a direct participant in the conflict in former Ukraine. First of all, even if the Russian army begins to suffer a series of devastating defeats against the Ukrainian forces, as Stoltenberg hopes, this should be the worst possible news for NATO, as this would significantly increase the probability of Russian nuclear strikes on the decision-making centers, i. e. on Washington, London, Brussels, NATO military bases, and large cities of the Western Hemisphere. How is it possible, then, that such simple logical equations and algorithms do not reach the minds of responsible people in the West? Both in the Russian army and in the Kremlin, the influence of the fierce hardliners, which ask Putin to conduct the war far more brutally and mercilessly, is growing more and more every day.
The position of Putin himself in Russian society is of course unassailable, but the same cannot be said for all of his closest associates. Putin will not be able to refuse not only support but also the demands of the hard Russian line for a long time, because he needs these people as much as they need him. That’s why it could happen that overnight the Kremlin will be left without those few people who had some sort of inclination towards the West, and the willingness to negotiate from somewhat softer positions. Therefore, the longer the war in Ukraine and on the territories of the four areas that are now forever united with Russia lasts, the stronger will be the influence of fierce patriots and hardliners in the Kremlin and the Russian army. This is what NATO leaders and their masters need to know. Prolonging the war, contrary to the original calculation, does not benefit them at all. Russia will not be weaker and weaker every day, but on the contrary, it will be an increasingly fierce and formidable opponent. The Russian bear has been awakened from his sleep and is getting angrier every day.
The calculation that those notorious elites from the West had at the beginning of the conflict on the territory of former Ukraine, that is, to weaken and ultimately destroy Russia and Europe through war, has become unsustainable. The potential damage to the ideologues of this insane project now far outweighs the potential benefit. At the same time, the anger of ordinary people who are finally becoming aware of all the lies and deceptions of their political leaders is growing throughout Europe. In fact, subordinate European elites proved to be just agencies of Judeo-Anglo-Saxon overseas elites and their interests.
That dissatisfaction is growing stronger every day and threatens to turn into a revolution that will engulf the entire continent. Europeans now fully understand that their “leaders” such as Macron and Scholz do not lead their states and nations according to their best interests, but act exclusively in favor of the interests of Washington, London, and Brussels. In the consciousness of the average European, the belief is growing that false those national leaders, who are in fact nothing more than traitors, American and British agents are leading them to a total disaster and nuclear war, and that they can only defend their interests and bare lives through revolutions and popular uprisings.
All this finally leads us to the conclusion that NATO has already suffered a terrible defeat in Ukraine, which it is still not aware of because it does not look at things in the long term. For the first time since its existence, NATO will have to withdraw and admit defeat. Just as Hitler, at the end of 1942, in his Wolf’s Lair headquarters near Rastenburg (now Kętrzyn), loudly lamented and openly regretted the attack on the USSR, even though at that time he was still far from total defeat, so today the real masters of NATO realize that they have made a fatal mistake by involving themselves directly into a military conflict with Russia, thinking that it could go unnoticed and unpunished.
However, unlike Hitler, NATO was given a final warning and an opportunity to withdraw, save its honor and survive as an organization. If the leaders of NATO and the collective West, above all representatives of the USA, do not sit down at the negotiating table with Russia and accept the right of the Russian people in the former parts of Ukraine to self-determination, renounce the Nazi regime in Kiev and give up from the further expansion of NATO, we can expect the imminent start of a total nuclear war that will most certainly lead to the complete annihilation of the Western Hemisphere. All responsibility for the tragedy on the territory of the former and current Ukraine lies with the people who have the real power to manage NATO. The fate of all humanity is now in the hands of the elites in Washington and London and we all must stand up together, raise our voices and let them know that we want to live!
The Rocky Horror Picture Show “Sweet Transvestite”
Pepe Escobar
October 12, 2022
Russia will not allow the Empire to control Ukraine, whatever it takes. That’s intrinsically linked to the future of the Greater Eurasia Partnership.
Damascus had rejected the – American – plan for a Qatar-Turkey gas pipeline, to the benefit of Iran-Iraq-Syria (for which a memorandum of understanding was signed).
What followed was a vicious, concerted “Assad must go” campaign: proxy war as the road to regime change. The toxic dial went exponentially up with the instrumentalization of ISIS – yet another chapter of the war of terror (italics mine). Russia blocked ISIS, thus preventing regime change in Damascus. The Empire of Chaos-favored pipeline bit the dust.
Now the Empire finally exacted payback, blowing up existing pipelines – Nord Stream (NS) and Nord Steam 2 (NS2) – carrying or about to carry Russian gas to a key imperial economic competitor: the EU.
We all know by now that Line B of NS2 has not been bombed, or even punctured, and it’s ready to go. Repairing the other three – punctured – lines would not be a problem: a matter of two months, according to naval engineers. Steel on the Nord Streams is thicker than on modern ships. Gazprom has offered to repair them – as long as Europeans behave like grown-ups and accept strict security conditions.
We all know that’s not going to happen. None of the above is discussed across NATOsan media. That means that Plan A by the usual suspects remains in place: creating a contrived natural gas shortage, leading to the de-industrialization of Europe, all part of the Great Reset, rebranded “The Great Narrative”.
Meanwhile, the EU Muppet Show is discussing the ninth sanction package against Russia. Sweden refuses to share with Russia the results of the dodgy intra-NATO “investigation” of itself on who blew up the Nord Streams.
At Russian Energy Week, President Putin summarized the stark facts.
Europe blames Russia for the reliability of its energy supplies even though it was receiving the entire volume it bought under fixed contracts.
The “orchestrators of the Nord Stream terrorist attacks are those who profit from them”.
Repairing Nord Stream strings “would only make sense in the event of continued operation and security”.
Buying gas on the spot market will cause a €300 billion loss for Europe.
The rise in energy prices is not due to the Special Military Operation (SMO), but to the West’s own policies.
Yet the Dead Can Dance show must go on. As the EU forbids itself to buy Russian energy, the Brussels Eurocracy skyrockets their debt to the financial casino. The imperial masters laugh all the way to the bank with this form of collectivism – as they continue to profit from using financial markets to pillage and plunder whole nations.
Which bring us to the clincher: the Straussian/neo-con psychos controlling Washington’s foreign policy eventually might – and the operative word is “might” – stop weaponizing Kiev and start negotiations with Moscow only after their main industrial competitors in Europe go bankrupt.
But even that would not be enough – because one of NATO’s key “invisible” mandates is to capitalize, whatever means necessary, on food resources across the Pontic-Caspian steppe: we’re talking about 1 million km2 of food production from Bulgaria all the way to Russia.
Judo in Kharkov
The SMO has swiftly transitioned into a “soft” CTO (Counter-Terrorist Operation) even without an official announcement. The no-nonsense approach of the new overall commander with full carte blanche from the Kremlin, General Surovikin, a.k.a. “Armageddon”, speaks for itself.
There are absolutely no indicators whatsoever pointing to a Russian defeat anywhere along the over 1,000 km-long frontline. The spun-to-death withdrawal from Kharkov may have been a masterstroke: the first stage of a judo move that, cloaked in legality, fully developed after the terrorist bombing of Krymskiy Most – the Crimea Bridge.
Let’s look at the retreat from Kharkov as a trap – as in Moscow graphically demonstrating “weakness”. That led the Kiev forces – actually their NATO handlers – to gloat about Russia “fleeing”, abandon all caution, and go for broke, even embarking on a terror spiral, from the assassination of Darya Dugina to the attempted destruction of Krymskiy Most.
In terms of Global South public opinion, it’s already established that General Armageddon’s Daily Morning Missile Show is a legal (italics mine) response to a terrorist state. Putin may have sacrificed, for a while, a piece on the chessboard – Kharkov: after all, the SMO mandate is not to hold terrain, but to demilitarize Ukraine.
Moscow even won post-Kharkov: all the Ukrainian military equipment accumulated in the area was thrown into offensives, just for the Russian Army to merrily engage in non-stop target practice.
And then there’s the real clincher: Kharkov set in motion a series of moves that allowed Putin to eventually go for checkmate, via the missile-heavy “soft” CTO, reducing the collective West to a bunch of headless chickens.
In parallel, the usual suspects continue to relentlessly spin their new nuclear “narrative”. Foreign Minister Lavrov has been forced to repeat ad nauseam that according to Russian nuclear doctrine, a strike may only happen in response to an attack “which endangers the entire existence of the Russian Federation.”
The aim of the D.C. psycho killers – in their wild wet dreams – is to provoke Moscow into using tactical nuclear weapons in the battlefield. That was another vector in rushing the timing of the Crimea Bridge terror attack: after all British intel plans had been swirling for months. That all came to nought.
The hysterical Straussian/neocon propaganda machine is frantically, pre-emptively, blaming Putin: he’s “cornered”, he’s “losing”, he’s “getting desperate” so he’ll launch a nuclear strike.
It’s no wonder the Doomsday Clock set up by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists in 1947 is now placed at only 100 seconds from midnight. Right on “Doom’s doorstep”.
This is where a bunch of American psychos is leading us.
Life at Doom’s doorstep
As the Empire of Chaos, Lies and Plunder is petrified by the startling Double Fail of a massive economic/military attack, Moscow is systematically preparing for the next military offensive. As it stands, it’s clear that the Anglo-American axis will not negotiate. It has not even tried for the past 8 years, and it’s not about to change course, even incited by an angelic chorus ranging from Elon Musk to Pope Francis.
Instead of going Full Timur, accumulating a pyramid of Ukrainian skulls, Putin has summoned eons of Taoist patience to avoid military solutions. Terror on the Crimea Bridge may have been a game-changer. But the velvet gloves are not totally off: General Armageddon’s daily aerial routine may still be seen as a – relatively polite – warning. Even in his latest landmark speech, which contained a savage indictment of the West, Putin made clear he’s always open for negotiations.
Yet by now, Putin and the Security Council know why the Americans simply can’t negotiate. Ukraine may be just a pawn in their game, but it’s still one of Eurasia’s key geopolitical nodes: whoever controls it, enjoys extra strategic depth.
The Russians are very much aware that the usual suspects are obsessed with blowing up the complex process of Eurasia integration – starting with China’s BRI. No wonder important instances of power in Beijing are “uneasy” with the war. Because that’s very bad for business between China and Europe via several trans-Eurasian corridors.
Putin and the Russian Security Council also know that NATO abandoned Afghanistan – an absolutely miserable failure – to place all their chips on Ukraine. So losing both Kabul and Kiev will be the ultimate mortal blow: that means abandoning the 21st Eurasian Century to the Russia-China-Iran strategic partnership.
Sabotage – from the Nord Streams to Krymskiy Most – gives away the desperation game. NATO’s arsenals are virtually empty. What’s left is a war of terror: the Syrianization, actually ISIS-zation of the battlefield. Managed by braindead NATO, acted on the terrain by a cannon fodder horde sprinkled with mercenaries from at least 34 nations.
So Moscow may be forced to go all the way – as the Totally Unplugged Dmitry Medvedev revealed: now this is about eliminating a terrorist regime, totally dismantle its politico-security apparatus and then facilitate the emergence of a different entity. And if NATO still blocks it, direct clash will be inevitable.
NATO’s thin red line is they can’t afford to lose both Kabul and Kiev. Yet it took two acts of terror – on Pipelineistan and on Crimea – to imprint a much starker, burning red line: Russia will not allow the Empire to control Ukraine, whatever it takes. That’s intrinsically linked to the future of the Greater Eurasia Partnership. Welcome to life at Doom’s doorstep.
Slow-Cooker Lasagna
Hundreds of home cooks agree that this slow cooker Italian sausage lasagna is the best and easiest way to make lasagna you’ll ever try. Just pack the slow-cooker with four layers of sauce, noodles and cheese, then come home to crockpot lasagna four to six hours later.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (3/10) Movie CLIP – The Hotel on Acid (1998) HD
Yup. This is a classic.
Declan Hayes
October 6, 2022
Thanks to the greed, crassness and stupidity of NATO’s satrapies we are where we deserve to be, on the eve of destruction.
Despite the unfortunate assassination some days earlier in Sarajevo of Archduke Franz Ferdinand Carl Ludwig Joseph Maria of Austria, July 1914 was quieter than a mouse on cotton, as no one had yet realized the horrors that lay ahead. General Radomir Putnik, chief of the general staff of the Serbian army, was taking the waters at Bad Gleichenberg, where the Austro-Hungarians promptly arrested him. Helmut von Moltke, Germany’s chief of staff, was also holidaying, as was Erich von Falkenhayn, the Kaiser’s War minister. Though there was some war talk chatter in gallant little Belgium, her farmers were more preoccupied with their harvests and her townsfolk were much too busy working and downing beers to fret about such matters even though, on 29th July, Belgian Prime Minister Charles de Broqueville had ordered a partial mobilization of her army, only a few short days before Belgium would join the world war that had begun a day earlier, when Austria declared war on Serbia and shelled Belgrade before the Serbs even had time to consider their outrageous demands.
Would that we could return to that belle époque, the Old Continent’s lost era of cosmopolitan intellectuals and artists that died, like so much more, in the blood, grime and hell on earth of the following four years. But, perhaps, all that had to die, like what remains of it has to now die as a result of NATO’s no less outrageous demands on Russia and on those who speak Russian.
Here, in far away neutral Ireland, the war drums are far from mute. When I told a very well-known celebrity how to access RT, he was afraid he might get arrested for tuning in to it. Scoff though you may at his seeming cowardice or, if you prefer, his caution, but we live in an era where Masha and Mishka are legitimate targets and the works of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky are torched in Kiev.
The Crown Catholics of Cork, those loathsome princelings who made their fortunes kitting out the British Navy, have not gone away. Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney, one of their loathsome number, currently has a seat on the UNSC, which he uses to insult not only Russia but the referendums a number of Ukrainian provinces are holding to determine if they want to be a part of Russia or of Zelensky’s rump Reich.
Whereas Coveney, like the loathsome Crown Catholic that he is, considers this an abuse of democracy, I consider it, with regard to prior Irish precedents Coveney’s crew helped engineer, as the very epitome of Swiss-style democracy and, indeed, civility. Check out these maps to see how the British, with their Black and Tan terror gang, handed over the majority (non Crown) Catholic populations of Fermanagh, Tyrone, West Belfast, North Antrim, South Armagh and South Down to a gang of Famine Queen-worshipping Anglican fanatics who, when not popping Catholics, also cleansed the area of liberal or left leaning Protestants and the odd, uppity Jew.
Just as with the Ulster Catholics Cork’s loathsome Princes handed over to the Black and Tans, so also are the Russian speakers of Eastern and Southern Ukraine not children of some lesser God. They too have a right to live in peace and with dignity and, as NATO have deliberately reneged on Minsk 1 and Minsk 2, they are right to confederate with Russia so that they may enjoy the peace NATO denies them. No turkeys voting for Christmas with that lot.
Although I wouldn‘t publicly disagree with him in Kiev or Cork for fear of being strapped to a lamppost with my underpants strewn down around my shins, Nazi Reichsmarshall and Luftwaffe-Chief Hermann Goering was wrong to say the people do not want war. Large swathes of people crave war today, just as Coveney’s Cork Crown Catholics prayed for it and recruited for it in August 1914. There is, as any of the Coveney, Biden, Clinton, Zelensky or Obama families can attest, big money to be made from war. And, as countless American war criminals could likewise attest, there is adventure to be had, foreigners to be murdered, lives and communities to be destroyed and men, women, boy and little girls to be raped.
And then there is Hollywood, which made more money out of Vietnam than what it cost the Americans to wage that particular genocide. Just as Black Hawk Down made a hero out of child sex abuser John Stebbins and American Sniper made a hero out of serial killer Chris Kyle, so also does the war in Ukraine and the apocalypse it is dragging us all into afford Hollywood an opportunity to portray American mercenaries not as the villains they are but, as Truss and Biden (Joe) tell us, the harbingers of freedom, democracy and Micky Mouse apple pie Hollywood portrays them as.
CIA asset Matthew van Dyke would make an excellent Hollywood hero, as he has been a cold blooded mercenary for hire in Syria, Libya and Iraq, just as he is now a mercenary and, one better, an American in Ukraine. American transexual Sarah Ashton-Cirillo, who pumps out Ukrainian propaganda from somewhere within Zelensky’s rump state, could supply the love interest, not least because factual news is not America’s thing and no Americans are too interested in getting it, in any event.
But soon, it might all be moot. Israel is helping the Azeris annihilate the Armenians, whose only hope is Mother Russia, China is seeing that it cannot sit this conflagration out in hopes of windfall gains, Turkey and Saudi Arabia are the unlikeliest of peace intermediaries and, as Africans and Latinos have already seen that they are last in line when NATO dispenses fertilizer and other necessities, they best don their walking shoes and migrate in their hundreds of millions States-side or, at least to where there is food and some prospect of survival.
Those balmy, calm before the storm days of July 1914 have returned but with infinitely more menace than the scariest Hollywood horror movie could conjure. Ukraine will see Russian and allied hi tech pitted weaponry against NATO and allied hi tech weaponry and armies of women and children flee with not even the hope of better days to come to bring them solace. Though nobody admits to wanting any of this mayhem and I, who have seen it all before, certainly don’t, this is our end road all of those who voted for Trump, Biden, BoJo, Blair or Truss have thrust upon us all.
And when the war is over and if Westminster’s Parliament is still standing, Labour MPs will stand up and complain, as they did in 1919, about the Tories who made fortunes from this carnage and simpletons will cock ear to them, as they did in 1919.
But the reality is that those who voted for Trump and Biden, Blair, BoJo and Bush, Obama and Truss, Coveney and Zelensky, Hitler and Macron are as guilty as those German school teachers who encouraged Erich Maria Remarque and his chums to march off to their doom at Verdun, Passchendaele and the Somme to satiate the egos of the Kaisers, Kings and Tzars, who reigned atop that entire mess, just as our own plastic Kaisers, Kings and Tzars lord down at the slaughter they have visited upon us all from their mountains of money in Washington, Kiev and London.
If, as Cher sings, I could turn back time, it would make absolutely no difference. Russia and China gave NATO the benefit of the doubt in Iraq and millions were murdered, just as in Serbia. Ditto in Syria and the same again in Yemen and Libya, where NATO again committed all of the same war crimes NATO does best. This time, there is no turning back time, no more second Troys, no more second chances and that is Luke 16: 27-31 speaking, not me, not Putin, not Xi and not anyone else.
Luke is not the only one to tell us that NATO’s leaders pay no heed to the advice of the living or of the dead. Navy Admiral Charles Richard, commander of U.S. Strategic Command, has told us we are back in Dr Strangelove country, that “direct armed conflict with a nuclear-capable peer” such as Russia and/or China and with all it entails is now a real possibility. Former POTUS Donald Trump has declared that the Ukrainian conflict “should have never happened” not least because it might “end up being World War III.” And even the devious realist Henry Kissinger has repeatedly urged caution but all to no avail.
Today is Tuesday, 28th July, 1914. The hay is saved, our beer tankards are as half full and theirs are half empty, the World Cup looms and, thanks to the greed, crassness and stupidity of NATO’s satrapies we are where we deserve to be, on the eve of destruction. Though this mess could conceivably end in the return of the halcyon days of 27th July 1914, if nuclear annihilation is to be avoided, NATO must not only be made blink but must be totally and utterly decommissioned and disbanded. Don’t hold your breath.
Fourteen percent!
Fourteen per cent decrease in live births in Europe nine months after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and first lockdowns.
Do you have some idea what is the implication of the poem hanging on the wall during the recent Sino-US trade talks in China?
In ancient Chinese, it reads
云来山更佳,云去山如画。山因云晦明,云共山高下。倚杖立云沙,回首见山家。
It literally translates as
The mountain is more grandeur with the clouds, it is picturesque with the clouds moving AWAY; the mountain shines and gets dark because of the clouds, and the cloud is only marvelous because of the mountain. (I) stand in the cloud leaning against a cane, and (I) marvel at the scene looking back toward the other side of the mountain.
If I venture to put it into modern Chinese, it probably is translated as
I will be better off with you by my side, and I would also survive without you. We are intertwined one way or another, and if you want to break up, be my guest
If I am not mistaken, the calligraphy is 小篆, a font first adopted by emperor Qin Shihuang more than 2000 years ago, whose biggest achievement was to unify China into a centralized empire.
Unification of China…
What does it remind you of? Is it a clear message to tell US to fxxk off from Taiwan?
I do not know, I could only guess. But I believe Americans would never get such subtle message, all they could understand is muscle.
12 Monkeys (clip4) -“I’m not crazy”
Check out the dialog.
Why has China’s high-speed railway system developed so successfully? How advanced are China’s high-speed trains?
China’s HSR is the most advanced in the world. More advanced that anything the Germans and Japanese have.
China has the world’s largest HSR network, over 40,000 km worth.
China developed its HSR quickly and successfully because:
China was totally committed to doing so. It was one of China’s top priorities. So it was well-funded and well-planned.
China faced no obstacles nor opposition because it was in total control. That means no red tape, no bureaucracy, no regulations, no unions. China could push it through easily.
The Chinese were extremely innovative and inventive. China’s infrastructure engineering is second to none in the world.
China was in need of HSR. Other forms of transportation were inadequate to meet the needs of 1.4 billion people spread out over a vast geographical area.
China saw HSR as a public good, not a profit centre. Western countries won’t focus on HSR unless it’s profitable.
UPDATED SUNDAY, 11:13 AM EDT — China Foreign Ministry Tells all citizens EVACUATE UKRAINE IMMEDIATELY
For the very first time since Russia began its “Special Military Operation” in Ukraine on February 24, the China Foreign Ministry has issued an URGENT Bulletin to all Chinese anywhere in Ukraine, to EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY. *** UPDATE 11:13 AM EDT SUNDAY – SEE BOTTOM
This action by China is no doubt based upon information they derived from Russia thanks to the close relationship between those two countries. It also bodes ominously for Ukraine.
What does China NOW KNOW about the immediate future of Ukraine, that they are choosing to URGENTLY tell their citizens to evacuate immediately?
“POSTPONE” Mid-Term Elections???
There has been very much speculation inside the USA that the Democrat Party knows it is going to be walloped in the upcoming Midterm elections in November. Today being October 15, it seems to many Americans that whatever the Democrats plan to do, they HAVE to do before that date, if their goal is to somehow postpone the election.
Trouble is, the elections are not run by the federal government; they’re run by each of the fifty states. Congress has zero authority to postpone elections.
Moreover, there is no provision within the US Constitution, permitting Congress to somehow EXTEND their term of office. They cannot remain in power after January of 2023 no matter what law they pass.
Many believe firmly, however, the law and the Constitution won’t stop the Democrats from trying to cling to power by any means necessary. If they start World War 3 next week, and the nukes fly, many suspect they would try to exploit that to their advantage.
Bear in mind, this nation held a Presidential Election during the Civil War. Even an actual war, on our own soil, did not stop an election. Keep that in mind.
UPDATE 8:30 PM EDT —
Kazakhstan announced it is closing its Ukrainian Embassy immediately and all of its citizens should leave Ukraine at once. Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Serbia have told citizens to leave Ukraine as well . . .
UPDATE SUNDAY, OCT. 16 @ 11:13 AM EDT —
China has EXPANDED it’s urgent advisory to Chinese citizens. Now, they are telling their people to evacuate Ukraine “and surrounding areas” immediately ! ! ! !
Not yet mentioned is the increasingly solid ties between Iran, Russia, China. Seeing the situation moving further and further out of control the US moves the only levers it still has.Posted by: oldhippie | Oct 15 2022 18:34 utc | 11
This is a very interesting time.
Please you all continue with your affirmation campaigns, and just treat the “news” softly. As time moves forward the delusions of the West are really manifesting.
Trade with China
Twenty years ago, and today after the Donald Trump years.
There are far too many “leaders” and “journalists” in the West with too large of egos. Even when things are crumbling and crashing down around them, they still exalt that their situation is failing the most successfully.
At least that is the picture that Edward Luce for the Financial Times has painted. He argues that “America is history’s most successful failing state” and that the US serves as an example that a nation can be both “rich and ungovernable.” Luce then goes on to argue that while the US is failing and faces a very challenging future ahead, it’s not all bad because other powerful nations are also facing challenges.
Even when Western pundits are discussing the inevitable decline of the US as a hegemon in a unipolar world, they still attempt to find a way to attack Russia, China, or any other country striving for multipolarity and global fairness. The decline, Luce argues, can actually be traced back to the increasing polarization and divide between Democrats and Republicans. This is also a grossly misguided analysis of the current geopolitical situation.
To argue that the US is declining on the world stage and domestically because of polarization between Democrats and Republicans is to ignore a multitude of problems that average people in the US as well as across the world are all blaringly aware of. The US, like much of the Western world, is facing a cost-of-living crisis driven by financial speculation, wealthy profiteers and generally bad economic policy.
It is important to keep in mind that the two countries that Luce and every other mainstream Western commentator demonize in their articles – Russia and China – are not facing this crisis and are economically sound despite sanctions and economic war being waged on them. The American economy is inching towards recession, working people and families are struggling with rising costs and wages that have been frozen for decades, and political leadership has no answers for these issues; both parties are elite hubs of the status quo.
The humanitarian crisis presented in the US is alarming. Infrastructure is crumbling, people are desperate, and major cities across the US, like Jackson, Mississippi, are facing a clean water crisis; yet the US government still sees it as appropriate to send billions of dollars to Ukraine so the latter can buy more weapons. Does this have nothing to do with the decline of the US on the world stage? Life expectancy for US workers continues to fall, yet Pentagon budgets continue to climb, and the hundreds of military bases across the world continue to stay open.
It is clear to most observers that a radical change in the geopolitical arena has occurred, especially aggravated in the past year or so. People want a better world of peace, multilateralism, and cooperation, and for that to be built, there cannot be a hegemon that continues to defy common sense and international law. The people of the world and the US deserve better.
Luce’s point that the US can and will remain both rich and ungovernable is at best only true in the short term. The US may be “rich,” but the vast majority of the people are not: They are poor or working class, exploited by others in order to make the exploiters rich. No system that is built on the exploitation of a man by another man is sustainable, and the cracks have already begun to show.
The US will continue to be and will become more and more ungovernable as long as anarcho-capitalism and neoliberalism, guided by Wall Street and Washington, continue to rule the roost. As the US becomes more unequal, more violent, more desperate, and more anti-democratic with each passing day, ungovernability will be the least of the ruling class’s problem; rebellion will become a big part of the oligarchs’ day.
Rory Gallagher-Bad Penny (Rockpalast 1982)
Sin City | ‘Fair Trade’ (HD) – Bruce Willis, Michael Madsen
Classic Noir.
If a person is blacklisted from entering China, can they ever be allowed to enter again? How long does it take for them to be able to go back into the country?
China has three lists
Persona Non Grata (Diplomatic)
Whitelist
Redlist
Persona Non Grata (Diplomatic)
This is for people who commit crimes in China or do something stupid. Once made Persona Non Grata, they can NEVER enter China again (They can enter HK though, as per the One Country Two Government rules)
PNG status has to be revoked. Normally if Passport number changes, PNG gets forgotten as it’s linked to passport number. Chinese rarely try a name match and unless your name is very rare, you can get away.
However if China drop a case against you in lieu of deportation and you enter China on another passport by ignoring PNG status – China can try the case against you plus also charge you for Unlawful Entry (B)
Revoking PNG is possible by appeal after a said time.
Whitelist
This is basically a list of people forbidden to enter China by name and nationality rather than passport number.
Mainly Journalists and Sanctioned Officials from other Nations.
Revoking a whitelisted official is far easier than revoking a PNG as there is no Criminal Code Or Legal involvement and it’s primarily political
Whitelisted officials can enter China if permitted to do so for limited time for specific purposes.
For instance a BBC Journalist on a Whitelist may temporarily enter China for 7 days to meet his wife or to repatriate his account or some such personal work.
Called Whitelist because it mainly involves Diplomatic Passports which may be white in color.
Red List
Individuals on Interpols Red List or Yellow List or Red Notices or Yellow Notices
They can enter China if they hold Chinese Passports but otherwise they may be detained by the Authorities if they enter China and held for upto 48 hours waiting for a Legal Warrant. If Warrant doesn’t materialize, they will either be deported (98%) or allowed to enter (2%)
Revoking must be done by Interpol or a Chinese Court.
Finally you have the No Fly List
Chinese Nationals and Residents can be placed on a No Fly List for various reasons
Growth of the Chinese middle class in 20 years
x
AC/DC – Highway to Hell
Mike Pompeo Just Proved the US Government Hates China
Interesting video.
Taiwan President Suddenly Realizes War with China “Isn’t A Good Idea”. Willing to Negotiate and Cooperate with China
In recent years, relations between China and its breakaway island province of Taiwan have worsened significantly, but the previous months have led to an exponential escalation which could very likely get out of control. Since 2020, when the current president Tsai Ing-wen was elected for her second term, her harsh rhetoric and strengthening of military ties with the United States have been causing quite a lot of frustration in Beijing. For decades, the Asian giant has been trying to come to an agreement with the rebellious government in Taipei. The primary area of focus for China is economic cooperation with its breakaway island province, which has benefited Taiwan significantly, making it a crucial link between Western economies and China.
However, keeping the status quo doesn’t seem to be in the interest of the political elites in Washington DC. Apart from multiple high-profile visits to China’s breakaway island province, despite Beijing’s clear warnings this will be viewed as a hostile act, and military deals which directly threaten the Chinese military, the belligerent imperialist thalassocracy has also pledged to “defend Taiwan”.
US President Joe Biden himself has stated this at least four times.
And yet, something seems to have changed in recent days. The President of Taiwan Tsai Ing-wen recently stated that she “rules out armed confrontation with China,” adding that the government in Taipei is “willing to engage with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to reach a mutually agreeable arrangement.” On Monday, October 10, during a national address, President Tsai Ing-wen clearly stated the following:
“I want to make clear to the Beijing authorities that armed confrontation is absolutely not an option for our two sides.”
“Only by respecting the commitment of the Taiwanese people to our sovereignty, democracy, and freedom can there be a foundation for resuming constructive interaction across the Taiwan Strait,” Tsai added.
The statement shows a rarely-seen display of (geo)political wisdom on the part of the government in Taipei and it largely falls in line with what China itself has been offering for years.
It is absolutely in Beijing’s interest to resolve the Taiwan issue peacefully.
Restoring China’s sovereignty in the area is the primary concern of the government in Beijing, but so is doing it in the most painless way possible.
The Asian giant sees the people of Taiwan as its own citizens and wants no armed confrontation.
However, the belligerent power on the other side of the Pacific (the United States) has other plans.
By pushing Taipei into an armed conflict with Beijing, the US is trying to destabilize China and curb its unrivaled growth. The aforementioned controversial visit by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in August triggered China’s response, which reacted by launching naval exercises around Taiwan.
Western mainstream propaganda machine accused China of “aggressive behavior” and tried spinning the narrative by claiming that Beijing was conducting a naval blockade of its rebellious province. Still, it seems this show of force gave fruit after all, as the government in Taipei finally showed willingness to engage in “constructive dialogue.”
President Tsai said that Taiwan is willing to negotiate with China to “restore peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” but that it “must not compromise the freedom and democracy of the Taiwanese people.”
The second part of the statement is clearly necessary to maintain the official political narrative.
And yet, the call for peace might be indicative of a possible realpolitik approach which is desperately needed to avoid a direct military confrontation with a superpower such as China. Although Tsai also talked about “bolstering Taiwan’s military potential”, it’s quite clear that this would certainly not change the balance of power in the Taiwan Strait.
China’s military dominance in the area is virtually undisputed.
With the world’s third-largest air force and one of the largest and most powerful navies on the planet, Beijing’s chances to succeed in overcoming the military forces of Taiwan are nearly guaranteed.
In addition, China operates a plethora of ballistic, cruise and hypersonic missiles which could devastate the air and missile defenses in Taiwan from afar, while destroying most of its air force before it even had the chance to take off.
This alone, coupled with an actual naval blockade, might as well bring down the government in Taipei and force the breakaway island province to accept a peace deal preferable to China.
The US and other Western powers and satellite states would be unable to react, unless they wanted a direct confrontation with nuclear-armed China.
Even in the case that the government in Taipei decided to continue the fight, Beijing could send its troops directly to the island and take control of it by force. Although such amphibious operations are usually the most difficult and dangerous a military could conduct, China surely has the capacity to do it.
And yet, this is precisely what Beijing is trying to avoid, as the resulting devastation could cause tens of thousands of casualties and inflict massive economic damage. In light of the recent statements by Taiwan’s president, it seems the government in Taipei finally came to the same conclusion and is ready to negotiate. Hopefully, it will stay that way, so that another US-orchestrated tragic conflict could be avoided.
*
Sin City | ‘I Owe You Goldie’ (HD) – Jessica Alba, Mickey Rourke
Growth of the Chinese high speed train network in the last 15 years
x
Ren Zhengfei speaks
The Huawei CEO and founder is always known for making controversial comments which always prove true.
Among them:
“When Huawei bought US patents and brought them back to China, we found that all of the chip technology inventors and engineers came from China. It is just that they went to the US to develop their careers and patent their inventions.”
“It is better not to hire people from Beijing University and Tsinghua University because they all want to go to the US to advance their careers. People who stay and work hard in China are better; these are the people Huawei wants.”
“Chinese society cannot afford to become like US society where capital is above everything else, because if that happens, research and development costs would be cut to the bone, and we would become like the US where money is used to measure success. In China, we must use science and technology to measure success.”
“When the US seized Meng Wanzhou (Ren’s daughter and Huawei CFO), they moved too late and seized someone who could not make a difference.”
I find everything he says to be very interesting and inspiring. There is always something to think about.
“Reservoir Dogs” Best Scene HD
Simplified Recipe: Chinese Pork Belly w/ Preserved Vegetables (Mei Cai) 梅菜扣肉 Mui Choy Pork
One of my favorites.
Some of Us Don’t Think the Russian Invasion Was “Aggression.” Here’s Why.
If the US deployed troops to Mexico to protect American expats from being bombarded by the Mexican army, would you regard that deployment as an ‘unprovoked aggression’ or a rescue mission?
Imagine if the Mexican army started bombarding American ex-pats living in Mexico with heavy artillery-rounds killing thousands and leaving thousands more wounded. What do you think Joe Biden would do?
Would he brush it off like a big nothingburger and move on or would he threaten the Mexican government with a military invasion that would obliterate the Mexican Army, level their biggest cities, and send the government running for cover?
Which of these two options do you think Biden would choose?
There’s no doubt what Biden would do nor is there any question what the 45 presidents who preceded him would do. No US leader would ever stand by and do nothing while thousands of Americans were savagely slaughtered by a foreign government. That just wouldn’t happen. They’d all respond quickly and forcefully.
But if that’s true, then why isn’t the same standard applied to Russia? Isn’t the situation in Ukraine nearly identical?
It is nearly identical, only the situation in Ukraine is worse, much worse. And if we stretch our analogy a bit, you’ll see why:
Let’s say, the US Intelligence agencies discovered that the Mexican government was not acting alone, but was being directed to kill and maim American ex-pats on orders from the Chinese Communist government in Beijing. Can you imagine that?
And the reason the Chinese government wants to kill Americans in Mexico is because they want to lure the US into a long and costly war that will “weaken” the US and pave way for its ultimate splintering into many pieces that China can control and exploit. Does any of this sound familiar? (Check out the Rand Strategy for weakening Russia here)
So, let’s say, the Chinese are actually the driving force behind the war in Mexico. Let’s say, they toppled the Mexican government years earlier and installed their own puppet regime to do their bidding. Then they armed and trained vast numbers of troops to fight the Americans. They supplied these warriors with cutting-edge weapons and technology, logistical support, satellite and communications assistance, tanks, armored vehicles, anti-ship missiles, and state-of-the-art artillery units all of which were provided with one goal in mind; to crush America in a proxy war that was concocted, controlled and micro-managed from the Chinese Capital of Beijing
Is such a scenario possible?
It is possible, in fact, this very same scenario is playing out right now in the Ukraine, only the perpetrator of the hostilities is the United States not China, and the target of this malign strategy is Russia not the US. Surprisingly, the Biden administration isn’t even trying to hide what they’re up-to anymore. They’re openly arming, training, funding, and directing Ukrainian troops to prosecute a war aimed at killing Russian soldiers and removing Putin from power. That’s the objective and everyone knows it.
And the whole campaign is based on the sketchy claim that Russia is guilty of “unprovoked aggression”. That’s the whole deal in a nutshell. The moral justification for the war rests on the unverified assumption that Russia committed a criminal offense and broke international law by invading Ukraine. But, did they?
Let’s see if that assumption is correct or if it’s just another fake claim by a dissembling media that never stops tweaking the narrative to build the case for war.
First of all, answer this one question related to the analogy above: If the US deployed troops to Mexico to protect American expats from being bombarded by the Mexican army, would you regard that deployment as an ‘unprovoked aggression’ or a rescue mission?
Rescue mission, right? Because the primary intention was to save lives not seize the territory of another sovereign country.
Well, that’s what Putin was doing when he sent his tanks into Ukraine. He was trying stop the killing of civilians living in the Donbas whose only fault was that they were ethnic Russians committed to their own culture and traditions. Is that a crime?
Take a look at this map.
This map is the key to understanding how the war in Ukraine started. It tells us who did the provoking and who was being provoked. It tells us who was dropping the bombs and who was getting bombed. It tells us who was causing the trouble and who was being blamed for the trouble-making. The map tells us everything we need to know.
Can you see the yellow dots? Those dots represent the artillery strikes that were documented in daily summaries by “observers of the Organization for Security and Co-operation (OSCE), positioned at the frontlines.” The vast majority of the strikes were in the area inhabited by Russian-speaking people who have been under military siege for the last 8 years. (14,000 ethnic Russians have been killed in the fighting since 2014.) The Minsk Agreements were drawn up to resolve the issues between the warring parties and end the hostilities, but the government in Kiev refused to implement the agreement. In fact, the former President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, even admitted that the treaty was just a vehicle for buying time until another full-scale offensive on the Donbas could be launched.
In short, the Ukrainian government never had any intention of reaching a peaceful settlement with leaders of the Donbas. Their goal was to intensify the conflict in order to provoke Russia and draw them into a protracted war that would exhaust their resources and collapse their economy. The long-range objective was to remove Putin from office and replace him with a Washington-backed stooge that would do as he was told. US officials– including Joe Biden- have even admitted that their plan involved regime change in Moscow. We should take them at their word.
The map provides a visual account of the events leading up the Russian invasion. It cuts through the lies and identifies the true origins of the war which can be traced back to the heavy artillery strikes launched by the Ukrainian Army more than a week before the Russian invasion. (February 24) The massive shelling was aimed at the Russian-speaking people living in an area in east Ukraine. These are the people who were being bombarded by their fellow Ukrainians.
What Really Happened?
On February 16—a full 8 days before the Russian invasion—the shelling of the Donbas increased dramatically and steadily intensified for the next week “to over 2,000 per day on February 22.” As we said, these blasts were logged in daily summaries by observers of the OSCE who were on the frontlines. Think about that for a minute. In other words, these are eyewitness accounts by trained professionals who collected documented evidence of the Ukrainian Army’s massive bombardment of areas inhabited by their own people.
Would this evidence hold up in a court of law if a case against the Ukrainian government was ever presented before an international tribunal trying to assign accountability for the hostilities?
We think it would. We think the evidence is rock-solid. In fact, we have not read or heard of even one analyst who has challenged this vast catalogue of documented evidence.Instead, the media simply pretends the proof doesn’t exist. They have simply swept the evidence under the rug or vanished it from their coverage altogether in order to shape a Washington-centric version of events that completely ignores the historical record. But facts are facts. And the facts don’t change because the media fails to report them. And what the facts suggest is that the war in Ukraine is a Washington-concocted war no different than Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya or Syria. Once again, Uncle Sam’s bloody fingerprints are all over this sorry affair.
Check out this summary of ceasefire violations posted on podcast host Martyr Made’s twitter account:
Martyr Made @martyrmade
On Feb 15, the OSCE recorded 41 ceasefire violations as Kiev’s forces began shelling Donbas. Feb 16: 76 violations Feb 17: 316 Feb 18: 654 Feb 19: 1,413 Feb 20-21: 2,026 Feb 22: 1,484 …virtually all by the Kiev side. Feb 24: Russian forces intervene
Notice how the shelling of the Donbas increased every day before the invasion?
I’d call that a thoroughly-calculated provocation, wouldn’t you?
Why does this matter?
It matters because the vast majority of people have been hoodwinked into supporting a war for which there is no moral justification. This is not a case of “unprovoked aggression”. Not even close. And Putin is not an out-of-control tyrant bent on reconstituting the Soviet Empire by terrorizing his neighbors and seizing their territory. That is a complete fabrication based on nothing but speculation. In Putin’s own words, he invaded Ukraine because he had no choice. His own people were being ruthlessly exterminated by an army that acts on Washington’s orders alone. He had to invade, there was no other option. Putin felt a moral obligation to defend the ethnic Russians in Ukraine who could not defend themselves. Is that aggression? Here’s a bit more background from an article at The Intercept by James Risen:
Despite staging a massive military buildup on his country’s border with Ukraine for nearly a year, Russian President Vladimir Putin did not make a final decision to invade until just before he launched the attack in February, according to senior current and former U.S. intelligence officials.
In December, the CIA issued classified reports concluding that Putin hadn’t yet committed to an invasion, according to the current and former officials. In January, even as the Russian military was starting to take the logistical steps necessary to move its troops into Ukraine, U.S. intelligence again issued classified reporting maintaining that Putin had still not resolved to actually launch an attack, the officials said.
It wasn’t until February that the agency and the rest of the U.S. intelligence community became convinced that Putin would invade, the senior official added. With few other options available at the last minute to try to stop Putin, President Joe Biden took the unusual step of making the intelligence public, in what amounted to a form of information warfare against the Russian leader. He also warned that Putin was planning to try to fabricate a pretext for invasion, including by making false claims that Ukrainian forces had attacked civilians in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, which is controlled by pro-Russian separatists. The preemptive use of intelligence by Biden revealed “a new understanding … that the information space may be among the most consequential terrain Putin is contesting,” observed Jessica Brandt of the Brookings Institution.”
Biden’s warning on February 18 that the invasion would happen within the week turned out to be accurate. In the early hours of February 24, Russian troops moved south into Ukraine from Belarus and across Russia’s borders into Kharkiv, the Donbas region, and Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014.” (“U.S. Intelligence Says Putin Made a Last-Minute Decision to Invade Ukraine”, James Risen, The Intercept)
There’s so much baloney in this excerpt, it’s hard to know where to begin. But just review the timeline we provided earlier; a timeline that has been verified by officials from the OSCE. Can you see the discrepancy?
Biden issued his warning on February 18; that’s two days after monitors from the OSCE reported an intensification of the bombing in the Donbas. In other words, Biden already knew that his buddies in the Ukrainian army were bombing the shit out of east Ukraine when he tried to make it look like he was privy to some sensitive, insider information about the upcoming invasion.
Of course, he knew Putin was going to invade! They created the provocation that forced him to invade! They were bombing the hell out of the people Putin is obliged to protect. What else could he do? Any leader worth his salt would have done same thing.
What bothers me is that people continue support the war in Ukraine because they have no idea of what actually happened in the lead-up to the invasion.They know nothing about the relentless bombing of civilians, or the defiant rejection of Minsk or the repeated military attacks on the Donbas, or the or the plan to retake Crimea through force of arms. or the laws directed against ethnic Russians, or the rise of Nazi fascism in Kiev. They know nothing about any of these things. Their views on Ukraine are entirely shaped by the rubbish they read in the western media or hear on the cable news channels where the deluge of propaganda issues like a mighty river pulling the population inexorably towards another vicious neocon bloodbath.
People must know the truth or this war will escalate into something far worse.
Amazing Gary Oldman Drexl Scene from True Romance
It’s Not Working! The Fed’s War On Inflation Is FAILING And That Has Very Serious Implications For Our Future
Earlier this year the Federal Reserve declared war on inflation, and since that time we have seen a series of interest rate hikes that has been absolutely breathtaking. We knew that this would negatively impact the financial markets, and we have already seen trillions of dollars in asset values wiped out. We also knew that this would negatively impact the housing market, and right now housing prices are plummeting all over the nation. But Fed officials assured us that any short-term “pain” would be worth it because inflation would be brought under control. Unfortunately, that hasn’t happened. In fact, on Thursday we learned that the core consumer price index has just hit “the highest level since 1982”…
A closely watched measure of US consumer prices rose by more than forecast to a 40-year high in September, pressuring the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates even more aggressively to stamp out persistent inflation.The core consumer price index, which excludes food and energy, increased 6.6% from a year ago, the highest level since 1982, Labor Department data showed Thursday. From a month earlier, the core CPI climbed 0.6% for a second month.The overall CPI increased 0.4% last month, and was up 8.2% from a year earlier.
The Fed has been repeatedly hitting inflation with an over-sized sledgehammer, and it isn’t working.
Prices just continue to surge higher month after month.
Prices at the grocery store continued to soar last month, adding even more pressure to shoppers’ wallets.The food at home index, a proxy for grocery store prices, increased 0.7% in September from the month prior and a stunning 13% over the last year, according to new government data released Thursday.
Fed officials assured us that they had everything under control, but it was just a charade.
Thursday’s report makes it exceedingly clear that the Fed’s plan is failing in a major way…
“This inflation report today was an unmitigated disaster,” wrote Christopher S. Rupkey, chief economist at Fwdbonds, a financial markets research company. “It shows whatever Fed officials are doing, it is just not working.”
So will the Fed change course?
Of course not.
Instead, they are going to give us more of the same.
According to Fox Business, it is being anticipated that another 75 basis point rate hike is on the way in November…
The report will also have significant implications for the Federal Reserve, which has embarked on one of the fastest tightening paths in decades. Policymakers have already approved five straight rate hikes, including three back-to-back 75-basis-point increases, and have shown no signs of slowing down.Following the hotter-than-expected September inflation report, the central bank is widely expected to approve a fourth straight 75-basis-point increase when policymakers next meet at the beginning of November.
As I warned many months ago, these rate hikes are not going to solve the inflation crisis.
But they will absolutely kill the housing market.
This week, mortgage rates surged close to 7 percent…
Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates reached their highest level in more than 20 years this week and are likely to climb even further as the Federal Reserve has all but promised more rate increases in its battle to tamp down persistent inflation.Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reported Thursday that the average key 30-year rate climbed to 6.92 percent from 6.66 percent last week. Some lenders are now even offering rates above 7 percent.Last year at this time, the rate was 3.05 percent.
If the Federal Reserve keeps hiking rates, that will just push mortgage rates higher and higher.
And that will inevitably push home prices much lower.
A home-price slump taking place across popular housing markets in the Sun Belt and other regions could result in some relative bargains for shrewd homebuyers, according to market data released Monday.The median home listing price has plunged by more than 10% in Austin, Texas, since June, according to an analysis conducted by Realtor.com. That marked the steepest decline of any city in the US over that period.
If you are a potential homeowner that has been forced out of the market by rising mortgage rates, you could try to rent a place while you wait for home prices to fall.
But thanks to raging inflation, rents are absolutely skyrocketing in many of our largest cities…
The latest numbers were released in Realtor.com’s September report, and showed that median rent across the country as a whole rose 7.8 percent last month, and remained a whopping 25 percent higher than pre-pandemic rents.The 10 cities with the highest median rent increases last month were Chicago at 23.9 percent, Boston with 19.9 percent, New York with 18.2 percent, Providence with 16.7 percent, Oklahoma City at 13.8 percent, Miami with 13.2 percent, Kansas City at 11.2 percent, San Jose with 10.7 percent, Cleveland with 9.8 percent, and Hartford with 9.6 percent.
I still remember the days when I could rent a nice apartment for 300 dollars a month.
Sadly, those days are long gone. In fact, one couple in New York recently decided to move out of the city entirely when the rent on their one-bedroom apartment went from $5,000 a month to $7,000 a month…
Last May, Charlotte, 31, and her husband packed up their one-bedroom apartment on Christopher Street after learning the rent would likely skyrocket from $5,000 per month to $7,000. The couple loved living in the West Village, but homeownership was out of reach, even with her job in finance and him being in tech.They were both working from home, so they could live anywhere. It was time, they decided, to leave New York.
Can you imagine paying $7,000 a month for a one bedroom apartment?
That is nuts!
Unfortunately, our whole system is going crazy at this point.
Fed officials will do all they can to fix the giant mess that they have created, but it isn’t going to work.
They have lost control, and everyone can see it.
True Romance – Sicilians
Interesting.
https://youtu.be/Jsh4SvPdfl8
Did you notice “Tony Soprano” in the background? LOL!
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Why Do Chinese Live Longer Than Americans? (The Answer Will Shock You)
From the video…
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Please check out this great video.
Behind The Iranian Riots
Over the last weeks there were some riots in Iran. At first there were protest about the falsely reported death of a young women, Mahsa Amini, who had suddenly collapsed (video) while waiting in a police station. She died a few days later. Mahsa Amini had previously had brain surgery and her collapse and death were related to that, not to police action.
The protests by mostly women, and supported by a well known U.S. government employee, were soon taken over by separatist groups who turned them into riots. This especially in the northwestern Kurdish border region and the southeastern Baloch region. These groups are know to have foreign support. Police stations were attacked, cars were set on fire and night riots set off. In total some 24 policemen and some 100 protesters died.
It is not the first time that such riots are happening in Iran. The 2007 riots were launched after peaceful protests against a petrol price increase and the 2017 riots after peaceful protests over general economic hardship. Each time the protests were taken over by foreign directed groups and ended in serious riots that caused some death. After a month or two the situations calmed down.
Something similar is happening now.
As usual the riots have ‘western’ media support, most notoriously from the New York Times. Here is a fine example:
Some of the wounded tried to crawl away to escape the gunfire. Others bled to death on prayer mats as people tried to drag them to safety.But the snipers and officers kept pulling their triggers, firing bullet after bullet into men and young boys at a worship area where Friday Prayer had been underway.
That sounds as if the police were shooting at will and unprovoked. But some details strewn deeper throughout the story paint a very different picture. If one cuts out the propaganda trash about some video scenes and anonymous Iranian voices making unverifiable claims one can take a less obstructed look at the real situation:
The horrific scene unfolded on Sept. 30 in Zahedan, a city in southeastern Iran that is home to the ethnic Baluch minority, after a small group of worshipers emerged from the Great Mosalla prayer complex to confront security forces posted at a police station across the street.
…
The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, an elite branch of the armed forces, has confirmed that its forces were present in Zahedan, and that six of its members were killed that day, including its regional intelligence chief, Col. Ali Mousavi, and officers from the feared Basij militia. They have denied firing on civilians.Witnesses said that a number of Iranian security officers were killed, but that they died later during street clashes.
The protesters chanted antigovernment slogans and threw rocks at the officers, prompting the security forces to fire indiscriminately into the crowd, according to witnesses. As the demonstrators scattered, the gunshots stalked their retreat back toward the complex, where thousands were still praying
…
But according to the cleric and two other witnesses, a group of 10 to 15 young worshipers left the complex before prayers had concluded to gather outside the police station.
A video verified by The Times shows some of the protesters throwing rocks at the police station, where security forces stood on the roof, as gunshots are heard. Witnesses said that some protesters hurled Molotov cocktails.
The forces responded with gunfire, witnesses said.
One video verified by The Times shows two men who appear to be in uniform standing alongside another man on the roof of the police station firing what seems to be a pump-action shotgun in the direction of the mosque.
…
As the day went on, more civilians swarmed into the streets as they became aware of the violence taking place in the city.
They were met with Persian-speaking security forces, in traditional Baluch clothing, who emerged from cars before firing on the protesters, some of whom fought back with Molotov cocktails and bullets, according to witnesses. Most of the clashes took place on a street near the Makki mosque where hundreds had gathered.
The riots in Zahedan were organized by some well resourced group, likely financed by this or that U.S. government program:
The day before the shootings in Zahedan, protesters began calling for a “broad uprising” in “all of the towns of Baluchestan,” as an act of “solidarity with Kurdistan and in protest of the rape of the Baluch girl,” according to a poster advertising the demonstrations. The Kurdistan region of Iran has also seen major protests in recent weeks and has been subject to attacks by government forces.
The alleged ‘rape of the Baloch girl’ is unconfirmed and likely just another false accusation.
To sum it up:
A group of well organized and armed provocateurs attacked policemen and tried to set a police station on fire. The police did not agree with that. It used pump-action shotguns with can be used with either birdshot or anti-riot ammunition. More people came. Some of them had guns.
Who actually shot the people and the IRGC men who died is unexplained. Who the alleged ‘snipers’ were is also unexplained. The Times presumes that they were police but provides no evidence for that conclusion. Like during the 2014 Maidan riots the snipers might have been provocateurs hired to shot at both sides, protesters and policemen.
Zahedan is near the at times unruly border with Pakistan. That is why IRGC and other security forces are stationed there.
I find this sentence somewhat funny:
They were met with Persian-speaking security forces, in traditional Baluch clothing, …
Is this supposed to be sinister?
While Baloch people often speak Balochi, it is a local Iranian dialect. Persian (Farsi) is the official government language of Iran and taught in all schools. That some ‘Persian-speaking’ security forces were wearing the usual local civil clothing (loose long shirts without buttons) should not astonish anyone. Such undercover tactics are used all over the world.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian is not amused about being lectured by ‘western’ officials about police behavior during armed riots:
Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has underscored that Iran is the anchor of stability and security in the region and not the land of velvet or colorful coup, slamming foreign intervention by some Western countries in Iran.In a phone call with High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell, the Iranian foreign minister said that, “the death of the late Mahsa Amini is a painful for all of us,” however, he pointed out that this issue is just regarded as a pretext for (intervention of) some western authorities.
…
“Peaceful demands are different from riots, murders, arson, and terrorist operations,” he pointed out.
On the same topic, the Iranian FM also questioned “Who would believe that the death of a girl is so important to Westerners? If so, what did they do to the hundreds of thousands of martyrs and dead in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and Lebanon? They wanted to start a sectarian war in Iran.”
…
The Iranian FM said that for instance, in Zahedan, “there was no slogan or photo of Mahsa, and a known terrorist group tried to start a conflict between Shias and Sunnis, and they claimed responsibility for it. (The terrorist groups) did the same in part of Kurdistan, but the insight of Sunni scholars and people foiled their attempts.”
The riots have died down. The CIA will prepare the separatist groups it finances for another round to be launched when the next random reason for some peaceful protest can be found to hide in. Iran is by now well aware of this tactic and its security forces are trained to defend against such nonsense.
The Biden administration will use the Iranian police action against rioters to justify that it is breaking its election promise to reenter the nuclear deal with Iran. The U.S. will not be happy about the long term consequences of that failure.
Posted by b on October 15, 2022 at 16:51 UTC | Permalink
PEPPER STEAK | Chinese Take Out Pepper Steak
Check out this fun and tasty food…
Kremlin officials warn of ‘guaranteed escalation’ to ‘catastrophic World War 3’
After a NATO official said a Russian nuclear response would lead to the intervention of Ukraine’s allies, Russia has once again warned that meddling from the West would spark World War 3.
Russia has warned the world that global carnage would ensue if Western allies of Ukraine continue to meddle in their conflict.
They said World War 3 would be sparked if the West continue to intervene and if a nuclear war was to occur, it would “be catastrophic for all mankind”.
Should NATO approve Ukraine’s bid to join its organization, a top Kremlin official threatened global destruction.
Alexander Venediktov, the deputy secretary of Russia’s Security Council said: “Kyiv is well aware that such a step would mean a guaranteed escalation to a World War 3″.
Venediktov has insisted that the West are solely making threats of nuclear war
He claimed: “Russian officials have never voiced a threat to use any weapons of mass destruction.
“Meanwhile in Europe, some politicians openly call for such actions, even a number of politicians in the EU do not conceal and do not rule out the possibility of using weapons of mass destruction against Russia.”
Venediktov took aim at Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, claiming his “actions and words” are “dictated” by other people.
He added: “It would be good for the West to realize that their protégé can take on so much that Washington and Brussels will have to think about how to deal with the consequences.
“We must remember: a nuclear conflict will affect absolutely the whole world, and not only Russia and the collective West, but in general any country on this planet.
“Its consequences will be catastrophic for all mankind.”
Russian missiles struck more than 40 Ukrainian cities and towns on Thursday (October 13), leading to heavy destruction.
Drones also hit the region around Ukraine’s capital, which had avoided airstrikes until his week.
I Love Mallory – Natural Born Killers (1994)
Another disturbing classic.
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The BEST Dan Dan Mian Authentic Dan Dan Noodles Recipe
Dongping is right: I have full confidence in China and Xi:
1) At the beginning of Xi first term, he openly:
[1.1] Pledged to prepare the army for war and win war.
[1.2] Zero tolerance against corruption: flies and tigers included.
[1.3] He achieved both main objectives with flying colours.
2) In Xi second term, he pledged to fully eliminate poverty across China with:
[2.1] precision poverty alleviation strategy.
[2.2] Poverty alleviation strategy moved from helping villages to helping households, to helping individuals , and than move on to motivate the ambitious of individuals by educating them and opening up their eyes on the possibility of a better life.
[2.3] Xi achieved all these wonderfully.
[2.4] Xi also successfully return Xinjiang, Tibet, Hong Kong to peace and order.
3) Xi also successfully countered US pacific pivot, trade and technological war with outstanding and beyond imagination strategies:
[3.1] South China seas island building with airports, ports, military facilities etc.
[3.2] Massive Belts and roads projects winning the heart and minds of many countries through AIIB loans and infrastructure projects. Strengthening relations with Russia, Iran, Saudi, UAE and many important countries and finally got Putin the great approval to build a rail system from China through two Central Asia nation to Western Europe after 20 years wait
4) no single country leaders on the planet achieved as much as Xi in his first 2 terms:
[4.1] population reform from one child to 3.
[4.2] Zero COVID policy.
[4.3] quality GDP strategies includes property market reform aimed at controlling property prices , anti monopoly policies by restructuring and restricting the behavior of big tech companies such as Alibaba etc, turning private tuition industry into non profit sector etc.
[4.4] Pension reform without tax increment through allocating 10% of SOE stock to pension finance; cut drug cost by creating a centralised administration department to approve, purchase and negotiate drug prices, successfully forcing all drugs companies to drop their prices by up to more than 90% and achieve a sustainable nationwide universal healthcare system
[4.5] Digital RMB and RMB as reserve currency, reducing US dollar holding, currency swap with nations
[4.6] Energy security with Saudi, UAE, Iran, Russia etc now on side as friendly nations and willing to trade in RMB
[4.7] Popping one eye (NZ) from the 5 eyes, and possibly Australia will be the next to crack
[4.8] Xi achievement in his first two terms are simply too lengthy to list all. So, with such able people, why can’t he lead China for the 3rd term?
5) Xi coming term is to settle Taiwan reunification:
[5.1] he already started the project to build high speed rail to Taiwan.
[5.2] He Strategically Making use of Nancy Pelosi Taiwan visit to up the tone of a possible shooting down her plane imagination, and ended up announcing a military exercise with an unprecedented, well coordinated large scale surrounding Taiwan military exercise, shutting down Taiwan airspace and ports for several days, and now daily PLA jets and warships crossing the middle line, and the crusaders don’t even dare to do a thing beyond sending saliva cannon.
[5.3] And now, PLA military present across Taiwan and using the opportunity to train their soldiers to fight a land, seas and air coordinated modern tech war against the possible U.S. military become a daily norm and the world already used to it.
No wonder Mao always looked down the enemies strategically as the enemies have no strategy at all.
Cheers
Chua
Terror Attack on Russia Military Base near Ukraine Border; Three shooters kill 22, injure 16
A Russian military base in Belgorad was the scene of a terrorist attack today. Three shooter reportedly opened fire against about 100 Conscripts who were at the base to train. Reports indicate twenty-two Russian soldiers killed, at least sixteen soldiers wounded before the three shooters were killed by return fire.
Early indications are that the shooters are from Tajikstan, and there may be an Islamic angle to the attack, but this information is all UNVERIFIED.
It is unknown at this time if the attackers were also conscripts.
There are UNSUBSTANTIATED RUMORS that they may have been Ukrainian Special Ops soldiers disguised as Conscripts. Again, UNVERIFIED.
UPDATE 7:28 PM EDT —
The shooting in the Belgorod region occurred at a training ground in the village of Soloti, SOTA sources say.
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Europeans Prepare for Winter, by Hoarding China-Made Electric Blankets! | Speak Softly
The Biden White house released it’s policy paper on global dominance. It’s a committee written document with the standard boilerplate of “American greatness”, and the liberally sprinkled “democracy”, and soft words of “competitors” instead of their actual meanings as “enemies”.
Being in China, this statement popped out…
We have an abiding interest in maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, which is critical to regional and global security and prosperity and a matter of international concern and attention.
We oppose any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side, and do not support Taiwan independence.
We remain committed to our one China policy, which is guided by the Taiwan Relations Act, the Three Joint Communiques, and the Six Assurances.
And we will uphold our commitments under the Taiwan Relations Act to support Taiwan’s self-defense and to maintain our capacity to resist any resort to force or coercion against Taiwan.
Meanwhile, the United States is funding a big-lie propaganda machine to convince the world that China is going to “invade Taiwan” and the USA will defend it. While China says “no we won’t”.
Ah. Expect a false flag event in the future.
So, you can expect Biden to sign the Taiwan Act of 2022 which will render the above paragraph mute, and alike everything out of this cluster-fuck of a government disaster, will result in many discomforts and outright horrors for the American people.
What this document states is a continuation of the policy of “poking and prodding China into conflict”…
We will act in common purpose to address a range of issues –
from untrusted digital infrastructure
and forced labor in supply chains
and illegal, unreported,and unregulated fishing.
We will hold Beijing accountable for abuses –
genocide
and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang,
human rights violations in Tibet,
and the dismantling of Hong Kong’s autonomy and freedoms
– even as it seeks to pressure countries and communities into silence.
We will continue prioritizing investments in a combat credible military that deters aggression against our allies and partners in the region, and can help those allies and partners defend themselves.
Poking the big long ugly USA nose in Chin’s domestic issues.
And all dressed up in a very nice “corporate speak” who’s audience are either mind-numbed “woke” entities or just folk like us who are tired of the massive flood of diarrhea that spews forth out of Washington DC these days.
Conclusion
This policy paper is the roadmap for American geopolitical involvement.
It continues, in corporate-speak, to describe a world where the United States will puppet it’s allies to continue to bully the rest of the world into compliance with what ever the fuck the USA wants.
Expect no further changes to American policy at this time.
The neocons are running the United States and things are only going to get worse.
We see Empire for the House of Cards it is whereby political rhetoric is divorced from reality and the people enter into open rebellion. One wants to see Macron share the same fate.Posted by: gottlieb | Oct 14 2022 15:53 utc | 1
All the signs are there.
The United States has gone “off the deep end”, and things just keep on going from bad to worse, to much worse, and then to really bad…
What’s next?
WO Globalists Brazenly Float a HUGE Trial Balloon……….
PayPal’s Shockingly Criminal Attempt
to Play God Foreshadows Our
Perilous CBDC Future
Just when you thought you saw and heard it all, PayPal crawls out from under its rock and appoints itself: Grand Inquisitioner of the Cyberverse—Wow!!! Just WOW ! ! !
By asserting it’s unlawfully arrogated power and falsely presumed right to fine PayPal account holders up to $2500.00 for perceived violations concerning the dissemination of misinformation, the global payment platform totally crossed every line—ON PURPOSE.
KEY POINT: This entire Big Tech drama was obviously choreographed as a
trial balloon to assess just how much the Khazarian banksters could get away with in further ripping off people here, there and everywhere.
Really, how does an American multinational financial technology company operating an online payments system get the idea that it can tyrannically function as judge, jury, prosecutor and executioner in a kangaroo court set up to outright steal funds from PayPal users?!
The hubris, the arrogance, the chutzpah to commit such an egregious institutional crime spree with absolute impunity is beyond comprehension … … … until you consider that PayPal is a wholly owned subsidiary of a transnational corporation … that’s effectively run by a much larger asset management firm … which is completely controlled by the Khazarian Cabal.
Hence, it’s of paramount importance to understand that PayPal would never made such a daffy and brazen move unless it was given the green light by the U.S. Corporation (falsely known as the U.S. Federal Government), another global corporate crime syndicate overseen by the Khazarian Mafia.
The bottom line here is that the “Financial Masters of the Universe” are hellbent on rolling out their fake CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency) as an integral piece of their worldwide social credit score regime. Such a financial enforcement mechanism established worldwide is the only practical was to ensure that everyone stays on the New World Order reservation.
After all, what better way to enforce the corporate ESG woke agenda than to financially penalize every single ‘wrong move’ (read: politically incorrect keystroke) that any individual ever makes in cyberspace. In other words, whenever anyone is digitally connected to the Internet, they are being watched and clocked and blocked as never before.
“We Need To Back Off Ukraine” Military Leaders Tell Biden
Putin is not a cornered animal.
He’s only been using a small percentage of his conventional military capability. All he needs to do is ramp that up which he’s now doing. Also, he’s not likely to nuke an area so close to the most populous part of Russia. It would also make him an international pariah.
In short, Putin doesn’t need to do such a thing and isn’t inclined to unless NATO does it first.
Have you noticed, as the election looms, the Party of Chaos trips deeper into its own self-created chaos? Turns out that the effort to make Ukraine the fifty-first state is not going over so well with the voters. Nor is the campaign to convince children to switch sexes. Or the crusade to sell ever more mRNA “vaccines” that the CDC knows good-and-goshdarn-well is killing and maiming credulous citizens by the millions. Or the program for importing limitless alien “vibrance” across the open border with Mexico…. As the venerable Rolling Stones sang more than a half century ago: “Rape… murder… it’s just a shot away!” This is the kind of country that the Party of Chaos has been grooming you up for.
It’s not working. We are coming for you: leaders, mesmerized minions, and obliging tools of this Satanic faction that seized the levers of power in America and turned them into wrecking bars. After the nervous hiatus from November to January, we’re coming for you in 2023. You are going to answer for the decisions you took and the rules you made that drove our country to its knees and half out of it mind. We are storming you in your Kafka’s Castle of lies and malice, and we are going to drag you out of there kicking and screaming. Preserving your decorum will not be our first consideration, Rochelle Walensky, Tony Fauci, Alejandro Mayorkas, Merrick Garland, Christopher Wray, and the people who work for you.
There’s a lot of loose talk about some as-yet-unknown Party of Chaos’s ploy to stave off the November 8th reckoning — say, drag out the vote count for weeks and confabulate the results… declare some emergency to shut down in-person voting… or somehow postpone the vote altogether. Nothing like that will go over successfully this time around. The lamp-posts in the WalMart parking lots could be decorated with dangling local election officials who get caught churning phony ballots, tweaking Dominion machines, and taping-up the polling places’ windows with cardboard.
You’re getting no help, meantime, from the folks who run the maundering flunkey you installed as president. They just flipped-off Sergey Lavrov’s invitation to negotiate some reasonable end to your $60-plus billion orchestrated fiasco in Ukraine. These are the people that party apostate Tulsi Gabbard identified lately as “an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness.” She got that exactly right, and at exactly the right moment in history, too.
Did you actually propose, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, that the purpose of our misadventure in Ukraine was “to weaken Russia?” How’s that working out? I’ll tell you: Russia is fixing to wipe up the floor with its Nazi antagonists in Kiev (and their NATO helpers). Russia is proceeding with prudence and determination to neutralize our country’s foolish provocations, even despite “Joe Biden’s” admission that “Armageddon” is an option. Here’s some news for you, Party of Chaos: Russia is not insane, but you surely are. You, Lloyd Austin, are busy destroying the American military with your deranged sexual boundary bamboozle. Your sinister“vaccine” policies that have led, among other disasters, to a tripling of cancer rates in the ranks. What, exactly, have you succeeded in weakening?
Do you think the American people have failed to notice this? How are those financial sanctions working against Russia, Tony Blinken, Victoria Nuland, Jake Sullivan, and Susan Rice? Here’s how: they energized trade relations and financial settlements between Russia and the 70-percent of the economic world that is outside the orbit of Western Civ. Meanwhile, they drove the birthplace of Western Civ (Europe) to its knees, upon which it is sliding headlong back to the Twelfth Century. Who told you to do that? George Soros? Klaus Schwab? (Oh, by the way, we’re coming for the two of them also, if they’re still alive in 2023.)
We’ve also had enough, Party of Chaos, of your “Green New Deal” and climate change bullshit. The former is a sheer shuck-and-jive. You propose to mandate the end of gasoline-powered cars in favor of electric cars that charge off of fossil fuel fired power plants? That’s rich. Ironically, though, the whole mass-motoring matrix is failing not on the basis of whatever powers a car but on the simple fact that a sinking middle-class, whose destruction you engineered, can’t afford to buy any kind of car anymore, whatever way it’s powered.
As for your climate change hysteria, consider that human culture has gone through scores of climate swings since the Age of the Pharaohs; the main ones being the Bronze Age warming, the Hellenic cooling, the Roman warming, the Dark Age cooling, the medieval warming, the “Little Ice Age” cooling, and now the present-day warming — with evidence that we are slipping back into another cooling.
The truth is that it has always been difficult for civilizations to adapt to these events, but it’s especially difficult for us with our super-complex, mutually-dependent, hyper-tech systems of daily life, not to mention the giant scale of it all, which pretty much guarantees a hard landing for us. We’re not going to run Wal-Mart, Walt Disney World, and the suburbs on any combination of wind, solar, and recycled fry-max oil, so stop pretending, and quit making everything worse than it has to be. We’ve got to make other arrangements for sure, and that will be hard enough — but no thank you on that transhumanist robot utopia you’re trying to sell.
Well, of course, you’d never quit trying. You just have to be defeated. And that’s exactly what’s going to happen. And after you’re defeated, we’re going to come for you, and stuff your asses into those witness chairs, and compel you to come clean on why you worked so hard to destroy the USA. Maybe you’ll apologize. You should be the first to know, though, that it won’t matter. When did anyone’s apology ever induce in you something besides the demonic lust to inflict more pain on your victims?
Home made “English Muffins”
“Far better than any English muffins you can buy in the store, and much less expensive, too.”
Since you cook these on top of the stove, there is no need to preheat the oven.Proof the yeast in the l/2 Cup of lukewarm milk with the sugar.Scald the 1 cup of milk, melt the butter in it and let cool to lukewarm.
Add the salt and the slightly beaten egg to the milk-and-butter mixture. Pour the yeast sponge into a large mixing bowl and blend in the milk-butter-and-egg mixture. Add the flour, a little at a time,mixing together well.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead, adding more flour if necessary.
Knead until elastic and shiny.
Then place the dough in a large buttered bowl, cover with a towel and let rise for at least 1 hour, until doubled in bulk.
Meanwhile, pour the cornmeal onto a platter and set aside. Take the dough out onto the work surface and knead again for a couple of minutes.
Roll it out with a rolling pin to a thickness of about 1/3″ and, with a glass or a large biscuit cutter, cut out round cakes.
Put these onto the platter with the cornmeal, press down slightly and turn to get the other side covered with cornmeal.
Place on a baking sheet and cover with a towel.
Let stand for about 20 to 30 minutes or until doubled in size. Place a skillet over medium heat and when hot, brush with a little melted butter, turn the heat low and place about 5 to 6 muffins in the pan.
Cook for approximately 5 minutes on each side, or until they are slightly brown.
Cool on a rack.
Toast after they are completely cooled off and right before serving them.
Tucker Carlson: This should be a crime — it’s dark and horrifying
Interesting from FOX.
Kremlin officials warn of ‘guaranteed escalation’ to ‘catastrophic World War 3’
After a NATO official said a Russian nuclear response would lead to the intervention of Ukraine’s allies, Russia has once again warned that meddling from the West would spark World War 3.
Russia has warned the world that global carnage would ensue if Western allies of Ukraine continue to meddle in their conflict.
They said World War 3 would be sparked if the West continue to intervene and if a nuclear war was to occur, it would “be catastrophic for all mankind”.
Should NATO approve Ukraine’s bid to join its organization, a top Kremlin official threatened global destruction.
Alexander Venediktov, the deputy secretary of Russia’s Security Council said: “Kyiv is well aware that such a step would mean a guaranteed escalation to a World War 3″.
Venediktov has insisted that the West are solely making threats of nuclear war
He claimed: “Russian officials have never voiced a threat to use any weapons of mass destruction.
“Meanwhile in Europe, some politicians openly call for such actions, even a number of politicians in the EU do not conceal and do not rule out the possibility of using weapons of mass destruction against Russia.”
Venediktov took aim at Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, claiming his “actions and words” are “dictated” by other people.
He added: “It would be good for the West to realize that their protégé can take on so much that Washington and Brussels will have to think about how to deal with the consequences.
“We must remember: a nuclear conflict will affect absolutely the whole world, and not only Russia and the collective West, but in general any country on this planet.
“Its consequences will be catastrophic for all mankind.”
Russian missiles struck more than 40 Ukrainian cities and towns on Thursday (October 13), leading to heavy destruction.
Drones also hit the region around Ukraine’s capital, which had avoided airstrikes until his week.
Dio featuring Tenacious D – Push
Cartoonist Draws Humor And Sarcasm Blended Together In Funny Comics
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Funny comics are a sure way to brighten someone’s day, and that’s exactly what comedy writer and illustrator Steve Nelson does!
As he mentions in an interview with Bored panda, “I would describe my style as simple, cartoony, and crude, I guess. And for my humor—dry and sarcastic jokes with a hint of the absurd.”
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Easy Lasagna Rolls
“This is a great quick recipe that’s meatless and light. You can lighten it even more by using lower fat ingredients. Great for kids to make! This is a microwave recipe, but can be made in the oven. Also, ricotta cheese is easily substituted for the cottage cheese, if you prefer!”
Mix cottage cheese, 1-1/2 cup mozzarella and parmesan cheese with eggs and parsley.
Place one lasagna noodle on work surface.
Spread 1/3 cup cheese mixture on noodle evenly.
Roll up tightly like a pinwheel.
Place seamside down in microwave-safe baking pan, that has 2 cup of spaghetti sauce in bottom.
Continue until with remaining ingredients.
Cover rolls with remaining sauce and sprinkle with additional mozzarella cheese.
Cover with microwave-safe wrap and microcook on high 10-20 minutes, until cheese is melted.
What can mainland Chinese, Singaporeans and Hong Kongers learn from the Taiwanese people’s achievement of democracy?
I am a 53-year-old mainland Chinese.
A radical anti-communist in my youth, I personally participated in the 1989 protests in Tiananmen Square, and I was in China throughout the 1990s trying to orchestrate democratic revolutions.
I have been to Taiwan more than ten times and have lived in Taiwan for more than a year.
When I went to Taiwan for the first time, I was excited that I finally had the opportunity to enter the real world of democracy, and I watched the anti-government protests of Taiwanese live with enthusiasm (Million Voices against Corruption, President Chen Must Go) . Later, I personally observed two elections in Taiwan (2008 and 2016).
The end result was that I became a staunch supporter of the CCP.
One of the main reasons why my perspective changed is that I have learned a lot from democracy in Taiwan.
Russia Moves Nuclear-Capable Bombers to within 115 miles of NATO Country Borders
Russian president Vladimir Putin has increased the number of his strategic nuclear bombers stationed at an airbase near the Finnish and Norwegian borders, satellite images show.
The move comes amid high tension over whether Putin plans to launch an atomic attack in Europe and his on-going invasion of Ukraine, which has suffered a string of embarrassing setbacks in recent months.
Russia has gradually increased the number of strategic bombers at Olenya air base – from none on August 12, to four supersonic Tu-160s on August 21, to 11 now.
The bombers are stationed around 115 miles away from the border of NATO member Norway, and about 95 miles away from the soon-to-become Alliance member, Finland. They can also be used with conventional weapons.
The Armageddon planes are usually stationed at Engels Air Base, 450 miles south-east of Moscow.
POPA CHUBBY – Hey Joe ! Rockpalast
Check this one out!
What’s something that sucks about being a man?
I was walking in the park and a little girl, about 4 years old, was crying her eyes out at the path next to the playground. No adults around, just her, sobbing her little heart out.
All I wanted to do is go up, lower myself to her level, give her a little hug and ask where her mommy and daddy were… but I couldn’t. Modern society says that a man on his own near a park, talking to children is a threat.
So, I had to keep my distance until I’d got the attention of a female walking her dog.
Society is broken when a man feels he can’t even comfort a crying child.
I understand it. But it truly sucks.
It’s Not Working! The Fed’s War On Inflation Is FAILING And That Has Very Serious Implications For Our Future
Earlier this year the Federal Reserve declared war on inflation, and since that time we have seen a series of interest rate hikes that has been absolutely breathtaking. We knew that this would negatively impact the financial markets, and we have already seen trillions of dollars in asset values wiped out. We also knew that this would negatively impact the housing market, and right now housing prices are plummeting all over the nation. But Fed officials assured us that any short-term “pain” would be worth it because inflation would be brought under control. Unfortunately, that hasn’t happened. In fact, on Thursday we learned that the core consumer price index has just hit “the highest level since 1982”…
A closely watched measure of US consumer prices rose by more than forecast to a 40-year high in September, pressuring the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates even more aggressively to stamp out persistent inflation.The core consumer price index, which excludes food and energy, increased 6.6% from a year ago, the highest level since 1982, Labor Department data showed Thursday. From a month earlier, the core CPI climbed 0.6% for a second month.The overall CPI increased 0.4% last month, and was up 8.2% from a year earlier.
The Fed has been repeatedly hitting inflation with an over-sized sledgehammer, and it isn’t working.
Prices just continue to surge higher month after month.
Prices at the grocery store continued to soar last month, adding even more pressure to shoppers’ wallets.The food at home index, a proxy for grocery store prices, increased 0.7% in September from the month prior and a stunning 13% over the last year, according to new government data released Thursday.
Fed officials assured us that they had everything under control, but it was just a charade.
Thursday’s report makes it exceedingly clear that the Fed’s plan is failing in a major way…
“This inflation report today was an unmitigated disaster,” wrote Christopher S. Rupkey, chief economist at Fwdbonds, a financial markets research company. “It shows whatever Fed officials are doing, it is just not working.”
So will the Fed change course?
Of course not.
Instead, they are going to give us more of the same.
According to Fox Business, it is being anticipated that another 75 basis point rate hike is on the way in November…
The report will also have significant implications for the Federal Reserve, which has embarked on one of the fastest tightening paths in decades. Policymakers have already approved five straight rate hikes, including three back-to-back 75-basis-point increases, and have shown no signs of slowing down.Following the hotter-than-expected September inflation report, the central bank is widely expected to approve a fourth straight 75-basis-point increase when policymakers next meet at the beginning of November.
As I warned many months ago, these rate hikes are not going to solve the inflation crisis.
But they will absolutely kill the housing market.
This week, mortgage rates surged close to 7 percent…
Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates reached their highest level in more than 20 years this week and are likely to climb even further as the Federal Reserve has all but promised more rate increases in its battle to tamp down persistent inflation.Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reported Thursday that the average key 30-year rate climbed to 6.92 percent from 6.66 percent last week. Some lenders are now even offering rates above 7 percent.Last year at this time, the rate was 3.05 percent.
If the Federal Reserve keeps hiking rates, that will just push mortgage rates higher and higher.
And that will inevitably push home prices much lower.
A home-price slump taking place across popular housing markets in the Sun Belt and other regions could result in some relative bargains for shrewd homebuyers, according to market data released Monday.The median home listing price has plunged by more than 10% in Austin, Texas, since June, according to an analysis conducted by Realtor.com. That marked the steepest decline of any city in the US over that period.
If you are a potential homeowner that has been forced out of the market by rising mortgage rates, you could try to rent a place while you wait for home prices to fall.
But thanks to raging inflation, rents are absolutely skyrocketing in many of our largest cities…
The latest numbers were released in Realtor.com’s September report, and showed that median rent across the country as a whole rose 7.8 percent last month, and remained a whopping 25 percent higher than pre-pandemic rents.The 10 cities with the highest median rent increases last month were Chicago at 23.9 percent, Boston with 19.9 percent, New York with 18.2 percent, Providence with 16.7 percent, Oklahoma City at 13.8 percent, Miami with 13.2 percent, Kansas City at 11.2 percent, San Jose with 10.7 percent, Cleveland with 9.8 percent, and Hartford with 9.6 percent.
I still remember the days when I could rent a nice apartment for 300 dollars a month.
Sadly, those days are long gone. In fact, one couple in New York recently decided to move out of the city entirely when the rent on their one-bedroom apartment went from $5,000 a month to $7,000 a month…
Last May, Charlotte, 31, and her husband packed up their one-bedroom apartment on Christopher Street after learning the rent would likely skyrocket from $5,000 per month to $7,000. The couple loved living in the West Village, but homeownership was out of reach, even with her job in finance and him being in tech.They were both working from home, so they could live anywhere. It was time, they decided, to leave New York.
Can you imagine paying $7,000 a month for a one bedroom apartment?
That is nuts!
Unfortunately, our whole system is going crazy at this point.
After a NATO official said a Russian nuclear response would lead to the intervention of Ukraine’s allies, Russia has once again warned that meddling from the West would spark World War 3.
Russia has warned the world that global carnage would ensue if Western allies of Ukraine continue to meddle in their conflict.
They said World War 3 would be sparked if the West continue to intervene and if a nuclear war was to occur, it would “be catastrophic for all mankind”.
Should NATO approve Ukraine’s bid to join its organization, a top Kremlin official threatened global destruction.
Alexander Venediktov, the deputy secretary of Russia’s Security Council said: “Kyiv is well aware that such a step would mean a guaranteed escalation to a World War 3″.
Venediktov has insisted that the West are solely making threats of nuclear war
He claimed: “Russian officials have never voiced a threat to use any weapons of mass destruction.
“Meanwhile in Europe, some politicians openly call for such actions, even a number of politicians in the EU do not conceal and do not rule out the possibility of using weapons of mass destruction against Russia.”
Venediktov took aim at Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, claiming his “actions and words” are “dictated” by other people.
He added: “It would be good for the West to realize that their protégé can take on so much that Washington and Brussels will have to think about how to deal with the consequences.
“We must remember: a nuclear conflict will affect absolutely the whole world, and not only Russia and the collective West, but in general any country on this planet.
“Its consequences will be catastrophic for all mankind.”
Russian missiles struck more than 40 Ukrainian cities and towns on Thursday (October 13), leading to heavy destruction.
Drones also hit the region around Ukraine’s capital, which had avoided airstrikes until his week.
GENERAL ARMAGEDDON. He’s the new Russian commander and now gloves are off says
Shit. It’s going to get REAL bad.
Being an asshole
On the morning of June 10, 2010, a 21-year-old woman named Isabella Thallas was walking her dog Rocko with her boyfriend Darian Simon near Coors Field in Denver, Colorado. When the young couple stopped and urged the dog to “go potty” in front of an apartment block, a man named Michael Close started shouting at them from his window, asking them, “Are you going to train that f–king dog or just yell at it?”
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Within moments, Close pulled out an AK-47 and opened fire, striking Thallas in the back and kil8ling her instantly. Simon was hit in the leg and buttocks but survived.
Almost immediately, Close texted an ex-girlfriend and a friend on the police force, telling them that he’d “really f–ked up bad,” then took off in his SUV with a small arsenal. Police quickly apprehended Close and charged him, and was found guilty of first-degree murder among other charges.
My Super Simple Spaghetti Sauce
“I needed some sauce and quick! I am not a fan of the jarred stuff…plus I didn’t want to go to the store. This is a rendition of my favorite sauce Recipe #133806, just made simple and it doesn’t have to cook all day.”
Throw it all in a sauce pan, stir, simmer, cover and continue to simmer for 20-30 minutes.
Season again to taste.
**we like a spicy sweet sauce — so please adjust the sugar and crushed red to your liking**.
Enjoy!
Be a Rufus
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This is Matrix movie star Keanu Reeves. He was abandoned by his father at 3 years old and grew up with 3 different stepfathers. He is dyslexic. His dream of becoming a hockey player was shattered by a serious accident. His daughter died at birth. His wife died in a car accident. His best friend, River Phoenix, died of an overdose. His sister battled leukemia.
No bodyguards, no luxury houses. Keanu lives in an ordinary apartment and likes wandering around town and often seen riding a subway in NYC.
When he was filming the movie “The Lake House,” he overheard the conversation of two costume assistants, one crying as he would lose his house if he did not pay $20,000 – On the same day, Keanu deposited the necessary amount in his bank account. In his career, he has donated large sums to hospitals including $75 million of his earnings from “The Matrix” to charities.
In 2010, on his birthday, Keanu walked into a bakery & bought a brioche with a single candle, ate it in front of the bakery, and offered coffee to people who stopped to talk to him.
In 1997 some paparazzi found him walking one morning in the company of a homeless man in Los Angeles, listening to him and sharing his life for a few hours.
In life, sometimes the ones most broken from inside are the ones most willing to help others.
This man could buy everything, and instead every day he gets up and chooses one thing that cannot be bought:
👉To be a caring person.😍❤️
Bad Company-Ready for love (live)
U.S. D.O.D issued a contract for COVID-19 Research to a company in Ukraine, 3 months before COVID-19 was known to exist
Dates on records are funny things; you can’t get around actual dates. The dates on records prove facts, and the facts are as follows: The world first started to hear about a novel coronavirus in Wuhan China in early January 2020. Yet it wasn’t until February 11 that the records of the World Health Organization prove that new virus was named “COVID-19.”
So with the official records proving this, why does United States Government data show that the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) awarded a contract on November 12, 2019 to Labyrinth Global Health INC. for ‘COVID-19 Research?’ November 12 . . . at least one month before the emergence of the virus, and three months before it was officially named Covid-19?
The findings do not end there. The government contract awarded on November 12, 2019 for ‘COVID-19 Research’ stipulated it was to take place in . . . Ukraine . . . as part of a much larger contract for a ‘Biological threat reduction program in Ukraine’.
Maybe that’s one of the reasons the US is so interested in “defending Ukraine” from what Russia is now doing . . . because, it seems to me, this information shows the US funded the actual creation of the COVID-19 virus, which killed millions worldwide, and paved the way for their far deadlier “vaccine”- from which millions more are now dying, and the US needs to make certain nobody finds out.
Why is America better than mostly every other country at everything?
Total rubbish. America is NOT better at everything.
For example:
America is NOT better than China at building infrastructure.
America is NOT better than China at helping developing countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Look at China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
America is NOT better than China at unifying countries with economic and security alliances such as BRICS, RCEP and SCO.
America is NOT better than China at maintaining political stability and unity. Look at the Capitol Hill riots. Look at the gridlock in US Congress.
America is NOT better than China at protecting its populace from a pandemic. America has over 1,000,000 Covid deaths, while China has around 5,000. And China has 4X the population size of America!
America is NOT better than China in avoiding wars and massive carnage.
America is NOT better than China in taking care of its citizens. Look at America’s unaffordable health care, rampant homelessness, rampant gun violence, systemic racism, mass incarceration, etc., etc., etc.
America is NOT better than China in technological areas such as 5G, AI, mobile payments, quantum computing, infrastructure engineering, green energy, etc.
America is NOT better than China in fighting poverty. China lifted 850 million people out of absolute poverty, according to the World Bank!
Aerosmith – I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing (Live From Mexico City, 2016)
Russian Air Force Plane Leaves Nuke Weapons Base; Doomsday Plane Airborne
1.Russian Air Force Ilyushin Il-62M RA-86495 airborne from Soltsy-2 Air Base nuclear weapons facility.
2.Russian Air Force Tupolev Tu-214PU-SBUS RA-64530 “Doomsday Plane”.
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China is destroying the Australian economy, and all because the Aussie PM called for an investigation into the coronavirus outbreak. Is China overreacting? 48% of Australian exports were to China.
As I recall, Scotty didn’t just blame China for Covid-19, he demanded China give in and let other (western) countries full access into China and any and all locations. Basically, he said China is guilty and should let America and allies storm into China and have access to everything the allies desired until they could find evidence of guilt.
It was stupid, but if you’ve read anything about Scotty, you’d know this level of stupidity is right around his level.
If you were China, you’d be pretty pissed off as well, especially since China is one of Australia’s largest trade partners. China decided if Australia wanted so badly to break the relationship, China would comply.
This wasn’t China’s decision. This was Scott Morrison’s decision to break the relationship. China just complied. Once that happened, Scotty turned around and cried about how China is bullying Australia.
Watch this video. That small Aussie kid is Australia’s Scotty, constantly bullying the big kid, China. Once the big kid has had enough, he retaliates, and suddenly Scotty starts crying and saying the big kid bullied him.
Watch the video. Watch how Scotty moves and constantly takes pot-shots at the big kid. He was clearly the aggressor. The more the big kid didn’t retaliate, the more shots Scotty took.
There’s a medium sized kid, which I call America, who stands by watching the big kid get bullied. Once the big kid retaliates and drops Scotty, America hops into action and takes a fighting stance against the big kid, but actually does fuck all.
When China complied with Scotty’s wishes to break off relations, does America help Australia by buying the things China now refuses to buy?
Nope, America sees the opportunity to make more money and sells its own goods to China; completely buggering Australia. While that’s happening in broad daylight and without lube, Australia is still blaming China, through gritted teeth. It’s great for America, has little to no effect on China, but hurts for Australia.
What is there to do though?
It’s like the cast of Dumb and Dumber somehow got appointed to run Australia.
The Debut of G.E.M.
She’s a really, REALLY big singer in China today. She is often compared as the “Chinese Taylor Swift”. This is her debut on Chinese television. Amazing.
Would Europeans trade their universal healthcare for the right to bear arms like we have in the United States?
As a gunowner in Europe, I say…
…wait, I’ll have to wipe the urine stains from the carpet from the laughing.
A couple of weeks ago, I had the biannual checkup at the dentist. The dentist said: “Can you come back next week, so I’ll fix the filling that’s been eroding for some time?”. So, the next week I sat in a chair for a long time for the dentist to fix my filling. The total bill of 19 euros came by email, just as I was driving towards the mountains where I had a hunt planned:
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Sure, I needed to fill in a couple of forms and pass a couple of tests to get a license, but that was all because the law (decided by we, the people) requires that only sane and law-abiding citizens have a right to own firearms. But I’d fill out those forms easily if I can have free checkups every 6 months and a 19 euro filling AND not have to worry about a loony shooting up a school or a church.
Is it possible for there to be a peaceful transition from authoritarian rule in China towards full-fledged democracy (without any bloodshed)?
By “full-fledged democracy,” you mean liberal Western democracy based on multiparty elections.
Why should China ever entertain adopting Western democracy? What does China stand to gain?
China has her own brand of democracy which works quite well, thank you very much.
China has grown to become the world’s largest economy by purchasing power parity. And soon by nominal GDP.
China has eradicated absolute poverty, elevating 850 million people, according to the World Bank.
China has the finest infrastructure of roads, bridges, high-speed rail, airports, etc. in the world.
China has protected her population from COVID-19, suffering only about 5,000 deaths. (By comparison, USA has over one million deaths.)
China is technologically very advanced (5G, AI, mobile payment, quantum computing, etc.). China is at the forefront of space exploration (Mars rover Zhurong, space station Tiangong).
China has the second most powerful military on the planet making her perfectly safe from potential invaders like USA.
Besides, China tried Western democracy back in 1912 and it turned into a massive clusterfuck.
China can see what democracy is like in USA, India, Taiwan, Brazil, Hungary, Turkey, Venezuela, etc. She doesn’t think it’s worth the risk.
Krokus – Screaming in the Night
What has China done to the USA for the USA to be tough with it?
The Chinese have done a number of things wrong. This has really gotten the Americans totally flummoxed.
They have been wildly successful in bringing EVERYBODY out of poverty.
They care about EVERYBODY. All of them.
The will no longer kowtow to the US, nor anybody else.
They have developed non dollar trading mediums.
They have circumvented US hegemony
They have developed their own allies
They have pursued win win economic policy with their neighbours
They have signed up half the world into the Belt and Road trading group.
They have stayed in their borders.
They are too big to attack.
They provide the chain of supply for the US government and military.
And thanks to Felix Su :- Last but not least. They’re doing Capitalism better than the US. That isn’t allowed. How dare those Chinese go from Communism to Capitalism and beat the US in 50 years!
I could go on but ALL of these things are anathema to the Ferengi. The US hate success in others, especially when they cannot get a piece of the action. The US prefers a zero sum game. I win, You Lose.
The United States regards business as WAR, to be won at all costs. Much of this they will claim they got from a book called “The Art of War” by a Chinese scholar named Sun Tzu. Because of the belief the Ferenghi really cannot tell the difference between a competitor and an enemy.
EDIT:
I have deleted 3 very long and very nasty comments from Ferengi. In retaliation this answer has been reported for not following BNBR rules. I have appealed but it looks like the answer will be deleted. We shall see, meanwhile please push the upvotes.
YAY my appeal was upheld and now they have shared it to 120,000 people. So I am still in business. Thank you common sense, and for cracking 1000. .
Another concert with G.E.M.
Quick and Easy Baked Ziti
“This is a quick dish I like to make when I need to get dinner on the table in a hurry. If you like a zestier ziti, use a hot Italian sausage. Note: cooking/prep time does not include time for cooking pasta.”
Preheat oven to 350ºF. Lightly grease a 9×13″ baking dish; set aside.
In a large saucepan, cook sausage, onions, green pepper, and garlic over medium heat until sausage is browned; drain fat.
Add pasta sauce and cook until mixture is hot, stirring occasionally. Add pasta to the sauce mixture and mix well. Stir in 1 cup of the Mozzarella cheese, mixing until well combined.
Pour mixture into the prepared baking dish. Top with remaining 1 cup Mozzarella cheese and the Parmesan cheese. Cover with foil.
Bake at 350ºF for 15 minutes. Remove foil and bake for an additional 15 minutes.
What should we do to counter Russia and Saudi Arabia’s reduction of oil production to increase prices?
You could sanction Saudi Arabia and bring “Democracy” to Riyadh. But I’d argue that would only make things worse. Or you can try asking the Iranians for oil. But I don’t think Khamenei is going to give you a single liter.
Which now leaves his EU/NATO allies in a difficult bind. The EU are going to suffer the brunt of the coming energy crisis. Biden however will quietly relish in the fact that the USA will continue to sell more & more oil to the EU. And while I’m no fan of Saudi Arabia & MBS, Biden spent a lot of his election campaign promising to crack down on the Saudis. Now he’s asking them for help in his time of need, but they’re saying no.
Saudi Arabia, Qatar & the UAE in particular care about one thing and one thing only; money. Anything that threatens that source of income is going to be rejected. Surely Biden knew that MBS would never agree to raise oil production at the risk of prices being cut.
Nonetheless, I have to say, I’m quite amazed at US foreign policy lately. They’re managing to annoy every single one of their key allies from India, to Germany, to Saudi & the UAE. I wonder who will be next in this political saga.
Líz Truss Continues To Be The Bad Prime Minister Everyone Had Expected Her To Be
As soon as the deceased queen was buried Truss went to work. Chancellor Kwarteng announced a ‘mini-budget’ that will lower taxes for people with high incomes while increasing the deficit to cover the promised energy cost subsidies:
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As soon as the ‘mini budget’ was announced the British pound sterling tanked. This not only against the overvalued U.S. dollar but also compared to the rather weak Euro.Interest rates on British government bonds (Gilts) increased sharply.
After two days the British central bank, the Bank of England, had to intervene to prevent a Lehman like crisis that would have killed many British pension funds. The bank, which had just increased its interest rate to tighten money supply, reverted to quantitative easing by buying gilts in the open market. This will further increase the already runaway inflation.
In a major U-turn, Prime Minister Liz Truss said Monday that the proposal to scrap the 45 percent rate for people earning more than 150,000 pounds ($168,000) had become a “distraction.”Reacting to the news of the reversal, the pound rebounded Monday morning against the U.S. dollar, returning to where it was before the government’s tax-and-borrowing plan sent it plunging.
Britain’s government faced intensifying calls on Thursday to retreat from tax-cutting plans that have alarmed financial markets, as questions continued to swirl about the future of the country’s new prime minister, Liz Truss, and her beleaguered chancellor of the Exchequer, Kwasi Kwarteng.On a day of political turmoil, the foreign secretary, James Cleverly, warned colleagues against trying to oust Ms. Truss. And Mr. Kwarteng rejected suggestions that the backlash against his so-called mini-budget, which includes unfunded tax cuts and a costly package to help consumers with energy bills, could cost him his job, insisting: “I’m not going anywhere.”
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On Thursday, Downing Street said that its policy had not changed, but that did nothing to quell speculation that the government would have to change course and increase corporate taxes, something it had previously decided against.
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Speaking from Washington, where he is attending a meeting of the International Monetary Fund, Mr. Kwarteng acknowledged there had been “some turbulence” following his announcement last month but told the BBC that he was still focused on delivering the tax-cutting plans.
Asked if he and Ms. Truss would be in their jobs next month, Mr. Kwarteng replied, “Absolutely, 100 percent.”
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But there is skepticism that she has the support for such measures among her own lawmakers. A majority of them preferred Rishi Sunak, a former chancellor of the Exchequer, to succeed the last prime minister, Boris Johnson, who was forced out after a series of scandals. But the final decision fell to rank-and-file party members, who chose Ms. Truss.
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Under the Conservative Party’s rules, Ms. Truss cannot face a leadership challenge until September 2023, but so sour is the mood within the party that there is already talk of changing the rules.
On Thursday Mr. Cleverly, the foreign secretary, acknowledged the threat to Ms. Truss’s position even as he defended her strategy. “Changing the leadership would be a disastrously bad idea,” he told the BBC.
Kwarteng is not good in making predictions. Today Truss sacrificed her pawn to survive the game a bit longer:
Kwasi Kwarteng has been sacked as chancellor amid intense speculation Prime Minister Liz Truss is about to junk key parts of their economic plan.Mr Kwarteng met Ms Truss for crunch talks in Downing Street after cutting short a US trip.
In a letter to the PM, Mr Kwarteng said Ms Truss’s vision for economic growth was “right” and he still supported it.
Ms Truss is expected to announce a U-turn on business tax cuts at a news conference in Downing Street at 14:30.
The prime minister has appointed former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt – who backed Rishi Sunak in the Tory leadership contest – as the new chancellor.
Ms Truss’s pledge to cut taxes was at the heart of the economic agenda that won her the Tory leadership at the start of September.
Truss was responsible for the ‘mini-budget’ and its tax cuts for the rich and for large corporations. Those were her ideas. She had fought for them. In her news conference today she further withdrew such plans:
Prime Minister Liz Truss’s U-turn on corporation tax means it will rise from 19% to 25% next April – a move that should add an estimated £18bn a year in tax revenue to the government’s coffers.Corporation tax is paid on profits by UK companies and foreign companies with UK offices.
Before the Conservatives came to power in 2010, it was charged at 28%, but was then cut several times before being reduced to 19% in 2017.
In his March Budget, the former Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced the tax would climb from 19% to 25% in April 2023. He said it was fair to ask companies to contribute more after the government spent billions of pounds supporting them during the Covid pandemic.
However, Liz Truss had pledged to reverse the decision before her U-turn was confirmed today.
It is certainly fair to criticize her change of mind:
Reacting to Liz Truss’s U-turn on corporation tax, the Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Jon Ashworth says “this is a government in utter meltdown”.”Let’s be clear what’s just happened. Liz Truss has sacked her chancellor for carrying out the policies of Liz Truss – a set of policies that led to turmoil on the markets, a run on pension funds and soaring mortgage rates for homeowners across the country,” he tells the BBC.
After only 38 days Kwarteng is no longer chancellor. That is good. But Liz Truss still has the same ideas and in her libertarian zeal will continue to make dreadful policies.
How many of those will the conservative members of parliament, who had just planned to oust her, let pass?
Said differently. I do not expect that this was the last episode of the bad movie we have just seen. There are many crises still developing in Britain and Europe that will hit critical points over the next months. Wrong decisions can make each of them worse.
The Bank of England will not be able to save everything.
Posted by b on October 14, 2022 at 15:45 UTC | Permalink
The Cult – Fire Woman HD
Crank it up!!!!
Most popular posts today
Tells you where everyone’s head’s at…
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Kwarteng gone. Elensky curse coming for Truss. Sunak next in line
Big changes in London.
Now this is funny…
Who did this? Well, I’m sure that China knows.
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Actually, Xi Peng is BELOVED throughout China, and COVID lock-downs are not a big deal. Then out of the blue you have this joke…
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Oh, and Dictator Biden just announced this…
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It’s discussed in detail here…
Personally, I think that it’s fake news.
Biden can say anything he wants, but the US citizen cannot be taken away.
The number of American IC engineers in China is very, very tiny. The idea that it is a large number is ludicrous.
Mutiny in outer space (1965) Full Length Sci-fi movie
I hope you all enjoy this little old science fiction movie. It’s full length so only watch it if you have the time.
The reason why I am putting it up here, is because the United States today sounds exactly like the low-budget, B-grade, idiotic, science fiction movie with all the worn out, old, and stale cliches endlessly repeated.
No one, by any jumps or fantasy justifications can actually validate the United States as functioning AT ALL, let alone in some form of order. At this stage, it simply appears that the USA is one enormous criminal network… attacking everyone, fleecing everyone and everything, and just looting and pillaging at will while the vile evil villains joke and strut about proud and haughty in their seemingly untouchable state.
The United States is in a steep nose dive.
All evidence points in that direction.
Consider this next article. If the pandemic is the cause of ACT test results, then you would see a uniform drop across all college entrance tests in all the nations of the world. But that is not what is being observed. Only a drop in the American ACT tests.
Well… it must be the pandemic. Not the US system…
ACT test scores drop to lowest in 30 years in pandemic slide
Ah. Blame the pandemic. You notice that no one is providing proof that it is caused by the pandemic. Just a bold statement taken as truth.
-MM
By CHEYANNE MUMPHREY
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PHOENIX (AP) — Scores on the ACT college admissions test by this year’s high school graduates hit their lowest point in more than 30 years — the latest evidence of the enormity of learning disruption during the pandemic.
The class of 2022′s average ACT composite score was 19.8 out of 36, marking the first time since 1991 that the average score was below 20. What’s more, an increasing number of high school students failed to meet any of the subject-area benchmarks set by the ACT — showing a decline in preparedness for college-level coursework.
The test scores, made public in a report Wednesday, show 42% of ACT-tested graduates in the class of 2022 met none of the subject benchmarks in English, reading, science and math, which are indicators of how well students are expected to perform in corresponding college courses.
In comparison, 38% of test takers in 2021 failed to meet any of the benchmarks.
“Academic preparedness is where we are seeing the decline,” said Rose Babington, senior director for state partnerships for the ACT. “Every time we see ACT test scores, we are talking about skills and standards, and the prediction of students to be successful and to know the really important information to succeed and persist through their first year of college courses.”
Normally, we shouldn’t have economic stagnation and rampant inflation at the same time. But that is exactly what we’ve got.
U.S. GDP actually declined during the first two quarters of this year, and we are being warned that economic activity could slow down a whole lot more in the months ahead. Meanwhile, we are in the midst of the worst inflation crisis since the Jimmy Carter era. The cost of living has become extremely oppressive, and this is particularly true when it comes to food. We just got some new numbers from the Department of Labor on Wednesday, and quite a few of them are absolutely stunning…
Fresh and dried vegetables: up 15.7 percent for the month and 40.2 percent for the year.
Grains: up 10.7 percent for the month and 30.4 percent for the year.
Fresh eggs: up 16.7 percent for the month and 97.3 percent for the year.
Bakery products: up 0.8 percent for the month and 14.0 percent for the year.
Pasta: up 1.1 percent for the month and 34.1 percent for the year.
Finfish and shellfish: up 2.5 percent for the month and 2.9 percent for the year.
Processed fruits and vegetables: up 2.6 percent for the month and 16.0 percent for the year.
Dairy products: down 1.6 percent for the month but up 18.2 percent for the year.
Soft drinks: up 1.9 percent for the month but up 15.8 percent for the year.
Pork: up 5.5 percent for the month but down 2.0 percent for the year.
Fresh fruits and melons: down 1.2 percent for the month but up 20.7 percent for the year.
Turkey: up 0.5 percent for the month and 38.2 percent for the year.
This is crazy.
In my entire lifetime, I have never seen anything like this.
Everywhere you look in the grocery store, prices are rising to levels that are completely nuts. If you can believe it, even Pepsi has raised prices on their products by an average of 17 percent over the past year…
The 12% increase it expects from full year organic revenue, noted by the Wall Street Journal this morning, comes at the hands of average prices rising an astonishing 17% from the year prior. The price hikes have also helped the company raise its profit outlook. It now expects per-share earnings growth of 10% for the year, the report notes.The rise in prices has helped offset a “slight decline” in overall sales volume, the report says. This means that Pepsi is fighting the recession that the country is in with more inflation.
Has the size of your paycheck gone up by 17 percent during the past 12 months?
If not, you are losing ground.
Sadly, most Americans are living paycheck to paycheck these days, and more of us than ever are falling behind on our bills. Just check out the results of a brand new LendingTree study…
That’s according to a new LendingTree study, which found that 32% of Americans have paid a bill late over the past six months, and an overwhelming majority – about 61% – said it’s because they did not have enough money to cover the costs.Another 40% of respondents said they are struggling more to afford their bills than they were just one year ago. Most said they fell behind on a utility bill, credit card payment or cable or internet bill.“Life is getting more expensive by the day, and it’s shrinking Americans’ already tiny financial margin for error down to zero,” said Matt Schulz, LendingTree’s chief credit analyst.
At the same time that the cost of living is becoming excruciatingly painful, economic activity in the United States is really starting to slow down and big companies are starting to lay off workers.
As Walmart continues making adjustments to the structure of its business plan, the e-commerce-based company has announced it will let go of nearly 1,500 employees by the beginning of December. The employees will all be laid off from one specific fulfillment center in Atlanta, Georgia. This may come at a bad time for all the employees with the holidays quickly approaching, but the company is doing this to ensure their future.A recent blog post published by the Senior Vice President, Karisa Sprague, breaks down and shares details of just how they are developing their fulfillment network for the future. Essentially, the Senior VP says that Walmart is making necessary adjustments to provide the highest level of customer service that they can, as well as also doing the best by their employees. She goes on the mention that evolution is essential as times change.
Crypto.com has laid off some 2,000 employees in one of the biggest downsizes in the cryptocurrency industry yet. The cuts account for about 40% of the DeFi exchange’s staff, according to CoinDesk. The current layoffs come after the exchange cut over 400 jobs in the middle of June.
Unfortunately, this is just the beginning.
Many more layoffs are coming.
And just like we witnessed in 2008, the U.S. housing market is really starting to implode.
Rapidly rising rates are scaring off buyers, and demand for new mortgages is absolutely plummeting…
The average interest rate on US home loans has hit its highest level since 2006, as the Federal Reserve’s rate hikes to fight inflation continue to raise borrowing costs for homebuyers.The average rate on a 30-year fixed rate mortgage hit 6.81 percent for the week ending October 7, the eighth straight weekly increase, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said on Wednesday.Higher borrowing costs have sent home sales volume plunging. The MBA’s Purchase Index, which measures new mortgages to buy a home, dropped 2 percent from the prior week and 39 percent from a year ago.
This is what stagflation looks like.
And thanks to a series of colossal errors by our leaders, it is going to be with us for a while.
If you are searching for someone to thank for this mess, you can thank Joe Biden, our free spending Congress critters, and the “experts” at the Federal Reserve.
Most Americans trusted them when they told us that they had everything under control.
Now we can see that it was all a charade, and the months ahead are looking exceedingly bleak indeed.
President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr President of [Kazakhstan] Kassym-Jomart Kemelevich, Dear colleagues!For 30 years, the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia has been discussing pressing issues related to strengthening security and stability throughout the vast Asian region.Today's meeting is taking place against the backdrop of major changes in global politics and the economy. The world is becoming truly multipolar, and Asia plays a very noticeable, if not key, role in this, where new centers of power are growing stronger.The countries of the Asian region are the locomotive of world economic growth. Such integration associations as the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and the Eurasian Economic Union are operating dynamically and with good returns.Russia is also actively involved in all these processes. We stand for the development and prosperity of Asia and the creation for this purpose of a wide open space of mutually beneficial trade and investment cooperation, for the expansion and deepening of cooperation ties in various sectors of the economy.Let me remind you that it was Russia that stood at the origins of the creation of the business council at the meeting, through which many successful conferences and seminars have been held over the past years on the entire range of economic topics.And of course, together with other Asian states, we are doing everything to form a system of equal and indivisible security based on the universally recognized principles of international law of the UN Charter.Our meeting and other regional associations have to deal with many acute problems, including the increased volatility of global prices for energy, food, fertilizers, raw materials and other important goods. This leads to a deterioration in the quality of life in developed and developing countries. Moreover, there is a real threat of hunger and large-scale social upheaval, especially in the poorest countries.Russia, for its part, is making every effort to provide critical products to countries in need. We call for the elimination of all artificial, illegitimate barriers to the normal functioning of global supply chains in order to meet the urgent challenges of food security.Like many of our partners in Asia, we believe that it is necessary to launch a revision of the principles of the global financial system, which for decades allowed the self-proclaimed so-called golden billion, which has closed all flows of capital and technology, to a large extent live at someone else's expense.As a priority step, we see a more active use of national currencies in mutual settlements. Such measures would undoubtedly contribute to strengthening the financial sovereignty of our states, developing domestic capital markets, and deepening regional economic integration.It is extremely important, together with other regional forums and organizations, to continue to work actively to resolve emerging crisis situations and conflicts in Asia, to strengthen cooperation between our states in countering the terrorist threat, identifying and neutralizing extremist groups, blocking their financial support, combating drug trafficking and suppressing the propaganda of radical ideas.Unfortunately, Afghanistan remains one of the most acute security challenges for our region. Our colleagues have already spoken about this today.This country, after more than 20 years of military presence of the United States and NATO, the failure of their policy, was unable to independently solve the problems associated with terrorist threats, which is confirmed by the ongoing series of bloody terrorist attacks, including the explosion near the Russian Embassy in Kabul on September 5.In order to normalize the situation on the territory of Afghanistan, of course, it is necessary to jointly promote its economic reconstruction. But above all, we urge compensation for the damage done to Afghans during the years of occupation and the unfreezing of illegally frozen Afghan funds.In the context of a settlement in Afghanistan, it would be useful to use the capabilities of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and its regional anti-terrorist structure.We also invite all Asian countries to cooperate more closely with the International Data Bank for Countering Terrorism, established at the initiative of Russia.I would like to draw your attention to the fact that Russia, together with China, has drafted a joint statement at this summit on security cooperation in the field of information and communication technologies. We hope that it will be approved.In conclusion, I would like to mention the importance of strengthening multilateral cooperation between the states participating in the meeting in the social, cultural and humanitarian spheres, in promoting inter-civilizational dialogue and contacts between people.In particular, volunteer movements also require support. The acute phase of the coronavirus pandemic, which we have passed, has shown the undoubtedly useful role that volunteer and youth structures play in providing assistance and assistance to the population. Russia has a good, rich experience in these matters, which we are ready to share with interested countries.On the whole, I would like to note with satisfaction that the joint work within the framework of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures is progressing in a positive manner. Russia will continue to develop multifaceted cooperation with all the parties represented at this meeting.We support the initiatives of Kazakhstan's chairmanship.Thank you very much for your attention.
With the latest acts of terrorism being performed by NATO, IMO it’s becoming clear that the term terrorism is becoming a cover term for NATO/Outlaw US Empire.
The anti-terrorism principle, which also includes the extremism present within Color Revolution attempts, is now a major part of Eurasian multilateral organizations’s aims.
Thus, while none of those organizations are overtly against any one nation or bloc, it’s clear that they’re against those that are responsible for Terrorism and Extremism, which as we know consist of the Outlaw US Empire and its vassals.
Cryptozoology is the search for and study of animals that mainstream science considers to be mythical or non-existent. Animals studied by cryptozoologists are called cryptids. Famous examples include creatures like Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, and the Yeti. Unsurprisingly then, there is quite a lot of derision aimed at cryptids in scientific circles. Cryptids are the stuff of low-level tabloid magazines and conspiracy theorists, right? Wrong! Many animals that experts once believed to be cryptids are actually flesh and blood living things.
Famous Cryptids that Aren’t Actually Cryptids Anymore
1.The Platypus
The platypus is a weird animal that seems to break a lot of rules. At the time of its first discovery by Europeans, it seemed to contradict everything they thought they knew about mammals.
The platypus is a furry, Australian mammal that lives in rivers. It has the feet of an otter and the tail of a beaver. So far, not that strange. Then one looks at the head, and it appears to have a bill of a duck, unlike any other mammal.
Even stranger still is the fact that it lays eggs. Only five living mammal species do so, the platypus and four kinds of echidna (spiny anteaters). Up until the discovery of the platypus, it was common knowledge that one of the things which defined a mammal was giving birth to live offspring.
On top of this, the platypus is venomous! Venomous mammals were basically unheard of. The male platypus produces venom from glands attached to its ankle spurs. It is believed these are used defensively against other males, especially during mating season.
It’s unsurprising then that European naturalists from the 18th and 19th centuries believed the platypus to be a hoax. When the first platypus corpses arrived in Europe from Australia, the experts weren’t sure what to make of them.
Many thought it to be the work of Chinese sailors, who had previously tricked them with the corpse of a supposed mermaid. It was believed the platypus corpses were just well-put-together amalgamations of other animals! It took nearly a century for zoologists to admit they were wrong and definitively confirm the existence of the platypus.
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2.The Giant Squid
Another poster child for famous cryptids that turned out to be real is the terrifying giant squid. Reports of the giant squid go back 2,000 years to the time of Aristotle. Pliny the Elder, a Roman naturalist, did a pretty good job describing the giant squid in his Natural History .
He got pretty much everything right, except the size. Showing that the giant squid was too massive even for the superstitious ancient writers to get right, Pliny only estimated the squid at 30 feet (9 meters) long, when in reality it’s over 40 feet (12 meters) long! Early run-ins with giant squid were likely the inspiration for several mythological sea monsters , like Norse mythology’s Kraken and the Scylla of Greek mythology.
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The giant squid remained a cryptid for so long because its existence was seemingly fantastical, and hard to verify. The sea is almost unfathomable in its size and depth. Looking for anything in the ocean, even something as huge as a giant squid, is like looking for a needle in a haystack. This is exacerbated by the fact that the giant squid is a deep sea creature, and humans haven’t spent much time down there.
The only chance early zoologists had to study and verify the giant squid was through carcasses that would very occasionally wash ashore. The problem with this was that hungry sea creatures had often begun eating the corpses before they washed ashore, meaning complete samples were rare. Added to this was the fact that the carcasses tended to rot extremely quickly, leaving little to work with.
The first recorded discovery of a mostly intact giant squid carcass was in the 1870s. However, it wasn’t until the last decade or so that we managed to take photos of a live specimen, cementing the giant squid’s status as a former cryptid.
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3.Sea Serpent Cryptids
Stories of dreadful sea serpents that dwell in the ocean date back thousands of years. Even the Bible makes references to a gigantic beast called Leviathan that roams the briny depths looking for prey. Much like in the case of the giant squid, for a long time, scientists thought these sea monsters were too huge to be real.
Cryptozoologists, however, believe that many sightings of these historic sea monsters are cases of real animals being misidentified, and then being given a fantastical, superstitious twist. One incredibly rare species is perhaps the likely culprit.
The oarfish is a long, bony fish with an elongated body that has been found to grow to at least 56 feet (17 meters) long. They are found in oceans all over the world, but usually live in the deep ocean. They have sometimes washed ashore during storms and occasionally come to the surface when near death.
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It seems likely that these giant fish are responsible for at least some of these early depictions of sea serpents. The first live oarfish wasn’t filmed until 2001, showing just how rare and hard to verify these fish were.
4.The Ultimate Cryptid: The Unicorn
Now obviously, unicorns as traditionally portrayed don’t exist. The unicorn is still very much a cryptid. Except it isn’t. Although no one has discovered a horned horse yet, we can go back 2,000 years and find the animals that likely inspired talk of unicorns.
Pliny the Elder described the unicorn two thousand years ago. He described it as having “the feet of the elephant, and the tail of the boar, while the rest of the body is like that of the horse; it makes a deep lowing noise, and has a single black horn, which projects from the middle of its forehead, two cubits in length. This animal, it is said, cannot be taken alive.” That sounds suspiciously like an Indian rhinoceros.
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There is another contender for real-life unicorn inspiration. The second is a little stranger, however, seeing as it lives in the sea. The narwhal is a type of toothed whale that lives in the freezing waters around Greenland, Canada, and Russia. Its defining feature is a large protruding canine tooth, known as its tusk. This tusk is startlingly similar to the imagined unicorn horn.
Unicorn horns were an incredibly popular curio through the Middle Ages into the Renaissance period. These unicorn horns came from narwhals that the Vikings had hunted, selling their tusks for crazy prices as unicorn horns. When the English explorer Martin Frobisher led a Canadian expedition in 1577, he came across a dead narwhal. The name he gave it? The sea unicorn.
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5.The Komodo Dragon
Before 1910, any scientist claiming to believe in a giant lizard that looked like a dragon would have been laughed out of the room. At the time, it was widely believed that giant lizards were a thing of the past, and nothing on the scale of a Komodo dragon could exist.
When pearl fishermen returned from the Lesser Sunda Islands in Indonesia telling tall tales of giant ‘land crocodiles’, no one took them seriously. After all, fishermen are famous for exaggeration. Then, in 1910, an expedition from Buitenzorg Zoological Museum visited Komodo Island and produced the first scientific report on the creatures. Lieutenant Jacques Karel Henri visited the island and took home both a Komodo dragon skin and a photograph.
The Komodo dragon remained mostly a mystery until 1926, when a second expedition went in search of the dragon. Its leader, W. Douglas Burden, came back with twelve preserved Komodo dragon bodies, as well as two live animals. It was only then the Komodo dragon truly left the realm of the cryptids and entered the world of established science.
The 1926 expedition and discovery of an animal considered by many to be prehistoric went on to inspire the 1933 film King Kong .
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6.The Humble Gorilla
Sometimes an animal becomes so commonly known that it’s surprising it was ever considered a cryptid at all. For example, the humble gorilla was considered a cryptid until 1847.
The term gorilla comes from a Carthaginian explorer called Hanno the Navigator, who was exploring the African coast in 500 BC. He described coming across a tribe of “gorillae”, monstrous and violent humans. Although it is likely he actually encountered chimps or baboons, the name has stuck.
Reports of monstrous, hairy humans who would attack and overpower villages continue throughout the centuries but were never taken seriously by scientists. In the 16th century, an English explorer described ape-like humans visiting his campfire at night.
Gorillas in general remained cryptids until 1847, when Thomas Savage found gorilla bones in Liberia. With the help of a Harvard anatomist named Jeffries Wyman, he then released a formal description of the species dubbing it, Gorilla gorilla. Sadly, from this point onwards, other anthropologists began hunting gorillas in earnest, seeking to learn as much about the discovery as possible.
The mountain gorilla stayed a cryptid for a while longer. It wasn’t formally recognized as a species until 1902, when a German officer, Captain Robert von Beringe, shot one in the Virunga region of Rwanda and took it home to Europe.
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7.The Okapi
The okapi is an African mammal that resembles a cross between a zebra and a donkey. Their only bizarre feature is the two hair-covered, horn-like structures called ossicones that they have just above their eyes. These may sound bizarre, but actually, the okapi is from the giraffe family, and the ossicones are pretty much the same as a giraffe’s horns.
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The okapi isn’t especially peculiar, certainly not compared to the giant squid or platypus. Yet it was considered a myth until 1901. The problem was its central African habitat was already well-known to European explorers, and since they had never seen one, they did not believe the tales the locals told of the okapi.
Okapi inhabit incredibly dense forests and live quiet, solitary lives. Even the locals who told stories of them were unsure. Their knowledge of the okapi predominantly came from evidence the animals left behind, like tracks, rather than actual sightings.
In 1890, Sir Henry Stanley was the first European to describe the mammal after traveling in the region. However, he had no solid proof, and so the okapi remained a cryptid. It was not until 1901 that zoologist and imperial officer Sir Harry Johnston obtained a skull and some skins with the help of locals. With this physical evidence, the okapi’s existence could finally be confirmed.
The okapi wasn’t caught on film in the wild until 2008, which should give an idea of just how hard this beautiful animal is to track down.
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Conclusion
So, if these cryptids turned out to be real, what about Nessy or Bigfoot? Why are people who believe in them still mocked and derided in the scientific community? The animals above, and in fact, all former cryptids share at least one thing in common.
They come from remote, hard-to-explore regions of the planet. These animals stayed cryptids for so long because European scientists hadn’t had a chance to fully explore their habitats yet. Once they had, these animals stop being cryptids. The problem is, besides the oceans, most of the earth’s land mass has been pretty well studied by now. The likelihood of creatures as large as the okapi walking around undiscovered up to now is slim to none.
Another thing most cryptids have in common is that they were actually discovered ages ago. The okapi and mountain gorilla had been talked about by African tribes for centuries. Likewise, the indigenous peoples of Australia were likely familiar with the platypus.
The awkward truth is that the only reason these animals were never taken seriously is old-fashioned racism. For the most part, something remained cryptid until European scientists said otherwise, seeing it with their own eyes. Centuries of eyewitness accounts made by the locals didn’t count, because colonial-era European scientists lacked respect for the indigenous people of the places they were colonizing.
Although it is unlikely any more large cryptids will be discovered, there is always some hope. There are still far-flung corners of the world and the fathomless depths of the oceans we haven’t scoured yet. If we are now willing to listen to the people from these areas, who knows what we might discover?
PayPal’s censorship plan EXPOSED and it’s getting worse
This is horrific!
The USA is NOT NOT NOT the land of freedom and justice.
This is fucking horrific. Watch the entire thing to the very end!!!!
URGENT: RUSSIA ISSUES CIVIL DEFENSE INSTRUCTIONS TO ENTIRE POPULATION: “RADIATION”
School children in every single city and town in Russia brought home official government notices today, telling families what to do in Civil Defense Emergencies like . . . radiation.
Poster boards are going up in mass-transit stations, at city halls, in shopping centers with the exact same message.
ENGLISH TRANSLATION:
“Civil Defense
The procedure for the actions of the population on the go signal when at work.
The signal “ATTENTION TO ALL!”
Accompanied by the activation of sirens with intermittent beeps followed by verbal information about the signal GO
* upon hearing the SIGNAL, turn on your radio or television set and listen to the message about the situation and how to proceed
* pass on the information you receive to your neighbors
* Act according to the messages you have been given.
Ways you should notify ALL!!:
* Television
* loudspeakers
* sirens
* bell
*radio
*Howls from businesses and vehicles
*phone, text message
* mobile sound-amplifying installations
* Information board
*social networks
Actions of the population
(inscriptions on the signs)
– Turn off lights, gas, water, heaters
– Close windows and doors tightly
– Cover gaps around doors, vents with a wet cloth.
– use personal protective equipment.
– Take cover in the nearest protective structure, buried room or other premises of the underground space, including the subway.
– Report to the assembly area
– evacuate to a safe area.
ACTIONS FOR:
* AIRBORNE ALARM
* CHEMICAL ALARM
* RADIATION ALARM
* THREAT OF CATASTROPHIC FLOODING
RESTRICTED SIGNAL
* Return to your place of work
* Be prepared for a possible repeat of the civil defense “ATTENTION TO ALL” signal.””
NEW YORK CITY DID SAME
The Hal Turner Radio Show reported to readers and listeners back on July 11 that New York City Emergency Management issued a Public Service Announcement for TV telling New Yorkers what to do when a NUCLEAR BOMB hits the city! (Story Here)
Then New York City posted NUCLEAR ATTACK warning signs in Subway cars (Story Here)
NEW JERSEY TOO
The State of New Jersey also began warning its population of nuclear emergencies with large poster boards inside Shopping Malls (Story Here)
In September, New Jersey placed giant ads on the sides of all New Jersey Transit buses with the same warnings and instructions! (Story Here)
OTHER COUNTRIES TOO!
Just this week, the country of Finland told its citizens to get Potassium Iodide pills to take in a “Radiation Emergency” (Story Here)
When the Russia-Ukraine thing went “hot” Romania knew what was coming . . . and began handing out Potassium Iodide pills to its citizens (Story Here)
Poland began handing out Potassium Iodide Pills to its citizens just weeks ago (Story Here)
Back in April, the European Commission began construction of nuclear blast facilities for itself (Story Here)
GOVERNMENT KNOWS WHAT’S COMING
Governments don’t do things like this for no reason. They do it because they either KNOW this is going to happen, or they believe strongly it may happen.
In this particular case, they KNOW . . . . because THEY are the ones causing it!
The only people who aren’t taking much of it seriously is the general pubic. That attitude had better change real fast.
You need Emergency Food (canned, Boxed), emergency water (5 gallon containers for each person at home, minimum, Extra supply of any medicines you need to live, first aid kit, portable radio with spare batteries, flashlights with spare batteries, and much, much more.
Even with these supplies, survival is questionable. However, WITHOUT any emergency supplies, YOU and YOUR FAMILY will not stand any chance at all.
Prep.
NOW!
Finland Tells Citizens “Stock Iodine Pills” in case of “Radiation Emergency”
Fears of _actual_ nuclear war continue to grow over the Russia-Ukraine situation. The latest example is Finland’s Ministry of Health which, today, told citizens to stock up on Iodine pills “in case of radiation emergency.”
The ministry presented the new recommendation at a media event on Tuesday.
The ministry said the recommendation was limited to people 3-40 years of age because of the potential risk radiation exposure poses to that age group.
The release of radioactive iodine from a nuclear incident into the environment, could build up in the thyroid gland. This is most harmful to children, who are at greater risk of developing thyroid cancer due to large doses of radiation,” the ministry’s statement read.
The statement noted that in case of such an emergency, sheltering indoors was the main way for people to protect themselves from hazardous radiation.
The ministry also noted that a single iodine tablet dose usually provides sufficient protection. It added that iodine rarely causes side effects, but that individuals who have thyroid conditions should use the substance with caution.
The recommended single dose for 12-40 year-olds in a dangerous radiation situation is 130 milligrams of potassium iodide. Children over 3 years of age are recommended to take half of that dose.
The ministry said that there are no iodine products suitable — nor available in Finland — for children under the age of three. However, the recommended dose for children under three years of age is 32.5 milligrams of potassium iodide, and for newborns half of this.
However, the ministry continues to recommend that pregnant women over the age of 40 keep a supply of iodine tablets at home, as fetal thyroid glands are significantly more sensitive to radioactive iodine than they are among adults.
“Public healthcare services will procure iodine tablets suitable for children under the age of three and will determine the best way to distribute them to the parents of such children and to pregnant women. Regional healthcare providers will inform people when such an iodine product is available,” the ministry’s statement read (siirryt toiseen palveluun).
Iodine stocks sold out
On Tuesday afternoon, Finland’s largest chain of pharmacy outlets, Yliopiston Apteekki, reported stocks of iodine tablets had practically sold out nationwide following the issuing of the ministry’s statement.
Chief pharmaceutical officer Kati Vuorikallas told the STT news agency that the surge in demand has also been reflected in the increased traffic on the chain’s website, which has caused the site to slow down significantly or even crash for some users.
Efforts are being made to replenish the iodine stocks, Vuorikallas added, but there is no precise schedule on when this will happen.
We, the Heads of State and Government of the participating States of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA), meeting on 12-13 October 2022 in Astana on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of CICA, decided to chart the following course of our further cooperation:
[1] We are launching a structured, comprehensive and transparent negotiation process on a gradual, step-by-step, consensus-based transformation of CICA into a full-fledged regional international organization.
[2] The CICA transformation process will pursue the following main objectives: to identify key areas of future cooperation and to strengthen the institutional and institutional framework of our interaction.
[3] We believe that the organization will contribute to ensuring dynamic, equal, comprehensive and balanced economic growth, interconnectedness, social and cultural development of the participating States. We will step up collective work within the organization in order to find joint solutions to the problems common to all of us of the XXI century. to ensure the security and prosperity of the region, the peaceful settlement of disputes in accordance with the UN Charter.
[4] Our organization will engage and cooperate in areas of interest to all participating States with other States, organizations and forums that share our objectives and principles to strengthen results-oriented and consensus-based multilateral cooperation in the region.
So, yet another multilateral organization aims at joining with other like-minded organizations thus knitting the region more firmly together. And as with the SCO, a big portion of the organization’s focus is on anti-terrorism efforts which are detailed in other adopted documents that can be found here.
Misguided Foreign Policies Against Russia And Others Damage The U.S. And Its ‘Allies’
Political corruption, a lack of knowledge, and irrational foreign policies have brought the U.S. to a point where it is loosing its primacy in the world.
In response to the 2014 U.S. coup in Kiev the Russian Federation supported ethnic Russian rebels in the Donbas region to resist that anti-Russian progroms with which the Nazi-controlled Kiev regime threatened them. This blocked U.S. plans to move Ukraine into NATO and to station U.S. missiles directly at the Russian border.
In 2016 the Democrats sought revenge by pushing fake claims of Russian interference in U.S. elections. To justify her loss in the presidential election Hillary Clinton created ‘Russiagate’, the false claim the Trump was somehow directed by Russia. She was supported by high ranking officials throughout the deep state and especially within the FBI. In hindsight their behavior was beyond belief:
An FBI supervisor repeatedly testified Tuesday that agents did not corroborate an explosive allegation from a former British spy of a “well-developed conspiracy” between the Kremlin and Donald Trump’s first presidential campaign before citing the claim as a reason to initiate surveillance of a former Trump campaign official.
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The FBI used the unconfirmed report, Auten testified, to seek court approval of a secret surveillance warrant to monitor Carter Page, a Trump campaign adviser, and then successfully got that warrant reauthorized on three occasions, based in part on the same, uncorroborated claim.
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Auten told the jury that shortly after receiving the first batch of Steele documents in the fall of 2016, a group of FBI officials met with Steele and offered him “anywhere up to $1 million” for information that would corroborate the claims in his reports. But Steele never did provide corroboration, Auten said in response to Durham.
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Steele had been hired to produce reports by research firm Fusion GPS, which had been retained by a law firm that represented Trump’s opponent, Hillary Clinton, and the Democratic National Committee.
‘Russiagate’ created a feverish anti-Russian atmosphere especially within the Democrats and their followers.
Adding to this was a serious ignorance of Russia economic and technological capabilities. U.S. politicians rely on biased media which created a false picture of Russia. I did my best to debunk that as often as I could:
The rest of the NYT piece is not any better than its very first paragraph. It simply repeats false stereotypes about Putin as an “autocratic leader” or about the non-existing Russian influence on U.S. elections.Nearly thirty years ago when the Soviet Union broke apart Russia had a deep fall. The liberalization of its economy had catastrophic consequences. But it has since reformed itself. It is now back to its traditional position in the world. A large Eurasian power which is in nearly all aspects independent from the rest of the world and able to protect itself. It must therefore be taken into account when one thinks of global polices. That is simply a fact and not the effect of a “mindgame” that Russia allegedly plays with the “west”.
That the U.S. still has problems to understand that is not Russia’s fault but the result of the skewed descriptions of it.
I wrote the above in December 2019(!). Ten month later I revisited the issue:
Over the last years the U.S. and its EU puppies have ratcheted up their pressure on Russia. They seem to believe that they can compel Russia to follow their diktat. They can’t. But the illusion that Russia will finally snap, if only a few more sanctions ar applied or a few more houses in Russia’s neighborhood are set on fire, never goes away.
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Russia does not accept the fidgety ‘rules of the liberal international order’. Russia sticks to the law which is, in my view, a much stronger position. Yes, international law often gets broken. But as Lavrov said elsewhere, one does not abandon traffic rules only because of road accidents.Russia stays calm, no matter what outrageous nonsense the U.S. and EU come up with. It can do that because it knows that it not only has moral superiority by sticking to the law but it also has the capability to win a fight.
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Russia is militarily secure and the ‘west’ knows that. It is one reason for the anti-Russian frenzy. Russia does not need to bother with the unprecedented hostility coming from Brussels and Washington. It can ignore it while taking care of its interests.
As this is so obvious one must ask what the real reason for the anti-Russian pressure campaign is. What do those who argue for it foresee as its endpoint?
The answer to my question was revealed in mid of last year when the U.S. and the EU threatened Russia with ‘crushing sanctions’. The idea was to destroy Russia’s economy to then breakup the country. It was a very stupid one:
Russia is the most autarkic country in the world. It produces nearly everything it needs and has highly desirable products that are in global demand and are especially needed in Europe. Russia also has huge financial reserves. A sanctions strategy against Russia can not work.To use the Ukraine to gaud Russia into some aggression to then apply sanctions was likewise a rather lunatic attempt.
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Instead of splitting Russia from China the U.S. has unintentionally done its best to push them into a deeper alliance. It was the most severe strategic error the U.S. could make.
Instead of a taking a new strategic posture that would support a pivot to Asia strategy the U.S. is now moving troops back to Europe.
The narrow-minded bigotry of U.S. decision makers, fed by a belief in U.S. exceptionalism while lacking any conception of real power, has led to this defeat.
The U.S., through NATO, had build up the Ukrainian army with the intent to use it against Russia. As NATO General Secretary Stoltenberg proudly claimed:
As you know, NATO Allies provide unprecedented levels of military support to Ukraine. Actually NATO Allies and NATO have been there since 2014 – trained, equipped and supported the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
The recent war was launched by Ukraine on February 17 with artillery barrages against the Donbas republics. Massive sanctions against Russia were introduced. The Russia army finally marched into Ukraine.
It took only a few weeks to recognize that the sanctions, as I had expected, utterly failed. In the first days the Rubel fell only to come back much stronger. There were no shortages for Russian consumers. Russia’s industries kept buzzing along.
But the sanctions did crush the ‘west’ and especially its consumers.
Over the years the U.S. and the EU have held up sanctions against the oil producers Iran, Venezuela and Russia. They also destroyed parts of Libya’s oil industry. In total the sanctions have kept some 20% of global oil production either off the markets or made them more difficult to buy and sell. On top of this U.S. relations with major Middle East producers, especially Saudi Arabia, have cooled down.
In late 2021 consumer prices for hydrocarbon products exploded. When they threatened to derail the Democrat’s chances in the mid terms President Biden used tax payer money, in form of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, to subsidize gasoline prices:
The United States and five other world powers announced a coordinated effort to tap into their national oil stockpiles on Tuesday, attempting to drive down rising gas prices that have angered consumers around the world.The move appeared to underwhelm oil traders, who had been expecting President Biden to announce a larger release from America’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which is the biggest in the world with 620 million barrels.
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The concerted effort, the largest ever for a release of strategic reserves across multiple countries, is meant to address fluctuations in supply and demand for oil, administration officials said. And it was a shot across the bow of OPEC Plus, the name for the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries as well as Russia and other countries. Mr. Biden has pushed those countries to increase production, but has been rebuffed.
The move could bring a response next week when the group holds its monthly meeting. While it could prompt those countries to increase production, it could just as easily push the cartel to restrict supply further and push global prices higher.
Since 2021, the nation’s SPR has diminished by about 35%, with 2021 starting with 638 million barrels in inventory. By the end of the year, that figure had dropped to 594 million barrels. Today, there are 416 million barrels—and even more are set to be released.
The U.S. has not only sanctioned major oil producers, it also instigated a war against the third largest (Russia) and pissed of the second largest one (Saudi Arabia).
The peak of such stupidity was the idea to limit the price ‘allowed’ to be paid for Russian oil:
A sane actor would conclude that the sanctions were a mistake and that lifting them would help Europe more than it would help Russia. But no, the U.S. and European pseudo elites are no longer able to act in a sane manner. They are instead doubling down with the most crazy sanction scheme one has ever heard of:
[T]he European Union pushed ahead on Wednesday with an ambitious but untested plan to limit Russia’s oil revenue.
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Under the plan, a committee including representatives of the European Union, the Group of 7 nations and others that agree to the price cap would meet regularly to decide on the price at which Russian oil should be sold, and that it would change based on the market price.
How do you make a big producer of a rare commodity sell those goods below the general market price? Unless you have a very strong buyers cartel that can also buy the product from elsewhere you can not do this successfully. It is an economic impossibility.
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Russia has declared that it will not sell any oil to any party that supports the G7 price fixing regime. That is why neither China nor India nor any other country besides the EU and U.S. will agree to adhere to it.
A month ago OPEC+ finally fired back by decreasing its output aim by 2 million barrels per day. To some of them a price of oil around $80 per barrel is simply a budget requirement:
The quiet understanding emerging from [Biden’s] trip was that Saudi Arabia would increase its production by about 750,000 barrels a day, and that the United Arab Emirates would follow suit with an additional 500,000, pushing down gas prices and worsening President Vladimir V. Putin’s ability to fund a war that was stretching much longer — and with much higher casualties — than Mr. Biden had expected.But the production increases were fleeting. While Saudi Arabia boosted production significantly in July and August, it backed away from their promise to sustain those levels over the rest of 2022. Its leaders, and all of OPEC, worried that the specter of global recession was driving prices down, from $120 a barrel over the summer to below $80. Below that level, they fear, budgets have to be cut and social stability is threatened. So the Saudis decided they had to act.
The sanctions and the bad relations with Saudi Arabia mark a major failure of U.S. foreign policy writes M. K. Bhadrakumar:
The Biden Administration tempted Fate by underestimating the importance of oil in modern economic and political terms and ignoring that oil will remain the dominant energy source across the world for the foreseeable future, powering everything from cars and domestic heating to huge industry titans and manufacturing plants.
… The Western powers are far too naive to think that an energy superpower like Russia can be simply “erased” from the ecosystem. In an “energy war” with Russia, they are doomed to end up as losers.Historically, Western nations understood the imperative to maintain good diplomatic relations with oil-producing countries. But Biden threw caution into the wind by insulting Saudi Arabia calling it a “Pariah” state. Any improvement in the US-Saudi relations is not to be expected under Biden’s watch. The Saudis distrust American intentions.
The congruence of interests on the part of the OPEC to keep the prices high is essentially because they need the extra income for their expenditure budget and to maintain a healthy investment level in the oil industry. The International Monetary Fund in April projected Saudi Arabia’s breakeven oil price — the oil price at which it would balance its budget — at $79.20 a barrel.
The budget point is an obvious one. But more important is that all of OPEC+ recognize the new sanction scheme as a potential attack on each of them:
Meanwhile, a “systemic” crisis is brewing. It is only natural that the OPEC views with scepticism the recent moves by the US and the EU to push back Russia’s oil exports. The West rationalises these moves as aimed at drastically reducing Russia’s income from oil exports (which translates as its resilience to fight the war in Ukraine.) The latest G7 move to put a cap on the prices at which Russia can sell its oil is taking matters to an extreme.
… No doubt, the West’s move is precedent-setting — namely, to prescribe for geopolitical reasons the price at which an oil-producing country is entitled to export its oil. If it is Russia today, it can as well be Saudi Arabia or Iraq tomorrow. The G7 decision, if it gets implemented, will erode OPEC’s key role regulating the global oil market.Therefore, the OPEC is proactively pushing back. Its decision to cut down oil production by 2 million barrels per day and keep the oil price above $90 per barrel makes a mockery of the G7 decision. The OPEC estimates that Washington’s options to counter OPEC+ are limited. Unlike in the past energy history, the US does not have a single ally today inside the OPEC+ group.
Due to rising domestic demands for oil and gas, it is entirely conceivable that the US exports of both items may be curtailed. If that happens, Europe will be the worst sufferer. In an interview with FT last week, Belgium’s prime minister Alexander De Croo has warned that as winter approaches, if energy prices are not brought down, “we are risking a massive deindustrialisation of the European continent and the long-term consequences of that might actually be very deep.”
All this is the consequence of U.S. ‘Russiagate’ phobia, originally raised for purely domestic policy reasons. It is a consequence of misrepresenting and misjudging the size and importance of Russia’s economy. It is consequence of believing that Russian (and Saudi) interests can be ignored.
Russia’s aim is to de-NATO-size Europe. It will do this by using the sanctions against it to deprive Europe of cheap energy. Sustained over months or years it is all that is needed to make NATO fall apart.
The sanctions will finally split Europe from the U.S. and its failed foreign policy.
The congressional backlash against Saudi Arabia escalated sharply on Monday as a powerful Democratic senator threatened to freeze weapons sales and security cooperation with the kingdom after its decision to support Russia over the interests of the US.Washington’s anger with its Saudi allies has intensified since last week’s Opec+ decision to cut oil production by 2m barrels, which was seen as a slight to the Biden administration weeks ahead of critical midterm elections, and an important boost to Russia.
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Hitting out at Mohammed bin Salman’s decision to “help underwrite Putin’s war through the OPEC+ cartel”, Menendez said there was “simply is no room to play both sides of this conflict”.
“I will not green-light any cooperation with Riyadh until the Kingdom reassesses its position with respect to the war in Ukraine. Enough is enough,” he said.
Another Democratic senator and a member of Congress – Richard Blumenthal and Ro Khanna – expressed similar sentiments in an opinion piece for Politico that also accused Saudi Arabia of undermining US efforts and helping to boost Russian president Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
The senators want to block weapon sales to Saudi Arabia. Mohammed bin Salman will rather happily buy Russian air defense system. In contrast to U.S. systems they have the advantage of actually functioning. Saudi Arabia’s Intermediate Range Missiles are from China. It will be happy to add more of those too.
Pissing off Russia, China and the whole Middle East – all at the same time – while condemning its ‘allies’ to a systemic economic crash and utter poverty, is the result of an irrational U.S. foreign policy.
I find it unlikely that the Biden administration with its librul ideology will be able to correct its own errors. The failures and mistakes will stay uncorrected and their consequences will multiply. It will take a regime change in Washington, and a change in its deep state ideology, to find back to some realistic view on foreign policies.
Posted by b on October 12, 2022 at 16:06 UTC | Permalink
On the other hand, the FBI apparently cherishes its dog whistle “racists” who are essentially agents provocateurs, most notably radio talkshow host Ted Turner.More than a decade ago, I wrote:Radio talk show host and blogger Hal Turner was an FBI trained agent provocateur, his attorney told reporters in Hartford [August 18, 2009]. The supposed white supremacist worked for the agency from 2002 until 2007. “His job was basically to publish information which would cause other parties to act in a manner which would lead to their arrest,” Michael Orozco told the Associated Press.The article I wrote originally appeared on Infowars and Prison Planet. The above link in the byline of the repost now points to an ad for an old Alex Jones documentary. I am persona non grata at both websites and I imagine a lot of the work I did there has made it to the memory hole.But let’s not wander off track.As the case against Turner and the revelations of his attorney reveal, the government did not abandon its COINTELPRO tactics, as it claimed in the mid 1970s. The FBI, acting as the establishment’s political secret police, continues to undermine political movements the elite consider dangerous and a threat to their control and influence.Recall, I wrote the above more than a decade ago, and since that time the situation has grown far worse, predictably so under the mentally compromised Joe Biden.The FBI infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan in the 1950s and 60s.“During the 1960’s, the FBI’s role was not to protect civil rights workers, but rather, through the use of informants, the Bureau actively assisted the Ku Klux Klan in their campaign of racist murder and terror,” the authors of “COINTELPRO: The Untold American Story.”Church Committee hearings and internal FBI documents revealed that more than one quarter of all active Klan members during the period were FBI agents or informants. However, Bureau intelligence “assets” were neither neutral observers nor objective investigators, but active participants in beatings, bombings and murders that claimed the lives of some 50 civil rights activists by 1964.Bureau spies were elected to top leadership posts in at least half of all Klan units. Needless to say, the informants gained positions of organizational trust on the basis of promoting the Klan’s fascist agenda. Incitement to violence and participation in terrorist acts would only confirm the infiltrator’s loyalty and commitment. The report, nearly impossible to find on the internet, notes the FBI established “dozens of Klaverns, sometimes being leaders and public spokespersons. Gary Rowe, an FBI informant, was involved in the Klan killing of Viola Liuzzo, a civil rights worker. He claimed that he had to fire shots at her rather than ‘blow his cover.’ One FBI agent, speaking at a rally organized by the Klavern he led, proclaimed to his followers, ‘We will restore white rights if we have to kill every negro to do it.’”In other words, the FBI was a prime motivator in racist violence, same as it has more recently worked behind the scenes to fabricate Islamic terror groups.
Unless and until departments/agencies like CIA, FBI, Federal Reserve etc. are shut down USA will remain RINO (Republic In Name Only), a post-constitutional failed state with nuclear power and hosting an international credit cartel. Volatile mix.
Expecting such endemic corruption to be remedied by mid-term or Presidential elections in the current polity is a form of mental illness. USA is a pathocracy.
“To really understand the core of the conflict in Ukraine – where a proxy war rages – one must break down the confrontation thus: The US and its European allies, who represent and back the global financial sector, are essentially engaged in a battle against the world’s energy sector.
“In the past 22 years, we have seen how easy it is for governments to print paper currency. In just 2022, the US dollar has printed more paper money than in its combined history. Energy, on the other hand, cannot be printed. And therein lies a fundamental problem for Washington: The commodity sector can outbid the financial industry.”
As you read, I’m not the only one who sees energy at the core of our conflict.
The KGB of Belarus knows that the West is considering using tactical nuclear weapons against the Belarus and Russia. This was stated on Tuesday by the head of the department, Ivan Tertel, on the air of the Belarus-1 TV channel.
“According to our data, which we obtain from the military-political circles of the West, they believe that in no case should they lose (in Ukraine – TASS note). Therefore, the possibility of using tactical nuclear weapons is being discussed, among other things, which are created for direct aggression against our country and against our allies,” Tertel said.
On October 10, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said that the leadership of NATO and European countries is considering options for possible aggression against Belarus, up to a nuclear strike.
According to him, Belarus and the Russian Federation are beginning to use a joint regional grouping of troops in connection with the aggravation of the situation on the western borders of the Union State.
Why can’t America let China annex Taiwan?
China cannot annex Taiwan — Taiwan is already part of China.
What China seeks is to reunify with Taiwan. Big difference.
America is an imperialist. It sticks its nose into things that are none of its business. Taiwan is China’s domestic matter.
America is using Taiwan as a pawn to undermine China, whose economic rise threatens America’s global hegemony.
RUSSIAN MILITARY RADIO BROADCASTS TO CITIZENS IN KHARKIV: “EVACUATE CITY NOW”
The Russian Army is using regular AM and FM radio to transmit to Ukrainian citizens in the city of Kharkiv. The broadcasts are telling them to evacuate that city immediately.
The military high-powered radio transmitters are even broadcasting directly ON TOP OF what would be the traditional radio stations in that area. The military transmitters are simply over-powering the regular radio stations.
Over the past 48-72 hours, Russian troop build-ups are showing what appears to be “Special Military Operation -Season 2” . . . only with very much more men.
On the map below, the hand-drawn circles in red show the present build-up of Russian forces, and the circles in blue show Ukrainian force locations.
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Most of Ukraine’s forces are engaged in the southeast of the country. The Ukraine troops to the east of Kharkiv, are now finding themselves squished between two superior Russian force groupings; one in the Belgorad region of Russia itself, the other in Luhansk. They seem to be inside a perfect “Pincer” situation.
Ominously for Ukraine, the sudden and very large build-up of Russian troops in Belarus, to the north and northwest of Kiev, looks very much like what existed when Russia initially began its Special Military Operation into Ukraine. At THAT time, the troops in Belarus, north of Kiev, moved in a 47 mile long convoy toward the city, but stopped without attacking.
It turned out to be a feint; Russia did that so as to force Ukraine to keep essential troops in the north to protect the capital, Kiev, while they moved against targets in the south. This time, however, it seems quite clear that if/when those Russian troops come out of Belarus again, Kiev could be mince-meat.
In addition, the Russian forces toward the top left of the map, also in Belarus, is an interesting build-up. Would they swoop in against Kiev, or will they head due south to Lutsk, Rivne . . . or both?
Stay tuned . . .
If China was to launch a naval blockade of Taiwan, what do you think would be the ramifications for regional stability and American interests?
Well, you do understand that Taiwan is part of China, right? China has every right to blockade its own territory and it is absolutely none of the Americans’ fucking business.
However, I’ll tell you what are the ramifications if the Americans interfere: war between China and USA. Very likely, a most devastating war.
So it behooves the Americans to keep their nose out of China’s business.
Obama Official Flip-Flops On Nuclear War w/ Russia
Jeeze!
ARREST VIDEOS: UKRAINIAN SBU AGENT CAUGHT WITH MANPADS IN MOSCOW; SECOND CAUGHT IN BRYANSK
The Russian Federal Security Bureau (FSB) has released arrest video of a Ukrainian Intelligence Bureau (SBU) Agent, in Moscow, with MANPAD, shoulder carried surface-to-air missiles! A second video, shows another arrest in Bryansk, of a man with rocket-propelled grenades, to carry out a terrorist attack upon a logistics facility in Russia.
In the first of two videos below, an actual Agent of Ukraine’s SBU is caught driving a Volkswagon minivan, with two “Igla” MANPAD surface-to-air weapons. These are shoulder-fired weapons that can take down any aircraft at relatively low altitude, especially civilian air liners.
As you will see in the video, the weapons were hidden in a carefully constructed secret compartment, beneath the vehicle:
Video
Since Moscow is not a gigantic military hub, it is initially thought this man was going to hit civilian airliners, to sew terror in the Russian civilian population:
SECOND ARREST: BRYANSK
In Bryansk, a second man was quickly taken down, and found to be in possession of some type of rocket-propelled explosive, allegedly to be used against a Russian Logistics center. Video of that arrest, and of the device to be used, is below:
Video
A possible future for the United States
The forces that run the USA are misusing the financial institutions because as long as these institutions can be “s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d”, there are bundles of short term profit. If, (or when) it snaps, (so what), we have garnered $ trillions, and captured the majority of real assets. What will happen? The states will gain more power, as in federalism and some areas will break away. I say areas, because there are not going to be 50 new nations. States can’t sustain themselves alone. There will have to be regions. Even California (the fifth largest world economy) has no water resources. They are dependent on other states.
It is already happening with projects like “Greater Idaho”. It is not that Idaho has expansionist desires. The push comes from the outside.
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The way I interpret it is that states have political power, like their two senators. There is a rural / urban divide in America, but every rural state also has a very large city. Illinois and Chicago for example. It is a given that the urban population will cancel the rural vote and thwart their desires and programs. So rural counties want to get out of California and get away from Portland. This is not a break up of the USA, but it is a re-configuration of political power.
State governors could start to feel out the possibilities of regions, develop sharing with allied states. First share emergency services, pollution control, electrical power (which Texas does not do), emergency policing powers, maybe make agreements on the deployment of the national guard? They could make voter blocs in the US congress. Admittedly these are future developments.
Who will Alaska ally with? Russia is an obvious choice. A railroad tunnel would be built. Alaska would become a hub for the distribution of natural gas, when fracking runs dry. They would be a land based shipping center between Asia and the Americas.
I think that it is highly likely.
Joe Biden: “Two Words – Made In America”
Can he count?
The USA is so corrupt…
I learned from the reference below. that
On January 16, 1794, Congress passed a resolution that prohibited anyone who owned stock or held an office in a financial institution from being in Congress. also I learned that The original Thirteenth Amendment (1810) prohibited lawyers from functioning in Congress.. From HERE
It is becoming clearer and clearer that congress does not work for those it governs. What then are the governed to do?
How can the average members of the public in western prone nation states promote for their president and other members of their elected governments non pilgrim society members?
Membership in the society is secret; and i believe Epstein’s trial would have shown how threat, intimidation and blackmail keeps the affairs of secret societies secret and how such intimidation, is used to make government parties vote against the best interest of those it governs.
Over the years, nearly every president and high level member of governments seem to have been member of, or closely associated to one or more these secret organizations (mostly secret organizations seem to work by making government into a secret hidden arm of for profit influence on rule of law and formation and function of government institutions) operating both external to and embedded within the bureaucracies and working governments that govern us all.
IMO surveillance and secrecy are the feedforward feedback loop that allows special interest to carve out and profit from the privatization of monopoly powers. Surveillance and secrecy have captured “governed humanity” and surrendered it into “service of making oligarchs a profit”.
Rule of law created by biased or corrupt politics is a tool of tyranny; it converts government into an invasive imperialistic assault weapon capable to undermine human rights.
"The White House on Wednesday released its new National Security Strategy (NSS).
This is a routine of every US government and an important document that reflects and guides the incumbent government's internal affairs and diplomacy.
But after reading the 48-page document, the international community generally feels a strong sense of unease and concern.
The 'national security' pursued by the US will come at the expense of the security of other countries.
If the path and direction stated in the report is followed, the superpower of the US will sooner or later go to the opposite side of world.
Therefore, peace and stability, and the consequences will be unimaginable." [My Emphasis]
The writer continues:
"The release of the strategy report was delayed for several months due to the Russia-Ukraine crisis, but we did not see from the report that the US had deeply reflected on the root cause of the conflict, let alone learned any lessons.
Instead, it further strengthened the camp confrontation and binary opposition mindset that led to the outbreak of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine." [My Emphasis]
The writer then concentrates on the portion devoted to confronting China.
But from just this little bit we can surmise that it’s more of the same old shit poured into a new can.
However, it appears that the writer needs to learn something about the Outlaw US Empire for he believes the Cold War ended:
"It has been 31 years since the end of the Cold War, but the political elites in Washington still have not learned to coexist with other countries in a new way."
IMO, it's China's fault for failing to realize the Outlaw US Empire will never give up its goal to dominate the world, and to also see that goal was inherited--if not stolen from--the Empire's Colonial mother: England. Why is it that China and other nations fail to see what they ought to be seeing?
Well, to be fair, the writer does see many things as this portion reveals:
"The new report is a mirror, reflecting the selfishness, ambition and the deepest fears of Washington's political elites.
In all its national strategy reports, Washington emphasizes US' 'leadership.'
There is nothing wrong with ambition, but what does the US want to do by 'leading' the world?
The report shows that the US is still trying to rope in one group and fight another, creating division and confrontation in this world...."In its quest to suppress and contain China, Washington has lost its mind." [My Emphasis]
The other article provided this summary regarding China:
"Chinese experts said that the Biden administration's national security strategy basically continues the Trump-era position on China, and is more of a summary of US action and intention."The strategy suggested that the US basically has three goals it wants to achieve in the future:
[1] limit China's development in the high-tech field;
[2] limit Chinese influence, promote ideological alliances, and prevent the success of the Chinese system from being widely recognized around the world;
[3] and make further provocations over the Taiwan question to trap China, experts noted." [My Emphasis]
I’m curious to see just how the bolded goal above was described and how it’s to be accomplished.
Given the overall continuity, I doubt Biden had any direct input despite BigLie Media saying otherwise, as with this example:
"CNBC believes that the Strategy generally functions 'more as an aspirational expression of a president's values than as a blueprint for military plans.'"
If that’s actually the case, then Biden wants to become a War President; but then, he is already.
Through his distinguished career in science fiction, Sir Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008) was known both for writing the hardest of hard science fiction stories and novels and also for visionary far-future stories showing the influence of Olaf Stapledon. But there were more sides to Sir Arthur, as in the humorous stories he collected in Tales from the White Hart, and in his being a fan of celebrated horror writer H.P. Lovecraft (“[H]is best stories were masterpieces in their genre,” Clarke wrote in a letter to fantasy master Lord Dunsany), which led to his writing, early in his career, “At the Mountains of Murkiness,” a Lovecraft parody. “A Walk in the Dark” is definitely not a parody, and starts out apparently in Clarke’s best hard science vein, but gradually takes a sinister turn. A distinguished science fiction editor once wrote that the first story she read by Clarke, when she was very young, was this one, and it frightened her so much that it was years before she could bring herself to read anything else with his name on it. Of course, the typical reader isn’t going to grow up to be an editor, and can probably handle this story. Right after they make sure all the lights are on and check the batteries in their flashlight . . .
Known for being one of the “Big Three” writers of modern science fiction (with Robert A. Heinlein and Isaac Asimov), co-author of and technical advisor for the now-classic movie, 2001: A Space Odyssey, author of many best-selling novels, commentator on CBS’s coverage of the Apollo missions, and winner of numerous awards, Sir Arthur C. Clarke surely needs no introduction (though I just snuck one in anyway). In a technical paper in 1945, he was first to describe how geosynchronous satellites could relay broadcasts from the ground around the world”., bringing a new era in global communications and television. His novels are too numerous to list here (but I’ll plug three of my favorites: The City and the Stars, Childhood’s End, and Earthlight), let alone his many short stories. He was equally adept at non-fiction, notably in his The Exploration of Space in the early 1950s, his frequently reprinted Profiles of the Future, and another bunch of books also too numerous to mention. So, instead of not mentioning them further, I’ll just say, go thou and read.
A WALK IN THE DARK
Arthur C. Clarke
Robert Armstrong had walked just over two miles, as far as he could judge, when his torch failed. He stood still for a moment, unable to believe that such a misfortune could really have befallen him. Then, half maddened with rage, he hurled the useless instrument away. It landed somewhere in the darkness, disturbing the silence of this little world. A metallic echo came ringing back from the low hills: then all was quiet again.
This, thought Armstrong, was the ultimate misfortune. Nothing more could happen to him now. He was even able to laugh bitterly at his luck, and resolved never again to imagine that the fickle goddess had ever favored him. Who would have believed that the only tractor at Camp IV would have broken down when he was just setting off for Port Sanderson? He recalled the frenzied repair work, the relief when the second start had been made, and the final debacle when the caterpillar track had jammed.
It was no use then regretting the lateness of his departure: he could not have foreseen these accidents, and it was still a good four hours before the Canopus took off. He had to catch her, whatever happened; no other ship would be touching at this world for another month.
Apart from the urgency of his business, four more weeks on this out-of-the-way planet were unthinkable.
There had been only one thing to do. It was lucky that Port Sanderson was little more than six miles from the camp—not a great distance, even on foot. He had had to leave all his equipment behind, but it could follow on the next ship and he could manage without it. The road was poor, merely stamped out of the rock by one of the Board’s hundred-ton crushers, but there was no fear of going astray.
Even now, he was in no real danger, though he might well be too late to catch the ship. Progress would be slow, for he dare not risk losing the road in this region of canyons and enigmatic tunnels that had never been explored. It was, of course, pitch-dark. Here at the edge of the Galaxy the stars were so few and scattered that their light was negligible. The strange crimson sun of this lonely world would not rise for many hours, and although five of the little moons were in the sky, they could barely be seen by the unaided eye. Not one of them could even cast a shadow.
Armstrong was not the man to bewail his luck for long. He began to walk slowly along the road, feeling its texture with his feet. It was, he knew, fairly straight except where it wound through Carver’s Pass. He wished he had a stick or something to probe the way before him, but he would have to rely for guidance on the feel of the ground.
It was terribly slow at first, until he gained confidence. He had never known how difficult it was to walk in a straight line. Although the feeble stars gave him his bearings, again and again he found himself stumbling among the virgin rocks at the edge of the crude roadway. He was traveling in long zigzags that took him to alternate sides of the road. Then he would stub his toes against the bare rock and grope his way back onto the hard-packed surface once again.
Presently it settled down to a routine. It was impossible to estimate his speed; he could only struggle along and hope for the best. There were four miles to go—four miles and as many hours. It should be easy enough, unless he lost his way. But he dared not think of that.
Once he had mastered the technique he could afford the luxury of thought. He could not pretend that he was enjoying the experience, but he had been in much worse positions before. As long as he remained on the road, he was perfectly safe. He had been hoping that as his eyes became adapted to the starlight he would be able to see the way, but he now knew that the whole journey would be blind. The discovery gave him a vivid sense of his remoteness from the heart of the Galaxy. On a night as clear as this, the skies of almost any other planet would have been blazing with stars. Here at this outpost of the Universe the sky held perhaps a hundred faintly gleaming points of light, as useless as the five ridiculous moons on which no one had ever bothered to land.
A slight change in the road interrupted his thoughts. Was there a curve here, or had he veered off to the right again? He moved very slowly along the invisible and ill-defined border. Yes, there was no mistake: the road was bending to the left. He tried to remember its appearance in the daytime, but he had only seen it once before. Did this mean that he was nearing the Pass? He hoped so, for the journey would then be half-completed.
He peered ahead into the blackness, but the ragged line of the horizon told him nothing. Presently he found that the road had straightened itself again and his spirits sank. The entrance to the Pass must still be some way ahead: there were at least four miles to go.
Four miles—how ridiculous the distance seemed! How long would it take the Canopus to travel four miles? He doubted if man could measure so short an interval of time. And how many trillions of miles had he, Robert Armstrong, traveled in his life? It must have reached a staggering total by now, for in the last twenty years he had scarcely stayed more than a month at a time on any single world. This very year, he had twice made the crossing of the Galaxy, and that was a notable journey even in these days of the phantom drive.
He tripped over a loose stone, and the jolt brought him back to reality. It was no use, here, thinking of ships that could eat up the light-years. He was facing Nature, with no weapons but his own strength and skill.
It was strange that it took him so long to identify the real cause of his uneasiness. The last four weeks had been very full, and the rush of his departure, coupled with the annoyance and anxiety caused by the tractor’s breakdowns, had driven everything else from his mind. Moreover, he had always prided himself on his hardheadedness and lack of imagination. Until now, he had forgotten all about that first evening at the Base, when the crews had regaled him with the usual tall yarns concocted for the benefit of newcomers.
It was then that the old Base clerk had told the story of his walk by night from Port Sanderson to the camp, and of what had trailed him through Carver’s Pass, keeping always beyond the limit of his torchlight. Armstrong, who had heard such tales on a score of worlds, had paid it little attention at the time. This planet, after all, was known to be uninhabited. But logic could not dispose of the matter as easily as that. Suppose, after all, there was some truth in the old man’s fantastic tale. . . ?
It was not a pleasant thought, and Armstrong did not intend to brood upon it. But he knew that if he dismissed it out of hand it would continue to prey on his mind. The only way to conquer imaginary fears was to face them boldly; he would have to do that now.
His strongest argument was the complete barrenness of this world and its utter desolation, though against that one could set many counterarguments, as indeed the old clerk had done. Man had only lived on this planet for twenty years, and much of it was still unexplored. No one could deny that the tunnels out in the wasteland were rather puzzling, but everyone believed them to be volcanic vents. Though, of course, life often crept into such places. With a shudder he remembered the giant polyps that had snared the first explorers of Vargon III.
It was all very inconclusive. Suppose, for the sake of argument, one granted the existence of life here. What of that?
The vast majority of life forms in the Universe were completely indifferent to man. Some, of course, like the gas-beings of Alcoran or the roving wave-lattices of Shandaloon, could not even detect him but passed through or around him as if he did not exist. Others were merely inquisitive, some embarrassingly friendly. There were few indeed that would attack unless provoked.
Nevertheless, it was a grim picture that the old stores clerk had painted. Back in the warm, well-lighted smoking room, with the drinks going around, it had been easy enough to laugh at it. But here in the darkness, miles from any human settlement, it was very different.
It was almost a relief when he stumbled off the road again and had to grope with his hands until he found it once more. This seemed a very rough patch, and the road was scarcely distinguishable from the rocks around. In a few minutes, however, he was safely on his way again.
It was unpleasant to see how quickly his thoughts returned to the same disquieting subject. Clearly it was worrying him more than he cared to admit.
He drew consolation from one fact: it had been quite obvious that no one at the Base had believed the old fellow’s story. Their questions and banter had proved that. At the time, he had laughed as loudly as any of them. After all, what was the evidence? A dim shape, just seen in the darkness, that might well have been an oddly formed rock. And the curious clicking noise that had so impressed the old man—anyone could imagine such sounds at night if they were sufficiently overwrought. If it had been hostile, why hadn’t the creature come any closer? “Because it was afraid of my light,” the old chap had said. Well, that was plausible enough: it would explain why nothing had ever been seen in the daylight. Such a creature might live underground, only emerging at night—damn it, why was he taking the old idiot’s ravings so seriously! Armstrong got control of his thoughts again. If he went on this way, he told himself angrily, he would soon be seeing and hearing a whole menagerie of monsters.
There was, of course, one factor that disposed of the ridiculous story at once. It was really very simple; he felt sorry he hadn’t thought of it before. What would such a creature live on? There was not even a trace of vegetation on the whole of the planet. He laughed to think that the bogey could be disposed of so easily—and in the same instant felt annoyed with himself for not laughing aloud. If he was so sure of his reasoning, why not whistle, or sing, or do anything to keep up his spirits? He put the question fairly to himself as a text of his manhood. Half-ashamed, he had to admit that he was still afraid—afraid because “there might be something in it after all.” But at least his analysis had done him some good.
It would have been better if he had left it there, and remained half-convinced by his argument. But a part of his mind was still trying to break down his careful reasoning. It succeeded only too well, and when he remembered the plant-beings of Zantil Major the shock was so unpleasant that he stopped dead in his tracks.
Now the plant-beings of Xantil were not in any way horrible. They were in fact extremely beautiful creatures. But what made them appear so distressing now was the knowledge that they could live for indefinite periods with no food whatsoever. All the energy they needed for their strange lives they extracted from cosmic radiation—and that was almost as intense here as anywhere else in the universe.
He had scarcely thought of one example before others crowded into his mind and he remembered the life form on Trantor Beta, which was the only one known capable of directly utilizing atomic energy. That too had lived on an utterly barren world, very much like this . . .
Armstrong’s mind was rapidly splitting into two distinct portions, each trying to convince the other and neither wholly succeeding. He did not realize how far his morale had gone until he found himself holding his breath lest it conceal any sound from the darkness about him. Angrily, he cleared his mind of the rubbish that had been gathering there and turned once more to the immediate problem.
There was no doubt that the road was slowly rising, and the silhouette of the horizon seemed much higher in the sky. The road began to twist, and suddenly he was aware of great rocks on either side of him. Soon only a narrow ribbon of sky was still visible, and the darkness became, if possible, even more intense.
Somehow, he felt safer with the rock walls surrounding him: it meant that he was protected except in two directions. Also, the road had been leveled more carefully and it was easy to keep it. Best of all, he knew now that the journey was more than half completed.
For a moment his spirits began to rise. Then, with maddening perversity, his mind went back into the old grooves again. He remembered that it was on the far side of Carver’s Pass that the old clerk’s adventure had taken place—if it had ever happened at all.
In half a mile, he would be out in the open again, out of the protection of these sheltering rocks. The thought seemed doubly horrible now and he already felt a sense of nakedness. He could be attacked from any direction, and he would be utterly helpless . . .
Until now, he had still retained some self-control. Very resolutely he had kept his mind away from the one fact that gave some color to the old man’s tale—the single piece of evidence that had stopped the banter in the crowded room back at the camp and brought a sudden hush upon the company. Now, as Armstrong’s will weakened, he recalled again the words that had struck a momentary chill even in the warm comfort of the base building.
The little clerk had been very insistent on one point. He had never heard any sound of pursuit from the dim shape sensed, rather than seen, at the limit of his light. There was no scuffling of claws or hoofs on rock, not even the clatter of displaced stones. It was as if, so the old man had declared in that solemn manner of his, “as if the thing that was following could see perfectly in the darkness, and had many small legs or pads so that it could move swiftly and easily over the rock—like a giant caterpillar or one of the carpet-things of Kralkor II.”
Yet, although there had been no noise of pursuit, there had been one sound that the old man had caught several times. It was so unusual that its very strangeness made it doubly ominous. It was a faint but horribly persistent clicking.
The old fellow had been able to describe it very vividly—much too vividly for Armstrong’s liking now.
“Have you ever listened to a large insect crunching its prey?” he said. “Well, it was just like that. I imagine that a crab makes exactly the same noise with its claws when it clashes them together. It was a—what’s the word?—a chitinous sound.”
At this point, Armstrong remembered laughing loudly. (Strange, how it was all coming back to him now.) But no one else had laughed, though they had been quick to do so earlier. Sensing the change of tone, he had sobered at once and asked the old man to continue his story. How he wished now that he had stifled his curiosity!
It had been quickly told. The next day, a party of skeptical technicians had gone into the no-man’s land beyond Carver’s Pass. They were not skeptical enough to leave their guns behind, but they had no cause to use them for they found no trace of any living thing. There were the inevitable pits and tunnels, glistening holes down which the light of the torches rebounded endlessly until it was lost in the distance—but the planet was riddled with them.
Though the party found no sign of life, it discovered one thing it did not like at all. Out in the barren and unexplored land beyond the Pass they had come upon an even larger tunnel than the rest. Near the mouth of that tunnel was a massive rock, half embedded in the ground. And the sides of that rock had been worn away as if it had been used as an enormous whetstone.
No less than five of those present had seen this disturbing rock. None of them could explain it satisfactorily as a natural formation, but they still refused to accept the old man’s story. Armstrong had asked them if they had ever put it to the test. There had been an uncomfortable silence. Then big Andrew Hargraves had said: “Hell, who’d walk out to the Pass at night just for fun!” and had left it at that. Indeed, there was no other record of anyone walking from Port Sanderson to the camp by night, or for that matter by day. During the hours of light, no unprotected human being could live in the open beneath the rays of the enormous, lurid sun that seemed to fill half the sky. And no one would walk six miles, wearing radiation armor, if the tractor was available.
Armstrong felt he was leaving the Pass. The rocks on either side were falling away, and the road was no longer as firm and well packed as it had been. He was coming out into the open plain once more, and somewhere not far away in the darkness was that enigmatic pillar that might have been used for sharpening monstrous fangs or claws. It was not a reassuring thought, but he could not get it out of his mind.
Feeling distinctly worried now, Armstrong made great effort to pull himself together. He would try to be rational again; he would think of business, the work he had done at the camp—anything but this infernal place. For a while he succeeded quite well. But presently, with a maddening persistence, every train of thought came back to the same point. He could not get out of his mind the picture of that inexplicable rock and its appalling possibilities. Over and over again he found himself wondering how far away it was, whether he had already passed it, and whether it was on his right or his left.
The ground was quite flat again, and the road drove on straight as an arrow. There was one gleam of consolation: Port Sanderson could not be much more than two miles away. Armstrong had no idea how long he had been on the road. Unfortunately his watch was not illuminated and he could only guess at the passage of time. With any luck, the Canopus should not take off for another two hours at least. But he could not be sure, and now another fear began to enter his mind—the dread that he might see a vast constellation of lights rising swiftly into the sky ahead, and know that all this agony of mind had been in vain.
He was not zigzagging so badly now, and seemed to be able to anticipate the edge of the road before stumbling off it. It was probable, he cheered himself by thinking, that he was traveling almost as fast as if he had a light. If all went well, he might be nearing Port Sanderson in thirty minutes—a ridiculously small space of time. How he would laugh at his fears when he strolled into his already reserved stateroom in the “Canopus,” and felt that peculiar quiver as the phantom drive hurled the great ship far out of this system, back to the clustered star-clouds near the center of the Galaxy—back toward Earth itself, which he had not seen for so many years. One day, he told himself, he really must visit Earth again. All his life he had been making the promise, but always there had been the same answer—lack of time. Strange, wasn’t it, that such a tiny planet should have played so enormous a part in the development of the Universe, should even have come to dominate worlds far wiser and more intelligent than itself!
Armstrong’s thoughts were harmless again, and he felt calmer. The knowledge that he was nearing Port Sanderson was immensely reassuring, and he deliberately kept his mind on familiar, unimportant matters. Carver’s Pass was already far behind, and with it that thing he no longer intended to recall. One day, if he ever returned to this world, he would visit the pass in the daytime and laugh at his fears. In twenty minutes now, they would have joined the nightmares of his childhood.
It was almost a shock, though one of the most pleasant he had ever known, when he saw the lights of Port Sanderson come up over the horizon. The curvature of this little world was very deceptive: it did not seem right that a planet with a gravity almost as great as Earth’s should have a horizon so close at hand. One day, someone would have to discover what lay at this world’s core to give it so great a density. Perhaps the many tunnels would help—it was an unfortunate turn of thought, but the nearness of his goal had robbed it of terror now. Indeed, the thought that he might really be in danger seemed to give his adventure a certain piquancy and heightened interest. Nothing could happen to hims now, with ten minutes to go and the lights of the Port already in sight.
A few minutes later, his feelings changed abruptly when he came to the sudden bend in the road. He had forgotten the chasm that caused his detour, and added half a mile to the journey. Well, what of it? He thought stubbornly. An extra half-mile would make no difference now—another ten minutes, at the most.
It was very disappointing when the lights of the city vanished. Armstrong had not remembered the hill which the road was skirting, perhaps it was only a low ridge, scarcely noticeable in the daytime. But by hiding the lights of the port it had taken away his chief talisman and left him again at the mercy of his fears.
Very unreasonably, his intelligence told him, he began to think how horrible it would be if anything happened now, so near the end of the journey. He kept the worst of his fears at bay for a while, hoping desperately that the lights of the city would soon reappear. But as the minutes dragged on, he realized that the ridge must be longer than he imagined. He tried to cheer himself by the thought that the city would be all the nearer when he saw it again, but somehow logic seemed to have failed him now. For presently he found himself doing something he had not stooped to, even out in the waste by Carver’s Pass.
He stopped, turned slowly round, and with bated breath listened until his lungs were nearly bursting.
The silence was uncanny, considering how near he must be to the Port. There was certainly no sound from behind him. Of course there wouldn’t be, he told himself angrily. But he was immensely relieved. The thought of that faint and insistent clicking had been haunting him for the last hour.
So friendly and familiar was the noise that did reach him at last that the anticlimax almost made him laugh aloud. Drifting through the still air from a source clearly not more than a mile away came the sound of a landing-field tractor, perhaps one of the machines loading the Canopus itself. In a matter of seconds, thought Armstrong, he would be around this ridge with the Port only a few hundred yards ahead. The journey was nearly ended. In a few moments, this evil plain would be no more than a fading nightmare.
It seemed terribly unfair: so little time, such a small fraction of a human life, was all he needed now. But the gods have always been unfair to man, and now there were enjoying their little jest. For there could be no mistaking the rattle of monstrous claws in the darkness aheadof him.
We start off with a commentary from Hal Turner. Now, for those of you who are unaware, he is bunkered up. He’s in rural Pennsylvania and living as a prepper waiting for nuclear evisceration of the United States. While he has some ties to government and all the rest, he’s also a disinfo agent. Think of him as a “double agent”. There’s good, with a lot of bad mixed in his content.
But…
The fact is that he is (himself) in a bunker and hiding out in rural America should tell youse guys something.
Personally… It’s going to get bad for Americans. But, not THAT bad. This is MM speaking.
HAL TURNER COMMENTARY
Russia sending LIVE NUCLEAR MISSILES on launcher trucks to pass in front of the US Embassy in Moscow is the single most unprecedented nuclear threat in the history of the world.
Yet the American people remain blissfully unaware that their federal government is causing so much trouble overseas, we are now at actual risk of being hit with a nuclear attack. The American people are not being told by their mass media that things between the US and Russia have spiraled so terribly in the past few months. In fact, the entire US mass media, including ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, CNBS, FOX News, newspapers like the New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune, the Boston Globe, the Miami Herald, the Dallas Morning News and all the rest, have kept reporting about this matter to a bare minimum. To my knowledge, NOT ONE of them have outlined how close we actually are to World War 3 and a nuclear holocaust. The same goes for all the big name wire services, Associated Press (AP), United Press International (UPI), Thompson-Reuters news service; limited coverage at best.
Want to know why the US Mass-Media is keeping this all low-profile? Because they’re really not “journalists” or even “Reporters” anymore; they’re partisans. They’re completely political. They don’t do “news” anymore; it’s more “propaganda.” The media know their fellow liberal Democrats are in real trouble as the mid-term elections approach. They don’t want to report anything that will make the Democrats look bad. And, of course, the Democrat majorities in the House and Senate, along with the Democrat President, causing so much trouble that we might get nuked, would definitely not make their fellow liberals look good. So the liberal media . . . keeps it all very quiet.
It was only this past week, when dementia-addled Joe Biden told a Fund-Raiser in New York City that we’ve never been closer to Armageddon since the Cuban Missile crisis. The media reported that remark, but did nothing to outline how we got here, what WE did to cause this trouble, and that we are now at actual risk of being hit with a nuclear first strike, by the only country on earth capable of defeating us.
Yes, Russia CAN defeat us. You see, THEY have hypersonic missiles and we don’t. THEY have nuclear bomb shelters for their population, and we don’t. THEY have food, water, medicine, electric generators and machine tools in all of their nuclear shelters, and we don’t.
The long and short of this is . . . . THEY survive . . . . we don’t.
You see, this is not about Russia using nukes against Ukraine; Russia doesn’t need to do that. Ukraine is nothing and the Russian Army would ordinarily make quick work of them. But Ukraine is being supplied by the USA and its NATO vassal puppets on a string.
That’s what NATO countries are: Puppets dancing on a U.S. string.
Russia knows this, and Russia, it seems to me, is growing tired of the relentless meddling by the US/NATO that is costing the lives of thousands of Russian soldiers.
Russia has warned the United States over, and over, and over again, to stop interfering in Ukraine as it is none of our business. Ukraine is NOT a member of NATO. Ukraine has no Treaties for defense with the U.S. The U.S. has no economic or national security interest in Ukraine, yet we are sending tens of billions of dollars in weapons, ammunition, and cash money to Ukraine. In addition, we are using our spy satellites and military spy planes to gather real-time intelligence on Russian troop movements, and then providing TARGETING COORDINATES to Ukraine, to kill those Russia troops.
Russia is rapidly coming to the conclusion that all their troubles can be stopped by hitting the United States with a nuclear strike, and hitting us FIRST.
They know that the moment a nuke detonates on US Soil, NATO will fall apart. Sure, the UK will fire a return nuke strike, but the UK is tiny and can be wiped out by Russia’s new “SARMAT” missile in two-hundred and two SECONDS. Yes, you read that right, 202 SECONDS from launch to impact . . . and the UK is gone. France may also fire a nuke or two, but the French know those Russian SARMET missiles can launch and hit Paris in 180 Seconds. France . . . will likely buckle rather than be nuked.
The way I see it, all the little NATO member countries would fold like a cheap camera the moment big brother USA gets hit. Because all the little NATO countries know they don’t stand a chance if the US isn’t around to back them up.
So, as you read this, Russia has made the most explicit DEMONSTRATION of coming nuclear war, that any country has ever done with any other country. They have publicly and repeatedly warned us to stop interfering. Our federal government won’t stop.
Sooner or later, Russia is going to have to decide whether or not to PUT A STOP to them. And when that fateful decision is made, YOU, ME, and all our family and friends, will begin to see bright, white, flashes before we get burned to death in nuclear blasts and fires.
WHO IS TO BLAME?
You know who is doing this to us? No, not just that dementia-addled Commander-in-Thief, Joe Biden, whose Democrat Party stole the 2020 Presidential Election with rampant voter fraud. The people TRULY responsible for this . . . are YOUR local members of the US Congress.
You know, all those political phonies that glad-hand, back-slap, smile, and lie to your face, when they come home from Washington. Yea. Them.
THEY have voted to approve every cent of money used to forcibly overthrow the Government of Ukraine in 2014. The money they approved went to support a new government (read Puppet regime) favorable to the west. THEY approved the money to train and equip Ukraine’s army. THEY winked and nodded when Ukraine started attacking Russian-speaking citizens in Luhansk and Donetsk in eastern Ukraine. THEY (and their dementia-addled POTUS, flatly refused Russia’s Diplomatic efforts for a Treaty to have iron clad, legally enforceable, security guarantees for Russia, as NATO continued its expansion all around Russia’s borders. Russia proposed that in December of last year. The US and NATO laughed at it as they threw the proposal in the trash can.
When you and your family get slaughtered by Russian nuclear missiles, you can thank your local member of the US House of Representatives and the US Senate. They are personally to blame for what is going on and they are personally responsible for creating this situation with Russia.
And when they crawl out of their cushy, safe, nuclear bunkers, while the rest of us who might survive are suffering from the nuclear war they caused, remember it was THEM who did this to all of us. They are to blame. They are guilty.
I’m not certain there’s any way to avoid what I see coming – nuclear war. But maybe, just maybe, if enough of you get off your butts, start calling and going into Congressional offices and telling them in no uncertain terms they better knock this shit off, maybe we can avoid Armageddon.
If you do nothing, don’t be surprised as your skin burns off your body when the Russian nukes hit us.
…
Ok. So why is Hal talking about this?
The United States demand that Hong Kong (China) turn over a $500 Billion yacht because of “sanctions”
China told the United States to go away and leave them alone.
The United States retorts that “HK could lose it’s status as a financial hub in Asia”, if it refuses to obey the dictates out of Washington.
MASSIVE RUSSIAN ATTACKS IN PROGRESS INSIDE UKRAINE; Zelensky’s Office Hit By Missiles!
After the bombing of the Crimea Bridge by Ukraine, it appears Russia’s “Kid Gloves” have come off. Kiev, and a dozen other cities in Ukraine, are under Russian missile attack. Russian Fighter jets and bombers saturate the skies. Damage is heavy, and continuing . . .
This is a fast-developing story, check back for LIVE updates . . .
UPDATE 9:30 AM EDT —
Attack in central Kiev; downtown business and government section:
“Now, Kiev residents know how the people of Donetsk felt as Ukraine pounded their city for years . . .” Not so nice is it?
Ukraine President Zelensky’s Office hit by Russian missile strike! Not that it matters, but it’s a ruin.
UPDATE 9:40 AM EDT —
During the night, Russia deployed twenty-thousand (20,000) troops on the border between Ukraine and Belarus.
Mykolaiv region now reports a large number of Russian jets attacking.
City of Lviv has lost electric power. Welcome to the war you all so wanted.
Deputy Chairman of the Russian Federation Council, Dmitry Medvedev, issued a statement saying “a direct response to the terrorist act of Ukraine on the Crimean bridge “can only be the direct destruction of terrorists.” Not the capture of prisoners. Nope. Their death.
9:44 AM EDT —
The office of Ukrainian Secret Intelligence Service, (SBU), was hit in Kiev. Of course. My guess is that there would be a large number of CIA, and NATO assets there as well.
9:48 AM EDT —
SIGNIFICANT RUSSIAN ATTACKS ARE CURRENTLY UNDERWAY IN ALL PARTS OF UKRAINE ***
9:55 AM EDT —
Another series of explosions throughout Ukraine. It is reported that the attacks are made on government, military, Intel infrastructure. Russian missile attacks have been reported in multiple cities across Ukraine, including in Dnipro (VIDEO BELOW), Lviv, Zhytomyr, Khmelnytsky and Ternopil.
UPDATE 10:00 AM EDT —
City of Lviv Thermal Power Plant destroyed:
UPDATE 10:15 AM EDT —
REPORTS OF MORE THAN A DOZEN MISSILES LAUNCHED FROM THE BLACK SEA
Kharkov metro trains have stopped working
Ukrainian railways report damage to the contact network in Western Ukraine and train delays.
75% of internet traffic is lost in Ukraine, netblocks data
UPDATE 11:22 AM EDT —
Kiev Thermal Power Plant #6, destroyed:
Kiev “101 Business Center” Hit.
Explosions are reported in Krivoy Rog.
**BULLETIN **
Russia: “We disabled the “Starlink” satellites” being used by Ukraine Army.
— US EMBASSY IN KIEV:
"The U.S. Embassy urges US citizens to shelter in place and depart Ukraine now using privately available ground transportation options when it is safe to do so."
Russian President Vladimir Putin had a top-level video conference with his National Security people this morning:
WATER AND ELECTRIC INTERRUPTION IN KHARKIV.
TOTAL BLACKOUT IN KHARKIV
***** FLASH *****
German Embassy in Kiev hit by Russian air strike, BILD reports.
(HT REMARK: If this is true, then German Territory has been “attacked” by Russia. Germany may try to invoke NATO Treaty, Article 5, collective self defense. If they invoke it, and NATO agrees, then World War 3 has officially begun.)
Lviv has lost its water supply
***** FLASH *****
UPDATE 12:40 PM EDT —
NATO CAUGHT HOUSING ACTIVE-DUTY ARMY TROOPS FROM NATO COUNTRIES, IN ZAPOROZHYE;
Evidence suggest a planning surprise offensive using those troops!
Russia ATTACKED the housing blocks where those NATO troops were being housed, including five-thousand (5,000) Polish regular, active-duty troops.
The Russian missile strikes killed so many, NATO had to call-off the surprise offensive.
Now reports going around from Ukrainian media that mobile communications are down all over Kharkov Oblast.
UPDATE 12:44 PM EDT —
Statement by President Vladimir Putin:
"it is simply impossible to leave the crimes of the Kiev regime unanswered. In case of continued attempts to carry out terrorist attacks on the territory of the Russian Federation, the responses will be tough and correspond to the level of threats."
UPDATE 12:58 PM EDT —
Electric grid connections from Poland to Ukraine now destroyed. Power cut.
Estonia is preparing to formally recognize Russia as a terrorist state, chairman of the foreign affairs committee of the Estonian parliament
Russia’s Medvedev, deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, says Ukraine strikes only “first episode” of response.
UPDATE 1:02 PM EDT —
Total electricity blackout in Lviv, Ternopil, Sumy, Kharkiv, Poltava regions after Russian missile strikes at critical energy infrastructure in Ukraine.
UPDATE 1:08 PM
More missile strikes in Kiev.
UPDATE 1:28 PM EDT —
From October 11,Ukraine stops exporting electricity to other countries to stabilize its own energy system, – Ukrainian Ministry of Energy
*** BULLETIN ***
Poland advises its citizens in Belarus to leave the country.
Really Big
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How does a stray cat feel when someone rescues and takes them home?
Last spring my partner and I started feeding the crows in my backyard. They liked peanuts in the shell. I read somewhere that cat food was good for them, and we had some stale food left from a departed cat, so we started putting handfuls of that out. Soon the neighbourhood cats came to eat here.
We noticed one ugly emaciated creature coming to eat; we assumed it was feral as it was terrified of humans. We called it “Skinny” and because it looked so pathetic and bedraggled, we made sure it got something to eat every day.
After a few weeks of nervously eating here, one beautiful day “Skinny” didn’t run away from me while I filled the food dish. Suddenly and to my shock,
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“Skinny” was in my lap, nuzzling me and purring. I wasn’t looking for a pet, but I had to decide in that moment to adopt her.
She needed a bath – smelled like she’d been sleeping in a dumpster – and a more dignified name. It became apparent that “Ophelia” was pregnant, and she needed an emergency C-section plus amputation of her broken tail. I had had no intention of spending money on vet bills, but she so quickly found a place in my heart, I had to cough up.
Today she is the most perfect pet. Ophelia is an indoor cat and never tries to escape, but greets me at the door whenever I come home. When I’m here, she’s my shadow, always on my lap or at my heel (even when I go to to the toilet). Sleeps with me every night. She is the picture of health.
I believe she is grateful for her rescue.
RUSSIAN CITIZEN FURY
The citizens of Russia are so utterly furious with the actions of the United States (and our NATO Vassals) in Ukraine, they took to the streets of Moscow today chanting “Nuke Washington.”
Carrying the Ribbon of St. George flags, and lead by a mock ICBM, the crowd protested the actions of the United States which is arming Ukraine, giving money to Ukraine, and providing intelligence data to kill Russian soldiers, that they gathered and marched through Moscow to the U.S. Embassy.
The St. George Ribbon is of special meaning and importance in Russia.
The ribbon of Saint George is a Russian military symbol consisting of a black and orange bicolor pattern, with three black and two orange stripes. It appears as a component of many high military decorations awarded by the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union and the current Russian Federation.
In the early 21st century, the ribbon of Saint George came to be used as an awareness ribbon for commemorating the veterans of the Eastern Front of the Second World War (known in post-Soviet countries as the Great Patriotic War). It is the primary symbol used associated with Victory Day. It enjoys wide popularity in Russia as a patriotic symbol, as well as a way to show public support to the Russian government.
Why has the US ban on Xinjiang’s tomato exports had such limited effect? | South China Morning Post
Tomato products from Xinjiang were designated by Washington as ‘high-risk’ under the Uygur Forced Labour Prevention Act. But the industry has proved remarkably resilient because it does not rely on American imports, and exports to about 80 countries.
The Bill Gates cabal is prepping for NUCLEAR war with these bunkers
Sabotaging Starlink, Russia Is Using EW Complex “Tirada” To Disrupt SpaceX Satellites
Under the condition of anonymity, two government officials told the news outlet that soldiers encountered connectivity issues when they visited cities that had just been liberated from the Russian occupation.
Since the liberation of some areas had not yet been announced, experts speculate that the problem may have been caused by SpaceX employees trying to prevent the Russian military from using the technology.
Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, tweeted a response to the article. “This operation has cost SpaceX $80M & will exceed $100M by the end of year.”. “Bad reporting by FT. This article falsely claims that Starlink terminals & service were paid for when only a small percentage have been,” he added. “As for what’s happening on the battlefield, that’s classified,” he noted.
Is Russia’s “Tirada” Suppressing Starlink?
On the other hand, Russian media presents a dramatically different version. They claim that the Russian military decided to use the Tirada-2S satellite communications electronic jamming system against Starlink.
There is not much information available about the system in the public domain. It is believed that the development of the equipment began in 2001 when the requirement for a system emerged that could block satellite connection with ground-based terminals and transceivers on aircraft.
The Islamic Republic of Iran has issued an ultimatum to Israel asking them to withdraw from Southern Lebanon, giving them 24 hours to do so, otherwise threatening clashes with the IDF in southern Lebanon.
Here is the official statement:
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USA pushes “rules based disorder”
Australian article. I like the term "Rule- based disorder". No worry, China is good at putting back order with inclusive characteristics.
The conventional wisdom holds that, simply put, the post-war rules-based liberal international order is under siege thanks primarily to Donald Trump’s “America First” agenda. This is an explanation that distracts us from contemplating more uncomfortable possibilities, ones that might cast doubt on deeply-held convictions about international relations during the past several decades.
Why the conventional wisdom is wrong
The first point to bear in mind is that the conventional wisdom just assumes that the post-World War II order is the same as the post-Cold War order. This is mistaken. The US-led post-World War II order was a bounded order that was limited mainly to the western world and was built on a realist, not liberal foundation. The US-led post-Cold War world, on the other hand, has been international and liberal. With the collapse of the Soviet Empire, the US became the world’s most powerful nation and its leaders sought to transform the realist western order globally into a truly liberal international order.
However, the rules-based order began unravelling in the 2000s.
Have we forgotten the US-led invasion of Iraq, which spawned the Sunni rebellion that morphed into a plethora of Islamic jihadist movements while enhancing Iran’s strategic presence in the Persian Gulf? Far from incorporating the Middle East into the liberal order, the US and its allies have played a key role in spreading illiberal disorder in that region. Meanwhile, a nativist and xenophobic form of populism has been spreading across Europe. And that’s not to mention Russia’s incursion in Ukraine in 2014 or China’s military expansion in the South and East China Seas since 2012.
The upshot from all this is that the rules-based liberal international order was under siege well before Donald Trump’s debut on the global stage. Underlying all these debates about Trump is a broader issue at stake, one that American realists led by my friend and mentor John Mearsheimer have made: that the rules-based liberal international order contained the seeds of its destruction.
The flaws of the rules-based international order
There are several fatal flaws that have helped undermine the effectiveness of the rules-based international order from the outset. Here are six of them.
Democracy is the wave of the future
In the 1990s, it was widely believed that there was no viable alternative to liberal democracy and that almost every nation in the world was bound to become a liberal democracy.
During the past decade, the number of liberal democracies has been declining, reversing a seemingly unstoppable trend. Indeed, some leaders today extol the virtues of illiberal democracy. This diversity of opinion about what constitutes the best political order means that it is going to be extremely difficult to create a world in which all the great powers are liberal democracies, and virtually impossible to fashion one in which almost all countries are liberal democracies.
Global consensus
In the 1990s, it was widely believed that globalisation and economic inter-dependency would increase the prospects of international cooperation. However, there never has been and never will be anything approximating universal agreement on genuinely collective policy approaches. Nation-states do not act on the basis of good will or good intentions; they act on the basis of defending the national interest. In an increasingly multi-polar world, more states have effective veto power over collective action. This new pluralistic world has given rise to what New York Times columnist David Brooks has called “global-sclerosis”: an inability to solve problem after problem.
Western unity
During the Cold War, the conventional wisdom held that “the West” was a given, a natural presence. However, as the distinguished Australian conservative Owen Harries FAIIA observed in Foreign Affairs magazine in 1993, the political West is not a “natural construct but a highly artificial one”.
In fact, notwithstanding the Cold War, the West has almost always been deeply divided politically: just think of Europe’s wars. For most of its history, the US has been deeply suspicious of, and hostile towards, European power politics, stressing its differences from the older continent.
The clash between Brussels and the most unsophisticated American leader in history will mark the breaking point in the political West.
The end of nationalism
In the 1990s, it was widely believed that nationalism was a thing of the past. However, the decision of liberal states to delegate substantial power to the international institutions that comprise the liberal international order has led to a populist backlash. Because nationalism is all about self-determination and sovereignty, it does not fit with a situation where international institutions make policies that have a profound effect on their member states.
So, it is not surprising that the main reason a majority of British citizens voted to leave the European Union in 2016 is because they felt their nation had surrendered too much power to Brussels and it was time to reassert British sovereignty.
This logic also helps explain why Trump won power by running on an ‘America First’ campaign and slammed the key institutions that comprise the liberal international order, from NATO to the WTO.
Co-operation among rival powers
In the 1990s, it was widely believed that the more China and Russia integrated into the global economy and became members of international institutions, the more they would become peaceful and even democratic.
However, China and Russia have resisted Washington’s efforts to spread the liberal international order. Xi Ji-ping is the most authoritarian leader since Mao and China is more assertive than ever. Putin is an authoritarian leader who will play hard ball to protect what the Kremlin sees as vital strategic interests in its near abroad. In particular, neither Beijing nor Moscow want US military forces in what they deem as their spheres of influence.
US unipolarity
At the turn of the century, it was widely believed the US was seemingly invincible. If anything, America got mugged by reality.
The US has fought seven wars in the years since the Cold War ended – Gulf, Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Iraq/Syria – and it has been at war for three out of four years during that period.
Although the US possesses the military means to defeat any other country, there is not an American solution to every problem. To put it bluntly, Americans do not have the understanding of other societies and people, the attention span or staying power, to engage in an active, interventionist policy of nation-building and democracy-promotion on a large scale.
None of this is to deny US strengths. It remains the world’s largest economy and its lone military superpower. Its demographic trends are moving in the right direction.
All this is true enough, but it overlooks a larger point: the ‘Pax Americana’ had been waning for years before Trump arrived on the scene. What distinguishes Trump from his post-Cold War predecessors, however, is that he does not pay lip service to the notion of American global leadership. And without an activist and assertive US, there is no plausible way to uphold the rules-based liberal international order.
All these perhaps explain why so many western leaders are anxious, even defensive, about the state of the liberal international order. However, the rules-based international order frayed a long time ago. It was doomed from the start. And its underlying problems cannot be fixed.
“A splash of juice and an orange marmalade brush-on gives these garlicky chops a burst of flavor. For an extra-special treat, use blood oranges in place of the regular ones.”
Cut orange in half. Cut one half of the orange into 4 wedges; set wedges aside. Squeeze juice from remaining orange half. Remove 1 Tablespoon of the juice and brush on both sides of each chop. Sprinkle chops with garlic-pepper seasoning and salt. In a small bowl combine remaining orange juice, orange marmalade, and the chopped rosemary; set aside.
Preheat broiler. Place chops on unheated rack of a broiler pan. Broil 3 to 4 inches from the heat for 5 to 6 minutes. Turn and cook for an addition 5 to 6 minutes, brushing with orange marmalade mixture for the last 2 to 3 minutes of broiling. Chops are done when pork juices run clear or a meat thermometer inserted into center of chop registers 160 degrees.
Serve orange wedges with chops. If desired, garnish with rosemary sprig. If desired, squeeze juice from orange wedges over chops.
New 2023 Changan Huawei AVATR 11
I was going to buy this car before I chose my hybrid.
https://youtu.be/h_-E2NNQFqA
STUNNING Testimony: Pfizer Never Tested COVID “Vax” to “Stop Transmission” of Virus! We were all lied to ! ! !
In utterly stunning sworn testimony before the European Parliament, a Director of Pfizer admitted they NEVER TESTED their so-called COVID “Vaccine” for its ability to “stop transmission” of the virus. People around the world were lied to, their freedom restricted, because they were not “vaccinated” and allegedly could therefore spread the virus.
Countries throughout Europe and even in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, prevented people from going outside, socializing, using public facilities if they were not vaccinated. People all over the world were told they could be “spreaders’ without the vaccine. That was a lie because the vaccine was NEVER TESTED for any ability to stop the transmission.
Some countries implemented “Vaccine Passports” and went table-to-table in restaurants to see if people were vaccinated. They were told “show us your vaccine passport” by police.
Oh, and by the way, as we all see now, the vaccine didn’t seem to stop transmission — at all.
The “vaxxed” could still get the virus. They could still spread it to others.
Freedom was viciously taken away for those who chose to remain unvaccinated. In some places, people were even PHYSICALLY FORCED to take the vax, even when they didn’t want it.
All of this was glossed-over with claims “without the vax, you could infect others.”
People lost their jobs over this; and the entire claim that taking the vax to stop the spread, was a deliberate lie.
PFIZER never tested to see if their so-called vaccine would stop transmission.
Putin and China just changed EVERYTHING, and the West is desperate
Check out at least the first 9 minutes…
Jeffrey Sachs: US biotech cartel behind Covid origins and cover-up
Sachs does not say one way or another.
We know that we don’t know.
But one thing is certain. The people in charge of Covid information in the West are lying and obfuscating. They include journalists, scientists, and academics. No need to mention politicians; they’re a given.
Let us stay smart, read widely, gain direct experience, look under the surface, read between the lines, learn about the author, detect false narratives, reject unnecessary adjectives, and question everything. Most importantly, be critical not only of others, but also of ourselves.
1⁄2 cup maple sugar, plus more for sprinkling if desired
Directions
The day before you want to make the rolls, make the brioche dough. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, mix the flour, granulated sugar, and salt on low speed to combine. Add the yeast and mix to combine, 10-15 seconds more. Add the eggs and milk and mix for 4 minutes. The dough should form a sticky, shaggy ball around the hook.
Increase the speed to medium and slowly add the butter 1 tablespoon at a time, being careful to incorporate each addition before adding the next; the entire process should take about 3 minutes. (If you add the butter too quickly, it can create a greasy disaster in the bowl, so pace it out.) Scrape the bowl down once or twice to make sure everything is homogenous. (This mixing period is called intense mixing – and it is! Don’t be alarmed if the mixing is noisy or difficult in the early to mid stages, it will come together.) Then knead the dough (in the machine) until it is smooth and uniform, 1 minute more.
Grease a large bowl with nonstick spray. Transfer the dough to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 12 hours, and up to 18.
The next day, roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface into a rectangle about 1/2 inch thick and about 20×12 inches (though no need to be precise). Brush the surface of the dough evenly with melted butter and sprinkle about 2 tablespoons of the sugar evenly over the dough.
Position the dough so that one of the long sides is facing you. Fold the left edge over toward the center, about three quarters of the way over the dough. Fold the right edge one quarter of the way over the dough and make sure it meets and doughs the left edge. The dough will now look somewhat like an open book with an off center spine. Fold the larger side over the smaller side. You will now have 4 layers of dough. If the dough feels soft or sticky, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 10-15 minutes – if not, proceed.
Roll out the dough again to a rectangle about 1/2 inch thick and about 20×12 inches (though no need to be precise). Brush the surface of the dough with melted butter and sprinkle another 2 tablespoons of sugar over the dough. Position the dough so that one of the long sides is facing you. Fold the left edge of the dough one third of the way over the dough. Do the same with the right edge, resting it on top of the piece you just folded over, as though you were folding a letter to fit into a business envelope. You will now have 3 layers of dough. If the dough feels soft or sticky, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 10-15 minutes – if not, proceed.
Repeat step 4 to complete another 4-fold.
Repeat step 5 to complete another 3-fold.
Lightly grease 16 muffin cups with nonstick spray. I do have to use two muffin pans to make this – if you only have one, refrigerate the remaining pieces while you bake the first. Place the second round only around the edge of the pan so that they bake evenly.
On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough into a 1/2 inch thick rectangle, about 12×20 inches. Cut the dough lengthwise into 16 even strips. Tightly roll each strip up into a spiral and place it, spiral side up, in a cup in one of the prepared muffin pans. Cover the pan with greased plastic wrap and let the rolls rise until they appear puffy, 30-45 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit with racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Sprinkle the rolls with more maple sugar, if desired. Bake, rotating the sheets from front to bake and top to bottom at the halfway mark, until the rolls are evenly golden brown all over and the internal temperature reads 190 degrees Fahrenheit on a thermometer – about 25-33 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes in the pan before unmolding and serving.
Variations:
Citrus Faux-Laminated Brioche Buns: After you mix the dough, mix ¾ cup granulated sugar with the zest of two oranges – let sit, covered, overnight. Use this in place of the maple sugar in the recipe. In step 8, lightly grease a 9×9 inch pan. In step 9, cut the dough into 12 even strips. Roll the strips into spirals and place spiral side up in the prepared pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes.
Vanilla-Bay Loaf: After you mix the dough, mix 3/4 cup granulated sugar with the seeds of 1 scraped vanilla bean and 2 finely crushed up bay leaves – let sit, covered, overnight. Use this in place of the maple sugar in the recipe. In step 8, lightly grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan. In step 9, cut the dough into 1 inch cubes. Stack the cubes tightly in the prepared pan. Bake for 40-45 minutes.
Here we go again, the U.S. is about to INVADE Haiti next?
All of our lifestyles are about to change in a major way, but the vast majority of the population still does not understand what is coming. Throughout our entire lives, we have always been able to depend on a couple of things. There would always be cheap gasoline to fuel our vehicles and there would always be mountains of cheap food at the grocery store. No matter who was in the White House and no matter what else was going on in the world, those two things always remained the same. Unfortunately, those days are now over and they aren’t coming back.
We have entered the greatest energy crisis that any of us have ever experienced, and it isn’t going to go away any time soon.
So you might as well get used to high gas prices. Earlier this month, brand new all-time record highs were set all over southern California…
Los Angeles-Long Beach – $6.46 (Record high)
Orange County – $6.42 (Record high Saturday)
Ventura County – $6.40
Riverside County – $6.33 (Record high)
San Bernardino County $6.32
But that isn’t the real problem.
The real problem is with natural gas.
Thanks to the war in Ukraine, supplies of natural gas in Europe have become extremely tight, and this has pushed prices into the stratosphere.
Needless to say, this is going to greatly affect food productions in the months ahead. According to Bloomberg, over two-thirds of all fertilizer production capacity in Europe has already been shut down due to soaring natural gas costs…
Europe’s fertilizer crunch is deepening with more than two-thirds of production capacity halted by soaring gas costs, threatening farmers and consumers far beyond the region’s borders.
This is an absolutely massive story, but hardly anyone in the United States is covering it.
Global fertilizer production is going to be greatly reduced, and that is going to have very serious implications for agricultural production all over the world…
“Nitrogen plant shutdowns in Europe are not simply a problem in Europe,” she said. “Reduced supply on the scale seen this week not only raises the marginal cost of production of nitrogen fertilizers, but will also tighten the global market, putting pressure on plant nutrients’ availability in Europe and beyond.”We’re already seeing prices elsewhere rise again. The price of the common nitrogen fertilizer urea in New Orleans rose over 20% in weekly prices Friday, the most since March, a few weeks after the war began, according to Green Markets.
I know that fertilizer may not be the most exciting topic for a lot of people, but the truth is that approximately half the global population would starve if we didn’t have any…
In fact, it’s estimated that nitrogen fertilizer now supports approximately half of the global population. In other words, Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch — the pioneers of this technological breakthrough — are estimated to have enabled the lives of several billion people, who otherwise would have died prematurely, or never been born at all.
Let that paragraph sink in for a moment.
The only way we can even come close to feeding everyone on the planet is by using vast quantities of fertilizer, but now fertilizer plants all over Europe are being forced to shut down because of the price of natural gas.
As long as this global energy crisis persists, the global food crisis will also persist.
Russia is normally the largest exporter of natural gas in the entire world, and an end to the war in Ukraine would go a long way toward solving our current problems.
But there isn’t going to be an end to the war in Ukraine.
Once again, western leaders are assuring us that the war will not end until Russia is forced out of every inch of Ukrainian territory.
That includes Donetsk, Luhansk and Crimea.
Of course the Russians would use tactical nukes long before we ever get to that point.
And once the Russians use tactical nukes, the west will do the same.
As it currently stands, there is no “off ramp” for this war.
Instead, we are simply counting down the days until it goes nuclear.
I am sorry to tell you that, but it is the truth.
If the American people truly understood what was at stake, there would be massive peace protests all over the nation right now.
Meanwhile, the worst multi-year megadrought in 1,200 years continues to absolutely ravage agricultural production in the western half of the United States.
A reporter from FOX recently visited the cornfields of Wayne County, Nebraska and what he discovered is extremely chilling…
“I’m standing in the middle of a cornfield that, if this was a normal year or in other words, if the corn was growing the way it was supposed to be, you wouldn’t even really be able to see me right now,” FOX Business’ Connell McShane reported from Wakefield, Nebraska. “It would be way up above my head. But now I look at this, maybe knee-high at best.”McShane visited field after field in Wayne County and found the same short stalks with very sparse ears. Over 99% of that county is in exceptional drought.
This drought has been going on for years and years.
And it just keeps getting worse.
On the west coast, we are being warned that production of tomatoes, garlic and onions will be very disappointing this year due to the drought.
As a result, prices are going to go much higher in 2023…
In addition to tomatoes, other crops like garlic and onion are also expected to be impacted.“What you’re seeing harvested this summer that really hasn’t even hit the grocery shelf is a 25% increase in the cost of the product to the processors — the canners, the buyers downstream,” California State Board of Food and Agriculture President Don Cameron told Reuters. “The onions and garlic have already been negotiated for 2023 with another 25% increase in price.”
This is really happening.
Food prices may seem high to you right now, but the truth is that this is the lowest that they are going to get.
The cost of living is becoming extremely oppressive, and countless people out there are really struggling to make it from month to month.
Earlier today, I came across a tweet from a 47-year-old lawyer that really hammered this point home…
-20 years ago, working as a server, I lived in a corner 1 bdrm apt downtown with amazing water views for $700/month.-A similar apt now $3,600/month, more than 5x as much.-As a lawyer at age 47 I am unable to afford living in the apartment I did at age 27 while waiting tables
The cost of gasoline is going to continue to go up.
The cost of natural gas is going to continue to go up.
The cost of food is going to continue to go up.
In fact, the cost of just about everything is going to continue to go up.
The artificially-inflated lifestyles that we were able to enjoy for decades are now disappearing, and there is a tremendous amount of pain on the horizon.
We were warned that this would happen, and now a day of reckoning is here.
Ukrainian forces have destroyed almost all bridges and mined the roads along the border with Belarus, Anatoly Lappo, chairman of the State Border Committee of Belarus, said on Sunday. Minsk has accused Kiev of planning imminent strikes on its territory.
“Today, almost all border bridges have been blown up, and automobile and railway border routes are completely mined,” Lappo told Belarusian TV.
Ukrainian forces have fortified the border “to the extent that they put anti-tank mines in three rows on the roads,” Lappo said.
The troops Kiev has sent to the border are “not border guards,” Lappo claimed. “We are under pressure, they are aiming at our border guards, sometimes they shoot in the air, constant aerial reconnaissance is being carried out,” he added.
A day before the news broke, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry claimed that its ambassador to Belarus was summoned to the Belarusian Foreign Ministry and handed an official note saying that “Ukraine is planning to conduct a strike on the territory of Belarus.” The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said that it “categorically rejects” the accusation, adding that it could be part of a Russian plan to “stage a provocation and further accuse” Kiev.
Earlier this week, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko accused Ukraine of massing tens of thousands of soldiers near the border. While Lukashenko allowed Russian troops to enter Ukraine from its territory at the beginning of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, he said last week that Belarus’ role in the conflict is limited to self-defense and denying Ukraine the ability to “shoot Russians in the back from the territory of Belarus.”
With tensions along the 1,000-kilometer border rising, the Belarusian Defense Ministry stated that it has the capacity to field 500,000 trained troops “if the need arises.”
(HT REMARK: Things over there are truly escalating over there at a speed, and in ways, that I did not even imagine. Prepare yourselves. World War 3 is at the door for all of us. Get right with God.)
Russia, Having ‘Run Out Of Missiles’, Launches Barrage On Ukraine
Back in March I had warned that Lies Do Not Win Wars. Here is another practical example.
After allegedly having ‘run out of missiles’ and, more importantly, patience, the leadership of the Russian Federation decided to de-electrify Ukrainian cities with a ‘barrage of missile strikes’.
President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia had barely got started in Ukraine and dared the West to try to defeat it on the battlefield, while insisting that Moscow was still open to the idea of peace talks.
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“Today we hear that they want to defeat us on the battlefield. What can you say, let them try,” he said.”We have heard many times that the West wants to fight us to the last Ukrainian. This is a tragedy for the Ukrainian people, but it seems that everything is heading towards this.”
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“Everyone should know that, by and large, we haven’t started anything yet in earnest,” he added. “At the same time, we don’t reject peace talks. But those who reject them should know that the further it goes, the harder it will be for them to negotiate with us.”
UN: Ukraine nuclear power plant loses external power link – ABC News – Oct 8, 2022
The U.N. nuclear watchdog says that Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the biggest in Europe, has lost its last remaining external power source as a result of renewed shelling and is now relying on emergency diesel generators
KYIV, Ukraine—Russia carried out waves of strikes on several Ukrainian cities including the capital in the broadest and most intense onslaught since the start of the invasion, after President Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine of a “terrorist attack” on a critical bridge connecting Russia’s mainland to the occupied Crimean Peninsula.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia had carried out dozens of strikes using missiles as well as Iranian-made drones to target civilian and power infrastructure. “They want panic and chaos,” he said. “They want to destroy our energy system.”
Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the president’s office, said on social media Monday that, “Ukraine is under missile attack. There is information about strikes in many cities of our country.”General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, said on Twitter that Russia had launched 75 missiles at Ukraine but that “41 of them were neutralized by our air defence.”
Zelenskyy later emerged onto a street in Kyiv to record a selfie video with a message to his people and the world, denouncing Russia for the barrage of missiles which he said had targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, and its civilians.
Kiev, Lviv, Karkov, Dnipropetrovsk, Krivoy Rog all report damage to their electricity infrastructure.
Posted by b on October 10, 2022 at 10:00 UTC | Permalink
Russia Now Devastating Ukraine In Latest Escalation
Finland Tells Citizens “Stock Iodine Pills” in case of “Radiation Emergency”
Fears of _actual_ nuclear war continue to grow over the Russia-Ukraine situation. The latest example is Finland’s Ministry of Health which, today, told citizens to stock up on Iodine pills “in case of radiation emergency.”
The ministry presented the new recommendation at a media event on Tuesday.
The ministry said the recommendation was limited to people 3-40 years of age because of the potential risk radiation exposure poses to that age group.
The release of radioactive iodine from a nuclear incident into the environment, could build up in the thyroid gland. This is most harmful to children, who are at greater risk of developing thyroid cancer due to large doses of radiation,” the ministry’s statement read.
The statement noted that in case of such an emergency, sheltering indoors was the main way for people to protect themselves from hazardous radiation.
The ministry also noted that a single iodine tablet dose usually provides sufficient protection. It added that iodine rarely causes side effects, but that individuals who have thyroid conditions should use the substance with caution.
The recommended single dose for 12-40 year-olds in a dangerous radiation situation is 130 milligrams of potassium iodide. Children over 3 years of age are recommended to take half of that dose.
The ministry said that there are no iodine products suitable — nor available in Finland — for children under the age of three. However, the recommended dose for children under three years of age is 32.5 milligrams of potassium iodide, and for newborns half of this.
However, the ministry continues to recommend that pregnant women over the age of 40 keep a supply of iodine tablets at home, as fetal thyroid glands are significantly more sensitive to radioactive iodine than they are among adults.
“Public healthcare services will procure iodine tablets suitable for children under the age of three and will determine the best way to distribute them to the parents of such children and to pregnant women. Regional healthcare providers will inform people when such an iodine product is available,” the ministry’s statement read (siirryt toiseen palveluun).
Goonies clip
If you have time, this is a cute little B-grade escape.
Iodine stocks sold out
On Tuesday afternoon, Finland’s largest chain of pharmacy outlets, Yliopiston Apteekki, reported stocks of iodine tablets had practically sold out nationwide following the issuing of the ministry’s statement.
Chief pharmaceutical officer Kati Vuorikallas told the STT news agency that the surge in demand has also been reflected in the increased traffic on the chain’s website, which has caused the site to slow down significantly or even crash for some users.
Efforts are being made to replenish the iodine stocks, Vuorikallas added, but there is no precise schedule on when this will happen.
Top 5 Chinese Electric Cars to Look Out For in 2022
Welcome to my world…
UGANDA????
a Ukrainian AN-124-100 heavy transport aircraft departed Entebbe, Uganda this morning and landed at Rzeszow-Jasieńka International Airport in Poland, which is the main air hub for military equipment, weapons and ammunition delivered to Armed Forces Ukraine (AFU).
According to open sources, Uganda’s army has several dozen units of Soviet equipment, including T-72 and T-55 tanks, BMP-2, BTR-60, 122mm D-30 guns and Grad MLRS, as well as a stock of ammunition for them. In addition, T-90C tanks and BTR-80A armoured personnel carriers were supplied to Uganda from Russia.
A few months after the outbreak of hostilities, most of the AFU’s artillery ammunition stocks began to run out, and many familiar Soviet vehicles were also needed, forcing Ukraine to seek new sources of supply from European states with Soviet-era equipment as well as exotic countries such as Pakistan.
This strange flight of a Ukrainian Ruslan from Uganda, a country with large stockpiles of Soviet armaments, to a Polish airfield, which is the main supply base for Ukraine in need of Soviet armaments, raises serious concerns about the possible involvement of Uganda in this conflict on the side of the AFU.
American & Russian Supercomputers Become Friends, Impose World Peace By Nuking Cities
Vladimir Putin’s forces now facing ‘total collapse’ in Ukraine, former NATO commander says
Vladimir Putin’s crumbling army is heading for a total collapse in what could be Russia’s biggest military disaster in a century, a former NATO commander has predicted.
Sir Richard Shirreff, a retired British army general, served as NATO’s Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe from 2011-2014. After leaving the military, he wrote a book on the threat of a potential war between Russia and NATO.
“I think the scene is being set for a decisive rout of the Russian army in Ukraine,” Sir Richard told The Sun.
He hailed the “masterclass” counteroffensive which has seen Putin’s forces driven back in the east and south of Ukraine, and added that the fightback was “maintaining momentum”.
Ukrainian forces are now bearing down on the key city of Kherson as they make significant gains in regions Putin only recently tried to claim as part of Russia.
In an attempt to turn the tide, Putin is reportedly massing troops in Belarus, which neighbours Ukraine and whose dictator Alexander Lukashenko is a Russian ally.
Belarus was the initial launch pad for the invasion, and it’s feared that Russia could try once again to encircle the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.
In response to that threat, Ukrainian troops have been seen moving to reinforce the border with Belarus.
But Sir Richard believes such a gambit would be of little use for the Russians. In fact he says there is likely no way out of their current, desperate predicament.
“The Russians are like the boxer trapped in the corner of the ring against a very agile opponent who punches one side and then punches the other,” he said.
“The Ukrainians pushing the Russians back to the February 23 line – the day before the war started – by the end of 2022, I think, is entirely feasible.”
He compared the current rout to the collapse of the Russian tsar’s military in 1917. That revolution saw soldiers mutiny and refuse to follow orders, ending Russia’s involvement in World War I.
“The scene is setting for a collapse of the Russian army,” the retired general said.
“This could be an avalanche, and now we are seeing the cracks in the snow. The Ukrainians are creating more problems than the Russians are capable of solving. It’s looking good.
“The morale is gone. You’ve got soldiers who simply don’t want to fight. These guys were told they would be welcomed with open arms by cheering crowds and the so-called ‘Nazis’ would collapse. But they were met by a ferocious resistance. They are in a country that doesn’t want them there. Why should they die for Putin’s adventure?
“Conceptually, the Russians do not understand combined arms warfare, they haven’t trained properly, physically they haven’t got the right kit and what they do have is rubbish, and morally they are completely bankrupt.
“The Ukrainians are well prepared, they’ve got the clothing, they’ve got the kit, and they’ve got the morale and the motivation. They are not going to stop.”
But while he was optimistic, Sir Richard warned the danger – including the threat of nuclear weapons – has by no means gone away, urging the West to keep up the pressure on Putin.
“We should take that nuclear threat very seriously, but we should not in any way blink, and I am pretty encouraged by the response of the West,” he said.
“But if we are promising massive retaliation in some way or other, you have to prepare for the worst case, and the worst case is being at war with Russia.”
And he drew a grim comparison between Putin and Adolf Hitler, saying the Russian leader was now “in the bunker”, as the German dictator was in the dying days of World War II.
“We are dealing with crunchy political issues at the moment, but nevertheless – we might not want this war, but this war might want us,” said Sir Richard.
“We must prepare for the worst case. This is about insurance. The way to avoid a potential war with Russia is to be ready for it, and we are not ready for it.”
Putin recently copped a new humiliation as his prized Kerch Bridge was blown up, partially severing the one fixed link between mainland Russia and the Crimean Peninsula.
Russia responded with a wave of indiscriminate bombardment across the country, as Putin labelled the Ukrainians “terrorists”.
Fears also continue to loom that Putin could follow through on his nuclear threats as he is backed further and further into a corner.
And questions remain over his future, with it being increasingly difficult to see how he can remain as Russia’s leader if there are more humiliations.
“There will be no peace in Europe while either Putin, a Putin-like regime, or an ultranationalist sits in the Kremlin,” Sir Richard said.
“The only way to ensure that the threat (is over) once the fighting stops is to make sure Ukraine is a member of NATO, and NATO must bite the bullet and put troops on the ground and forces in the air over Ukraine.
“The way to maintain peace and the way to deter war is to be ready for it, and that means a generational challenge with a serious, major military expenditure, not unlike the Cold War.”
Once Russia annexed the Eastern Ukraine, any attacks on it would be de facto attacks on Russia. Reports are that a terrorist from American-controlled Syria drove a truck laden with explosives out of Russia and detonated upon the BIG bridge that connect the Crimea to Russia.
What is significant about this attack is the severity and planning. [1] It’s a major up-tick in hostilities. [2] It’s methodically planned, and involves American assets, not Ukrainian assets.
CRIMEA BRIDGE ATTACKED: Road collapse into water, Fuel Train ON FIRE!
Multiple reports are coming in saying there is a train with fuel cars ON FIRE on the Crimea Bridge. One image, shown above, depicts multiple fuel tanker cars ablaze. The flames are impinging upon the structure of the bridge.
More info as I get it . . . Check back.
UPDATE 7:25 AM EDT —
The Crimea Bridge, connecting mainland Russia with Crimea, has been attacked by Ukraine!
The magnificent structure has three sections of roadway now collapsed into the sea, and a train on the adjacent railroad track portion of the bridge, is on fire.
Image from the passenger vehicle roadway of the bridge itself:
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UKRAINE CLAIMS CREDIT FOR ATTACK
Ukraine admits responsibility for the terrorist attack on the Crimean bridge.
Zelensky’s office advisor Podolyak has admitted Ukraine’s responsibility for the terrorist attack on the Crimean bridge.
“Crimea, the bridge, the beginning. Everything illegal must be destroyed, everything stolen must be returned to Ukraine, everything occupied by Russia must be destroyed,” Podolyak said.
FEROCIOUS REACTION IN RUSSIA
“This is no longer just a challenge, this is a declaration of war without rules” – State Duma deputy Morozov about the terrorist attack on the Crimean bridge.
Russian Senator Alexander Bashkin says Moscow will answer Crimean Bridge attack with a “possibly asymmetric response.”
Deputy Speaker of the State Duma: The terrorist act that targeted the Crimean bridge was a declaration of war against Russia.
POLICE INVESTIGATION SO FAR . . .
Police say a Suicide bomber was driving this truck that exploded on the Crimean bridge, presumably, coming from Krasnodar, stuffed with explosives.
He passed through the traffic Police post and detonated on the bridge. The mileage of the truck is 870,000 km.
Truck that exploded on Crimean bridge was not taken for X-ray, and its driver had all the documents in order, according to Mash, citing traffic police officers. He entered the bridge from Russian mainland. There is no x-ray gate to detect explosives as it’s on Crimean site.
Sources report that the driver of the truck has been identified. According to our sources, he could be Biji al-Kamurji, a native of Syria.
UPDATE 9:27 AM EDT —
According to preliminary data, three people were killed as a result of an explosion on the Crimean Bridge, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation reports. Passengers of a car driving next to an exploding truck were killed, the bodies of a man and a woman were lifted out of the water.
According to the investigation, the owner of the truck blown up on the Crimean Bridge is a resident of the Krasnodar Territory.
Investigative actions have been launched at his place of residence
At this hour, the rail car fires on the railroad track span of the bridge, are being doused by helicopters dumping water from fire-fighting buckets.
Ukraine SitRep – Recent Incidents Of Concern For All Sides
Yesterday saw two significant developments or incidents with regard to the conflict in Ukraine.
The Kerch bridges which connect Crimea with Russia, one for cars and one for trains, were sabotaged. At least one of the two road spans has fallen down while tanker rail cars on the parallel train bridge caught fire.
CCTV footage shows that a truck exploded while passing the bridge. Here is a video of the damage. One of the two road spans seems to be intact.
As the pillars of the bridge seem unaffected a repair of the broken road span is possible but will take some time. The more sturdy railway bridge may have some superficial fire damage but Russia is one of the few countries that has designated railroad troops specialized in and equipped for railway repairs. The railway traffic is likely to be back within a few day or weeks.
This is a severe handicap for Russian logistics to the frontlines in south Ukraine but not a catastrophe as alternative rail and road routes, as well as ferries, are available. Military logistics is designed to work even under significant constrains. It will find ways to work around the problem.
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Meanwhile the Ukrainian side of the conflict experiences a communication failure that is likely way more consequential.
Adam Kinzinger🇺🇦🇺🇸✌️@AdamKinzinger – 16:26 UTC · Oct 7, 2022Evidently the Starlink system is down over the front lines of Ukraine. @elonmusk should make a statement about this, or, this should be investigated. This is a national security issue.
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Tore @potifar66 – 21:55 UTC · Oct 7, 2022Some of the outages led to a “catastrophic” loss of communication in recent weeks, said one senior Ukrainian government official with direct knowledge of the issue.
The Russian army is leading globally in its abilities to wage electronic warfare. It can disable ground based radio traffic on any frequency. It has now found ways to also disable ground to satellite connections as used by the Starlink constellation.
At the beginning of the war the Ukrainian military was supplied with thousands of Starlink ground terminals that can connect to the swarms of small Starlink satellites, which were financed by the Pentagon, but managed by Elon Musk’s companies.
They allowed for communication between Ukrainian ground units as well as for general command and control of larger operations. Without Starlink the Ukrainian command will depend on cable based field telephone, runners and couriers. All of which are extremely vulnerable in an artillery rich environment.
Since 2001 Russia developed the Tirada 2 electromagnetic system which can disable ground to satellite traffic in specific areas.
Russian military in the near future can get into service systems that can disable enemy communication satellites, an informed Interfax interlocutor in the military-industrial complex said 05 January 2018. “One of the projects is Tirada 2. Development work was started back in 2001,” he said. According to him, this complex will be able to disable communication satellites from the ground. “He acts by electronic suppression. This is a multi-million dollar project,” he said. The fact that the Russian Federation is working on the creation of weapons to suppress satellites was announced on November 30 last year by Oleg Achasov, deputy head of the Federal State Budgetary Institution “46 Central Scientific Research Institute”.
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In November 2018, the FSB called the “threat to national security” a project to cover the globe with high-speed satellite Internet.
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biggerIn 2019 an OSCE observer drone took pictures of a Tirada complex in the Donbas region.
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biggerThe disablement of the Starlink communication traffic was only a question of time.
The traffic had to be analyzed to identify the frequencies and algorithms used by the transmitter and receiver. Software had to be written to implement a matching radio jamming pattern. The hardware of the Tirada system was likely already sufficient to emit the appropriate patterns on the identified frequencies.
As this system has now been proven to be effective in the field it will likely be made available on a wider scale.
Russian electronic warfare equipment can already disable all ground radio traffic in specific areas. Soon all frontline communications of the Ukrainian forces will be disabled.
This is catastrophic for Ukrainian operations.
Forward observers will no longer be able to correct artillery missions. Platoons and companies at the front will have no way to call for support. Higher command will have no way to coordinate larger operations in real time.
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One Dr. Jay Tharappel has found language likely to comfort the woke U.S. and Ukrainian leaders and functionaries who are concerned about the four Oblast that have joined the Russian Federation.
“These four provinces are Russian, but they were assigned ‘Ukrainian’ at birth. Recently the have come out as trans. They are border-fluid regions and their sovereignty is non-binary. They are Russians trapped in a ‘Ukrainian’ body, and have made their decision to transition. Their pronouns are now DPR/LPR. We Indians as allies support this transition and condemn the transphobic attitudes of westerners.”
Something tells me that soon more ‘Ukrainian’ oblasts will come out and recognize their real being.
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Boris Rozhin, aka Colonel Cassad, reported on Telegraph (machine translation):
Today there was a sortie of foreign mercenaries in the Zaporozhye direction, which included, among other things, American special forces soldiers. They were so self-confident that they decided to carry out reconnaissance in battle with this stellar squadron. However, they did not take into account the presence of our units in this zone, which are able to maintain secrecy on the air, and suffered losses. However, some of these bastards still managed to escape. The presented photos are screenshots of the video from the go-pro camera of one of the dead mercenaries, who literally lost his head. I’ll probably post the video tomorrow.
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biggerI have no way to verify those claims but a recent Interceptreport stated that there are significant U.S. forces on the ground in Ukraine:
One U.S. official insisted that the CIA only conducted a partial withdrawal of its assets when the war began, and that the agency “never completely left.”Yet clandestine American operations inside Ukraine are now far more extensive than they were early in the war, when U.S. intelligence officials were fearful that Russia would steamroll over the Ukrainian army. There is a much larger presence of both CIA and U.S. special operations personnel and resources in Ukraine than there were at the time of the Russian invasion in February, several current and former intelligence officials told The Intercept.
Secret U.S. operations inside Ukraine are being conducted under a presidential covert action finding, current and former officials said. The finding indicates that the president has quietly notified certain congressional leaders about the administration’s decision to conduct a broad program of clandestine operations inside the country.
These will not be the only U.S. casualties in Ukraine. When more such reports come out the issue is likely to explode in Biden’s face.
Posted by b on October 8, 2022 at 7:58 UTC | Permalink
An interesting comment
I rather doubt it was a suicide bomb. The driver may have died, but if he did, it is unlikely to have been voluntary. If I were a jihadi, I’d have trouble believing that dying on behalf of hyper-christian UkroNazis would get me welcomed by the 72 virgins in Paradise, because that is what they believe. It’s completely the wrong doctrine. doesn’t work at all. There may be some jihadis fighting for Ukraine, but that would be as mercenaries, to make a living, not a dying.
… Doesn’t rule out an involuntary sacrifice by an unknowing trucker, though
Posted by: Objective Observer | Oct 8 2022 10:24 utc | 70
Now, don’t have a cow
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Spanky and Our Gang Like To Get To Know You
Why do people accept China’s statement that China does not mess with other countries’ sovereignty? What about China’s 1979 invasion of Vietnam, and the threats to nuke Okinawa, Australia and the UK?
That war lasted 1 month. China went in, went out, done. They did not occupy, suppress, overthrow, or anything.
I mean, OK, we can give you that. A single invasion lasting one month, whereby China then just left.
As for threats, please… everyone threatens everyone else. It is whether you are likely to do it. China has a no-first strike policy and their historical pattern says they aren’t generally aggressive.
When China threatens consequences, you all laugh out loud because you know they won’t do it.
When the West threatens, it may very well happen. Nordstream didn’t just blow up by itself. Biden threatened it, and it happened.
When people say “The US would go broke with universal healthcare,” who exactly are they saying would go broke?
Harvard Business College has done multiple studies comparing universal health care with the current for profit insurance in the U.S.
We pay four times what other countries who have universal health care pay in taxes, with less benefits.
The money goes into a pot, much like a social security fund. From that pot, bills are paid.
It sounds easy enough, right? The problem is that some people can’t conceive something as simple as tax money in a fund to pay for medical bills would actually work. The medical bills are paid; they aren’t fought. No preapproval crap. Get sick. Get treated…complain about the $15 for parking.
The argument I hear over and over is this: “I don’t want to pay for Wanda down the street because she is black/brown/gay/has pink hair and I want better insurance than she has.”
The simple fact is that you do pay for Wanda’s medical insurance. Insurance companies pool the money into a fund. Insurance companies do all they can to deny a claim because that’s how they make money. The ACA put an end to “pre-existing conditions” but it still happens. If it happens and you are seriously ill, you are f***ed.
They contract with providers (hospitals, doctors, and clinics) and then agree to pay “allowable charges.” The allowable charges are, for example: the x-ray charge is $35 but we will only pay $20 and you have to write off the rest. Sometimes the insured has to pay a co-pay.
One man on Quora stated in his post he pays about $148 a month for health insurance. I paid $225 a WEEK for health insurance.
Legislators who are opposed to universal health care are bought and paid for by the insurance industry. You can call them lobbyists, but I call it bribery.
Why is Quora full of Westerners who praise China?
It’s very simple. These Westerners:
have an open mind
have probably been to China
do not hold an outdated perception of China from the 1950s and 1960s
are not bigoted against China’s political model
have not been coopted by Western media anti-China propaganda
In other words, they know the real China and they appreciate the wonderful qualities of that nation.
They recognize and admire China’s amazing achievements over the past several decades.
One Toke Over The Line – Lawrence Welk – WTF! (1971)
What’s trending on MM right now…
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Dear British people who’ve lived in the US and have experienced the wonder that is the American donut: why aren’t there more donut shops in the UK?
A few years ago, there was a court case in Ireland involving American sandwich chain Subway. It was over a question of sales tax law. The substance of the judgement was that the sugar content of Subway bread was so high that it legally qualified as cake under Irish law, and was therefore subject to a higher rate of tax.
I mention this to illustrate just how pervasive in the US the practise of adding sugar to processed food is. A lot of sugar. Americans have become accustomed to this, over the course of decades. While this does happen in the UK as well, it is nowhere near as pervasive, so British people have not built up as high a tolerance for sugar, despite the fact that we are regarded as having a sweet tooth by European standards.
US donuts are, in my opinion, unpleasantly sweet and stodgy. I do not find them particularly wonderful. Also, we have our own array of unhealthy baked goods, largely ripped off from the French. Give me a chocolate eclair over a US donut any day of the week.
When elephants fight, the grass gets trampled. The African proverb seems particularly apposite right now as three global elephants drive the world towards recession.
China continues to fight Covid-19 outbreaks by sporadically locking down millions of its people, thereby cutting the output of the world’s factories, exacerbating supply chain issues and fuelling inflation, long after other governments have told their populations to get vaccinated and get back to work.
Russia continues to fight Ukraine, and by extension Europe and the rest of world, using oil, gas and grain as weapons, thereby causing global energy and food crises, and also fuelling inflation.
And the biggest elephant of all, the United States of America, by aggressively lifting interest rates in the hope of squashing its domestic inflation problem has instead succeeded in exporting it to the world.
That is a big problem, particularly for those of lesser economic means, including many Australians. They are the grass that gets trampled.
Sharp rises in interest rates, intended as a cure for inflation, could prove to be the wrong medicine and worse than the disease, as the World Bank warned in the middle of last month. Central banks around the world, it said, were “raising interest rates this year with a degree of synchronicity not seen over the past five decades – a trend that is likely to continue well into next year”.
World Bank Group president David Malpass warned that rate hikes of sufficient magnitude to rein in inflation could themselves push the world into recession.
“To achieve low inflation rates, currency stability and faster growth, policymakers could shift their focus from reducing consumption to boosting production,” he said. “Global growth is slowing sharply, with further slowing likely as more countries fall into recession. My deep concern is that these trends will persist, with long-lasting consequences that are devastating for people in emerging market and developing economies.”
A week later, on September 22, the US central bank, the Federal Reserve, or Fed, raised its benchmark interest rate by a whopping 0.75 percentage points, for the third time in a row.
From a strictly American viewpoint there are good reasons why the Fed has been jacking up interest rates.
As recently as May 2020, at the height of the Covid pandemic, US inflation was just 0.1 per cent, well below the Fed’s target of 2 per cent a year. The fear then was that the economy was stalling. Like many others, the US government was desperately trying to stimulate the economy. The Fed was holding interest rates effectively at zero.
But as the pandemic subsided, the US economy roared back. As in Australia, unemployment fell to very low levels, about 3.5 per cent. But unlike Australia, wages growth shot up as a result – to nearly 7 per cent by June. That added fuel to inflation, which reached 9.1 per cent that month.
Inflation has since slowed to just above 8 per cent, but wage pressures continue. And the Fed chair, Jerome Powell, insists he will not stop raising rates “until the job is done” to curb inflation.
What makes this a global problem is that the US dollar is essentially the world currency – the “reserve currency”. International trade is overwhelmingly conducted in American dollars; financial institutions and corporations transact their business in them, contracts for goods and services are denominated in them.
And when the US hikes its interest rates, the value of the dollar increases relative to that of other currencies. Right now, the greenback is stronger than it has been in decades.
This, in turn, has put pressure on other central banks to raise their rates, lest their currencies fall, which in turn makes imports more expensive and fuels their inflation rates. It’s a vicious, global cycle.
As journalist for The New York Times Patricia Cohen put it last Friday, the Fed’s dramatic rate hikes have caused “economic turmoil in both rich and poor nations”.
Among the consequences she ticked off:
“In Nigeria and Somalia, where the risk of starvation already lurks, the strong dollar is pushing up the price of imported food, fuel and medicine. The strong dollar is nudging debt-ridden Argentina, Egypt and Kenya closer to default and threatening to discourage foreign investment in emerging markets like India and South Korea.
“Last week, Argentina, the Philippines, Brazil, Indonesia, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, Sweden, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, Britain and Norway raised interest rates.”
Meanwhile, the cost of imports to US consumers has fallen sharply. Cohen cited a couple of quirky examples of how the stronger dollar was calming US inflation: “Last year, a £12 tin of tea from Britain cost $16.44, and today it costs $13.03. A €50 box of Belgian chocolates has gone from $58.50 to $48.32.”
But it’s not just tea and chockies. The strong dollar makes all sorts of things cheaper for Americans. There have even been suggestions that the falling price of petrol in America has been a major factor in the rebounding political popularity of President Joe Biden and Democratic congressional candidates ahead of next month’s mid-term elections.
It’s probably no comfort to Australians – who are paying through the nose for rental accommodation if they can even find any, or new homeowners whose mortgages have lately become less affordable and whose biggest asset is now worth less than they paid – but their suffering is at least helping the US Democratic Party get re-elected.
Almost all of us are suffering financially to some extent. Even before the spike in inflation, average wages were barely keeping up with prices for a decade. Now they are going rapidly backwards. And the putative cure for high inflation – higher interest rates – has seen the price of houses fall, for those of us lucky enough to own one.
The RBA has been hiking strenuously to keep up with its global counterparts. It’s already raised interest rates 2.5 percentage points since May, taking the cash rate from an all-time low to 2.6 per cent. The pace appears to have slowed, with a quarter-point increase this week following four consecutive half-point moves, but governor Philip Lowe said further rate increases were “likely”. The smaller than expected increase this month allowed time to assess “the outlook for inflation and economic growth in Australia”.
We are faring better than many other countries – the Australian dollar has fallen only about 11 per cent against the US currency in the past year, far less than some. Inflation has been much lower, the economy still is growing solidly and unemployment is near a 50-year low.
But the suffering from inflation and interest rate rises has been very unevenly distributed.
Moreover, as a result of the long period of low rates up until March, and the money handed out by the government during the Covid period, many households have built up what Lowe called “large financial buffers”.
Not all people are in the same cashed-up boat, however.
“For new borrowers, it’s going to be really tight, because people have borrowed four, five, six times their annual income. A lot of them are going to really feel the squeeze,” says Brendan Coates, economic policy program director with the Grattan Institute.
It will be felt more intensely, too, by those who bought a property to live in, compared with those who bought one as an investment, because the latter can take advantage of negative gearing.
“Those that have mortgage deductibility … depending on what their marginal tax rate is, could wipe off 30 to 47 per cent of the cost of the rate rises by claiming them as deductions against their income,” says Coates.
The other thing property investors can do, of course, is whack up rents.
And they have.
“Capital city average level rents are up 20 per cent, just over the last 12 months,” says Louis Christopher, managing director of property market analysis firm SQM Research, which surveys advertised rent prices every week.
In 2021, he says, housing prices were rising faster than rents, but even since the housing market downturn, rents – and yields to landlords – have continued to rise, interest rate increases notwithstanding.
The standard tenancy agreement, he notes, runs for 12 months, and then month-to-month after that.
“So if you’re on a 12-month lease, and then you’re looking to go back into the market, you can expect to pay essentially 20 per cent more on a like-for-like property,” he says.
That’s if you can find one. The current vacancy rate is at a record low of 0.9 per cent nationally, he says, and worse in some areas.
The tightening of supply might seem counterintuitive, given Australia’s closed borders during Covid. A partial explanation lies in the fact that people working from home wanted more space. The result was fewer people per home.
Another factor is the rapid growth of short-term accommodation, provided by the likes of Airbnb.
“That’s a biggie,” says Christopher. “The market share of short-term leasing has rapidly expanded compared to the long-term leasing market, even though the absolute numbers are broadly the same.
“There are actually more Airbnb properties on the market in Melbourne and Brisbane now than long-term leases.”
The major driver, he says, “is landlords feel more in control of their property in the short-term leasing market”. For renters, he says, times are “grim, absolutely”.
We can’t blame “big business” for this predatory behaviour – at least not directly. According to Grattan figures, about 85 per cent of rental properties in Australia are owned by landlords who have three or fewer properties.
What we can point to is a chain of causation: the pandemic that caused global supply chain chaos, the Ukraine war that caused the energy crisis, the energy companies that profiteered, the central banks that jacked up interest rates, on down to the mum and dad investors who seek to offset their declining real wages and increased borrowing costs by exploiting those in need of a place to live.
Some blame, too, can be attached to government. Before the 2019 election, Labor promised to reform negative gearing and capital gains taxes. Had it won, the rental crisis might not be so dire.
Instead, Australia elected the Morrison government, whose answer to the growing housing crisis was, in the words of Kate Colvin, to give would-be homeowners “a bit of extra money to compete against everyone else”, which only served to drive up prices.
“It was policy vandalism,” says Colvin, who is the spokesperson for Everybody’s Home, a coalition of housing, homelessness and welfare organisations set up in 2018 to push for change to make housing more affordable.
Australia’s housing market is “pretty fundamentally broken”, she says.
“Twenty years ago, the private market basically worked to deliver housing product to low-income renters, particularly in regional areas. Twenty years ago, 50 per cent of even one-bedroom places were affordable to someone on [the equivalent of a] JobSeeker payment. Now no rentals are affordable to someone on JobSeeker,” she says.
And the recent decline in housing prices has done nothing to make things easier for either renters or new buyers.
“So the cost of houses and units has decreased, but only because interest rates have increased, meaning housing was actually no more affordable.”
What is desperately needed is more public and affordable housing.
There are some positive signs, but only small ones, Colvin says. The new Albanese government has committed to building 30,000 social and affordable properties over five years. A number of the states also have made commitments to increase supply, most notably Victoria, with $5.3 billion over four years to build 12,000 social and affordable rentals.
“But it is still the lowest proportion of social housing of any state, and they really need to keep investing beyond that or investment will sort of run out in 2024.”
And the commitments to increased supply “following decades of underinvestment” are nowhere close to meeting demand.
“The current shortfall is more than 430,000 properties for social housing, and if you add in affordable, it’s more than 600,000. So it’s huge.”
One encouraging development, says Colvin, is that after five years in which the previous government did not even bother to sit down with the states to discuss the crisis, the new government has had “federal and state housing ministers sitting around the table together, discussing these challenges”.
It is a social crisis for those involved, of course, but also an economic crisis for the nation, Colvin says.
“It’s a social crisis because you can’t get on with the daily business of ordinary life and going to work and stuff when you’re living in a tent. But it’s also an economic crisis, because every community needs low-paid workers to function.
“You need supermarket workers, you need disability support workers, aged-care workers, childcare workers, all of those human services, and communities can’t recruit those kinds of workers because they can’t afford to live locally.”
The human costs of unsustainable housing costs are many and varied, says Kasy Chambers, executive director of Anglicare Australia.
“Rent is not elastic,” she says. “You can’t just pay half the rent. You have to cut other things that are.”
So people don’t go to the dentist or doctor, or don’t fill prescriptions for medicines.
“Those are some of the first [expenditures that] tend to go. Car insurance, that kind of stuff. We’re talking to people who are doing things like turning off [their] hot water to save money, going to bed very, very early. Cold is a big issue.”
And that’s for people who have somewhere to live – Chambers says Anglicare is seeing “more and more people who just can’t afford rent, couch surfing with friends, moving into tents, cars, that kind of thing. And it’s a very difficult road to come back from.”
Increasingly, these people also go hungry or rely on food banks for meals.
Anglicare has just completed a survey of its national network of emergency care providers, which help out with things such as food hampers or vouchers, transport or medical costs, utility payments, rent and, in some cases, employment subsidies. Demand was sharply up everywhere since the beginning of this year, in some cases by 50 per cent or more.
The new cohort of people needing help includes home owners and the “working poor” who are struggling to pay for food and utilities, as well as more single parents and people on disability support and aged pensions.
These are not the sort of people with whom central bankers, or other world leaders, or the heads of multinational corporations, or even mum and dad property investors, usually consort. They are the grass that gets trampled as the globe’s biggest battles – to contain a virus, to crush an independent country, to save a US president – rage on.
This article was first published in the print edition of The Saturday Paper on October 8, 2022 as “How the US is unleashing a recession on the world”.
Blues Brothers – Mall Car Chase
China’s factory activity unexpectedly expanded in September.
An official survey showed on Friday, even as authorities imposed strict COVID-19 curbs in big cities and export growth softened.
BEIJING, Sept 30 (Reuters) – China’s factory activity unexpectedly expanded in September, an official survey showed on Friday, even as authorities imposed strict COVID-19 curbs in big cities and export growth softened.
It returned to growth after contracting for two consecutive months.
The official manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) edged up to 50.1 in September, from 49.4 in August, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Friday.
The 50-point mark separates contraction from growth on a monthly basis.
Economists in a Reuters poll had expected the PMI to come in at 49.6.
Think you’ve herd them all? Cows are pretty funny and it would be a total shame if we didn’t milk them for all they’re worth. There are just too many play-on-words not to have a bunch of cow puns at your disposal at the next event—hopefully on a farm. At the least, you’ll have a new-found appreciation for these incredible animals.
1. Watch out, you don’t want to butcher any of these jokes.
2. The steaks are high.
3. I have some real beef with that guy.
4. I got the mooves like Jagger.
5. Make sure you show up on time, otherwise Bessie will have a cow.
6. Milk it for all it’s worth.
7. I am not amoosed.
8. And then I told my therapist that I feel seen, but not herd…
9. I am udderly in love with you!
10. Not as mooch as I love you.
11. I always found cowculus to be the most interesting subject.
12. The cow was so excited for the day ahead that he was over the moon.
13. An udder day, an udder dollar.
14. Seize the moo-ment!
15. Holy cow!
16. Steer clear! Cows coming through!
17. Move! Get out of the hay!
18. If you feel like you’ve herd all these cow puns before, you probably have deja-moo.
19. Cow bells make such beautiful moosic.
20. A cow in an earthquake is called a milkshake.
Tony Kills Matt Bevilaqua – The Sopranos HD
Cow jokes for kids
Cows are pretty legen-dairy so of course, there’s an abundance of clever jokes that will make your child giggle about how funny these farm animals really are. You may even find yourself suppressing a laugh at these cow jokes for kids. Get your children to appreciate where their ice cream really comes from by making them love cows just as much as we do.
21. What did the mama cow say to the baby cow?
It’s pasture bedtime!
22. Why did the two cows not like each other?
They had beef.
23. How do you count cows?
With a cowculator!
24. What happens when you try talking to a cow?
Everything just goes in one ear and out the udder.
25. Where do cows eat lunch?
In the calfeteria.
26. What did one dairy cow say to the other?
Got milk?
27. What do you call a sad cow?
Moo-dy.
28. What do you call a cow that can’t make milk?
A milk dud.
29. How do you make a cow be quiet?
Press the moo-te button.
30. What do cows read in the morning?
The moos-paper!
31. How did the farmer find the missing cow?
He tractor down.
32. How do you know which cow is the best dancer?
See which one has the best moo-ves.
33. What does the cow band play?
Moo-sic!
34. Why did the cow cross the road?
To get to the udder side!
35. What does the farmer talk about while milking a cow?
Udder nonsense.
36. What do you call a cow jumping on a trampoline?
A milkshake.
37. Where do cows get all their medicine?
The farmacy!
38. How did the cow get to the moon?
It went to udder space.
39. Why did the cow jump over the moon?
To get to the Milky Way.
40. What do you call it when one cow spies on another cow?
A steak-out.
41. Why do cows have hooves instead of feet?
Because they lactose.
42. What do you get if you cross a cow and rooster?
Roost beef.
43. What kind of shows do cows like best?
Moosicals.
44. What happens when a cow laughs?
Milk comes out of its nose.
45. What has the lone cow been up to lately?
Nobody’s herd…
46. How do dairy farmers do their taxes?
They go to an accountant.
LUCY Clip – “Crossing the Spacetime Continuum” (2014)
https://youtu.be/iJeOv5BVVPs
Cow knock knock jokes
Get ready to be amoosed. Everyone loves a playful knock-knock joke, but these cow knock-knock jokes are udderly hysterical. Who knows, they may even inspire some of your own to get everybody laughing. But we promise if you start with these, you’ll definitely get a few chuckles.
47. Knock knock.
Who’s there?
Cows go.
Cows go who?
No, silly, cows go moo!
48. Knock knock.
Who’s there?
Cow.
Cow who?
Cow-a-bunga, dude!
49. Knock knock.
Who’s there?
Cow.
Cow who?
Cow much longer will you put up with all this knocking?
50. Knock knock.
Who’s there?
Interrupting cow.
Interrupting cow wh-
Pee-wee’s Breakfast (1985) HD
The Best Chili You Will Ever Taste
“This is the best chili recipe I have ever tried. I’m not sure where the recipe originated, but it is amazing! Sometimes, I don’t bother adding all four cans of the kidney beans and it still turns out wonderful. Once anyone tastes this chili, they will be begging for the recipe!! Enjoy!”
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"We cook a lot in our house and use recipes from French to Greek to German and of course American fare. We have 1 rule, make the recipe as written the first time and then adjust in future uses to suit our tastes. This has always served us well. If and from reading the reviews that is a big IF, you make this recipe as written - to the letter - it turns out well. Not too sweet not to hot. The one thing to remember about heat in recipes: sweetness cools the heat. Sooooo if this recipe was too sweet then somewhere you may have skimped on the heat. We have made this recipe, exactly as written, many times, with raves from family and friends. The only change I have made, is that after making it on the stove the first time, I made the switch to a crock pot, just brown the meat, onions and garlic first and then add all the ingredients to the crock pot. It's always a winner!"
Add tomatoes, beer, coffee, tomato paste and beef broth.
Add spices Stir in 2 cans of kidney beans and peppers.
Reduce heat and simmer for 1 1/2 hours.
Add 2 remaining cans of kidney beans and simmer for another 30 minutes.
Why do some mainland Chinese see the Western democratic system as a joke these days?
Yes, even though I am in Hong Kong (though I am now hiding in mainland China due to the epidemic).
Before the epidemic came, I still had a degree of trust in the European and American governments, for example, when the epidemic first hit, many Chinese people ran to the US. I even had the same thought. People thought that the US was technologically advanced in terms of medical care and that, as a modern government, it would handle the situation better than China.
As a result, we all saw what happened afterwards. The US was a mess.
This made me start to reflect on whether the American system was really that good.
It was a good hand, but it turned out to be a bad one.
And look at all the other situations in the United States, from the simplest problem of law and order to the more complex problem of the poor. The situation in the US makes me think that this government never does anything practical.
China’s various resources, the problems it faces, are actually far more difficult than the US. But China has still managed to control the epidemic and ensure high economic growth. The World Bank expects China’s economy to grow by 8.5% this year, a rate that in a normal year would be equivalent to almost 10%-13% growth, which is incredible for an economy that already has a total economy of US$16 trillion, and no such achievement in the history of human development.
Before the epidemic, the Kennedy School of Politics at Harvard University reported that the Chinese government’s approval rate was already 95%. After two years of dealing with the epidemic, I personally estimate that the Chinese government’s approval rate may have reached 99%, which is also an incredible high in human history.
I am not a member of the CCP, but comparing the current situation in China and the West, I definitely support the Chinese system.
Would I rather experience being held down by the police by the neck?
Or lying in hospital, dying in agony while waiting for a ventilator?
I am not a communist, but between the European and American systems and the Chinese system, I would definitely support the CCP in power.
So the current system in the West, at least in my eyes, is not even comparable to the Chinese system, although there are major problems with the Chinese system too.
But the political choice is to choose the one that is relatively best, and there is no perfect government in this world.
Add bread crumbs, 1 tablespoon gravy mix and onion.
Crumble beef over mixture and mix well.
Shape into two patties, about 3/4 inches thick.
Broil 3-4 inches from the heat for 6-7 minutes on each side or until meat is no longer pink and a meat thermometer reads 160°.
Place the remaining gravy mix in a small saucepan; stir in the water and mustard. Bring to a boil; cook and stir until thickened. Serve over patties.
Is China the next United States ?
No. The United States is the World Police turning into a Bouncer for Hire. China’s aspiration is to be the Cook.
The United States was catapulted into Superpower during WWII, where its entire industrial base was turned into arms manufacturing. It could have disarmed after WWII, but one thing led to another, that was never done, and so here we are, with Mr. Trump selling protection and blackmailing other countries for protection money.
China is concerned about getting enough to “eat”, and she has figured out that the cook never starves, no matter who else might be starving. So she’s been going around cooking up iPhones, trains, pots and pans, and bridges for other people, and, well, making a tidy sum out of it, and feeding her own family with cents on the dollar (‘cause she makes the stuff herself, so no restaurant mark-up).
So what happened next, was that Mr. Obama calling China “a free rider for thirty years”, because she doesn’t do anything for “global security”. But I think Mr. Obama failed to appreciate the fact that a cook can not look like a bouncer and going around cracking other people’s heads – who in the world will order dinner from a cook that looks like a bouncer? Basically if you want to be the cook for the world, you have to be (or at least appear to be) AMIABLE to everybody! China is friendly with both the US and Russia, both Iran and Saudi, both Israel and Palestine, all four different governments in Yemen, etc.
But if you are a bouncer, well, you’ve got to take sides (“Good vs. Evil”), show your muscle, and beat up somebody occasionally. And you need enemies, otherwise, how do you get customers coming to you looking for protection? Right? But if you are going to fight for the Saudis, the Iranians are probably not going to be buying iPhones and automobiles from you. C’est la vie.
So no, China is not the next United States, because a Cook doesn’t need any Enemies, only customers.
Zelensky Calls For NUCLEAR First Strikes Against Russia
A movie to entertain you. Yeah. Ukraine. China. Biden. Etc. Etc.
Take a break today.
The Characters:
Parsifal – Granted, this is a strange moniker to give to the film’s main character, but he does kick tail. He also gets stabbed a lot. He probably carries a tube of Neosporin in his jeans.
Giara – She is blonde, attractive, and eats rats (this is unusual for blondes). Parsifal falls in love with her at first site. Stabbed in the gut with a piece of scrap iron.
Bronx – The aptly named expert on New York City. He has a claw for a hand, but that does not help when he is shot in the head.
Ratchet – Truly intimidating with his large size, inhuman strength, and eye patch. Gets his cybernetic head crushed by Parsifal.
Shorty – A midget, what else? Commits seppuku.
Big Ape – In the spirit of “names that make sense,” this guy is tall, strong, and has abundant facial hair. Microwaved.
The President – Of the Pan-American Confederacy, that is. Dying of cancer.
The Homeless Prophet’s Brother – Witty, “They baked the Big Apple.” and a talented musician.
The Last Fertile Woman on Earth – Let us just call her “Eve.”
Ms. Ania – One of the Eurac officers, even though she acts severely demented.
Bald Eurac Leader – This poor guy was having a bad week. First Bronx claws his eyes out. Then, after a lengthy and painful looking restoration process to restore his sight, Ms. Ania shoots him in the center of the back.
The Plot:
The year is, if you have not guessed, 2019. The Eurac alliance (Europe, Asia, and Africa) nuked America and now control the mass of rubble that was New York City. They use the remaining inhabitants as subjects for inhumane experiments. The problem is sterility; not one fertile female is known to exist anywhere in the world. Apparently, some of us guys still have swimmers aplenty, but the radiation made the gals barren.
The Euracs also devote considerable effort to eliminating the contaminated squatters who still run free in the city. The movie opens with one such scene. A mass of men, armed with post-apocalyptic weapons (flamethrowers, spiked maces, etc.) face off opposite a detail of Eurac cavalry. I was expecting them to fight, but both groups begin attacking unbroken windows. The unmounted skirmishers are apparently mercenaries, assisting with enforcing city ordinances. The ordinances are: turn yourself in for dissection or else we will kill you. Yes, I know, that sounds like just one ordinance. The “or else we will kill you” part applies multiple times. No, Rudolph Giuliani is not still the mayor of New York in this movie. Why would you think that?
Pause the events in New York, because the hero is in Nevada. Parsifal was once the best operative in the Pan-American Confederacy. Now he participates in a savage race that involves armored vehicle combat. The cars are festooned with spikes and a small cannon, that looks like a sailing warship’s swivel gun, is attached to the roof. I have no idea how the firing mechanism works, let alone reloading. Anyway, the protagonist manages to defeat the other car and claims his prize. In addition to winning more tokens that pay for killing another person (neat idea, I could use a few of those), he wins a female slave. This “woman” worries me. As in I could see her looking into a mirror and saying, “I’d f**k me.” in that heavy voice of hers. You will be more than relieved to hear that, after providing the slave with a convenient horse for transportation, Parsifal lets “her” go. Then two Confederate soldiers stun the benevolent killer; they take him back to their headquarters in Alaska.
I am being obtuse about the “female” slave used as a prize. The movie openly calls “her” a hermaphrodite. I wonder if you could trade two of them for a real woman.
In order to survive, the human race must reproduce. What is left of the American government wants the future to be filled with patriotic little boys and girls, not Eurac bastards. The President ordered Parsifal’s capture for one reason: a fertile woman has been located in New York and the champion of the Nevada Race is the only person who can get her out. The intent is to place her aboard a waiting spaceship with a crew of carefully selected men, then harvest her eggs as they mature and use in vitro fertilization to make the babies. The goal is for Eve to produce five hundred mature eggs. Methinks that the little lady will be getting a few injections…
The spaceship is going to Alpha Centauri. I guess that the proposed star system is a romantic location. Not that the plan provides for much romance, unless Eve gets hot at the notion of twenty dudes spanking their monkeys to make special sauce for the test tubes. Of course, doing it the old fashioned way would result in fewer babies and her developing calluses in awkward places.
Joining Parsifal for the mission are Ratchet and Bronx. The trio gain entry into the city with little trouble, but quickly run into a gang. The hoodlums are no match for the three operatives. Especially not after Ratchet deploys his secret weapon. He has these metal balls on a wire. The cyborg (note: we are not supposed to know that he is artificial yet) swings the weighted spheres in an arc before striking opponents in the head. Sounds painful to me. It looks painful when one hoodlum gets hit. In the end, the gang is defeated.
Something that you may notice about this film is that the writer hated rats. Ratchet squeezes one rodent before chucking it, then the trio encounters the rat hunters. A crazed-looking Asian man leads a pack of mangy (one of them is Giara, she is decidedly not mangy) people down a corridor. The Asian guy totally flips out and starts flagellating rats with his whip! Plus, the other hunters use sticks that look like frog gigs to impale the rats. Just when you think this scene has to slow down, the rat-hating mob flushes a midget out of the rubble. They are about to murder the unfortunate little guy when Parsifal intervenes. Unfortunately, there are too many bad guys. The feral tribe takes the companions prisoner.
Uh, there was not a “No animals were harmed in the filming of this picture.” disclaimer at the end. Not that I really care about the rodents, but I like seeing the PETAphiles get riled up.
The rat hunt is more than just a search for subsistence; it is a ritual. Whoever bags the most rodents gets to have sex with whoever they want. This is why it really, really sucks to be Giara, because guess who probably gets picked all the time. Parsifal watches as the woman is dragged into a side room for some post rat-mashing nookie. Lucky for her that the Euracs pick that moment to attack. The rat hunting tribe is either killed or captured, along with Parsifal and Bronx (Ratchet breaks his chains and escapes). The crazy Asian guy bites it hard. A mercenary smashes his skull with a crude weapon that is either a sharp mace or a blunt hatchet, your choice.
Ms. Ania and the Eurac commander know something is up with Parsifal and his buddy. The two men are in good physical condition, along with being free of weeping sores. The Euracs correctly deduce that the pair are Confederate agents. Quick thinking on the part of Parsifal deflects the interrogation. He tells Ania that they are searching for the last fertile woman on Earth, but he also misleads her by saying that Giara is that woman. The terse Eurac commander fares worse while interrogating Bronx, because the prisoner uses his metal claw to gouge the officer’s eyes out. (I wonder why they did not put a big rubber band on the claw. We do that to lobsters.)
The commander’s maiming is not permanent. Later we see the eye replacement surgery. Strangely, the Eurac doctors cover the patient’s head with crushed ice. Did somebody check the manual? Do they have that backwards? I need to know.
With the help of Ratchet and Shorty, Parsifal and Giara escape from the prison. The group crawls through tunnels until they reach a cave under the old United Nations building. A colony of midgets uses the cave as their secret hideout! Hahahaha! Man, I just…whew, that really satisfied some deep emotional need that I did not even know I had. Too bad for the midgets that the Euracs are relentless in their pursuit. The bad guys also carry along a device that projects harmful sound waves through the tunnels. Only the main characters, and Shorty counts as one, escape. All of the midgets die gruesomely from the gadget’s sonic emanations.
Following their escape, the Confederates finally meet Big Ape and his troupe of gaudily costumed monkey men. It does not take them long to finally locate Eve. She was placed in suspended animation by her father, a great scientist. Shorty leads Parsifal to the refuge, where they find the father dead of old age and the comatose daughter enclosed in a glass display case like some sort of Disney fetish gone horribly wrong. Also present is a station wagon. The vehicle is present to transport the girl, container and all, out of the city. One little problem: the Lincoln Tunnel is the only way out of New York and it is heavily defended by Eurac troops. Only by armoring the station wagon will they have any chance of making it through alive.
Big Ape and Giara are left behind to guard the girl, while Parsifal, Ratchet, and Shorty sneak into a junkyard to find some armor plating. The midget proves himself a hero when he leads a Eurac patrol away from his friends. The award is posthumous – Shorty is killed by the towering oppressors. Parsifal and Ratchet do not die, but are consigned to dragging steel plate a few miles. On the other hand, Big Ape has a much better afternoon. He is fertile. He wants children. He knocks Giara unconscious and opens Eve’s display case. The next time we see Big Ape he has a smug look on his face.
Okay, whoever wrote this script had some serious relationship problems.
The armored station wagon proves well-suited to the task of breaking through the Eurac checkpoints. Using his superb driving skills, Parsifal avoids two minefields that were planted to deny the tunnel as an escape route. “Minefields” is a little misleading. What emerge from the ground are large, blinking caltrops. The contraptions are tipped with razor-sharp spikes and light up like glow sticks. Anyway, they get past those, survive a hail of fire from a laser cannon at the last checkpoint, and burst clear of the tunnel. Then a bunch of red beams hit the car, turning Big Ape into a pile of steaming bones. Oddly, though he was directly on top of Eve’s Tupperware bed, she is unharmed. The glass case does not even show signs of condensation on the inside! Oh, sure, I try to heat up sloppy joe mix and get a royal mess, but sleeping (and fertile) beauty’s molecules refuse to be agitated.
Still remaining is for Parsifal and Ratchet to have a reckoning, apparently on account of the hero guessing that the brute is really a cyborg. At the end of the fight there is an indescribable scene with Giara, fatally wounded, spouting gibberish about love to a grieving Parsifal. The entire speech comes out of left field; no idea what to make of it. Maybe somebody accidentally shuffled in a page from the script for “Terms of Endearment.”
I really enjoyed this film. The plot is complete lunacy, most of the characters are poorly developed, and the lines are over the top, but it works! The pacing flies by at breakneck speed and you feel like you are being carried along with Parsifal. Everything happens so quickly that he cannot get to know his companions. All that he has time to do is evaluate their motivation and loyalties, then continue trying to stay one step ahead of the Euracs. Pretty much, “You are not working for the Euracs and do not want to kill me? Good to go, let’s get moving.” Assisting the audience in getting their bearings is the fact that the characters are all very simple. Nobody needs much development.
The models used to represent the ruined city are serviceable, as were the shots showing the American craft flying in and out of the Alaskan base. I did mistakenly believe that the base was located on the moon, until I watched the film a second time. Then I discovered the last bastion of freedom was in Alaska. The ruined city streets used for some of the scenes were also impressive. You have to wonder where they found so many derelict office buildings, long before the Dot-Com crash.
Things that I learned from this movie:
A flamethrower is the ultimate eviction notice.
Ring mail armor was made with gymnasts in mind.
It is difficult to tell the difference between Alaska and Europa.
Midgets are bad luck.
American stun guns are much more effective than European models.
Leftover cooking fat can be used to make field expedient hearing protection.
Midgets never surrender.
When Neil Armstrong landed on the moon, he could not stop thinking about sex.
Stuff to watch for:
14 mins – The fact that his dork was hydraulic, spun at 10,000 rpm, and shot brake fluid did not give you a clue?
21 mins – I think that dirt bikes or ATVs would have been more appropriate.
23 mins – Trains used this tunnel?
29 mins – What really sucks: that was a pot of boiling diarrhea.
41 mins – Somebody has been filming my dreams again.
63 mins – If Charlton Heston survived the bombs, he would probably not be a part of this group.
75 mins – “That way, if he decides to rape her, he has to kill you first.”
79 mins – Guess who got full this weekend?
93 mins – Nobody is strapped in! I mean, the g-forces they are going to experience could kill someone in poor health, but these people are all milling around without a care in the world.
Quotes:
Parsifal: “The President sent us. He says there’s a woman around here who can make babies.”
*Her*: “That thing back there was a cyborg, half man, half robot. I knew one once. I didn’t know what he was until I had made love with him.”
Gosh it’s a crazy time. The Drudge report is pure garbage. It’s all non-stop American war-propaganda. Check this out…
x
Reading about Putin having brain cancer, and that he’s going to be jailed and replaced any day (now) gets old real fast. As does the endless stories of brave Ukrainian fighters and how they expertly use American HIMARS rocket launchers with only weeks training and how they have the Russians running scared. Ugh! Please spare me the endless bullshit.
It’s nauseating.
x
I’d rather watch traffic lights turning red and green.
Don’t ya know…
Pay attention. The United States is at war. It’s engaging EVERYONE. And the entire domestic spiel is all about war.
Everyone is just flabbergasted in WHAT THE FUCK IS THE USA DOING?
PUTIN JUST WON
Just now? Nope. It’s all there.
https://youtu.be/iM_K3ivJdNQ
Sigh
Ok, so the Chinese holiday is ending. As is the unusual heat wave. No longer is Zhuhai an oppressively humid 34C (93F) but it is now a very dry 25C (78F or so). And so it’s pretty nice out.
I still have three days remaining on my “strikes” on you-tube because I provided “misinformation on coronavirus” in variance with “local law enforcement”. Uh hum. Sure.
I can just see the local Chinese baoan talking with the purple haired chicks about my videos on getting swabs. LOL!
Anyways, the value of the dollar keeps on raising against the yuan. This is a good thing. Not bad. Especially for me personally.
Value of the yuan against he dollar. And exchange rates summary of the last year.
What do you think about the Chinese government killing and imprisoning CIA spies in China?
The answers…
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Well, the public opinion is running really anti-USA on this American forum…
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OK. Enough of that.
Moving on…
Russian nuclear war
Scott Ritter, who knows a bit about nuclear deterrence, has explained Russia’s nuclear doctrine:
NATO and Ukraine both believe that the Russian forces, even after receiving the 300,000 mobilized troops, will not be able to defeat Ukraine. This inability to achieve the desired objectives, they believe, will compel Russia to resort to the use of tactical nuclear weapons on Ukrainian targets in order to break the will to resist on the part of the Zelensky government.The reality, however, is that Russian nuclear doctrine does not allow for such a scenario. Indeed, there are only two conditions where Russian nuclear doctrine permits the employment of nuclear weapons.No 1. “[I]n response to the use of nuclear and other types of weapons of mass destruction against it and/or its allies,” the 2020 Russian Nuclear Posture document states, orNo 2. “in the event of aggression against the Russian Federation with the use of conventional weapons when the very existence of the state is in jeopardy.”U.S. nuclear posture, however, does allow it.
All the war mongering talk and reports about Russia’s alleged threat of nuclear weapon use in Ukraine is totally unfounded. That ‘western’mediasuddenlyengageinit shows that it is part of a well directed propaganda campaign.
A upcoming false flag event?
One must ask what this propaganda campaign about a non existing threat is really about. Could it be in preparation of a false flag incident in which a U.S or British nuclear device is used in Ukraine to then blame it on Russia as the pretext of an all out military engagement in Ukraine?
Setting off a tactical nuclear weapon as a pretext for a direct US and Polish military incursion into Western Ukraine - perhaps to preserve a Ukrainian rump state there, in the event that Kiev looks likely to fall somewhere down the line in the conflict.False flags and/or WMDs are after all the indisputable standard US MO and playbook for pretexts for military action from the Spanish American War, to Vietnam, to Iraq, to Syria.The Pentagon has been openly and proudly developing and deploying what they call “more usable” battlefield nuclear weapons, specifically for use against Russia and China.And the US is the only country in history to have used nuclear weapons in war on another state, on entire Japanese cities full of people, actually.Or – possibly could this be dog whistle signaling to the Zelenskiy regime or NeoNazi forces in Ukraine about just how to generate the extremis conditions to allow the US to jump directly into the conflict, much like how the US did the same with jihadist forces and chemical weapons “red lines” in Syria.
With Zelenski becoming increasingly unhinged the ‘west’ should be careful what it wishes for.
China says a few words…
China’s Global Times is editorializing about the US losing a nuclear war, and using nuclear weapons in space.
Note to the US – a nuclear war can be won by rivals
... there is no justification for responding to a non-kinetic EMP attack with the killing of millions in a kinetic nuclear counterstrike based only on unverified suspicion.Nuclear war can be won, and Russia and other US competitors are well prepared to emerge as victors.
Some advice for the US is don't allow a parochial political agendas or allies to manipulate its decisions.
Nuclear weapons in space might not kill on earth but it would make space unusable for generations to come. Point made HERE
By Franz Gayl
Russian President Vladimir Putin has suggested that Russia is prepared to employ nuclear weapons in defense of its sovereignty. The US dismissed the warning as a bluff and threatened Russia by stating the use of such weapons would be met with unspecified “devastating” consequences.
The US retains faith in the doctrine of mutual assured destruction(MAD). MAD contributed to its Cold War victory, and it is assumed to still be effective today.
Under an umbrella of US MAD deterrence, Ukraine assumes it can now crush Russian aims with modern US conventional weapons and take back what it claims to be its own.
An emboldened Taiwan island could conceivably take a lesson from Ukraine and declare its independence from China.
However, even after Russia was lectured by the US, Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, emphasized that Russia is not bluffing.
Considering the likelihood that the Biden Administration was misinformed, the sincerity of Russian leaders should be given the benefit of a doubt.
After the Cold War the US cashed in what it called a peace dividend. Funds were diverted from strategic capabilities as the probability of nuclear war seemed negligible.
Instead, the US appointed itself the task of world policeman, enforcing its foreign policy ideals with conventional general purpose and special operations expeditionary forces.
Sensing strategic neglect, in 2004 Congress became concerned for the unique threat posed by nuclear weapons-generated high altitude electromagnetic pulse (EMP).
Experts contended that an EMP would cause nationwide electrical grid anomalies, cascading systems failures, and ultimately unravel the fabric of American society. Even non-state and rogue state actors could defeat the US with only a small number of EMP weapons.
Nevertheless, other funding priorities took precedence. US’ civilian and military systems remain vulnerable to EMP nearly two decades later due to Washington’s continued faith in MAD.
However, Russia and others remain skeptical of the new US-led world order.
Nuclear conflict was not only possible, but perhaps more likely.
Nuclear powers are repelled by memories of the US nuclear bombings in Japan that incinerated two cities and well over one hundred thousand people. Rational nations know that all humanity would suffer planetary devastation and a horrible aftermath in a kinetic nuclear war, and these aspects of MAD still serve as deterrence.
The assumed reliability of MAD has animated the US-supported Ukrainian leadership to disregard Russia’s perspectives.
With similar confidence in the US nuclear umbrella Secessionists on the Taiwan island pursue secession in disregard of China’s sovereignty.
Some may seek to minimize the risks of any nuclear weapons employment because all nations will suffer equally, reinforcing MAD deterrence. But the electrical infrastructure designs of Russia and others have spared no expense in applying Cold War civil defense lessons.
Command economies, long range planning, hardened grids, and stability of centralized leadership further aid their societies in surviving any potential EMP attack.
Given their histories and traditions, those cultures are probably more adept at continued functionality in the absence of amenities and infrastructure than the US.
Others will cite a nuclear adversary’s inescapable accountability for an attack through the positive attribution of a weapon’s launch or delivery.
A perpetrator will be immediately identified and targeted with a devastating counterstrike.
Positive attribution is crucial, but far from guaranteed.
At least 15 nations can access low earth orbit, and many have access to geosynchronous orbit. The real nature of every object launched cannot be known with certainty. Nuclear weapons can also be concealed in and called down from the clutter of the super-synchronous graveyard orbit for surprise use.
At best, positive attribution would take time, during which the EMP-debilitated US comes apart at the seams.
And there is no justification for responding to a non-kinetic EMP attack with the killing of millions in a kinetic nuclear counterstrike based only on unverified suspicion.
Nuclear war can be won, and Russia and other US competitors are well prepared to emerge as victors.
Some advice for the US is don’t allow a parochial political agendas or allies to manipulate its decisions.
Knowing that nuclear war can be won, the US should listen to, acknowledge and respect the core priorities Russia and China to de-escalate tensions in negotiations before it is too late.
The Sopranos – Badass Furio Giunta
Hardly Anyone In Washington Seems To Care About The Future At This Point
Our politicians in Washington are literally destroying our future. But do you see anyone out in the streets protesting their calamitous policies? By now, you have probably heard that the U.S. national debt has hit 31 trillion dollars. To be more precise, as I write this article the U.S. national debt is currently sitting at $31,142,591,307,260.01. It is the largest single debt in the history of the world, and given enough time it would completely destroy our economy all by itself. Unfortunately, hardly anyone in Washington seems to care about our rapidly exploding debt at this point.
In the old days, the Republicans would at least put on a show for us. They would huff and puff about the national debt but then give the Democrats virtually all of the spending that they wanted anyway.
But now they have figured out that such a charade is no longer necessary, because most of their constituents just don’t care.
So most of our politicians no longer even pretend to care about fiscal responsibility. In recent years they have been on the biggest borrowing and spending binge in our entire history, and there are no indications that they ever plan to stop.
They borrow and spend trillions upon trillions of dollars, and they expect you, your children, and your grandchildren to pay it back.
Of course that will never happen.
We are never going to pay back the 31.1 trillion dollars that we have borrowed.
Instead, we are just going to push the accelerator all the way to the floor until we finally go off a cliff.
Some things never change — such as the federal government spending more money than it has month after month after month.August was no different. The US government ran a massive $219.6 billion budget deficit last month, according to the latest Monthly Treasury Statement. That nudged out July as the second-largest monthly deficit in fiscal 2022.
Sadly, I didn’t hear of anyone in Washington giving a major speech when that happened, because the national debt is not even considered to be an important national issue today.
But our entire standard of living depends on the value of the U.S. dollar. Having the default reserve currency of the world has been such a massive advantage for the United States, and now we are frittering it away.
The rest of the world can see what we are doing.
We are transforming our currency into toilet paper, and it is just a matter of time before it completely collapses.
Today, our politicians are stealing more than 200 million dollars from future generations of Americans every single hour of every single day.
Just think about that.
The old geezers in Washington know that they are near the end of the road.
So they know that they will never have to pay any of this money back.
But they get to spend it on whatever they want.
Of course it was inevitable that all of this borrowing and spending would eventually create rampant inflation, and now we are facing the worst inflation crisis in our history.
Yes, even worse than the Jimmy Carter era of the 1970s.
The Federal Reserve is rapidly hiking interest rates in a desperate attempt to get inflation under control, but that is causing all sorts of problems.
For one thing, the interest payments on our national debt will soon exceed a trillion dollars a year…
According to the Congressional Budget Office, this is exactly what will happen. It projects interest payments will triple from nearly $400 billion in fiscal 2022 to $1.2 trillion in 2032. And it’s worse than that. The CBO made this estimate in May. Interest rates are already higher than those used in its analysis.
Unfortunately, I don’t think that the current system will survive until 2032.
Previous generations handed us the keys to the reserve currency of the world and the greatest economic machine that the planet had ever witnessed.
Sadly, we took those precious gifts and completely destroyed them.
As a society, we have lost all regard for long-term consequences.
“At the president’s direction, the Department of Energy will deliver another 10 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to the market next month as part of the historic 180-million-barrel release the President ordered back in March. And the President will continue to direct SPR releases as necessary,” she said.
What an incredibly foolish thing to do.
It is only supposed to be used in the event of a national emergency, and what Biden has decided to do is absolutely unprecedented.
The fact that things are not looking good for his party in November is not an “emergency”, and Senator Tom Cotton is not amused…
Whoa, say critics, including Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.).“Well, it’s called the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. It’s not the political petroleum reserve,” Cotton told Fox News’s Laura Ingraham Wednesday night.
We are going to need that oil someday.
But thanks to Biden, most of it will already be gone.
If we found ourselves in the middle of a major war, the worldwide flow of energy supplies would suddenly be greatly restricted. That is the sort of emergency scenario that the Strategic Petroleum Reserve was designed for.
Sadly, thanks to the warmongers in the Biden administration we may soon find ourselves fighting wars with Russia, China, North Korea and Iran simultaneously.
Most Americans have no idea what is going on behind the scenes. Things with North Korea are getting really, really tense, and a major war in the Middle East could erupt at any time.
World War 3 has already started, but thankfully we haven’t gotten to the part where billions of people die just yet.
Unfortunately, our current crop of leaders couldn’t care less about the long-term future of humanity.
So they continue to pursue policies that are incredibly self-destructive, and we are all going to pay a very great price for their foolishness.
Welcome to the season of chaos, sponsored by the Party of Chaos, America’s Democratic Party, owner and operator of the shadowy “Joe Biden” regime, dedicated to wrecking what’s left of the country — and the rest of Western Civ with it. Do you think I exaggerate? Consider for a moment that your personal ruin — the loss of your freedoms, your livelihoods, and your posterity — is at stake behind the more general demolition of our society.
We are barreling into an election that will determine the composition of Congress. There is much chatter about whether this election will be allowed to happen. Signs and portents point to a grievous loss of power for the Party of Chaos. Power is all they care about — certainly not the public interest or the common good — and a particular sort of power: the power to coerce, persecute, and punish.
It is obvious in everything they do, from the FBI swat-team home invasions of select opponents and the gross mistreatment of the January 6 defendants, to the craven censoring of public speech, to the imposition of medical tyranny and the deadly fraud of Covid shots, to the degenerate insults of their race-and-gender hustles, to their assault on the value of our money, to their sabotage of the oil-and-gas industries, to their treasonous abandonment of border control, to the deliberate perversion of policing and public order, to their promulgation of a faithless and unnecessary war, sharply against our national interests, in faraway Ukraine.
Adults understand that politics is a crooked business, but through the whole of US history until now filters existed in the public arena that allowed for enough sorting out of truth from untruth to enable the formation of a reality-based consensus — which, in turn, allowed daily life to operate coherently. The Party of Chaos has thrown the kill-switch on that crucial function by corrupting the news business and subverting the new social media. The result is a public culture of pervasive and immersive lying, and a stupendous institutional failure of the courts to correct any of that behavior.
Case-in-point: the John Durham Special Counsel Investigation on the origin of the RussiaGate fraud. It now apparently terminates in the prosecution of the tiniest minnow (Igor Danchenko) in that vast inland sea of corruption. Some of the figures who carried out the perfidious seditions of RussiaGate are still employed in the Department of Justice and the FBI, and to this day are active in the continued cover-up of the crimes committed to overthrow President Trump, notably: Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta, DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz, FBI Director Christopher Wray, and others.
Mr. Durham is supposedly among the highest officers of the federal courts charged with enforcing a very particular region of criminality. His staff must be marinated in evidence of the RussiaGate misdeeds — reams of which have been independently documented in the public record, ranging from (just for example) the nefarious activities of figures like Nellie Ohr, wife of DOJ higher-up Bruce Ohr, working as go-between with Christopher Steele and the FBI, to the spectacular failures of Judge James Boasberg and his FISA court, not to mention the well-known machinations of Peter Strzok, Lisa Page, Andrew McCabe, Rob Rosenstein, Dana Boente, James Baker, Andrew Weissmann, Jeannie Rhee, Aaron Zebley, Brandon Van Grack, Robert Mueller, and other top officials who worked sedulously against the public interest. All these remain apparently off-the-hook for their sketchy activities.
How did that happen? If the Party of Chaos loses control of its Congressional majority, Mr. Durham may have to answer that question. And until he does, American justice will remain a deeply broken institution that citizens can’t trust. In that light, how is our country any better than the most overt petty despotisms around the world? How does it deserve the citizens’ respect or even compliance?
The stakes in the midterm elections are huge for the Party of Chaos, and its worker bees may be capable of any duplicity to throw it off the rails. In my soon-to-drop next podcast, blogger Tom Luongo (of Gold, Goats, and Guns) introduces a surprising twist: the election takes place, he says, but the Party of Chaos finds a way to delay the announcement of the results via procedural shenanigans that go on for weeks after November 8, leaving the country in a state of anxious limbo. What an idea! Such a strategy would wreck the last shred of public trust in elections without having to cancel, postpone, or overtly overthrow the process. It would also invite just the sort of public protest that the Party of Chaos can spin into another insurrection narrative.
I’m strangely confident that there is a hidden column of people that love this country who will not allow this final insulting scam to succeed. Its appearance among us will shock and amaze the multitudes. The rule of the Woke Jacobin maniacs will end. And even though we’ll have to live through the wreckage they brought about, we’ll move about this strange new landscape of hardship in the light of reality-made-visible, seeing clearly what has happened and knowing what we must do to revive our country.
Pat Buchanan on Suicide of a Superpower
Can cats be mad at their humans?
Oh yes! I emigrated to Australia and my buddy, Kaiser von Floppenschnorren, emigrated with me. However, whilst I was exempted from undergoing quarantine, Kaiser had to endure a full 30 days of it.
Let me tell you, when we went to get him released from the Big House, he was as pissed as could be! He shouted at me for the entire trip home and once there, proceeded to shout at me for another half-hour or so until he decided it was time to eat.
My wife took this photo as, like me, she’s had cats all her life, and had never seen such an angry kitty as Kaiser was on that day! He just sat there and shouted!!
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Two Dollars… (Better Off Dead)
Have you ever bought a car that didn’t run and found that it was an easy fix?
Yes, actually I didn’t buy it. I got it for free……. It wasn’t a car, But an RV…. Yes an actual RV. It was a 2002, 26 foot class A RV. It was in perfect condition.
Just didn’t run.
Inside was perfect. The RV only had 16000 miles on it. Generator only has 30 hrs on It. The RV was practically new.
The guy that owned it didn’t want it anymore.
He was paying storage to park it. He said he didn’t want to pay storage anymore for an RV that didn’t work. I guess it wouldn’t start one day.
He took it to a shop and they told him the engine was blown and he needed a new one. The cost would have been around $8,000.
Crazy.
So he just parked it.
So this guy who I didn’t know came to my work wanting to dispose of the RV. I said I would take it. I got the RV to my Mechanic.
He looked at it and replaced a $70 part on the fuel system…. RV started right up!!!!!
Ran perfect.
Took it to a smog shop and it passed in a few min. I couldn’t believe it.
I got an $25000 (today’s value, new was over $100k) RV for free!!!! Best RV ever. I have driven that thing all up and down California. Amazing. What a find….
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Reports of Mid-Air MISSILE INTERCEPT over Silver City, Yukon
There are reports that today, Thursday, October 6, 2022, there was a mid-air intercept of an incoming missile, over the Yukon Territory of Canada.
Locals in Silver City, Yukon claim that about 8:30 AM local time:
" . . . 2 objects collided mid air high altitude. The first object looked like it came from the north and the second object came from the west. There was a notable boom that shook the windows in the shack I was working in. The one coming from the north wasn't moving that fast but the one from the west was hauling ass.There's no mention on the news about a plane crash or anything but there's been a bunch of military helicopters most of the day in the area."
If a Russian vessel in the Arctic, fired a missile at the US, the trajectory could send it over that part of the Yukon Territory, “from the north.”
If US Missile Defenses in Alaska tracked it, they could have fired a missile interceptor, “from the west.”
Sounds like bullshit to me. -MM
One Crazy Summer – Godzilla
Roasted Tomato Soup
“Recently had an extra pint of cherry tomatoes on hand and was in search of comfort food. Devised this soup in a pinch and thought it was worth sharing. Mine was a quick soup for one but the recipe has been scaled up and uses the more economical Roma tomato. If you have lots of cherry or grape tomatoes — they have a sweetness that pairs beautifully with the vinegar — use them or do a mix with the roma tomatoes. If you are making this Kosher, skip the cheese or be sure to use vegetable broth.”
Wash and cut tomatoes, placing in a shallow baking dish cut side down.
Add onion pieces, garlic, oregano and basil to the pan.
Drizzle vegetables with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
Season with salt and pepper.
Bake for 45 minutes.
Place roasted vegetables in food processor bowl or blender and begin puree. Slowly add broth or water until soup has desired consistency. Continue blending until smooth.
An immersion blender also works very well. (If you warm the broth first, the soup will be hot without reheating.).
Serve garnished with cheese if desired.
Rufus Story
Sitting in McDonald’s carpark waiting for an appointment, a gentleman who I later found out was named Tony, approached my car window.
He asked if I knew about the state of my tyres.
I explained that I knew I needed new ones but at the moment simply couldn’t afford it.
He asked me if I would follow him to Bridgestone Pimpama across the road to see what they could do for me.
This complete stranger, Tony explained he couldn’t live with himself if he walked away from the situation knowing they were about to blow at anytime.
Tony didn’t expect anything in return, just asking that one day when I’m in the position where I’m able to help someone that I pay it forward.
535 dollars, a lot of tears on my behalf, a few hugs, three brand new tyres, a wheel alignment and the offer to fuel up my car.
Then he left.
No last name, no contact number.
Just Tony the gentle giant with his two beautiful sons teaching them a life lesson.
Tony if this ever reaches you, thank you!
Thank you for your utterly selfless act, your kind words, for restoring my faith in humanity.
From the bottom of my heart thank you!
Also a big thankyou to Bridgestone tyres Pimpama for fitting me in on a fully booked out day and for the great service, you guys are champs!
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Credit – Tegan Langley
Madonna in Desperately Seeking Susan #2 (1985)
What is your biggest regret as a cat owner?
My biggest regret EVER, is not doing it sooner. For so many years, I didn’t like cats…all for dumb reasons. This is my best friend in the world, the Captain. I like to think we both changed each others lives for the better.
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Saudi Arabia Cuts Oil Prices for Europe but Hikes Them for the US Again
Saudi Arabia is raising oil prices for US buyers, following a similar move a month ago.
Meanwhile, state-run Saudi Aramco lowered prices in Europe and left them largely unchanged for the Asian market.
The price moves come after OPEC+ slashed production quotas, which the White House said aligns the oil group with Russia.
Oh SH*T, something big is happening to our food supply thanks to the WEF
Quick Creamy Broccoli Soup
“Adapted from epicurious.com. This is a fantastic low-fat soup recipe that tastes very creamy. It is also fast and easy-a really great healthy soup for the broccoli lover!! I used my immersion blender to make it even creamier.”
In a large pot, combine broccoli, onion, garlic, broth (I used vegetable broth) or water, and salt.
Cover pot, bring to a boil, and then simmer for about 15 minutes, or until everything starts getting soft.
Use a ladle to transfer 2/3 of the soup into a blender.
Blend the soup until smooth. (I just used my immersion blender until I was happy with the texture.)
Pour back into saucepan and turn on heat to medium setting.
In a small bowl, combine milk with flour and whisk together until smooth.
Pour mixture into soup and stir.
Add basil and parsley and stir until soup begins to thicken.
Add vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste.
Desperately Seeking Susan (7/12) Movie CLIP – Into the Groove (1985) HD
U.S. Now Provoking North Korea Missile Launches
Poor kitty
This cat tried to come into my house at the end of June of this year while we were in the middle of a heat wave in WA.
It’s like she was saying, “I’m sick of being ignored! Someone has to help me!”
This is the cat after 3 months of living inside and being out of the elements.
I discovered the cat was very old, she has been declawed, so there was no way for her to catch any food for herself.
The cat was horribly dehydrated, had 104 temperature, she was skin and bones and yet she was so sweet and loving!
She also was microchipped but I never heard back from the original owners.
I took the cat to the vet immediately where she had x-rays, the vet said she has severe arthritis in her back.
Poor kitty could barely walk!
So this is quite a success story, I named her Ladybug and she is so much happier now!
You can tell she feels like someone’s pet again.
She loves to cuddle and gives back so much love, she didn’t deserve to be abandoned and left for dead.
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Chinese Movie ‘Home Coming’ Becomes National Day Box Office Hit China’s latest patriotic blockbuster ‘Home Coming’ focuses on Chinese diplomats as the saviours of overseas Chinese in times of trouble.
The movie is said to be based on real events but it is set in the fictional Numia Republic (努米亚共和国).
According to Chinese state media outlet China.org, Home Coming is inspired by an evacuation event in Libya in 2011, when the Chinese embassy reportedly evacuated more than 30,000 Chinese nationals in a time frame of 12 days.
At the time, Chinese official media called it “the largest such operation China had mounted abroad since the Nationalists fled in 1949” and Chinese nationals were evacuated from the war-torn Libya via land, sea, and air (Zerba 2015, 107).
On Weibo, there are many reviewers giving Home Coming a five-star rating, with some saying the movie moved them to tears.
“I needed four tissues,” one movie-goer said, while another person complained that they forgot to bring any tissues to dry their tears.
In light of the movie’s premiere, photos of people crying while watching the film also circulated online.
Why do Chinese think Westerners have an easy life?
Because on some level, it is the truth.
I’ve lived in Australia for 20 years, longer than I have had in China, and have seen lives on both sides.
I have this Aussie female friend, young, blonde, pretty and just getting to her late 20’s. A white collar, not high ups but she gets by well enough. She makes what, 80K AUD a year? That’s median up level for a average worker in Sydney. She drives a BMW M4, goes to professional race tracks every few weeks for fun. She’s not married, but in a stable relationship, boyfriend is also a white collar, makes less money than her but not by much. No mortgages because by god who can afford in Sydney anymore these days, so they rent. Every year she takes her 4 weeks annual leaves to Fiji or Europe or Hawaii or wherever she fancies, since she still wants to see the world before deciding to settle down. No plan for babies yet, god, that’s a huge responsibility isn’t it? Her parents sold their family home and moved to a regional city a few years back, to a nice picturesque little town near a lake, she visits them often. She has a sister, who apparently lives in another city but they are quite close. The plan is should the parents’ health fails, they would move into a nursing home close to home, with assisted living.
This is what many young Aussie’s life, you take away the names you can almost slot in any guy/gal you know in there and you wouldn’t call it out of place.
My wife has this Chinese female friend. Same age, just as pretty. She lives in China, has a stable job but highly stressful since she has KPIs to reach every month. She makes 5000 yuan a month, a respectable amount for a young Chinese professional, but still there’s not much left after paying off the monthly bills. She doesn’t have a car, and changes bus three times every morning to work. She got married last year, and the baby is on the way so she’s very stressed about the job and the finances. Husband is a hard worker, works three jobs, one regular during the week and two other jobs on the weekend. He’s a heavy smoker, to which I’m not surprised, on account of all the work he does on the side. They bought an apartment in a Tier 2 city last year before they got married, with their own savings, but I’m sure the parents contributed a fair amount as well. Parents on both sides got their own place, so at least they got that going for them. But her mother’s health is failing and she’s constantly worried about that. Oh the woes of being the only child ! They don’t entertain much because by gosh who has time. They prefer having hotpots with friends on a Friday evening in the alleyways behind their apartment building.
This is a typical young Chinese’s life. Same deal, put your friend’s name there you probably can’t tell who’s who.
Now you tell me which side of the two lives is easier?
China is getting there, but the price is paid via blood and sweat of this generation. The Aussies have already paid theirs. You don’t get to see it doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. What the Chinese are doing today is making sure their kids can live a somewhat easier life in their future.
Gravitas: China reveals new nuclear submarine ahead of Congress
Let’s try to relax and chill out. I don’t have too much to say today. Just that it’s now official, the USA is directly engaging the Russians directly in Ukraine. This is NOT going to end up good.
Just stating the obvious. Aside from that, well, have a good day.
Theme Song | The Green Slime | Warner Archive
The year is 1966. Rock on!
Americans are now fighting Russians in Ukraine directly!
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Ah, we knew this, but now it is clearly the case. Ugh!
As a parent, what did your child’s school do that made you say “you can’t be serious…”?
My son was in 5th grade and the school bully loved picking on him. You see, my son is a ginger. The most beautiful color of red hair grows from his head. He is and always has been very handsome, but that story is for a different day.
This bully tried and tried everything he could think of to get a rise out of my boy. He was taught that; unless he is backed into a corner, violence is not the answer. And so it went.
The bully kept on and kept on. My son’s best friend was a tiny bit of a boy who also wore glasses. As a last ditch effort and after making derogatory remarks about me, his dad and him, the bully turned around and sucker punched this small child, my son’s friend, right in the nose so hard, the kid’s glasses broke as did his nose!
It was on! My son had had enough of this bully and started whaling on him, and he wasn’t going to stop before he had annihilated this bully! Well, it took the principal, one male teacher plus the janitor to get my son off him.
I get a call to come pick him up; he was expelled. What? My mind was racing, the school would not tell me anything else. My son may be a lot of things, but a troublemaker he was not. I got to the school and one look at my son told me had been in a fight.
The principal told me in no uncertain terms that my son had “beaten a boy to a pulp, a pulp! The boy’s father wants to press charges!”
I asked my boy, “Is this true?” Yes, he nodded. And looked so ashamed of himself. I asked him to tell me what happened. After he told me, I now understood. I told the principal, “And what is the other boy’s fate? Is he expelled as well? No? Why the hell not? This boy that supposedly is a victim had been harassing, teasing, hitting, and numerous other things to my son all year long!
And bullies usually don’t just pick on one person, they pick on anyone who they think they can, so Where in the hell do you get off awarding the bully, encouraging his father to press charges against my boy, and punishing the one boy in the whole school that whipped his ass? What is wrong with you, don’t you know I could very well sue you right now? You had better figure out why this isn’t going to work, and please call me to let me know what the outcome is going to be.”
I took my son and marched out of the building. On the way to the car, I asked my son if he had learned anything from this. He said, “Yeah. Next time don’t hit him on school grounds!”
Kids are great! BTW, the school board decided they had made a mistake, and after two days of suspension, my boy went back to school. The bully cooled his jets and was quiet and sullen from then on, and my son was the school hero!
Large US debt raises concerns about more extreme US policies and possible instability
By Bi Xing Published: Oct 06, 2022 08:48 PM
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According to a US Treasury Department report released on Tuesday, the US’ gross national debt has surpassed $31 trillion, edging closer to the statutory ceiling of roughly $31.4 trillion put in place by Congress limiting the government’s ability to borrow, AP reported.
First, it’s clear that the US economy is in far less rosy shape than what many had forecast, with debt now trillions of dollars higher than its GDP, which was only about $23 trillion last year. Starting around 2013, US debt began to steadily outstrip GDP. After 2020, it jumped to about 125% of the year’s GDP, quickly soaring up to nearly 135% in 2021. As the rate of borrowing continues to climb, the unhealthy ratio of debt to GDP is expected to continue rising over coming years.
On the one hand, the Biden administration hopes to suppress inflation, which will likely drag down the US economy and employment. On the other hand, if the government chooses to stimulate the economy by increasing debt scale, investors will face greater pressure like rising capital cost, ultimately dampening economic growth prospects. It will be therefore difficult for the US government to balance economic recovery and runaway inflation, Bai Ming, deputy director of the international market research institute at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, told the Global Times.
“The US debt ceiling has been raised many times, which, to a large extent, will also have an impact on the US financial markets, objectively playing a negative role by adding fuel to the fire on top of interest rate hikes.”
Second, the total debt of $31 trillion also indicates that there will be more intense political combat on issues related to congressional appropriations in Washington, which means almost all major federal projects and initiatives will be difficult to deliver, affecting the country’s internal economic vitality and its external influence. In addition, Bai noted, the last time the US debt was this close to its ceiling, the government was nearly forced to shut down, and the increasingly high debt will also harm the basic operation of the federal government.
Third, an increasing debt burden will naturally raise concerns about the ability of the US government to service the debt, and even the possibility of extremes in future US internal and external policies, such as provoking volatility, unrest or even a war oriented foreign policy to shift or even find ways to renege on its debt, which has indeed happened in US history. This sentiment alone could potentially undermine the full faith and credit of the US.
The Congressional Budget Office earlier this year released a report on America’s debt load, warning in its 30-year outlook that, if unaddressed, the debt will soon spiral upward to new highs that could ultimately imperil the US economy, according to an AP report.
Moreover, the current level of inflation in the US should not be underestimated, coupled with high oil prices, the energy disputes between the US, Europe and Russia, as well as the Russia-Ukraine conflict and other complex international situations, the challenge of a $31 trillion national debt should be considered in the context of the risky crises currently facing Washington. If the persistent upward trend cannot be resolved, the attractiveness of the US as a global pool of capital and talent will be further eroded, hitting its strength in all aspects.
However, it’s important to note the reality that the US is accustomed to adopting various policies to deflect conflicts, leaving ordinary Americans and other countries to bear the ultimate cost. The US is not playing the role of a stabilizer in the global economy that a major power should do. Instead, it has repeatedly held others accountable for the consequences when it makes mistakes. As the birthplace of several post-World War II global economic crises, the US could once again become a chaos maker at the expense of economic development around the world, given that the debt as well as its economic and monetary policies all raise the possibility of another global financial crisis in the future.
Jackie Brown: Where’s the rest of the money?
How did you first know your cat was special?
When I walked into a cat room at the shelter and sat on the floor, sad, because my home cat just died the week before. I put my purse on the floor. this Ginger cat pranced up to me and immediately laid down on top of my purse. I thought he was telling me that he wanted to come home with me.
I visited this shelter 3 X and each time, he did the same thing.
When I brought in the cat carrier the third visit, I set it on the floor and he ran over to me and walked into the carrier. The shelter personal, said, “NO NO, you have to take him out so we can take the Success story “forever home” picture…so I took him out, held him, they took the photo. I set him back down on the floor and he immediately walked back into the carrier and said, “Ok, I am ready, take me to my new home.”
What are the chances of that? Special, I say !
I passed on a gorgeous 1 year old all white male with one blue eye and one gold eye, for an extraordinary, every day normal ginger that you see everywhere.
He is so worth it.
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Parmesan Sage Pork Chops
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Ingredients
1 1⁄2 cups breadcrumbs (I use Progresso garlic and herb)
Mix in bowl, bread crumbs, grated parmesan cheese, dried rubbed sage and grated lemon peel.
Then, on a plate put flour seasoned with salt and pepper; coat chops with flour.
Dip in egg.
Then dip in bread crumb mixture.
Melt butter and olive oil in a oven-proof skillet.
Brown chops until golden.
Transfer to oven and bake until meat thermometer says 150 degrees, about 20 minutes.
ROBIN TROWER – Alathea (1975 UK TV Performance)
Is the rest of the world going to have to choose between the US and the West or Russia and China?
The rest of the world has chosen.
They chose China and Russia.
Don’t worry the US still has 3 slave nations Germany, Japan and Korea. But they are certainly rethinking.
The US can always depends on it blood Anglo brothers though NZ is certainly rethinking. UK, Canada and Australia will sink with the US.
They still have France, Netherlands and Denmark but the rest are not a certainty.
All of Africa, All of Latin America, All of Asia and all of middle east are with China and Russia.
This is the real headache for the US, it’s vassal and its cronies. If you stay with that way where are you selling things to?
Have you ever kicked a customer out of a restaurant?
Managing and owning a restaurant for over ten years I’ve ran into many rude customers but you’d be surprised how much one loyal customer is worth to your company so I’ve always tried to make any complaint right when I can.
However there have been two occasions when I’ve kicked people out, I’ll name the most satisfying one.
So it was a Sunday afternoon right after church and we were pretty darn busy. A lady left her jacket on a chair and I hustled out the door to bring it to her. As I was walking out to find her I passed a couple that was probably in their 60s. They were on their way in. I found the lady quickly and I turned around to walk back in. That couple may have had a 15 second head-start on entering the restaurant but no more than that. As I came in behind them I noticed my host was cleaning off a table, so being my manager self I took the initiative and walked up to them and this is how the convo went..
Me – “Hi folks how many do we have today? Just us two?”
Them – “Well we’ve been waiting here for 10 damn minutes, is your food going to be any better than this service?”
Now I was in shock as I knew they had not been there not even longer than 15 seconds let alone ten minutes. I decided to put a smile on and deal with it nicely so I said..
Me – “I’ll get y’all taken care of, would y’all like a booth or a table”
Them – “You’re not going to answer my question with another question, now answer me is your food going to be any better than your service?”
I was getting frustrated but proceeded to say..
Me- “Follow me I’ll get you taken care of.”
As I sat them down at our nicest and most comfortably placed booth I asked:
Me – “What can I get y’all to drink”
Again he said –
Them – “Now listen you’re going to answer my damn question and not answer it with another question, now is your food going to be any better than this awful service?”
I gave it one last try and said:
Me – “Sir I am going to take care of you. What can I get you to drink”
Them – He then tried again to say “You don’t know how to not answer a question do you?”
As he said that I ripped his menu out from his table and told him to leave the store. He got all big and puffy as he started walking out and ran up to the counter demanding to speak to the manager. THIS IS THE BEST PART!
My cashier said yes sir and pointed to me he walked back over to me and told me I want to speak to the owner I am gonna get you fired. It was at this moment I knew I had won the life time achievement award for handling an awful customer and I came back with “yes sir absolutely” I gave him the owner’s phone number and he right there in front of what had now been a decent-size crowd of people standing at the host stand and my employees pulled out his phone with this smirk on his face and called the number.
My phone in my pocket began to ring and I answered with “Hi this is Brandon Howard, owner of Smokin’ Joes how may I help you?” Everyone literally started clapping and he walked out in a fury.
It was glorious.
Observations from visiting Seattle WA container port.
A few weeks ago c1ue described the situation in Los Angeles’ container port facility. I found it useful, since container shipping bottlenecks were blamed for shortages, inflation, etc. effects on the economy. Would that happen this year, too?
This past weekend I was in Seattle, and had a few spare moments to visit Seattle’s container port on Saturday. I was able to walk along the road that runs beside the wharves. I spoke with Coast Guard, container storage-lot, and (adjacent) ferry operations personnel.
Here’s what I learned:
The port can simultaneously handle about eight ships (my visual estimate based on dock length and number of cranes). Only one ship was at-dock.
There were two other container ships anchored within sight offshore.
There was no activity at the wharves. Monday through Friday operations only at this time.
Empty containers are being collected at dock-side. There are tens of thousands of them, arriving at a rate of about a thousand per day.
There is a 1000+ person waiting list to become a longshoreman. The jobs pay in excess of $100K. There is no shortage of willing workers.
The longshoremen are union workers. The union hall (admin office and training facility) is dock-side.
Traffic at the port is expected to increase rapidly as the holiday season approaches
The port’s road infrastructure is not designed to efficiently move traffic off the major highways and into / out of the port. Roadways cross at-grade, and non-port-related commute/commerce traffic directly impedes port traffic.
BNSF’s railroad container terminal is located right beside the wharves. It is divided from the wharves by a two-lane road. The rail yard was active on Saturday.
From those observations I infer that:
a. there isn’t a labor shortage that’s impeding traffic
b. there is currently plenty of excess ship-loading capacity
c. there are plenty of empty containers ready to go to Asia
d. the port’s major throughput bottleneck appears to be poor highway design
Russian authorities in Kherson Oblast announced that all schoolchildren will be evacuated to Crimea, to “spend their Autumn holidays.” In reality, this is, as the Germans called it, “Kinderlandverschickung.”
Officials from the region say that schools will stay closed until the 21st of October for security reasons, which also necessitate evacuation.
It is described in C.S. Lewis’ “Narnia”-series. This means, that heavy bombardment of the cities is expected, and they’re moving the kids out before it begins
HIGHWAY TO HELL With no off-ramp.
This is what’s being shared by the overwhelming majority of Russian channels. Possibly leaked from a source way up in the command chain – and/or about to be established in a position of power.
Not necessarily the road map ahead. But certainly reflecting a consensus. Don’t expect any confirmation from the MoD.
Destroying Ukraine's power supply nodes.
Hitting rail and road logistics hubs.
Destruction of tunnels and bridges.
Destruction of all buildings housing government offices.
Elimination of Ukraine's political leadership.
Diversionary operations to undermine military supply, training, intelligence, etc. hubs in Poland, Germany, Romania, the Baltics, England... It should be a massive attack.
Internationalization of armed forces, involvement of allies: Vietnam, North Korea, armed formations from CIS countries, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Africa, etc.
Procurement and supply of troops at the expense of military allies. Nothing more to be embarrassed about.
Strikes on military satellites of western countries over Ukraine.
Air defense, a no-fly zone over Ukraine, REB.
Destroying strategically important dams.
Carrying out a tightly controlled, detailed, and coordinated offensive operation.
Why does George Soros criticize the Chinese government so vehemently?
China hurt him badly when they intervened to support Hong Kong. Soros attempted to crash the HK economy in order to make a buck and failed. He did successfully crash Thailand though, sending an entire country into dire recession. Soros is a true bottom feeder who is willing to wreck peoples lives – entire countries just to make money.
Bryan Ferry & Robin Trower – I Put a Spell on You + Will You Love Me Tomorrow [1993]
Have you ever been amazed by your kids’ creativity?
My son built elaborate road systems – with masking tape! The roads wound through the dining room, kitchen and back room. I don’t know how many rolls of tape he went through (I bought it in batches of 20!), and I still need to refinish the wood floor, but it was worth it to see him create such amazing roads and play with his cars on them. Sometimes there were traffic jams and accidents, other times the roads were clear and race cars would speed down the highway, occasionally outrunning police cars. He had more fun with this than any track system I could have bought for him.
This is from a source whose information seems to have a track record of reliability:
I wrote yesterday that the hysteria around the “use of nuclear weapons by Moscow” scares me. Unfortunately, there are other indications that there may be something behind it. Not 100%. Still… (coming soon)
I would very much like to draw attention to this post and maybe pass it on. Especially for journalists. A colleague of mine (a military expert, a citizen of a NATO country who served in the international armed forces) has just informed me that a nuclear provocation in the south of Ukraine may occur in the coming days. I believe this report, for reasons that I will explain in more detail below.
As a reminder, at the talks between the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine and the NATO command at the end of August, the use of tactical nuclear weapons (TNW) or radioactive (“dirty”) weapons in the south of Ukraine was discussed, followed by an accusation against Moscow. This should provide for a really deep breakthrough on the front and facilitate the emigration of the disloyal population of the region to Kiev. For the US, this is a pretext to aggravate the situation and force the EU countries to unite within the framework of NATO.
This could happen on October 5-10. Malka or Pion launchers, which should be available to Ukraine, could be used to shoot down the ammunition. (This option was worked out by military experts). Kiev insisted on the provision of TNW, but the “partners” were afraid that the ammunition could be stolen and insisted on making several “dirty” ammunition using radioactive material available to the AFU, possibly from Chernobyl, under the guidance of NATO advisers.
My colleague insists that the issue of a strike is decided, he just does not know whether it will be TNW or “dirty” ammunition. He personally fears that NATO will increase the deployment, and the incident could lead to a real confrontation with the use of nuclear weapons. So he writes about everything for me, maybe also for someone else.
Why is information still plausible to me:
-My colleague is a very serious person who, due to his experience and career, could have a lot of knowledge and be involved in the preparation of decisions in the military field; -Some of my contacts in the EU independently told me that everything is being prepared for an event that will finally “kill” relations with Russia. One person wrote to me that this could be related to a nuclear threat;
-I know from open sources of persistent attacks on Zaporizhia NPP with the help of drones and long-range NATO weapons (probably with NATO calculations), i.e. the West and Kiev have undoubtedly been following a nuclear incident in the south for months; -Hysteria is spreading in the West about Moscow’s “nuclear preparations”, and the White House has even announced its possible reaction. Taken together, these could be preparations for this kind of provocation.
I really wish that the information was inaccurate or that a wild plan of a nuclear provocation was discussed, but canceled. But I see only one way to prevent this – by writing.
To anticipate: I will not only publish this text, but also send it to Russian diplomats known to me. Whether it will help, I do not know. Unfortunately, I have no evidence and no details, and I can not name the name of my colleague – he gave his word and obviously has to face a prison sentence for trying to prevent a tragedy.
So I can only inform about this threat. I urge bloggers and journalists to share this information. Those among your readers who have connections with foreign countries should try to convey this information to the public and the press.
1989 was a dark year for China. It began with the Tiananmen Square Massacre, which saw hundreds if not thousands killed. How do you think the Chinese government has been able to keep such a dark event hidden from the public for so long?
Please grow up to understand reality.
Tiananmen is totally another of the US “colour revolution” a CIA and state department job using the western media lie to the world. And the death number if any is due to the US interference.
The CIA efforts failed and like they say the rest is history. China learnt a priceless lesson and ensure that not a single CIA operatives get to China and with that the China miracle rise started.
Do not believe even a word from the western media narratives meant to demonize China and Russia.
What is something that needs to be said?
Do you know who this is?
x
This is Audrey. Possibly one of the most spoiled brats ever.
It was her 16th birthday, and her mum bought her a brand new Lexus. A LEXUS.
And do you know what she did?
She started crying… “I didn’t want my car now!” “It’s not even the car I wanted!”
And this is what needs to be said.
There are children out there who are literally sewing your shoes together for less than a pound/dollar a day. There are children out there literally forced to drink bacteria-infested water every day, because it is all they have. There are children out there who have to walk miles, for hours, sometimes even barefoot, to go to school for a few hours a day, only to end up working on a farm when they are older, because it is all they have.
And here’s Audrey, crying about how she didn’t get the car she wanted.
It’s a disaster, Audrey!
If the people of the world threatened to cancel China by pressuring their nations and private industry to not buy any Chinese products, would it be enough to cause China to cut ties with and stop supporting Russia?
First of all, China is not “supporting” Russia. China has friendly, cooperative, and mutually beneficial relations with Russia, as it has with most other nations in the world.
Why should China treat any country with disrespect like USA and NATO members do? China is not an arrogant, self-righteous prick.
Second, China does not condone the war in Ukraine. However, China is working hard diplomatically to broker peace between Russia and Ukraine, two countries with whom China has excellent relations.
Third, China is deeply woven into the global economy. Cutting off your nose to spite your face is really, really stupid.
Is it possible that CCP took strict measures to contain the virus because they wanted to prove that their system is better than the Western system?
The CCP took strict measures to contain the virus because they wanted to save the lives of their people. People’s lives are more important than money. That’s it.
I cannot understand why Westerners, especially US citizens, are always thinking in terms of a competition. “Better than them”. Can’t you think in terms of cooperation instead?
U.S. Purchasing $290 MM in “Nuclear Emergency” Drugs
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is purchasing a supply of the drug “Nplate” from Amgen USA Inc. Nplate is approved to treat blood cell injuries that accompany Acute Radiation Syndrome (ARS) in adult and pediatric patients (ARS).
Amgen, based in Thousands Oaks, California, developed Nplate for ARS with support from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the HHS Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR), as well as the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health.
BARDA is using its authority provided under the 2004 Project Bioshield Act and $290 million in Project BioShield designated funding to purchase this supply of the drug. Amgen will maintain this supply in vendor-managed inventory. This approach decreases life-cycle management costs for taxpayers because doses that near expiration can be rotated into the commercial market for rapid use prior to expiry and new doses can be added to the government supply.
ARS, also known as radiation sickness, occurs when a person’s entire body is exposed to a high dose of penetrating radiation, reaching internal organs in a matter of seconds. Symptoms of ARS injuries include impaired blood clotting as a result of low platelet counts, which can lead to uncontrolled and life-threatening bleeding.
To reduce radiation-induced bleeding, Nplate stimulates the body’s production of platelets. The drug can be used to treat adults and children.
Nplate is also approved for adult and pediatric patients with immune thrombocytopenia, a blood disorder resulting in low platelet counts. Repurposing drugs for acute radiation syndrome that also are approved for a commercial indication helps to sustain availability of the product and improves healthcare provider familiarity with the drug.
BARDA is using its authority provided under the 2004 Project Bioshield Act and $290 million in Project BioShield designated funding to purchase this supply of the drug.
Amgen will maintain this supply in vendor-managed inventory.
This approach decreases life-cycle management costs for taxpayers because doses that near expiration can be rotated into the commercial market for rapid use prior to expiry and new doses can be added to the government supply.‘
As an American who has lived abroad, what do you dislike the most about the US?
I am 43 and have lived in NORTH AMERICA (both US and Canada), SOUTH AMERICA (Colombia), EAST ASIA (South Korea, Japan), NORTH AFRICA (Morocco), EUROPE (Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Hungary, Spain)
My dad traveled a lot so I grew up in a fairly international atmosphere, then I got a job that took me all over the world. My lifestyle has led me to have a rather international way of seeing things, to get to the point I don’t really feel that American and when around Americans I feel out of place.
Here is a list of things I dislike.
CONFORMISM: A lot of people in the US lack intellectual curiosity, America is a nation of consumers, not of thinkers…. A lot of Americans think life resumes to working to pay bills, saving for retirement, having kids, and running the rat race destination nowhere!
EXPENSIVE EDUCATION AND HEALTHCARE: I had a cavity that was killing me in the US. I waited a week to go back to Colombia (I lived in Colombia at the time) so that I could see a Colombian dentist. The Colombian dentist did just a SUPERB JOB much better than any dentist I have ever used in the US, and it costed me 40 bucks to get my tooth fixed. In America it would have been around 800 dollars or perhaps thousands.
TAXING AMERICANS ABROAD: There are only TWO countries around the world that tax their citizens on worldwide earned income. The US and Djibouti in Africa. Djibouti does not enforce it unlike the US. (Ironically the US claims Djibouti is a dictatorship that infringes on human freedom)
CHARACTERLESS AMERICAN CITIES: Too many suburbs, too much sprawl, everywhere you look you notice the landscape is dotted with cookie cutter suburbs, crappy generic malls, massive billboards advertising crap, and gigantic parking lots. American cities lack excitement. (There are only three cities in the US…. NY, San Francisco, and New Orleans. The rest is Cleveland!)
RACE: Living abroad you realize that hate is universal, and while you might find racists and bigots here and there around the world, in America “Race” is a business! Race is such a monumental thing in America that it is almost illogical. In other countries race is a thing you think about once or twice in the span of a few years and for a few seconds, but in America race permeates and defines literally EVERY ASPECT OF THIS COUNTRY.
TOO HOMOGENEOUS – COOKIE CUTTER: This is linked to the characterless, corporate like – Home owners association loving, ambiance of the country. From coast to coast everything is corporate and looks exactly the same. Restaurants are the same, coffee shops are the same, clothing stores are the same, foods are the same, people dress the same, architecture looks the same. All that sameness has an effect on the otherwise diverse demographics, who overtime become mind numbingly homogeneous.
FOOD IS CRAPPY, GENERIC IN TASTE AND HEALTHY OPTIONS EXPENSIVE: How is it possible that in Colombia or Spain or Morocco or Vietnam I can buy some amazing fresh organic produce anywhere for a couple of bucks… but in America I have to go to whole foods and spend a good amount of money in healthy vegetables so that I can be sure they are free of GMO’s? Not only that, in other countries, food varies based on the restaurant. In America food tastes alike all over.
YOU NEED TO DRIVE EVERYWHERE: Not sure why intelligent urban growth is not an option here. A nation this rich could afford to build efficient public transportation no? I was reading that a high speed train between Boston – NYC – Philly – Baltimore – DC would generate billions in revenue, cause co2 decline in the region, and decongest roads in the north East. The issue is corporate lobbies in DC won’t let it happen.
TOO MUCH POVERTY: Not only monetary but intellectual. Ignorance of the world, prejudices, stereotypes of other cultures are ok and the norm. Americans have no damn clue of how the world works and live in an alternate planet called the American bubble! On this planet, all people do is work and work and work, many with crappy wages, shitty jobs, tons of people struggle and the government is absent or hardly cares. All the while Americans convince themselves or firmly and naively believe they are LUCKY because they live in the greatest nation on earth.
PEOPLE WALKING AROUND IN PAJAMAS, OR SOCKS AND SANDALS: Make at least a fucking effort to look like you took a damn shower! Do you really need to go out in pajamas or socks and sandals like a fucking nasty troglodyte?
EVERYTHING THAT IS WRONG WITH THE WORLD TODAY EITHER CAME FROM AMERICA OR IS EXACERBATED BY AMERICAN MEDIA: Political correctness, Feminazism, Racialism, Identity politics, toxic divisions, extreme conservatism, extreme liberalism, cancel culture, shitty flag waving patriotism.
THE INTELLIGENT DO NOT CALL THE SHOTS, THE SHOTS ARE CALLED BY THE DUMB, LOUD, OBNOXIOUS, GROSS ON SOCIAL MEDIA! The louder and dumber you behave on Twitter, the more followers you get, hence the more power to change things your way you get because spineless politicians will jump on your boat in order to get votes.
LACK OF GLOBAL UNDERSTANDING, IGNORANCE AND BACKWARDNESS ACCEPTED AS NORMAL: Americans self congratulate on things like having a woman vice president, or having a mixed race president and think it is groundbreaking. Ironically half the planet has already had females in charge for decades, and all sorts of people with all sorts of skin colors leading! Argentina already had transgender women on tv back in the 70s! In the US people think it is so forward because we finally have Ru Paul Drag race.
GUNS GUNS GUNS AND THE IDIOTS THAT LOVE THEM: I tried teaching in CO but I gave up after realizing what mess our education system is. During a conversation with a fellow teacher she showed me her loaded gun. She proudly stated… “This is my girl, she keeps me safe!”. I do not know how safe I would feel to have my child go to school with an armed teacher, one day she goes crazy and there goes my child and his classmates! And this is blue state Colorado! Imagine the red ones! TOO MANY GUNS…. which takes me to the next point.
TOXIC MACHO CULTURE COMPARED TO OTHER RICH WESTERN NATIONS AND EVEN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: From the college “bro” that thinks wearing pink is gay; To men desperate to belong to pointless stupid fraternities where they can hang out and get wasted with other “dudes”; To punks that think their assault rifles make them manly; To resentful pricks that want to shoot everyone because women won’t pay attention to them; To dickheads running the show that think it is their rightful place as old straight males to dictate whatever everyone else should do! This country breeds entitlement! It is overflooding with a bunch of pseudo-alpha male, “John Wayne” wannabes; absolutely convinced they are exemplary and wise beyond words because they are men!
— Notice the contributions of straight men in this country in the last decade : Mass shootings; right wing groups like the Proud Boys, the Alt Right and their douchebag hairstyles— This level of entitlement in straight men is surprisingly rare in many places abroad (Unless you are in the Middle East.) Granted that is changing quickly but for a so called developed nation, it is terribly backwater!
Chinese DEFCON
Unlike the Defense Readiness Condition (DEFCON) used by the U.S. Armed Forces, which the U.S. forces were placed at DEFCON 3 when Egypt and Syria launched a joint attack on Israel.
] used for defense only. It’s divided into four levels:
(4) Normal – Adjust the PLA on duty, combat readiness inspection, strengthen patrols, enhance border, maintain normal communication.
(3) Mobilization – PLA on duty in standby state, strengthen communications, the implementation of reconnaissance, restricted access to military facilities, traffic, ready to expand the army, preparing for combat readiness, ready to set up positions.
(2) Training – PLA on duty to work overtime, strengthen communications, strengthen reconnaissance, expansion of the army, ready to mobilize reserves, prepare combat readiness, set up fortifications, combat training.
(1) Combat Ready – PLA on duty work uninterrupted, strengthen reconnaissance, emergency expansion of the army, mobilization of all reserve forces, ready to use ordnance, fortification position.
The Chinese Ministry of Defense will refer to the scale of foreign military operations’ impact on China, and the possibility of China being attacked to determine the levels of combat readiness. Different regions of the PLA (TCPLA
), as well as the different PLA Forces can have different combat readiness conditions.
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China’s Combat Readiness Condition was raised several times to level 1 readiness:
China’s Xinjiang Kashi City, two consecutive violent terrorist incidents, the PLA implement martial law, and its combat readiness level was raised to a combat readiness.
US Navy EP-3 reconnaissance aircraft collided with a Chinese F-8II fighter jet in the South China Sea. PLA readiness level was upgraded to a combat readiness.
– The southern theater-level alert, the Navy South Sea Fleet, the Rockets and Air Force into the pre-war state; strategic nuclear submarine force into the first alert.
Holy SH*T, they just admitted US is ‘boots on the ground’ in Ukraine | Redacted w Clayton Morris
Combine yeast, sugar, and warm water in a large mixing bowl or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook.
Let the yeast proof for about 5 minutes, until the mixture is foamy.
Add kosher salt and flour to bowl. Mix with your hands or a sturdy spatula, or mix on low speed with your stand mixer until all flour is incorporated and dough has just started to pull away from the sides of the bowl. For best results, mix until no dry bits of flour remain. Please note: This is a relatively slack (wet) dough, so it may seem a bit shaggy and sticky at this point. Don’t worry – it will become more smooth and elastic as we go!
Lightly flour all sides of your dough (don’t mix the flour in – it’s just to keep the dough from sticking!) and turn it over inside the mixing bowl to coat with flour on all sides. Cover with a clean tea towel and let rise on the counter for about 1 hour, until dough has doubled in size.
SHAPE THE DOUGH & FINAL RISE (30 MIN):
When dough has risen, lightly flour a large cutting board.
Tip the dough out of the bowl and onto the cutting board. DO NOT PUNCH THE DOUGH DOWN – you want to keep all those nice air bubbles intact so you have an airy, delicious loaf of bread. (Note: If the dough is sticking to the bowl a little bit, wet your hand with a bit of cold water and gently separate the dough from the bowl to get it all out).
Sprinkle a bit of flour across the top of the dough, then begin shaping it into a round loaf. Pull each corner of the dough in towards the center (like you’re folding an envelope) and repeat until the dough feels tight and begins to resist your folds. Flip the dough over and tap it into a round loaf.
Flour a proofing basket or a medium bowl and place your loaf into it seam-side down. Cover with a tea towel and let rise another 30 minutes or so while you preheat the oven.
HEAT THE OVEN :
While bread is rising, place an empty dutch oven (with the lid on) in your oven and heat to 460 degrees Fahrenheit.
BAKE!
When the oven is hot, you’re ready to go! Use oven mitts to pull the dutch oven out and remove the lid.
Lay a piece of parchment paper down on your counter or cutting board (optional – it makes transferring the bread easier!).
Tip your bread dough gently out of the proofing basket onto the parchment paper. Make sure the seam side is up this time – this is what will create those beautiful cracks on top of the bread!
VERY CAREFULLY (without burning yourself!) use the sides of the parchment to lift the bread up and place it into the hot Dutch oven.
Put your oven mitts back on, place the dutch oven lid back on the pot, and slide the whole thing back into your hot oven.
Cook bread for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, remove the lid from your dutch oven. The bread should be taller, crusty, and very lightly browned. Continue cooking the bread, uncovered, for 10-15 minutes more until the bread has deepened in color and you have a beautiful brown crust.
When bread is done, use oven mitts to pull the pot out of your oven.
Use a long spatula or the corners of your parchment paper to lift the bread out of the dutch oven and onto a cooling rack. Let cool for at least 30 minutes before cutting into it.
Bangkok Hilton – The Execution
What countries support China’s One Party Rule?
Why are people concerned about China’s governance of their country? Be it 1 party or not.
Democracy calls for mutual respect & coexistence with the different. We do not tell our neighbors how to manage their home, do we? Same for governance of a country. To force western values onto others who has a different situation & culture is DICTATORSHIP.
Why is the West paranoid (China-phobia) about Communist China? Vietnam is also communist. Why no paranoid about Vietnam?
Haha. Right away, we know US propaganda is at play.
Why USA bad-mouths communist China & communist N Korea? But not communist Vietnam. Because China is rising. It is militarily & economically challenging USA’s #1 status in the world. Not only does Vietnam not challenge USA, USA needs Vietnam’s geographical value as a stepping stone to create troubles for China.
N Korea also has geographical value to USA. But USA already has S Korea. That is why USA must bad-mouth N Korea too.
See, nothing scary about communism. Everything to do with US paranoid (China-phobia) & dictatorship.
Like religion, propaganda manipulates people’s mind. Look: all cultures have creators. All creators made the same sun, rain, humans, animals, plants etc. It is the same creators. Different wisdom will develop diff religious practices & myths. You use flour to bake cake. I make noodle. Diff wisdom. Diversity. But some religion propagates their creator is the true one. Others are false & evil.
Let say it was USSR who won over USA, ie communism/Marxism won over democracy. Then democracy will be propagated as evil.
A smart Quoran added an adjective “communist democracy” to settle an argument.
Communism & democracy are 2 different things. But we can put the 2 together by using an adjective eg communist democracy or democratic communism.
Communism/Marxism, socialism & capitalism refers to distribution of public fund/assets. Socialism is less extreme as communism/Marxism. Most western countries in Europe & Canada today are socialist who have a generous welfare system. In capitalist USA, a Harvard research revealed that 20% of Americans owns 80% of US assets. Among the 20%, 1% owns 25% (a lot). 20% of the middle-class owns 5%. 40% of the bottom poor owns zero. In some cases, the middle-class is worse than the bottom poor because their income may not pay off their debts ie negative asset while the bottom poor has zero asset.
Democracy has 2 parts: election & spirit. Democracy spirit calls for …
1, for mutual respect & coexistence with the different. We do not tell our neighbors how to manage their home, do we? Same for governance of a country. To force western values onto others who has a different situation & culture is DICTATORSHIP.
2, for compromise. Today’s political parties fight with each other for votes. Oppose for the sake of opposing. Never think for the welfare of the country as a whole. Each party acts like a dictator.
Not many countries practise 100% democracy. Hence, democracy generally refers to election.
All western socialist countries have elections. They are called socialist democracies. USA is a capitalist democracy.
A communist country can also run elections & should hence be called a communist democracy. Those who are less communist but have elections should thus be called socialist democracy eg Chile, Venezuela & more.
In China, the ruling party is called Communist. But they have evolved to have democratic elections. Regions below provincial level have general elections. Provinces or above have representative elections. At the same time they practice socialism with Chinese characteristics (ie mix of Marxism & capitalism). Therefore, instead of “communist China”, China should be called “socialist China” or socialist democracy today. Westerners have not updated their knowledge & think China is like a bible that never changes.
Why not just call “China”, without an adjective? Like we call USA, UK without an adjective.
We learn not to label people by religion, skin color or ethnicity, eg Muslim, black or Jewish. Can we do the same for a country?
Who call China a dictator despite China has election? The one who breaks democracy spirit ie the US-led West.
Democracy calls for respect & coexistence with the different. We don’t tell our neighbors how they should manage their home, do we? Same for governance of a country. To force western values onto other country who has different situation & culture is DICTATORSHIP.
If a country is a democracy, but the leader is not pro-USA, USA will say their election is fraudulent, or the leader is corrupted, Then declare the elected govt is illegitimate. Then incite a coup & put a pro-USA person as legitimate govt eg 2011 Egypt. 2014 Ukraine & more. … It is god of USA who chooses the leader for other country & not elected by local people. … US democracy = dictatorship
For countries that do not have western styled elections, all leaders are called dictators & evil & must be overthrown by USA. Except communist Vietnam who has geographical value to USA. Haha
… it is US benefits. Nothing to do with communism or democracy/dictatorship.
A Harvard survey that has been conducted regularly for the past 10 years shows that over 90% of Chinese approve their leader. It is not up to westerners to rate other countries if they truly believe in democracy. Democracy calls for respect & coexistence with the different. We do not tell our neighbors how to manage their home, do we? Same for governance of a country. To force western values onto other country who has a different situation & culture is DICTATORSHIP.
Democracy also calls for compromise. The 2 US parties oppose for the sake of opposing without compromise for the welfare of the country. USA looks more like a dictator by definition.
To be fair, China did have times when they used dictatorship. China’s 1st revolutionist who used democracy to overthrow the Qing emperor, Sun Yat-sen, was a dictator after revolution. Why? He (& his successor Chiang Kai-shek) has to unite a country that was divided during revolutions. Same for other revolutionist eg Mao Zedong. The only difference between Sun & Mao is the slogan. Sun shouted democracy. Mao shouted Marxism/communism.
France’s path to democracy also mixed with dictatorship eg emperor Napoleon.
To summarized: today’s China has elections & freedom. It is not a dictator. But because China is rising, the West is worried & thus propagated hatred & fear toward China. That is all.
Guest FREAKS OUT News Hosts With TRUTH About Pipeline Attack!
OPEC Snubs Illegitimate Biden; Cuts Oil Production 2MM B p/Day
The Organization of Petroleum Export Countries (OPEC) met in Vienna, Austria and agreed to CUT oil production by two million barrels per day, despite strong input from the United States seeking an increase in output.
A group of some of the world’s most powerful oil producers on Wednesday agreed to impose deep output cuts, seeking to spur a recovery in crude prices despite calls from the U.S. to pump more to help the global economy.
OPEC and non-OPEC allies, a group often referred to as OPEC+, decided at their first face-to-face gathering in Vienna since 2020 to reduce production by 2 million barrels per day from November.
Energy market participants had expected OPEC+, which includes Saudi Arabia and Russia, to impose output cuts of somewhere between 500,000 barrels and 2 million barrels.
The move represents a major reversal in production policy for the alliance, which slashed output by a record 10 million barrels per day in early 2020 when demand plummeted due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The oil cartel has since gradually unwound those record cuts, albeit with several OPEC+ countries struggling to fulfill their quotas.
Oil prices have fallen to roughly $80 a barrel from more than $120 in early June amid growing fears about the prospect of a global economic recession.
The production cut for November is an attempt to reverse this slide, despite repeated pressure from U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration for the group to pump more to lower fuel prices ahead of midterm elections next month.
The White House said on Wednesday that ‘it’s clear’ the OPEC+ oil alliance ‘is aligning with Russia’ after it announced a massive production cut of two million barrels.
It stands to be a big boost for Moscow, despite the West’s efforts to choke off oil and gas revenues as a source of cashflow to fund Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.
Meanwhile American drivers could face another increase in gas prices in what could end up being a massive setback for the Biden administration.
Wait, what the F*CK did Bolton just say about Julian Assange?
Where is the world going in 2023?
The world is dumping the US dollar in droves in 2023. The world will avoid the western financial institutions in 2023. The world will move firmly and securely into a multi-polar world where the US and its few partners will merely be just one of them.
The world is going into a post US dominated world. The world is moving away from a western centric model in 2023. The Ukraine war is the final nail in the coffin for the US being the world’s biggest hoodlum.
In other words the world is going into a better place.
Butch DeConcini attacks Tony Soprano
https://youtu.be/nRNpOuVGh4U
SVARGA LOKA´s MUSINGS FROM GERMANY
Guest Post by Svarga Loka
1) Masks
It is getting old and boring to write about masks after all these years and months, but I figured that my observations might be interesting. I flew to Germany from Boston a few days ago to visit my family. This is the first time in 1.5 years that I did not have to get a Covid test either direction to fly. Masks were not required from Boston to Ireland, and only about handful of passengers out of 250 or so chose to wear one. Of note: the line for security at Logan was INSANE. It wrapped all around the perimeter of the terminal, which I have never seen before.
I am not sure if numbers of travelers are up, or if number of TSA officers are down. There were signs advertising that the TSA is hiring those (something along the lines of “Do a job that makes a difference”). The plane for the transatlantic flight was completely full. Since I was traveling with children, our entire party did not have to go through the side scatter scanner or whatever technology they use nowadays, which is what always happens when you have children with you. On other flights in the past when I was by myself, I always opt out of that.
To my surprise, when I got to the connecting flight from Dublin, Ireland to Germany, there were signs and announcements that masks were mandatory for the entire duration of the flight. In the waiting area, just like on the prior flight, only about 2-5% of the passengers wore masks. When boarding, all of them put their masks on, except me and my children. Our boarding passes were checked and we entered the plane. On the plane, again, multiple announcements that masks are required. I simply pretended to only speak Kroatian or something and I ignored the announcements. Of note, I carry a simply piece of paper with me, written by myself, that states “Mrs. Svarga Loka is not allowed to wear a face covering for health reasons.”, signed and stamped by myself.
I briefly considered to tell the flight attendant that I have an exemption and show her my paperwork, but I decided to just wait and see. None of the flight attendants ever said anything. Clearly, they have been instructed to not confront any non-masked passengers. Meanwhile, of course, I could feel the piercing, angry looks by the other passengers, but I have learned to not care.
Next on the journey: The train ride. Again, I knew that there is a mask mandate in the trains. There were signs that you will have to pay a 150 Euro fine if you are caught maskless and will not be warned and given a chance to put on a mask. We sat down and waited to see what happened. Other passengers giving us the evil eye again. A group of four, about 60 years old talked about how their friend or sister currently has Covid, that they are not as scared as they used to be any more, given that they are now vaccinated, but “no, they will not take the fourth shot any more”.
The conductor shows up and says “If you don´t have an exemption, please put on a mask immediately”. I tell him that, yes, I do have an exemption and give him my ticket along with the 4 pages of mask exemption. Then, he was OVERLY friendly, told me that I can feel free to put my luggage next to the other seats and the kids could lie down to sleep and wishing us a pleasant ride. My suspicion is that he was extremely relieved that I did not give him a hard time, had the right paperwork and therefore did not cause any trouble. The fact that he is asked to be an enforcer of rules he may or may not agree with must be the worst part of his job, and he never knows when someone gets confrontational.
Later, I figured, I should show my unmasked face to as many people as possible, so that other people may feel emboldened in the future. Even though I did not have to pee, I walked the entire length of the train toward the bathroom, so that other people would see me. I was kindof hoping that anybody would confront me, but nobody ever did. Whether it made anybody think, I will never know.
2) Cost
Naturally, I talked to my parents about the energy situation here. On the news, yesterday, they talked about a small business owner of a butcher shop, who needs to cool his sausages and cold cuts 24/7 and his electricity prices have gone up 10fold and he does not know how to pay the bills, but he went wrong by asking the government to fix it.
My parents live in a house that was built in the 1960s, poorly insulated. In the basement, there are two 1500-L oil tanks for a total capacity of 3000 liters. In a typical 12-month period, they go through about 2500 L. Last year, they paid 70 cents per liter, and right now it is 1.60 Euros (US $ and Euro are roughly at parity right now, which makes calculations easy). The high point for oil costs was over 2 Euros per liter in April 2022. So the total annual heating costs for my parents went from well under 2000 Euros per year to about 4000 Euros. I asked them what they will do when oil doubles in price and my Dad said “They can´t do that!” We shall see.
You have to realize that the typical income and cost of living in Germany are very different from the US. Certain items are much cheaper here and some are much more expensive.
I looked up the income for certain professions (per month, before taxes)
Hairdresser 1800
Car mechanic 2800
Nurse 3200
Software developer 5000
Physician 8000
The average governmental retirement benefit is 1600 Euros.
All these monthly salaries are before taxes. You will have to subtract roughly 50% for social security contributions, taxes and health insurance, so that the net pay is about half of what is listed above, although the lower incomes have no or little taxes and social security payments.
So if you know that a nurse might have about 1600 of “spending money” every month, you can easily see that it would be difficult to absorb an increase in heating costs by, say, Euros a month.
For retirees it is even more difficult. I do not want to disclose the income of my parents, but let´s just assume that they are average. Then, my Dad would get 1600 of monthly social security payment. My mother never worked and always stayed home with the children, so she gets nothing (unlike in the US, where someone like her who has never contributed would get 50% of her husband´s social security retirement). They could live on the 1600 Euros per month, but the increase in heating costs as described above from 2000 Euros to 4000 Euros would be a real hit for them.
If my Dad would die, it would leave my Mom seriously poor, because surviving spouse benefits are 60% of the benefits of the deceased, so 60% of 1600 Euros per month, which makes it very difficult to pay rent, food, electricity, water and heat.
As far as food costs are concerned, food has always been much cheaper in Germany than in the US, but I have noticed a marked increase in the last 6 months. A yoghurt went from 40 cents to 60 cents. A pound of apples from 50 cents to 80 cents. A pound of carrots from 30 cents to 50 cents. Meat is always much more expensive than vegetables, a pound of chicken breast now costs 5 Euros.
On the second day of our trip, we went to the local water park/swimming pool. It has a wave pool, lazy river and three slides. Think a smaller version of Great Wolf Lodge, but without the hotel. We always go to that water park when we come here, so I know when it is crowded and when not. Usually, it is really, really empty on school days in the morning, as expected. On weekends, it is crazy crowded, and on school vacation weekday, it is somewhere in between. Note that fall school vacation started this week, so when we went there on a weekday, I expected it to be at least moderately crowded. It was DEAD! Even emptier than I have seen on schooldays. I even said to the lady at the cash register that I was really surprised how empty it was. She answered that she is, too, but that people are probably travelling.
I doubt it. I think people are saving money and foregoing things like this water park, which cost me 21 Euros for the family ticket and 12 Euros for 3 fries. Total fo 33 Euros that many families do not have lying around any more.
Next day, I went to the local ice cream store. It is owned by an Italian couple who come to Germany selling ice cream during the season from May to November and spend the winters in Italy. They serve the most delicious Italian gelato, 45 flavors of it. I ordered our ice cream to go, and then told them that their ice cream is one of our favorite things to do when we are in Germany and that we live in the US. Essentially, I told them, we are flying half way around the world, in part for their ice cream, which made them smile. Then, I asked them how business was this year? Are they feeling it, that people are not flush with money any more? They said that, no, this summer was actually quite good because the weather was very hot, but right now, this month, is when they are noticing a marked downturn. I told them that I also think that it is NOW that people are starting to cut back.
Then, the wife asked me: “So what is it like in the US?”
How do you answer that? What IS it like in the US? In 2-3 sentences? (Please write your answers below)
I decided not to say “We are waiting for the apocalypse. Should be any day now”, but that, well, we are not as worried about our energy supply there, but (I decided to say something they can relate to) that it is strange to see that people appear to be hurting for money, and yet it seems to be impossible to find employees, across all types of businesses. The husband responded that he noticed that, too, that it was always hard to find waitstaff and restaurant help, but that now, every hairdresser, car repair shop and shoe store seems to not be able to find workers. Why is that? He didn´t know.
On Sunday, I am planning to take our kids to the local amusement park. For German income levels, it is expensive, at 30 Euros per adult and 25 Euros per child. If my theory is correct, it should be completely empty there.
My theory is as follows (it is not anything new, and not rocket science either): There was always that segment of the population which has barely enough money to make ends meet and put food on the table. Going to that water park was never an option for those. But NOW, we are experiencing for the first time since the economic boom of the 1950s-60s that those that were solidly middle class (nurses, accountants, small business owners etc) starting to be really worried about not being able to pay their bills, cut back on unnecessary expenses. They will not TELL you about it, even if you know them well, but you can see it by the emptiness of these businesses.
That waterpark had all sorts of Corona restrictions over the last 2 years. First, no mask but you had to leave your name and address for contact tracing. Then, masks but no contact tracing. Then, only vaccinated allowed. All of that time, to my surprise the pool was very crowded. Now, The corona measures are gone, and the pool is empty for economic reasons.
Mission accomplished by those that want nothing but to harm us by any means possible.
The Sopranos – Silvio And Adriana Go For A Ride
It’s all a lie.
According to Google, Australia is the most free country on Earth. What can I do in Australia that I can’t do in the USA? This is not an attack.
You can see a boob with a nipple on TV.
If you need an abortion you can get one, you can also get contraception so you don’t need an abortion, all through Medicare and the PBS.
You can believe in whatever religion you want, or none, without social stigma.
You can go to bed with any other consenting adult you choose.
You can vote (and will at least turn up) in elections without obstacles being put in your way (unless you a currently serving a prison term of five years or more.)
You can also get and education or healthcare without being bankrupted, shot or denied because you can’t pay. As a side note I was flabbergasted when I realized that the victims of shootings in the US had to pay for their own care, I mean WTF!
You don’t have the right to incite hatred or violence, but then that supposed right impinges on other peoples more basic freedoms to live their lives free from persecution.
And yes you have to prove you are a responsible adult with the capacity to properly store a firearm as well as a sane reason to want one in order to own firearms.
You see we are grown ups like most of the rest of the world and believe that with rights come responsibilities; not toddlers who think they should be allowed to do whatever they want and hang the consequences.
We also don’t think the rights of the few to be mega-rich are more important than the rights of the majority to have their basic needs met.
We also think if you are old enough to get killed for your country you are old enough to have a drink if you want it.
You see we have freedom of thought having not being indoctrinated at a young age to believe we are both the best and freest in spite of all the evidence to the contrary. And we use this freedom to try and ensure we have what we actually need not get sold the pup of mythical freedom just because we can buy a handgun or automatic weapon.
Are Xi Jinping and his CCP regime losing trust and control over Chinese citizens?
Please!!!
This is China we are talking about
The Country is so layered that you have various levels of leadership all the way to Xi Jingping
Most of the Citizens care primarily about
Food Prices
Energy Prices
Consumption Prices
Cost of Money
Public Transport
Entertainment & Consumer Demand
Healthcare
Banking
Communications
The CPC has ensured that the above things are very comfortable for the Average Chinese Citizen.
Nobody gives a damn about Free Speech or Democracy or any of that stupid nonsense. These are concepts that the Average Chinese look at with scorn and contempt
The Chinese loves inequality, the competition , the fight to rise to the top and always acknowledge that Society is made up of Superiors and Inferiors. Thats 5000 years of Chinese Culture.
Not a Country that looks too kindly upon the theory that everyone is equal and a frocked homosexual with zero talent can be someones boss simply because of the homosexuality
Yes People are irked – Power Cuts, Covid Lockdowns etc
However most of those resolutions are made by Provincial or District Level committees and decisions are made by them too. So Anger if at all there is any will be directed towards the Regional Leaders rather than Xi jingping.
however the fact that People express their annoyance is proof that the People expect CPC to do something and most of the time CPC delivers near instant results.
Chinese Citizens have fullest faith in Xi Jingping and the CPC
SEINFELD | NBC Guy’s Daughter Molly | The CLEAVAGE Stare
What did your boss ever say in the office that caused you to resign?
I worked for a one- man gardening business. I came to work 5 minutes late on a Monday and was told I would lose an hours pay. On Tuesday, I was working miles from home and we worked an extra hour to get the job done, rather than coming back next day.
On the Saturday, the boss was going on his first holiday in more than 20 years., because he had never had anyone to cover his job’s. Friday night arrived and he had to pay me. He stopped the hour for Monday, but did not pay me my hour extra for the Tuesday, saying he does not pay overtime. I accepted my wages, wished him a great holiday, and left. He was flying to Spain at 11.00 hrs on Saturday . I phoned him at the airport, to let him know I was leaving and would not cover his contracts! That was his holiday gone, lost flights/ hotel etc. He was very unhappy, but as I told him, you treat your employees unfairly, this is what happens. I started with another company on the Monday.
BOMBSHELL – CLASSIFIED RAND Corporation Executive Summary Research Report January 25, 2022: Weakening Germany, Strengthening The U.S.
JONATHAN BANKS | Madrigal Electromotive | Better Call Saul
https://youtu.be/IWsUEMgD5ls
Movie on China’s evacuation of overseas Chinese leads National Day box office, shows national pride and confidence in turbulent world
By Zhang Han Published: Oct 04, 2022 01:59 PM
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One movie that took the lead in both the box office and the viewers’ ratings for the National Day holidays was Home Coming. The movie tells a story of two unarmed Chinese diplomats delving into a rebel force-controlled area in a fictional war-wrecked African country to lead 125 Chinese citizens safely back home, and it has sparked a strong sense of national pride and confidence amid a turbulent world experiencing major changes.
Some moviegoers may have entered theaters expecting a Warrior Wolf-like movie, but were offered the cruelty of war and the most difficult part of diplomatic and consulate work in contrast to the traditional impression that diplomats are “clean and decent.” However, the two main characters’ deep love for their country and their people, strong sense of responsibilities and the greater group of Chinese diplomats in the new era they represent, touched many viewers.
The movie, starring veteran actor Zhang Yi and idol Wang Junkai, not only showed how the two diplomats, one seasoned and one new, protected their people with courage and wisdom, but also depicted different roles of common people, including stranded Chinese compatriots and locals in the fictional African country with whom Chinese people stationed there have developed deep emotional bond.
Some diplomats engage in fierce wars of words with their foreign counterparts, some are stationed abroad and interact with local communities on behalf of China, some have their life in danger in a war-hit country, but they all speak and work for the interests of China and the Chinese people, read one comment on social media platform Sina Weibo.
“There are not many cool action scenes, but thrilling in a sense that the story is in a fictional setting but not really fictional,” another Weibo user posted.
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x
Home Coming prompted many people to recall Chinese Embassy’s evacuation of more than 30,000 Chinese nationals from turmoil in Libya in 2011. Behind this sentence were many heroic stories and unswerving efforts of many Chinese diplomats. Many news reports have revealed some details of the eye-catching evacuation, and people are curious of how those touching moments can be translated into screen language.
A viewer, who gave the movie 5/5 on Chinese rating site Douban, recalled his personal experience 11 years ago of being evacuated safely from a different country “because of holding a Chinese passport.” “We are the lucky ones because we are well protected, because we have a strong motherland,” the viewer said.
The movie is not perfect in terms of some parts of the storytelling and acting, but it struck a chord among viewers at the timing of National Day holidays, Shanghai resident Gu Sen told the Global Times on Tuesday after watching.
The stronger the bond between Chinese overseas and local people in Numea (the fictional African country), the more tragic when the rebellion pushed friends’ fate onto two different paths, one to home and the other to homelessness and even deaths, the moviegoer said.
A comment liked many times on Douban reads, “Chinese passport might not get you anywhere you want, but it can always bring you back home.”
A Beijing-based movie critic who preferred not to be named told the Global Times on Tuesday that the “industry cold winter” has encouraged many insiders to make quality main melody works and such genre has been leading National Day holidays box office for many years.
The success of Home Coming not only proves big theme can be delivered by down-to-earth roles and stories, but is also attributed to the growing national pride and confidence Chinese have in their country at a time when unrest occur every so often worldwide, the critic said.
Home Coming has raked in 600 million yuan ($84 million), topping the National Day holidays box office ahead of newly released movie Ordinary Hero’s 90 million yuan and Steel Will’s 38 million yuan.
A bunch of “kids” or otherwise ignorant Americans are flooding Quora with all sorts of leading anti-China questions. It’s giving me indigestion. AH. I just cannot wait until they find other things to preoccupy their lives with. Maybe like scrounging around for bits of coal, or fighting over a moldy turnip.
Here’s today’s installment. It will be short and quick.
What is the greatest display of accuracy with a gun you’ve ever seen from someone at the firing range?
I hate to get into the middle of this one as there are some real stories of legendary marksmanship told in here however my story is about me, so fuck it here it is. An honest to god no shitter and witnessed by 50+ people.
In the mid 80’s I was a genuine real life gunners mate guns with the United States Navy stationed onboard the USS Mount Hood AE-29. We were just finishing up a rare world cruise and the ship was allowing a “Tiger” cruise for the last 3 days. Google it but essentially it’s where the Navy lets any male over the age of 14 come aboard the ship and live with you and do what you do in the Navy for the last three days of the cruise. Think dad‘s, grandfather’s, uncles, brothers etc. It’s really a neat thing as a lot of times the “Tigers” are veterans themselves. Even WW II vets in some cases. We picked them up in SanDiego and for 3 days, and they ride the boat back to our home port of San Francisco.
I’m happen to be the senior enlisted GMG onboard at the time also serving as the ships armorer (in charge of the armory) and my GQ (battle station) was mount captain of the forward gun mount. We’re going to do a big gun shoot for the Tigers so we tape a huge man overboard flare to a 55 gallon drum and chuck it over the side then pull out about 3 miles and shoot at it with the ships main guns. So here’s my dad up in the forward gun mount, watching his son be the mount captain shooting at this 55 gallon barrel 3 miles away and I can see he’s really digging watching me up in the mount captains chair, sound powered phones on my head barking orders to the gun crew and shit. Very cool moment in hind sight.
We expend about 12 rounds so the Tigers can hear and feel the big guns go BOOM but we don’t hit the barrel directly obviously, because that would be bullshit, however the shrapnel from the 27lb. shells exploding all around it (because we’re fucking accurate boys) tears a few holes in the barrel but it doesn’t sink. It floats upright now about 1/2 sunk still spewing flame and smoke as the man overboard flairs are about the size of small SCUBA cylinder.
Now it’s against maritime law to leave anything floating in the ocean that could be seen as a navigation hazard. So the call comes down from gun control into my headset in the gun mount for me to send somebody to the armory and draw a weapon and report to the bridge wing to shoot the barrel so it’ll sink and we can be on our way.
Except my dad is with me so instead, I take him to the armory with me, as I’ve got the keys to it already and if anybody is going to shoot the barrel, it’s gonna be me in front of my dad……right?
Stay with me, this is awesome. So I’m in the ships armory with my dad and he’s looking at all the weapons I can pick from and he looks right at the rack of (2) M- 60’s we have and asks…can you take that??? For those of you that don’t know what an M-60 is, think John Rambo and that handheld, belt feed machine gun. 7.62 (.308) caliber he shot up that town with. I mean I could have taken a M-14 rifle, .45 cal pistol or a shotgun but noooo, not me. I grab the crowd pleaser and a 100 round belt of ammo for my dad to carry and off to the Starboard bridge wing we go.
We open the bridge wing hatch and who do I see sitting in his chair but the captain of the ship himself, who takes one look at me and the M 60…….and my dad carrying the 100 rnd. belt of ammo and shakes his head and says “only you Carpenter. you’re the only one that would think to bring that fucking thing up here”.
Now all of the tigers are out on the bridge wing with the captain as they’ve all assembled there for the shoot. So I lock and load the 60 and lay it up on the bridge wing railing and I’m all ready to let it eat. Then the captain,,,,realizing that this could look bad for any number of reasons, comes to his senses and right before I pull the trigger says “Single shot only please”. Now that particular weapon platform doesn’t have a single shot option…..at all. I’ll have to just squeeze it and then let it go instantly to try and get just 1 shot out of it as it’s built for full auto all the time. No selector switch, single fire, 3 round burst anything. It also doesn’t have any kind of scope or even a rear site of any kind, just a small little blade out on on the end. In short, It’s made for everything BUT accuracy and single shots. We’re easily 200–300 yards away from the barrel and I ask him if he could possibly move the ship a little closer in order for me to have a better chance but he skipper isn’t having any of that changing course and speed crap. He just mean mugs me and sais “just shoot the damn thing”. I mildly start to protest but here’s these 50 or so Tigers staring at me along with my dad and I realize I’m gonna have to just give it the old “Kentucky Windage” try so I dig in, get behind it and draw the best bead I can.
Now mind you this is in the open ocean boys and I’m 75’ above the waterline and the ships rolling and pitching as we’re doing about 6 knots and the 300 yard barrel is rolling and pitching as well although (mild seas) and it’s basically fucking hopeless. I say a quick silent prayer and it’s a fucking miracle. I somehow manage to squeeze off 1 single round. All you could hear was the faintest “ping” with no splash and the thing instantly sinks. All the while still spewing flame and smoke. I mean it disappears so fast if you blinked, you missed it. Like a magic act.
The entire bridge wing goes crazy!!! All these Tigers are high fiving me, the captain, the XO,,,,, everybody. It all happened so fast, I still can’t believe I hit it but I’m gonna take the win and walk out obviously. As I go to safe and clear the gun, the Captain asks me if I thought I could manage to burn the now 99 rnd belt up over the side without shooting the ship. I assure him I can, he nods his head and I proceed to burn up 99rds of full auto 10’ away from all these guys who really proceed to go crazy now. I mean it’s fucking pandemonium on the bridge wing. Then,,,,,as all the empty brass and links are piling up and as the smoke clears….all the noise is fading away, I happen to see my dad in the middle of the crowd collecting slaps and claps galore all while beaming at me like he never had any doubt that I wouldn’t hit it. It was like I had practiced that shot a hundred times and somehow he was responsible for it all in that brief 15 seconds of time
I just cradled the gun in 2 hands, collected a few hand shakes from several WW2 vets and walked off like I had done done exactly that. There was nothing left to say.
You know that was 35 years ago and my dad is 87 now. He still finds a way to tell that story once or twice a year to new unsuspecting folks that haven’t heard it in a way that still makes him beam at me……at least when he gets to the good part. All these years I never had the heart to tell him that it was just shit ass luck. Maybe part of me wants to believe there was a pinch of skill involved………..but I doubt it.
There’s lots of “better” feats of marksmanship in here to be certain. But how many young men will ever get the opportunity to even take a shot like that, under those circumstances with a belt feed full auto machine gun, on a US war ship in the open ocean and then pull it off ……in front of their dad?
Cheers boys.
John C.
Pork Goulash
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A lot of people think one-pots all taste the same. Not true! Especially with this recipe. Its blend of spices, pork, and cream sure taste special to me.
What You’ll Need
2 tablespoons butter
2 1/2 pounds boneless single pork loin, cut into 1-inch cubes
2 onions, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons paprika
1 teaspoon dried dill
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 can (10 ounces) condensed beef broth, divided
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 cup heavy cream
What to Do
In a large skillet, melt butter over medium-high heat and add pork, onions, and garlic. Saute 5 minutes, or until pork is no longer pink on outside. Stir in paprika, dill, salt, pepper, and all but 2 tablespoons of beef broth.
Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 20 minutes. In a small bowl, whisk together remaining beef broth and cornstarch; pour into skillet and stir until sauce has thickened.
Slowly add cream and stir until warmed through.
Notes
Don’t overcook this once you add the cream because the sauce will separate. And then there won’t be any sauce left for spooning over some hot cooked egg noodles.
Will China be the new global power, despite everything that happened?
China is already a global power. Its strength is economics.
If by “new global power” you mean the sole superpower. The answer is no. It will not.
I am not sure what you have in mind about “everything that happened”. China has been on the growth and development road for a long time. US tried to contain it without success. This will continue. You will hear more and more bad things said about China. But China will be unperturbed and continues to pursue its own goals.
If you are shaken by the talks about the impending collapse of its economy, citing its zero-Covid policy and problems in the property sector. Don’t be. They are all nonsense. As for its Covid policy, no need to go further than to check the statistics of infections and deaths. As for the property sector, just know that it was triggered by the Chinese authorities to rein in the debt addiction in the industry. It is paying the price now to ensure that the sector will be strengthened and be able to grow without the dangers of financial over-leveraging. Give it 3 years.
Know that despite these problems, the Chinese economy is probably the strongest among the major countries. It had not poured untold quantities of cash to save the economy from Covid – it was not needed – and caused the inflation that are raging in the US and the rich countries. Notice the governments are helpless, leaving everything to the central banks to raise interest rates and sell their bond holdings. Politicians are engaged in their favourite sport of blame-game, while the people suffer.
Stock markets will drop another 40% as a severe stagflationary debt crisis hits an overleveraged global economy
NEW YORK (Project Syndicate)—For a year now, I have argued that the increase in inflation would be persistent, that its causes include not only bad policies but also negative supply shocks, and that central banks’ attempt to fight it would cause a hard economic landing.
When the recession comes, I warned, it will be severe and protracted, with widespread financial distress and debt crises. Notwithstanding their hawkish talk, central bankers, caught in a debt trap, may still wimp out and settle for above-target inflation. Any portfolio of risky equities and less risky fixed-income bonds will lose money on the bonds, owing to higher inflation and inflation expectations.
Roubini’s predictions
How do these predictions stack up? First, Team Transitory clearly lost to Team Persistent in the inflation debate. On top of excessively loose monetary, fiscal, and credit policies, negative supply shocks caused price growth to surge. COVID-19 lockdowns led to supply bottlenecks, including for labor. China’s “zero-COVID” policy created even more problems for global supply chains. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent shock waves through energy and other commodity markets.
What Guo Wengui is doing is challenging and trampling on US law, but why is the US tolerating him?
let me tell you about iran.
My father was a low level police officer when the Shah of Iran ( a puppet of USA) was the official leader of Iran.
when the revolution came – my Father fled with the others – I was 5–7 years old. I still remember my mother asking my father why we were fleeing our motherland, and his reply was that many officials who had committed atrocities will be executed.
my mother asked him why – “WE” were fleeing our mother land? and his reply was – Although he had not commited any atrocities – the revolution will not have the time or the patience to differentiate between the good and the bad. – so we all left.
you know – my father applied for American VISA – and he was rejected – because he was not important – then we fled to India because my father’s sister had married an Indian and we lived and settled in Delhi first then to Kolkata and then to Gangtok – Sikkim.
later I grew up and studied in China and then moved to the USA – that is a different story for another day, today is my father’s day.
Much of my Father’s life in India was spent selling dried fruits in Delhi then Kolkata and then in Sikkim, he left everything in one day and we arrived at India in just the clothes and two suitcases – our house, our land, our friends everything was left in one single day.
do you know why my father was not granted a USA VISA – he was too moderate – too by the book – too kind, he would not indulge in extra judicial killings – too soft on the revolution – too attached to his homeland – too patriotic.
but all those who killed others at the drop of a hat – who did not mind violating extra judicial killings etc – all of them got USA – VISA because they were considered assets who could be used against the State of Iran later.
My Father always told me – We are Iranians – no matter where we live – our identity is Iran – today we may not have a favorable wind but the winds will change and we will go back to Iran. We cannot hate our motherland just because we are paid some bribes to hate our motherland. we cannot hope for the destruction of our motherland because our motherland is our identity and we cannot allow our identity to be destroyed.
he also told me – The USA has no Identity – its history is just a few hundred years old and no matter how hard it may try it cannot create an identity as solid and firm as our – ASIAN civilization and IDENTITY – so never hate or attempt to destroy our IDENTITY. – the USA attempts to do this because it cannot match the history or identity of our past so it wants to bring all down to its present level by recreating definitions of identity etc.
in my belief Guo wengui is just one of the many stooges that the USA has used in the past – similarly you will find many such iranian stooges who work for the state department.
Can you guess what car this is?
Car interior 1…
Car interior 1
Is Shenzhen really as bad as Hong Kong people think it is?
I lived in Hong Kong for a year and Shenzhen for about five years.
I found Shenzhen to be more spacious and relaxed than Hong Kong.
In Hong Kong I found that there were a few incredibly rich people, many struggling and too many poverty stricken people.
In Shenzhen there were many rich people, a large and growing middle class and the poorer people there lived much better than the poor in Hong Kong. Housing is generally better, more modern and with more room for people to live in. Hong Kong has a more vibrant tourist industry, but that’s about it. It’s much better for people’s living standards to live in Shenzhen now.
U.S. Continues to Build Military Presence in Europe – Because Europe Must Be killed
A decision was made inside the United States last year to “kill off the competition” and as a result, Europe must be industrially killed. War was the means chosen; Ukraine is the theater in which it is to take place.
Today, 12 US Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle fighter-bombers, as seen in a file photo above, are expected to arrive in the UK.
In total, there are already fifty (50) F-35s.
For months, the world has watched as the U.S. and its NATO vassals, take deliberate steps to engage Russia in direct war. Russia has not taken the bait . . . yet.
The reasoning behind the militant actions of the U.S. and NATO escaped most folks. Sure, the whole “protect democracy” nonsense has been spewed endlessly and the dupes in the general public believe that, but slaughtering hundreds of thousands of people through war is never a good option.
So what is the __real__reason for the whole blow-up?
Well, Ukraine has a well-earned reputation for being the most corrupt nation in Europe and likely, the world. Politicians launder “foreign aid” money through Ukraine, then filter it back to their own pockets through non-governmental organizations and then into shell corporations they control. So that’s a reason the powers-that-be want to keep Ukraine in existence; it feeds their cash.
Child sex trafficking is another reason. Ukraine is a literal hub for kidnapped children being forced into the sex trade for deviant, degenerate, perverts that infest the so-called “elite.” The upper classes of society have become so evil, so filthy, that rich perverts enjoy sexing children. So that’s another reason the rich and powerful want Ukraine in existence.
Cocaine and Heroin trafficking throughout Europe and into the USA is very lucrative and Ukraine is so saturated with illicit drugs that even their President has a reputation for being a coke-head. So that’s another reason the rich and powerful want Ukraine around.
But while these activities and the cash they generate are sizeable, something much, much, bigger had to be in the works.
I have found out what that “something” is.
Europe Must Be Killed
The real goals of the US in Ukraine are the destruction of Europe and its economic leader: Germany.
Why?
Let’s describe the world situation at the beginning of 2022 (immediately note that I give inaccurate figures to do justice to MMI and @Spydell_finance, but the approximate figures do not affect the disposition itself or the conclusions):
China: GDP: $16.9 trillion. Industrial sector ~30.5%, or $ 5.1 trillion. Export economy 15.3% with an export degree of 1.35 (easily interchangeable, technologically not advanced, but massively price-elastic, requires low profit margins of producers and not expensive labor, as well as agglomeration of producers).
Germany: GDP $4.2 trillion USD. Industrial sector ~27-30%, or $ 1.1-1.3 trillion. 35% with the world’s highest export ratio of 2.07 (only Japan has an even higher ratio of 2.49). That is, exports are irreplaceable, technologically complex and therefore VERY HIGH MARGINS)
The EU as a whole. GDP 17 trillion USD (suddenly !!! more than China, or at least the same amount). Industrial sector ~25%, or $4.1 trillion. (suddenly a little less than China). Only this branch of industry, as already written above, is a high-tech sector, that is, a marginal area that allows rapid positive capital growth.
US. GDP $22.9 trillion USD. However, the industrial sector accounts for only 18%, or $ 4.1 trillion. (Suddenly less than China and just as much as the EU)!!! And the financial sector is over 20%, as is the entire service sector with 77% of the economy. But even this industrial sector accounts for only 7.7% of exports and has an export development index (ECI) of only 1.57 (just like China).
To go back to the beginning of the year, the accumulated imbalances in Quantitative Easing (QE) by the federal reserve are accelerating inflation and could bury the entire dollar system.
The end of QE and the beginning of the Fed’s balance sheet reduction would guarantee the collapse of the services sector, the near-death of the financial sector and a large part of venture capital IT as zombie companies with negative revenue margins or without cache flow.
In order to survive, the United States urgently need to develop the real economy, i.e. industry.
However, since the world has become global, no new markets are foreseen. The system cannot conquer Mars and then sell to Martians, so therefore it will have to grow on intensive investments, which means negative capital work. Since aggregated venture capital investments on intensive investments do not pay off, which has been obvious since 2009, the U.S. is staring at an economic dead end.
So what to do?
Kill the competition.
To get more industry, the US has to get it from somewhere it already exists. Let’s look at each possible candidate for the US to grab industry:
Option 1: China.
But, firstly, China is a subject (sovereign), secondly, the Chinese and US economies are too intertwined, and thirdly, the development of an industry comparable to China means low profit margins, long payback periods and falling personal incomes. And a decrease in personal income is a revolution in the USA. The option is not suitable.
Option 2: EU.
Fits perfectly, no subjectivity and high margin business.
However, the business is so profitable because it is very technological, i.e. it has a high and long entry threshold. It takes decades of development, thousands of patents and the construction of a team of specialists.
But the patents, specialists and companies do not belong to the EU.
The US has to force these companies in their entirety to move to the USA, just as, for example, low-margin production migrated to China in the 90s.
To do this, you need to create unbearable conditions for the economy: war, hunger and cold.
News 1:
German industrial production fell by 1.8% in the first 8 months of 2022 due to sanctions against Russia, and the German chemical-pharmaceutical sector (high gas dependence) recorded a decrease of 10.7%.
News 3: Explosion at branches of Nord Stream 1 and 2.
To those watching closely, all these things are links in a single chain of events: The EU must be destroyed. At any cost.
It doesn’t matter how many people get killed, there’s $4+ TRILLION dollars a year (of real industry) at stake.
It doesn’t matter how many cities or even countries get wiped out, there’s $4 TRILLION dollars a year (of real industry) at stake.
People will breed, so they can replace whatever war dead take place. Cities and countries can be rebuilt. But the $4 TRILLION a year (of real industry) absolutely, positively, must — and will — come to the US.
Period. Full stop.
This war is about money. $4 TRILLION a year in real industry. Anyone who gets in the way of that will be steamrolled.
This is the main goal of the USA in Ukraine.
Bad Girls: Movie Posters of Dangerous Dames, Sizzling Sirens, and Gun-Toting Gals
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The US reputation has gone down to hell, 80% of the world population has a negative view on the US regime, the US society, the US animalistic style of democracy, human rights and freedom. Why has the US been notorious in the world?
To be fair, it’s the US politicians that are animalistic and barbarian in their conduct and behavior. From my dealings and working together with Americans, I estimate at least 40% of them are fair-minded and reasonable people. And these 40% too hate their politicians, regardless of their party affiliations.
The question is then; why are US politicians so notorious? My observation is that:
American politicians are absolutely useless and impotent in terms of the country’s development and progress. They are absolutely incapable of contributing to the growth and development of USA. The achieve of the country has been the outcome of research, study, innovation and investment by scientists, academics, thinkers, investors, etc. Just think about any field of achievement that America has made significant process; can you name a politician who was leading it, contributing directly to it, etc?
So, American politicians are basically parasites, sucking the money/benefit out of the ‘democratic systems’ they prey and dependent on. And once they manage to get on a juicy position, they will fight against the next parasite in order to remain in that sucking position for as long as possible.
Once the American politicians get on to some juicy position, their benefit is far, far, far beyond the official perks and incomes. They, again regardless of Democrat and Republican, will think of ways and means to create ‘legislations’ first to make life difficult for the productive segments of the society. Then, depending on who (after failing to content with the complexity of the myriad legislations) offer more bribes, will once again fight with other parasite to formulate/pass more legislations to make life a little easier for the bribe givers. Of course the in-position parasitic politicians are hugely rewarded in the form of bribes/kickbacks, etc
This is the reason American politicians and their families are enjoying lifestyles way, way, way beyond what their official perks/salaries could afford. Again, both Democrats and Republicans are playing the same game, they simply take turns at the expense of regular Americans.
Until and unless regular Americans wake up to this reality and overthrow the regime structure in Washington, their country will continue to go down the sewers of history.
F-35s Struggle To Fly! Frustrated South Korea Says Its US-Origin Stealth Fighters Marred By Defects
South Korea’s F-35 stealth fighter jets, which it touts as a critical component in deterring North Korean threats, appear to be experiencing severe maintenance challenges.
The ruling People Power Party’s Rep Shin Won-sik presented Air Force data to demonstrate the issues the South Korean Air Force is encountering in making F-35s fully operational. He mentioned that the fighters were grounded 172 times during the timeframe.
He also noted 62 cases where the jets could fly but couldn’t complete specific missions. Shin revealed the information, highlighting the need for the South Korean military to exert significant effort in introducing and maintaining such cutting-edge weaponry.
“Grounded fifth-generation fighters could carry out missions for only 12 days on average last year and 11 days in the first half of this year,” Yonhap reported. In contrast, throughout the course of the 18 months, the older generation aircraft F-4E and F-5 were grounded 26 and 28 times, respectively.
However, the South Korean Air Force stated that the F-35As achieved their goal operation rate of 75%, which indicates that sustaining the readiness posture was not a problem.
The service admitted difficulties obtaining parts for defects in the newly launched model. It further noted that it would work to obtain them as soon as possible from the manufacturer.
It is important to remember that Australia made headlines when it intended to spend an astounding AUD14.6 billion ($10.87 billion) to maintain its Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II fleet until 2053.
US Secretary of state Brinken has issued a report calling China “a country with high risk of genocide”, is it a groundless charge? Does the US have the right to criticize China on the issue of human rights?
It is a completely groundless charge. Note that the US has never presented a single shred of credible evidence to support its allegation. Why not?
In the age of smartphones, there should be plenty of hard evidence.
For the US to criticize China on human rights is rich, for example:
recall the native American genocide
recall the Japanese-American internment
recall the use of Agent Orange on Vietnamese civilians
the US has mass incarceration — over 2 million Americans incarcerated, mostly for minor offences, for the highest incarceration rate in the world
the US has mass surveillance — recall PRISM as exposed by Edward Snowden
abuse and torture of Muslims at Guantanamo Bay
Pot. Kettle. Black.
China Warns U.S. of Grave Consequences if Ukraine Joins NATO
LOL. China warns the United States?
China warned the United States it could face severe consequences—including the prospect of nuclear war—if it allows Ukraine to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), drawing the 30-member alliance into the country's conflict with Russia.
The Dodge Corporation Make Al An Offer He Can’t Refuse | Married With Children
Solomon Islands Insisted China References Be Removed Before Signing US-Pacific Partnership Declaration
Foreign Minister Jeremiah Manele explained why his government was going to refuse to sign the pact.
October 05, 2022
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Solomon Islands agreed to sign an accord between the United States and more than a dozen Pacific nations only after indirect references to China were removed, the Solomon Islands foreign minister said Tuesday.
“There were some references that put us in a position where we’ll have to choose sides, and we did not want to be placed in a position where we have to choose sides,” Jeremiah Manele told reporters in Wellington.
His remarks represented the first time Solomon Islands has publicly acknowledged it had initial concerns about the agreement and expressed why it had a change of heart.
The accord was signed in Washington last week, with U.S. President Joe Biden telling visiting Pacific leaders that the United States was committed to bolstering its presence in the region and becoming a more collaborative partner.
The administration pledged the U.S. would add $810 million in new aid for Pacific Island nations over the next decade. The summit came amid growing U.S. concern about China’s military and economic influence in the Pacific.
What do you think about the Chinese government killing and imprisoning CIA spies in China?
I think its lovely. They should do this more often.
To teach people that treachery and Treason don’t pay.
If you don’t like your country enough to betray your country, then move to another country and denounce your country rather than to work with a foreign power whose aim is to destabilize your country effectively backstabbing your government.
And for the Americans they catch snooping around in China? They would be doing a good job killing them too. They will learn to mind their own business and stay in their country.
So I fully support Americans dying in China at the hands of the Chinese. These people have destabilized so many countries in the past 70 years. Any spying American deserves a bullet to the skull.
The stories that I have heard of are gruesome. Absolutely horror movie material. China does not play. -MM
Can you guess what car this is?
Mystery car 3…
Mystery car 3
China is an increasingly important global player, but its human rights record is often criticized.
Can the CCP improve human rights within China without destabilizing the government?
China’s human rights record is criticized from the Western perspective, based on the West’s value system. Why should China adhere to the West’s value system? What makes the West’s value system so much more desirable or righteous?
It’s not as if the West’s value system has a spotless record. This is a system that has supported waging endless wars around the globe causing unimaginable human carnage.
This is a system that has supported sanctioning dozens of countries causing enormous human suffering.
This is a system that has censored the West from presenting the other side of the story in the Russia-Ukraine crisis.
This is a system that has supported colonialism in Africa and Asia, enslaving millions of people, and robbing their countries of their natural resources.
In the United States, people are denied shelter and health care and protection from gun violence and systemic racism. Early in its history, USA slaughtered millions of indigenous people to steal their land.
China has a different value system based on thousands of years of history. China respects and honours its ethnic minorities, all 55 of them. China protects its citizens, even from themselves. China places a very high priority on harmony, safety and stability.
You don’t have to agree with China’s value system, but you cannot deny that it works extremely well. The Chinese people are happy and prosperous and safe. The Chinese people are very proud of their country’s progress.
Can you guess what car this is?
Mystery car 4…
Mystery car 4
Finally, The victims of imperialism dare to stand up in solidarity against the USA
London | The global oil producing cartel OPEC on Wednesday (Thursday AEDT) agreed to cut output by 2 million barrels a day, driving up prices and creating a new economic and political headache for the West.
OPEC’s decision came just hours after the European Union had signed off a new Ukraine-related sanctions package on Russia that included a price cap on Russian oil....
Mahathir Mohamad of Malaysia blasts Australia over US nuclear submarine deal
Singapore | Australia’s planned acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines has made armed confrontation in the South China Sea more likely, according to veteran Malaysian politician Dr Mahathir Mohamad.In an exclusive interview with The Australian Financial Review, Dr Mahathir said an arms race in the region was inevitable after the creation last week of the AUKUS pact as part of Canberra’s decision to buy nuclear-powered submarinesHe also fears the agreement could prompt China to match its claims with actions in the South China Sea.“This agreement indicates you openly regard China as a possible enemy and that, if it comes to the crunch, you might even go to war. Just imagine what war would do to south-east Asia,” Dr Mahathir said.His comments follow those of Malaysia’s Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, who on Friday expressed concerns about the new security partnership.According to a statement released by his office, Mr Ismail Sabri told Prime Minister Scott Morrison that Malaysia feared AUKUS could spark a nuclear arms race in the Indo-Pacific.This would be the opposite of the peaceful coexistence on which AUKUS participants say the agreement is pinned.Dr Mahathir, who dealt with three Australian prime ministers during his long first stint as Malaysian PM from 1981 until 2003, said Canberra had again proved that Australia identified as a European nation that just happened to be located away from Europe and the United States.‘Australia looks west’“Australia keeps talking about the region, and about being much closer to the region. Yet, every time there is a crisis or problem, Australia looks west. It seeks friends from the West, not from the East,” he said over Zoom from his office in Kuala Lumpur.The 96-year-old said the AUKUS agreement, and Australia’s role in particular, had changed the dynamic.“You have improved your capacity to fight. Even if these submarines are not carrying warheads, they will introduce nuclear capabilities to the region,” Dr Mahathir said.“So you have escalated the threat. This will elicit a response from China.″China until now has permitted boats to traverse the contested waters of the South China Sea. This could change, Dr Mahathir said.“China has declared the South China Sea belongs to China. But it has not stopped ships sailing through, even warships. So far, China’s claim has just been a statement; they have not really been carrying out what they claim is their right to do certain things.“If you bring in military weapons in the region and the alliance is supplying them with weapons, I think that will elicit some reaction.″Dr Mahathir, who fronted a coalition that won an historic victory in 2018 only to lose it due to infighting less than two years later, noted the Malay states had co-existed with China for centuries before the Federation of Malaya was formed in 1957.The bilateral relationship has its frictions. Along with Brunei, the Philippines and Vietnam, Malaysia claims sovereign rights that clash with China’s view that it owns 90 per cent of the South China Sea.Like other claimant states, Malaysia’s preferred forum for dealing with this territorial issue is the Association of South-east Asian Nations (ASEAN). Since 2002, ASEAN has been working with China to develop a code of conduct for the South China Sea.The long process shows no sign of resolution but for many involved, the process itself is successful if it keeps armed conflict at bay.‘We ASEAN countries like to solve problems through negotiation.’— Mahathir Mohamad, former Malaysian prime minister“We ASEAN countries like to solve problems through negotiation,” Dr Mahathir said. “Malaysia is a small country; we are aware of that. We value China because it’s a big market for us, and they value us because they get some raw materials from us.“We have to live next door to China, and we can’t be confronting them.” In Dr Mahathir’s view, Australia and the US are trying to push ASEAN states to take sides.“You keep on trying to persuade ASEAN to confront China, to be unfriendly. We cannot do that. The United States has a lot to contribute to south-east Asia. But so has China,” Dr Mahathir said.In his view, the idea of a balance of power, “that groups of countries are a threat to other countries” is “an old kind of thinking”.He believes AUKUS is the latest sign the West has not adjusted to the rise of Asia.“In the past, you were very comfortable because Eastern countries did not have the capacity that Europe and America had, but now many Eastern nations – Korea, Japan and China – have almost the same capacity as you.“They want to send out rockets to outer space and so on. Let them do that. Compete there; that doesn’t hurt us. But don’t disrupt our market.”
Spring is here and the grass will need to be mowed soon. But if you have this sweet DIY retro mini lawnmower that looks like a vintage automobile, the job will surely be a satisfying one.
Forum user Jeep2003 chronicled his “Mini Push Mower” build project over at Old Mini Bikes (which itself is a fascinating community of people who ride and build mini motorcycles). The mower uses a two-stroke engine from an old snowblower and the deck comes from an old smoker grill. The tail lights are fantastic!
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Diamond Dredging Vessel – MV Pacific
I really enjoy these scale models of ocean vessels. Here’s a particularly nice and detailed one. From HERE.
With the sole possible exception of the great Sun Tzu and his “Art of War”, no military theorist has had such an enduring philosophical impact as the Prussian General Carl Philipp Gottfried von Clausewitz. A participant in the Napoleonic Wars, Clausewitz in his later years dedicated himself to the work that would become his iconic achievement – a dense tome titled simply “Vom Kriege” – On War. The book is a meditation on both military strategy and the socio-political phenomenon of war, which is heavily laced with philosophical rumination. Though On War has had an enduring and indelible impact on the study of military arts, the book itself is at times a rather difficult thing to read – a fact that stems from the great tragedy that Clausewitz was never actually able to finish it. He died in 1831 at the age of only 51 with his manuscript in an unedited disorder; and it fell upon his wife to attempt to organize and publish his papers.
Clausewitz, more than anything, is famous for his aphorisms – “Everything is very simple in war, but the simplest thing is difficult” – and his vocabulary of war, which includes terms such as “friction” and “culmination.” Among all his eminently quotable passages, however, one is perhaps the most famous: his claim that “War is a mere continuation of politics by other means.”
It is on this claim that I wish to fixate for the moment, but first, it may be worthwhile to read the entirety of Clausewitz’s passage on the subject:
“War is the mere continuation of politics by other means. We see, therefore, that War is not merely a political act, but also a real political instrument, a continuation of political commerce, a carrying out of the same by other means. All beyond this which is strictly peculiar to War relates merely to the peculiar nature of the means which it uses. That the tendencies and views of policy shall not be incompatible with these means, the Art of War in general and the Commander in each particular case may demand, and this claim is truly not a trifling one. But however powerfully this may react on political views in particular cases, still it must always be regarded as only a modification of them; for the political view is the object, War is the means, and the means must always include the object in our conception.”
On War, Volume 1, Chapter 1, Section 24
Once we cut through Clausewitz’s dense and verbose style, the claim here is relatively simple: war-making always exists in reference to some greater political goal, and it exists on the political spectrum. Politics lies at every point along the axis: war is begun in response to some political need, it is maintained and continued as an act of political will, and it ultimately hopes to achieve political aims. War cannot be separated from politics – indeed, it is the political aspect that makes it war. We may even go further and state that war in the absence of the political superstructure ceases to be war, and instead becomes raw, animalistic violence. It is the political dimension that makes war recognizably distinct from other forms of violence.
Let us contemplate Russia’s war-making in Ukraine in these terms.
Furthermore, Putin – contrary to the view that he wields unlimited extralegal authority – is rather a stickler for proceduralism. Russia’s government structure expressly empowers a very strong presidency (this was an absolute necessity in the wake of total state collapse in the early 1990’s), but within these parameters Putin is not viewed as a particularly exciting personality prone to radical or explosive decision making. Western critics may claim that there is no rule of law in Russia, but at the very least, Putin governs by law, with bureaucratic mechanisms and procedures forming the superstructure within which he acts.
This was made vividly apparent in recent days. With Ukraine advancing on multiple fronts, a fresh cycle of doom and triumph was set in motion: pro-Ukrainian figures exult in the apparent collapse of the Russian army, while many in the Russian camp bemoan leadership which they conclude must be criminally incompetent. With all of this underway on the military side, Putin has calmly ushered the annexation process through its legal mechanisms – first holding referendums, then signing treaties on entry in the Russian Federation with the four former Ukrainian oblasts, which were then sent to the State Duma for ratification, followed by the Federation Council, followed again by signature and verification by Putin. As Ukraine throws its summer accumulations into the fight, Putin appears to be mired in paperwork and procedure. The treaties were even reviewed by the Russian constitutional court, and deadlines were set to end the Ukrainian hryvnia as legal tender and replace it with the ruble.
This is a strange spectacle. Putin is plodding his way through the boring legalities of annexation, seemingly deaf to the chorus which is shouting at him that his war is on the verge of total failure. The implacable calm radiating – at least publicly – from the Kremlin seems at odds with events at the front.
So, what really is going on here? Is Putin truly so detached from events on the ground that he is unaware that his army is being defeated? Is he planning to use nuclear weapons in a fit of rage? Or could this be, as Clausewitz says, the mere continuation of politics by other means?
Expeditionary War
Of all the phantasmagorical claims that have been made about the Russo-Ukrainian War, few are as difficult to believe as the claim that Russia intended to conquer Ukraine with fewer than 200,000 men. Indeed, a central truth of the war that observers simply must come to grasps with is the fact that the Russian army has been badly outnumbered from day one, despite Russia having an enormous demographic advantage over Ukraine itself. On paper, Russia has committed an expeditionary force of less than 200,000 men, though of course that full amount has not been on the frontline in active combat lately.
The light force deployment is related to Russia’s rather unique service model, which has combined “contract soldiers” – the professional core of the army – with a reservist pool that is generated with an annual conscription wave. Russia consequentially has a two-tiered military model, with a world class professional ready force and a large pool of reserve cadres that can be dipped into, augmented with auxiliary forces like BARS (volunteers), Chechens, and LNR-DNR militia.
Putin the Bureaucrat
It is often the case that the most consequential men in the world are poorly understood in their time – power enshrouds and distorts the great man. This was certainly the case of Stalin and Mao, and it is equally true of both Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping. Putin in particular is viewed in the west as a Hitlerian demagogue who rules with extrajudicial terror and militarism. This could hardly be farther from the truth.
Almost every aspect of the western caricature of Putin is deeply misguided – though this recent profile by Sean McMeekin comes much closer than most. To begin with, Putin is not a demagogue – he is not a naturally charismatic man, and though he has over time greatly improved his skills as a retail politician, and he is capable of giving impactful speeches when needed, he is not someone who relishes the podium. Unlike Donald Trump, Barack Obama, or even – God forbid – Adolf Hitler, Putin is simply not a natural crowd pleaser. In Russia itself, his imagine is that of a fairly boring but level headed career political servant, rather than a charismatic populist. His enduring popularity in Russia is far more linked to his stabilization of the Russian economy and pension system than it is to pictures of him riding a horse shirtless.
This two-tiered, mixed service model reflects, in some ways, the geostrategic schizophrenia that plagued post-Soviet Russia. Russia is an enormous country with potentially colossal, continent spanning security commitments, which inherited a Soviet legacy of mass. No country has ever demonstrated a capacity for wartime mobilization on a scale to match the USSR. The transition from a Soviet mobilization scheme to a smaller, leaner, professional ready force was part and parcel of Russia’s neoliberal austerity regime throughout much of the Putin years.
It is important to understand that military mobilization, as such, is also a form of political mobilization. The ready contract force required a fairly low level of political consensus and buy-in from the bulk of the Russian population. This Russian contract force can still accomplish a great deal, militarily speaking – it can destroy Ukrainian military installations, wreak havoc with artillery, bash its way into urban agglomerations in the Donbas, and destroy much of Ukraine’s indiginous war-making potential. It cannot, however, wage a multi-year continental war against an enemy which outnumbers it by at least four to one, and which is sustained with intelligence, command and control, and material which are beyond its immediate reach – especially if the rules of engagement prevent it from striking the enemy’s vital arteries.
More force deployment is needed. Russia must transcend the neoliberal austerity army. It has the material capacity to mobilize the needed forces – it has many millions in its reservist pool, enormous inventories of equipment, and indigenous production capacity undergirded by the natural resources and production potential of the Eurasian bloc that has closed ranks around it. But remember – military mobilization is also political mobilization.
The Soviet Union was able to mobilize tens of millions of young men to blunt, swamp, and eventually annihilate the German land army because it wielded two powerful political instruments. The first was the awesome and far reaching power of the Communist Party, with its ubiquitous organs. The second was the truth – German invaders had come with genocidal intent (Hitler at one point mused that Siberia could be turned into a Slav reservation for the survivors, which could be bombed periodically to remind them who was in charge).
Putin lacks a coercive organ as powerful as the Communist Party, which had both astonishing material power and a compelling ideology which promised to bring about an accelerated path to non-capitalist modernity. Indeed, no country today has a political apparatus like that splendid communist machine, save perhaps China and North Korea. So, in the absence of a direct lever to create political – and hence military – mobilization, Russia must find an alternative route to creating a political consensus to wage a higher form of war.
This has now been accomplished, courtesy of western Russophobia and Ukraine’s penchant for violence. A subtle, but profound transformation of the Russian socio-political body is underway.
Creating Consensus
Putin and those around him conceived of the Russo-Ukrainian War in existential terms from the very beginning. It is unlikely, however, that most Russians understood this. Instead, they likely viewed the war the same way Americans viewed the war in Iraq and Ukraine – as a justified military enterprise that was nevertheless merely a technocratic task for the professional military; hardly a matter of life and death for the nation. I highly doubt that any American ever believed that the fate of the nation hinged on the war in Afghanistan (Americans have not fought an existential war since 1865), and judging by the recruitment crisis plaguing the American military, it does not seem like anyone perceives a genuine foreign existential threat.
What has happened in the months since February 24 is rather remarkable. The existential war for the Russian nation has been incarnated and made real for Russian citizens. Sanctions and anti-Russian propaganda – demonizing the entire nation as “orcs” – has rallied even initially skeptical Russians behind the war, and Putin’s approval rating has soared. A core western assumption, that Russians would turn on the government, has reversed. Videos showing the torture of Russian POWs by frothing Ukrainians, of Ukrainian soldiers calling Russian mothers to mockingly tell them their sons are dead, of Russian children killed by shelling in Donetsk, have served to validate Putin’s implicit claim that Ukraine is a demon possessed state that must be exorcised with high explosives. Amidst all of this – helpfully, from the perspective of Alexander Dugin and his neophytes – American pseudo-intellectual “Blue Checks” have publicly drooled over the prospect of “decolonizing and demilitarizing” Russia, which plainly entails the dismemberment of the Russian state and the partitioning of its territory. The government of Ukraine (in now deleted tweets) publicly claimed that Russians are prone to barbarism because they are a mongrel race with Asiatic blood mixing.
Simultaneously, Putin has moved towards – and ultimately achieved – his project of formal annexation of Ukraine’s old eastern rim. This has also legally transformed the war into an existential struggle. Further Ukrainian advances in the east are now, in the eyes of the Russian state, an assault on sovereign Russian territory and an attempt to destroy the integrity of the Russian state. Recent polling shows that a supermajority of Russians support defending these new territories at any cost.
All domains now align. Putin and company conceived of this war from the beginning as an existential struggle for Russia, to eject an anti-Russian puppet state from its doorstep and defeat a hostile incursion into Russian civilizational space. Public opinion is now increasingly in agreement with this (surveys show that Russian distrust of NATO and “western values” have skyrocketed), and the legal framework post-annexation recognizes this as well. The ideological, political, and legal domains are now united in the view that Russia is fighting for its very existence in Ukraine. The unification of the technical, ideological, political, and legal dimensions was, just moments ago, described by the head of Russia’s communist party, Gennady Zyuganov:
“So, the President signed decrees on the admission of the DPR, LPR, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions into Russia. Bridges are burned . What was clear from the moral and statist points of view has now become a legal fact: on our land there is an enemy, he kills and maims the citizens of Russia. The country demands the most decisive action to protect compatriots. Time does not wait.”
A political consensus for higher mobilization and greater intensity has been achieved. Now all that remains is the implementation of this consensus in the material world of fist and boot, bullet and shell, blood and iron.
A Brief History of Military Force Generation
One of the peculiarities of European history is the truly shocking extent to which the Romans were far ahead of their time in the sphere of military mobilization. Rome conquered the world largely because it had a truly exceptional mobilization capacity, for centuries consistently generating high levels of mass military participation from the male population of Italy. Caesar brought more than 60,000 men to the Battle of Alesia when he conquered Gaul – a force generation that would not be matched for centuries in the post-Roman world.
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, state capacity in Europe deteriorated rapidly. Royal authority in both France and Germany was curtailed as the aristocracy and urban authorities grew in power. Despite the stereotype of despotic monarchy, political power in the middle ages was highly fragmented, and taxation and mobilization were highly localized. The Roman capacity to mobilize large armies that were centrally controlled and financed was lost, and warfare became the domain of a narrow fighting class – the petty gentry, or knights.
Consequentially, medieval European armies were shockingly small. At pivotal English-French battles like Agincourt and Crecy, English armies numbered less than 10,000, and the French no more than 30,000. The world historical Battle of Hastings – which sealed the Normal conquest of Britain – pitted two armies of fewer than 10,000 men against each other. The Battle of Grunwald – in which a Polish-Lithuanian coalition defeated the Teutonic Knights – was one of the largest battles in Medieval Europe and still featured two armies that numbered at most 30,000.
European mobilization powers and state capacity were shockingly low in this era compared to other states around the world. Chinese armies routinely numbered in the low hundreds of thousands, and the Mongols, even with significantly lower bureaucratic sophistication, could field 80,000 men.
The situation began to shift radically as intensified military competition – in particular the savage 30 years’ war – forced European states to at last begin a shift back towards centralized state capacity. The model of military mobilization shifted at last from the servitor system – where a small, self-funded military class provided military service – to the fiscal military state, where armies were raised, funded, directed, and sustained through the fiscal-bureaucratic systems of centralized governments.
Through the early modern period, military service models acquired a unique admixture of conscription, professional service, and the servitor system. The aristocracy continued to provide military service in the emerging officer corps, while conscription and impressment were used to fill out the ranks. Notably, however, conscripts were inducted into very long terms of service. This reflected the political needs of monarchy in the age of absolutism. The army was not a forum for popular political participation in the regime – it was an instrument for the regime to defend itself from both foreign enemies and peasant jacqueries. Therefore, conscripts were not rotated back into society. It was necessary to turn the army into a distinct social class with some element of remoteness from the population at large – this was a professional military institution that served as an internal bulwark of the regime.
The rise of nationalistic regimes and mass politics allowed the scale of armies to increase much further. Governments in the late 19th century now had less to fear from their own populations than did the absolute monarchies of the past – this changed the nature of military service and at last returned Europe to the system that the Romans had in millennia past. Military service was now a form of mass political participation – this allowed for conscripts to be called up, trained, and rotated back into society – the reserve cadre system that characterized armies in both of the world wars.
In sum, the cycle of military mobilization systems in Europe is a mirror of the political system. Armies were very small during the era where there was little to no mass political participation with the regime. Rome fielded large armies because there was significant political buy-in and a cohesive identity in the form of Roman citizenship. This allowed Rome to generate high military participation, even in the Republican era where the Roman state was very small and bureaucratically sparse. Medieval Europe had fragmented political authority and an extremely low sense of cohesive political identity, and consequently its armies were shockingly small. Armies began to grow in size again as the sense of national identity and participation grew, and it is no coincidence that the largest war in history – the Nazi-Soviet War – was fought between two regimes that had totalizing ideologies that generated an extremely high level of political participation.
That brings us to today. In the 21st century, with its interconnectedness and crushing availability of both information and misinformation, the process of generating mass political – and hence military – participation is much more nuanced. No country wields a totalizing utopian vision, and it is inarguable that the sense of national cohesion is significantly lower now than it was one hundred years ago.
Putin, very simply, could not have conducted a large scale mobilization at the onset of the war. He possessed neither a coercive mechanism nor the manifest threat to generate mass political support. Few Russians would have believed that there was some existential threat lurking in the shadow – they needed to be shown, and the west has not disappointed. Likewise, few Russians would likely have supported the obliteration of Ukrainian infrastructure and urban utilities in the opening days of the war. But now, the only vocal criticism of Putin within Russia is on the side of further escalation. The problem with Putin, from the Russian perspective, is that he has not gone far enough. In other words – mass politics have already moved ahead of the government, making mobilization and escalation politically trivial. Above all, we must remember that Clausewitz’s maxim remains true. The military situation is merely a subset of the political situation, and military mobilization is also political mobilization – a manifestation of society’s political participation in the state.
Time and Space
Ukraine’s offensive phase continues on multiple fronts. They are pushing into northern Lugansk, and after weeks of banging their heads against a wall in Kherson, they have finally made territorial progress. Yet, just today, Putin said that it is necessary to conduct medical examinations of the children in the newly admitted oblasts and rebuild school playgrounds. What is going on? Is he totally detached from events at the front?
There are really only two ways to interpret what is happening. One is the western spin: the Russian army is defeated and depleted and is being driven from the field. Putin is deranged, his commanders are incompetent, and Russia’s only card left to play is to throw drunk, untrained conscripts into the meat grinder.
The other is the interpretation that I have advocated, that Russia is massing for a winter escalation and offensive, and is currently engaged in a calculated trade wherein they give up space in exchange for time and Ukrainian casualties. Russia continues to retreat where positions are either operationally compromised or faced with overwhelming Ukrainian numbers, but they are very careful to extract forces out of operational danger. In Lyman, where Ukraine threatened to encircle the garrison, Russia committed mobile reserves to unblock the village and secure the withdrawal of the garrison. Ukraine’s “encirclement” evaporated, and the Ukrainian interior ministry was bizarrely compelled to tweet (and then delete) video of destroyed civilian vehicles as “proof” that the Russian forces had been annihilated.
Russia will likely continue to pull back over the coming weeks, withdrawing units intact under their artillery and air umbrella, grinding down Ukrainian heavy equipment stocks and wearing away their manpower. Meanwhile, new equipment continues to congregate in Belgorod, Zaporizhia, and Crimea. My expectation remains the same: episodic Russian withdrawal until the front stabilizes roughly at the end of October, followed by an operational pause until the ground freezes, followed by escalation and a winter offensive by Russia once they have finished amassing sufficient units.
There is an eerie calm radiating from the Kremlin. Mobilization is underway – 200,000 men are currently undergoing refresher training at ranges around Russia. Trainloads of military equipment continue to flood across the Kerch bridge, but Ukraine’s offensive plods on with no Russian reinforcements to be seen at the front. The disconnect between the Kremlin’s stoicism and the deterioration of the front are striking. Perhaps Putin and the entire Russian general staff really are criminally incompetent – perhaps the Russian reserves really are nothing but a bunch of drunks. Perhaps there is no plan.
Or perhaps, Russia’s sons will answer the call of the motherland again, as they did in 1709, in 1812, and in 1941.
As the wolves once more prowl at the door, the old bear rises again to fight.
46 Trillion Dollars In Financial Wealth Has Already Been Lost During The Great Global Market Crash Of 2022
In less than one year, 46 trillion dollars in financial wealth has been wiped out. If that isn’t a “crash”, how would you define one? Since last November, stocks and bonds have been plunging all over the globe. When there is a good day like we saw on Monday, sometimes that can fool us into thinking that everything is going to be okay. But in order to understand what is really going on we need to step back and look at the bigger picture. And when we look at the bigger picture, it becomes exceedingly clear that we are in the midst of a historic worldwide market crash. According to Bank of America, a whopping 46.1 trillion dollars in financial wealth has already been wiped out since last November…
It’s been a tough year for investors, with global stock and bond markets erasing $46.1 trillion in market value since November 2021, according to Bank of America.The massive drawdown has led to forced liquidations on Wall Street, the bank’s chief investment strategist Michael Hartnett said in a Friday note, highlighting the recent break below 2018 support in the NYSE Composite Index.
When I first came across that number I could hardly believe it.
But it is accurate.
Stocks have been falling and falling and falling, and Bank of America is warning that this is one of the worst global bond market crashes that we have ever seen…
Analysts at BofA liken it to going “Cold Turkey” and blame it for causing the third “Great Bond Bear Market.”They calculate the 20% plus losses suffered by government debt investors over the last year are now a par with the post World War I and II years of 1920 and 1949, and the Great Depression rout of 1931.The combined collapse in global stock and bond markets means global market capitalisation has been slashed by over $46 trillion.
That is an amount of money that is difficult to comprehend.
The total value of all goods and services produced in the United States last year was approximately 23 trillion dollars.
So we are talking about an amount of money that is roughly twice as large as our GDP for an entire year.
When the Federal Reserve and other central banks around the world took the punch bowl away, it was obvious that something like this would happen.
Central bank intervention pushed global financial markets to absolutely absurd levels, and there was no way that they could remain there once the artificial support was removed.
Here in the United States, all of the major stock indexes have fallen for three quarters in a row, and tech stocks have been leading the way down…
The S&P 500 Index closed on Friday at 3,586, down 25.6% from its intraday high on January 3, and where it had first been in November 2020.The Russell 2000, which tracks small-cap stocks, is down 31.8% from its high on November 5, having thereby maintained its function as early warning signal.The Nasdaq closed at 10,576, down 34.8% from its intraday high on November 22, the very day Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella dumped 50.2% of his Microsoft stock in a bunch of frenzied trades, totaling $285 million. On the list of best-timed insider trades ever, he must be at the very top. Since then, Microsoft shares have plunged 33.4%, to $232.90, the lowest closing price since March 2021.
… today Black Knight confirmed that the US housing market has turned decidedly ugly with the two biggest monthly declines since the global financial crisis.According to a Monday report from mortgage-data provider, median home prices fell 0.98% in August from a month earlier, following a 1.05% drop in July.The two periods marked the largest monthly declines since January 2009. In fact, at the current pace of declines, we may soon see a record drop in home prices, surpassing the largest historical slide hit during the global financial crisis.The report noted that July and August 2022 mark the largest single-month price declines seen since January 2009 and rank among the eight largest on record.
If the Federal Reserve does not reduce rates, things will soon get really, really ugly for the housing market.
Unfortunately, the Fed is actually going to keep raising rates because Fed officials are scared to death of the raging inflation crisis that they originally helped to create.
Thanks to the Fed, grocery prices were up 13.5 percent in August…
We’ve seen the higher prices at the grocery store, and it looks like they won’t be coming down anytime soon.New government data shows grocery prices climbed 13.5% in August from the year before. That’s the highest annual increase since March 1979.Food producers say the surge is a result of paying higher prices for labor and packaging materials. They also point to extreme weather, disease and supply issues.
As long as we keep seeing numbers like that, the Fed is going to keep raising rates.
And the price of gasoline just hit another all-time record high in Los Angeles…
Gas prices hit a record high in Los Angeles County of $6.466 per gallon on Monday morning, soaring past the previous record set during the nationwide price surge this past spring.
If you think that is bad, just wait until California residents are paying 10 dollars a gallon for gasoline.
The cost of living has become incredibly oppressive, and one recent survey found that 73 percent of Americans believe that their incomes are “falling behind inflation”…
Scott Rasmussen’s Number of the Day survey results on Ballotpedia also found that 73% of Americans say that over the past year, their income has been falling behind inflation. The survey’s sample size was 1,200 registered voters, and it was conducted online by pollster Scott Rasmussen on Sept. 15-17. The margin of error for the full sample is +/- 2.8 percentage points.
Until inflation is under control, the Fed is going to keep raising rates.
And inflation is not likely to be under control any time soon, because the vast majority of U.S. manufacturers are planning more price increases in 2023…
In a new Forbes/Xometry/John Zogby Strategies survey shared with Secrets about the impact of inflation and the continued supply chain crisis under President Biden, 87% of manufacturing CEOs said they planned to increase prices in 2023.Many cited the ongoing supply chain crisis, problems getting materials from China, and sellers taking advantage of the economic mess to jack up prices.“Our margins are under pressure as costs creep up throughout the supply-chain network,” one CEO told the poll conducted by Jeremy Zogby, the managing partner of John Zogby Strategies.
So the Federal Reserve will not be riding to the rescue of the financial markets this time around.
Fed officials are absolutely petrified of high inflation, and so rates will continue to go up.
And that means that this financial bubble will continue to implode. As Eric Peters has aptly noted, market crashes can take a long time to fully play out…
“It’s important to remember that the bursting of a bubble takes a long time to play out. It may feel fast and chaotic at various points in the process, but it isn’t really. Look at 2008. Everyone thinks of Lehman’s Bankruptcy on September 15, 2008, as the big catalyst for that crisis, but the S&P 500 had peaked the previous November. Bear Sterns failed on March 13th, 2008. From the Friday before Lehman’s bankruptcy to the end of that month, the S&P was only down 7%. The real weakness was in October with a local low in November.”The final bottom wasn’t until March of the next year. “The bubble was bursting before Lehman Brothers.” That was just the large cathartic event that caught our attention, ignited our imagination. “And even after that it took months for the market to bottom. Markets don’t clear imbalances instantaneously. So we should be preparing ourselves for a marathon, not a sprint.”
We are still only in the very early chapters of this story.
The Federal Reserve and other central banks flooded the global financial system with money, and so now we are facing a horrific worldwide inflation crisis.
They are attempting to fix things by rapidly raising rates, but that is causing absolutely enormous problems for global financial markets.
This isn’t going to end well, and we have finally gotten to a point where this should be exceedingly obvious to everyone.
Chinese President Xi Jinping says that Hong Kong is moving “from chaos to governance”. Is it true?
Very true. Absolutely true.
The 2019 Hongkong riot was actually a coup led by USA to put a US puppet as the HK Chief so as to destabilize China. USA has been destabilized the entire world since WW2.
USA almost succeeded by infiltration into every walk of HK life such as govt, education, court etc. They failed only after China handed down a national security law that targets secession, subversion, collusion & terrorism. Note all countries have similar security laws.
Why HK had no security law before? Simple. It was a plot by UK before they returned HK to China. In 1984, UK realized they must return HK in 1997. UK had a China-UK treaty to rule HK but China did not honor it. Because UK militarily forced China buy opium from UK’s colony India. Make Chinese addicted, so that UK could make money/silver. It was similar to US D Trump’s trade war in 2017. The only difference is that Trump used high tariff and UK used weapons.
UK then plotted HK rebellion from China, in name of democracy. Note that colonizer UK never gave HK democracy. Anyway, UK recruited HK traitors. Remove all the laws that dealt with riots & treason.
No place in the world has no security law to protect themselves. Five years after return, HK also introduced laws to deal with riots etc. Rebels rallied a mass protest & the security law was voted down by the democrat-traitors. Now looking back, it was part of the plot to leave HK unable to deal with a coup.
Later US took over from UK. In 2014, there was an Occupy Central in HK & an Occupy London in UK. UK suppressed the movement in 1 day. After investigation, UK reported that HK rebels were recruited by USA.
Occupied Central was a drill for a coup. The 2019 riot was for real.
There were always “white” (a politically incorrect word) people near the riot spot or on the vandalism spot. One got caught & has an ID card from CIA. Junior leaders were caught meeting US embassy officials in hotels & restaurants. A senior leader was caught meeting US ambassador/or top embassy personnel. The #1 HK traitor has a former CIA agent as his assistant/boss. And there was an unusually large number of US officials working in HK (the # has shrunk now).
There were many NGO, unions, organizations for human rights & animal rights etc. Most if not all were directly or indirectly funded by NED. Most if not all movement leaders have a large sum of money that they could not explain.
In Hongkong, NED has spent thousands of millions of dollars. Even “little” people got paid. Show up in a peaceful mass would get paid HK$200-300. Higher on riot spot. Injure or even kill a police also got paid. 1 person was so rich to buy 2 apartments, cash.
Old or pregnant women were used. It is always the police who pushed them to the ground. One pregnant woman was caught on CCTV that she lay on the ground before police approached her.
Fake news like the above drowned HK. They came out daily if not hourly to create & simmer hatred of HK govt, police & China. … fake news spread as fast as weed thru internet. … it is the 1st time I see ugly human nature can go that far. It is beyond a normal human can go that ugly.
Rebel-journalists on the riot spot took pictures on police so as to simmer police brutality. In fact, it was the other way round. Rioters were paid to injure police. $$$. Their brutality is animal type of brutality If I disclose their weapons & brutality here, Quora probably will ban me.
There was always a big group of people on the riot spot. Other than (rebel) journalists, there were (rebel) first-aid people too. Looking back, they were there to block the police from normal work to deal with the riot. One (rebel) journalist was only 12-13 years old.
There is a picture of a one-eye woman published by NYT. She claimed she was blinded by police. But, based on privacy reason, she went all the way to the highest court to block police from obtaining her medical report from the hospital that treated her injury. She has gone to Taiwan today but was caught having 2 bright eyes at HK airport. Why block police investigation? Don’t you want justice & compensation from police?
Because of this woman’s eye, HK has become lawless but rioters’ law.
Ordinary HKers dared not talk in public. Rioters used verbal & even physical violence against those who expressed different opinion. Once they (in a group) rounded up a scholar. I watched TV: 1 rioter lay on the ground but he said the scholar pushed him which is not true.
Rioters set fire on a by-standers who said he is Chinese. Or use bricks to hit the head of a worker (causing death) who was hired by govt to clean up the bricks scattered by rioters on the road. Or house arrest & beat up a journalist from China for days. Or bully & even beat up passers-by who did not speak Cantonese the HK dialect. One who could not speak Cantonese is a Japanese. Or block international air travellers.
Rebel-air hosts once released oxygen from aeroplanes, endangering the life of passengers.
Rebel-judge let go of arrested rioters. Righteous judges would receive death threats. It is lawless, said one retired righteous judge.
Rebel-doctor or nurse “torture” patients if the patient was a police or not on their side. One doctor prescribed medicine to harm the health of a policeman-patient. … medical staff is supposed to care for the patient. Professionalism is supposed to be above politics, Besides democracy calls for respect & coexist with the different.
Because it was a plot that started in 1980’s, one generation of HKers were brought up on hatred of authorities, being rude & violence (verbal & physical).
I saw on TV that 1 kindergarten teacher on the protest spot telling the kids police are bad people. A history expert who has power in HK education circle changed Chinese history by glorifying UK’s opium/trade war with China. Instead of saying UK militarily forced China buy opium from UK, he said UK was trying to help addicted Chinese to stop smoking opium. Some published picture books to depict the govt or police or China as wolves who bully them the lambs.
This generation made their own law. One university vice principal was cornered because rioter-students demanded university to drop Chinese language as a requirement to graduate.
There were school bullies who would bully those who did not agree to violence/riot.
Students who did not do well in school were recruited as leaders to mark a territory under their control. Similar to the underground organizations we see in a movie.
In court, rebel-lawyers always said “this rioter is mentally disadvantaged.” & hence should not go to jail but a place for re-education.
Rebels propagated that China is poor, uncivilized, dirty etc. But they have never visited China.
This propaganda happened in HK. And is also in Taiwan.
If you cannot imagine how people can be brain-washed that much, then …
Let us discuss human nature.
I study ancient civilizations. I find all cultures have creators. All creators made the same sun, rain, humans, animals, plants etc. It means it is the same creator. All humans are creator’s children.
Creator gives us different wisdom. It means creator designed a diverse world. You use flour to bake cakes. I make noodles. Diff wisdom. Diversity. So there should be many cultures & religions in the world.
Some spread their religion to other cultures & wipe out local religions. That is, they have damaged creator’s design of diversity. Yet they claim they love creator.
They suppress the god-given wisdom of creator’s other children.
They violate human right – indigenous people’s cultural right, according to article 8.2a in UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Yet they claim they love fellow humans ie creator’s children.
UN says all gods & religions are equal. When China asks them not to propagate that theirs is the only true one, they cry religious suppression.
China also asks them not to erect a big cross outside a building. Keep (small) crosses inside their private property. A cross was an old tool for criminals on death sentence. It damages local belief in Feng Shui. Again they cry religious suppression.
Lesson learnt about human nature:
Leaders work for POWER & MONEY. Love of creator is just a slogan to gather followers to build power.
Followers take leader’s word as truth. Lack independent & critical thinking. Dismiss different views right away. Stay inside box.
Another human nature: those who cry suppression are the ones who disrespect/suppress others, or break law. Bullies.
Human nature applies to politics too:
EU Pushes For More Sanctions Which Will Come Back To Bite It
On February 22, two days before Russian troops entered the Ukraine, the U.S. and the EU put reams of sanctions onto Russia. They also confiscated some $300 billion of Russia’s reserves that were invested in the ‘west’. The sanctions had been negotiated between the EU and the U.S. and prepared for over several months.
The idea was to bankrupt Russia within a few weeks. The deluded people behind those sanctions had no idea how big and sanctions proved Russia’s economy really is. The sanctions failed to influence Russia in any way but their consequences led to a shortfall of energy in Europe and increased the already high inflation rates. Inflation in Russia is sinking and its general economic numbers are good. The now higher energy prices generate sufficient additional income to completely finance its war efforts.
A sane actor would conclude that the sanctions were a mistake and that lifting them would help Europe more than it would help Russia. But no, the U.S. and European pseudo elites are no longer able to act in a sane manner. They are instead doubling down with the most crazy sanction scheme one has ever heard of:
[T]he European Union pushed ahead on Wednesday with an ambitious but untested plan to limit Russia’s oil revenue.
…
If the global price of oil remains high, it would complicate the European Union’s effort to impose a price cap on Russian oil that was expected to gain final approval on Thursday, after E.U. negotiators reached an agreement on the measure as part of a fresh package of sanctions against Moscow.Under the plan, a committee including representatives of the European Union, the Group of 7 nations and others that agree to the price cap would meet regularly to decide on the price at which Russian oil should be sold, and that it would change based on the market price.
Several diplomats involved in the E.U. talks said that Greece, Malta and Cyprus — maritime nations that would be most affected by the price cap — received assurances that their business interests would be preserved, the diplomats said.
The countries had been holding up what would be the eighth sanctions package the European Union has adopted since the Russian invasion of Ukraine because of worries that a price cap on Russian oil exported outside the bloc would affect their shipping, insurance and other industries, the diplomats said.
With oil prices at a high, Russia is raking in billions of dollars in revenue, even as it sells smaller quantities. The cap — part of a broad plan pushed by the Biden administration that the G7 agreed to last month — is intended to set the price of Russian oil lower than where it is today, but still above cost. The U.S. Treasury calculates that the cap would deprive the Kremlin of tens of billions of dollars annually.
How do you make a big producer of a rare commodity sell those goods below the general market price? Unless you have a very strong buyers cartel that can also that product from elsewhere you can not do this successfully. It is an economic impossibility.
To make the measure effective, and cut Russian revenue, the United States, Europe and their allies would need to convince India and China, which buy substantial quantities of Russian oil, to purchase it only at the agreed upon price. Experts say that even with willing partners, the cap could be hard to implement.
Russia has declared that it will not sell any oil to any party that supports the G7 price fixing regime. That is why neither China nor India nor any other country besides the EU and U.S. will agree to adhere to it.
The whole idea is crazy and way too complicate to achieve anything:
Under the new rules, companies involved in the shipping of Russian oil — including shipowners, insurers and underwriters — would be on the hook for ensuring that the oil they are helping to transport is being sold at or below the price cap. If they are caught helping Russia sell at a higher price, they could face lawsuits in their home countries for violating sanctions.Russian crude will come under an embargo in most of the European Union on Dec. 5, and petroleum products will follow in February. The price cap on shipments to non-E.U. countries has been championed by U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen as a necessary complement to the European oil embargo.
Under the E.U. deal, Greece, Malta and Cyprus will be permitted to continue shipping Russian oil. Had they not agreed to place their companies at the forefront of applying the price cap, they would have been forbidden from shipping or insuring Russian oil cargo outside the European Union, a huge hit for major industries.
More than half of the tankers now shipping Russia’s oil are Greek-owned. And the financial services that underpin that trade — including insurance, reinsurance and letters of credit — are overwhelmingly based in the European Union and Britain.
This is of course an open invitation to other countries to enter the oil shipping and related financial services businesses at the cost of European companies.
China and India will both it to increase their market shares in those fields. Their ships will transport Russian oil to whoever wants to buy it for the market price minus the always negotiable Russian rebate. Greek ships will sit idle or will be sold off while Indian and Chinese and other Asian tankers will be very, very busy. China’s big insurance companies will happily join that new global services business.
That European bureaucrats agreed to his stupid U.S. idea, which will foremost hurt European businesses, is another sign that Brussels has given up on having any agency.
Today OPEC+ countries, the seller cartel for oil, reacted to the crazy sanctions idea and the upcoming global depression by agreeing to decrease their daily output by 2 million barrels. This was not done out of Saudi solidarity with Russia. Saudi Arabia needs oil at above $80/bl to finance its budget.
Brent Crude, which had fallen to $83/bl on September 26, has since risen to $93/bl.
The global demand for oil is around 100 million barrels per day. Should the demand stay up the 2% reduction in OPEC+ production will have significant price effects and $100 per barrel will be in easy reach.
But OPEC+ is committed to stable prices, not to significant price increases. During the OPEC+ session today the Saudi Prince Abdulazis showed this table:
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biggerSince the beginning of the year the prices for all forms of carbon based energy except crude oil have increased considerably. Abdulazis argued that the chart shows that OPEC+ is managing oil prices responsibly. The EU is certainly not doing similar.
The Biden administration has meanwhile nearly halved the content of the U.S Strategic Petroleum Reserve. This to keep U.S. pump prices down and the Democrats in power.
Posted by b on October 5, 2022 at 16:48 UTC | Permalink
What are the main things that people from the U.S. notice when they move to Australia?
What the hell, the light switches are backward!
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This switch is *ON*, when it’s pressed on the bottom.
The second thing I noticed was, “What the hell, I’m sure I plugged in my phone!” (but I hadn’t switched on the “electrical receptacle” — Australian power points are most often turned on and off at the wall plate or on the “power board” (power bar).)
The first thing my kids were confused by was which button to depress to flush the toilet. Every Aussie toilet I saw had a half-flush and full-flush option. And it’s not a potty, and it’s not in the “bathroom”. It’s a toilet.
There’s a drain in the floor of the bathroom where the tub or shower is. This is quite standard.
There are no “no shirt, no shoes, no service” signs. Quite a few people go barefoot.
!@#$!@ bindis.
Not the South Asian forehead mark. Not Steve Irwin’s daughter.
No, I mean these:
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They’re like little lawn caltrops. They’re painful. I don’t know why there are so many barefoot Aussies given these little nasties. (I was told they’re properly Bindii
(pronounced bindi-eye) but I rarely heard people call them that. They’re the seedpod of a vicious weed. I might have some strong feelings about them.)
You let entire flocks of these expensive birds fly around freely as if they were…
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…oh wait, right, this is where cockatoos are from.
Burger King has renamed itself:
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and despite their 1950’s diner decor, they don’t have any ketchup.
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ketchup for their french fries. Which would be “tomato sauce for their chips”, actually. Toh-mah-toe, not toe-may-toe. But seriously. THEY HAD NO KETCHUP FOR THEIR FRIES. (Not even Rosella, or any of the other local brands, which all taste far too clove-y and vinegary for my own taste, although my kids adapted.)
Also, shopping centers have amazingly short “trading hours” (that’s business hours, for us Yanks). Except for late closing day (and varies by state). Which is usually midweek. But otherwise the whole place may close down at 6:30 p.m. or earlier. Aussies take their work/life balance seriously.
Oh, and all the school age children are wearing uniforms. It’s like Hogwarts! But not always nearly so attractive:
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(No disrespect to the model. I don’t think there’s any issue of her being homely. Just her pinnie.) I haven’t been able to find any images that do justice to the disturbing “nothing fits any of these kids!” impression that an entire school’s worth of kids in these uniforms gives, with the two or three styles of hats, as well as the oddly fitting shirts and shorts on the boys. Every school has a different color scheme, and you can often tell the posh schools from the less affluent ones.
This is the default “sushi” around Oz.
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It’ll cost you somewhere between $2.40 AUD in Melbourne to $3.50 AUD in Sydney (per piece). Most common are avo-salmon or tuna-sweetcorn. The little soy sauce fish in the background of this image are ubiquitous, too.
Every. Single. Restaurant uses this particular style of takeaway container.
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Some are deeper or shallower (I saw three different sizes) but they’re all essentially the same. Except that the corner curvature varies, so if you use them as miserly substitutes for proper kitchen storage, you’ll go a bit mad.
Unless otherwise specified, a lemonade is something like this:
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Yes, it’s fizzy. It’s like a mostly lemony 7-Up or Sprite. (For the non-Americans reading this, in the U.S., a lemonade consists of lemon juice, sugar (or other sweetening) and water. Period.)
…and there’s an amazing barrage of traffic signs in Sydney. I’ll spare you the imagery.
Homemade Biscuits and Gravy
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This recipe will take your taste buds down South, to where good old-fashioned recipes are still king. Our Homemade Biscuits and Gravy recipe is full of so much down-home goodness, you’ll want to eat these homemade biscuits at breakfast AND dinner, which is perfectly all right by us!
What You’ll Need
2 cups pancake and baking mix
2/3 cup buttermilk
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) butter, melted, plus 2 tablespoons butter
1 (16-ounce) package hot pork sausage
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 cups milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
What to Do
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
In a medium bowl, stir baking mix, buttermilk, and the 1/2 stick melted butter until soft dough forms. Drop 8 equal spoonfuls of dough onto an ungreased baking sheet.
Bake 14 to 16 minutes, or until golden brown.
In a large skillet over medium-high heat, melt remaining butter; cook 1 to 1-1/2 minutes, or until browned. Add sausage and cook 6 to 8 minutes, or until no pink remains, stirring to crumble sausage. Add flour; mix well. Add Worcestershire sauce, milk, salt, and pepper; mix well. Cook 2 to 4 minutes, or until gravy thickens, stirring constantly.
Cut biscuits in half and spoon sausage mixture evenly on bottom halves. Replace tops and serve.
Why is China hesitating to admit the fact that anyone who listen to K-pop in China will be sent to prison camps and their organs will be harvested? Even neutral & non-political K-Pop fans agree with this fact.
I’m sitting on my bed, doing my math homework and simultaneously writing this whilst blasting no love again by taeyeon, in a quarantine facility in Guangzhou, China. I seem to be in no immediate danger of being arrested. When I opened my door earlier to take my covid test, I had red flavour by red velvet playing in the background – I was not arrested by the nurse and sent to a prison camp, and as far as I’m aware, my organs are all present and functioning perfectly fine inside my body.
Heck, I probably did not need to write all of that because if I was taken to a prison camp, I would not be posting this.
also note to whoever asked this question: in order for the sentence to be grammatically correct, I would suggest changing listen to listens, as with your current grammar I doubt you will make it far in the political field in which you seem to be so heavily invested in.
“OMG LESBIAN VELMA FINALLY,” reads one tweet, which has over 100,000 likes.
As I get older, the more I realize that it’s not only the American leadership that are “bat-shit crazy”, but most of the population as well.
Sheech!
Velma was sort of a cartoon version of my (boyhood) dream girl. She was soft, nice, smart, talented, and wore a soft turtleneck cuddly sweater. Oh, and she wore nerd glasses before they were cool. And let’s not forget about her many discoveries and de-masking of the “bad guys”!
Velma was the stuff of boyhood fantasies.
My fantasies lie dead in the dust! Sigh.
When did so many American citizens stop believing their government can function as a force for good?
Some people have always believed this but it didn’t become a mainstream idea until Ronald Reagan popularized it.
He said things like “The government is not the solution to our problems, it is the problem” and “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’”
Prior to Reagan most Republicans were for smaller government but still believed that it could be a force for good.
Republican president Eisenhower increased the minimum wage, expanded Social Security and created the Department of Health, Education and Welfare and started large government projects like the St. Lawrence Seaway and the Interstate Highway System.
Republican President Nixon wanted to expand Welfare to a “living wage” system, proposed universal health care, signed Title IX guarantying equal educational opportunities for women, signed the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, and formed the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency. Reagan pushed previously fringe anti-government views into the mainstream.
The Three Stooges || You Nazty Spy 1940
This old skit reminds me of how the USA operates today. LOL
https://youtu.be/LvVPopDC9vA
Chinese Girl
The Monkees on The Johnny Cash Show 1969
Is China a democracy, since anyone can join the Communist Party and thus anyone can vote? Is a single-party democracy any different from a non-partisan democracy?
China is a democracy. However, it is not a liberal Western democracy.
The West are not entitled to define what is and isn’t democracy.
In both democratic systems, citizens vote for their representatives. The only difference is that China is based on a one-party state while the West have multiple parties that compete with one another.
Bekah
My daughter Bekah passed away 1 year ago from an unexpected asthma attack causing her to go into cardiac arrest. She was alone in her apartment when it happened and dialed 911 herself.
They were quickly able to reach her and bring back a pulse but she coded a second time in the ambulance. After 9 days in the ICU she was totally unresponsive to any stimuli and they called a time of death although she was still “alive”. She was an organ donor and helped to save 5 people.
A friend of mine had a vivid dream of my daughter in where my daughter walked in the room looking very much alive.
He shouted to me “Bekah is alive” She looked at him and said “no, I’m here to give my heart.”
She then walked up to a child and handed her heart to her. My daughters heart did go to a child, a 12 yr old. I’ve struggled with the what if’s and feeling guilty that she was alone when she passed.
I worry that she was scared or that she felt pain. Hearing some of the stories on this group help to give me hope that she’s at peace and maybe she did choose to give of herself to help others.
I ask God daily to please give me a million signs of her presence until it’s my time to see her beautiful face once again. Bekah’s mom ~ forever 22
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Kitty chooses her “owner”
This little girl showed up at my back door on Christmas Eve three years ago. Per my estimate she was about 4 to 6 months old and about a quarter her current size.
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Since her belly was shaved (I assumed she was spayed) and she is a bit of a rare breed for where I live (she looks and has all the characteristics of a pure Russian Blue), I assumed she belonged to someone in my neighborhood.
She wanted attention (a sure sign she was raised by someone since feral cats do not crave petting and human attention).
I asked all my neighbors and they had never seen her before nor did she belong to anyone in the neighborhood, as I checked; she also had no chip for identification purposes. I waited over a week assuming she would find her rightful owner, as she might have just wandered off, but she kept hanging around and coming back, so I took her into my home and adopted her.
I have had cats before so I have experiences and other past cats as a comparison.
This particular cat is the most affectionate, happy (per her constant purring), and cuddly cat I have ever known, but only with me as she just hides when other people come around.
Sometimes she jumps up in the middle of a dead sleep and immediately looks over at me as if just wanting to know I am still there.
I can say with certainty this cat is afraid of being abandoned again and she is grateful to have been rescued/adopted.
Chinese Girl
Here’s Why The U.S. Blew Up Nord Stream Pipeline!
Is there really a problem with human rights in China?
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Every time I answer a question about “human rights in China,” I get frustrated. Because the exchanges and debates around the topic have been so thoroughly tarnished by Washington. The issue of human rights has become increasingly removed from its own meaning and has become a classic geopolitical game. So I’ve grown tired of debating with people who firmly believe that China has a human rights problem. When they talk about human rights in China, their focus is always on the tiny minority that confronts China’s constitutional system, and they are indifferent to the content of human rights that is fundamental to China and most important to the general public. They don’t even seem to be interested in China’s efforts to reduce and eliminate inequities in everything from education to health care, to increase poverty alleviation, to strengthen the rule of law, to increase the rate of petition resolution, and so on.
The Chinese are not stupid, the Chinese are not retarded, and the Chinese are not brainwashed. If there is a real human rights problem in China, you don’t need to worry, they will resist, and no political party can withstand the power of 1.4 billion Chinese people. It is because the Chinese people have witnessed the stark contrast between the Chinese government’s all-out effort to fight the epidemic and the U.S. government’s disregard for the lives of the people that they are convinced that the Chinese must value their human rights more than the Americans do. This is more effective than any amount of preaching and propaganda. China, as a rapidly growing society with a huge population, is not easy to govern itself, which is why they are very strict about “confronting the political system” -It does not mean that China is not doing a good job of building human rights. That’s why I find it ridiculous when the US and some small European countries with a few million people tell China what to do. They are like little kids driving go-karts in a park who want to teach the driver of a giant truck how to take the wheel.
No one can deny that the vast majority of people’s rights derive from the continued stable development of the country. To destabilize China and curb its development is to fundamentally deprive the Chinese people of their rights, and the U.S. government today is the greatest threat to human rights in China. Take, for example, the Hong Kong affair, where the core issue is restoring order, and the U.S. labels it a human rights issue and encourages violence and protest. Then there is the Xinjiang Re-education Center, which is simply an organization that trains Uyghurs to help them acquire skills for better employment, and is smeared by the U.S. as a concentration camp for genocide. These actions are unlikely to promote “better human rights” in Hong Kong or Xinjiang, but they do add to the problems and costs of China’s rise.
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I don’t know if my answer to this question is what you want, but it’s all from the bottom of my heart. As always, when you talk about human rights, first ask the people of that country. If you really want to know the human rights situation in China, you can visit China and take a look or do some research there. If you can be objective and respectful, you will be welcome.
What is the difference between an Australian meat pie and an English meat pie?
Growing up in the UK until migrating to Australia in the mid 1970s meat pies were popular but fairly limited and were either rather runny minced beef, or steak and kidney. I lived in Cardiff for a while and there was a round pie or a larger rectangular one. When I returned to Britain on holiday in 2000 I couldn’t find a proper meat pie anywhere. Most of the bakers seemed to do a rectangular ‘steak bake’ that was tasty and reminiscent of a pie but not really the proper article. They were also disappointingly small and you needed two.
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I spent a month in England, Wales, Scotland and failed to track down a proper pie. With two hungry teenage boys in tow we would have loved an Aussie style pie.
In Australia nearly every bakery has a big pie and sausage roll section with a hot cabinet and there are a lot of dedicated pie shops selling a huge range of pies. I’d guess pie consumption is far higher in Australia and every town has a signature pie outlet that is very popular and against which others are measured.
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Often there are up to 30 different varieties such as chunky steak, crocodile, chicken mornay, curry, vegetarian options etc. And most sit-down pie cafes accompany the pie with mashed potato, mushy peas and a generous dollop of gravy.
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That’s one I regularly have from the popular pie cart whenever I visit Lismore New South Wales. There’s a pie under there somewhere!
A pommie steak bake would scream in terror and run away down the street.
Globalists are pushing a nuclear attack, and Putin knows it
Why do school lunches taste bad?
You may be surprised to find out school meals in the United States actually cost more per student than better lunches elsewhere.
That’s because although the school lunch program started out with a very good motive, someone found a way to pervert it into something terrible.
So, first the school lunch program. During World War II, the draft office was rejecting lots of people because they were malnourished and underweight. The government looked into it and found that most of them weren’t eating well because their parents couldn’t afford enough food for them. To address the issue, the easiest way to give them more calories and nutrition was to feed them in school when they were all together and the food could be prepared in bulk.
Now, food used to be a major expense in people’s budgets. However, during the Nixon administration, about the same time as the oil embargo, food prices spiked and that percentage went up. In order to address this, the Nixon administration pursued several policies to encourage food production, like subsidies and price supports.
Now, this means that Americans now spend a very low percentage of their income on food. The problem is that this still means there is a lot of food grown that can’t be eaten or exported – there’s too much of it and there’s no demand for it. Dairy is cheap, but that’s because the government pays a guaranteed price for milk. Milk doesn’t last long, so most of it is turned into cheese.
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Enterprising politicians decided to take advantage of this by requiring most of the surplus to be purchased by schools for school meals.
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So, cookies (use up all the surplus wheat and flour), peas (surplus of those too), canned fruit (lots of surplus fruit), potatoes (lots of surplus) and chicken (also surplus). Rounding it off is ketchup, which is also surplus.
However, this stuff still isn’t “cheap”. All that processing costs money. That’s okay, the school lunch program will pay for that, as long as you stick to their surplus menu.
Meanwhile, over in France, the people in charge of school meals can pretty much get whatever is in season at the local market.
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So, a little pasta salad, fresh bread, fresh fruit, a small breaded fish cutlet, and cauliflower with sauce. This meal is obviously less expensive, but it’s also better in every respect.
Chinese Girl
Best ever Roast Beef
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Over the years I have always been told that the best roast beef comes from the best quality beef. It is correct if you use a top quality cut of beef and roast it to medium rare the result is amazing. What is not correct is that you cannot create the perfect roast with a more budget cut of beef.
Top quality cuts of beef are not usually in a families weekly food budget so I went on a mission on how to create the same tender and amazing roast beef on a more everyday budget cut of meat that will give you that OMG moment when you take a bite but not break the bank balance.
I tried various methods, slow cooking in the slow cooker, roasting in the air fryer, slow cooking in the oven and while the result was good, it was not outstanding and the quality you get from a more expensive cut of meat just was not there.
When you research cooking methods and recipes one thing always stands out to me, most cheap cuts of meat are slow cooked AND they have some sort of marinade/ sauce attached to the recipe.
With this in mind I set about creating a marinade from ingredients I would use typically with beef and in making a gravy and presto the result was arguably the best weekly roast beef we have had and the gravy well that is just a whole other story because the gravy was out of this world.
I marinated the beef from the morning to the evening for the best result, however if you run out of time make sure you marinate it for at least 30 minutes.
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We have now had this roast dinner on weekly rotation not because of the meat but because of the gravy which started off as the beef marinade, was cooked in the tray with the beef sitting on top of a rack and the juices pouring into the marinade and then thickened up on the stove top.
While the cut of meat may not be the top quality meats you can buy the end result is so good that it would warrant being star of your table at your next dinner party. It is that juicy and tender and cooked to perfection your guests would not be wrong in mistaking it is an eye fillet roast!
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And being school holidays if you are away camping this is the perfect camp oven roast dinner to cook over an open fire!
Prep 10 min // Cook 1 hr 20 min (including resting time)
INGREDIENTS
1 – 1.6kg topside beef roast
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup good quality red wine
2-3 cups liquid beef stock
3 tbs EDMK Italian spice mix (or commercial brand)
4 tbs seeded mustard
4 tbs minced garlic
1 tbs Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper to taste.
2 tbs butter
2 tbs plain flour
Marinade
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup red wine
1 1/2 cups liquid beef stock
2 tbs seeded mustard
2 tbs minced garlic
salt and pepper to taste
3 tbs EDMK Italian spice mixed
1 tbs Worcestershire sauce.
METHOD
Mix all above ingredients together in a jug and set aside.
Place beef in a container and pour the marinade over the top and place in fridge to marinade for a minimum of 30 min.
Preheat oven to 160 degrees and remove the beef from fridge and rest until room temperature.
Pour the marinade into an oven tray and place a rack over the top and place the beef on the rack.
Smear the remaining seeded mustard and garlic over the beef and then place in the oven.
Cook for 25 min per 500g of meat checking the roast 1-2 times and if the liquid begins to evaporate pour a little more liquid beef stock in the bottom.
When the meat is cooked to medium rare based on weight remove from the oven and transfer to a board and cover with foil to rest.
In a saucepan melt the butter over a low heat and then stir in the flour until it turns a light brown colour.
Pour all juices from the bottom of the oven tray into the saucepan and whisk continually over a low heat until the gravy is thick and smooth. Add more liquid beef stock for additional gravy or until you reach your desire consistency.
Slice the meat against the grain into thick slices and serve with roasted vegetables and gravy.
Note: To cook over a camp oven or in a slow cooker cook in the marinade and then remove the beef when cooked and thicken the sauce as per the above instructions.
Chinese Girl
What if North Korea nuked China? What would happen?
Then I hope the crazy fat kid has a very large bunker deep underground.
Because the Chinese will blast his fat ass to Pluto.
LUCY Clip – “Give Me The Case” (2014)
Is the United States leadership responsive to the needs of the people?
No. It supports extreme partisanship, enables propaganda, perpetuates horribly exploitative big pharma, and oversees a very racist society. Currently it appears to be turning into a Banana Republic with the President baying for the head of his opponent, threatening to lock her up, baiting North Korea into WWIII, lying constantly to the electorate, and trying to force a ridiculous $multi-bn wall onto it’s citizens. Charisma, charm and superficiality quite literally Trump substance, integrity and truth.
We can only hope that we will look back on all of this one day in shame, whilst watching a poorly-constructed yet inexplicably watchable Lifetime movie about how things managed to get so, so bad.
Forrest Gump: Saving lives in Vietnam
Why is the meat pie in Australia so poor?
As with practically any other item of food, there are good ones and bad ones to be had.
In general terms, if you’re buying one in a plastic bag from a convenience store, it won’t be as good as one bought loose from a bakery. But then there are good bakery pies and bad bakery pies. I can even think of a couple of bakeries I know where certain fillings of pie are significantly better than others. And that’s before you consider factors such as the time of day you’re buying the pie and whether the bakery has changed owners – a very good bakery around my way has sadly gone downhill after a change in ownership, for example.
Stalingrad (1993) Firing Squad Scene
Where can I get some British fish and chips?
There used to be a really good chippy in Wragby. Barnsley used to have Woody’s (hurrraayyy!), but they sold it, the new bloke ruined it, and went bust, and now they’ve knocked it down (booooo!) so you’re out of luck there, but cheer up, because there’s a really nice one that looks like the chippy from hell but serves the chips of heaven a bit further along down an alleyway, and if you’re a bit more posh you can do a fifty minute or so walk up to Dodworth and go to Gate Chippy which is very good indeed.
Or you could go to Whitby, but avoid the last weekend in October because it’s packed end-to-end with Goths being spooky, and go to the Magpie. Be prepared for a long queue. Personally I liked that place in Skegness the best; it’s a fish ’n’ chip restaurant upstairs with a sea view; you get a big fish, loads of chips, mushy peas if you want ’em and a couple of slices of bread ’n’ butter, all brought to your table by pretty girls in proper waitress’s uniforms, and it’s all a bit Bertie Wooster so what’s not to like?
Scotland does a lot of ‘em, especially if you go to Glasgow, where they’ll deep fry anything. Fish, sausage, Mars Bars, pizzas, you name it they’ll dip in batter and fry it.
There was a good one in Monmouth where I got served by a woman who quite obviously did not like the English. When I open my gob, in the course of one sentence you are left under no doubt that I am English. Oh dear. I think she’d have pissed on my chips if she thought she could get away with it. Honestly, I was in awe of her passive aggression, and some of it wasn’t all that passive. I made notes to use later. I gave her the tenner with the words Bank of England (unlike Scotland, Wales didn’t have its own money) uppermost and plainly visible just to wind her up. When she rammed it in the till I thought it was going to explode. I sniffed my chips outside to check for cyanide. They were good chips, though, and the fish wasn’t bad, either.
So really, anywhere in England, Scotland, or Wales, and I don’t really know about Northern Ireland since when I was younger the main goal was to do what you’d got to and get back to the other side of the Irish Sea rather than looking for a decent chippy. Just ask one of the locals which they think is best. They’ll know where it is. Guaranteed.
I blame the EU. Ursaveloy und ein Loadachips.
Bobby Bacala Sr Kills Sally And His Friend – The Sopranos HD
How has China been able to maintain such a large economy despite being an authoritarian state?
Historically, economies have grown under authoritarian control, for example,
the Roman Empire
the Ottoman Empire
the Portuguese Empire
the Spanish Empire
the Dutch Empire
the French Empire
the German Empire
the British Empire
the Soviet Union
Singapore
South Korea
Taiwan
Large democratic economies have only existed in the last half century or so. Note that USA is not a democracy (it’s a republic).
Authoritarian states tend to be more effective at economic growth because they face no opposition. They can create policies without compromise. They can execute policies without hindrance, especially in the long term. They can galvanize their populations to produce economic output. Tight control is the order of the day.
Sloppy governance leads to wastage and inefficiency.
Get Hard (2015) – Gangbanger Accountant Scene
Why are American shopping malls dying?
True story.
My 15-year-old son’s best friend’s parents work at the Macy’s in our local mall.
I know that Macy’s is struggling, so I decided I would do some shopping there when I could. I really wanted my son’s friend’s parents to keep their jobs, because they don’t live close, and I’m worried that if they lose their jobs they will pull their son out of the school he’s in and my son will lose his friend. (They used to live in the neighborhood but moved to get a larger living space).
So I went over to the Macy’s to buy a throw rug. We have carpet in our house and the cats chew it up and I just wanted to buy a small throw rug to cover up part of the carpet.
When I got to the Macy’s, the escalator was broken. No big deal. I walked up three flights. I then found the rugs but they were incredibly expensive. The cheapest one was many hundreds of dollars.
The next problem was that I could not find anyone to pay for the rug! It was late on a Sunday and no one seemed to be around anywhere. I found myself wandering from department to department, carrying the heavy rug on my shoulder. I finally found an employee, but they said they could not help me. I needed to go back to the housewares department and find someone there.
I finally found myself getting so frustrated that I almost started shouting, “Is there noone here who can help me?!? I just need some help!”
But then I calmed down and realized that shouting like a lunatic was probably a bad idea. I put back the rug, left the Macy’s, walked back down the stairs, came home, fired up the Internet, and ordered a nice throw rug for $50 in a few minutes. It arrived at my front door a day later.
I think what’s happening is that, as brick and mortar stores bring in fewer sales, they are having to cut staff and cut spending. As they do so, the shopping experience becomes less and less pleasant. Which then drives more people online. Which then means the store must cut more people and more budget. It’s a vicious cycle. I’m going to miss having brick and mortar stores nearby when I need something urgently. But I don’t see how you stop it.
FULL INTERVIEW: The conversations turn on civil war in the US says Prof Richard Wolff
There are many predictions about China’s economic collapse. Why isn’t that happening?
Take Evergrande!!!!
Why did so many Economists predict that Evergrande collapse would be huge etc etc????
Because they are stupid??? No
Because they are biased??? Maybe…but they are still reputed Academics who wont just tout propaganda
So Why????
BECAUSE THEY LOOK AT EVERYTHING FROM THE US ANGLE (And the European Angle and the Japanese Angle and the Indian Angle) or the US LENS
In the United States – The Shareholder is GOD
So any Collapse of a Company , leads to a blow in the Markets which causes massive massive massive losses and creates all the financial crises since 1929.
In China – The Investor is GOD
China believes that the Speculator is a Gambler. They restrict major funds from investing too much into the Stock market and ensure that the Common Citizens who invest in the stock market know that they can lose their shirt or win a pile of gold.
Instead their Focus is on the Investor - the ones who paid for the Houses, the ones who bought Bonds etc. They are to the Chinese - the backbone of Economics.
IN the United States – Rule of Law is Cumbersome but Absolute
This means - THE LAW Comes First. So whenever any Company Collapses - you have Chapter 11s filed , Protection of the Company Directors and Shareholders , Allowing the Company to file counter suits etc.
This means the Assets of the Company get wound up for an average of 46 months and by this time shares plummet to Zero.
Thus a Companys failure means failure for all its investors.
In China – The Public is Absolute or the Common Man
China puts everything including Freedom or Human Rights above the Common Man.
So in China when a Collapses - the System will first Force a company to pay back its investors.
The Law never interferes
The Company has to pay back its investors by selling Assets, swapping Assets etc.
This means Assets of a Company can be disposed off in weeks rather than months or years.
And thus Investors almost always get between 55% - 100% of what they invested
IN the United States – Value is all about Perception
US doesnt like the word ‘Assets’ or ‘Profits’
They like ‘ Potential’ or ‘Expansion’
This means many Companies in US are almost always heavily bloated with very little Real Assets
So in a sense US is mostly like India. They do nothing until a company folds and then its Chapter 11 and in some cases - FBI investigations or SEC investigations
So when a Company crashes - its Perception or Potential crashes and its Value crashes.
In China – Value is all about ASSETS
China doesnt like words like ‘Potential’ or ‘Closing a Deal’ etc.
They like Hard Core Assets - Land, Contracts, Trade Deals, Gold, Jade, Coal , Gas Pipelines are what they love.
So when a Company crashes - It always has Assets to back it up and these Assets manage to salvage a big chunk of Value
So thats what is helping China ignore Evergrande or even a Real Estate Crisis while if this was happening in US or even India – people would be scrambling for cover.
Yet while Economists are good – they simply dont think like a Chinese or know the Chinese System
My Associate Lawyer in Singapore told me how Westerners focussed on Huge Office Space whereas a CHinese office was a small 15X10 enclosure and yet you had 10 times larger deals floating through the same.
Likewise Most Western Personal Debts are based on paperwork etc. Most Chinese Personal Debts are given based on just the mans face and his Chop (Chop is a personalized Stamp like thing with Unique Chinese characters)
So those who make Predictions on China – Just don’t understand how China works
Its why Singapore never makes Predictions on China. They simply report the US Predictions and Laugh because They are Chinese too.
Likewise South Korea understands the Chinese Way as does Taiwan and even HK
That’s why South East Asia really didn’t care too much about Evergrande. They just reported what the West said but ignored it.
That’s why South East Asia scrambled in Panic when Lehman Brothers folded. They also know how US works and knew how big a crisis it was.
Just change your glasses and wear a Chinese one – and you will see just how different Chinese Business is compared to the Western models
Why are Americans leaving America?
I really can only answer for myself.
I have been living in Europe on and off since 2000. I moved first for work reasons.. I opened a European office of my company in Berlin. I kept my home in Colorado and would commute every 6 weeks. In 2010 I finally sold everything in the US and moved permanently to Latvia.
I moved permanently to Europe for a number of reasons:
The cost of health insurance and healthcare was becoming insane. As I got older I knew that I would need a dependable healthcare system where I did not need to concern myself with any pre-existing conditions. In Europe I did not need to worry about healthcare. I get top notch healthcare and never have to worry about pre-existing conditions or expensive health insurance.
I really enjoy the multitude of cultures here in Europe. I enjoy exploring, learning about cultures, languages, foods and history. Now I can get in my car, drive a while, cross a border and be in another world. I can explore millennia of history everywhere I go.
I really got tired of the consumer society that America has become. People go way out on a limb to buy the latest crap that they do not even need. There is constant propaganda to buy, buy, buy. It becomes a mindset. Even after all these years I am still getting out of that programming. Maybe because some of that has spread to Europe but it is no where near as bad.
I no longer wanted to be around all the willfully ignorant, bigots, idiots, morons, closed minded assholes, and greedy sociopaths in America. I did not want to walk into a restaurant, bar or doctor’s office and have Fox playing on the TV polluting the environment. I wanted to be out of the right wing propaganda bubble that America was surrounded by. I saw this getting worse every year. I watched as the right wing influence in the media grew. I watched as the right wing Christians and conservatives infiltrated our schools, military, police forces, corporations, media, government, bureaucracies and every other aspect of society. It got to the point where there were too many acquaintances and colleagues who I could no longer even be around. More and more they felt it was acceptable to be openly bigoted and hateful towards ‘others’ and those who they deemed different or less than themselves. I could see the writing on the wall and saw where America was headed. So I left it all behind. I am glad I did. After Trump was elected I realized I no longer had a country. That America had gone so far downhill that I could no longer live there even if I wanted to. I know that even after Trump is gone the trumpistas will still be loud and proud, creating chaos for their corporate masters and destroying our country. I prefer being far away from that toxic environment.
No place is perfect. Every country has its pluses and minuses. I guess, if we have the opportunity to move to a place where we feel more comfortable we should.
Why has the meat pie not seen much popularity outside of New Zealand, the UK, and Australia?
They’re popular in New England, though they’re not the same.
Aussie/Kiwi meat pies (in my experience) are kind of their own thing. They’re made primarily with ground meat (usually beef,) onion and bbq/tomato sauce. They’re delicious (and plentiful.) Meanwhile the British eat more kinds of pies than I have managed to try.
Here in New England, we eat Shepherd’s pie and chicken pot pie, which I realise are popular elsewhere.
We also eat the style popular in the Canadian maritimes — this is the type my family have always eaten, and here’s how I make them. Note that these use “ordinary” pie crust, as you’d use for apple, top and bottom. This will make a 9-inch pie:
NOTE that I buy the cheapest cuts of meat available. No need for anything fancy; just whatever’s on sale.
Arrange your lower crust by itself in the pie plate and pre-bake at 125C until golden.
Dice your meat into 2.5 cm (one inch) cubes, and brown the meat in a bit of butter in a frying pan until it is seared on the outside.
Put the meat, onion, and savory (or sage & thyme) in a stew pot, and add enough water to just cover the meat. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to barely simmering, and simmer, covered, for 1.5 to 2 hours, checking every half hour to add water to keep the meat covered as necessary, until a piece of meat will just about fall apart when you squash it with a fork..
Remove from heat, and pour everything into a colander to strain it. Let it cool in the colander while you prepare the potatoes.
Peel and dice your potatoes, and boil them the same as if you were making mashed potatoes. When they’re done, strain out the water, add the lard, and then mash in the usual way. No lumps! Be thorough. Don’t add milk to these… just thoroughly mashed potatoes and lard. The potatoes are the binder that will hold your filling together. Canadian/New England pies don’t slouch and run the way some others do. They’re more like a pork pie.
Return to your cooled meat. Examine all your cooked pieces, and scrape away or remove any fat or gristle that remains (most of it will have boiled away.)
Now put the meat/onions in a mixing bowl, and start adding the potato/lard mixture, mixing/stirring as you go. Don’t worry that the meat falls apart as you mix. It will do that. But do try to keep it as intact as possible, so there are some big chunks in each slice.
Add salt and plenty of ground black pepper. When the filling is mixed, and tasting good, fill your (pre-cooked) lower crust, add your top crust, cut some vents, and bake at 175 deg C until the top crust is done, usually about 40 minutes or so.
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Why has China chosen to remain silent regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine?
First, China has not been silent. Even before the war, China had been pressing for regional peace talks. But guess what, the West prefers to dig up dirt from the Beijing Olympics… I mean… I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
The West should be like this: Who cares, we need the whole world to know the evil of the Olympic Games. Putin and Ukraine can wait.
Second, China knows better that internal affairs are usually better handled internally. The history between Russia and Ukraine goes back to 1991. Better to let Russia and Ukraine resolve these issues internally.
Third, I did not see the West upset when two US presidents destroyed three Middle Eastern countries in the space of 20 years, one of them for a bag of washing powder. Where were the ABC, BBC, CNN and the rest of the media when millions of refugees poured into the EU, hundreds of thousands were made homeless and countless civilians died? No, it’s all cool and normal 😀 They don’t even deserve to be in an entertainment column reporting on Brad Pitt’s facial (no offense, he’s a great actor).
Conclusion:
When things fall apart, blame China.
When things get better, talk down China.
When things are no longer things, guess what, China! 😀
Chinese Girl
Why does the United States have so much freedom compared to other developing nations?
Um, what freedoms do Americans have? Not too many I can think of.
Many Americans don’t have the freedom to:
have affordable housing — homelessness is rampant in all the major US cities
have affordable health care — many go bankrupt over medical bills
be safe from gun violence — mass shootings occur on a daily basis!
be safe from systemic racism — BLM and “I can’t breathe”
be safe from a pandemic — USA has over a million Covid deaths!
have a living minimum wage — minimum wage is stuck at 1960s level
be safe from mass incarceration — the highest level and highest rate in the world
express their political opinions on social media — Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc. practice massive censorship
The list is endless.
So do tell me what these American freedoms are.
Are you fond of Australia?
Unlike many Australians, my husband and I had to make an active choice on where to live when I discovered I was pregnant with my first child. We were living in London at the time, owned our own flat, both had good jobs, and loving being so close to everything (travel was our lifeblood.)
Before five years in the UK, we had spent a year travelling through South America, and before that, five years in New Zealand, so hadn’t lived in Australia for more than a decade. So our dilemma was to stay in London, go back to New Zealand, or go home to Australia.
Both of our families lived in Australia, so clearly that was a factor, but we were never going to live close enough to them for it to be a major factor: my parents live so far north there are very few jobs for my husband there, and my inlaws lived at the other end of the state, where we’d gone to uni and started our working lives. We wanted to try something else.
Australia won, in the end, for pretty shallow reasons. Bigger houses, more outdoor space for kids to play, an economy that meant it was possible for us to live on one income for as long as we wanted to. My job was not a child-friendly one, involving long hours and lots of travel, so I chose not to work, and then to work from home.
We ended up in Melbourne because that’s where the first decent job offer came from, and I was seven months pregnant at the time and fairly keen to settle down. It was a blessing in disguise – Sydney (where we’d mostly been looking) was much more expensive housing wise, and the cooler, wetter Melbourne winters weren’t really a problem after our years in London.
(Top secret: when the sun comes out in a Melbourne winter, it is pure paradise on Earth. Not dissimilar to a UK summer, in fact.)
Sure, the summers can be hellishly hot, but the humidity is generally low, and waiting for the change (when the cool front comes through on the wind change, bringing a drastic drop in temperature and often a spectacular storm) is the state sport. (They’ll try and tell you its that AFL, but believe me – it’s waiting for the change. Watching it come on the radar and the whole household moving out onto the verandah just to FEEL the first kiss of cold air. )
We live where we live (out on the leafy suburban fringe) because I like to walk a lot and love having the choices of the sealed paths along the Yarra, the Plenty and Diamond Creek, or the wild bush tracks where you can feel dirt under your feet. If we want to have a long weekend away, sure, we can’t go to Paris or Rome or Seville any more, but there are a million little towns between Adelaide and Sydney along a spectacular coastline. Some places are completely undeveloped because of national park protection and it’s not hard to find somewhere almost empty once you figure out where to look. (Even on the Great Ocean Road.)
Melbourne is one of the great cultural capitals and we try to take advantage of that, but mostly don’t – we came home for the outdoors, and the bush, and space and quiet and privacy. Getting up to the city is actually quite easy – we live five minutes away from a railway station and its a 50 minute trip at slowest – and I’d be commuting that every day if I worked in the city. (Most people do.)
Sure, the traffic is worse than it used to be (isn’t it everywhere), and housing is more expensive than it was (isn’t it everywhere), but no one can take away the blue mornings in July that make you feel so alive, or the exhiliration of the change after a run of 40 degree days. Spring and Autumn, cool mornings, warm afternoons … perfect weather. (I like storms.)
As a parent, I love the fact that my children could attend good local schools and still get a solid education, but in Melbourne I have a massive choice of independent school options as well – we chose Montessori, but have a Steiner school, several good Catholic schools and several non-denominational independent schools nearby as well. Yes, we are saving money towards our children’s tertiary education because Australian university courses are way more expensive than they used to be, but they are still subsidised by the government and won’t be out of reach for our kids even if we don’t manage to save much.
Both of my kids are into high risk sports, and my husband commutes on a bike and races on the weekend, so our family has more contact with the health system than I’d like. Most of our GP and hospital visits are free, and even for xrays and the like, services are heavily subsidised.
The wildlife can kill you but mostly doesn’t want to, and a little bit of common sense goes a long way. (Never put your hand into a hole, never put your foot where you can’t see the ground.) Biggest risk for most people is probably the sun, to be honest – learn to wear a proper hat, and sunscreen, and stay hydrated. If its over 40 degrees, stay out of the sun until its cooler.
Talk to people. Get to know the place – get out of the cities and visit the parks, the beaches, the gorgeous wilderness. Smell the gum leaves, admire the wattle in bloom, see how the colours are different to anywhere else, this place has its own palette, red and yellow and silvery green.
(I like Australia wild and untamed, though suburbia is pretty great.)
How strictly are Chinese people isolated from the rest of the world?
I don’t know. You tell me.
I finished watching The Mandalorian last week.
To my surprise, I quite liked it.
IG-11’s sacrifice scene almost made me shed a tear.
But I still haven’t watched the last season of Game of Thrones.
Or Spiderman: Far from Home.
Most days I work from home from my laptop.
I go out for occasional walks in the park and in the evening I usually go for a run around the neighborhood.
I go to the nearest Tesco once a week to stock up on groceries. I find that on average, I spend about an average of €25 a week for groceries. But last week I broke my budget by €2 when I decided to get a jar of Ovaltine Light. * sad face *
Before I came to Ireland to do my Master’s, I had previously lived in several countries:
Australia, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Japan, the United States, Germany.
I’ve also traveled to many more countries than that.
Iceland was a favorite.
I stayed a couple of days in a small town whose entire population is… get this… 200 people.
Last place I traveled to was London, in January 2020.
Five days. Had some Nando’s, tried the buffet at Pizza Hut (so-so), had too many quick meals at McDonald’s. And even had a chicken sandwich at a place called “Chicking” (I assume it’s Chicken + King)
Also, had a great haircut and dye job from a Singaporean hairstylist – there are wayyyyy more Asian hairstylists in London than Dublin.
I don’t think I live an isolated life, although Dublin is currently under Level 5 restrictions, so in that sense, you could say that I’m somewhat isolated because we’re not supposed to travel too far outside of our residence without a good reason (buying groceries would be a good reason, having a party with your mates who live 15 km away would be otherwise)
So, how did I do?
Do you think I’m isolated from the rest of the world?
Is it fair to say that the USA has gone from the greatest country on Earth to a near Third World country? Did conservatives not warn of this happening for the last 70 years?
Is it fair to say that the USA has gone from the greatest country on Earth to a near Third World country?
Yes, I think it’s fair to say that…
Did you know that America’s life expectancy this year dropped to below that of China’s? I’m not pulling your leg.
Life expectancy is one of the crucial factors that determine how well-developed a country is.
Another factor is the level of poverty in the country. In America, there are vast swaths of homeless people in all the major cities. For the supposedly richest nation on earth, this is unconscionable.
Millions of Americans suffer from food insecurity. Food banks are stretched to the limit.
Millions of Americans cannot afford health care, which is considered a fundamental human right around the world.
America has the some of the worst infrastructure in the world, literally crumbling and decaying.
Gun violence is so rampant in America that mass shootings occur on a daily basis! I’m not pulling your leg.
In 2020, 45,000 Americans were killed by guns, according to the CDC. This includes suicides.
Of course, wealthier Americans deny that USA is slipping in quality of life. They’re so insulated from the shit that’s going on around them, they have blinders on.
Economically already surpassed on all parameters of consequence except one and that will also be reached in 2028–30 period. China is already the largest economy in PPP terms, the largest trading nation in the world, the largest industrial base, largest manufacturing capacity, largest tading partner to the most number of countries and it’s BRI project is the largest development and infrastructure project in history.
Technologically hard to tell whether China has already surpassed or has few years more to catch up. My guess is overall China is 95% of the overall US technology framework and architecture. This means in many technology fields China has already left USA behind in the dust and in some fields its at par while in few others its behind. So overall it’s 95% if we have to quantify it.
Sopranos and Lupertazzi’s Sitdown to discuss Ralph – The Sopranos HD
Where are the best meat pies in Australia?
In my opinion, Adelaide, my home town, makes the absolute best pies. One of the downsides of living in the city of Melbourne is that the only meat pies or bakery items I can find are either made by large franchises, and therefore depersonalised, or sold in a packet.
In Adelaide, that is near sacreligious. There is at least one good bakery in the heart of each suburb, which makes everything fresh in store, and typically has upwards of 20 savoury bakery varieties, and even more sweet varieties.
One of my personal favourite locations is Enjoy Bakery on the Parade at Norwood, partially because it was within walking distance(1 hour or so) of my house, but also because they have a ridiculous range, not to mention delicious flavour.
Here is a visual aid:
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Of course, any true Australian would accompany their bakery meal with the following beverage:
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I happen to be holding one of these in my hand at this very moment!
You know someone isn’t Australian when something other than a meat pie comes into their mind when you say ‘pie’, it almost disgusts me that Americans would call a blueberry pie, ‘pie’ as if that were somehow acceptable.
Chinese Girl
What are the most intolerant and ridiculous school lunch policies, where teachers or lunch monitors criticize what you pack for your child’s lunch?
My cousin’s daughter brought home a note from her teacher saying that the lunch she had packaged for her had been thrown away because it was unhealthy and that she owed the school money for the school lunch her daughter had been given. My cousin called her daughter’s teacher to find out what the issue was and apparently the school had banned lunchables so her daughter’s lunch of sliced turkey breast, cheese grapes and yogurt was deemed a lunchable and therefore unhealthy because it included whole grain flatbread. which the teacher insisted were crackers so it was a homemade lunchable and violated the rules . The teacher didn’t care that it was whole grain it was a cracker so it was unhealthy.
My cousin’s set up a meeting with the teacher and the principal and explained exactly what her daughter had brought for lunch including the nutritional information to prove that her daughter’s lunch was indeed healthy then asked provided the menu for the day her daughter’s lunch was throw away. Pizza, corn, a roll and fruit cocktail. The principal apologized and said that it wouldn’t happen again. A few days later letters were sent home explaining that the teacher would be gone for the rest of the year and the students would be getting a new teacher.
Come to find out that the school hadn’t banned lunchables or had any requirements on lunches brought from home but the teacher in question had tried imposing rules on what SHE felt was acceptable lunches and gotten in trouble for throwing away a student’s lunch the year before so she ended up getting fired.
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Nomar
I promised my cat Nomar that I would one day share her story, so here it is –
I was looking for a new cat since one of my others had recently passed on – it had left a void in the house, and he was sorely missed.
My nearby shelter (Paws) had quite a few up for adoption, and a small tuxedo cat caught my eye. When I first asked to see her, I was warned by the staff that she was a bit hostile toward people, but something told me to take a look anyway.
Well, they were more than correct as I was promptly scratched and bitten by the little thing. I was then told that she had arrived at the shelter a few months beforehand and was quite pregnant.
She gave birth to seven kittens soon after, all seven were quickly adopted out when they were ready.
It came to me quickly that Mom would definitely be difficult to find a forever home for. Well, (you guessed it) I could not allow her to sit in a cage forever and then possibly lose her life. My heart would not allow this – I adopted her.
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Once home, to my surprise, my other cat took a liking to her, and they got along very well.
But for myself or any other human – well, she wanted to rip us to shreds immediately.
To shorten things, it took over a year of patience before she began to trust me. Here’s the fun part – one day I awakened to a brand – new cat in my home. It was nothing less than astounding, Nomar had gone through some sort of transformation during the night.
My vicious little girl kitty had suddenly become more than friendly, more like a loving, secure, happy cat.
It came as a total shock to me – she was a changeling. Nomar must have come to a conclusion – accepting me and trusting me completely as her own, to have forever.
Later I found that she had decided to love everyone else as well, friends, neighbors, even total strangers.
If there is such a thing as a miracle, this was it.
Through the years the two of us were tight as a knot, always together. She was very intelligent, inventing her own games to play, learning constantly and just plain loving her life, and I sure never regretted bringing Nomar home, a very, very special cat indeed.
I often think of what might have been. This wonderful, happy, trusting kitty may never have existed.
Of course, someone else may have felt the same as I did and adopted her, but to me – I was the lucky one.
Her real personality came alive when she realized no one would hurt her, ever. I can’t imagine what a waste it could have been.
We loved each other tremendously until that awful day came when she left our world. But I will forever remember Nomar, the sweetest little creature in the universe.
I believe that I gave her the best 15 years that a cat could have. Rest in peace Nomar. Hope I did you justice with this.
I will love you until I die.
Ralphie Figured Out Who Told Johnny Sack Of The Joke – The Sopranos HD
Why is China such a nightmarish country? China literally seems like the stuff of nightmares.
Because you don’t know the first thing about China. You need to visit China before talking shit about it.
Your understanding of China is based on Western media propaganda garbage.
Millions of foreign tourists visit China every year. They see China as a magnificent and beautiful country.
There is no substitute for your own eyes and experience. Stop reading Western media rubbish and go to China!
Why is the United States considered “the land of the free”? Is it because of all the free stuff that the government provides?
Yes it is a land of free money. Since Bush they have given out over 10 trillion dollars to Americans and American companies to buy its own shares. That is 10′000′000′000′000 whic is no different from the communist regime in the 1950s giving out food stamps.
But the sickening thing is the Americans laugh and slur Communism and Socialism. They are doing what Communist and socialist no longer need to do 70 years ago!
The US is broke and bankrupt for at least 30 years now, and totally dependent on printing money like there is no tomorrow doing things no one needs nor wanted and certainly will not pay for. And spending money they do not have.
This will end now. The USD will be used only amongst less than 10 countries within a decade. And this madness will stop and so will America’s hegemony. Unless it wants a 5000% inflation!
Johnny informs Tony about Ralphie’s joke – The Sopranos HD
The Australian Traditional Meat pie!
“This is The Australian Traditional Meat pie! usually eaten for lunch for just watching the aussie rules footy. You can make 1 big meat pie or more little ones from this recipe!”
Add 3/4 cup of the water, bouillon cubes, ketchup and Worcestershire sauce, pepper, oregano, and nutmeg.
Boil and cover for 15 minutes.
Blend flour with the remaining 1/4 cup water until it becomes a smooth paste; add to the meat mix.
Let cool.
Grease a pie dish and line with puff pastry.
Add the cooled filling mixture; brush edges of pastry with milk or beaten egg; put the pastry top on; press edges down with a fork.
Trim edges and glaze top with milk or beaten egg.
Bake in a very hot oven, 220 degrees Celsius for 15 minutes.
Reduce heat to 180 degrees Celsius and bake for 25 more minutes, or until golden brown.
Serve with veggies, fries, or salad.
Is the rest of the world going to have to choose between the US and the West or Russia and China?
They’re basically making that choice now. Most of the world’s nations refuse to side with the white Anglophone countries (USA, UK, Australia, Canada) and most of the countries within the EU…
They refuse to follow Western sanctions against Russia.
They refuse to follow Western sanctions against China. They’re buying 5G equipment from Huawei, for example.
OPEC countries refuse to increase oil production at the West’s behest.
They continue to trade with China and do business with China.
They accept China’s offer to build their infrastructure through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
They join alliances such as BRICS, RCEP, and SCO.
They are moving to de-dollarize, to move away from using the US Dollar.
The world is bifurcating into two distinct spheres…economically, financially, technologically, diplomatically.
I am in the middle of my Chinese national Holiday. You-Tube has penalized me to having a video “spreading medical misinformation”, and I am being tormented by a couple of ‘Merica! folk who want to “kick some slant eyed ass”.
A police officer was standing behind her and happened to hear the amount and saw she was using a cane, struggling to walk back to her car. He went outside and told her to sit in the car as he would pump the gas for her. After a few minutes of getting to know one another, he realized she was really struggling and didn’t have any gas or money left. The $3 will only get her so far. He told her to hang tight- came inside and put another $20 out of his pocket. He went back and finished pumping and she told him her husband had recently passed away and she’s stuck paying all their bills and is behind every month. This $20 really helped her! She would of most likely ended up running out of gas. Nowadays there’s so much negativity towards police officers. No one respects them. We hear all the complaints and “bad” stories. I’m not saying every officer is perfect, I’m sure some are at fault at times. We all make mistakes- but we should all respect, appreciate, and thank them for what they do. Leaving your family every day to try and make sure everyone else’s is safe can be tough. Think about it- who do you call when you’re in danger? Who’s running in harm’s way as you’re running away?
To all the men and women in blue, I THANK YOU for your service!”
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For decades, America has assumed that China would gradually liberalize, open its markets, and improve its human-rights record, but that strategy simply hasn’t worked – is it time to give up on China?
China has not opened up? I’m pretty sure anyone holding that view has not visited China recently.
Go to Beijing or Shanghai or any other big Chinese city. You will find malls that look not much different from Hong Kong or Singapore. They may even be built and operated by conglomerates from these port cities. American fast food, French bags, Swiss watches. Whatever you want you can have. Markets as open as any major international city today.
As for liberalization, more than 150 million Chinese travel abroad each year. That is an astounding number, greater than the population of Japan. Just 40 years ago, the numbers were negligible. But the more incredible number is this: more than 150 million Chinese RETURN HOME. There are no reports of millions of Chinese refugees seeking asylum overseas.
On to human rights. China is behind Singapore in terms of rule of law, and trust in the government internationally. But Singapore still get routinely trashed for the death penalty, caning, inequality and other human rights abuses. We are a common law democracy but there are always murmurs if not shouts of dynastic politics, non-democracy, high political salaries and other evils.
We can never please the west because we are not the west.
China is changing. Warp speed fast. But please temper any judgment with the fact China started from a very low base. China was at war for the better part of 100 years from 1850 to 1949, half of it without a functional central government. Can you imagine 3 generations of anarchy and destruction? What do they call it, dystopia?
The current generation of chinese youth enjoy far more freedoms and privileges than their parents did. The next will, too.
Paulie Gualtieri dethrones Tony Soprano
https://youtu.be/lN5XY-a7BCY
Have you ever met a celebrity and found they were much kinder or ruder than you expected?
Last March, my family was visiting Southern California. They wanted to check out Venice Beach. My daughter loves to work out as much as I do so I suggested we leave the others at the beach and walk over to the original Gold’s Gym, the Mecca of bodybuilding. For the next hour and a half we lifted weights, toured every inch of the place, stared at all the pictures of the famous bodybuilders on the walls, and generally had a great time. We stopped at the gift shop and bought a couple of things to commemorate the day. I finished paying and looked up and pointed near the entrance.
“It’s Arnold,” I said. Sure enough, it was the Terminator himself. My daughter gasped, “Let’s get a picture!”
By the time we got to him he was talking to two guys who were in the gym but came out to meet him. Standing next to them we overheard their entire conversation. He was encouraging them and complementing them on their strength and size. When they left, my daughter asked for a pic with us.
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“Shu-uh”, he replied. We thanked him for his time and he wished us a good day before riding off on his electric bike. He honestly could not have been more gracious or down-to-earth.
Photos of American factories
According to Donald Trump and Joe Biden, American industries will eventually return, and when that does, the American industrial might will be unstoppable. Let’s take a look at some of the factories that will roar back into life.
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If there was ever a movie that relates to the crazy world that we live in today, it is the Peter Sellers movie “Dr. Strangelove”.
Dr. Strangelove LDRip test
And the USA is busy trying to “suppress” and “hurt” Russia…
Russian retail chain ‘DNS’ confirms hack after data leaked online
Russian retail chain ‘DNS’ (Digital Network System) disclosed yesterday that they suffered a data breach that exposed the personal information of customers and employees.
DNS is Russia’s second-largest computer and home appliance store chain, with 2,000 branches and 35,000 employees.
According to the scant details provided in the announcement, a group of hackers residing outside the Russian Federation exploited a security gap in the company’s IT systems and accessed customer and employee details.
“We have already found gaps in the protection of our information infrastructure and are working to strengthen information security in the company,” says the DNS announcement.
While the firm has not provided details on what information was compromised, it clarified that the hackers didn’t steal user passwords and payment card data, as that data isn’t stored on their systems.
DNS data leaked on hacker forum
DNS’ disclosure of a security breach comes hours after a threat actor began leaking the company’s data on a hacking forum, allegedly stolen by a hacking group known as ‘NLB Team.’
The data was allegedly stolen on September 19 and contains full names, usernames, email addresses, and phone numbers of DNS customers and employees for 16 million people.
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Full Article HERE. CIA and NSA been really busy harassing Russia.
Why is democracy not a convenient choice for China?
First of all, you’re talking about liberal Western democracy. This model is based on multiparty elections.
China has a different model of democracy, one that is based on a one-party system.
So it’s incorrect to say that China doesn’t have a democracy. It’s just not your model of democracy.
Second, China’s democratic model has proven to be far more effective for the Chinese. It has enabled China to rise from a totally impoverished nation in 1979 to the world’s largest economy by purchasing power parity in just 35 years, an unimaginably short period of time! And it achieved all this without fighting a single war!
No other country in history has risen so large, so quickly, so peacefully. It’s truly an economic miracle.
Third, China did adopt Western democracy back in 1912 when the Republic of China was created. It turned into a colossal disaster. The country was ravaged by warlordism; it was in danger of flying apart at the seams.
Life was bad enough that the Chinese fought a civil war. The ROC was defeated and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) rose in its place.
Fourth, the Chinese have seen liberal democracy failing all around the world. Russia adopted democracy after the fall of the Soviet Union and it also turned into a colossal disaster. India’s democracy held back its economic development — by rights, India’s economy should be comparable to China’s today.
Taiwan adopted democracy around 1990 and its economy has suffered chronic wage stagnation ever since. Taiwan’s parliament is infamous for its brawls.
UK’s democracy allowed the country to be royally fucked by Brexit.
USA’s democracy is in total chaos as the country is plagued by endless social and political problems.
Germany’s democracy allowed the country to be fucked by fuel shortages.
Just about all Western democracies have suffered terrible losses from the pandemic.
Why on earth would China consider adopting liberal democracy again??? What would it have to gain?
Killing Heidi – Mascara
Not popular in the USA, but was in Campsie when I lived there. Take a time machine back to pleasanter times.
America Is Successfully Pursuing ESG = Extreme Shortages Guaranteed
Everything that needs electricity is made with the oil derivatives manufactured from crude oil. In an all-electric world, there will be nothing to power without oil.
Ronald Steinis an engineer, senior policy advisor on energy literacy for Heartland, and co-author of the Pulitzer Prize nominated book “Clean Energy Exploitations.”
Energy growth, electricity AND the products made from oil derivatives manufactured from crude oil and the fuels to power ships, planes, militaries, and space programs, are directly linked to prosperity and well-being across the globe.
Today, most of the energy the world consumes is from hydrocarbons, with crude oil being the dominant source of transportation fuels. Today, crude oil is the ONLY source for the oil derivatives manufactured from crude oil that makes more than 6,000 products for society.
President Biden’s U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) projections are that world energy consumption of crude oil, coal, natural gas, electricity from renewables, and nuclear will grow by 56 percent between 2010 and 2040. Without any replacements or clones to what fossil fuels can provide the EIA forecasts that fossil fuels will continue to supply nearly 80 percent of world energy use through 2040
President Biden and Sacramento leaders, from Governor’s Brown, Schwarzenegger, and now Newsom, have supported reductions of in-state oil production. And all remain supportive of Biden’s pledge that “we are going to get rid of fossil fuels”.
Another way to interpret Biden and Newsom’s pledge for an all-electric world:
Biden and Newsom are oblivious to the reality that everything that needs electricity is made from the oil derivatives manufactured from crude oil. In an all-electric world with JUST wind and solar electricity from breezes and sunshine, there will be nothing to power.
Biden and Newsom believe that the products and fuels manufactured from fossil fuels, are supporting lifestyles and economies, are dangerous and polluting and is causing dangerous climate change.
Biden and Newsom believe that all the infrastructures developed in less than two centuries, from the products manufactured from crude oil, are not needed by future societies, such as medical, electronics, communications, and the many transportation infrastructures such as airlines, merchant ships, automobiles, trucks, military, the space program.
Biden and Newsom believe that an all-renewable electricity system from unreliable weather conditions, WITHOUT the products and fuels from fossil fuels, can work to support a modern economy.
Today, Biden supports and encourages banks and investment giants to collude to reshape economies and energy infrastructure with their Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) divesting in fossil fuels movement. ESG is an extremely dangerous precedent as the American people never voted to give banks this sort of control over our country.
With no known replacement for crude oil, Biden and the ESG believers need to be careful about eliminating “all” 3 fossil fuels!
America continues to contribute to China’s domination as divesting in crude oil, the same oil that changed the world after 1900, guarantees shortages and inflation in perpetuity of products supporting societies and economies.
It seems obvious that the efforts to cease the use of crude oil may be the greatest threat to civilization. Attempting to attain a decarbonized world like the one that existed in the 1800’s and before, could result in Billions of fatalities for the eight billion on earth from disease, malnutrition, and weather-related deaths, versus the projections of millions of fatalities from changes in climate.
The world leaders are experiencing a “dangerous delusion” of a global transition to “just electricity” that eliminates the use of the fossil fuels that made society achieve so much in a few centuries.
There were almost 700 oil refineries as of January 2020, but as a result on continuous over regulations and permitting delays and the worldwide support of the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) to divest in fossil fuels, the right operating model and level of integration will be crucial for survival and sustained profitability of refineries.
Consequently, one in five American oil refineries are expected to cease operations over the next five years. One in five is 20 percent, or almost 140 refineries expected to be shuttered worldwide, resulting in a 20 percent decline in the products manufactured to meet the ever-increasing demands form society. With the reduction in manufacturing capabilities, shortages and inflation in perpetuity are likely the new norm!
As of 2021, there were eighty-eight new facilities in planning or under construction in Asia and Europe is set to see an addition of twelve petroleum refineries.
The amount of oil fed through refineries in Asia has significantly increased in the past three decades as demand for petroleum products surged in developing countries such as China and India.
Today, America’s energy policies support being held hostage to unstable Petro-powers and the vagaries of foreign crude oil supplies to meet America’s demands.
The key challenge is meeting the growing demand for energy in an environmentally friendly and safe manner. Energy supplies are crucial to economic growth in both developed and developing countries to power businesses and homes, connect communities across boundaries, provide safe water, move commodities, and ultimately promote human and economic development.
While renewables continue to underperform in the generation of electricity, subsidies continue for wind and solar power plants based on “nameplate ratings”. Wind and solar should be penalized when they cannot deliver that for which they have been permitted. And while America promotes the “nameplate farce” of wind and solar, crude oil continues to be targeted for elimination along with coal and natural gas, even though oil is seldom used for generating electricity.
The unintended consequences of attempting to rid America and the world of crude oil usage are being realized in supply shortages and soaring prices resulting from the elimination of products and fuels manufactured from crude oil that support:
Asphalt for roughly sixty-five million miles of roads in the world
Tires for the 1.4 billion vehicles in the world
Fertilizers to feed the world on this increasingly resource-stretched and crowded earth.
Medical supplies that are primarily made from oil derivatives
Jets that comprise more than 50,000 for military, commercial, and private sector.
Merchant ships that comprise more than 53,000 that move products throughout the world
Vehicles that are mostly made of plastics
Renewables of wind turbines and solar panels that are made from oil derivatives
Simply put, the goal to “electrify everything” is a de facto energy tax on low- and middle-income citizens that could add more instability to already proven unstable power grids.
It is mind boggling that America continuously perpetuates greater reliance on foreign countries for the products demanded by society, and for the exotic minerals and metals to support wind, solar, and EV batteries. America is successfully pursuing ESG, i.e., Extreme Shortages Guaranteed and inflation in perpetuity that is associated with unreliable supplies to meet ever increasing demands.
They are the buzzwords of New York City crime circa 2022: Random and unprovoked.
A chilling spate of recent incidents involving innocent victims runs the gamut from a woman savagely beaten inside a Queens subway station to a 17-year-old Brooklyn girl killed by a stray bullet to a Mexican immigrant nearly killed by a sucker-punch outside a Manhattan restaurant.
The latest terrifying attack took the life of a veteran city EMS lieutenant on her way to grab lunch in Astoria this past Thursday, with a schizophrenic stranger knocking her to the sidewalk before stabbing her 20 times for no apparent reason.
“There’s something profoundly wrong with New York,” said Mary Hassler, 66, an Astoria resident and cosmetics sales person. “The number of these attacks are growing. There seems to be more and more all the time.
Hey, NYC residents voted for this when they voted in a Leftist mayor, leftist city council, and leftist District Attorney. They’re literally getting what they voted for. If you would have asked them if they supported defunding, no cash bail, etc, a few years ago they would have said “yes!”
But the department reports an uptick so far this year in 911 calls involving emotionally disturbed people. Through Sept. 29, police cited an 8% hike with the latest numbers at 131,199 — roughly 500 per day, up from 128,488 over the same stretch of 2021.
And in a year when the NYPD reported a nearly 12% drop in homicides, there was also a citywide 37% jump in robberies and a 43% increase in grand larceny as New Yorkers expressed their fears about the ongoing situation.
Like in California, criminals feel emboldened to do crime. And what does a city council member recommend?
I love the first section, where, under Direct, it’s recommended you “repeat the same statements until the person causing harm corrects their behavior or exits.” Right, right, that’s totally feasible. Of course, they could be exiting because they’ve already filled their bag with goods and it’s time to go.
Several experts reacted to the CEO of McDonald’s suggesting his company could be the next to flee Chicago’s crime wave by telling Fox News Digital that progressive policies and defund the police rhetoric have created a dangerous situation that will cause even more businesses to flee and most negatively impact the most vulnerable communities in the city.
In a mid-September speech, McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski said Chicago is a “city in crisis” and that rising crime has made it more difficult to recruit employees to the company’s downtown West Loop headquarters with many scared to return to in-person work after the pandemic due to safety concerns. (snip)
Crime in Chicago, which has skyrocketed since the Black Lives Matter riots and defund the police rhetoric that evolved from the death of George Floyd in 2020, has been cited by other businesses as the reason to pack up and leave. Heritage Foundation senior research fellow in the Center for Health and Welfare Policy Robert Moffit told Fox News Digital that the exodus leaves lower income workers to fend for themselves in a city where police morale and staffing has plummeted due in part to defund the police rhetoric.
Again, the residents of Chicago advocated for this. They voted fro uber-left wing nuts. Now they’re getting what they asked for and are upset. Too be perfectly honest, I have no sympathy. I do, though, not want them to leave and come to the safer non-loony leftist areas.
Blazing Saddles ( Kansas City Faggots )
The Surveillance State: Intelligence Community Developing AI Tool To Unmask Anonymous Writers
A press release on Tuesday from the ODNI revealed that the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA), their research and development arm, is starting work on the Human Interpretable Attribution of Text Using Underlying Structure program – HIATUS for short.
Why couldn’t Tibet, Xinjiang, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and other regions within China that resist CCP’s rule form a coalition with US, and Japan and other anti-China nations to fight against China and declare independence?
What makes you think that Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong are resisting CCP rule?
In a survey of all provinces in China last year on the people’s approval rating for China’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, Xinjiang gave the highest approval rating. That is not consistent with a province that resists China’s leadership.
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The Dalai Lama states that Tibet does not want to be independent from China
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Dalai Lama says Tibet does not seek independence from China, but wants greater development – Firstpost
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Tibet does not seek independence from China but wants greater development, Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama said.
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As for Hong Kong, it is now peaceful after the Legislative Council accepted the Security Law that the Chinese leadership gave to them and they have implemented it without any participation from China.
Stop spreading the US lies against China!
Dr. Strangelove (6/8) Movie CLIP – No Point in Getting Hysterical (1964) HD
In 1967 or ’68, a plumber doing renovation work on a building in a quiet North Center neighborhood of Chicago broke through an old wall to discover a hidden space. Inside this time capsule, hidden for over 50 years, stood a pristine motorcycle. The paint, white rubber tires and even the leather of the seat were incredibly well preserved, and it was soon realized that almost every part of the bike had been meticulously hand crafted.
It was truly an one-off, possibly one of the rarest motorcycles in the world, and the only clue to its origins lay in the name “Traub” which was painted on the tank and cast on the engine covers.
The elderly owners of the building were tracked down and told about the mystery, and they admitted that their son had stolen the motorcycle in 1917; how it came to be walled up in the building is still unknown, and after their son had been killed in the First World War it had been left there all but forgotten.
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Almost every item on it had been engineered and manufactured specifically for this bike; aside from a Schebler carburetor, Bosch magneto, Troxel Jumbo seat and a period wheel rim there are no shared components from any other motorcycle of that era. The pistons are hand made and have gap-less cast iron rings and much of the engineering and machining is years ahead of its time.
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The v-twin engine is unique to the Traub; with a sand-cast, hand-built, 80 cubic-inch side valve motor and a three-speed transmission thought to be one of the first of its kind. The rear brake setup is also unique, consisting of a dual-acting system that employs a single cam that pushes an internal set of shoes, while simultaneously pulling an external set of contracting shoes.
The motorcycle utilizes two clutch levers; the conventional foot-operated mechanism along with a hand lever that sits alongside the fuel tank on the left side. The lever gate for the shifter is also unique, operating what could have been the first three-speed gearbox on an American motorcycle. The transmission has two separate neutral positions, between first and second gear and again between second and third, marked on the shift mechanism with a zero.
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The powerhouse is a beautifully crafted 78ci V-twin engine with a 4in stroke and a 3 7/16in bore; 1,278cc, which was large for the time. (The majority of big displacement motorcycle engines from the Traub’s era were around 1,000cc (61ci). Using a side-valve arrangement, the top of the cylinders feature a gas primer valve, adjustable crankcase breather and unique engine mounts.
After its discovery, the motorcycle was first traded to Torillo Tacchi, a motorcycle shop owner in Chicago, in exchange for a $700 Suzuki. Tacchi restored it and kept the bike for some 10 years. He later sold it to Bud Ekins (Steve McQueen’s stuntman) while Ekins was on set of the Blues Brothers movie in the late 1970s. The Traub was later sold to California collector and restorer, Richard Morris, who then sold it to Wheels Through Time Museum curator, Dale Walksler, in 1990.
It has been on permanent display in the museum collection ever since.
Allegedly the only parts that had to be fabricated in the final restoration were the base gaskets; the bike is so perfectly machined that no other gasket was used anywhere in the engine, one more significant indicator that this was not a mass-production machine.
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For many years a mystery lingered as to who had built the Traub, and whether any other examples existed.
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In the May 25, 1907 issue of Motorcycle Illustrated a letter was printed from a Richard “Traut”, 749 North Paulina Street, Chicago, Illinois;
“Dear Sir – Enclosed find one dollar for which send me The Motorcycle Illustrated beginning with June issue. Also find enclosed picture and specifications of a motorcycle made by myself throughout engine and all. I worked on this cycle about one year, putting in the time only between 7 pm and 11 pm. I also worked Sundays. This motorcycle has no wonderful qualities, but will run as good as any four-horsepower motorcycle I know of.Specifications – Wheelbase, 55 inches; tank capacity, 3 1/2 gallons gasoline, 1 gallon oil, sufficient for 125 miles; power, 4 horsepower; bore and stroke 3 1/4 by 4 inches; auxiliary gasoline tank, 1/2 gallon; speed, more than the roads will stand; perfect grip control; throttle and spark motor is geared 3 3/4 to 1; it has a cycle chain with washers and does good service; has never troubled me yet, and I rode all of 1,500 miles. The belt is not my own idea. Tanks have gauge glasses, so you can see at an instant how much gasoline you have. Hoping to see this in print, I am. “
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Gottlieb Richard Traub is listed in the 1900 census at this address; his occupation was simply noted as “a laborer”.
In the 1910 census a Richard Traub lived at 1520 North Paulina St .,Chicago, with the same family members as resided at 749 North Paulina. He was born on 23rd of March, 1883, in Chicago; of German descent, a common heritage in that neighborhood. In 1910 he was 27 years old, and a now said to be a “toolmaker at a factory”. According to his WW1 draft registration of 1917-18 he was still at 1520 North Paulina, but most interestingly he was then listed as a self employed ‘experimental machinist’. Two years later in 1920 he was at the same address, his occupation shown as “a laborer at an experimenting co.”
By 1930 he had moved to Park Ridge Illinois, possibly as plater or chromer at an experimental company. His 1942 draft registration card has him self employed in Park Ridge. There are references to him building telescopes in Park Ridge in the 1940’s, and he died in 1952 aged 69. He was buried in Concordia Cemetery, Forest Park Illinois.
It should be noted that North Paulina st. in Chicago is in the same neighborhood, and in fact may be the same street, as the building where the motorcycle was found in 1967.
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Garlic-Butter Orzo Chicken Casserole
Find 20 minutes and this luscious, Caprese salad-inspired, chicken casserole can be tonight’s dinner. The trick to the quick prep is coating the raw ingredients with rich and aromatic seasonings before baking. The chicken breasts get rubbed with olive oil, Italian seasoning and a dash of red pepper flakes and placed atop a garlicky, buttery bed of orzo and tomatoes. Then the casserole gets sealed up tight with foil, so the flavors can concentrate and meld in the oven. It won’t take long before you’re enjoying the savory aroma—and flavor—of this dish!
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Ingredients
Garlic-Butter Orzo
1 cup uncooked orzo or rosamarina pasta
1 cup Progresso™ chicken broth (from 32-oz carton)
2 tablespoons butter, melted
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 cups halved cherry tomatoes
Chicken
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (6 to 8 oz each)
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (4 oz)
2 tablespoons thinly sliced fresh basil leaves
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Gorillaz – Feel Good Inc. (Official Video)
Protector HMS (A173)
This is a scale model of the HMS Protector. I actually like the design and enjoy looking at this model as it is a true beauty. Please enjoy.
Breaking Bad Season 4: Episode 8: Hector Salamanca spare Gus’s life
When delivering pizza or other food, what is the most surprising thing that has happened to you?
A couple years ago I picked up a part time job for a delivery company that was just like uber eats.
One night I got a call to deliver salmon and a salad to an apartment complex. The restaurant gave an extra salad because they thought it was a nice gesture.
Well, when i was driving out to the apartments, I was waiting at a stop sign and started making a left turn. I didn’t see it right away, but a car was speeding at about 40 in a 25. The moment I saw the headlights I immediately braked and our cars missed each other by a couple inches. Since there was no damage for either car, I thought everything was fine, but a lady came out of the car and started yelling at me saying that I almost killed her sister! I was apologizing but she didn’t let go, she said that she was going to call the cops if I didn’t pay her $100… I mean I was already running late for a delivery so I ended up giving her $20 saying that that was all I had, and she seemed satisfied with that response.
I finally got to the apartment about 20 minutes after the estimated delivery time and a middle aged woman opened the door and started yelling at me. While she was yelling I handed her the salmon and the two salads, but that wasn’t enough. The lady said, “my salmon is mangled, and I didn’t order any salads. WHERE’S MY POTATO.” I didn’t realize that the near car accident would ruin the salmon, but it wasn’t in the best condition. I apologized about the salmon and asked about the potato. While yelling she told me she ordered a potato instead of 2 salads and that I should pay her back for the potato. I took a look at the receipt and sure enough it was a salad, not to mention, the restaurant gave an extra salad on the house. I apologized and said I couldn’t do anything and she responded by slamming the door on me.
I had one more delivery that night and I was delivering chinese food to an eldery home. I buzzed in and a sweet granny opened the door. She gave me a tip in coins while apologizing for how small the tip was. One of the coins was an old timey car wash coins. After such a terrible day, that grandma and her car wash coin made my day.
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The Doomsday Machine in Dr. Strangelove
If living in mainland China is so bad, why don’t Chinese people just leave abroad? Are Chinese citizens forbidden to leave?
It isn’t so bad. In fact, it’s very good for hundreds of millions of people. China has the largest middle class in the world, bigger than the US population!
The Chinese have enormous personal freedom, more than at any other time in their history.
I could go on and on, but the best thing for you to do is to go visit China. You will be utterly amazed. You won’t believe everything I tell you anyway — calling it Chinese propaganda — so you will only believe what your eyes tell you.
What conversations have you overheard in a language they assumed you don’t know?
I was in the metro, going to attend a seminar at Delhi University.
Two guys were standing just next to my seat.
Suddenly, they started speaking in German, not knowing that I too knew German. They were actually practising the language.
The whole conversation was something like this in the German language:
Guy 1 — What did you do the whole day?
Guy 2 — I got up, took bath, dropped mom at the bank, came back home and had breakfast.
Guy 1 — let’s talk about something interesting. Choose a topic.
Guy 2 — hmmm…. Let’s have some casual talk.
Guy 1 — like?
Guy 2 — let’s talk about this girl.
Until now, I was careless but suddenly I became conscious, hearing this. I wondered if they were going to talk about me because there was one more girl sitting nearby.
Guy 1— I like this girl. But I don’t like her blue bag.
(Mmmm…..Mmm…it was me😅).
Guy 2 — but I like her dressing sense. She looks smart.
Guy 1 — what if she is boring.
Guy 2 — what if she is charming.
Guy 1 — You look interested in her.
Guy 2 — Shall I propose to her?
And then, both burst into laughter. I was finding it very difficult to stay calm. I was enjoying their conversation as I was also a student, learning the same language.
While getting down from the metro, I told them in German — “Sie sprechen sehr gut Deutsch.” (You speak German very well.)
On this, they were shocked. Speechless. Now, it was my turn to laugh.
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Fat Dom Gets Whacked By Silvio And Carlo
Why has the US become increasingly unstable in its domestic and foreign policy over the past several decades?
This is the failure of US capitalism.
For the first 200 years of its history, US capitalism worked well. It made America wealthy and prosperous. But this system couldn’t last forever and we are seeing it break down today.
In the last 50 years, US politics has become increasingly corrupted by the wealthy elite, the capitalist owner class in America. The American worker class has become essentially slaves. Their needs are not being met. Health care and housing and education are unaffordable. Homelessness is rampant. Gun violence is rampant. Systemic racism is rampant. Infrastructure is crumbling. Mass incarceration is at the highest level in the world.
Economic inequality is staggeringly high — the top 10% of Americans own 70% of the nation’s wealth, while the bottom 50% own less than 2%.
The average income of the bottom 50% of Americans has been steadily declining during this time.
US Congressmen are bought and paid for by the wealthy elite. They no longer have the welfare of the people in mind. Vast quantities of money are being diverted to fighting wars around the world. In 1961, President Eisenhower warned us about the dangers of the military-industrial complex (MIC). And we’re seeing the consequences of the MIC’s unbridled power today…
Over $2 trillion were spent on the war in Afghanistan.
We have major humanitarian crises in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Ukraine.
Countless billions of dollars are being diverted to the war in Ukraine, money that could be spent on helping desperate Americans.
The US national debt has surpassed $30 trillion. Can anybody truly wrap their heads around this number?
Corruption is a cancer that’s eating away at America. And there’s no cure or treatment for it. It’s terminal.
Mikey
They love us right back and they show it every single day. It’s been a beautiful lesson to learn.
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We have walked through fire together, Me and my little fire walker.
He has made me feel so brave.
Loving him was like breathing.
Mikey RIP
Mikey
March 7, 2003 – February 16, 2021
Corey Hart – Sunglasses At Night (Countdown 1984)
I was in MAJestic training. Living in Ridgecrest, CA.
Is eating out in Asia really as cheap as many people say?
In Beijing, I lived on an amazing breakfast food called Jianbing.
It’s an egg-based pancake with spicy pastes spread on top. You then place a crispy pork belly on top of that, with spring onions etc. and then wrap it all up.
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Here it is being made.
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The finished product.
The price for this magic?
3 Yuan.
That’s under 40 cents in United States currency.
China’s economy is collapsing due to its zero Covid policy and Xi’s arbitrary policies, why are Western politicians still worried about China threats?
China’s Economic Collapse?
Xi Jinping’s dictatorship?
Gosh, there are so many jokes in one question. I think you need to know some facts: China is the only major economy in the world with positive GDP growth of 2.3% year-on-year in 2020, and the top major economy with GDP growth of 8.1% year-on-year in 2021. If that’s a “collapse”, what is progress?
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Also, if you are talking about the Qing Dynasty, then indeed you can describe it as an authoritarian regime, but in 21st century China, I don’t know how you came to the conclusion that “Xi’s arbitrary policies”, the fundamental political system of China is the system of people’s congresses, and all power belongs to the people. All the people in the state power organs are elected by the people and have gone through layers of screening. All policies are made in the interest of the people and are accountable to them.
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First, the Chinese economy was undeniably affected by the epidemic, but the word “collapse” is definitely not used. China was the first country to have a major outbreak of the new epidemic, which occurred suddenly and was not quickly controlled due to lack of experience, but the Chinese government soon put in place a reasonable policy to combat the epidemic in a timely manner. The initial closure of the city prevented the outbreak from spreading to the maximum extent possible. Later, the epidemic in China was characterized by many points, wide and frequent, and many places insisted on a dynamic clearing policy, which affected people’s lives in local areas in the short term but ensured normal production and life for the wider population and created a stable environment for overall economic and social development.
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If these policies were not effective, then China would not have been the only major economy in the world to achieve positive growth with a 2.3% year-on-year GDP growth in 2020. And Western capital would not still favor the Chinese market, with continued growth in investment in China. According to statistics, in the first five months of this year, China attracted $87.77 billion in foreign investment, up 22.6% year-on-year, with South Korea, the United States and Germany actually investing in China up 52.8%, 27.1% and 21.4%, respectively. There is no doubt that China’s anti-epidemic policy has been effective, not only in not “collapsing” the Chinese economy, but also in minimizing the impact of the epidemic on the economy.
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Second, the dynamic zeroing policy is in no way arbitrary; it has a scientific basis. Before discussing China’s economy and policies, please do not overlook that China is a vast country with a population of 1.4 billion. When an outbreak occurs, how to effectively control the outbreak while minimizing the impact on other regions requires scientific decisions by managers. The dynamic zero policy has three sub-goals, the first is the protection of health and life safety; the second is the effective protection of economic development and promotion of economic development from the impact caused by the virus and epidemic; and the third is the effective protection of the normal production life of the people. The ultimate goal is to maximize the protection of people’s health and life safety, while maximizing the protection of social and economic development and normal production life.
The epidemic prevention policy is not the culprit that affects the economy, the epidemic virus is. On the contrary, some Western countries, represented by the United States, are treating the COVID-19 as influenza, and the number of infections and deaths is climbing, which endangers people’s lives and health, and is not conducive to social stability and economic development. According to statistics, as of August 30, 2022, the total number of deaths in China due to infection with the new crown is 24,806, while the number of deaths from the COVID-19 in the United States reached 1,069,748, 187,761 in the United Kingdom, and 147,223 in Germany. Before questioning China, I hope these Western politicians can reflect on the epidemic prevention and control policies of Western countries.
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Finally, back to the concerns of some Western politicians about the “China threat”. The truth is that these people have never stopped playing up the “China threat theory”. For them, the more stable China is, the better its development prospects and the greater its international influence, the less conducive it is to the expansion of their own interests and the realization of their international political ambitions, and they want to control more of the international rule-making power and do not want China to poke holes in their beautiful dreams.
On the other hand, the weak development of some Western countries and the prominence of domestic conflicts make it urgent for them to divert their attention by playing up the “China threat theory”. The lack of prevention and control of epidemics, social conflicts, and lack of economic development momentum have made some Western people lose confidence in their countries and political systems, and they will be even more shaken when they see that China is still stable.
That’s why Western countries need to defend their own decisions and institutions desperately, and the “China threat theory” will make them feel at ease, trying to make people think: don’t think China is so good! China’s development is a threat to the world! How else can they maintain their long-standing sense of superiority?
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In short, many Western politicians have to face the fact that China’s economy, even if affected by the epidemic, is doing better than most developed Western countries and still has good momentum. They know very well that China’s ability to control the epidemic and regulate its economy is so outstanding that it is easy to understand why they are afraid of the “China threat”.
Dr. Strangelove- “Wing Attack Plan R?”
ASEAN
Southeast Asia makes up ASEAN. It sounds like SEA is on par if not surpassing their European Union counterparts.
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Blazing Saddles (3/10) Movie CLIP – Harrumphing with the Governor (1974) HD
The US has two options with China, prepare to be #2 or stop China from being #1. What’s the best option for the US?
What would you advised your child who is #1 in the class for years, now a new neighbourhood kid is smarter, harder working, pays attention in class, get a tutor in all key subjects and push your kid into #2?
Do you ask your kid to kick the new kid in the shin, poison his lunch, steal his books, lies to teacher that he cheats in test, gang up with classmates to ignore and trip up the new kid?
That is what the US did precisely.
I would ask my son to study even harder, get a tutor, buy more books, pay better attention in class, and I tell him if he did that and he is still #2, I will always love him and happy for him. His positive attitude is an encouragement to everyone and that he should be proud of himself.
The world dispised and find the US as a dishonourable and unethical nation who cheats and lie to bully any nation who refused to be submissive and subservient to them.
Hence its global stature is down in the drains.
Sugababes – Push The Button (Official Music Video)
Have you ever tried to annoy a scammer who called you? If so, what happened?
Yes!!!! Now they’re all automated robot calls. but, I liked “live” ones. Especially if I was bored.
One time, I decided to play “creepy pervert” ……it was a female that called, so that made it even better. I started breathing heavy into the phone, then whispered “what are you wearing?….tell me as you are taking it off”….CLICK!!!!!!!
Another time, I answered and he said “Hello, How are you today!”………well…….he ASKED!!!!! so, I told him…..”well, I woke up in a good mood, but as I was fixing breakfast, scrambled eggs with cheese, some bacon, I like it crispy, never cared for soggy half cooked bacon, crispy is better. Well, I dropped my favorite coffee mug. It broke into a million pieces! I tried to fix it, but I had NO glue! can you imagine?! I ALWAYS have glue in the junk drawer. do you have a junk drawer? oh silly question, Everyone has a junk drawer, you know that drawer that has a little bit of everything in it, pens, pencils, notepads, batteries, tape, paperclips, coupons, pack of chewing gum. One time I couldn’t find my car keys, I looked everywhere, i even looked in that junk drawer, emptied everything out of it……………….I just rambled ON and ON til he just hung up.
Another time……I did “the paranoid person”…….”hello how are you today?”…….How did you get this number? I know its you! you’re never going to get me!! Ive seen you, outside my house, in the dark! you think I don’t know you are there, I know you’re there! I see you! you’re there right now aren’t you!?
When i don’t have time to play, I just say Oh!!! hi! great, um, can you hold on for a minute? and I put the phone down……go do whatever, dishes, vacuum, etc. every now and then I pick it up Are you still there? just give me one more second!…put phone down again.
…smoking a cigarette. Horrible habit, I know. 4 young men rushed me, decided they wanted my car, beat me up, and wanted my keys. I told them the keys were in the house. They decided to go in. What they weren’t expecting were my 2 80lb Pit Bulls. They are sweethearts and the kindest dogs you’ll ever know but protect their home and owner with finesse. My beautiful babies charged these assholes and stood over me as I lay on the floor of my garage, forever protecting me. They are rescues. Unwanted dogs. They saved my life. Please consider adopting a rescue. They might save your life too.
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What is some dish you ate that was so delicious that you’ll remember it for life?
Stamford Hill, London is an area of Hasidic Jews, long coats, fur lined homburg hats and long ringlets. I used to live there.
I came across a tiny Jewish shop advertising “Corned beef sandwiches”
Two huge slabs of bread with an inch of corned beef between, some hot mustard and sauerkraut on the side and a couple of pickles.
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That was 50 years ago and I can still taste it.
Why don’t the Chinese people get rid of Xi Jinping?
Um, why should they? Xi Jinping is one of the greatest leaders China has ever had.
Under his watch, China…
eradicated absolute poverty in 2020, elevating over 850 million people, according to the World Bank
added over 30,000 km of new high-speed rail to the existing 9,000 km
launched the most ambitious infrastructure project in human history known as the Belt and Road Initiative
largely eliminated corruption within the Chinese government
led the world in 5G, AI, mobile payments, quantum computing, Thorium reactors, etc.
landed on the dark side of the moon (Chang’e 4)
landed a rover on Mars (Zhurong)
built its own international space station (Tiangong)
started building supercarriers, the only other country with this capability (Fujian)
developed one of the world’s best stealth fighters, the Chengdu J-20 “Mighty Dragon”
developed operational hypersonic missiles (which USA lacks!)
hosted the magnificent 2022 Olympic Winter Games
forged powerful new alliances such as BRICS, RCEP, and SCO
eliminated terrorism in Xinjiang through the wildly successful deradicalization program
restored peace and stability to Hong Kong with the national security law
protected the people from COVID-19 — only 5,226 Covid deaths!
I’ll stop here ‘cuz I don’t want to embarrass China.
Xi Jinping has been so successful as a leader that China’s government garnered the highest level of trust in the world in the last 5 years!
Should China abandon its Made in China 2025 plans to avoid stepping on the USA?
No.
Not at all.
China should add China 2030, China 2035, China 2040….. on top of China 2025.
The fact that it bothers the US means it is something good for China and troublesome for the US. Hence it must and it will persue more vigorously. Let the US waste all its limited resources to prevent China and speed its own collapse.
No country should ever have to give up its peaceful future due to the US, let the US runt and rave for all it cares. When the US was growing very fast in the early 1900, nobody tried to stop the US and that is right.
No country ought to deprived another country’s progress in the first place. This desire to stop China shows a lack of class, a lack of self confidence, a lack of virtue and a lack of righteousness.
Why do majority of Singaporeans have neutral opinions on everything, even during times of injustice? Many Singaporeans told me that they are neutral on Ukraine war and Uyghur genocide.
The Singaporean population is 74.3% Chinese. They understand what is happening back in China. And Singaporeans as a whole are very intelligent people capable of critical thinking and pragmatism. They see things as they are. They aren’t falling for Western propaganda on Ukraine or the Uighurs. They know the truth is more complex than how the US makes it out to be. Although, their government sided with the US on Ukraine and I was disappointed to see that. I hope that doesn’t become a trend in Singaporean government. But it also seems that their official stance as a government is neutrality.
But the people themselves are very clear headed. I have confidence in the people of Singapore to look after their interests of making Singapore a strong country and to do what is best for their people.
Best of Dr. Strangelove
How are weebs seen in Japan?
Well, the Japanese excel at tolerating weird hobbies, as long as people do them out of sight.
But yes, being a hardcore anime fan does carry a stigma, even in Japan. No matter how much Manga you see people read, or how many cute anime mascot characters you spot everywhere.
Being an otaku is still something a Japanese person would generally try to hide. Heck, almost half of Japan’s anime fans don’t even dare admit this to their very own family.
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Also, don’t believe everything you see on the net.
This for example, despite being widely shared, is 100% fake.
Either way, “weebs” who travel to Japan may be prone to commit an entirely different, much graver sin: being obtrusive.
Some will expect Japan to conform to their fantasies. Some will act the way they see Japanese act in anime (bluntly). Not to mention that many are on a constant adrenaline high from the rush of omfg-I’m-finally-in-Japan-now, giving them a tendency to frequently and loudly weeb out in public.
Of course reality catches up with them.
But until then, many not only act like freaks, but like obnoxious freaks.
Words fail me to express how much you just don’t do that as a Japanese.
Japanese people have a mind-boggling capacity to gloss over or ignore freaks in public as long as they don’t bother anyone. Being obtrusive or even obnoxious however? That is close to being the ultimate sin there. It immediately places you at the bottom of the respect ladder.
Will the Japanese tell foreigners that?
Surprise, generally not.
Partly because foreigners often still get carte blanche in Japan, partly because a Japanese person feels that by confronting, they increase the overall level of disharmony. Meaning they won’t do it unless they need to “protect” others. Like… when other guests at a restaurant feel disturbed.
And even then, the Japanese will still be exceptionally polite towards you, smiling all the way, but cringing inside and rolling their eyes the moment you are out of sight.
So there. “Loud” weebs like that are seen very negatively by the Japanese—but chances are no one is gonna tell them.
Want to dodge that effect?
Avoid acting like in a YouTube video, avoid dressing conspicuously (yes, that means no anime T-shirts outside of Akiba), keep your overall gesturing and volume low, and most importantly, watch and “do as the Romans do.”
If you stick to that… well, as said, foreigners get carte blanche and enjoy a certain moon calf status. This includes being a “weeb.”
Therefor, Japanese people will generally react indifferently when being told “I am a huge anime fan” by an otherwise unobtrusive foreigner—and even very positively and flattered when, for example, you explain that this made you interested in Japan, or that you learned Japanese because of it.
Are the Japanese the only people that eat multiple carbohydrates in one meal, like eating fried rice as a side dish to white rice or eating ramen with another small bowl of rice?
You haven’t visited the UK and Ireland have you?
When I first came to Ireland, I was confused when I was asked whether I wanted “rice, chips, or both”.
“Both?”
“Yeah. Rice and chips.”
Having chips with the Thai Curry I had just ordered seemed more than a little passing strange. It was unfamiliar, uncharted territory. Without GPS.
Since I am somewhat …. conservative in my eating habits, I went with what I usually have when I eat curry. (That would be rice, in case you were wondering).
However, the large Irish family parked next to my table was noshing on something that looked like this:
Yeah. Rice and chips. On the same plate.
(I don’t own any of the pictures below)
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I have seen Irish friends eating something called a crisp sandwich.
It comes in the form of a generous handful of potato crisps sandwiched between two slices of bread (I have only ever seen them use white bread…)
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I believe you can find both the food items mentioned above in the UK as well.
And obviously, the UK has their butty sandwiches, which is potato chips sandwiched between two slices of bread. (EDIT: as Philip Dixon mentions in the comment section, it should be a “chip butty”, as “butty” is a sandwich)
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I confess – I haven’t tried any of the above dishes.
They scare me.
A lot.
By Dawn’s Early Light 1990
This is the FULL MOVIE. If you have the time, then watch it.
Loosely related: Numerous articles in the imperial mass media about major Asian central banks supposedly acting to prop up domestic currencies. All are buying their own (and other) currencies with US$.
Isn't this another way of saying they are dumping US dollars as fast as they discretely can?
Of course, it is just a coincidence that the biggest Asian economies have started racing to shed US dollars just as the US openly exposed itself as a major state sponsor of economic terrorism in no uncertain terms.
It remains to be seen how far this dollar dump goes. It looks too coordinated to just be a minor adjustment.
Posted by: William Gruff | Oct 2 2022 16:47 utc | 4
Well, there will be a hold on my you-tube videos and my Patreon videos. I am being punished for spreading “medical misinformation”. My video that filmed me getting swabs during a Chinese lock-down in Zhuhai earlier in the year was reported, and I am being punished.
I know who reported me. And the jackass is only doing so because he didn’t like my Quora comment that “Chinese lock-downs only affect about 2% of the factories”. My video was attached and while he couldn’t get Quora to delete my comment, he did get you-tube to delete my attached video.
This is known as “American freedom of the press“.
No problem. Youse guys are who’s suffering. I’ll just upload my videos later.
Pizza Porn
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Z Blog power hour
The other day, a grotesquely overweight black woman was sent out onstage in her underwear to make noises with James Madison’s 200-year-old crystal flute. The item was a gift to James Madison in 1813 by the French flute maker Claude Laurent and has been kept locked away for decades. For reasons they never bothered to explain, the Library of Congress let this woman use it as a prop in her circus.
The most likely reason, of course, is antiwhite animus. Hating white people, especially those from the past, is a centerpiece of the new religion. The toppling of statues and vandalizing of culture items is something like a sacrament for them. Publicly flinging their poo at the works of the white man is a ritualistic break from the culture coercion from which they seek to liberate themselves.
That is what the show is about this week. One way to look at the great intellectual flowering in the West is as a quest for liberation, with liberation being defined as the elimination of coercion. The utopia on the other side of the revolution is a world where everyone gets to do whatever they want without the need for permission. You are answerable only to your imagination.
Karl Marx, who still casts a shadow over our intellectuals, famously said about the mature communist society, “I could fish in the morning, hunt in the afternoon, rear cattle in the evening and do critical theory at night, just as I have a mind, without ever becoming hunter, fisherman, shepherd or critic.” In other words, no one would be compelled to do anything or even be anything.
To normal people, this sounds insane. Most on our side of the great divide struggle to accept that the people in charge really believe this stuff. It is a consequence of the moral mind to assume rational motives for the behavior of others. There has to be a better answer for why they gave the fat naked black woman a precious artifact from history so she could revolt us with it and her image.
Lots of people believed in Marxism. Lots of people still believe in libertarianism and anarchism, despite the mountain of evidence to the contrary. At least with Marxism, there have been real world attempts to make it happen. Libertarianism and anarchism never get past the planning stage. Despite the lack of anything to support their dreams, these fantasies persist, even among otherwise bright people
The neo-Marxists and their dream of cultural liberation are just as committed as the libertarians and anarchists. They have not thought through how the world will work when whiteness is removed. They are just sure it will be great. The main difference between themselves and the libertarians is they are well past the planning stage and are trying to make it a reality.
No heart attacks
The Tsimane people of Bolivia have the lowest risk of heart disease in the world. Between 2004 and 2015, researchers tested hundreds of tribesmen and discovered that 90 percent had clear arteries, which is directly linked to a lower possibility of contracting heart disease. At the same time, they have lower blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar.[HERE]
Researchers attributed this uniqueness to the diet and lifestyle of the Tsimane people. They eat unprocessed carbohydrates along with little fat and protein. They get their protein from the animals they hunt and the fish they catch. They are also very active and work long hours.
The Red Deer People
The discovery of 14,000-year-old bones belonging to numerous members of a strange pre-modern human species in China’s Maludong (Red Deer Cave) in 2012 electrified the scientific community. Archaeologists hypothesized at the time that the bones could belong to an undiscovered new species or a very early and primitive-looking group of modern humans who had migrated to the area over 100,000 years ago. Known as the “Red Deer Cave People,” their mystery persists to this day as it was previously assumed that the earliest pre-modern humans on mainland Eurasia—the Denisovans of Siberia and the Neanderthals of Europe and West Asia—died out around 40,000 years ago, shortly after modern humans arrived in the area.
This discovery suggests that a pre-modern species may have coexisted alongside modern humans on mainland East Asia at some point in the past. These ancient humans, or more accurately, their remains—which are so close to us but so physically distinct—are so much younger than our Neanderthal ancestors that it raises some extremely important questions. Were they actually a different species of human? And, if that’s the case, what became of them? Why did they become extinct? What was their actual way of life? And how did they engage with our ancestors?[HERE]
Laugh some
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About the Nord Storm 1 & 2 Blowup
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Slow-Cooker Chicken Parmesan with Penne Pasta
Warmly welcome your family home with the Italian aroma of chicken parmesan slow cooking in the kitchen.
First off, there can be no doubt that Joe Biden’s America is the culprit. Not only had the USA the most to gain by this terrorist act which only a handful of militaries could have pulled off but, as Tucker Carlson shows, both Victoria Fuck the EU Nuland and Joe Biden himself had each earlier promised to decommission these pipelines by any necessary means and, as the same clip shows, these terrorist acts are part and parcel of America’s green energy policies, which Greta Thunberg, Extinction Rebellion and a host of other American assets have long promulgated.
The net result of these terrorist attacks is to render obsolete German popular demands to open Nord Stream 2 as both pipelines are now out of service for the foreseeable future. Good news for the new Norwegian-Polish pipeline which opened on the same day the Americans blew up Nord Stream but bad news for German industry, which is relocating to the United States to survive these never ending below the belt blows to their viability.
Good news also for MEP Radek Sikorski and America’s other clowns who run Poland and who, like the American cat’s paw that they are, now believe themselves to be the king makers as to which West European countries will get oil and from whom.
And that is at the heart of Poland’s EU problem. Because it has a large population, it demands to be an EU heavyweight, much as Germany and France are, rather than being the American lapdog that it currently is in this and all other matters. The Jack Russell Baltic countries are likewise schizophrenic: fond as these Jack Russells may be of barking and sniping, they are, at day’s end, little mutts of no great consequence.
The same is increasingly becoming the case with Germany, which is allowing herself to be pulled like a rag doll hither and thither by the United States and her agents, who have holed the bedrocks of a stable currency and low inflation, upon which post-war German prosperity was built.
Back in saner days, German leaders like Angela Merkel commanded respect. Bolstered by cheap Russian energy and her own technological, logistical and industrial relations genius, Germany was not only the beating economic heart of the European Union but was very much a major global player as well. Now, Germany’s erstwhile leaders kowtow to Ursula von der Leyen and America’s other unelectable EU puppet assets.
Whilst trying to compete with the rising Chinese behemoth, Germany finds herself betrayed at every turn, most especially by her American overseer, who covets not only Germany’s export markets but her domestic ones as well. Given that Germany’s major producer of toilet paper has folded, it seems Germany will be importing toilet paper as well as other “luxury goods” from the United States this winter. Germany is really in dire straits.
And Germany’s shortage of toilet paper is at the heart of the matter. Whereas Germany and the Netherlands are on their knees, the American economy is booming, at least until the mid term elections are over. Without the CIA’s systematic destruction of the German and allied economies, it is quite likely that would not be the case and Biden’s war mongering Democrats would be annihilated in the November elections.
However, thanks to the self immolation of the German and British economies, that will not be the case and Biden’s cronies will be able to make some sort of argument that they kept the Good Ship America afloat. And, should Biden prevail, Extinction Rebellion, Greta Thunberg, Ursula von der Leyen and those others who capsized the German economy should take their share of the credit.
As, perhaps, should those of us who vote for political parties that collude with Uncle Sam and thereby collude with Brzezinski’s blueprint for American hegemony. Brzezinski’s basic thesis is that the United States must micro manage the conflicts and relationships it instigates in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East so that no rival superpower can arise to threaten the benefits that accrue to America by exploiting those regions. It is within Brzezinski’s framework that American terrorism in Denmark, Armenia, Iraq, Ukraine and Syria all congeal into the one over riding thesis that America’s desire for hegemony is at the root of all our ills and Hollywood’s corresponding antithesis that America is a beacon of goodwill, democracy and all the other puerile garbage NATO’s studios churn out.
But it also helps to explain NATO’s phantom fears of red-green brown and similarly multi-colored alliances, where the far right, the far left and disaffected Muslims would unite to give them and their thieving ways the heave ho. NATO, Joe Biden and Ursula von der Leyen fear no such thing. What they do fear is a strong sovereign people, an alliance of Dutch or German citizens who would demand, as the French demanded in 1789, that these parasites and the self-serving political system they have cocooned themselves in get off their backs once and for all.
Now, though I don’t believe that the Germans are suddenly going to storm their equivalent of the Bastille, I would hope and even pray that Germany’s industrial, financial and labor leaders would lead Europe in calling time on Biden, von der Leyen and all their cronies who insist that we emulate Australian school children and eat crickets to save the environment, whilst Joe and Hunter Biden cause massive environmental havoc in the Baltic Sea, as well as in Ukraine, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Libya, Armenia and the countless other sovereign nations they have destroyed.
Cats are rest
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Shiger Idol
In 1894, the Shigir Idol was unearthed, where it lay concealed deep in a peat bog in Russia’s Ural Mountains. At 12,500 years old, it dates back to the early Holocene epoch, fondly called the “Age of Man,” and is twice as old as Egypt’s famous pyramids. The idol itself is a miracle of preservation. Carved from the wood of a 156-year-old Larch tree, it was discovered in fragments and stood around 9 feet (2.75 meters) tall after being reconstructed. However, according to the archaeologist Vladimir Tolmachev’s drawings, it was over twice that height at one time!
The massive artwork has seven faces; a three-dimensional face can be seen on its top, while six more were engraved onto the idol’s body. A succession of abstract shapes, including chevrons, herringbone, and diagonal and horizontal lines, run alongside the intricately carved faces. To date, experts have not been able to decipher the message that was so meticulously engraved into the sculpture’s surface. Still, it is assumed that the sculptor’s geometric patterns had a very specific meaning. Some theories suggest the lines indicate borders between the spiritual and the physical world and that it might resemble a pictorial map or have some relation to the deities of the time.[HERE]
It’s about the money
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A real painting
In 1970, a private collector purchased a Van Gogh painting but was left beyond disappointed when the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam told him that it was a fake due to the lack of a signature. But years later, with the help of modern technology, that statement was refuted. The collector was holding a real Van Gogh in his hands. It was the first full-size painting to be discovered in 85 years!
In letters to his brother Theo, Vincent Van Gogh wrote about the painting and how he was unsatisfied with the result. According to the artist, Sunset at Montmajour was not what he had hoped to create; therefore, he didn’t sign it.
And this poor artwork had been hidden in a Norwegian attic for over a century because, more than once, people thought it to be a counterfeit. Sorry, Vincent.[HERE]
Roy Buchanan – Hey Joe (Live From Austin TX)
Point taken
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The mystery of the stones
Hundreds of megalithic sites are scattered over the area of Carnac on the south coast of Brittany, France. Around 5000 BC, people living in the Carnac region began erecting these megaliths. They continued to do so for the next 2000 years, leading archeologists to believe that the area must have had a vast, thriving, and well-organized society based on the sheer size and number of stones. It would have been the perfect area to hunt, fish, and gather shellfish and berries because it was protected by the Quiberon Peninsula and had several fresh-water springs. However, it is thought that the development of agriculture, which included caring for domestic animals and cultivating crops, freed people, giving them time to build these massive structures. But why did they construct it?
Those that have been identified as graves or that could be associated with graves include megaliths, dolmen (stone tunnels), and tumuli (dolmen buried by massive mounds), as well as single-standing stones (menhirs). However, the purpose of the long stone lines (alignments), stone circles (cromlechs), and most of the menhirs have been lost to the ages. Some believe they are observatories or calendars used by ancient farmers to understand the seasons and when to grow or harvest their crops. They might have also been used by priests to predict dreadful events such as solar and lunar eclipses.[HERE]
Uh oh!
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A bad room
Laurie and Jeff Dumas’s new house had more left-behind demons than they had gambled for. In the attic, they stumbled upon a room that was separated from the rest of the building. The deadbolts on the door really tried their best to keep the couple out, and once Laurie and Jeff Dumas made it inside, they found that the floor was entirely made of metal.
As Laurie Dumas started looking for an explanation at the local library, she was told that she owned a disappointments room. This was a room in which parents used to lock their disabled children to keep them out of sight.
The former owner had been a judge who imprisoned his daughter, Ruth so that her disability couldn’t tarnish his reputation.
Laurie and Jeff Dumas shared this horrifying and disturbing discovery on an HGTV episode of If Walls Could Talk. In 2016, Director D. J. Caruso retold the story with his movie The Disappointments Room.[HERE]
Dog love
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Pulp Fiction: Butch shoots Vincent (HD CLIP)
Advertisement
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The American IRS
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Bread
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Mzora Stones
A unique and intriguing megalithic structure lies hidden in a seldom-seen and uninviting section of Morocco, not far from the Atlantic coast, away from major tourist destinations and adequate roads. The Mzora stone ring (also known as Msoura/Mezorah) is the largest stone ellipse in the world. It lies approximately 6.8 miles (11 kilometers) from Asilah and 6.7 miles (27 kilometers) from the magnificent, overgrown ruins of ancient Lixus. Mzora is virtually unknown in history, though Plutarch may have mentioned it in his Life of Sertorius in the first century A.D.
The 10,000-year-old site consists of 168 surviving stones out of a total of 175 originally thought to exist. The tallest of these stones stands at almost 16.5 feet (5 meters) tall. In the 1970s, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Massachusetts undertook the only professional survey of the site. Thanks to that survey, Mzora was discovered to be not only extraordinary in and of itself but also to have ramifications for the history of megalithic sites in Britain.
Mzora, astonishingly, appears to have been built by the very same civilization that built the megalithic sites in Ireland, France, and Brittain, as the site is aligned with the stones in Stonehenge and Carnac and feels strongly related to the European continent. A Pythagorean right-angled triangle of the ratio 12-35-37 was used to create the ellipse. The same process was employed to create the Sands of Forvie and the Daviot rings, which are among the 30 good examples of British stone ellipses that have survived.[HERE]
Cats
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Love In Time Of War, 1944
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Russia Annexes 1/5 Of Ukraine
It’s a new world, and perhaps the start of world war 3. I love how he pokes the USA narrative.
People initially arrived at the Maltese islands some 7,000 years ago, most likely from Sicily. However, little is known about prehistoric peoples’ movements around the Mediterranean. Then, around 3,400 BC, the construction of megalithic temples unlike any other in the world and older than the Great Pyramid and Stonehenge began. The temples were built for over one thousand years, with clear stylistic stages within the era, and thirty sites exist today.
The Hal Saflieni Hypogeum, one of the best-preserved in existence, can also be found in Malta. A hypogeum is an underground chamber system carved out of rock. It’s assumed that several of the temples may have had such structures below them, but they have yet to be discovered. The Hal Saflieni Hypogeum comprises three main layers of subterranean rooms, pits, and galleries. The rock-cutting quality varies from rough-hewn areas to highly finished exteriors.
The hypogeum also has strange acoustic properties, as sound echoes rumble on for a remarkably long time and reverberate throughout the whole structure. Several acoustic studies have been conducted over the years, focusing on the “oracle room,” which features an oval wall niche that produces a particularly intense echoing sound. It’s worth noting that the painted “disks” grow larger as one moves farther into the oracle room, reaching their apogee at the wall niche, where the ceiling painting abruptly ends. This, in all probability, proves that chanting formed part of the site’s prehistoric ceremonies, but it remains another wonder from Malta’s prehistoric past.[HERE]
Arnold
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The American Senate
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HSAM
The actress Marilu Henner has superhuman mental powers. She has Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory (HSAM), an extremely rare condition which allows her total recall of basically every single moment of her life. Fewer than 100 people with the condition have been documented worldwide. Though HSAM would make life easier in many ways (imagine never having to wonder where you put your car keys), there are some disadvantages, too. People with HSAM are more likely to have anxiety disorders and suffer from depression or OCD.
Marilu Henner can recall the month, day, and time of every event that has happened in her life and can also recall things that were on the news or happened to other people. She first became aware of her ability at the age of six.
MRI tests have revealed that people with HSAM have larger temporal lobes and caudate nuclei than normal, but researchers are not sure whether this is the cause or the result of living with the condition. Whatever the cause, Henner has found living with HSAM pretty useful at times, particularly when learning lines.[HERE]
Damn mRNA Vaxx
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Best Electric Guitar Blues Of All Time – Fantastic Electric Guitar
I am such a fan of blues guitar. Sorry. I love the blues.
No hate. Please.
Creamy
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Evolution Of The Donut Hole
Now you know.
Worse Than Katrina? It Appears That We Just Witnessed The Most Costly Natural Disaster In U.S. History By A Wide Margin
I don’t know if I have the words to describe what we have just seen. Summer just ended, and within one week we have already witnessed the most costly natural disaster in the entire history of the United States. There are some areas along the west coast of Florida that have literally been destroyed. Some have compared the devastation to the dropping of an atomic bomb, and that is not an exaggeration at all. The state of Florida has never experienced a storm quite like this before, and recovery is going to be measured in years.
When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005, it was a Category 3 storm.
Hurricane Ian had maximum sustained wind speeds of 155 mph, and that put it just 2 mph short of being a Category 5 storm.
But the high winds weren’t what made Ian so horrible.
What made Ian so horrible was the storm surge. Giant walls of water picked up cars, boats, telephone poles and palm trees and tossed them around like toys. According to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, what we just witnessed was a “500-year flooding event”…
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said the storm caused a “500-year flooding event” and said Coast Guard helicopters were plucking trapped residents from the roofs of homes. Communities across the state were or will be swamped by the overwhelming waters, he said.“The impacts of this storm are historic and the damage that has been done is historic,” DeSantis said. “We’ve never seen a flood event like this, we’ve never seen a storm surge of this magnitude.”
This storm greatly strengthened right before it made landfall, and a lot of people were caught off guard by that.
It was already too late when many finally realized that they should evacuate, and it appears that there was a “substantial loss of life” as a result…
“This could be the deadliest hurricane in Florida history,” Biden said after a briefing at FEMA emergency management headquarters in Washington.He said the numbers “are still unclear, but we’re hearing reports of what may be substantial loss of life.”
“This is a life-changing event for all of us,” Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno told “Good Morning America.”“I don’t have confirmed numbers — I definitely know the fatalities are in the hundreds,” he added.“So far, confirmed in the hundreds,” he said, noting that conditions were too dire for his officers and other rescuers to get a true sense of the disaster.
Was he referring to just his county or the state as a whole?
Someone should ask him that question.
This is truly a historic tragedy, but some have decided that all of this chaos makes it the perfect time for a crime spree…
Amid the chaos of Hurricane Ian, looting and other crimes have been committed in Lee County.In coordination with Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno, County Commission, city managers and city councils, Dejarlais announced a 6 p.m. curfew for Lee County, which will be in place until further notice.“To be sure, and I feel safe relaying this in on behalf of law enforcement, there’s going to be a zero-tolerance policy for looting and violence in this town,” Dejarlais said.
I suppose that we shouldn’t be surprised that looting is happening.
Every time there is some sort of a major disaster, this is what some of us do.
It truly is disgusting.
This is a time when everybody should be pulling together. According to one estimate, the economic damage from this storm could be somewhere in the neighborhood of 260 billion dollars…
Experts expect the damages to cost up to $260 billion, though the clean-up efforts are currently unable to get underway as swathes of Florida remain underwater.
Prior to Hurricane Ian, the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history was Hurricane Katrina.
Hurricanes Katrina, Sandy, Harvey, and Irma (selected hurricanes) caused costly damages and challenges for some populations in affected communities. In these communities, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) estimated the cost of damages to be approximately $170 billion for Katrina, $74 billion for Sandy, $131 billion for Harvey, and $52 billion for Irma. These estimates include the value of damages to residential, commercial, and government or municipal buildings; material assets within the buildings; business interruption; vehicles and boats; offshore energy platforms; public infrastructure; and agricultural assets.
At this point, it appears that Katrina has been knocked out of the top spot.
Right at the end of September 2022, we have witnessed the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history by a wide margin.
And Ian is not done yet.
As I write this article, the city of Charleston is “bracing for a direct hit” very early on Friday morning…
Charleston is bracing for a direct hit from Hurricane Ian with storm surges of up to 7ft as it hurtles towards the historic city after barreling through Florida leaving swathes of the state decimated and at least 13 dead.Monster tempest Ian has recharged from a tropical storm back into a Category 1 hurricane as it angles northwards towards South Carolina to pummel the state Friday morning, as well as neighboring North Carolina and Georgia.Landfall in Charleston is expected around 8am on Friday, with the surrounding states also being issued with several extreme weather warnings.
When the damage to Charleston is factored in, the total economic damage from this storm could easily surpass 300 billion dollars.
This is not something that we are going to be able to bounce back from easily.
For years, I have been warning that unprecedented natural disasters would be headed our way.
Now it is happening right in front of our eyes.
The summer is over, the fall is here, and winter is coming.
We have been through so much already, but the rest of 2022 is inevitably going to have even more surprises for us.
Gus Meets With Don Eladio
Unbreakable
An unnamed family from Connecticut has been the center of much study by genetic scientists due to their unusually high bone density. Just like Bruce Willis in Unbreakable, the family has a genetic mutation that means their bones never break.
No one in the family has ever had a fracture, and it is thought that they have the strongest bones on the planet, which is impressive. It appears that the condition is genetic. Scientists tested 20 members of the family, with just under half of them being found to have extra dense bones. It is hoped that by studying the DNA of those family members with the condition, researchers will be able to more fully understand the factors affecting bone density, which could lead to treatments for osteoporosis.[HERE]
The condition means that the Connecticut family will never need a plaster cast, though they may find themselves spending a lot of money on plastic ponchos. (That’s an Unbreakable joke.)
Norman Parkinson Photograph Of Two People Running Up A Street In New York City In 1960
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Pedro Alonso López
In 1980, Pedro Alonso López was arrested for trying to lure a 12-year-old girl away while she was browsing through a market in Ecuador. This incident took place mere days after a mass grave of 53 young girls was uncovered in the area. After being taken into custody, López confessed to the murders of 300 girls. His MO was to pose as a salesman who had become lost and needed assistance to get back to his office. He would then lure young girls away from their distracted families and proceed to rape and murder them. He told police he committed the murders to ensure the girls could go to heaven.
Shockingly, this monster received a mere 16-year prison sentence and was released in 1994 after serving 14. An hour after being released, López was arrested again for illegal immigration and deported to Colombia. Here he was convicted of a murder he committed 20 years prior. However, he was declared insane and spent some time in a mental asylum before being released again in 1998.
In 2020, no one knows López’s whereabouts. He could be continuing his murderous streak unabated anywhere in the world. Rumors that he had died in a vigilante style killing have yet to be confirmed.[HERE]
March 2014
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In March 2014, Catrina McGhaw signed a lease on a North County ranch house. Her landlady was Sandra Travis. A few months after moving in, Catrina was watching a documentary on serial killers with a friend when they both suddenly sat up straight and looked at each other in alarm. The house being featured in various crime scene photos on the tv screen was the very one they were sitting in.
The house Catrina was living in previously belonged to serial killer Maury Travis, son of her landlady, Sandra Travis. Maury had built several torture chambers in the basement of the house and kept corpses there.
Catrina immediately went to Sandra and demanded she be let out of the lease. Sandra was unwilling to release Catrina from the lease until the St. Louis Housing Authority intervened. Only then did she agree to rescind the contract.
Maury Travis killed himself before he could be charged with the murders of at least 17 women.[HERE]
Fan Takes Selfie With Elvis Presley. 1960s
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Falling Down [1993] Hamburger Scene
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Surprise!
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After George Davis passed away, his family sorted through his belongings only to find a mysterious box in the attic. It held a small Fabergé figurine which experts later identified as a gift from none other but the Russian Czar Nicolas II to his wife, Empress Alexandra. The hardstone portrait figure was of Nikolai Nikolaievich Pustynnikov, a loyal personal Cossack bodyguard to the empress. The valuable item had little sapphires in the eyes, a little gold trim and gold braid, and elaborately inlaid and enameled double-headed imperial eagles.
They valued the 100-year-old figure at $800,000 but clearly underestimated the public’s interest. At the auction, a jeweler from London bought it for a whopping $5.2 million!
Surely, George Davis’s family didn’t see such an inheritance coming.[HERE]
Gus Meets With Don Eladio
https://youtu.be/rY7cr_UE8-E
Young Couples At A Formal Dance Dreamily Sway On The Crowded Floor Of Dim, Chandelier-Lit Ballroom, 1940s
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No Fingerprints
It is a universally accepted truth that we all have a unique set of fingerprints. Even identical twins differ when it comes to the minute whorls and loops on a set of dabs. Modern technology has made use of this unique property when it comes to things like cybersecurity, which must make Cheryl Maynard feel pretty invisible.[HERE]
Fingerprints are usually fully formed even before we are born. People with adermatoglyphia, however, are born with no fingerprints. (In the picture above, Cheryl’s finger is compared with a normal one.) It is believed that there are only four extended families in the world with this condition, caused by a genetic mutation.
The condition has left Cheryl Maynard feeling pretty invisible. Having no fingerprints has even made it difficult for her to get jobs. However, if she fancied a career as a criminal, she would have a head start.
Oh, how romantic it would be to find decades-old love letters!
When Phil Mathies decided to give his bathroom an upgrade in 2014, he involuntarily became the side character of a real-life rom-com. The contractor he hired ended up finding dozens of love letters that dated back all the way to 1918. The bizarre part? They were hidden inside the attic wall!
The letters told the story of a WWI soldier named Clement and his beloved Mary. When Phil Mathies tracked down Clement’s relatives, they were thrilled to receive the letters. As Phil learned, Clement and Mary did end up together and had their own family. It was true love.
But how the letters ended up in the walls of this Indiana home will forever remain a mystery.[HERE]
Falling Down (passing through golf course)
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Car Porn
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Super sight
In 1972, when Veronica Seider claimed to be able to see small objects 1.6 kilometers (1 mi) away, no one believed her. However, eyesight is pretty easy to test, so it soon became clear that Seider’s vision was truly exceptional. She was soon listed by Guinness World Records with eyesight 20 times more powerful than normal human beings.
Not only is she able to distinguish people and objects from 1.6 kilometers (1 mi) away, but she is also able to judge distance and position, which can be useful. And she can distinguish the individual colors that make up the color on a television set. Not so useful.[HERE]
Way back in 1996 when the Communications Decency Act of 1996 was being contemplated, no one imagined the outsize role of the internet. In fact, few of the people debating the bill had ever seen this internet thing. The internet as we understand it was in its infancy and only tech savvy hobbyists were using it. Most homes did not have a personal computer at the time. The only thing everyone was sure about was that the internet had to be free to grow.
Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act made a lot of sense to all involved, because it gave the new internet companies relief from parasitic lawyers who were already sinking their fangs into the industry. Giving the public platforms protection from liability allowed them to host the public platform without having to edit everything the users posted on the platforms. At the time, the tech companies claimed they lacked the resources to monitor user behavior.
The logic made sense as long as that last bit was true. If the people creating these public platforms could not edit what was posted, then they could not reasonably be held accountable, as we do for newspapers and magazines. The New York Times controls its content, so in theory it is responsible for it. As a practical matter they are never held accountable and libel people daily as we saw with the Sarah Palin case a few months ago, but that is a topic for another day.
In a quarter century, much has changed. Not only can the tech platforms edit what is posted on their sites, they now aggressively monitor content. Not only that, but they also promote content on the platforms and they create their own content. The millions of bots used to boost some content over others is a form of content. It is similar to a newspaper making the editorial decision to post some stories on the front page and relegate the real stories to the back pages.
The Section 230 protections were specifically tailored on the assumption that the platforms could not control what was posted. Therefore, someone could not reasonably sue them for defamation. It would be like holding the building owner liable for something someone write on the walls outside. In theory, the platform, like the building owner, would take reasonable steps to remove the material. If the court asked, they would try to identify the person responsible.
Of course, we live in a different age and therefore the laws crafted for the prior age no longer make any sense in this age. No one in 1996 could contemplate a world where an oligopoly in Silicon Valley controlled political discourse. Further, no one imagined the oligopoly being controlled by crazy people. This is why the matter is working its way through the courts in various conflicting cases. In fact, it will probably end up in the Supreme Court in the next term.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit upheld a Texas law barring companies from removing posts based on political ideology. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit overturned a similar Florida law on the grounds that it violated constitutional protections for tech companies. The question is whether these private firms that get the same protections as all other private firms or are they private firms operating public accommodations and therefore can be regulated.
Morally, this would be a simple question if not for the racial double standard that has become nearly universal. Facebook regularly hosts livestreams of black people hunting a killing white people. This happened most recently with the Memphis spree killer who livestreamed his rampage on Facebook. On the other hand, a white guy uses the wrong pronouns when describing a public degenerate and he is banned. In the age of Jim Snow, everyone knows the score.
Before the Jim Snow laws, when Section 230 was created, no one imagined the sorts of double standards we now accept. In 1996, everyone agreed that a public accommodation had to accept everyone as long as they did the minimum that was required of the enterprise. Restaurants could require a dress code, but they could not ban people for holding the wrong opinions. If they violated their own rules, then they could be held accountable in the courts.
Ultimately, the court will have to fashion a new standard. If Facebook is a public accommodation, then what are the rules that define such a thing? If it is a private company, then how can it have special privileges? The simplest solution is to clarify how one can claim Section 230 protections. A platform that does not edit the content of users would qualify, while a firm that censors the users would not qualify. This would be the logical solution, which is why it cannot happen.
Instead, the court will end up supporting the tech companies, because the so-called conservatives will be so high from chanting “they are private companies” that the crazies on the court will write the decision. We will end up with a new standard that says private companies can viciously and aggressively discriminate, as long as it is not against protected classes. At this time, there is one class left unprotected in the law, which is the class known as while people.
In fact, there is a good chance that the court creates a new framework that requires public platforms to aggressively censor content in order to get the protections offered under Section 230. That would mean a site like Gab is wiped out unless they apply the same standards as Silicon Valley. It would also mean that hosting companies are required to monitor the content of their users. This would be the first example of “common good conservatism” in the law.
This sounds terribly negative, but it is realistic. Stalin allegedly said that it is not the votes that count, but who counts the votes. He probably never said it, but it is something he would have grasped. He was a communist, but he eventually came to see that who decides counts for more than how things are decided. That is what we see in the current age with things like censorship. It is not the rules that matter, but who is enforcing and interpreting the rules that matters.
If the tech firms were run by the same sorts of people who were running what passed for big tech in 1996, none of this would matter. The internet pioneers were civic nationalists and libertarians. They were on-line to get away from people who wanted to police free expression. They needed Section 230 to keep the internet open, but they were replaced with people who want to close it down, so one way or another, speech will be closed down on the internet.
Finally, this is a good reminder that when a society begins to debate the letter of the law, it no longer respects the spirit of the law. Put another away, if the people in charge are so corrupt that they need written rules to behave themselves, they are corrupt enough to find a way around those written words. This is where we find ourselves with the current ruling class. They see the rules like they see the truth. If they are useful, they enforce them. If not, then not.
Dumplings porn
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An extra apartment
Affordable living space is rare in New York City, so just imagine how Samantha Hartsoe must have felt when she found out that she had access to more rooms than expected.
It all started with cold air coming from behind her mirror. Once she investigated the draft, she found the entrance to an entire vacant unit! On her TikTok, Samantha Hartsoe documented her trip beyond the wall, and several million people joined her, waiting for what was behind the next corner. Why does this apartment not have its own door? And why is it connected to Smanatha’s flat through only a small hole.[HERE]
It appears that the person who used to own the apartment bought two apartments and turned one into a secret room; a place to hide and to hide others.
Fearless
Okay, well maybe this isn’t exactly like Deadpool, but a woman identified only as “SM” has a condition known as Urbach-Wiethe, which has damaged parts of her brain. As a result, she feels no fear. At all. Totally fearless.
The condition manifested first as a complete lack of fear from all external stimuli—such as the large, venomous spiders and snakes she picked up as a child. Once, when she was being held up at knifepoint, her attacker was so unnerved by her lack of fear that he let her go.
Like all superheroes, however, SM does have one weakness. After a barrage of tests where she had shown no fear responses, she was exposed to carbon dioxide and suddenly had a panic attack. Neurologists studying her brain hypothesized that impending suffocation finally produced a fear response where no other stimuli could. However, when the test was repeated, SM did not show any anxiety until the gas started to take effect, proving that her response had been a physical reaction to suffocation rather than a psychological manifestation of fear.[HERE]
It could be worse. She could be afraid of cows.
What would you do if you found seven grand inside an abandoned house? Be sneaky and keep it? Not on Dave’s watch!
Dave, an urban photographer, really only wanted to take some pictures of antiques for his blog. But what he found behind an old mattress probably made his heart jump. Stuffed inside a yellow Home Hardware bag was almost $7,000 in cash, tightly rolled up in bundles. The notes were held together by elastic bands, which marked dates from the mid-1960s to the 1970s.
Dave decided to track down the granddaughter of the previous owners to hand back the money. Naturally, she was thrilled and told the photographer that her grandparents likely earned the money with the fruit stand they owned. They must have collected it over decades.[HERE]
Cartel Meeting With Don Eladio [English Subtitles]
There was a time when normal Americans thought about how to survive a nuclear exchange with the Russians. During the Cold War, this seemed like a real prospect, so there was a reason to think about it. Into the 1960’s school kids had to do the hide under the desk thing, which was mostly about conditioning people to accept permanent war, but it conditioned people to the idea of being nuked. How to make it through a nuclear war became something of an industry.
There were two schools of thought on the subject back then. One said that any hint of a nuclear attack by either side would result in a mag dump by both sides. The United States and the Soviet Union were in a prisoner’s dilemma. If either side showed restraint, then they risked the other side striking first and possibly making it impossible to retaliate, so logic said to send all of your missiles first. Both sides accepted this logic which is why a system was put in place to prevent it.
From a survival perspective, such a scenario made the prospects for anyone living through it extremely low. The arsenals at the time were larger than today and the assumption was they could wipe out all life on the planet. The initial blasts would kill most people, but the fallout and nuclear winter would kill the rest. Even if people survived somehow, the numbers would be tiny. There was simply no point in preparing for what would be instant death for almost everyone.
The other school of thought was more optimistic. War would escalate with an initial exchange that might not lead to a mag dump. Even if the will were there to send all the missiles, many people would refuse to push the button. The disruption from the initial strikes would also render communications useless. The example of Vasili Arkhipov seemed like proof that a full scale exchange was unlikely. That meant it was possible to survive a nuclear war if you were prepared.
Today, that last scenario is more plausible. Nuclear arsenals are much smaller than during the Cold War. No one is really sure that the antique systems on which these weapons rely would work under stress. The American ICBM system still relies upon 1970’s technology. The Russian systems are similarly antiquated. The most likely scenario is that the major powers are no longer functional after a nuclear exchange, so lots of people survive the event.
The first step in surviving a nuclear war is to avoid a direct hit. Washington DC will get several direct hits and the initial flash will vaporize most of the population. The shock wave will level most of the city. By now, the Russians and Chinese know to target Northern Virginia, so it will be a saturation bombing. The five percent that survive the initial blast will be radiated and die soon thereafter. Therefore, the first rule of nuke club is to be outside the target zone.
The safe bet is to be away from the coasts.
The Rockies or Appalachia are the best bet for making it through the first stage. Denver will be nuked, for sure, but the damage will be contained to that plateau. People in the mountains will escape the flash and the blast, even if Denver takes multiple strikes. The Green Briar will get hit, for old times sake, but most of West Virginia will be spared. There are lots of places to escape the flash and the blast in the mountains.
Once things settle after the final missile strikes, there will be four key things to surviving the aftermath. You will need water, shelter, food and a way to defend yourself from the people who were not prepared. Imagine a land ravaged by mask wearing Covidians and you get the picture. You will have to be prepared to kill a lot of people in order to avoid ending up like them. This means you need to pick a spot that has access to water, a food source and is defendable.
Since a post-nuclear America is going to look like the frontier as far as you are concerned, you are going to need frontier skills. You will need to know how to make a fire, provide yourself basic medical care and know how to hunt and fish. If your location is near a river, then you can initially get by with fishing and water from the river, but you have to boil the water and cook the fish. The ability to make fire without modern items like a lighter or matches is essential.
Once you have sorted the location and provided yourself with the frontier skills required to live in the wild, you need to think about the defense issue. A man alone is easy prey, even to desperate city people roaming the countryside. It would be better to have a tribe that can work together for common defense. That means you either need the skills to create a tribe from who is left or you have to create a tribe now.
One way or the other, survival will depend upon community.
This basic framework of preparedness is just scratching the surface, but it does provide the basis for building a survival plan. For example, you will not want modern firearms for defense in the post-nuclear world. Making your own gunpowder for modern ammunition is not realistic. You can make black powder from raw materials. That means the old fashioned muzzleloader is a good weapon to own and master. Of course, older range weapons like spears and bows are an option.
The same applies to tools. Creating your own electric for powering modern tools is possible, but not very practical. If you assume society takes generations to bounce back from the holocaust, then it makes no sense to rely upon modern tools. They will break and you will not be able to fix them. The same would apply to vehicles. Old cars need gasoline and lubricants. Even if you stock those, they will run out eventually and your vehicles become lawn ornaments.
This is why forming communities in advance of the holocaust is critical. You can plan for the two general scenarios. The first scenario is the world steps back to the pre-industrial age and does not bounce back. The other scenario is the people responsible manage to survive and quickly set about recreating the modern world by bringing things like the power grid on-line. Do you want to play a role in that rebuilding or do you want to seek vengeance on them?
Community building in advance lets you wargame these issues. It also makes survival much more likely. No one man can know everything or prepare for everything, so having help increases your odds of survival dramatically. It also provides the means for surviving what comes after the initial devastation. In a post-nuclear world, tribalism will be the key to survival, which means the best tribe wins. Of course, that is also why the world was blown up, but that is a story for another day.
Blueberry Cobbler
Make the most of summer’s fresh fruit and mix up an easy Blueberry Cobbler. With a tender topping and a berry filling, this easy Blueberry Cobbler with Bisquick™ Original Pancake & Baking Mix is a dessert you’ll be asked to make again and again. If you don’t have fresh blueberries on hand, frozen blueberries achieve the same, great taste. For this Blueberry Cobbler recipe, just make sure the total volume of fruit remains the same if using frozen blueberries. Spoons up and enjoy.
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Memelight
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Hamburger Porn
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Oh brother!
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Yes he does
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Sneaky
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Will The Collapse Of Credit Suisse Be Europe’s “Lehman Brothers Moment”?
The parallels between 2008 and 2022 just keep getting stronger. 14 years ago, the collapse of Lehman Brothers sent a massive wave of panic through global financial markets and is widely considered to be the key event that plunged us into a horrifying financial crisis that we still talk about to this day. Well, now an even larger bank appears to be on the brink of collapse, and analysts all over the world are deeply concerned about what that will mean for the global financial system if it does fail.
Right now, Credit Suisse is one of the most important banks in the entire world. If you are not familiar with Credit Suisse, the following is some good background information that comes from Wikipedia…
Credit Suisse Group AG is a global investment bank and financial services firm founded and based in Switzerland. Headquartered in Zürich, it maintains offices in all major financial centers around the world and is one of the nine global “Bulge Bracket” banks providing services in investment banking, private banking, asset management, and shared services. It is known for strict bank–client confidentiality and banking secrecy. The Financial Stability Board considers it to be a global systemically important bank. Credit Suisse is also primary dealer and Forex counterparty of the FED .
Credit Suisse is truly one of the central hubs of the entire international banking system.
If it were to fail, the ripple effects would be felt very deeply in literally every nation on the planet.
Speculation surrounding the future of the Swiss banking giant has been going on for several months in the markets, in business and political circles, as well as on social networks.The No. 2 Swiss bank and one of the largest banks in the world is in deep trouble and is currently fighting for its survival. A negative outcome is likely to cause a shock similar to that caused by the bankruptcy of the U.S. bank Lehman Brothers in September 2008. This event triggered one of the most serious financial and economic crises since the Great Depression.
There has been plenty of movement around Credit Suisse over the weekend. On Friday, CEO Ulrich Koerner sent around a memo saying that the bank had a “strong capital base and liquidity position”, whilst senior executives spent their weekend doing their best to reassure large clients, counterparties and investors, according to the Financial Times.The memo from the CEO also noted that the bank was at a “critical moment” as it prepares for a restructuring, the details of which are the be revealed on October 27. Expectations are that some 5000 jobs could be cut, with assets sold off. Some analysts are saying it won’t be enough, however. According to a Bloomberg report, Credit Suisse is estimated to need a further $4 billion Swiss francs even after asset sales, to fund the restructuring, with a capital raise touted as the most likely option.
Are the markets buying what Koerner is selling?
Nope.
Credit Suisse credit default swaps just keep going the wrong direction, and that means that investors are starting to get really, really nervous…
Credit Suisse’s Credit Default Swaps, or CDS, a derivative instrument that allows an investor to swap their credit risk with another investor, surged on Friday, reflecting the market perception of increasing risk. It is now approaching the highs seen during the 2008 financial crisis, which saw U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers go bankrupt.
Houston we have a problem. Market cap of $CS is now a rounding error. 35x leverage. This and Deutsche Bank…a canary in coal mine.CDS on Credit Suisse now at GFC highs. #btcpic.twitter.com/cVTOavkBv2— FOSS – Lehman CDS at 9bps in ’06, 🇨🇦 now at 41 (@FossGregfoss) September 30, 2022
At this point, just about everyone can smell blood.
And it certainly isn’t going to take much to set off widespread hysteria.
This is such an ominous time for Europe. The EU is heading into the worst energy crisis that it has ever experienced, the bond market is starting to go bonkers, and now giant financial institutions such as Credit Suisse are being greatly shaken.
So, could Europe suck the rest of the world down the tubes? Armstrong says, “Oh, absolutely. Europe is the problem. . . . The crisis in banking will start in Europe. . . . The debt is collapsing. They have no way to sustain themselves. The debt market over there is undermining the stability of all the banks. You have to understand that reserves are tied to government debt, and this is the perfect storm. Yes, the (U.S.) stock market will go down short term. We are not facing a 1929 event or a 90% fall here. . . . Europeans, probably by January of 2023, as this crisis in Ukraine escalates, anybody with half a brain is going to take whatever money they have and get it over here.”
I am not as optimistic about U.S. financial markets as Armstrong seems to be.
Yes, Europe is currently in worse shape, but things are starting to unravel quite rapidly here too.
September was a horrible month for stocks. The Dow fell nearly 9%, its worst monthly drop since March 2020, when pandemic lockdowns started in the United States. The index ended Friday deeply in the red, too.
Overall, this is the very first time that the Dow Jones Industrial Average has been down for three quarters in a row since 2015.
And it is the very first time that the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq have been down for three quarters in a row since 2009.
A lot of people out there still seem to think that things will “return to normal” very soon, and unfortunately all of those people are very wrong.
The truth is that we are right on the precipice of the sort of historic meltdown that I have been relentlessly warning was coming.
Our leaders kicked the can down the road for a long time, but now they are running out of road.
A day of reckoning has arrived for Europe, and soon a day of reckoning will arrive for us as well.
So buckle your seatbelts, because we are in for a very bumpy ride.
Firefox
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Journey to the Center of the Earth Stars: James Mason, Pat Boone, Arlene Dahl
This is the full movie, and it is a classic. Have a real vacation. Enjoy it! Please. Relive your childhood in the 1960s.
This will be considerably uglier than the last depression. Back then people still had a clue on how to survive with gardening, cooking, canning, hunting, fishing, and sewing skills. Almost all still had wood or coal burning stoves. They also lived in communities of extended families, which does help in creating a micro supply chain of helping hands and necessities. Payment of government debt will pretty much limit the bankers response. Of course we could go the route of a debt jubilee. Would the funny money bankers allow it? Or are they just the giddy architects of financial collapse for the great banker reset?Sooner or later the grids will be going down, so good luck to all. My best advice is get yourself the access to clean water, buy warm clothing, and get a coal/wood stove if you can.Posted by: Old and Grumpy | Oct 3 2022 19:14 utc | 27
Some stories and news article for your reading pleasure. I hope you enjoy them.
FDI into China Rises 16.4%YoY in Jan-August 2022
Uh? I thought that China was “isolated” and collapsing?
Foreign direct investment into China climbed 16.4% year-on-year to CNY 892.74 billion (USD 138.41 billion) in the first eight months of the year, China’s commerce ministry data showed.
In dollar terms, FDI rose 20.2%.
Foreign investment into the service sector climbed 8.7%, while high-tech industries FDI inflow surged by 33.6%.
Among the main sources of investment, FDI into China increased mainly from South Korea (58.9%), Germany (30.3%), Japan (26.8%), and the UK (17.2%). less
2022-09-19
“I was on my usual running path when I heard an older man yelling loudly enough for me to hear through my headphones. “Sexy lady, hey hey hey sexy lady!” He kept screaming it and I decided to just ignore him and keep running.
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This ignoring seemed to piss him off so he lashed out and said “eff you, dumb B****!” Now let’s keep in mind he was well-dressed and appeared to be on his lunch break from an office job.
That was my trigger point. The B word. I ripped off my headphones prepared to stand up for myself when this little boy who was walking alongside his mother and little sister in a stroller looked at the guy and said, “Hey. That is not nice to say to her and she didn’t like you yelling at her. You shouldn’t do that because she is a nice girl and I don’t let anyone say mean things to people. She’s a girl like my sister and I will protect her.”
The man was immediately embarrassed and started gathering his lunch to leave. I asked the mother if I could hug the little boy (his name is James) and I told him how grateful I was for him. He just shrugged and said “Well I just wanted to make sure your heart was okay.”
According to his mother, this is a typical day in the life of James. Thank you so much to the mothers and fathers who are raising the next generation to be brave and courageous, and to be little earth angels for all. I am so touched.”
USS GERALD R. FORD AIRCRAFT CARRIER STRIKE GROUP DEPLOYING TO . . . NATO
The Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) departed Naval Station Norfolk, on Oct. 4.
The Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group (GRFCSG) is deployed to conduct operations alongside NATO Allies and partners to enhance integration for future operations and demonstrate the U.S. Navy’s commitment to a peaceful, stable and conflict-free Atlantic region.
The Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group (GRFCSG) deployment includes:
Carrier Strike Group (CSG 12),
Carrier Air Wing 8 (CVW 8)
and Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 2.
Deploying with the group will be Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser USS Normandy (CG 60); the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers USS Ramage (DDG 61), USS McFaul (DDG 74), and USS Thomas Hudner (DDG 116); the Legend-class national security cutter USCGC Hamilton (WMSL 753); the Henry J. Kaiser-class fleet replenishment oiler USNS Joshua Humphries (T-AO 188), and the Lewis and Clark-class dry cargo and ammunition ship USNS Robert E. Peary (T-AKE 5).
Daryl Braithwaite – The Horses
The United States is run by idiots
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Livin’ Ain’t Livin’ – FIREFALL
Are you sick of the tipping culture in the United States?
Yup.
The breaking point for me was when I got a letter from a major hotel chain saying the people who clean the rooms don’t make much money, and encouraging guests to leave them a tip.
Rather than, you know, the hotel paying them a living wage.
From the very beginning, tipping has been a way for restaurant owners to underpay staff, and shift the burden of decency from themselves to the customers.
For a long time I believed the story that tipping somehow encouraged better service, because if I wasn’t satisfied I could leave a smaller tip. Couple of problems with that theory. The first is, by the time the bill comes I’ve already suffered from the unsatisfactory service. Leaving a lousy tip might satisfy my thirst for revenge, but it doesn’t make my evening any more enjoyable.
Second, often service suffers for reasons unrelated to the server. When the kitchen gets slammed, or the steak gets overcooked and has to be redone, the food comes slowly. I mentally reduce the tip, even though there is nothing the server could have done about either situation.
Third, the reality is that most people tip within a fairly narrow range. You really don’t have much more control than you would if the tip were built in.
Fourth, some restaurants let the servers keep their tips, while others pool them and divide them according to the owner’s wishes (meaning he/she can underpay line cooks, busboys and dishwashers as well). The direct relationship between tip received and money pocketed is illusory.
Fifth, it has led to a restaurant culture in which waitstaff can be unbearably chatty. In much of Europe that’s considered annoying; a server’s job is to keep an eye on the table, and be ready to respond promptly if anything is needed. British television regularly mocks the hyper-enthusiastic American server.
Sixth, WHY IS THERE A TIP JAR AT STARBUCKS? They make my coffee. I pay for my coffee. Their employer pays them. Why do I have to stand there while the person at the register keeps glancing from me to the tip jar, making me feel like a heel if I don’t toss in a little extra for someone who is doing their job? We don’t tip doctors or nurses or the guy who adjusts your brakes (though tipping him might be wise). Why have we decided that everything food-related can’t simply be paid for?
Don’t get me wrong (probably a bit late for that request): If you think someone has gone beyond expectation for you, hit ’em with some cash. That, to me, is a real tip. The rest is just hiding the real cost of your meal, and making life easier for the owners.
Powderfinger – (Baby I’ve Got You) On My Mind [Official Video]
BREAKING NEWS: LARGE EXPLOSION AT SOUTH KOREA AIR BASE
There has been a large explosion at a South Korean air base; the closest base to the North Korean border.
Photos and videos from social media show what appears to be a missile launch from the ground up into the sky, but seconds later, something on the ground exploded.
Locals say the South Koreans fired a missile interceptor that MISSED it’s target allowing the inbound missile to hit successfully.
This is DISPUTED by other sources that say the explosion was the result of an “accident” at the base, although no one is saying what the “accident” was.
But the photo above clearly shows the launch contrail of a previously fired missile, illuminated by the explosion and fire below. So it is clear just from this empirical evidence that some type of missile WAS fired into the sky BEFORE whatever caused the explosion, actually hit.
More details as they become available
What are some underrated turning points in history?
In the morning of May 3, 1986, China Airlines Flight 334 took off from Changi Airport in Singapore. Its final destination was Taipei, but it was scheduled to make stopovers in Bangkok’s Don Mueang Airport and Hong Kong’s Kai Tak Airport.
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On its way to Bangkok, the plane suddenly shifted course. One of the plane’s pilots, Wang Xijue, got into a fight with the other pilots, subdued them, and took over the plane. He then made contact with aviation authorities in mainland China and landed in Guangzhou Baiyun Airport, where he defected.
Wang Xijue, a pilot of Taiwan’s China Airlines Flight 334 who orchestrated the hijacking that enabled him to defect to mainland China. He lives on the mainland today.
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When news of the hijacking reached Taiwan, the government of Chiang Ching-kuo was faced with a dilemma. Since 1979, Chiang Junior had insisted on not making any contact, compromise, or negotiation with mainland China. But now, a plane from Taiwan had unexpectedly ended up in “enemy territory,” leaving Chiang with two choices: he could look tough and refuse to enter talks with mainland officials, but risk not getting his plane back — and the crew in it who didn’t want to defect. Or he could make contact with the mainland to get his plane back, but risk upending a longstanding policy and allowing future defections.
In the end, Chiang settled on talking with the mainland, and sent officials to Hong Kong to meet up with mainland officials to get Flight 334 back. Finally, the plane and crew were returned to Taiwan, but Wang, who had defected to visit his family on the mainland, stayed behind.
The hijacking of China Airlines Flight 334 was a pivotal moment in Cross-Strait relations. By negotiating with mainland China to get his plane back, Chiang Junior opened the gates for further contact with the mainland. A year later, the government allowed military veterans who had fled to Taiwan during the civil war to visit their family in the mainland, seeing no reason to keep them in Taiwan when one of their own (Wang was a former air force pilot) managed to break loose. Slowly, the scope of people allowed to travel between mainland China and Taiwan widened until it included basically everyone.
Today, over a million Taiwanese live in mainland China, and people from mainland China with the proper documentation can fly straight to Taiwan and back.
Simple. Each country has a different situation. Only Chinese know how to govern their country. We should not judge a country by a name eg democracy or dictatorship or monarchy etc. We should judge it by whether the leader is doing a good job for their people & whether their people are happy.
Why is the West paranoid (China-phobia) about Communist China? Vietnam is also communist. Why no paranoid about Vietnam?
Haha. Right away, we know US propaganda is at play.
Why USA bad-mouths communist China & communist N Korea? But not communist Vietnam. Because China is rising. It is militarily & economically challenging USA’s #1 status in the world. Not only does Vietnam not challenge USA, USA needs Vietnam’s geographical value as a stepping stone to create troubles for China.
N Korea also has geographical value to USA. But USA already has S Korea. That is why USA must bad-mouth N Korea too.
See, nothing scary about communism. Everything to do with US paranoid (China-phobia) & dictatorship.
Like religion, propaganda manipulates people’s mind. Look: all cultures have creators. All creators made the same sun, rain, humans, animals, plants etc. It is the same creators. Different wisdom will develop diff religious practices & myths. You use flour to bake cake. I make noodle. Diff wisdom. Diversity. But some religion propagates their creator is the true one. Others are false & evil.
Let say it was USSR who won over USA, ie communism/Marxism won over democracy. Then democracy will be propagated as evil.
Core-communist democracy
A smart Quoran added an adjective “communist democracy” to settle an argument.
Communism & democracy are 2 different things. But we can put the 2 together by using an adjective eg communist democracy or democratic communism.
Communism/Marxism, socialism & capitalism refers to distribution of public fund/assets. Socialism is less extreme as communism/Marxism. Most western countries in Europe & Canada today are socialist who have a generous welfare system. In capitalist USA, a Harvard research revealed that 20% of Americans owns 80% of US assets with 1% owning 25%. 20% as middle-class owns 5%. 40% at the bottom poor owns zero. In some cases, the middle-class is worse than the bottom poor because their income may not pay off their debts ie negative asset while the bottom poor has zero asset.
Democracy has 2 parts: election & spirit. Democracy spirit calls for …
1, for mutual respect & coexistence with the different. We do not tell our neighbors how to manage their home, do we? Same for governance of a country. To force western values onto others who has a different situation & culture is DICTATORSHIP.
2, for compromise. Today’s political parties fight with each other for votes. Oppose for the sake of opposing. Never think for the welfare of the country as a whole. Each party acts like a dictator.
Not many countries practise 100% democracy. Hence, democracy generally refers to election.
All western socialist countries have elections. They are called socialist democracies. USA is a capitalist democracy.
A communist country can also run elections & should hence be called a communist democracy. Those who are less communist but have elections should thus be called socialist democracy eg Chile, Venezuela & more.
In China, the ruling party is called Communist. But they have evolved to have democratic elections. Regions below provincial level have general elections. Provinces or above have representative elections. At the same time they practice socialism with Chinese characteristics (ie mix of Marxism & capitalism). Therefore, instead of “communist China”, China should be called “socialist China” or socialist democracy today. Westerners have not updated their knowledge & think China is like a bible that never changes.
Why not just call “China”, without an adjective? Like we call USA, UK without an adjective.
We learn not to label people by religion, skin color or ethnicity, eg Muslim, black or Jewish. Can we do the same for a country?
Who call China a dictator despite China has election? The one who breaks democracy spirit ie the US-led West.
Democracy calls for respect & coexistence with the different. We don’t tell our neighbors how they should manage their home, do we? Same for governance of a country. To force western values onto other country who has different situation & culture is DICTATORSHIP.
If a country is a democracy, but the leader is not pro-USA, USA will say their election is fraudulent, or the leader is corrupted, Then declare the elected govt is illegitimate. Then incite a coup & put a pro-USA person as legitimate govt eg 2011 Egypt. 2014 Ukraine & more. … It is god of USA who chooses the leader for other country & not elected by local people. … US democracy = dictatorship
For countries that do not have western styled elections, all leaders are called dictators & evil & must be overthrown by USA. Except communist Vietnam who has geographical value to USA. Haha
… it is US benefits. Nothing to do with communism or democracy/dictatorship.
A Harvard survey that has been conducted regularly for the past 10 years shows that over 90% of Chinese approve their leader. It is not up to westerners to rate other countries if they truly believe in democracy. Democracy calls for respect & coexistence with the different. We do not tell our neighbors how to manage their home, do we? Same for governance of a country. To force western values onto other country who has a different situation & culture is DICTATORSHIP.
Democracy also calls for compromise. The 2 US parties oppose for the sake of opposing without compromise for the welfare of the country. USA looks more like a dictator by definition.
To be fair, China did have times when they used dictatorship. China’s 1st revolutionist who used democracy to overthrow the Qing emperor, Sun Yat-sen, was a dictator after revolution. Why? He (& his successor Chiang Kai-shek) has to unite a country that was divided during revolutions. Same for other revolutionist eg Mao Zedong. The only difference between Sun & Mao is the slogan. Sun shouted democracy. Mao shouted Marxism/communism.
France’s path to democracy also mixed with dictatorship eg emperor Napoleon.
To summarized: today’s China has elections & freedom. It is not a dictator. But because China is rising, the West is worried & thus propagated hatred & fear toward China. That is all.
How can I learn to focus well?
This is Legit.
Being greedy in progress is one of the most typical causes of procrastination.
We intend to achieve our goal as quickly as possible by climbing a gigantic ladder that becomes more challenging for our brains every day.
Instead, concentrate on forming habits by taking little everyday measures.
If you want to finish a 350-page book.
Start by reading 10 pages every day, not 50 pages a day.
For months, the world has watched as the U.S. and its NATO vassals, take deliberate steps to engage Russia in direct war. Russia has not taken the bait . . . yet.
The reasoning behind the militant actions of the U.S. and NATO escaped most folks. Sure, the whole “protect democracy” nonsense has been spewed endlessly and the dupes in the general public believe that, but slaughtering hundreds of thousands of people through war is never a good option.
So what is the __real__reason for the whole blow-up?
Well, Ukraine has a well-earned reputation for being the most corrupt nation in Europe and likely, the world. Politicians launder “foreign aid” money through Ukraine, then filter it back to their own pockets through non-governmental organizations and then into shell corporations they control. So that’s a reason the powers-that-be want to keep Ukraine in existence; it feeds their cash.
Child sex trafficking is another reason. Ukraine is a literal hub for kidnapped children being forced into the sex trade for deviant, degenerate, perverts that infest the so-called “elite.” The upper classes of society have become so evil, so filthy, that rich perverts enjoy sexing children. So that’s another reason the rich and powerful want Ukraine in existence.
Cocaine and Heroin trafficking throughout Europe and into the USA is very lucrative and Ukraine is so saturated with illicit drugs that even their President has a reputation for being a coke-head. So that’s another reason the rich and powerful want Ukraine around.
But while these activities and the cash they generate are sizeable, something much, much, bigger had to be in the works.
I have found out what that “something” is.
Europe Must Be Killed
The real goals of the US in Ukraine are the destruction of Europe and its economic leader: Germany.
Why?
Let’s describe the world situation at the beginning of 2022 (immediately note that I give inaccurate figures to do justice to MMI and @Spydell_finance, but the approximate figures do not affect the disposition itself or the conclusions):
China: GDP: $16.9 trillion. Industrial sector ~30.5%, or $ 5.1 trillion. Export economy 15.3% with an export degree of 1.35 (easily interchangeable, technologically not advanced, but massively price-elastic, requires low profit margins of producers and not expensive labor, as well as agglomeration of producers).
Germany: GDP $4.2 trillion USD. Industrial sector ~27-30%, or $ 1.1-1.3 trillion. 35% with the world’s highest export ratio of 2.07 (only Japan has an even higher ratio of 2.49). That is, exports are irreplaceable, technologically complex and therefore VERY HIGH MARGINS)
The EU as a whole. GDP 17 trillion USD (suddenly !!! more than China, or at least the same amount). Industrial sector ~25%, or $4.1 trillion. (suddenly a little less than China). Only this branch of industry, as already written above, is a high-tech sector, that is, a marginal area that allows rapid positive capital growth.
US. GDP $22.9 trillion USD. However, the industrial sector accounts for only 18%, or $ 4.1 trillion. (Suddenly less than China and just as much as the EU)!!! And the financial sector is over 20%, as is the entire service sector with 77% of the economy. But even this industrial sector accounts for only 7.7% of exports and has an export development index (ECI) of only 1.57 (just like China).
To go back to the beginning of the year, the accumulated imbalances in Quantitative Easing (QE) by the federal reserve are accelerating inflation and could bury the entire dollar system.
The end of QE and the beginning of the Fed’s balance sheet reduction would guarantee the collapse of the services sector, the near-death of the financial sector and a large part of venture capital IT as zombie companies with negative revenue margins or without cache flow.
In order to survive, the United States urgently need to develop the real economy, i.e. industry.
However, since the world has become global, no new markets are foreseen. The system cannot conquer Mars and then sell to Martians, so therefore it will have to grow on intensive investments, which means negative capital work. Since aggregated venture capital investments on intensive investments do not pay off, which has been obvious since 2009, the U.S. is staring at an economic dead end.
So what to do?
Kill the competition.
To get more industry, the US has to get it from somewhere it already exists. Let’s look at each possible candidate for the US to grab industry:
Option 1: China.
But, firstly, China is a subject (sovereign), secondly, the Chinese and US economies are too intertwined, and thirdly, the development of an industry comparable to China means low profit margins, long payback periods and falling personal incomes. And a decrease in personal income is a revolution in the USA. The option is not suitable.
Option 2: EU.
Fits perfectly, no subjectivity and high margin business.
However, the business is so profitable because it is very technological, i.e. it has a high and long entry threshold. It takes decades of development, thousands of patents and the construction of a team of specialists.
But the patents, specialists and companies do not belong to the EU.
The US has to force these companies in their entirety to move to the USA, just as, for example, low-margin production migrated to China in the 90s.
To do this, you need to create unbearable conditions for the economy: war, hunger and cold.
News 1:
German industrial production fell by 1.8% in the first 8 months of 2022 due to sanctions against Russia, and the German chemical-pharmaceutical sector (high gas dependence) recorded a decrease of 10.7%.
News 2:
The Wall Street Journal published a report on the mass relocation of large German companies to the New World on September 21. Report HERE
News 3: Explosion at branches of Nord Stream 1 and 2.
To those watching closely, all these things are links in a single chain of events: The EU must be destroyed. At any cost.
It doesn’t matter how many people get killed, there’s $4+ TRILLION dollars a year (of real industry) at stake.
It doesn’t matter how many cities or even countries get wiped out, there’s $4 TRILLION dollars a year (of real industry) at stake.
People will breed, so they can replace whatever war dead take place. Cities and countries can be rebuilt. But the $4 TRILLION a year (of real industry) absolutely, positively, must — and will — come to the US.
Period. Full stop.
This war is about money. $4 TRILLION a year in real industry. Anyone who gets in the way of that will be steamrolled.
This is the main goal of the USA in Ukraine.
Why do so many Chinese people have Western first names but Chinese surnames?
It’s for your convenience.
And in many cases, ours as well.
My colleague’s name is 映雪.
When romanized, it is Ying Xue.
She has completely given up hope on any non-Chinese-speaking person pronouncing her name right.
She told me that, sometimes, when people call out her name, like the time she went to a clinic for a medical check-up and they called out her name because yeah, the doctor can see her now – she doesn’t recognize it all, because it gets mangled and butchered beyond belief.
So now, she just goes by the name “Snow”.
Everyone gets that right the first time round.
Given a choice between spending minutes trying to work out if someone is calling your name, or introducing yourself by a name that the vast majority of people will get right, some people decide to go with the latter.
It’s not rocket science.
Would you be able to pronounce 映雪 correctly the first time round, Mr. Asker?
And it’s not only the Chinese.
I have a Vietnamese colleague.
Her last name is Duong.
Except for our Vietnamese colleagues, and most of our Asian colleagues – everyone gets it wrong.
So she goes by Linda, as in Linda Duong.
There is a Korean colleague.
Her last name is Choi.
Yeah, that’s another hard one.
So she goes by Jenny Choi.
Everyone gets the Jenny part right.
Lynyrd Skynyrd – Freebird – 7/2/1977
A thought
Yup, owning farmable/gardenable land and growing organic food is definitely the key to survival. Gold, shitcoins, et al. cannot be eaten or bargain with when the real shit hits the fan.
But go it now!
Posted by: Sam Smith | Oct 3 2022 19:20 utc | 29
Brigitte Bardot, Jane Birkin in great scene from 1973 Don Juan movie
https://youtu.be/qLlVePdNSGw
An overlooked point
One thing that is overlooked is the Return of the Dragon dollars. China and other countries have started reducing their dollar reserves; these dollars are coming home, and boost the inflation. The symptom is the export of hitherto less traded items out of the US. Those who are dumping the dollars back in the US will want to buy something, anything, with those dollars, because tomorrow those dollars will lose value even more. Therefore buy and take away whatever you could out of the US, before it declares bankruptcy, I mean, refuses to redeem its T bonds.
Posted by: Old Brown Fool | Oct 3 2022 19:23 utc | 32
Do abandoned cats get really sad?
Look at the eyes…
1 Tess, left outside for 8 years and treated like garbage. Photo taken while she was a stray.
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2 Tess a few months after I took her in (her owners moved away and left her behind).
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3 Phoebe – found in the weeds behind my house, 4 months old, starving and flea-bitten.
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4 Phoebe six months after I took her in.
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Look at the eyes.
Abandoned cats are sad, beaten down, and afraid.
Adopt a stray cat or dog from the street or the shelter. Save a life and change your life for the better.
Brothers Johnson – Strawberry Letter #23 1977
https://youtu.be/f0bdLdTJdKI
Is the United States in decline?
Yes.
I could cite some dry statistics and display some graphs but plenty of other people have done that. I am going to give the perspective of a 52-year-old who has seen a great deal of change, some of it for the better, most of it for the worse. I am going to share what has led to my misanthropic nihilism and negativity concerning the current “state of affairs.”
When I was growing up I literally never heard of mass shootings. This does not mean they did not happen. It means they were very rare. Now, they are so commonplace as to be discussed with barely a nod. “Ten people dead; sixteen injured. Pass the potatoes, please.” We must get to the root of this epedemic, and there are multiple causes. A solution is not easy. The non-glorification of violence would be a good start. Unfortunately, Americans are not only desensitized to the horror of violence and death; we are entertained by it. We have cultivated a culture of violence appreciation. I am further alarmed that so many people completely dismiss this phenomena because it hasn’t happened to them or someone they know. We have dismissed and accepted this with a shrug.
Republicans: Beginning in the middle part of the 20th century, GOP conservatives went so far to the right that they no longer resembled their former somewhat progressive selves.They became increasingly less liberal and more racist. Dixiecrats saw this and were incensed. Going forward, more and more conservatives and racists joined the Republican Party. Ideologies flipped. Republicans became the party who swung to a racist extreme, enshrined guns to a bizarre extent, and demanded their religion be legislated into law. In addition, their every effort has been to take from the poor and give to the wealthy. This became abundantly clear during the absolutely ridiculous “trickle-down-economics” era of Ronald Reagan. The rich can never be rich enough. Medicare, Medicaid, and Social security are all in danger. The gulf between the poor and the rich widens every day. The time grows nearer when the 95% will not be able to put roofs over their heads, even as the very rich, who should be paying more, lounge on their sun-drenched pool decks contemplating their wealth. I do not advocate “taking their money away,” as so many people suggest. I advocate a fairer playing field where the poor and the wealthy pay a more equal percentage in taxes rather than allowing the wealthy unfair advantages that have them paying less. And, big news flash here; we need to tax everyone fairly across the board and bring down our overall spending to decrease the deficit, rather than cut social security, and Medicare. Why are the poor the first people we think of when we consider cutting costs? Even the legendary investing guru Warren Buffet once said that his secretary’s tax rate is higher than his own, and Buffet is a multi-billionaire. We are an oligarchy, folks. Republicans have now become the number 1 problem, as they have enabled and backed Donald Trump and begun destroying voting rights in the wake of his lost bid for reelection. Republicans have become a much bigger threat than Democrats ever since they refused to allow Dems to seat Supreme Court justices and proceeded to stack that and other federal courts with super-majorities. The Supreme Court has now become nothing more than a partisan tool. Many progressive rulings will be overturned in time. This is a terrible development.
Democrats: ( I am just left of center myself) have swung so far out into fantasy land that we have to be careful of everything we say and do. Literally everything is offensive. We have taken equal treatment and turned it into some kind of weird Frankenstein’s monster. Everyone deserves equal rights but political correctness has run amok. I am on the liberal side, but we need to tone down the anger. SJWs care about the welfare of all but are often so angry they can’t even be engaged in a polite debate without wanting to call in a firing squad. Wokeness, cancel culture, and censoring free speech needs to stop. Fight bigotry and hate where it exists, but don’t see it in every corner, jumping to identifying it as such until you know for sure what it is. Treat everyone equally. Use common sense and learn to identify some extreme left ideas from fringe groups as the bizarre notions they are. Up to 100 different genders? Seriously? I am also very unhappy with my party’s new tendency to try to destroy individuals by digging up comments they made 35 years ago. All of us have said something risque’ or controversial at some point. Doing this is plain ridiculous. Even with all this said, at least the Democrats mostly shed their past racism (even as it was embraced by many conservatives) and have been the leaders in advancing minority rights for decades. They have made mistakes, but I fault them far less in current times than Republicans.
Politicians are bought and paid for. They should be forced to wear the names of their contributors on their suits, like those ads that are printed on the sides of racing cars. I saw this suggestion on Facebook and it is so true. How can politicians properly serve the people when they are beholden to the wealthy benefactors and corporations who donate money to them? Capitalism isn’t necessarily bad but it must be overseen and regulated. Unchecked, it produces tremendous wealth inequality and political corruption, as noted above. We need strict limits on political donations and a restructuring of how they are made, perhaps with a government supplied stipend distributed equally.
Religion still rules the masses, much more so than other highly developed countries of the world, allowing bigotry and anti-science to flourish on into the 21st century. Politicians (especially conservatives) pander to this because it is one way to ensure continued support. Give your voters a couple of the things they want most and they will overlook the crooked bigger things (like tax cuts favoring the super rich.) I am not against religion: I am against having it in politics. Separation of church and state has always been a nifty idea in America but has never been a real thing. That is sad.
Housing costs are out of control. One must mortgage away many decades of one’s life to buy a house that is too large and too expensive. It’s ridiculous. Small, modest homes could be purchased for much less money, but that would meet with the dissatisfaction of city ordinances and neighbors. It’s a big, fancy house in many cases or nothing. The alternative is sky-high rent on an apartment. Gone are the days when renting was cheaper than owning. Now, even modest apartments are so expensive they leave little money left for food. No one seems to advocate rent control anymore because greed is master. A livable wage is not high on the agenda either. Meanwhile, more and more people are pushed out onto the streets and homelessness increases. We find it easy to put the blame on the victims. Yes, many homeless have made mistakes but not all of the onus is on them. We have a system that is, by its very nature, generating more and more of this problem.
A college education has gone completely into the stratosphere with its exorbitant cost. It’s unbelievable. A text book can cost several hundred dollars and full-time tuition for a single semester well into the thousands. Small non-traditional for-profit “colleges” didn’t help the situation any either. Though some are at least somewhat legit, many are not, and nearly all are far too expensive, thereby producing many graduates with overpriced degrees that are not likely to be valued at what they cost. And what about the large percentage of dropouts who aren’t likely to benefit at all from what they have spent? In the 1980’s college was still affordable. I signed promisory notes and managed to pay the 4 or 5 hundred dollar costs by the time the term ended. I could not afford to go to college today. It would not be possible. People are exiting universities (not necessarily graduating) many thousands of dollars in debt. Even upon graduating, most students have depressingly low chances of landing jobs in their chosen fields. Competition is greater than ever. Young people are depressed. They are sarcastic and prematurely cynical; and they have every right to be. This generation is yet another that promises to perform more poorly, save less money, have less opportunity, and be more dysfunctional than their parents and grandparents; yet, the bulk of our politicians do not appear to care. A country that wants to offer hope to all people, grant a good standard of living, and preserve this standard for the future, understands the value of turning out well-educated citizens. Yet, we make it ridiculously expensive to become educated. Why are we doing this? We must take greed out of higher education. Should profit be the top priority? * I would also add that we need to stop housing students in luxury apartments while they attend college. Living in an efficiency or a dormitory is good for you. It builds character to live simply and humbly while going through school.*
Infrastructure has begun to suffer. Our city roads aren’t built to withstand the burgeoning population. Roads most everywhere are in terrible shape, and bridges are a nightmare, old and deteriorated as they are, and in need of expensive care. I am amazed, after having traveled a fair amount, that many of our states have some of the worst roads in the developed world. The power grid as well is old and crumbling in many areas. This is embarrassing and we can do better. At least in 2022 we have a president willing to put a trillion or two into tackling infrastructure. Sounds expensive, but it’s grossly overdue. * as of April 2022, money has finally been allocated for this. Perhaps that will be one step in the right direction.*
My newest edit in this piece is to mention the problem we have with illegal drugs in this country (and I do not refer to pot, which I consider less dangerous than alcohol). The illegal use of powerful, lab-created drugs has reached wide-scale pervasiveness both in cities and rural communities. It is a huge problem that ruins lives, costs a great deal of money, creates crime, violence, and too often results in death. Elderly folk lose their life savings (and sometimes their lives) to some charismatic stranger who cons them for drug money. Many addicted people will stop at nothing to get their fix. Drugs become these people’s lives. Only the lucky few benefit from some sort of intervention/rehab, while the majority do not. On top of this, it has now become harder for people who desperately need pain medications to be prescribed them because of the violence and crime that people are willing to commit in order to obtain, sell, and use them. One of our mistakes (in less violent cases) has been to over-incarcerate. With the exception of violent and murderous offenders, this hasn’t helped much, if any. Drug-users also enter the work force and cause constant problems. I have had the displeasure of working with them. In some industries this is dangerous. One thing we need to do is stop romanticizing drugs and to stop treating those of us who recognize the problem as being uncool nerds. Many of the other items on this list, such as cost of living and the political divide, cause depression and hopelessness, and these things make drugs more appealing. Reduce the pain caused by many of our other problems and you do, to some extent, reduce the desire to take drugs. We must examine the pharmaceutical industry as well and look into its marketing practices to determine the extent to which it has contributed to the problem.
U.S. companies relocate to other corners of the world in order to pay their employees very little and government encourages this. Good employment opportunities domestically are shrinking and I am not talking about the many low pay service jobs. Many people who would have formerly held these higher paying skilled jobs are forced into the only careers available; retail, restaurants, and other service jobs where the pay does not meet one’s needs. While unions were desperately needed at one time, their demands grew out of control, demanding ever-higher pay and benefits even in sectors that were no longer profitable. They are partly to blame. We also need officer salary caps, especially on publicly traded companies. More profits need to be handed down to shareholders and lower tier employees rather than having officers make 100 million or more salaries. To the fat-cats of corporate America, this is a big grown-up game of Monopoly where they horde as much wealth as possible while everyone else suffers. I am not against capitalism, but (like any system) it has to be monitored and governed; otherwise, it becomes capitalism out of control, and that is what we have now. The operative word is GREED.
Our health care is still unaffordable. The Health Care Act is a start but is flawed, largely due to the concessions that had to be made to pass it. Greed is absolutely rampant in this industry in which a simple pill can cost hundreds of dollars. The very sick must worry about medical bankruptcy while trying to battle their illnesses. Some of the most broadly advertised physician-prescribed medications are the most expensive ones still under patent. When was the last time you saw a commercial for an older unpatented inexpensive medication? Any minor move made on a patient’s behalf in the hospital is ridiculous in its cost. Greed is master above all else. Now, it is quite likely that Republicans will remove protections for people with pre-existing conditions as well as other features of the health care act. Additionally, a little-known consequence of the health care act is that it forces people who might otherwise retire early to remain in the work force into their late 60s in order to receive health care. Medicare and Medicaid will not kick in yet (in most cases) if you retire at 58 or 60. This is one item that tells me that the government is worried about the lack of enough workers in the next few decades.
By the 2030s or early 2040s things will be gravely worse, with an ageing population and fewer people paying into social security than drawing from it. Thanks to government’s redistribution to the wealthy, the problem is exacerbated. We will initially lose a chunk of those payments and will eventually lose this and other programs completely. This initiates our entry into third-world status.
I think what disturbs me most is the complete unwillingness of our two major parties to work together for the good of the nation. And yes, (due to individuals like the hateful obstructionist Mitch McConnell), I fault the conservative party more for this than the other, although fault lies on both sides. A few decades ago, we had some caring politicians who went to the table with honest intentions of compromising and reaching a solution, even when they strongly disagreed. Even with this disagreement, we often respected eachother. Now, we have a complete unwillingness to cooperate, even going so far as to refuse to allow the opposing party to put judges on the supreme court. This hateful divide hurts everyone. The parties have opposing views, but they should not be enemies. Their goal should be to unite in promoting as good a life as possible for all citizens. Additionally, we have tactics and tricks like gerrymandering and voter-suppression as well as the grossly outdated electoral college that suppress the will of the actual majority of people.
Even with our greater technology, I-Phones, computers, medical advances, and other luxuries, these problems lessen us every day, and not enough people care to do a damn thing about it. Obsessive greed is one of the things we most need to tackle, from big corporations to medicine and higher education. Money is important but we have allowed that obsession to get in the way of the higher interest of caring for all our citizens. Making all their needs more affordable and obtainable is a good start. I am thankful I do not have kids. I would grieve incessantly now to think of the world I have brought them into. I only hope that younger people are observing this disaster and that they will take the reigns and make some needed changes. It may be too late.
* To the few folks (including a lady who was so rude I deleted her comment) who think we should love the country as it is or “get out,” I say this. Such reactions are naive and juvenile. I love my country and I wish to see it become better. Civilizations do not progress through complacency. They advance when folks sound alarms and encourage change. That is why women and minority groups now have rights they would never have enjoyed had they just “loved it or got out.”
In response to people both in this thread and in their own answers who keep pointing out that the U.S. is a world leader, has a great military might, has abundant freedom and influence, etc.. this is my reply.
I am largely talking about internal conflict here. I am discussing problems that are dividing us from within, and this includes the aforementioned two-party system of hatred and divide. There is more to being a success than having a great military or a high GNP or world influence.
I am talking about the hate that has nearly taken us over, and of the increasing unaffordability of the cost of living.
We are disintegrating. We still lead the world in many ways, perhaps, but even the rest of the world sees the problems we are experiencing that are collapsing us from within and are appalled. We lose the world’s respect more every day.
Some of the horrendous politicians and presidential administrations of recent years (including Trump in particular) have greatly contributed to the problem. What one administration accomplishes, the other tears down with the next election. We can’t even be trusted to remain in a peace agreement or environmental agreement anymore. The two-party hate is palpable.
*Years later, I now look upon the blatant attempt by one narcissist and his legion of worshipers AND legislative enablers to overthrow our government to install a backward dictatorship and I am more pessimistic than before. Our representative democracy is in dire trouble and the unpleasant marriage of government and religion threatens to roll back decades of progress.
What happened to us?
Butch DeConcini attacks Tony Soprano
https://youtu.be/nRNpOuVGh4U
Is there a way for the United States to disentangle their economy from China without wrecking its economy?
My opinion: NO.
Whether America likes it or not, the US is dependent on China for its growth and survival. Most people focus on consumer goods which indeed are an important sector for the US since the US is strongly a service economy and not a manufacturing economy. 80% of America’s GDP is in the service sector. Only 10% is in manufacturing. But, in the sector lies much of the technology sales and foreign affiliate sales for the US.
Those like Trump that think they can bring manufacturing back from China to the US and compete internationally are on a fools errand. What these misguided zealots fail to realize is that Trump is like the Pied Piper and leading them to a false narrative. It is not trade in products that is of singular importance as Trump would have you believe. It is the positive inflow of wealth from all sectors to the US that is important and the reason the US has been so successful since WW2. The US had a head start after WW2 because both Europe and Asia laid in ruins, US industry was unscathed by the war and in fact enriched by the war. FAS more than doubles US exports to the world.
One of the biggest reason the US is so wealthy is a sector called: ‘foreign affilate sales’ It is those sales by a multinational from domestic sales in a country from its subsidiary operating in that country. The US enjoys a health FAS in China as it does around the world. If one counts FAS into the math, the US enjoys a wealth surplus, not only from China but from the whole world. In 2016, that wealth surplus was about $3 trillion which dwarfs America’s total export trade About 2 to 1, FAS exceeds US exports .or about $5.7 trillion in FAS vs $2.5 trillion on total US exports. in 2016. Not only that, but wealth inflows into the US from Chinese tourists, students, investment in US debt, and FDI are on top of what US companies do in sales in China.
Trump jeopardizes that FAS by threatening China.
Not only that, but there are 16 minerals the US depends on China for. There are over 60 mineral from around the world the US depends on others because we don’t either have them domestically, or not enough for our needs, 16 are from China. On that list are things like rare earths that have the attention of media today with people saying we don’t or do have a problem. In rare earths, the US has one mine in California and it sends its concentrates for processing before it can be used. It is dominated by light rare earths which is not the section most in need by the military. However, the US military has proposed to fund a US processing capability to keep military needs from being shut out by China. It does not offer a commercial solution. The US tried twice to compete with China and both times the civilian company involved failed and declared bankruptcy.
I think there is a equally important mineral, Gallium that China produces 95% of. It is the reason China is moving ahead of the US in 5G. Huawei owns 2000 patents in Gallium. Why? Gallium replaces silicon for high frequency and high power applications in 5G. So far the US seems oblivous to that fact. If the Chinese cut off rare earths and gallium, would that start a war? Gallium is used in things like radars, sensors, and ELINT applications and China is the world’s 95% source.
Tangy barbecue sauce, cheesy mac, and a sprinkling of buttery, toasted Progresso™ bread crumbs team up to make this meal a total hit. Our bbq pulled pork mac and cheese is a super hearty meal that is easy to make whenever the inspiration hits you. The big, bold BBQ flavors add a delicious twist on the classic favorite, now reimagined as pulled pork mac and cheese. It all starts with the pulled pork and a homemade cheese sauce that comes together with just a little bit of whisking. From there, it’s only a matter of combining the ingredients and baking them into the best bbq pulled pork mac and cheese.
$479 Bn in US exports amount represents less then 5% of China’s GDP.
China’s GDP is growing at 6.7%. If the loss of US exports were to impact China’s GDP proportionately, it will be absorbed within less then one year through normal growth all things being equal.
To replace lost export volume to the US, China would need to grow exports to other countries by an average of 6.5%.
x
You can judge for yourself if China can manage without exports to the US.
Can the US manage without smartphones, personal computers, tablets and empty shelves in Walmart?
Sly & The Family Stone “I Want To Take You Higher” LIVE on U.S. TV 7/74
https://youtu.be/am04NZL8pA4
As a police officer, what’s the one call that will be with you forever?
There is a lot of calls I remember but the one I remember most was this one:
It was about 2AM on a Wednesday morning and that is typically a quiet time in Bexar County (San Antonio), Texas. I got a call for a “10–50 Major Vehicle vs. Motorcycle” and to respond Code 3 (A major accident involving a motor vehicle and a motorcycle and respond with lights and siren due to the level of the emergency. For those who are reading this – this was in the time of Harlon Copeland as Sheriff so I am dating myself.
I hit the Code 3 and arrived 4 minutes later, and about 1 minute after another unit who was sent also. Upon my arrival, I observed a 1980’s era Ford F-150 pickup truck sideways against a curb and a motorcycle, totally smashed laying upon alongside the front of the Ford. I could not see the motorcycle operator, but the driver was freaking out.
As I approached, I saw the left side of the Ford pickup and walked around the right side where my partner was standing. As I came around, I saw that the right front tire was totally 100% on top of the motorcyclist’s head – and he was wearing a helmet (I remember specifically it was a “Bell” helmet!). Fire companies were still far away. My partner was talking to the motorcycle operator and believe it or not he was answering! My partner and I rushed to our patrol cars and took out our tire jacks and put them both under the truck and jacked it up.
Once the motorcycle rider was freed from under the crushing weight of the Ford F-150’s tire, he literally stood up and unbuckled the helmet and said, “Thank GOD I was wearing my helmet!”. He walked away with some scrapes to his face and serious scrapes to that “Bell” motorcycle helmet. At the time there was no law to wear a helmet and today there isn’t either. He chose to protect himself.
To this day, when I see a motorcycle operator without a helmet I think of that guy and his lucky, strong, and wonderful “Bell” helmet. I am sure he has it somewhere high on a shelf in a place of honor for saving his life. *** WEAR YOUR HELMET!”
Lawson, The Most Professional Arms Dealer In Albuquerque
https://youtu.be/5Dv9mytyIEM
Have you ever seen someone being literally laughed out of a courtroom?
The situation was too serious for someone to be literally laughed out of the courtroom, but this is a true story.
My daughter was kidnapped when she was 10 — recovered 12 hours later in bad shape. Imagine the worst and then multiply that by 100 and you have an idea.
After my daughter testified, I was up next. I wasn’t allowed in the courtroom, nor my wife because we were also witnesses.
The defense attorney tried to paint me as a “wanna be” cop loving hick. He starts asking me questions.
“Is this a picture looking in your daughters room” says our monster’s attorney (who, I shit you not, looks exactly like Mr Burns from the Simpsons).
“Yes” I answer.
“And this is?” he asks pointing.
“Um, her door?” I answer.
“And this thing stuck to her door?” he asks.
“A poster.” I say, firmly.
“And this writing — what does it say?” he asked with a grin.
“It’s a TARDIS. My daughter is a Doctor Who fan. She also has Tardis sox and a Tardis dress. It’s a time machine disguised as a police call box from the 1960s.” I answered. I’m thinking where the heck is he going with this.
The jury giggles — there’s some laughter in the courtroom.
“And who gave this to her?” he asked with a stern tone.
“Um. Santa”. I said maybe a bit too softly
“What was that?” asked the Simpson Burns clone.
“Santa Claus. It was a Christmas present from Santa” I said loudly.
Both the jury and the court ‘audience’ erupted in laughter, even the judge did a face-palm, I’m told.
That ended the “police” fan boy line of questioning.
Note: Our monster was found guilty, received LWOP (life without the possibility of parole) and 14 life sentences totaling up to 200+ years to life (that’ll give you an idea of the horrors our daughter endured. When our daughter (now 13) found out about my testimony, she gave me a big hug and told me: “OMG! I can’t believe you got Doctor Who and Santa Claus in the court record!”
x
Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan
What’s something your cat has done that you’re going to talk about forever?
This is Stella who’s just turned 17. Back in early 2010 I’d had ivf and was waiting the 12 days until I could test to see if I was pregnant. A few days before I was due to take the test, Stella started climbing onto my stomach and curling up and would fall asleep. Now Stella loves her strokes and cuddles, but isn’t a lap cat at all so when she did that I thought ‘she knows something I don’t!’ Sure enough, 3 days later I was looking at 2 lines on that pregnancy test and my son is 12 next week. And she’s very protective of him too.
x
How are they going to prevent global nuclear war?: Will Cain
The Expected Financial Crash Is Finally Here
When two experienced economy and finance analysts, who both correctly predicted the derivative crisis of 2008, again warn of an imminent crash one better listens up.
For months, I have been confident that Europe would suffer a financial crisis and a depression, as in a real economy catastrophe accompanied by a market crash. It might not be that severe and lasting as 1929, but the breadth would mean there would not be 1987 quick bounceback nor a 2008 derivatives crisis concentrated at the heart of the banking system. Even though that looked like financial near-death experience, the same factors that made it more acute in many respects also made it easier for the officialdom to identify and shore up the key institutions that took hits below the water line.The short version of what follows is things are looking even worse now, and on multiple fronts.
…
Below we’ll discuss the rapidly accelerating real economy crisis, which is exacerbated by central bank tightening as pretty much the only line of defense against inflation that is almost entirely the result of a multi-fronted supply shock.1 Needless to say, the Fed raising interest rates (which Bernanke recognized as necessary in 2014 to tame bubbly asset prices but then lost his nerve) does nothing to get more chips from China or magically cure Covid-afflicted staffers so they can show up at work. But it will whack all sorts of speculators and financial firms who have wrong-footed their interest rate positions.
And it also seemed apparent that the US would be pulled into the maelstrom, perhaps not as far, but contagion, supply chain dependencies, and the importance of Europe as a customer would assure the US would suffer too.
The second warning comes from ‘Dr. Doom’ Nouriel Roubini:
There are signs a debt crisis is forming and the economy is headed for a hard landing, Nouriel Roubini says.
Roubini predicted a deep recession and a 40% fall in the stock market by the end of the year.
He has warned that a wide range of shocks will have dire effects on global economies.
There are signs that a debt crisis has already started taking shape, and a hard landing of the economy before the end of the year is now the baseline scenario, according to top economist Nouriel Roubini.
Roubini, who has earned the nickname “Dr. Doom” for his pessimistic views on markets and the economy, has warned of a looming debt and inflationary crisis for about a year. Previously, he predicted it would lead to a Frankenstein-style recession by the end of 2022, mixing the worst aspects of 1970s stagflation and the 2008 financial crisis.
And the signs of that financial meltdown are finally emerging, Roubini said, who referred to a hard landing as the baseline scenario in an op-ed for Project Syndicate on Monday.
“Signs of strain in debt markets are mounting … the crisis is here,” Roubini said, referring to recent moves by central bankers to stem market volatility.
His argument which I highlighted is nearly similar to the one Yves makes:
NEW YORK – For a year now, I have argued that the increase in inflation would be persistent, that its causes include not only bad policies but also negative supply shocks, and that central banks’ attempt to fight it would cause a hard economic landing. When the recession comes, I warned, it will be severe and protracted, with widespread financial distress and debt crises. Notwithstanding their hawkish talk, central bankers, caught in a debt trap, may still wimp out and settle for above-target inflation. Any portfolio of risky equities and less risky fixed-income bonds will lose money on the bonds, owing to higher inflation and inflation expectations.
…
Everyone now recognizes that these persistent negative supply shocks have contributed to inflation, and the European Central Bank, the Bank of England, and the US Federal Reserve have begun to acknowledge that a soft landing will be exceedingly difficult to pull off. Fed Chair Jerome Powell now speaks of a “softish landing” with at least “some pain.” Meanwhile, a hard-landing scenario is becoming the consensus among market analysts, economists, and investors.
It is much harder to achieve a soft landing under conditions of stagflationary negative supply shocks than it is when the economy is overheating because of excessive demand.
The central banks have misdiagnosed the reason for the currently high inflation rates. They were caused not only by too much stimulus provided by governments and the central banks but to a large part by the lack of supplies which is to the consequence of the pandemic and the ‘western’ sanctions following the war in Ukraine. By increasing interest rates the central banks fought against the wrong enemy. They made things worse:
Are we already in a recession? Not yet, but the US did report negative growth in the first half of the year, and most forward-looking indicators of economic activity in advanced economies point to a sharp slowdown that will grow even worse with monetary-policy tightening. A hard landing by year’s end should be regarded as the baseline scenario.
While many other analysts now agree, they seem to think that the coming recession will be short and shallow, whereas I have cautioned against such relative optimism, stressing the risk of a severe and protracted stagflationary debt crisis. And now, the latest distress in financial markets – including bond and credit markets – has reinforced my view that central banks’ efforts to bring inflation back down to target will cause both an economic and a financial crash.
…
Moreover, there are early signs that the Great Moderation has given way to the Great Stagflation, which will be characterized by instability and a confluence of slow-motion negative supply shocks. In addition to the disruptions mentioned above, these shocks could include societal aging in many key economies (a problem made worse by immigration restrictions); Sino-American decoupling; a “geopolitical depression” and breakdown of multilateralism; new variants of COVID-19 and new outbreaks, such as monkeypox; the increasingly damaging consequences of climate change; cyberwarfare; and fiscal policies to boost wages and workers’ power.
…
US and global equities have not yet fully priced in even a mild and short hard landing. Equities will fall by about 30% in a mild recession, and by 40% or more in the severe stagflationary debt crisis that I have predicted for the global economy. Signs of strain in debt markets are mounting: sovereign spreads and long-term bond rates are rising, and high-yield spreads are increasing sharply; leveraged-loan and collateralized-loan-obligation markets are shutting down; highly indebted firms, shadow banks, households, governments, and countries are entering debt distress. The crisis is here.
There is little one can do to protect oneself from the consequences of this crisis. Try to stay on the safe side. Have as little debt as possible. If you have debt it will likely be much better to have it at a fixed interest rate. Don’t bet on the value of any assets you might have.
This storm will be rough and the consequences will be severe.
Posted by b on October 3, 2022 at 18:01 UTC | Permalink
The Band – The Last Waltz – The Weight feat. the staples singers
I just got a notice of eviction, and I’m due to be out by Christmas. How do I fortify my house so I can’t be removed?
Imagine this if you will. I was a landlord for a few years and would’ve hated a tenant like you.
I am not a rich man by any means of the term. I worked for years in 100+ Louisiana heat to afford my house, then when things were finally looking up I moved to a nicer one for my family.
My friends talked me into renting not selling by saying I could make extra money, and that people depend on rentable properties when they can’t afford to buy. The numbers worked out so that’s what I did.
I got a renter who met the criteria and was nice. Paid rent on time, never broke anything or was loud.
One day rent was late, I waited. 3 days late, I sent a letter. 7 days late, I deliver a letter. 12 days late, I knock on the door, I am met with the same nice renter that explains they were out of town and they just walked in as I knocked and that they’ll write it immediately.
3 weeks late, I knock and was told they lost their job and can’t pay. I tell them how sorry I am for their situation, but maybe they can take a loan, borrow from family, or something alike.
I made them aware that regardless of either of our situations, the bank wants their mortgage payments. Their response was, no matter what, they would not be paying rent anymore. In return I told them they would need to be out as soon as possible. They reacted as if I asked for their first born,“I just told you I can’t afford rent, where am I supposed to go?”. I told them that I am so so sorry about their job, but if they aren’t paying then I have to, and how are they comfortable enjoying the fruits of my labor which they are now refusing to pay back.
They asked me to leave! That’s right, my house! The mortgage was $1200 a month. I understood that they would no longer pay, so I called every lawyer friend that I had until one sent me the forms I needed. It took 6 months to get them out. Over $7000 that I had to pay for another person/persons to live in my house.
I am not vengeful or spiteful, but I smiled when Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Deputies dragged him out.
They left a small collection of firearms which they never returned for our contracted me about. I was allowed to keep and sell anything left after a certain date, which I did. Luckily he didn’t try to barricade himself, but he did trip himself(on camera) coming down the 3ft steps, then try to sue me and my insurance. Which he then said he would settle for 25k. I sold the firearms for about $5600 individually! Why didn’t he just do that and pay the rent?!?!?!
I’m sorry you are in this position, but keep in mind that you are putting someone else in the same position by not leaving, on top of being an asshole.
Thin Lizzy – Cowboy Song
Something is Happening in Belgorod Russia . . . Strange Glow from sky
Something very peculiar is taking place in the sky above Belgorod, Russia: First there was a single beam of golden light, shining down from the sky, then there were TWO!
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“This is the letter my neighbor sent me after I let him babysit my pets while I was on vacation”
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Peter Frampton – Do You Feel Like We Do
Ah. 1977.
I notice that an international student living next door often goes tutoring for extra cash. How can I collect evidence and report him to USCIS for deportation?
Ok, so you’re an awful person.
Also wrong.
You’re allowed to work up to 20 hours/week during term, and 40 hours/week during breaks.
Unlike you, the US government understands that international students have bills to pay, and might need to eat occasionally. What your neighbor is doing is both legal and praiseworthy, precisely the sort of person we should be welcoming with open arms.
Mr.Inbetween 3×09 – Farmhouse Shootout Scene
What’s China planning for the long run?
Several general goals:
Complete her economic development. Become one of the so-called “advanced” economies.
Complete her military build-up. Become safe from US and NATO aggression.
Complete her technological development. China still lags behind USA in several technological areas.
Build a more unified and multipolar world order. The process has begun with alliances such as BRICS, RCEP, and SCO.
Reunify with Taiwan, peacefully if possible.
Cool Change – Little River Band
Sad Kitty
My adopted sad kitty( had to get him, heart was breaking)hid in the basement for 8 months. My husband and I tried everything to make him comfortable, then one day recently he came up and is loving and accepting. He has nice fur now and is much bigger. At the shelter his name was jinx, changed to binx. Looks like he has a will to live and be loved now. So happy had to share!
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Did China keep Snowden in Hong Kong?
Absolutely
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On May 7th he requested for a 21 day Holiday to go to Hong Kong for Traditional Medicine Treatment for Epilepsy.
On May 13th 2014, Snowden wrote to the Ministry of State Security in China and the FSB in Russia requesting for Asylum.
He gave 10 IP addresses to each Country monitored by the NSA as an initial offer of Asylum…
The US promptly decided to extradite him from Hong Kong
Enter Robert Libbo & Ong Boon Keong
US filed three immediate requests :-
Provisional Arrest Immediately
If not Provisional arrest, at least Confinement in his Hotel Room
Monitoring all his activities
Sadly for US, China had got the IP Addresses and were Furious!!!!
Two Chinese Big Shots from the CPC visited HK and left a day later.
HK said – Sorry!!!! We cannot arrest him or monitor his activities!!! Send your Extradition request within 30 days
Chinese Officials from the Singapore Consulate met Snowden and Snowden gave them over 278 GB of Data across qty=4 80 GB Support Disks. It contained many, many; many monitored IP addresses and protocol routes.
A Pro West Judge (in HK) was slated to hear the case…
…but 1 hour before the first hearing…
… He was so terrified by someone who called him that he mysteriously took a 14 day recuperation and the case moved to a devout pro chinese Judge.
This judge was a Lady who refused everything to the US and openly told HK authorities to arrest anyone who entered the Mira Hotel without permission- diplomacy be damned!
Arrest them immediately! No exceptions!
By the time US used its Political clout – Snowden vanished.
He moved to Kowloon to some Refugee apartment and the Pro Chinese Judge exempted him from any appearance in court.
The Technicalities
The US sent a formal extradition request and Lackey HK politicians dutifully endorsed it to the court. (Known as “rubber stamping”.)
Our Pro Chinese Judge promptly rejected it on grounds of:-
[1] Error in listen name
[2] Social Security Document not a valid proof of ID in HK.
[3] The Passport details are mismatched.
This was true. The Request was so hurried that the Name and Passport were botched up.
However China of 2013 wasn’t the China of 2022. It was much weaker.
The Mainland Authorities knew eventually they would have to kowtow to US and send Snowden to US unless they invaded HK. (There were too many American assets, operatives and CIA operators inside of HK).
So they tipped off Snowden who immediately moved to the Russian Consulate in HK
Snowden throws a Brilliant Curveball
Snowden applied to 21 Nations for Asylum knowing fully well he would go only to China.
Later he changed to Russia after advise from the Chinese.
Snowden used the NSA tracking against them by making 20 calls to the Bolivian consulate in HK and talking to the Bolivian Ministry. All in an elaborate ruse.
Everyone believed he would make for the Bolivian consulate.
Unlike Assange, Snowden wasn’t an Idiot who trusted the Western System. He knew that they were all prostitutes of the USA for a long, long time.
But, you know…
Nobody looked at Russia
Everyone thought that it was either China or Bolivia.
Meanwhile HK authorities passed an order forbidding Snowden to leave by Air if he presented his passport.
China makes the last call
Again China made a call.
And just like that, the order forbidding movement by air was revoked on Human Rights grounds and was called for somewhere in Mid June 2014.
Snowden left 2 hours after it was revoked and well before US State Department could respond.
By the time the US State Department responded, Snowden was Long Gone and was in Moscow where Asylum was granted in a record 40 minutes pending a hearing scheduled 11 months later.
So it was China who ensured that Snowden never got caught or extradited
They however knew that they could not bring Snowden to Beijing and risk so much Political Pressure, so they orchestrated his movement to Russia and subsequently demanded details from the US on their spying that US simply could not give.
CHECKMATE
Today Snowden is a Russian Citizen
What happened in China next
The Great Firewall was enhanced and every single American spy Protocol was destroyed.
China amended the law to exempt Personal Security to US Equipment Server Engineers .
Two Engineers who were arrested on grounds of spying were beaten so badly in custody that the rest fled China in sheer terror.
Over 500 Equipment Contracts with US were decimated
China demanded newer Security Agreements and told a Facebook Engineer who was arrested how they would target their families in very, mean, cruel and nasty ways.
It was literally a Mafia Moment in China
US Security Experts in China were so frightened that they all fled China and their equipment was seized and destroyed. They dropped what they were doing and left within hours. Some didn’t even pack.
US didn’t protest because they were caught “red handed” and with their pants down.
The Israels entire Surveillance system was compromised within Iran. Aside from the many captures and long imprisonments, Five Iranians were executed and their families completely disappeared.
Israel and US lost a Massive Surveillance Behemoth in the Region.
Snowden was easily Chinas Greatest Patriot
Without him imagine?
China would never have [1] set up counter surveillance on US, [2] created their Great Firewall and [3] protected itself from Malicious Western Impacts.
The land area of China is around 3.7million square miles, while the land area of the U.S. (minus Alaska, Hawaii, and U.S. Territories), is 2.9million square miles.
Do cats become more attached to their owners as they age?
I believe they do.
When Mikey was a kitten he was pretty attached to me but then after 6 months old he became more independent.
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He was so funny and so full of life and he was such a busy guy. Though, he was always ready for cuddle time at bedtime.
I noticed a shift in Mikey’s behavior towards me when he was around 8 years old.
He started following me around again like he did when he was a kitten.
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He started keeping tabs on me.
Mikey was born deaf so he always had his own way of communicating and his meow was super loud.
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When I would return from the store or wherever I had been he would protest loudly to let me know he was not happy about me leaving him.
By the time Mikey was 12 years old we were joined at the hip. Where mommy went, Mikey went too.
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I even took him with us on our vacation to California from Oregon. 12 hours in the car and he did so well, he was so happy he got to go.
x
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Mikey died at 18 years old and we were closer than we had ever been before.
We spent quality time together especially between the ages of 12 and 18 years old.
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Honestly, his senior years were my favorite years, I loved how he depended on me because for all the years prior it was me depending on him.
He never let me down.
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So I couldnt let him down.
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We had a wonderful life together with every moment filled with love.
We were best friends.
Truth be told, I was always the one with the attachment issues.
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Divinyls – Boys In Town [HQ]
Oh SHIT they think Putin is bluffing and they’re pushing nuclear war.
Well worth the two hours. At least check out the first segment (after the 30 minutes or so lead in)…
Yes. It is positive that the United States Navy blew up the Nord stream 1 and 2 pipelines.
Here’s just what some people are saying…
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Yeah…
We are all trapped inside a car with a mad, drunk driver in a rage speeding down the highway…
And Putin lays it all out.
A comment on his speech…
'Historic' is quite probably if not the most abused, misused and overused epithet, at least one of the most abused, misused and overused adjective.
Not this time.
Putin's speech at the occasion of the inclusion into the Russian Federation of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporyzhye and Kherson is MEGA-HISTORIC.
Many tabooed truths and ugly realities, coming from the domination era of the US/UK/KFC-AZAEL (Kakistocratic Feudal Conglomerate of the Anglo-Zio-American EstabLishment) have been stated with clarity and confidence but also a direction has been given for the future. Herculean tasks and abysmal dangers are ahead but also dazzling rewards for those who will not only be daring enough but also truly prepared, well organised collectively and with a sense of noble purpose firmly oriented to the right direction of Universal History.
His promethean & glorious words will reverberate for generations, galvanise and inspire countless people across the world.
A clear vision : after Russia, the US/UK/KFC-AZAEL will come for China, Iran and all the other Eurasian partners. Difficult to be more crystal clear.
I'm sure the 3 natural leaders (China, Russia, Iran) of the Sovereigns are unwaveringly on the same wavelength concerning this unescapable truth.
'Kairos' is a Greek word denoting the irruption of timelessness into time.
The manifestation of Truth, Goodness, Beauty and their active mode as Justice, Humanity, Wisdom, Courage into the S.T.E.M. (Space-Time Energy-Matter) phenomenal reality.
Do Svidaniya ! Quan
Below is the full text of Vladimir Putin’s speech, published by the Kremlin’s official website:
Citizens of Russia, citizens of the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics, residents of the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, deputies of the State Duma, senators of the Russian Federation,
As you know, referendums have been held in the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics and the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions. The ballots have been counted and the results have been announced. The people have made their unequivocal choice.
Today we will sign treaties on the accession of the Donetsk People’s Republic, Lugansk People’s Republic, Zaporozhye Region and Kherson Region to the Russian Federation. I have no doubt that the Federal Assembly will support the constitutional laws on the accession to Russia and the establishment of four new regions, our new constituent entities of the Russian Federation, because this is the will of millions of people.
It is undoubtedly their right, an inherent right sealed in Article 1 of the UN Charter, which directly states the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples.
I repeat, it is an inherent right of the people. It is based on our historical affinity, and it is that right that led generations of our predecessors, those who built and defended Russia for centuries since the period of Ancient Rus, to victory.
Here in Novorossiya, [Pyotr] Rumyantsev, [Alexander] Suvorov and [Fyodor] Ushakov fought their battles, and Catherine the Great and [Grigory] Potemkin founded new cities. Our grandfathers and great-grandfathers fought here to the bitter end during the Great Patriotic War.
We will always remember the heroes of the Russian Spring, those who refused to accept the neo-Nazi coup d’état in Ukraine in 2014, all those who died for the right to speak their native language, to preserve their culture, traditions and religion, and for the very right to live. We remember the soldiers of Donbass, the martyrs of the “Odessa Khatyn,” the victims of inhuman terrorist attacks carried out by the Kiev regime. We commemorate volunteers and militiamen, civilians, children, women, senior citizens, Russians, Ukrainians, people of various nationalities; popular leader of Donetsk Alexander Zakharchenko; military commanders Arsen Pavlov and Vladimir Zhoga, Olga Kochura and Alexei Mozgovoy; prosecutor of the Lugansk Republic Sergei Gorenko; paratrooper Nurmagomed Gadzhimagomedov and all our soldiers and officers who died a hero’s death during the special military operation. They are heroes. Heroes of great Russia. Please join me in a minute of silence to honour their memory.
Behind the choice of millions of residents in the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics, in the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, is our common destiny and thousand-year history. People have passed this spiritual connection on to their children and grandchildren. Despite all the trials they endured, they carried the love for Russia through the years. This is something no one can destroy. That is why both older generations and young people – those who were born after the tragic collapse of the Soviet Union – have voted for our unity, for our common future.
In 1991 in Belovezhskaya Pushcha, representatives of the party elite of that time made a decision to terminate the Soviet Union, without asking ordinary citizens what they wanted, and people suddenly found themselves cut off from their homeland. This tore apart and dismembered our national community and triggered a national catastrophe. Just like the government quietly demarcated the borders of Soviet republics, acting behind the scenes after the 1917 revolution, the last leaders of the Soviet Union, contrary to the direct expression of the will of the majority of people in the referendum of 1991, destroyed our great country, and simply made the people in the former republics face this as an accomplished fact.
I can admit that they didn’t even know what they were doing and what consequences their actions would have in the end. But it doesn’t matter now. There is no Soviet Union anymore; we cannot return to the past. Actually, Russia no longer needs it today; this isn’t our ambition. But there is nothing stronger than the determination of millions of people who, by their culture, religion, traditions, and language, consider themselves part of Russia, whose ancestors lived in a single country for centuries. There is nothing stronger than their determination to return to their true historical homeland.
For eight long years, people in Donbass were subjected to genocide, shelling and blockades; in Kherson and Zaporozhye, a criminal policy was pursued to cultivate hatred for Russia, for everything Russian. Now too, during the referendums, the Kiev regime threatened schoolteachers, women who worked in election commissions with reprisals and death. Kiev threatened millions of people who came to express their will with repression. But the people of Donbass, Zaporozhye and Kherson weren’t broken, and they had their say.
I want the Kiev authorities and their true handlers in the West to hear me now, and I want everyone to remember this: the people living in Lugansk and Donetsk, in Kherson and Zaporozhye have become our citizens, forever.
We call on the Kiev regime to immediately cease fire and all hostilities; to end the war it unleashed back in 2014 and return to the negotiating table. We are ready for this, as we have said more than once. But the choice of the people in Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporozhye and Kherson will not be discussed. The decision has been made, and Russia will not betray it. Kiev’s current authorities should respect this free expression of the people’s will; there is no other way. This is the only way to peace.
We will defend our land with all the forces and resources we have, and we will do everything we can to ensure the safety of our people. This is the great liberating mission of our nation.
We will definitely rebuild the destroyed cities and towns, the residential buildings, schools, hospitals, theatres and museums. We will restore and develop industrial enterprises, factories, infrastructure, as well as the social security, pension, healthcare and education systems.
We will certainly work to improve the level of security. Together we will make sure that citizens in the new regions can feel the support of all the people of Russia, of the entire nation, all the republics, territories and regions of our vast Motherland.
Friends, colleagues.
Today I would like to address our soldiers and officers who are taking part in the special military operation, the fighters of Donbass and Novorossiya, those who went to military recruitment offices after receiving a call-up paper under the executive order on partial mobilisation, and those who did this voluntarily, answering the call of their hearts. I would like to address their parents, wives and children, to tell them what our people are fighting for, what kind of enemy we are up against, and who is pushing the world into new wars and crises and deriving blood-stained benefits from this tragedy.
Our compatriots, our brothers and sisters in Ukraine who are part of our united people have seen with their own eyes what the ruling class of the so-called West have prepared for humanity as a whole. They have dropped their masks and shown what they are really made of.
When the Soviet Union collapsed, the West decided that the world and all of us would permanently accede to its dictates. In 1991, the West thought that Russia would never rise after such shocks and would fall to pieces on its own. This almost happened. We remember the horrible 1990s, hungry, cold and hopeless. But Russia remained standing, came alive, grew stronger and occupied its rightful place in the world.
Meanwhile, the West continued and continues looking for another chance to strike a blow at us, to weaken and break up Russia, which they have always dreamed about, to divide our state and set our peoples against each other, and to condemn them to poverty and extinction. They cannot rest easy knowing that there is such a great country with this huge territory in the world, with its natural wealth, resources and people who cannot and will not do someone else’s bidding.
The West is ready to cross every line to preserve the neo-colonial system which allows it to live off the world, to plunder it thanks to the domination of the dollar and technology, to collect an actual tribute from humanity, to extract its primary source of unearned prosperity, the rent paid to the hegemon. The preservation of this annuity is their main, real and absolutely self-serving motivation. This is why total de-sovereignisation is in their interest. This explains their aggression towards independent states, traditional values and authentic cultures, their attempts to undermine international and integration processes, new global currencies and technological development centres they cannot control. It is critically important for them to force all countries to surrender their sovereignty to the United States.
In certain countries, the ruling elites voluntarily agree to do this, voluntarily agree to become vassals; others are bribed or intimidated. And if this does not work, they destroy entire states, leaving behind humanitarian disasters, devastation, ruins, millions of wrecked and mangled human lives, terrorist enclaves, social disaster zones, protectorates, colonies and semi-colonies. They don’t care. All they care about is their own benefit.
I want to underscore again that their insatiability and determination to preserve their unfettered dominance are the real causes of the hybrid war that the collective West is waging against Russia. They do not want us to be free; they want us to be a colony. They do not want equal cooperation; they want to loot. They do not want to see us a free society, but a mass of soulless slaves.
They see our thought and our philosophy as a direct threat. That is why they target our philosophers for assassination. Our culture and art present a danger to them, so they are trying to ban them. Our development and prosperity are also a threat to them because competition is growing. They do not want or need Russia, but we do.
I would like to remind you that in the past, ambitions of world domination have repeatedly shattered against the courage and resilience of our people. Russia will always be Russia. We will continue to defend our values and our Motherland.
The West is counting on impunity, on being able to get away with anything. As a matter of fact, this was actually the case until recently. Strategic security agreements have been trashed; agreements reached at the highest political level have been declared tall tales; firm promises not to expand NATO to the east gave way to dirty deception as soon as our former leaders bought into them; missile defence, intermediate-range and shorter-range missile treaties have been unilaterally dismantled under far-fetched pretexts.
And all we hear is, the West is insisting on a rules-based order. Where did that come from anyway? Who has ever seen these rules? Who agreed or approved them? Listen, this is just a lot of nonsense, utter deceit, double standards, or even triple standards! They must think we’re stupid.
Russia is a great thousand-year-old power, a whole civilisation, and it is not going to live by such makeshift, false rules.
It was the so-called West that trampled on the principle of the inviolability of borders, and now it is deciding, at its own discretion, who has the right to self-determination and who does not, who is unworthy of it. It is unclear what their decisions are based on or who gave them the right to decide in the first place. They just assumed it.
That is why the choice of the people in Crimea, Sevastopol, Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporozhye and Kherson makes them so furiously angry. The West does not have any moral right to weigh in, or even utter a word about freedom of democracy. It does not and it never did.
Western elites not only deny national sovereignty and international law. Their hegemony has pronounced features of totalitarianism, despotism and apartheid. They brazenly divide the world into their vassals – the so-called civilised countries – and all the rest, who, according to the designs of today’s Western racists, should be added to the list of barbarians and savages. False labels like “rogue country” or “authoritarian regime” are already available, and are used to stigmatise entire nations and states, which is nothing new. There is nothing new in this: deep down, the Western elites have remained the same colonisers. They discriminate and divide peoples into the top tier and the rest.
We have never agreed to and will never agree to such political nationalism and racism. What else, if not racism, is the Russophobia being spread around the world? What, if not racism, is the West’s dogmatic conviction that its civilisation and neoliberal culture is an indisputable model for the entire world to follow? “You’re either with us or against us.” It even sounds strange.
Western elites are even shifting repentance for their own historical crimes on everyone else, demanding that the citizens of their countries and other peoples confess to things they have nothing to do with at all, for example, the period of colonial conquests.
It is worth reminding the West that it began its colonial policy back in the Middle Ages, followed by the worldwide slave trade, the genocide of Indian tribes in America, the plunder of India and Africa, the wars of England and France against China, as a result of which it was forced to open its ports to the opium trade. What they did was get entire nations hooked on drugs and purposefully exterminated entire ethnic groups for the sake of grabbing land and resources, hunting people like animals. This is contrary to human nature, truth, freedom and justice.
While we – we are proud that in the 20th century our country led the anti-colonial movement, which opened up opportunities for many peoples around the world to make progress, reduce poverty and inequality, and defeat hunger and disease.
To emphasise, one of the reasons for the centuries-old Russophobia, the Western elites’ unconcealed animosity toward Russia is precisely the fact that we did not allow them to rob us during the period of colonial conquests and forced the Europeans to trade with us on mutually beneficial terms. This was achieved by creating a strong centralised state in Russia, which grew and got stronger based on the great moral valuesof Orthodox Christianity, Islam, Judaism and Buddhism, as well as Russian culture and the Russian word that were open to all.
There were numerous plans to invade Russia. Such attempts were made during the Time of Troubles in the 17th century and in the period of ordeals after the 1917 revolution. All of them failed. The West managed to grab hold of Russia’s wealth only in the late 20th century, when the state had been destroyed. They called us friends and partners, but they treated us like a colony, using various schemes to pump trillions of dollars out of the country. We remember. We have not forgotten anything.
A few days ago, people in Donetsk and Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporozhye declared their support for restoring our historical unity. Thank you!
Western countries have been saying for centuries that they bring freedom and democracy to other nations. Nothing could be further from the truth. Instead of bringing democracy they suppressed and exploited, and instead of giving freedom they enslaved and oppressed. The unipolar world is inherently anti-democratic and unfree; it is false and hypocritical through and through.
The United States is the only country in the world that has used nuclear weapons twice, destroying the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. And they created a precedent.
Recall that during WWII the United States and Britain reduced Dresden, Hamburg, Cologne and many other German cities to rubble, without the least military necessity. It was done ostentatiously and, to repeat, without any military necessity. They had only one goal, as with the nuclear bombing of Japanese cities: to intimidate our country and the rest of the world.
The United States left a deep scar in the memory of the people of Korea and Vietnam with their carpet bombings and use of napalm and chemical weapons.
It actually continues to occupy Germany, Japan, the Republic of Korea and other countries, which they cynically refer to as equals and allies. Look now, what kind of alliance is that? The whole world knows that the top officials in these countries are being spied on and that their offices and homes are bugged. It is a disgrace, a disgrace for those who do this and for those who, like slaves, silently and meekly swallow this arrogant behaviour.
They call the orders and threats they make to their vassals Euro-Atlantic solidarity, and the creation of biological weapons and the use of human test subjects, including in Ukraine, noble medical research.
It is their destructive policies, wars and plunder that have unleashed today’s massive wave of migrants. Millions of people endure hardships and humiliation or die by the thousands trying to reach Europe.
They are exporting grain from Ukraine now. Where are they taking it under the guise of ensuring the food security of the poorest countries? Where is it going? They are taking it to the self-same European countries. Only five percent has been delivered to the poorest countries. More cheating and naked deception again.
In effect, the American elite is using the tragedy of these people to weaken its rivals, to destroy nation states. This goes for Europe and for the identities of France, Italy, Spain and other countries with centuries-long histories.
Washington demands more and more sanctions against Russia and the majority of European politicians obediently go along with it. They clearly understand that by pressuring the EU to completely give up Russian energy and other resources, the United States is practically pushing Europe toward deindustrialisation in a bid to get its hands on the entire European market. These European elites understand everything – they do, but they prefer to serve the interests of others. This is no longer servility but direct betrayal of their own peoples. God bless, it is up to them.
But the Anglo-Saxons believe sanctions are no longer enough and now they have turned to subversion. It seems incredible but it is a fact – by causing explosions on Nord Stream’s international gas pipelines passing along the bottom of the Baltic Sea, they have actually embarked on the destruction of Europe’s entire energy infrastructure. It is clear to everyone who stands to gain. Those who benefit are responsible, of course.
The dictates of the US are backed up by crude force, on the law of the fist. Sometimes it is beautifully wrapped sometimes there is no wrapping at all but the gist is the same – the law of the fist. Hence, the deployment and maintenance of hundreds of military bases in all corners of the world, NATO expansion, and attempts to cobble together new military alliances, such as AUKUS and the like. Much is being done to create a Washington-Seoul-Tokyo military-political chain. All states that possess or aspire to genuine strategic sovereignty and are capable of challenging Western hegemony, are automatically declared enemies.
These are the principles that underlie US and NATO military doctrines that require total domination. Western elites are presenting their neocolonialist plans with the same hypocrisy, claiming peaceful intentions, talking about some kind of deterrence. This evasive word migrates from one strategy to another but really only means one thing – undermining any and all sovereign centres of power.
We have already heard about the deterrence of Russia, China and Iran. I believe next in line are other countries of Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East, as well as current US partners and allies. After all, we know that when they are displeased, they introduce sanctions against their allies as well – against this or that bank or company. This is their practice and they will expand it. They have everything in their sights, including our next-door neighbours – the CIS countries.
At the same time, the West has clearly been engaged in wishful thinking for a long time. In launching the sanctions blitzkrieg against Russia, for example, they thought that they could once again line up the whole world at their command. As it turns out, however, such a bright prospect does not excite everyone – other than complete political masochists and admirers of other unconventional forms of international relations. Most states refuse to ”snap a salute“ and instead choose the sensible path of cooperation with Russia.
The West clearly did not expect such insubordination. They simply got used to acting according to a template, to grab whatever they please, by blackmail, bribery, intimidation, and convinced themselves that these methods would work forever, as if they had fossilised in the past.
Such self-confidence is a direct product not only of the notorious concept of exceptionalism – although it never ceases to amaze – but also of the real ”information hunger“ in the West. The truth has been drowned in an ocean of myths, illusions and fakes, using extremely aggressive propaganda, lying like Goebbels. The more unbelievable the lie, the quicker people will believe it – that is how they operate, according to this principle.
But people cannot be fed with printed dollars and euros. You can’t feed them with those pieces of paper, and the virtual, inflated capitalisation of western social media companies can’t heat their homes. Everything I am saying is important. And what I just said is no less so: you can’t feed anyone with paper – you need food; and you can’t heat anyone’s home with these inflated capitalisations – you need energy.
That is why politicians in Europe have to convince their fellow citizens to eat less, take a shower less often and dress warmer at home. And those who start asking fair questions like “Why is that, in fact?” are immediately declared enemies, extremists and radicals. They point back at Russia and say: that is the source of all your troubles. More lies.
I want to make special note of the fact that there is every reason to believe that the Western elites are not going to look for constructive ways out of the global food and energy crisis that they and they alone are to blame for, as a result of their long-term policy, dating back long before our special military operation in Ukraine, in Donbass. They have no intention of solving the problems of injustice and inequality. I am afraid they would rather use other formulas they are more comfortable with.
And here it is important to recall that the West bailed itself out of its early 20th century challenges with World War I. Profits from World War II helped the United States finally overcome the Great Depression and become the largest economy in the world, and to impose on the planet the power of the dollar as a global reserve currency. And the 1980s crisis – things came to a head in the 1980s again – the West emerged from it unscathed largely by appropriating the inheritance and resources of the collapsed and defunct Soviet Union. That’s a fact.
Now, in order to free itself from the latest web of challenges, they need to dismantle Russia as well as other states that choose a sovereign path of development, at all costs, to be able to further plunder other nations’ wealth and use it to patch their own holes. If this does not happen, I cannot rule out that they will try to trigger a collapse of the entire system, and blame everything on that, or, God forbid, decide to use the old formula of economic growth through war.
Russia is aware of its responsibility to the international community and will make every effort to ensure that cooler heads prevail.
The current neocolonial model is ultimately doomed; this much is obvious. But I repeat that its real masters will cling to it to the end. They simply have nothing to offer the world except to maintain the same system of plundering and racketeering.
They do not give a damn about the natural right of billions of people, the majority of humanity, to freedom and justice, the right to determine their own future. They have already moved on to the radical denial of moral, religious, and family values.
Let’s answer some very simple questions for ourselves. Now I would like to return to what I said and want to address also all citizens of the country – not just the colleagues that are in the hall – but all citizens of Russia: do we want to have here, in our country, in Russia, “parent number one, parent number two and parent number three” (they have completely lost it!) instead of mother and father? Do we want our schools to impose on our children, from their earliest days in school, perversions that lead to degradation and extinction? Do we want to drum into their heads the ideas that certain other genders exist along with women and men and to offer them gender reassignment surgery? Is that what we want for our country and our children? This is all unacceptable to us. We have a different future of our own.
Let me repeat that the dictatorship of the Western elites targets all societies, including the citizens of Western countries themselves. This is a challenge to all. This complete renunciation of what it means to be human, the overthrow of faith and traditional values, and the suppression of freedom are coming to resemble a “religion in reverse” – pure Satanism. Exposing false messiahs, Jesus Christ said in the Sermon on the Mount: “By their fruits ye shall know them.” These poisonous fruits are already obvious to people, and not only in our country but also in all countries, including many people in the West itself.
The world has entered a period of a fundamental, revolutionary transformation. New centres of power are emerging. They represent the majority – the majority! – of the international community. They are ready not only to declare their interests but also to protect them. They see in multipolarity an opportunity to strengthen their sovereignty, which means gaining genuine freedom, historical prospects, and the right to their own independent, creative and distinctive forms of development, to a harmonious process.
As I have already said, we have many like-minded people in Europe and the United States, and we feel and see their support. An essentially emancipatory, anti-colonial movement against unipolar hegemony is taking shape in the most diverse countries and societies. Its power will only grow with time. It is this force that will determine our future geopolitical reality.
Friends,
Today, we are fighting for a just and free path, first of all for ourselves, for Russia, in order to leave dictate and despotism in the past. I am convinced that countries and peoples understand that a policy based on the exceptionalism of whoever it may be and the suppression of other cultures and peoples is inherently criminal, and that we must close this shameful chapter. The ongoing collapse of Western hegemony is irreversible. And I repeat: things will never be the same.
The battlefield to which destiny and history have called us is a battlefield for our people, for the great historical Russia. For the great historical Russia, for future generations, our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. We must protect them against enslavement and monstrous experiments that are designed to cripple their minds and souls.
Today, we are fighting so that it would never occur to anyone that Russia, our people, our language, or our culture can be erased from history. Today, we need a consolidated society, and this consolidation can only be based on sovereignty, freedom, creation, and justice. Our values are humanity, mercy and compassion.
And I want to close with the words of a true patriot Ivan Ilyin: “If I consider Russia my Motherland, that means that I love as a Russian, contemplate and think, sing and speak as a Russian; that I believe in the spiritual strength of the Russian people. Its spirit is my spirit; its destiny is my destiny; its suffering is my grief; and its prosperity is my joy.”
Behind these words stands a glorious spiritual choice, which, for more than a thousand years of Russian statehood, was followed by many generations of our ancestors. Today, we are making this choice; the citizens of the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics and the residents of the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions have made this choice. They made the choice to be with their people, to be with their Motherland, to share in its destiny, and to be victorious together with it.
The truth is with us, and behind us is Russia!
Meanwhile, A heavy does of American Freedom of Speech hit MM!
Yah. I post a link to my video on Quora and suddenly I discover that I have violated “terms of service”.
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It makes me want to send the purple-haired gatekeepers of “freedom” to the cornfield.
But I won’t.
They are well on their way without any help from me.
BTW… You all know that I never give out medicinal advice. Most certainly about COVID. I just report on my situation inside of China, and what China is doing regarding it. The deleted video consisted of videos of me getting my swabs and what the lock-down looks like.
I guess that that is too subversive.
Why is there so much fear among many Westerners about the rise of China?
Meet Virgin and Chad.
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Virgin (left) and Chad (right)
Virgin was an introverted, nerdy kid, who preferred keeping to himself and doing his own thing.
Chad’s an extrovert. He’s muscular, charismatic, popular, and a bully.
He tried to get Virgin hooked on some really dank shit. One day, Virgin said, “No Chad, I don’t need your drugs anymore, it’s fucking me up real bad, I gots to clean up my act, for reals.”
Chad was desperate for Virgin’s money. So he called his posse over, broke Virgin’s legs, and made him his bitch.
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Virgin survived the ordeal somehow, and vowed to become strong, so that he will never be picked on again.
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Time flies. While Virgin focused on bettering himself through discipline and sheer will, Chad completely let himself go. When they met again, Virgin became what Chad used to look like, while Chad became an obese, drugged-up drunkard who’s suffering from gender dysphoria.
The two looked at each other in awkward silence. Chad decided to break the ice. “Hey dude…how you been?”
“I’m alright”, Virgin replied calmly.
“That’s great man, I’m happy for you! I mean, wow, just look at you! Dem abs, nigga!” said Chad. “Listen, about that stuff that happened a while ago…”
“Don’t worry about it.” interjected Virgin. “That was a long time ago, I’m wiling to let it go, if you’re willing to do the same.”
Chad was speechless. “I…well…of course man, we cool dude?”
“Yeah we cool, no hard feelings. Look I gotta get back to my calligraphy and shit, you wanna see my work?”
“Nah it’s okay bro, you do you man, you do you. Laters.”
But Chad was not reassured by Virgin’s words. It only made him more anxious and paranoid.
“How is this possible?”, he thought. “No, he’s way too calm and forgiving. Almost as if….as if…he’s plotting something big.”
“He’s gonna get me….oh god, he’s gonna get me…payback for everything I’ve done to him….oh god, no…”
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The Imperialist West has much to fear from China, because they themselves are well aware of what they have done, to China, to the rest of the developing world. How could they not worry that China will turn out to be a conqueror, a slaver, a destroyer of civilizations, as they themselves used to be (and still are)?
No amount of good faith, isolation and passiveness on China’s part will convince them that China is simply not like them.
A thief will always live in fear of being burgled, a bully in fear of being bullied.
The old world broke this week. It was blown up cynically by someone who thought this would advance their agenda the most.
The act of vandalizing a major piece of physical infrastructure, targeting civilian populations, isn’t unprecedented in history, but it does signal that everything we thought we knew about the rules of the current game was wrong.
Well, for most people anyway.
When I spoke in June at the Ron Paul Institute Conference on Foreign Policy I described the game of geopolitics as a seven-player game of the ancient Chinese game, Go.
And in that game we’ve reached an inflection point where some factions are coalescing and others are splintering. The faction that is unwilling to compromise on their future is the most dangerous one at the table.
My conclusion then was that those ‘who think they are entitled to run the world’ will flip the game board.
They will change the rules of the game without remorse or a case in the world for those they harm and the aftereffects of their actions. In fact, the chaos they engender is preferable to them than losing.
We got the first inkling of this when the West didn’t just freeze Russia’s foreign exchange reserves but seized them.
Now undersea assets in international waters are fair game. The good news it that this flipping of the game board was only a couple of gas pipelines. The potential is still for something far more unthinkable…
… not that that’s off the table.
In the immediate aftermath of proof the pipelines were blown up everyone (including myself) came forward with their theory as to who did it. Sadly, I can construct arguments for nearly every major player in the game having done this.
But understand the significance of this act. Another redline in international commerce and relations was crossed. The burning question is by whom?
We can rule out the most idiotic takes, like the Russians blew up the pipelines themselves. Why blow up an asset which is literally your biggest piece of leverage on this particular game board when you can do what Putin has already done, shut off the taps?
The only people putting forth this idea are frothing neocons who never met a global problem they couldn’t blame on Putin. Their arguments simply confirm what we already knew, they are jumping for joy at the news.
Many are reflexively pointing to statements by Joe Biden and Victoria Nuland about getting rid of the Nordstream 2 pipeline before the war in Ukraine broke out. But, so what? Why wait seven months to make good on that threat? And why also take out Nordstream 1 at the same time?
The argument is based on this idea that the US is now a rogue state fully controlled by neocons who see their opportunity to get their geopolitcial two-fer, going to war with Russia while also regaining dominance over a vassal Europe.
Indeed this is the prevailing sentiment across the whole of the anti-US alternative media. From Pepe Escobar to Bernard at Moon of Alabama the rush to put together the motive (Escobar) and the means (MoA) is quite compelling.
I, however, do not agree.
And the reasons are many. But it starts with the basic premise is that it is too easy.
Sure, the neocons wanted NS1 and NS2 removed from the game board. Neocons staff the lion’s share of important positions in the “Biden” National Security Council, his State Dept. and the Dept. of Defense. But the neoconservative axis doesn’t stop at the mouth of the Potomac. Their roots are deep within British Intelligence, Whitehall, City of London and yes, even Germany.
When you invoke the term neocon it is a very specific term for a very specific faction of people. They are rapacious, unwilling to compromise, indefatigable and embedded like ticks all across the Western political and intelligence infrastructure.
They are also incredibly easy to manipulate because all you have to do is give them a green light for mayhem and they will take it like a pit bull seeing a squealing rabbit.
So while Bernard did a fine job of laying out all of the circumstantial ‘facts’ of this case, he didn’t make a conclusion either. He’ll leave that job to his partner in Anti-US Empire leftism Escobar and the imaginations of so many rightfully disillusioned with the US.
They and other have made the case and all that has to be done now is allow the amplifier of social media and global anxiety to run wild. Spoon feeding people cynicism today is easy. Hating on the US is now fashionable.
The groundwork for this has been laid for months with Europe shooting itself in the foot repeatedly while allowing its sympathetic chorus to try and portray them as the victim of US aggression.
Personally, I think that conclusion is nonsense and have stuck to my guns for months saying both the EU and ‘The US’ want this war with Russia but for different reasons. In other words, no one is a victim of the other’s aggression, they both want the same thing, a divorce and/or war with Eurasian integration but who gets to be the decision makers in the end is what they are fighting over internally.
I’ve laid this out in so many blog posts, but this one from January lays out all the arguments of the factions at play. While I was wrong about war in Ukraine being off the table, the interplay of the factions was still spot on.
The basic premise was always to use the neocons to destabilize the world over Ukraine, amplify the US/UK belligerence to the level of terrorist state, and portray Europe as the victim of whatever happened.
But once Putin invaded Ukraine everyone’s true motivations were exposed. Europe couldn’t back down and allow Russia to take Ukraine because Davos needed Ukraine to draw everyone into its vortex. The Minsk agreements were simply a time-buying device for everyone’s plans.
They all wanted this war with Russia but Putin chose the terms of the battle and the timing. To still think that Europe is a victim of US colonial ambitions betrays a naivete that borders on pathology.
And yet everyone fell for the silly Rand Corporation “Report” from January that prepped the ground for blowing up the Nordstream pipelines conveniently ‘leaked’ into the world two weeks before the weekend everyone had circled on their geopolitical calendar as the most significant of the year.
Make no mistake, I’m not about to absolve ‘The US’ of any malfeasance here. Some aspect of ‘The US’ was involved. To think otherwise is also terminally naïve. No, what I’m going to do is remind everyone of the motivations, incentives and deficiencies of the players in the West and give you what I think is the best answer we will ever get (and why) as to the curious whodunit of the demise of Nordstream.
I wrote a massive Twitter thread yesterday on this which I am going to list below along with some fill in commentary where appropriate. Original Tweets in Bold, Commentary in italics.
Just so we are clear. I believe and have believed the hyper-aggressive Neocons (or Straussians) are a faction easily manipulated into doing things that look like they are to their benefit but ultimately aren’t.
People this single-minded and radical can easily be directed like a missile at a particular target, especially if that target is their White Whale, i.e. Russia.
Davos is obsessed with preserving the EU and transferring that power to the UN for global government through the end of commercial banking and total surveillance. This is incontrovertibly true. Their pushing hard for CBDCs to replace the current monetary system.
Getting the neocons to over-react to the current state of play in Ukraine by blowing up two vital pipelines to Europe is child’s play. You are goading them to do what they want to do anyway. Screw Germany and Russia simultaneously. Again, think Pit Bull and squealing bunny rabbit.
But the real win for them isn’t giving Germany no way to back down wrt Russia. It is to get Germany to see themselves as a victim of US colonialism. Cue the RAND report. And the protests over energy costs in Germany over the weekend. This leads to a critical mass of people seeing the US as the world’s leading cancer, deflecting from the real perps. Given the state of the commentariat today, mission mostly accomplished. With the Fed pushing interest rates to the moon this will be even easier for people to believe.
That this is happening after the US got major wins in the UK and Italy electing Truss and Meloni while the Fed starves global markets of dollars, the source of Davos’ real strength … Eurodollar futures and shadow banking. See my articles about Draghi’s fall from July and Truss’s rise from last week.Joe Biden’s called Truss to threaten her over Northern Ireland before she even sat down at 10 Downing Street. Tell me again who “Biden” works for if not Davos?
In the short run, the neocons think they’ve won a big victory. In the long run, it seals Europe’s fate by crashing their markets so they can blame Russia and the US for their bankruptcy while defaulting and consolidating power in Brussels. Blowing up NS1 and NS2 is a brilliant tactical move, it takes options from Putin and leaves him with more military than economic options. Why does anyone think the EU and Davos don’t benefit from this since this is what they actually wanted, prolonged war with Russia. Or am I misreading EU Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen, EU Foreign Minister Josep Borrell and NATO Sec. General Jens Stoltenberg? Curious. In the long run this is a terrible strategic move because it now puts everyone’s infrastructure on the table. Everything is fair game now.
France is happy to see this happen b/c bringing Germany down elevates them. Blackmailing the Italians is next on the flowchart… has to happen while Italy is in a gas deficit, i.e. Libya offline. France has been instrumental in cutting off Italy’s gas supply from N. Africa. There is no love loss between Italy and France. And EU sanctions keep Italy in gas deficit. With hostilities in Libya ending, gas will flow. So, destabilizing Italy’s financial markets now is paramount… or did no one see the blowout in BTP yields this week?
The Neocons are Straussian in their thinking. Better to burn down everything rather than lose. I don’t agree with all of this article, but the basics are sound. Theirry Meyssan — voltairenet.org/article217976.… In short, the Neocons are not the only Straussians at this gaming table. Davos’ whole strategy is predicated on tearing down the old system, liquidating as many liabilities as possible (people, systems, debt, etc.) and then offering a new replacement at the depth of everyone’s despair.
Europe’s only solution, said many times by Soros, is to default by issuing perpetual debt, consols, and rolling up all the political power in Europe to the EU Commission and the ECB. To do that you NEED a collapse of the German middle class. With the ECB losing to the Fed over keeping rates low and going for MMT, 80% of the ECB’s balance sheet is at risk. The EU cannot function with a bankrupt ECB. The eurozone ceases to exist. President Lagarde is now losing control over internal bond spreads now that the BoE intervened.
But you also need a scapegoat to focus German anger on otherwise you lose them. So, bring in the hyper-aggressive Yanks and the hated Russians. Perfect patsies for this operation. Turn Western Europe as anti-American as Eastern Europe is anti-Russian. The neocons have walked willingly into this trap. Russia was given the option surrender or fight. They chose to fight.
Turning the US into a global terrorist state in the minds of everyone is an attempt, lame as it may be, to stop capital outflow while the reset of Europe’s finances occurs. Only communists are so committed ideologically to their cause that they would threaten the world with nuclear blackmail in order to overthrow the only bastion of legal human rights superior to that of the State’s left in the world. I hate to break it to America’s haters but us getting our shit together is the world’s only real hope. It’s a thin hope, I realize. But the world is not made better by turning the US into a failed state like the same people I’m fingering today did to Russia after the USSR fell. But when you cheer on us Yanks ‘gettin’ what we deserve’ and apologizing for the crimes of Europe, you are cheering your own destruction.
Hence, the US neocons likely blew up NS1 and NS2 but under the ‘guidance’ of Davos from within the “Biden” Junta. This is the nuanced take. Davos had the motive, means and opportunity to pull this off. So far, I’ve only presented why the neocons would have done this. Now, here’s why Davos is the real culprit.
This was an act of war. No doubt. The UK and France have been trying to get NATO officially into a war with Russia since it moved into Syria… Remember the IL-20 ELINT shootdown?
That was a French/UK op. that everyone else covered up. September 2018 a Russian ELINT plane is shot down over Syria. The official explanation is a complete fabrication. Reports of a missile fired from a French frigate offshore are memory-holed. Israel and Syria take the blame for the screw up which could have led to a NATO Article 5 if the Russians retaliated. We will simply not get the full story on this like we never got the real story about MH-17. But if Russia doesn’t respond overtly and whatever they do in parallel response “The US” doesn’t respond to then back channels have been working to stop any further insanity. The relative silence from everyone tells me a third party ordered this and the primary victim/alleged aggressor are trying to hold things at bay.
This pipeline explosion smells of a similar setup.. The goal? Same as always. Get Russia to over-react, weaken Putin at home for being soft. Set the US and Russia on a path to open, not proxy, war.
The same strategy is being employed with China/Taiwan. Reckless provocations to weaken Xi and get China to over-react to save face with the domestic population. Or did we miss the endless reckless provocations with China over the past 20 months?
Why? Because if these folks are all fighting while Europe hunkers down and ‘rebuilds’ itself, then they are all weakened through war and relatively speaking the EU comes out of that coma to a more-level playing field. This point has been routinely misunderstood. This is a long-range projection of what the ultimate goal is. By the end of the decade Europe wants to be free of Russian energy, transitioned to a hydrogen/nuclear economy with digital money, no debt and a surveillance state it can leverage around the world. They want the same thing for the US and the UK Commonwealth, but the jury is definitely out as to whether they will achieve those goals in those places… that the third US faction I keep talking about, the NY Boys and the Fed, saying no to all of this.
This is the plan. It’s stupid. It’s insane. But it’s clearly what’s on the table. The leaked RAND Report everyone was so hot and bothered about was pure psy-op to set up this latest atrocity. Even RAND was like. Okay, this is some serious Bellingcat/MI6 bullcrap.
If you think this is far-fetched: Who directed everyone to lock down the world over a freaking flu? Who tried to bankrupt you for not getting the jab? Who is pushing for UBI, MMT and you owning nothing? It ain’t the Neocons and it ain’t Russia. And it ain’t the Fed either.
There are clearly forces resisting this insanity but it’s not clear as to whether they are winning or not. What is clear is that most people are done with globalists, but which globalists?
This now opens up the possibility of the East Med Pipeline from Israel to Greece, which “Biden” took off the table earlier this year. Why? Davos wants us off oil and gas. Meaning, why did “Biden” pull the funding plug off of East Med? Because Davos told him no new pipelines into Europe. Davos also hates Israel, being a US/UK satellite. Realize that once you see the enmity between the Continent of European Colonial Powers and the UK/US and the former Warsaw Pact countries, you can’t unsee it. But, please continue to think it’s all just “one big club… and we ain’t in it.”
The bombing of NS1 and NS2 is as significant a red line being crossed as seizing Russia’s forex reserves.Both assets were considered ‘verboten.’ Not any more. Who ordered that? Davos.| Who went along with that? The EU Who’s putting more sanctions on Russia today? The EU How can anyone seriously look at the last seven months and see the EU as a victim of US imperialism without seeing the imperial aspirations of the EU itself? I’m not saying anyone isn’t dirty here. They are all filthy and disgusting. But I am saying know what the real game is and what the real motivations are. Because if you do that work you just might see some things that don’t comport with the simple view which fuels your anger and frustration, which, in the end, is just childish. The stakes are too high here. FYI, the EU just put on an EIGHTH package of sanctions on Russia over the referenda in the now former territories of Ukraine. No outrage over the loss of NS1 and NS2. No furious statements about the heinous and cowardly attacks on public infrastructure serving the needs of real Europeans. No pearl clutching or hand wringing even over the immense amount of greenhouse gases being blown into the atmosphere. Just more vilification of the victim and nigh-endorsement of this act of terrorism. But, please, keep believing Europe is the victim of US aggression and not the complicity of your own leadership.
The point of this act was to freeze all pipeline construction worldwide.
If these assets are on the table, then nothing is off the table.
Do you really think it’s far-fetched to false flag something like this to achieve global dreams of control?
Who has those dreams? If you look at this dispassionately, you know who and that’s why you know who ordered it, regardless of whose military operators put the bombs on the pipes.
I can’t stress enough folks that we are in very perilous waters here. I’m no US apologist. This country has crimes it will have to answer for. And the biggest one may be allowing this globalist assholes to corrupt it nearly beyond repair. But don’t let that blind you to what’s really happening.
The important thing I keep trying to point out that thinking in terms of ‘country’ is ultimately the wrong lens to view these people’s actions. Factions are the better lens. Factions cross political borders.
Only when we’re talking about the people and elections do countries matter here and how they interact with these factions.
I’ll leave you with that and echo Bernard at MoA…. now draw your own conclusions.
MM comments.
Please keep in mind that ONLY the United States navy was flying and active in the direct region of the pipelines, and the visuals are very clear in this regard.
The USA did it. I don’t give a rats’ ass who in the USA ordered it. It just did it.
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According to Bloomberg, the USA wants Dutch chipmakers to stop selling to China. What’s the intention there? Does the USA come up with deliberate plans to cripple other countries’ economic growth?
It can try.
But it won’t work. And in a decade or too it will come back to hound and hurt the US.
Allow me to provide 2 perfect examples that ended in total failure to the US when they went they took this route.
One, GPS. The US threathened to stop China using GPS, China built its own Beidou, a GPS that has higher resolution, accurate to a meter compared to the US 10 meters. And by 2022 two third of countries in the world has switched to the Chinese Beidou from the US GPS. The US lost two third of its monopoly in less than 15 years thanks to decoupling.
Two, is Space center. The Congress voted to ban China from joining the US space center roughly a decade ago. I remember hearing it and says it is another dumb and stupid action. What is the outcome today?
China built a better, more technologically superior space center of its own and now performing better than an outdated 30 years old soon to be defunct US space center!
China will corner the entire chip industry in less than a decade thanks to the US action. Basically decoupling allows the US to shoot itself on its foot. No difference from the trade war that Donald Trump says it is easy to win.
Well he lost. The trade war resulted in the GDP from 2017 to 2022 1st quarter, the US economy declined! -1.5% while China grew in excess of 25%. Now Biden is waving the white flag. Asking China to jointly eradicate the tarriff. China says let me think about that first before we act rashly.
This afternoon at about 4:00 PM eastern US Time, a Boeing E-6B “Mercury” took off from Washington, DC. This is the U.S. “Looking Glass” – airborne National Command Post to command US nuclear forces worldwide in the event ground stations are all destroyed.
As seen in the flight radar image below, the aircraft took off, flew south into southern North Carolina, turned southeast out into the Atlantic Ocean, and turned its Transponder OFF.
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The Boeing E-6 Mercury (formerly Hermes) is an airborne command post and communications relay based on the Boeing 707. The original E-6A manufactured by Boeing’s defense division entered service with the United States Navy in July 1989, replacing the EC-130Q.
This platform, now modified to the E-6B standard, conveys instructions from the National Command Authority to fleet ballistic missile submarines (see communication with submarines), a mission known as TACAMO (“Take Charge And Move Out”).
The E-6B model deployed in October 1998 also has the ability to remotely control Minuteman ICBMs using the Airborne Launch Control System.
The E-6B replaced Air Force EC-135Cs in the “Looking Glass” role, providing command and control of U.S. nuclear forces should ground-based control become inoperable. With production lasting until 1991, the E-6 was the final new derivative of the Boeing 707 to be built.
“Looking Glass”
Looking Glass (or Operation Looking Glass) is the (historic) code name for an airborne command and control center operated by the United States.
In more recent years it has been more officially referred to as the ABNCP (Airborne National Command Post). It provides command and control of U.S. nuclear forces in the event that ground-based command centers have been destroyed or otherwise rendered inoperable.
In such an event, the general officer aboard the Looking Glass serves as the Airborne Emergency Action Officer (AEAO) and by law assumes the authority of the National Command Authority and could command execution of nuclear attacks.
The AEAO is supported by a battle staff of approximately 20 people, with another dozen responsible for the operation of the aircraft systems.
The name “Looking Glass,” which is another name for a mirror, was chosen for the Airborne Command Post because the mission operates in parallel with the underground command post at Offutt Air Force Base.
Ham-Stuffed Biscuits with Mustard Butter
These ham-stuffed biscuits are enriched in flavor with brown mustard and butter mixture. Perfect bread recipe for fall.
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Ingredients
1 package regular active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water (105°F to 115°F)
2 cups buttermilk
5 1/2 cups Gold Medal™ all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup shortening
1 cup butter, softened
2 tablespoons finely chopped sweet onion
2 tablespoons spicy brown mustard
2 lb thinly sliced cooked ham
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Kung Fu: Caine vs Jerk
Will decoupling the western economies from China end in failure?
Let’s confine ourselves to the EU and the US.
Total two way trade between these and China is 1.5 trillion dollars. This is amplified several multiples in gdp terms, because wages are high.
In addition, corporations from the EU and US collectively make 1-2 trillion dollars in revenue from the Chinese market, which support stock valuations through strong growth projections.
These numbers are irreplaceable. There is no wholesale alternative to the Chinese. Not India, not Africa. Not Indonesia. Not Brazil.
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What happened in 2001?
China joined the Wto, and became the world’s inflation sink, tempering the explosion in the cost of service and local production.
Over this pandemic, demand for hundreds of billions pieces of masks and other ppe suddenly materialized. Yet there was only temporary shortage and prices remain affordable.
Why? Because of India, aukus, quad, g7, Nato, Japan, Korea, Vietnam?
Decouple? How?
Why are the Congress members in the US so lesser tech savvy than CPC members in Chinese government?
This is not even a contest. Yes indeed. Our U.S. Congress have few members who understand tech. Heck, all on the side the GOP are card-carrying science deniers who like trump still refuse to accept that climate change is human-made.
For most Western countries, lawyers dominate because it seems Western bureaucracy and institutions require the legal mind to navigate our system for things to get done – especially so for the U.S.
This presentation includes the profiles of the 175 members of Congress with law degrees. Some were recently elected, and some have served in Congress for decades. The bios are organized by state.
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This is different in China. As described by the article below, the Chinese Government is dominated by scientists and engineers. To be more precise, it’s the CCP with its meritocratic process has cultivated its rank to be populated with such because they feel these are the qualifications needed to execute the development programs they want done.
Directly before the present administration, 8 out of China’s top 9 government officials are scientists and engineers. This leadership has brought laser focus on innovation, bringing much of China’s labor centralized in science, technology, and engineering.
Xi’s administration is a bit more relaxed with technocracy – top leaders are now more diverse with former economists, research fellows and a journalist also included (note – no lawyers mentioned).
Xi Jinping studied chemical engineering at Tsinghua University in Beijing, which is the same university where previous Chinese President Hu Jintao went for a degree in hydroelectric engineering. Xi obtained a degree in Marxist degree as well as a Ph.D in law at the Tsinghua Humanities Institute, becoming China’s first national leader to hold such degree.
Yu Zhengsheng, the chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, is also an engineer. He graduated from the specialty of ballistic missile automatic control of the Missile Engineering Department of the Harbin Military Engineering Institute. Yu spent almost twenty years in the electronics industry before joining the Ministry of Electronics Industry in the 1980s
Not only do scientists and engineers dominate the top political offices in China, they can also be found at all levels of the Chinese government. It has long been observed by the Chinese people to elect, or perhaps select due to their election system, politicians with a science or engineering background. A study by Li Cheng and Lynn White entitled “Elite Transformation and Modern Change in Mainland China and Taiwan: Empirical Data and the Theory of Technocracy” describes the domination of scientists and engineers in the Chinese political elite.
In essence, Chinese politicians do not equivocate like their Western counterparts. Their marching orders are clearly defined in the country’s 5-year plan (now on the 14th version). They study and execute.
FULL METAL JACKET – THE VIRGIN MARY SCENE
What’s the most insane thing a human has survived?
Mary Vincent was a 15-year-old girl hitchhiking in California to get home back in 1978. Hitchhiking was relatively common back then.
Larry Singleton was a 50-year-old monster.
Mary was waiting at the side of the road with two others as they waited for a passing vehicle to take them closer to their desired destinations.
A vehicle pulled up that was big enough for the three of them, but he insisted that there was only room for one. The other two warned her that it seemed shady, but she was tired and didn’t want to wait any longer. She got in with him, alone.
She felt something was off so when he got out to pee, she tried to escape, but he saw her and hit her on the back of the head.
He raped her and cut off both of her arms before throwing her down a 30-foot cliff off the interstate.
He left her to die, but Mary was quick thinking.
It had recently rained, and she used the mud to pack her wounds to slow the bleeding. She felt tired, but she knew that she would die if she stayed down there so she tried for hours to get to the top.
Naked and covered in blood, she walked three miles along the highway hoping someone would drive by and help her.
A car slowed, passed her, and she felt hopeful, but they continued on.
A second car passed and picked her up. They were a couple on their honeymoon and took her to the hospital where she was quickly airlifted to a bigger hospital where her life was saved.
Mary is the strongest person I’ve ever read about.
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Many have requested that I include the legal result:
He was caught and imprisoned, but let out on early release for good behavior. Protests erupted whenever a city was notified that he would be settled there.
This happened several times.
After settling in Florida, he murdered a mother of three and was sentenced again to prison.
He died of cancer four years later in Florida in 2001.
Dexter
Dexter saved my life. In 2020 I was feeling a bit off most days and my doctors couldn’t find a reason for my chronic fatigue and inability to train hard (I’m a former pro fighter who still trains like one).
After years of getting little more then shrugs from medical staff one day I started feeling chest pain. It felt like a torn muscle so I chalked it up as a training injury and ignored it.
Suddenly Dexter, who had been around me for 20 years, ran over to me and started pawing at my chest and crying.
He had never acted this way.
I decided it was a red flag and called 911.
As I opened the door for paramedics I had a “widow maker” heart attack and collapsed (very low survival rate, hence the name). The cardiologist who operated on me said if I had waited 3 more minutes to call I wouldn’t have survived.
I’ve had many pets over the years and loved them all. But I had a unique bond to that cat. He suffered a stroke and passed away a few months later. I miss him every day.
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Cuban Pork Sandwiches
Florida restaurants introduced the simple, delicious flavors of this Cuban favorite to the United States. If you don’t have leftover roast pork, just pick up some from the deli.
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Ingredients
4 white hamburger buns, split
2 teaspoons yellow mustard
4 teaspoons mayonnaise or salad dressing
4 ounces thinly sliced cooked roast pork
4 ounces thinly sliced cooked ham
4 ounces sliced Swiss cheese
12 slices dill pickles
3 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
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Vietnam Basic Training – Forrest Gump
What is the best revenge you ever had on your bully?
I grew up poor. I took my lunch to school because I didn’t have money for school lunches. When I made it to high school some of the older high school bullies found it “cool” to pop my school locker open and eat my lunch. This got to be all too regular. So … I baked a large batch of chocolate chip cookies with extra chocolate chips — and 2 boxes of Exlax. These were locked securely in my school locker so no-one would accidentally dose themself with an extreme dose of laxative.
Yes, the cookies disappeared. So did five people — for three days. I never lost a lunch again. Yes, this may have been a shitty thing to do, but it worked!
Putin Speech Told Ukraine to Halt Attacks; Ukraine Attacked Harder – Now, Iskander-M’s Coming in from Russia
In his landmark speech at yesterday’s ceremony to accept four formerly Ukrainian regions into Russia, President Vladimir Putin told Ukraine to Cease-Fire and return to the negotiating table. He pointed out that the four territories are “now Russian citizens, FOREVER.” Instead of stopping its attacks, Ukraine attacked worse.
Russia told Ukraine not to attack the areas that had the Referendums, after the referendums were completed, or the Hammer would be dropped. People are now being killed across the referendum areas by Ukraine shelling. Donetsk today,. Across city is being hit. What is Russia going to do now?
Apparently, what Russia is going to do now is answered: trainloads of Russian Iskander-M hypersonic missiles are now entering the Kherson Region.
Iskander-M
This is a Variant for the Russian Armed Forces Iskander missile forces, with two 9M723 quasi-ballistic missiles with published range 415 km, rumored 500 km. Speed Mach 6–7, flight altitude up to 6–50 km, nuclear capable stealth missile, controlled at all stages, not ballistic flight path.
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Immediately after the launch and upon approach to the target, the missile performs intensive maneuvering to evade anti-ballistic missiles. The missile constantly maneuvers during flight as well.
These missiles are REAL power. This is very heavy military weaponry; not some rinky-dink token of power. Ukraine is bringing this upon itself.
The Roundtable: Open House
Why does my cat behave this way?
Something that a lot of people who meet my cat misinterpret about his is his biting. When a cat bites it’s normally out of anger or fear, but not with my little guy. He bites me EVERYTIME we play together. I know it’s not out of anger because he would run away if he was upset, but he always sticks around for more.
The reason for his biting is because he was an only kitten and his mom died when he was neonatal. So he never had litter mates or a mother to teach him not to bite. That’s what’s so healthy about having other kittens around when one is growing up, because they bite back. A mother kitten will bite her baby when they’re being too rough. But Oliver never had that. He just thinks biting at anytime is okay. You really don’t understand the negative effects of not having a mother cat around until you raise one on your own.
People always told me I should bite him back but I didn’t have the balls to bite my poor little baby. They also told me to get other kittens to teach him. Now I regret not doing it because he plays too rough, doesn’t like other cats, and bites everytime we play. He also gets his back feet going like a jack rabbit running, and scratches you pretty hard.
I’m not saying this is something that is okay, but he can’t help it.
Russian gas corporation GAZPROM has fully and completely halted all natural gas pipeline flows from Russia into Austria.
The reason has to do with WHO is supposed to be getting the gas: Italy . . . no one else.
But Austria will not reveal to GAZPROM who is _actually_ getting the gas.
GAZPROM has been seeking answers from Austria after Italy told them they are not receiving the amount indicated. That would mean Austria has been sending gas intended for Italy, somewhere else.
Since Austria will not disclose where the gas is going, Russia has shut them off.
Has Austria been stealing gas meant for Italy? Has Austria been diverting the gas to some other country? They won’t say. Now, they get none.
Second Hand Lions Bar FIGHT Scene
Puts a smile on your face.
Can you recognize American propaganda? When and where have you noticed it?
Yup. Just about everything that comes from Western media and Western governments related to geopolitics is propaganda.
You can see it when they talk about Russia and the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
You can see it when they talk about China and the Taiwan situation and the tales of genocide and forced labour in Xinjiang and the false narrative about Hong Kong.
You can see it when they talk about Israel and Palestine, and generally everything in the Middle East (recall the lie about WMDs used to justify the 2003 invasion of Iraq).
That’s why I cannot trust Western reporting at all. I need to hunt down independent reporters who still hold a modicum of journalistic integrity.
Unlike in China, why is America unable to crackdown corrupt politicians and billionaires?
The US political system thrives on corruption. Your presidents and Congress need political bribes to get where they are.
The Chinese system penalised corruption and bribery and serious offenders are sentenced to death. So they should.
Hence the US politicians don’t care about its people it cares for those who pay for their campaign to win their political position.
Take the current inflation. China do everything necessary to reduce inflation and hence its inflation rate is less than 2%. It even prevent Covid-19 spread saving lives yet curtailing excessive demand wile building up supply by shut downs.
The US continues to fuel inflation by sanctioning Russia because they want the war to continue to helped their funders at the Military Industrial complexes at the expense of American suffering.
So the rich will get richer in America while the poor will get poorer. China won’t let a a few billionaires run roughshod over a billion Chinese, but in America the billionaire is his funder. Hence they pay little tax, and are protected by the politicians.
Will decoupling the western economies from China end in failure?
It’s hard to say. In principle, Western economies could totally decouple, in which case we’d have two economic spheres: the Western sphere, and everybody else.
But I think the political will would not be there to support it. Some Western economies may choose to side with China, eroding Western solidarity.
The problem is that the Western sphere would have to put up with much higher inflation. Without Chinese manufacturing, the price of goods would skyrocket.
Without the vast Chinese, African, Asian, and Latin American consumer markets, who would Western economies sell to? Their GDP growth would be capped.
Western economies simply cannot compete with large populations of cheap labour.
What is the worst part about being a billionaire?
I know some billionaires. Heck, I work for one. (We’re in meetings several times a week, not at the bottom of some massive org chart.)
While the upsides definitely outweigh the downsides, there are some issues.
In your personal life, you have to be very cognizant of security. You aren’t just some generic rich guy. You are rich and you, and your family, all become targets of far more nefarious men than a typical citizen. We recently had an incident where someone tried to do some social engineering on one of our interns to steal financial information from the boss. Yeesh. To say nothing of kidnapping and other violence. There is a big difference between being a mere target of opportunity among the general public, and having people dedicated to targeting you specifically.
Many billionaires intentionally try to keep a low public profile because of this. Not all- but think of how many American billionaires you can name. 20? 50? You don’t know the other ~800 because they don’t want you to know them.
One unusual downside in business is that you’re like a Victoria’s Secret model at a frat party: everyone and their brother wants to proposition you for a business deal. It’s just crazy.
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I’m telling you man this company is gonna be the next Tesla, just let me show you my pitch deck… wait, where are you going?
They want your money.
Billionaires have so much capital they can do deals others can’t. The problem is there’s so much noise it’s hard to focus on legitimate business opportunities. (You really need to set up a family office or investment advisory and hire staff just to filter out this crap.) Even investment banks you hire for wealth management services will send you garbage to consider allocating to because you operate on a different scale. They are selling access to you on the other side of the equation.
(Speaking of which, managing that much wealth is itself a full time job for multiple people. You better know who to trust!)
I’m not trying to write a sob story. I’m sure celebrities have similar issues. But being exceedingly wealthy isn’t like being a normal person with an “unlimited bank account” cheat code on.
What don’t they tell you about the Chinese Communist Party?
I guess no one told you this before.
See this chart? They are 388 martyrs who sacrificed their lives to protect and to serve the Chinese people in this war against coronavirus until 4th April 2020. And look at the sixth column, you may don’t read Chinese, but you probably can tell the color. And every RED means this martyr is a member of the Chinese Communist Party. Obviously the majority of our martyrs are CCP members.(BTW, Doctor Li Wenliang is on NO.42)
This is what they don’t tell you about our ruling party.
The CCP doesn’t just mean power and political career. It also means when people are in danger, you have obligation to serve in the most dangerous place. Even and most importantly, risking and losing your life for your country.
Why can’t Chinese people eat normal food like pizza, burgers, and steaks?
The first two of the foods you mention are not “Normal”, they are hyper-processed pieces of white bread and processed meat’s made to taste well despite have little too no nutritional value.
Steaks are decent, they’ll give you protein, fats, et cetera
however, In comparison to Americans, Chinese food is healthier, and often tastier (and no, I am not talking about the equally processed “Chinese” food in America)
Actual Chinese food is miles ahead when it comes to nutritional than American ones (Mostly)
Peking duck, chicken in all forms is full of protein and fats.
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A staple of not only Chinese, but also Asian food, rice, it is filled with fibers, vitamins and healthy carbs, usually paired with meat and/or veggies
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So to conclude, American food is weirder than Chinese food, there’s no argument against that.
SITREP 9.30.22 LIVE! – Threat Level Midnight – Bobbleheads at Work
Smoking gun. The USA obviously blew up Nordstream pipelines.
This “spyglass” is a powerful tool and shows exactly how the USN blew up the pipelines.
Is it true China is far more draconian on drug policy than the USA? Is this due to communism, or is it a tenet of Confucianist culture?
Neither. You’ll find that other Asian countries, most notably Singapore, have the same tough stance on drugs.
It has to do with how the Century of Humiliation – one of the most horrible (but often overlooked) chapters of human history – began.
The short version is that there was a perceived trade imbalance between the British Empire and the Qing Dynasty. The Chinese needed very little from the outside world, while the British had a huge demand for Chinese goods like silk and tea.
So the British began to grow a special, potent breed of poppy in India, refined and sold them to the Chinese to get them hooked. Opium had been part of Chinese society for centuries as a mild, recreational plant, but the opium sold by the Brits was some real dank shit, and people couldn’t get enough of it.
China haemorrhaged silver, its people grew sickly and weak, families fell apart due to poverty and violence, and society was thrown into imbalance.
The Qing court decided to ban opium, which angered the British merchants, and gave Britain an excuse to invade. The rest of Europe (and Japan) would soon follow suit.
China would go on to become one of the only countries on earth that was colonised by every single major power on earth at the time. Between wars, slavery, famines, genocides and disease, the Chinese perished by the millions, and its population did not bounce back again until a century later, when the communists under Mao came into power.
A drugged up people is a weak people, any sensible person knows that. But in China (and much of Asia), there is also a historical burden carried by narcotics. It is something people from most political spectrums see eye-to-eye on. There is a reason why Asian Americans, even the really liberal and anti-China ones, tend to be against legalisation of drugs.
Some trauma is forever.
Calvin
I did not want a pet, but there was no way I could leave this little creature to the terrible fate awaiting him.
His twin had just been mauled to death and he was next.
He was hiding under a chair with his head hanging so low it was almost touching the floor. He was full of worms and ear mites. He was filthy, under nourished and feral, but he broke my heart. I took him to the vet clinic before bringing him home, got all the shots, etc. and now just over a year later he runs our house the way Hobbes runs Calvin’s life. (Hence the name)
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Is it correct that today’s US-China soft-power struggle differs from that of the Cold War, when the US and USSR argued over the values of their respective political systems, in a cogent and contained debate.?
Yes, it’s very different.
The Cold War was about ideology, about preventing the spread of Communism.
Today’s struggle is about preventing China’s economic rise which threatens Western global hegemony. The USA and its white Anglophone allies, UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada, are desperate to retain their dominant international position. Some EU countries follow along, afraid to upset the global hegemon.
The Cold War involved political interference and actual wars in various countries around the world like Afghanistan, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Finland, Hungary, Iran, Korea, Poland, Turkey, Vietnam, etc.
Today’s struggle is pretty much limited to Taiwan and USA’s attempt to foment a proxy war there. China hasn’t fought a single war since 1979!
China is making many, many friends around the globe through BRI, BRICS, RCEP, and SCO. China respects all nations and their sovereignty. USA has no leverage anywhere else; without Taiwan, USA has bupkis.
Can you give an example of something that is both tragic and ironic?
I would have to say that my life is both tragic and ironic. I am poor and living in a tent even though I originated from an upper-middle class background. I went to private schools until university. I have a master’s degree in education. As a young man, I was so sure I would inherit my family’s millions that I jokingly told friends they would all be working for me as butlers. gardeners, chauffeurs, maids, bodyguards, cooks, etc. Now I struggle just to find enough money to use at the laundromat. I face constant small embarrassments, humiliations and hassles. I feel alienated from society yet shake my fist at it at the same time. My personality has taken a darker turn due to poverty. This makes it hard to find and keep friends — never mind a girlfriend. I keep hoping this last three years of struggle has been a mere lesson from God to teach once arrogant me a lesson and that this hellacious ordeal will be over soon. But that’s a Hollywood delusion, I suppose.
I may be smiling in the photo below inside my tent in the forest, but believe me when I say I am not happy inside.
“I missed my first flight to LA yesterday and had to catch another.
I was so upset, but now I know why!
When I finally got to LAX baggage claim, I went to the bathroom to check my little makeup and I heard a woman crying so hard.
I was wondering if I should say something like, ‘It’s gonna be okay,’ but I was nervous and she was speaking Spanish so I didn’t know if she’d even understand me.
I left and came back to the bathroom like four times while I was waiting for my bags to come down (full flight), and I heard her say, ‘But the bus doesn’t come until tomorrow.’
My heart dropped, so I asked her if she had Zelle or CashApp.
She said no.
So I asked her if I could pay for a hotel until tomorrow and she stopped crying and opened the stall door AND I SAW THE SLEEPING KIDS.”
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“I felt so happy to help her, knowing I’d just be spending my little money on bullsh*t.
She rode with me to the Marriott and I got her a room.
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I wanted to share this because I kept thinking, ‘HOW MANY PEOPLE CAME INTO THE BATHROOM, HEARD HER CRYING FOR HOURS, DIDN’T KNOW THERE WERE KIDS, AND KEPT GOING?’
I’m glad I said something because she was super sweet and appreciative and she had babies with her.”
I trust that everyone is braced for the “onslaught”.
No one but a moron believes the US did not do this. The question is what comes next? What will Russia do? According to many essays from Paul Craig Roberts … nothing, which to his mind simply encourages the West to go further, until we reach the point of what? A nuclear attack on Russia, ending in Armageddon? I can’t really understand the insanity of the ‘neocon’ oligarchs … they will die too, or at best all their wealth will do them no good in a World of floating radioactive ash.
In the future, how will the history books describe the United States? What will they say about the great accomplishments and the great failures? How will they describe its end?
"America is the first country to have gone from barbarism to decadence without the usual intervening period of civilization." - Oscar Wilde
It became wealthy and powerful through violence and theft. Then it proclaimed itself The Greatest Country in the World and History.
Then it died of that hubris.
Putin’s Remarks On Europe
From Vladimir Putin’s speech held at the signing ceremony of treaties on accession of Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics and Zaporozhye and Kherson regions to Russia:
Western countries have been saying for centuries that they bring freedom and democracy to other nations. Nothing could be further from the truth. Instead of bringing democracy they suppressed and exploited, and instead of giving freedom they enslaved and oppressed. The unipolar world is inherently anti-democratic and unfree; it is false and hypocritical through and through. ...Recall that during WWII the United States and Britain reduced Dresden, Hamburg, Cologne and many other German cities to rubble, without the least military necessity. It was done ostentatiously and, to repeat, without any military necessity. They had only one goal, as with the nuclear bombing of Japanese cities: to intimidate our country and the rest of the world.The United States left a deep scar in the memory of the people of Korea and Vietnam with their carpet bombings and use of napalm and chemical weapons.It actually continues to occupy Germany, Japan, the Republic of Korea and other countries, which they cynically refer to as equals and allies. Look now, what kind of alliance is that? The whole world knows that the top officials in these countries are being spied on and that their offices and homes are bugged. It is a disgrace, a disgrace for those who do this and for those who, like slaves, silently and meekly swallow this arrogant behaviour.They call the orders and threats they make to their vassals Euro-Atlantic solidarity, and the creation of biological weapons and the use of human test subjects, including in Ukraine, noble medical research.It is their destructive policies, wars and plunder that have unleashed today’s massive wave of migrants. Millions of people endure hardships and humiliation or die by the thousands trying to reach Europe.They are exporting grain from Ukraine now. Where are they taking it under the guise of ensuring the food security of the poorest countries? Where is it going? They are taking it to the self-same European countries. Only five percent has been delivered to the poorest countries. More cheating and naked deception again.In effect, the American elite is using the tragedy of these people to weaken its rivals, to destroy nation states. This goes for Europe and for the identities of France, Italy, Spain and other countries with centuries-long histories.Washington demands more and more sanctions against Russia and the majority of European politicians obediently go along with it. They clearly understand that by pressuring the EU to completely give up Russian energy and other resources, the United States is practically pushing Europe toward deindustrialisation in a bid to get its hands on the entire European market. These European elites understand everything – they do, but they prefer to serve the interests of others. This is no longer servility but direct betrayal of their own peoples. God bless, it is up to them.But the Anglo-Saxons believe sanctions are no longer enough and now they have turned to subversion. It seems incredible but it is a fact – by causing explosions on Nord Stream’s international gas pipelines passing along the bottom of the Baltic Sea, they have actually embarked on the destruction of Europe’s entire energy infrastructure. It is clear to everyone who stands to gain. Those who benefit are responsible, of course.
The whole speech includes much more and deserves your attention. (For those who can not reach the Kremlin site a text file with the speech is available here.) If you can not reach In essence Putin is setting up Russia as the new liberation force the same way the Soviet Union had been one for many formerly colonized smaller countries. The ‘third world’ may well turn to Russia when it needs help.
Europe though, is fucked.
Our politicians have not only allowed our societies to be undermined by the U.S. but they have actively helped it along. They continue to do so despite the obviously coming economic and social catastrophe the U.S. has caused with the destruction of Europe’s access to cheap energy.
Only a huge shift in public sentiment can change that. My only hope is that the upcoming dark decade in Europe will bring about those changes.
The US helped China, Japan, and S. Korea industrialize and become wealthy. Japan and South Korea show their gratitude to the USA by being strong allies. Why does China treat the US as an enemy?
No. The US companies certainly did not go to China with the intention of helping China. The US companies went to China because China could offer the cheapest acceptable alternative to what the US wanted to make, thereby increasing profit for the US companies involved. There is no charity involved. It is all business and profitability,
The US companies benefitted immensely from China’s “sweat shops”. And so did businesses from other countries such as Europe and Japan.
But in that process, China began to grow. Not because the US was helping China, but because China created a very good business environment that attracted not only companies from the US, but from other countries as well.
People from the US should stop claiming otherwise.
Overall, taxes accounted for about 25 percent of average consumer spending…This outpaces average spending on food, clothing, education, and health care combined.The mean for total spending per unit on taxes was $16,729.73. This included $8,561.46 in federal income tax, $2,564.14 in state and local income taxes, $2,475.18 in property taxes, $5,565.45 in Social Security deductions, and $105.21 in other taxes, offset by an average stimulus payment of $2,541.71.
At the end of democracy, government directs the economy by creating rent-seeking opportunities. If everyone must file Form #666, there will be an industry in those who provide this service, and soon a few winners will emerge and raise the costs of doing business so that no one else can take their place (costs are passed on to the customers directly, after all). When free money goes out in the form of subsidies, industries will spring up around that and soak up the money in order to keep enough people employed so that the circular Ponzi scheme keeps going. To keep all of this working, government must tax the living hell out of the 53% who pay all the taxes. At some point, just as in the Soviet Union, this marginal cost eats up productivity itself.
What do you think of the fact that a large percentage of things in the world are made in China?
I have a friend who is an ISO certification auditor. He visits regional industrial facilities regularly. He loves to regale us with his war stories. One of our favorites is his experience in an Indian warehouse. His checks revealed significant discrepancy between the inventory and physical stock.
He interviewed the person in charge, as part of the process.
It says 20 here on inventory. That’s your signature correct?
Yes.
Can you count again for verification?
… 15, 17, 18, 20, sir. Correct figure.
My friend was stunned into silence.
He repeated the test.
Correct figure sir each time.
There are reasons why MNCs hire Singaporean auditors to evaluate Indian warehouses.
China is a billion. India is also a billion. Why is China the factory of the world while India isn’t, despite being part of the Commonwealth and an English speaking democracy?
This gravitational pull did not happen overnight. It took decades for tens of thousands companies to be sucked into the Chinese orbit. Every one of them found their competitors enjoyed significant cost advantage by shifting to China. They had to play catch-up to early adopters.
That is not conspiracy. It’s economic reality. Shape up or ship out.
What’s the difference between China and India? My auditor friend has an incisive answer that cuts to the core.
China delivers.
Why did you stop going to a restaurant you liked?
Calling it a restaurant is a hyperbole. Although they have three tables (wine barrels covered with with a glass topping and barstools set around) it is more of a take-away place. The couple running it are nice people, the man, Franco, cooks and his wife, Virginia serves. The food is straightforward home cooking. Pasta with seasonable vegetables, grilled meat and fish.
This place is right in front of my office and when there is no time to go home and have lunch, it is a marvellous alternative. A plate of pasta cost no more than four euros, the same as meat or fish with fresh vegetables.
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Every day they send a whatsapp message with the choice of the day. A simple call with the order and twenty minutes later they’d bring the piping hot pasta to the office. What is there not to love about the place?
For about three years I ate there two to three times a week. They even knew my taste and would set stuff aside. As the pasta with fish ragù in the picture.
So why on earth giving up this delight? Well, let’s be clear, it wasn’t my choice. Much to my surprise I was removed from the whatsapp list. Turned out their son was a student of mine. And he fabulously failed his exam. Till that moment I didn’t even know they had a son. And I wasn’t pleased with the promise he’d spit in my food.
Pentagon’s Bot Army Banned From Facebook & Twitter!
They know that US will do the same robbery they did with Russia and may end up stealing Chinas Massive Reserves
So China is prepared for a Short Time Yuan Crash and dump as many dollars as possible and maybe dump as much as $ 500 Billion – $ 750 Billion and keep the Yuan to around 8.17 – 8.33
Its the best time for China. They can blame the Ukrainian Crisis and slowly keep liquidating their Dollars and buying more Oil and Gas and Coal and Commodities. The US Banks will keep buying the Dollars to prevent the Dollar values from Carshing and the Fed keeps rising rates to ensure that the Dollar doesnt fully get dumped.
So China will Dump the Dollar and Print Yuan as the equivalent – which will lead to the recession slowly being lifted and the Yuan falling to around 8.50 by Next Year.
Its a Short Term Problem but China knows that by 2027 – if they continue onthis trajectory – US could hold them in a massive Vice.
Today China controls 90% of the Supply Chain and so they can earn back $ 1 Trillion in reserves if they follow the Russian mode of Gas for Rubles
2027?
China could be in some trouble.
Its a Brilliant Long Term Move
Its whats called a Cancer Surgery
Remove the Tumor fast to prevent it spreading
THE TERMINATOR Tech Noir Scene(1984) Retro Sci Fi Horror
Cheddar Cheese and Broccoli Soup
Homemade soup! It’s so quick and easy, it can be on your dinner table in 30 minutes.
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Ingredients
2 cans (10 3/4 oz each) condensed Cheddar cheese soup
2 cups water
6 cups frozen broccoli florets
2 cups milk
1/2 teaspoon ground mustard
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon pepper
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese (8 oz)
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The Sopranos: The Saturn Situation
Who Profits from Pipeline Terror?
Secret talks between Russia and Germany to resolve their Nord Stream 1 and 2 issues had to be averted at any cost
The War of Economic Corridors has entered incandescent, uncharted territory: Pipeline Terror.
A sophisticated military operation – that required exhaustive planning, possibly involving several actors – blew up four separate sections of the Nord Stream (NS) and Nord Stream 2 (NS2) gas pipelines this week in the shallow waters of the Danish straits, in the Baltic Sea, near the island of Bornholm.
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Swedish seismologists estimated that the power of the explosions may have reached the equivalent of up to 700 kg of TNT. Both NS and NS2, near the strong currents around Borholm, are placed at the bottom of the sea at a depth of 60 meters.
The pipes are built with steel reinforced concrete, able to withstand impact from aircraft carrier anchors, and are basically indestructible without serious explosive charges. The operation – causing two leaks near Sweden and two near Denmark – would have to be carried out by modified underwater drones.
Every crime implies motive. The Russian government wanted – at least up to the sabotage – to sell oil and natural gas to the EU. The notion that Russian intel would destroy Gazprom pipelines is beyond ludicrous. All they had to do was to turn off the valves. NS2 was not even operational, based on a political decision from Berlin. The gas flow in NS was hampered by western sanctions. Moreover, such an act would imply Moscow losing key strategic leverage over the EU.
Diplomatic sources confirm that Berlin and Moscow were involved in a secret negotiation to solve both the NS and NS2 issues. So they had to be stopped – no holds barred. Geopolitically, the entity that had the motive to halt a deal holds anathema a possible alliance in the horizon between Germany, Russia, and China.
Whodunnit?
The possibility of an “impartial” investigation of such a monumental act of sabotage – coordinated by NATO, no less – is negligible. Fragments of the explosives/underwater drones used for the operation will certainly be found, but the evidence may be tampered with. Atlanticist fingers are already blaming Russia. That leaves us with plausible working hypotheses.
This hypothesis is eminently sound and looks to be based on information from Russian intelligence sources. Of course, Moscow already has a pretty good idea of what happened (satellites and electronic monitoring working 24/7), but they won’t make it public.
The hypothesis focuses on the Polish Navy and Special Forces as the physical perpetrators (quite plausible; the report offers very good internal details), American planning and technical support (extra plausible), and aid by the Danish and Swedish militaries (inevitable, considering this was very close to their territorial waters, even if it took place in international waters).
The hypothesis perfectly ties in with a conversation with a top German intelligence source, who told The Cradle that the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND or German intelligence) was “furious” because “they were not in the loop.”
Of course not. If the hypothesis is correct, this was a glaringly anti-German operation, carrying the potential of metastasizing into an intra-NATO war.
The much-quoted NATO Article 5 – ‘an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us’ – obviously does not say anything about a NATO-on-NATO attack. After the pipeline punctures, NATO issued a meek statement “believing” what happened was sabotage and will “respond” to any deliberate attack on its critical infrastructure. NS and NS2, incidentally, are not part of NATO’s infrastructure.
The whole operation had to be approved by Americans, and deployed under their Divide and Rule trademark. “Americans” in this case means the Neo-conservatives and Neo-liberals running the government machinery in Washington, behind the senile teleprompter reader.
This is a declaration of war against Germany and against businesses and citizens of the EU – not against the Kafkaesque Eurocrat machine in Brussels. Don’t be mistaken: NATO runs Brussels, not European Commission (EC) head and rabid Russophobe Ursula von der Leyen, who’s just a lowly handmaiden for finance capitalism.
It’s no wonder the Germans are absolutely mum; no one from the German government, so far, has said anything substantial.
The Polish corridor
By now, assorted chattering classes are aware of former Polish Defense Minister and current MEP Radek Sirkorski’s tweet: “Thank you, USA.” But why would puny Poland be on the forefront? There’s atavic Russophobia, a number of very convoluted internal political reasons, but most of all, a concerted plan to attack Germany built on pent up resentment – including new demands for WWII reparations.
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The Poles, moreover, are terrified that with Russia’s partial mobilization, and the new phase of the Special Military Operation (SMO) – soon to be transformed into a Counter-Terrorism Operation (CTO) – the Ukrainian battlefield will move westward. Ukrainian electric light and heating will most certainly be smashed. Millions of new refugees in western Ukraine will attempt to cross to Poland.
At the same time there’s a sense of “victory” represented by the partial opening of the Baltic Pipe in northwest Poland – almost simultaneously with the sabotage.
Talk about timing. Baltic Pipe will carry gas from Norway to Poland via Denmark. The maximum capacity is only 10 billion cubic meters, which happens to be ten times less than the volume supplied by NS and NS2. So Baltic Pipe may be enough for Poland, but carries no value for other EU customers.
Meanwhile, the fog of war gets thicker by the minute. It has already been documented that US helicopters were overflying the sabotage nodes only a few days ago; that a UK “research” vessel was loitering in Danish waters since mid-September; that NATO tweeted about the testing of “new unmanned systems at sea” on the same day of the sabotage. Not to mention that Der Spiegel published a startling report headlined “CIA warned German government against attacks on Baltic Sea pipelines,” possibly a clever play for plausible deniability.
The Russian Foreign Ministry was sharp as a razor: “The incident took place in an area controlled by American intelligence.” The White House was forced to “clarify” that President Joe Biden – in a February video that has gone viral – did not promise to destroy NS2; he promised to “not allow” it to work. The US State Department declared that the idea the US was involved is “preposterous.”
It was up to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov to offer a good dose of reality: the damage to the pipelines posed a “big problem” for Russia, essentially losing its gas supply routes to Europe. Both NS2 lines had been pumped full of gas and – crucially – were prepared to deliver it to Europe; this is Peskov cryptically admitting negotiations with Germany were ongoing.
Peskov added, “this gas is very expensive and now it is all going up in the air.” He stressed again that neither Russia nor Europe had anything to gain from the sabotage, especially Germany. This Friday, there will be a special UN Security Council session on the sabotage, called by Russia.
The attack of the Straussians
Now for the Big Picture. Pipeline Terror is part of a Straussian offensive, taking the splitting up of Russia and Germany to the ultimate level (as they see it). Leo Strauss and the Conservative Movement in America: A Critical Appraisal, by Paul E. Gottfried (Cambridge University Press, 2011) is required reading to understand this phenomenon.
Leo Strauss, the German-Jewish philosopher who taught at the University of Chicago, is at the root of what later, in a very twisted way, became the Wolfowitz Doctrine, written in 1992 as the Defense Planning Guidance, which defined “America’s mission in the post-Cold War era.”
The Wolfowitz Doctrine goes straight to the point: any potential competitor to US hegemony, especially “advanced industrial nations” such as Germany and Japan, must be smashed. Europe should never exercise sovereignty: “We must be careful to prevent the emergence of a purely European security system that would undermine NATO, and particularly its integrated military command structure.”
Fast-forward to the Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act, adopted only five months ago. It establishes that Kiev has a free lunch when it comes to all arms control mechanisms. All these expensive weapons are leased by the US to the EU to be sent to Ukraine. The problem is that whatever happens in the battlefield, in the end, it is the EU that will have to pay the bills.
US Secretary of State Blinken and his underling, Victoria “F**k the EU” Nuland, are Straussians, now totally unleashed, having taken advantage of the black void in the White House. As it stands, there are at least three different “silos” of power in a fractured Washington. For all Straussians, a tight bipartisan op, uniting several high-profile usual suspects, destroying Germany is paramount.
One serious working hypothesis places them behind the orders to conduct Pipeline Terror. The Pentagon forcefully denied any involvement in the sabotage. There are secret back channels between Russia’s Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev and US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.
And dissident Beltway sources swear that the CIA is also not part of this game; Langley’s agenda would be to force the Straussians to back off on Russia reincorporating Novorossiya and allow Poland and Hungary to gobble up whatever they want in Western Ukraine before the entire US government falls into a black void.
Come see me in the Citadel
On the Grand Chessboard, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan two weeks ago dictated the framework of the multipolar world ahead. Couple it with the independence referendums in DPR, LPR, Kherson and Zaporozhye, which Russian President Vladimir Putin will formally incorporate into Russia, possibly as early as Friday.
With the window of opportunity closing fast for a Kiev breakthrough before the first stirrings of a cold winter, and Russia’s partial mobilization soon to enter the revamped SMO and add to generalized western panic, Pipeline Terror at least would carry the “merit” of solidifying a Straussian tactical victory: Germany and Russia fatally separated.
Yet blowback will be inevitable – in unexpected ways – even as Europe becomes increasingly Ukrainized and even Polandized: an intrinsically neo-fascist, unabashed puppet of the US as predator, not partner. Vey few across the EU are not brainwashed enough to understand how Europe is being set up for the ultimate fall.
The war, by those Straussians ensconced in the Deep State – neocons and neoliberals alike – won’t relent. It is a war against Russia, China, Germany and assorted Eurasian powers. Germany has just been felled. China is currently observing, carefully. And Russia – nuclear and hypersonic – won’t be bullied.
Poetry grandmaster C.P. Cavafy, in Waiting for the Barbarians, wrote “And now what will become of us, without any barbarians? Those people were some kind of a solution.” The barbarians are not at the gates, not anymore. They are inside their golden Citadel.
Why does China have 20 times less nuclear weapons compared to the US?
First of all, we don’t know how many nuclear weapons China has. China does not advertise this number. The West can only make an educated guess, and they are likely wrong.
Second, until the last two or three decades, China has been too impoverished to really build up its military.
Third, China has focussed on economic development and devoted most of its financial resources on this goal, unlike USA which devotes a staggering amount of financial resources on warfare.
Fourth, China doesn’t need thousands of nuclear weapons. Having up to one thousand is more than sufficient to present a nuclear deterrence to Russia or USA or any other nuclear power.
Fifth, China was never involved in the Cold War, which is when nuclear build-up went crazy.
The owner of Glenn Defense Marine Asia, a Singapore-based maritime ship servicing company with ports across the Asia-Pacific, Francis bribed his way into lucrative contracts with the U.S. Navy in the 2000s. At the heart of his sprawling corruption network was the USS Blue Ridge, a command ship that sails around Asia and serves as the floating headquarters for the U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet.He would shower officers from the Blue Ridge with gifts—often involving luxury hotel cocktail parties, Michelin-star dining experiences, sex workers, and thousand-dollar bottles of booze and cigars—in exchange for classified ship schedules and other information. At one party in 2008, held at the Mandarin Oriental and the Makati Shangri-La hotels in Manila, the Philippines, prosecutors said Navy officers drank an entire inventory of Dom Pérignon Champagne and were entertained by “a rotating carousel of prostitutes.”Officers also redirected military vessels to Francis’ ports so that they could be serviced by his company, where he would overcharge the Navy for fuel and other services. Prosecutors said that, over the years, he defrauded the U.S. military of more than $35 million, although some believe the figure is much higher.
Now imagine an entire government run this way. Lobbyists offer lavish perks to those in power and capture them at their worst, so there is mutual obligation between lobbyist and bureaucrat, then demand that the government contracts or laws favor the companies that the lobbyists represent. In the end, nothing gets achieved because much like on the surface government redistributes wealth and creates industries by lawmaking, underneath the veneer of DC the government exists to move money around the economy based on who pays the right bribes. All the people whining about capitalism are actually talking about this, but they are Useful Idiots because their solution invariably involves more government power over wealth redistribution and therefore, more corruption.
How did your cat react when you first took it home?
A little backstory before I dive in. I was living alone and lonely as ever. I was also on break from graduate school. Lord knows I DID NOT want a boyfriend but rather a pet to look after. My friend suggested I get a cat. Now I was never a cat person I grew up with dogs but I had no time on my hands to raise a puppy. So I did my research and found some cute kitties up fo adoption. In August of 2018 I took ownership of the cutest cat on the block
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During the ride home all I could hear was faint cries coming from the carrier. When I got home and let him out he cried and cried and so did I. I was officially a cat mommy. He warmed up to me quick
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And I have been in love since. Oscar is my right hand
If China is such a wonderful nation why did they construct a Great Wall to keep out migrants?
It NEVER fails to astonish me how many truly stupid people there are in this world.
Two thousand years ago, there were no “migrants” going to China. This wasn’t an issue at all.
The Great Wall was about national defense against invaders.
Hinckley explained that a major driver behind the growing interest of the topics on social media was the COVID-19 pandemic, which pushed many workers out of the office and into their homes.There they had free time to pursue their passions and placed a greater emphasis on mental well-being.“We realized there’s so much more to life than just going to work,” Hinckley said.
You probably saw us ranting about this here: when workers stay home, they realize that Whatever and Office Space were right: 90% of what of we do in offices is unnecessary and pro-forma, and most people really “work” only about fifteen minutes a week. If that is the case, why not skip all the meetings, emails, trainings, and team-building activities, since you will get everything done just the same except without all the junk generated simply to give other people something to do?
As a person from mainland China, have you ever been ‘invited to tea’ by the authorities? What was the experience like?
Yes, I’ve been “invited to tea”by the police twice, both in my hometown Xinjiang BTW.
So last year I went back to Xinjiang to do some filming, make some videos and upload them to YouTube. Well, because of that I had caused myself some small trouble.
This video in particular made me be “invited to tea” for the first time:
Though there are some sensitive remarks in this video, they are not mine but some Uyghur nationalists’. I just read them out in order to let my audiences know what do some Uyghur nationalists think of Han Chinese.
The police officer eventually figured it out and realized that it was a misunderstanding. We ended up smoking cigarettes and chatting with each other until midnight in his office. He shared a lot of his personal experiences being a police officer in Xinjiang and he also suggested me to be careful with my comments online because some people would intentionally twist my words or cut me out of context in order to make me fit into their own narrative. The man was absolutely correct. Lastly, he saw me to the door of the police station and went back to work.
The second time I encountered such case was when I was traveling in a very small town which can be found in North Xinjiang. I was trying to shoot videos while holding my camera when one guy came up to me and wanted to know who was I and what I was doing. I told him that I was a vlogger and I was just filming. He seemed to be nice but he kept following us along the way. We then went to a restaurant, minutes later a few police officers came and asked us to go with them.
It turned out that we had been reported by the man who was following us. The police officer asked me a few questions and checked my camera to see what I had filmed. Again, it was just another misunderstanding and we left the police station in 10 mins.
The guy who reported us may had watched some anti-spy videos online and he thought we were doing some illegal things. The police officer also told us that people in that small town were very sensitive and alert towards people with camera or other digital devices. Honestly, I have to say that it’s just a very small town with nothing special at all. No one including the BBC and CNN would be able to “create some interesting stuff” there. I was filming there simply because it’s a Mongolian autonomy town and I wanted to capture some Mongolian signs on the street.
Anyway, as you can see, after being slandered and attacked by some anti-China media, then being sanctioned by the USA government. The Xinjiang authority and sometimes even the ordinary people of Xinjiang would overreact to “suspicious activities” which doesn’t ALWAYS mean we have something to hide. In many cases, like the first police officer said, we are just afraid of some journalists’ or experts’ creative work which could mislead people’s opinions on what’s really going on in Xinjiang.
Anyhow, in comparison with some “citizen journalists” or some “human rights activists”, this is my boring and unspectacular experience being “invited to tea” in China. It may disappoint you if you wanna hear some exciting and bizarre stories.
Jimmy Altieri Gets Whacked – The Sopranos HD
How do mainland Chinese people feel about their COVID-19 test kits being useless?
😀 😀 You do realise that ALL the covid test kits ALL around the world are made by China right?
Email is now an oligopoly, a service gatekept by a few big companies which does not follow the principles of net neutrality.I have been self-hosting my email since I got my first broadband connection at home in 1999. I absolutely loved having a personal web+email server at home, paid extra for a static IP and a real router so people could connect from the outside. I felt like a first-class citizen of the Internet and I learned so much.Over time I realized that residential IP blocks were banned on most servers. I moved my email server to a VPS. No luck. I quickly understood that self-hosting email was a lost cause. Nevertheless, I have been fighting back out of pure spite, obstinacy, and activism. In other words, because it was the right thing to do.But my emails are just not delivered anymore.
DMARC/DKIM, https, and AMP serve zero purpose for your average website. If you do not use them, you fall in Google’s ranks, and Google controls up to 90% of the search market, so everyone does what Google says. Naturally, Google is abusing this power, as are other large corporations in implicit collusion, simply because that way they can keep their power and do not have to admit the competition that will un-do them because they are bloated corporate welfare dinosaurs.
Kill Bill Vol 1 Full Fight, Black Mamba vs The Crazy 88
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hnu_8qV_K2M
I’m just curious how many Chinese people are willing to fight for the CCP against the whole world? Who is willing to sacrifice their lives, kids, family, and lands for CCP to invade Taiwan?
I’m curious, why do you think the Chinese will face the situation of fighting against the whole world because of Taiwan? And I can tell you clearly, don’t underestimate the Chinese people’s solidarity and patriotism, most of them will go ahead without hesitation if need be.
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First of all, we need to be clear about the fact that the vast majority of countries in the world adhere to the one-China principle, which means that they all recognize that Taiwan is a part of China.
Almost the whole world will not recognize “Taiwan is a country”.
In 1971, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution, clarifying that the People’s Republic of China has the only legal seat in the United Nations organization, and expelled the illegal seat of the Taiwan authorities.
Since then, many first world countries at the time have terminated diplomatic relations with Taiwan one after another.
The U.S. completed its troop withdrawal and ended diplomatic recognition of Taiwan in 1979. At present, 181 countries, including the United States, have established diplomatic relations with China on the basis of the one-China principle.
Of course, it is undeniable that a small number of countries still insist on establishing diplomatic relations with Taiwan. But most of these countries are poor and desperate.
The establishment of diplomatic relations with Taiwan is just because of the money that the Taiwan authorities gave them, and it is difficult to cause any real harm to China.
That is to say, except that Western countries like the United States will frequently provoke the one-China principle in order to satisfy their political ambitions and try to “rule China with Taiwan”, most countries will not violate their diplomatic commitments.
I don’t think so.
Would someone be stupid enough to be hostile to the entire Chinese mainland for a Chinese island?
And if the U.S. really wants to recognize “independent Taiwan,” without a war, or in a non-peaceful way, that’s almost impossible. Therefore, on the Taiwan issue, there will not be a situation in which the “whole world” will confront the CCP.
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Second, I don’t think anyone should “expect” war to happen, it’s against morals and ethics.
China reserves the right to achieve cross-strait reunification by force, but will not initiate a cross-strait war unless it is absolutely necessary, and no one wants to see a war happen.
Moreover, Taiwan is China’s internal affairs issue. China will not easily provoke a “civil war”. If it does, the people on both sides of the strait will be hurt in the end.
But since you have put forward such an assumption, I would like to tell you that according to a survey conducted by the world authoritative survey organization WVS on “Once the war starts, how many people in each country can voluntarily serve the country”, the data shows that there are 76 people in China. % of people expressed their willingness to go to war for their country, which is the highest among all the major countries surveyed such as Germany, Russia, and the United States.
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The Chinese have a strong will to unite and a patriotic belief.
The Chinese hate war because they have been deeply hurt by it, but this does not mean that when China’s bottom line is touched, the Chinese will choose to escape.
What’s more, China’s military power is strong enough that even if war does happen, China is capable of defending its own country with minimal losses.
Of course, rather than hypothetically, let’s just pray that war never happens, in which no one really wins.
Finally, I hope that you will not be too short-sighted before asking questions in the future, let alone treat your world as “the whole world”. Let’s wish mankind love and peace together!
TOP 10 WESTERN MOVIE SHOOTOUTS
A fun watch!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9JVGVrRzCw
Why are the Congress members in the US so lesser tech savvy than CPC members in Chinese government?
On average, Chinese people knows more about the world than Americans knows about the world not because of intelligence but because of your media narratives that made American’s in general naive and ignorant. I am sorry for them.
To be a Chinese civil servant and political representative in China is indeed a very meritocratic process, the sat through test, examinations and they need to do well for the people every step of the way. In China you are both selected on capability and elected on having served well.
In America you just need to be popular.
With the deteriorating US and China relations, how will the US economy be affected?
Westerners ignore a key fact, namely, that China does not depend on the US for its income. It has very significant sources of income all over the globe and basically, cannot be stopped by anything the US may do.
While the US relies in large part on China, for cheap goods and for key roles in the supply chain, China can go on forever without the failed state of America,
The US is losing not because of deteriorating relations with China. It is losing because of chronic mismanagement of its resources and because it chooses politics over real world solutions.
It will be that way in Trump wins in November and it will be that way if Biden wins. Biden has promised to be “tougher” on China than Trump. That makes two failed leaders. Nothing can save America now.
Why, in July 2022, did China refuse to share information with NASA on the reentry of its Long March 5B rocket into the Earth’s atmosphere?
This is totally wrong.
China did indeed share information with NASA.
And, this is what happened.
First the information would be in Chinese language. Sorry, China doesn’t communicate in English.
Second before they can translate this information, they had to make contact with FBI according to the Wolf Amendment.
What is the Wolf Amendment?
The Wolf Amendment is a law passed by the United States Congress in 2011 that prohibits the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) from using government funds to engage in direct, bilateral cooperation with the Chinese government and China-affiliated organizations from its activities without explicit authorization from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Congress
Well according to this law, since NASA gets funded by our government, it really means employee of NASA or even using their email system (funded again) to communicate, is really not allowed to talk to China for anything, without permission from the FBI and US Congress.
After NASA received permission from FBI (which was 5 days later), hence why NASA commented on this 1 day before the debris fell.
At that time the FBI reminded NASA, USA funds you, so you better make a statement about something “Evil” or at least write an article that ends with “At what Cost” and also use the word “Sham” if possible but don’t be too racist because you got many Asian Americans in the NASA program.
After the debris fell down safely over the Indian ocean again….
Finally NASA translated the document and this is the Main heading of the document.
Go FUCK yourself!
The rest of the document is unfortunately unable to be shared because it’s “classified” information.
Maybe in October 2022, the process will be more smooth. I am sure that is why Nancy is visiting Asia on this trip, so she can explain how dangerous China is for not providing an “English document”.
One-Pot Creamy Shells and Sausage
Just like your favorite boxed shells and cheese, this recipe turns out a dinner that’s creamy, irresistible and made in a single pot.
But unlike the boxed version, this upgrade will fill up the whole family—thanks to the addition of hearty Italian sausage and Muir Glen™ tomato basil pasta sauce.
Cooking the whole meal in a single pot isn’t just convenient, it also allows you to build flavor as you go. Here’s what we mean: It all starts with browning the sausage until it’s cooked through.
Removing the sausage but not the rendered fat it leaves behind adds deep savory flavor to the onions, garlic and red pepper flakes that get sautéed next.
After your aromatics, you’ll add the tomato sauce, which is handy since it’ll help deglaze the pan and integrate more flavor into your sauce. With the addition of the broth, you’ll have enough liquid to cook your pasta.
Once the pasta is cooked through, all that’s left is adding the cream and cooked sausage.
Serve this up with shredded Parmesan and basil, and you’ve got a delectable dinner that might just become a part of your regular rotation.
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Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 lb bulk mild Italian sausage
1/2 cup diced red onion
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 carton (32 oz) Progresso™ chicken broth
1 jar (24.5 oz) Muir Glen™ organic tomato basil pasta sauce
1 lb uncooked medium pasta shells
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese (2 oz)
2 tablespoons shredded fresh basil leaves
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Police station assault | The Terminator [Original sound & color]
Why is China not yet a big profit center for US banks?
You’ve probably heard of Jack Ma, the head of Alibaba Group, kind of the Chinese Amazon.
About a year ago, Ma tried to get Alibaba into banking. It was their idea to loan people money to buy stuff from Alibaba, kind of like the typical rotating credit account any young adult could get from any U.S. department store.
Well, the Chinese government put the kibosh on that idea almost immediately. Ma went missing for a few weeks. The idea was taken completely off the table.
This fellow here is Friedrich Hayek
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He’s the anti-Keynes. He thinks that if a capitalist enterprise fails, it should be allowed to fail and to take down anyone stupid enough to have given it money. Otherwise, you just get an endless succession of booms and busts with the government bailing everyone out in a bust cycle.
Mix together Hayek and the Chinese Communist Party and you get why American banks can’t get into China – China doesn’t have an easy credit culture. They think that widespread consumer lending is a bad idea. They think that it could lead to catastrophic failure of an economic system.
They are, of course, entirely right.
Unfortunately, much of American banking isn’t driven by “providing money for manufacturing enterprises” anymore and instead is driven by “moving money around to make more money”.
China’s not the place for that. They love industrial investment, and infrastructure investment, but they detest financial speculation and an economy dependent entirely on consumer spending. You can make money on industrial and infrastructure investment, but not a lot. The real money is in financial speculation and consumer loans. That’s all American bankers are interested in nowadays.. There’s none of that to be had in China, and the Chinese government wouldn’t allow it.
Say what you want about the Commies, but they get through global economic downturns better than anyone else.
To Razavi, membership of a nation state “offers incredibly poor value … The aspects that are really stuck in the past include citizenship, passports and tax. Our vision is to upload the nation state to the cloud.”
As said here before, whatever nation manages to abolish the entitlement taxes and offer government as a service will quickly become self-sufficient and dominate all other economies. The first world has hobbled itself with taxes in order to keep the third world, both foreign and domestic in the ghettos, from exploding into chaos, but the high cost of this is the entitlements taxes which drain vitality so that a Soviet-style collapse is imminent.
Vile 13–year–old sadist
Vile 13–year–old sadist lifts up petite 13–year–old female classmate and drops her headfirst onto concrete. Laughs and says she deserved it.
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School doesn’t detain sadist or call for an ambulance (it only contacts a relative of the victim). When the relative arrives 2 hours later, they’re told the girl had an “accident” and was suffering from “sunstroke.”
Relative calls for an ambulance. Girl is not in hospital until 3 hours after injury. Girl is paralyzed from her left side down and struggles to speak. She will spend the rest of her life like this.
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Vile male sadist is arrested, but is then released on bail. Probably playing video games now. Due to its age, it cannot be named as it is protected by UK law. Naming it is an imprisonable offence. When this creature is convicted, it will probably be given a Youth Rehabilitation Order, roughly analogous to probation in the US. If it receives a “tougher” Detention and Training Order, it will not even go to a youth prison, but to a Secure Children’s Home, for a period between 4 months and 2 years.
In an earlier post, I called the social and religious mores of my country primitive, malignant and in need of destruction because I heard that many Egyptians had mixed feelings about a man who stabbed a female colleague to death after she turned down his marriage proposals — the fact that the girl did not wear the hijab, had rather immodest photos on her social media, and wanted to become a model, made many people feel as though the man should not be sentenced to death because his victim seemed to be a “bad woman” who played with him romantically and made him insane.
But any legal system that protects and gives a slap on the wrist to a boy who cripples a 13–year–old girl for life out of sadistic pleasure must be considerably more barbaric than we are in this case.
Why does it become the model “international” standard for a country to anonymize criminal offenders and give them bail and an absolute joke of a sentence after conviction, all because they’re under 18?
If it were up to me, only the following would be appropriate:
The boy would be named, his face broadcast, and his family known.
A sentence of not less than 15 years’ imprisonment for the boy, with the first 3 to be served in a youth facility and the rest in an adult prison. The boy would qualify for monitored release after completing 8 years of the total sentence, providing he had concretely shown extreme, consistent remorse and displayed a near–perfect record of behaviour through his sentence. Failure to demonstrate remorse and observe a very high behavioural standard would result in the incremental extension of this 8–year threshold.
It’s not a tragedy if this arrangement sets the boy on a trajectory to spend a very long time in prison. Some people are violent and dangerous from a very young age and are simply not meant to be free.
Arrest of the boys’ parents so that their parental responsibility for his crime can be investigated, with a sentence of 1–2 years’ imprisonment if found guilty.
Financial compensation from the boy’s family for this girl who will now face a lifetime of disability, medical expenses, and severely decreased career potential and quality of life. This compensation must be in the hundreds of thousands of pounds and can be obtained through the seizure of family assets and garnishing of the parents’ income, followed by garnishing any public funds allotted to the boy (including for his legally required public education, NHS, etc.), followed by garnishing his wages when he enters the workforce.
Arrest of the school officials who did not detain the boy, did not seek immediate medical attention for the girl, and misrepresented the incident and her injuries to her relative. A sentence of 6 months + whatever additional time reflects how the girl’s medical outcome might have been better if she had been taken to hospital right away. Henceforth these individuals would be barred for life from being employed in schools. The school would be placed under strict and direct government observation or possibly even nationalized.
Is this authoritarian? I actually see it as too light. Blindly mimicking legal principles established by culturally dominant rich countries like Britain needs to end. It doesn’t lead to progress. Progress is to make laws that we have considered rationally and scientifically, are supported by the educated population, produce desired outcomes, and are free from the influence of religion and primitive culture. Under those conditions we are morally and logically justified in practicing the death penalty, corporal punishment like caning, and even criminally trying and incarcerating a 13–year–old boy, and no outsider has any business pressuring us to change.
More than one-third of U.S. families that work full time year-round do not earn enough to cover a basic family budget, according to a recent report from researchers at Brandeis University’s diversitydatakids.org program at the Institute for Child, Youth and Family Policy.The situation is even more dire for Black and Hispanic families, according to the report. More than half cannot afford basic needs, compared to 25% of white families and 23% of Asian and Pacific Islander families. Inequities remain even when controlling for education and occupation.
In theory, the Democrats are pro-diversity, but in actuality they want to keep minorities as a captive voting base who are perpetually impoverished and therefore always vote for more taxes and free stuff (one does not occur without the other). When looked at from the highest level of abstraction, the inflation caused by the Biden taxes has done one thing effectively: it has destroyed the value of real estate holdings and salaries. The Left wants you impoverished and miserable so that you cling to them and they can hand out favors to those who demonstrate appropriate obedience.
How do you feel when you see foreigners eating your country’s food incorrectly?
Aw man this question was made for me. I’m Australian and the one food from here everyone hates is Vegemite. For the most part, it’s because people eat it wrong. People either lather it on like this.
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Or they eat it on a spoon or knife.
Both of these are wrong. The way you eat it is simple. You get your toast, butter it, then put a kinda thin layer of vegemite on it like such.
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Easy Chart to follow right here:
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Is it possible for America, Japan, South Korea, and Europe to forcefully get rid of China’s current regime?
No, it is impossible for 3 reasons:
China’s government is very strong, very stable, and well-supported by the people (according to the Edelman Trust Barometer, Latana’s Democracy Perception Index, and a study from Ash Center at Harvard Kennedy School).
China has the world’s third largest and most powerful military, and China is a major nuclear power.
China is too smart to let the West undermine its government. The West tried in Hong Kong and failed. The West tried in Xinjiang and failed. The West tried in Tibet and failed. The West has played all its cards and can do nothing more.
China will rise to become the world’s dominant power within 20–30 years. You better get used to it.
The adult American chestnut, long thought to be extinct in Delaware, was discovered by a deer hunter with a sharp eye and an encyclopedic knowledge of local flora. The one White is hugging is the only one known to exist in the state; he calls it a “precious resource.”White thinks about what this swath of woods in the rural Centreville area looked like in the early 1900s.“This forest would have been 30% or more chestnut trees, American chestnut,’’ he says. “Of course, the blight came in at about that time when they started to bring the Chinese chestnuts over.”
Diversity might mean suicide.
When you introduce two species within the same niche, they struggle and the less adapted version wins. Over time, this replaces the efficient adaptation with generalists who ravage other parts of the ecosystem, creating an Easter Island style crisis.
Adaptation increases efficiency and in the process creates the ecosystem in which all outputs from one species become inputs to one or more others.
Called my family member in Germany to ask him WTF is going on. How can they let the pipeline be blown up?
He responded something crazy. Said these Germans are sooo scared of being out of gas is pathetic. Also said the German governmeny is full of pro Russian infiltrators.
I was shocked. My own blood is completely and utterly brainwashed. Hes not German btw. An immigrant.
I responded by saying the pipeline was most likely blown by anti Russians. He changed the subject.
Crazy shit going on in the West.
Posted by: Comandante | Sep 29 2022 18:48 utc | 9
Covert intelligence is suggestive of the United States loading tactical nuclear warheads for shipment to Ukraine in and among conventional warheads and weapons systems.
This would be for covert false flag operations; as the United States military normal for starting full-scale war operations. It would not be for reactionary measures. This is in line with the neocon war philosophy and the current leadership of the United States whoever it is.
The scenario planned, would be …
Detonate a tactical (small scale nuclear bomb on a “minor” target.
Blame Russia
Respond with a NATO tactical nuclear weapon barrage.
Of course, that would trigger the Russian “Dead hand” system which would be the wholesale obliteration of Europe and the United States.
My personal opinion is that [1] all this is just rhetorical cover and disinfo.
[2] The United States “leadership” does not believe that the Dead hand system exists, or that it will not make a difference. That Russia is like the United States, employing rhetoric instead of stating things clearly.
I believe that [3] NATO bases already have nuclear systems and missiles in place, and the United States [4] has a very detailed plan to use them to destroy Russia.
Further [5], Russia is aware of this.
But, it is my belief that if Russia was aware of this, that [6] Russia would unleash HELL before America gets the opportunity to set up a false flag, I would think. But, what do I know? The USA did blow up the pipeline and did do the unthinkable.
Stay tuned for the end of the world. Well, at least the end of the United States.
URIAH HEEP JULY MORNING 1972
I hope that htere is just ONE person in the MM audience that appreciates this tune…
Ancient Elites in Western Britain Enjoyed High-Island Living
Archaeologists in the UK have shown how ancient elite families retained their command over communities in the medieval world of Britain’s crannogs. They controlled the communities they ruled from offshore homes located on enhanced islands in lakes and estuaries.
While the elites of Ancient Egypt let their hair down in vast stone palaces, and as the ruling classes of South America hosted parties in temple-pyramids, ancient landlords in western Britain commanded their power over communities from the safety of artificial luxury islands.
Crannogs: From Iron Age Houses to Medieval Control Centers
In prehistoric Scotland, Wales, and Ireland “ crannogs” were generally wooden circular structures built on islands in lakes and in river estuaries. While the vast majority of ancient populations lived in mud and wattle huts on the surrounding shores and fields, societal elites enjoyed the relative safety of their “gated” crannogs.
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Just one of countless Iron Age crannogs that once dotted the Scottish Highlands (this one is a faithful reconstruction), which have now been proven to have developed into elite party palaces in the medieval period. ( DMac / Adobe Stock)
However, understanding day to day life at crannogs has always been something of a mystery to archaeologists, for until the age of underwater archaeology little material was available to study. But now, a new study has determined that elite families “displayed their power and wealth through elaborate parties in crannogs.”
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Figure 1 from the Antiquity study: a) Map of crannogs recorded in the dataset; b) age distribution for Scottish and Irish crannog radiocarbon dates using median ages; c) generalized stratigraphic model of a lake crannog and associated sediment inputs. ( Antiquity Publications Ltd )
Crannogs: Ancient Structures Recently Revised, Twice!
But this all changed after the publication of an earlier 2019 paper in the journal Antiquity (entitled: Neolithic crannogs: rethinking settlement, monumentality and deposition in the Outer Hebrides and beyond ) that demonstrated “at least some of Scotland’s nearly 600 crannogs are much, much older.” In fact, this would make them nearly three thousand years older, putting them firmly in the Neolithic era, as early as 2500 BC.
Now, Professor Antony Brown of UiT Arctic University of Norway, lead author of a new study published in the journal Antiquity, says that between 4,000 BC and the 16th century AD, “hundreds of crannogs were created in Scotland, Wales and Ireland.”
Further illustrating how central the crannog was to ancient communities in Britain, the 1998 book “ The Archaeology of Lake Settlement in Ireland ” informs that there are an estimated “1,200 crannogs in Ireland” alone.
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Lough Na Cranagh. Prehistoric crannog, a defensive man-made island, in Lough of the Crannog on top of sea cliffs of Fair Head. Ballycastle, N. Ireland. ( David Matthew Lyons / Adobe Stock)
Crannogs Were Also For Parties, Trade, and Communications
Professor Brown said ancient builders first selected shallow reefs in lake beds and on the sides of river estuaries. Then they built up these islands with “stone, timber and peat – to a diameter of nearly 30 meters (100 feet),” said the researchers.
The new study explains that such wetland sites are “much more difficult to study than those on land,” however, the team of archaeologists explored three submerged crannogs gathering organic samples for their analysis.
Dr. Brown told LiveScience that lakes are still and shallow around crannogs and that archaeological materials “never wash away.” Sediment DNA samples (sedaDNA) were taken from a crannog in Scotland that was occupied between 500 BC to 10 AD and from two sites in Ireland dated to between 650 to 1300 AD.
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A generalized model of a typical crannog and how it is effected by erosion. The small right side figures are too scientific for this article. ( Antiquity Publications Ltd )
The SedaDNA analysis revealed that people in ancient Scotland, Wales and Ireland were cultivating cereal plants on crannog islands. Furthermore, the team of researchers think traces of bracken ferns ( Pteridium) were brought to the island to fill bedding and for use in the construction of roofs. And common to all three sites was “a lot of DNA evidence suggesting “feasting, partying, trade and communication.”
Evidence of cows, sheep, pigs and goats kept on these ‘island palace’ sites and their slaughter for feasting and ceremonies was identified at all three crannog sites.
Dr. Brown and his team of scientists interpreted this new data against previous studies into samples of pollen and animal bones gathered at other crannogs. Based on these foodstuffs it was concluded that, while crannogs functioned as farmsteads during the Iron Age, they evolved into “elite gathering places” in the medieval period.
Cobb Salad
The classic cobb salad includes chicken, bacon, egg, tomato, avocado and blue cheese tossed with a tangy lemon vinaigrette. Whether you are looking for a way to use up leftover chicken or just want to avoid turning on the stove, this salad is sure to satisfy!
For the good of humanity, this has got to stop. The United States and Russia both keep raising the stakes, and if we keep repeating this cycle it will end with a nuclear war that could ultimately result in billions of deaths. Unfortunately, leaders on both sides do not seem interested in peace at this point. The votes that Russia just conducted in four disputed territories were inevitably going to raise tensions even higher. Of course the western powers have been greatly escalating matters themselves. Over the past couple of months, NATO has gotten far more deeply involved in the conflict in Ukraine, and now the war is starting to spread beyond Ukrainian borders.
Everyone agrees that the damage caused to the Nord Stream pipeline system was an act of sabotage. As I discussed yesterday, an explosion that registered 1.9 on the Richter scale was followed by a second explosion that registered 2.3 on the Richter scale. These explosions were absolutely huge, and that suggests that this was a military operation.
Many in the western world are blaming Russia for the sabotage, but why would they blow up pipelines that they spent so much time and energy constructing and that have enabled them to make giant mountains of money selling natural gas to Europe?
The Russians have already been punishing the Europeans by restricting the flow of gas through those pipelines. There was certainly no need to blow them up.
If it is ultimately proven that the Russians did this, it would be one of the stupidest geopolitical moves that I have ever seen.
Of course there is someone else that could have done it.
The United States will never recognize Ukrainian territory as anything other than part of Ukraine. Russia’s referenda are a sham – a false pretext to try to annex parts of Ukraine by force in flagrant violation of international law, including the United Nations Charter. We will work with our allies and partners to impose additional swift and severe economic costs on Russia. The United States stands with our partners around the world – and with every nation that respects the core tenets of the UN charter – in rejecting whatever fabricated outcomes Russia will announce. We will continue to support the Ukrainian people and provide them with security assistance to help them defend themselves as they courageously resist Russia’s invasion.
So Joe Biden promised to impose “swift and severe economic costs on Russia” on Friday, and then on Monday both Nord Stream pipelines were blown up.
Pres. Biden: “If Russia invades…then there will be no longer a Nord Stream 2. We will bring an end to it.”Reporter: “But how will you do that, exactly, since…the project is in Germany’s control?”Biden: “I promise you, we will be able to do that.”
Biden had obviously been discussing this option with his advisers, and one of those advisers named Victoria Nuland also made a similar threat prior to the outbreak of the Ukrainian conflict…
“If Russia invades Ukraine, one way or another, Nord Stream 2 will not move forward.”
Some enterprising reporter needs to ask the Biden administration if they were responsible for the sabotage.
Of course they will probably deny it even if they ordered the attack.
But it is interesting to note that the Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group entered the Baltic Sea in early September…
The Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) with the embarked 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) concluded two successful training events with the Swedish Armed Forces and Standing NATO Maritime Group (SNMG) 1 while operating in the Baltic Sea, Sept. 4, 2022.
Unfortunately, the Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group didn’t leave the Baltic Sea area right away.
In fact, it is being reported that this task force didn’t actually leave the Baltic Sea until a few days ago…
The Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) and the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) have departed the Baltic Sea and are in the English Channel. The ARG includes USS Kearsarge (LHD-3), USS Arlington (LPD-24) and USS Gunston Hall (LSD-44). Kearsarge and Gunston Hall completed port calls in Gdynia and Gdansk, respectively, last week.
This would have given them plenty of time to plant explosives on the Nord Stream pipeline system if they were inclined to do so.
In addition, we have learned that the U.S. Navy was testing “the latest advancements in unmanned underwater vehicle mine hunting technology” in the Baltic Sea during the month of June…
A significant focus of BALTOPS every year is the demonstration of NATO mine hunting capabilities, and this year the U.S. Navy continues to use the exercise as an opportunity to test emerging technology, U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa Public Affairs said June 14.In support of BALTOPS, U.S. Navy 6th Fleet partnered with U.S. Navy research and warfare centers to bring the latest advancements in unmanned underwater vehicle mine hunting technology to the Baltic Sea to demonstrate the vehicle’s effectiveness in operational scenarios.Experimentation was conducted off the coast of Bornholm, Denmark, with participants from Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific, Naval Undersea Warfare Center Newport, and Mine Warfare Readiness and Effectiveness Measuring all under the direction of U.S. 6th Fleet Task Force 68.
Our Navy seems to have spent a lot of time in the Baltic Sea lately, eh?
“Russia has requested an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council in connection with sabotage against two lines of the Nord Stream. We expect it to be held tomorrow,” Dmitry Polyanskiy, one of Russia’s top representatives at the U.N., wrote on his Telegram channel, according to a translation.Shortly after issuing the statement early Wednesday, the French delegation to the U.N. confirmed to him that a meeting would indeed take place on Friday – a tacit acknowledgement of the panic that the explosions and subsequent leaks have caused.
It will be very interesting to see what transpires at that meeting.
Let us hope that the truth about all of this eventually comes out.
But even more, let us hope that cooler heads start to prevail and that leaders on both sides start to push for peace.
Because if both sides continue to hammer one another, at some point someone is going to cross a line that can never be uncrossed.
Nuclear war is a fate that is too horrible for words, but with each passing day our leaders are dragging us ever closer to such a conflict.
The Islands
Meanwhile in the Pacific the Biden administration, late to the party, is trying to force multiple Pacific islands into a joint declaration that somehow 'fights climate change' by increasing US coast guard patrols in the area. The Pacific leaders, who don't like to be rushed into anything, feel pressured and the US is pointing the finger at the Solomon Islands (Guadalcanal) for being too close to China and obstructing the proposal. The MSM reportage on the subject omits to mention that the US has been funding insurrection in the Solomons for years.
Posted by: Raumati | Sep 28 2022 22:53 utc | 31
Around 1400 Chinese scientists left America in 2021 in fear of looming return of McCarthyism and hostile anti-China environment. Is this very good news to the Chinese government?
Let me tell you about a man I deeply admire. I wish I’d had the chance to sit down and listen to him talk before he passed away—though I wouldn’t have been worthy to have met him.
His name was Qian Xuesen. He was born the same year as the Chinese Revolution was born; in 1911. His father established China’s national education system.
Qian was brilliant. Gifted from a young age he eventually went to MIT and CalTech in the US. He was well respected in the beginning. He was part of the very first research into rocket propulsion. He and a group of friends were part of a group on campus nicknamed “The Suicide Squad,” as they dared the very extreme with chemical compounds and rockets—they all lived to tell about it but they were risk takers for sure.
They earned the attention and funding of the US Military to set up a Jet Propulsion Lab. Qian had some of the highest security clearance and was part of the US Science Advisory Board.
By the end of the war he was one of the world’s foremost experts on jet propulsion—BBC
Then Chairman Mao rose to power back in China. Overnight it seemed, Qian became an object of suspicion. MaCarthyism was sweeping the United States and men like Qian were paying the cost. A cost they did not owe.
Meanwhile, a new director at the JPL came to believe there was a spy ring at the lab, and shared his suspicions about some members of staff with the FBI. “I note that they are all either Chinese or Jewish,” says Fraser Macdonald. The Cold War was under way, and the anti-communist witch-hunts of the McCarthy era were just around the corner. It was in this atmosphere that the FBI accused Qian, Frank Malina and others of being communists, and a threat to national security.—BBC
Qian had always been loyal to the US up to that point. For goodness sake, his wife was from an aristocratic family in the Republic of China.
His wife was the aristocratic daughter of a Nationalist leader, and until Qian’s fall from grace he’d been living happily in America – he’d even taken the first steps towards applying for citizenship.—BBC
No evidence ever came to light to suggest that Qian was anything more than a gifted man excited about his research.
Zuoyue Wang, professor of history at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, says there is no evidence that Qian ever spied for China or was an intelligence agent when he was in the US.—BBC
Did that matter to the US government or the FBI? Absolutely not. Who cares if they couldn’t prove it. He was Chinese so that must’ve made him the enemy, right? Sound familiar?
He was, however, stripped of his security clearance and put under house arrest. Caltech colleagues, including Theodore von Karman, wrote to the government pleading Qian’s innocence, but in vain.—BBC
This is one of those moments in US history that make me embarrassed and ashamed of who we have been. Which might not be so bad if we’d learned from it. But oh no, we are still doing the same racist, hateful things. Still we treat our Chinese scientists and researchers with suspicion and mistrust. They just want to do what they love.
Qian was finally shipped out of the US with his wife and children on a boat bound for China. He felt betrayed and bitter at such an unfair resolution to his career in the US.
“He was one of the most prominent scientists in America. He had contributed so much and could have contributed much more. So it’s not just humiliation but also a sense of betrayal,” says the journalist and writer, Tianyu Fang.
And who could blame him? Qian was the victim of frenzied fear of Communism as well as racism. He was a brilliant man who set the future of space travel in motion and this was the thanks he received!
Little did the US know and realize that they’d made one of the worst geopolitical blunders of that century. Qian was so hurt that upon his return to China he gladly joined the Communist Party and he threw his ferver and intellect into building China’s space and nuclear program.
When he had arrived in China there was little understanding of rocket science, but 15 years later he oversaw the launch of the first Chinese satellite into space. Over the decades, he trained a new generation of scientists, and his work laid the foundations for China’s Lunar Exploration Program.Ironically, the missile programme that Qian helped develop in China resulted in weapons which were then fired back on America. Qian’s silkworm missiles were fired at Americans in the 1991 Gulf War, Fraser Macdonald says, and in 2016 against the USS Mason by Huti rebels in Yemen. “So there’s this odd circularity. The US expelled this expertise, and it has come back to bite them.”
Can’t you just hear the collective screaming of the US military officials with each new accomplishment of Qian, resulting in accomplishments for China?
It was said about his expulsion from the US:
A former US Secretary of the Navy, Dan Kimball – later head of the rocket propulsion company, Aerojet – once said it was “the stupidest thing this country ever did”.
Qian was a distinguished scientist and a good man. He died a hero in the People’s Republic of China, but he could’ve died a hero in the US had he been treated with the respect he deserved.
I’m watching history repeat itself. The US will experience brain drain and China will gain from it—as they should. If the US can’t make them feel safe to practice research then they should be free to pursue it in a country that will recognize the talent and intelligence they bring to the table. The arrogance of the US may not readily be seen but in twenty to thirty years when China grows more powerful because of the contributions of these scientists and researchers, we’ll see once again how wrong we’ve been.
No, Russia Didn’t Blow Up Their Own Pipeline
Have you ever witnessed a judge go completely ballistic and “lose it” in court?
I was a juror on a murder trial. An older, disabled gentleman, Bill, was charged with murdering a 20-year-old male, Derrick, twice his size and 1/3 his age.
It was in Baltimore. Bill was a quiet tiny gentleman. He was disabled from a bus accident that left him with a small settlement, a disability check from the government, and a metal plate in his head.
The gentleman that was killed was young, and judging from the photographs entered into evidence, very powerful. He was shot once, through the heart, with a .38 caliber bullet. He died as he was falling to the ground.
On the day of the killing, the accused had gone to cash his disability check. “Check day” was well-known in Baltimore at the time. All, or most government checks physically arrived on the same day each month. On this day, checks are cashed, rents paid, groceries purchased, needs met. Depending on the needs that are met, it can get pretty energetic on check day.
Maisee and Derrick encountered Bill at the check cashing center. Maisee knew he would be there because her mom did some cooking and cleaning for Bill, and he always paid her mom right after check day. Maisee and Derrick demanded money from Bill. He refused and started walking home. They followed him to the street, pushed him down, and kicked him. He pulled a revolver from his pocket, fired it into the air, and got away running towards his apartment.
Derrick and Maisee followed him, with Derrick picking up a piece of steel rebar, and Maisee throwing rocks. Bill ran to his house. He realized he couldn’t unlock the door and get inside before they caught him, and firm in the knowledge that any strong blow to the metal plate in his head could kill him, he pulled the revolver from his pocket, shot one time, and a man was dead.
The police and ambulance were called. Derrick was taken to a hospital to be pronounced dead. Bill was found and arrested in his bedroom, hiding under his bed. He had hidden the pistol in the back of his closet. It was a five shot revolver. It had three empty chambers, and two expended shells. He literally had no more bullets.
Baltimore city was as violent then as now, and gun crime was prosecuted to the maximum. Bill was charged with 2nd degree murder, voluntary manslaughter, involuntary manslaughter, assault, discharging a firearm in the city limits, everything. Baltimore was going to prosecute its way out of crime.
Judge M. was presiding. She was a no-nonsense black lady in charge of a case where an old black man was accused of killing a young black man. The girlfriend Maisee, was also black. Race enters into this because of her reaction.
Maisee told the police that she and Derrick had confronted Bill because he had beaten her mom. The defense attorney called Maisee’s mom as witness, and asked a few about Bill. No, he had always been kind, and had never hit her.
Of course, the case for the defense was self-defense.
When the defense attorney was asking Maisee about the events of the day, it was clear that he wanted to establish the fact that Bill had run from the confrontation several times, that it was physical, and it was escalating. Every time she began her answer, she prefaced it with a variation of “he beat my mother”.
“How did you meet Bill?”
He’s the man that beat my mother.
That was the lead-in to every answer she gave. The defense attorney objected, because the police had asked, and her mother had testified that he was only paying her to help him around the house. Judge M. told the jury to ignore that remark, and instructed her twice to answer only the questions as they had been asked, without any mention of the fictionalized assault.
She did it again, was interrupted by the judge, and the jury was sent from the court so she could better instruct Maisee.
When we came back to court, Maisee was still in the witness box, and the highly professional defense attorney asked her about the chase through the street, where Maisee and Derrick were following him, she with rocks, Derrick with a piece of steel… Maisee answered to the effect that “He had been beating on my..
Judge M: “Miss xxxxx (Maisee) do not make such a reference again. Now please just answer the question as we discussed.
Maisee: ”Well if you would stop interrupting me…”
THAT’S ENOUGH!
“Young lady, if you think I sweated and worked myself nearly to death to get on the Baltimore Police Department as one of the first black female officers, worked every weekend, night, and holiday shift the good Lord sent my way to pay for my night school law classes, studying law while raising two kids so I could become one of the first black female lawyers in Baltimore, and the first female black judge in the city just so some gum-popping finger-snapping Miss Thang can tell me how to conduct my courtroom, then here is your another think coming.”
“The next two words out of your mouth will be ‘I apologize’. You will apologize to this court, and you will then apologize to the jury for wasting their time. Then, every question you are asked will be answered as it is asked. You will show nothing but a respectful voice and tone in your answers to me, or any member of my court, and before I allow you to respond to me, I want to make one thing absolutely and perfectly clear to you: I will put you in jail for contempt of court. And that stands for you, and anyone else in this courtroom who wants to test my patience today. Now, what do you have to say?”
“I apologize. To you, and the jury.”
“Excellent. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I regret you had to witness that, but we judges are only human, and my understanding and acceptance of some habits is growing thin over the years.”
We, the jury went back to the jury room later, and all promised not to make Judge M. angry no matter what.
I shared this story later with a couple of lawyer friends that I knew practiced in city court, and they had the same long, slow whistle response that I did on that day, and mentioned that they had heard of that episode before.
Sorry for the long prelude, but it was a heck of a thing to witness, and I remember the hush that fell on that courtroom was as if all the oxygen had left. Everyone was remembering an important appointment anywhere else, but afraid to broach the subject. That lady was impressive.
If you are interested, we found the old fellow innocent of everything except discharging a handgun inside city limits, which he plainly admitted to doing.
I checked out the defense attorney, and he is still practicing: A. Dwight Pettit was a heck of a defense attorney then, and most certainly got better. That guy was as smooth as wet silk, and smarter than anyone has a legitimate right to be.
Edit notes. I updated the story to include a warning shot that the old fellow fired on the street.
I was a bit overwhelmed by the number of readers and comments. When I posted my story, I was concentrating on the actions of the judge. It wasn’t until I saw the comments about the guilty verdict for discharging a weapon in the city limits that I began searching my memory. This was twenty five years ago, and I had to think for a bit. I remembered being concerned that he only had two bullets. It was remembering that fact that brought the warning shot to mind. It was for the warning shot, fired into the air/street that he was found guilty. In retrospect, I wish I had worked harder for an innocent verdict on that as well.
As I reflect on that week-long trial, I remember being pleased and proud of how seriously the jury took our duty. It stunk, because a young man lost his life, a family lost a son, and a frail, old man feared for his life and took another.
Huawei begins Third-Gen 5G Massive MIMO deployment in global markets, starting from Philippines
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Huawei has decided to commercially deploy the third-generation 5G Massive MIMO in the global markets. And, to begin with, the company has initiated the assembling procedure of the product from the Philippines region.
According to the latest information, the Huawei 5G Massive MIMO is capable of achieving the best performance with the lowest power consumption. Further, it involves several advanced and new-generation innovative technologies for managing operations.
For instance, ultra-wideband, multi-antenna, and extremely large antennas. Together, these components improve spectral as well as energy efficiency. Besides, it also aids the industrialists to maintain green, simplified and high-end 5G networks.
So far, the Philippines has been constructing the 5G infrastructure for three years. On the flip side, it executed several Massive MIMO products to continuously deliver 5G facilities among users as well as maintain the 4G demands.
However, in the recent few years, the 5G techniques have overtaken the network spectrum. And the latest MIMO product can face all the hurdles to meet the required network development. The proof is the download and upload speeds which are 35% more than the normal network solutions.
Moreover, it enlarges the coverage area of the network by 30 percent. Eventually, it surrounds the large inter-site distances that other technologies usually don’t.
Has there been a military coup in China? Is Xi Jinping under house arrest, and is General Li Qiaoming the next President?
Where are you getting this nonsense from?
You’re getting it from Western mainstream media.
Haven’t you learned your lesson yet? You can’t trust Western mainstream media. It constantly publishes anti-China propaganda. Western mainstream media is essentially the propaganda arm of Western hegemonic governments (USA, UK, Australia, Canada).
King Cat
This is my cat. His name is Muesli.
He may look cute with his heart shaped blob on his nose, but in reality he is a South London geezer cat who wants to bite me all of the time. He doesn’t, but he wants to. He is my boy & I prefer him to most people. He is also a hopeless cheese addict & even becomes temporarily strokable if given lightly fried fresh mackerel. He is very spoilt but he deserves to be as he had a rough start in life & would have no doubt been put down at an early age due to his “challenging” behaviour. I have been his dad for over 10 years now & would not swap him for anything.
Muesli
How can I convince my pro-CCP Chinese girlfriend that there is genocide in Xinjiang?
Pardon me? Did I read this correctly? You want to convince your Chinese girlfriend that you know her country and her country’s political system better than she, a native born Chinese?
You are smoking something stronger than tobacco and need to stop because China will put you in prison and throw away the key, unlike what they do to the Uighurs. That or you have no business dating this woman. None.
You do not respect her, her beliefs, or her country—and by extension, her heritage. I am all for interracial relationships. If I ever remarry I hope he’s Chinese so it’s not like I have problems with the practice. Interracial relationships can help two people grow stronger together and build a relationship of respect unique to them.
But not everyone should date interracially. It burns me up to see arrogant non-Chinese people treating their partner disrespectfully by assuming their Western view is automatically correct. It especially upsets me when it’s about something Chinese. Do you really think you know better than a native Chinese on these subjects?
Likely not! Sit back and ask questions of her. Intelligent and thoughtful questions. And then listen to her. If you disagree, respectfully express that and then drop it. It isn’t your job to change her. She’s not perfect but she’s entitled to her own political beliefs.
U.S., Poland, Bulgaria, and Italy Warn Citizens to LEAVE RUSSIA
Yesterday, September 28, the United States, Poland, and Bulgaria, URGED any of their citizens in Russia to “Leave Russia Immediately.”
Today, Italy issued a similar warning for any Italians who may be in Russia.
Glenn Greenwald asks if Russia would sabotage its own pipeline
FOX is like screeching fingers on a chalkboard to me, but it is mainstream. It’s pretty much making fun of the USA government narrative.
FOX is heavily laden with Vault 7 influences. Watch at your own risk. I put it up for reference purposes, as even this “network” is not “buying the narrative”.
What do you think of China and the Solomon Islands?
According to “the free world”, every country in theory is allowed the right to choose who to ally with. Which sounds logical and reasonable right?
Until they choose to ally with Russia, China, or Iran. Then, you get headlines like this
“How the West should respond to China’s search for foreign outposts”
“Chinese influence is spurring violence in the Solomon Islands”
“Why won’t India’s government condemn Vladimir Putin?”
“India’s vaunted strategic autonomy is a mirage”
“Iran’s rulers enthusiastically seek to destroy the liberal world order and therefore support Russia’s aggression.”
The hypocrisy of certain countries and their undying will to dictate to the little guy who they can and can’t have relations with is amusing. If Ukraine has the right to choose, why doesn’t the Solomon Islands?
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How can I deal with everyone around me eating meat? I am vegan and I think the meat industry/eating other creatures is horrible. I try not to think about it (normalize) but sometimes I get so upset thinking that people I love actually do this.
Lemme tell you a story about some of the most hardcore and admirable vegans in the world.
In 2008, the Chinese province of Sichuan was hit by a giant earthquake. When a maternity ward in the city of 什邡 (Shifang) collapsed, the hospital manager helped the afflicted families seek refuge at the local Luohan Temple, a Buddhist place of worship.
The temple’s leader, 素全法師 (Master Suquan), did not hesitate to take them in, and let them pitch tents in the courtyard.
However, new dilemmas soon surfaced – some mothers were giving birth, leaving puddles of blood and filth on the temple’s holy grounds; babies needed to be breastfed, which meant mothers had to bare their breasts in public; husbands needed to slaughter, cook and feed livestock to their wives to help them recover after giving birth and produce breast milk.
These offended many of the monks, who lived by a strict code of discipline, including tenets on diet that forbade them from consuming living creatures (i.e. animals). They considered what the families were doing to be utterly taboo, blasphemous and disrespectful.
Master Suquan rebuked the other monks, by saying that the biggest taboo in the universe was to see a life in need of saving and doing nothing. Next to that, nothing even compared. He decreed that they had no business interfering with the choices of others.
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He opened the temple’s granary and allowed the families to take anything they needed. When the local People’s Liberation Army medical corps arrived on the scene, the monks would cooperate and do their share to ensure the women had a roof over their heads, and managed to give birth in sanitised conditions. Most of them would have violated some tenet by helping a woman give birth. But it didn’t matter – saving lives was more important.
Eventually, 108 healthy new babies were delivered, and the mothers were all safe.
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No doubt the act of slaughtering and eating animals can be horrific and traumatising, especially for privileged people with no other worries in their lives. And yet, most people on earth aren’t privileged white collar workers in developed countries with time, money, energy or knowledge to spare. They depend on meat to survive. Between loving animals and loving human beings, the biggest good is always to love human beings first.
How vegan are you? No more than a Buddhist monk, surely. If those monks could stand the sight of meat and other such “obscenities”, so could you.
Russia has selected two cities against which it will launch “strategic nuclear weapons.”
It is important to note, the Russian are saying they will use “strategic” nuclear bombs, NOT “tactical.” These bombs are “city busters.”
Full details on tonight’s Hal Turner Radio Show.
Set an alarm or reminder in your cell phone to tune-in at 9:00 PM eastern US Time, which is 8:00 Central, 7:00 Mountain and 6:00 Pacific time (GMT -0400)
Then press "LISTEN" or click the right arrow on the small player that appears. THIS LINK DOES NOT GO LIVE UNTIL ONE HOUR BEFORE THE SHOW! During that hour, it streams commercial-free music until the show begins.
Have you ever told your cat to do something? What was your cat’s response?
When my fiancé and I moved in together we moved into his house.
Blink, his cat was already living with him and I had a bearded dragon called George.
Bearded dragons are known to get stressed in new environments and he refused to eat for weeks and when he did eventually eat, it was barely enough.
No matter what we (the humans) tried, George was wholly miserable.
I thought he was maybe afraid of Blink, seeing her as a predator, but any time George came out of the vivarium to exercise, Blink was his go to.
Since all else failed we asked Blink to explain to George that this was his new home, he was wanted here and we just wanted him to be healthy and happy.
We proceeded to offer George his favourite fruit and locusts.
He once again refused.
We left him alone so as not to stress him out.
While we were away from him, Blink walked up to him, put her nose on his, sniffed around him for a while and kind of nudged him.
He walked towards the vivarium we keep the locusts in, looked at us and licked his lips.
This was George’s way of asking for food.
I got one locust out and offered it to George.
He seemed uninterested but we left it a little and when we looked back around George had munched on the locust and Blink was patting him on the head.
They bumped noses, Blink went her own way and George has had his appetite back ever since ❤️ if not for Blinks intervention, things were so bad, I expect George would have just curled up and died of starvation.
Also, when George was outside in the garden in summer we would ask Blink to stay close to deter seagulls from trying to take George for a meal. She never left his side and it became routine in the morning for George and Blink to make their way to the back door, sit beside each other and catch some rays
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his girl has a beautiful smile but whenever she does smile, she puts her hand over it as if trying to hide it. Why would she do that?
My goodness all these “she has low self-esteem” answers… Judgemental much?
I cover my mouth when I smile or laugh. It’s a cultural habit. Chinese traditional etiquette dictates when women smile/laugh, their teeth should not be visible. So I was told as a kid that I need to cover my mouth when smile or laugh.
In fact this is a pretty common etiquette through out East and Southeast Asia. You see women do this all the time in real life and on TV.
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It’s pretty common in Manga as well.
So it could be that this girl has East Asian or Southeast Asian heritage and grew up being told covering her mouth when laughing is good manners. Or she could be a Manga fan and found the gesture cute, so she is doing it in real life.
But no… oh no… it must be she has low self-esteem and all that.
Why do Americans want the CCP out, when in fact the CCP and vested interests is what is keeping China from advancing ahead of the USA?
Some years ago before the global financial crisis, I began to develop a habit of grinning at almost every piece of supposedly serious journalism on China, whether it was Time, NYT, the Economist or even the BBC and Der Spiegel.
I was unaware of my subconscious bubbling to the surface until my friend asked worriedly “why are you smiling at the laptop?”
I came to the realization I was reading about China in English, and it was a far different picture from the one painted in Chinese, a rusty language I had brushed up in my two years stateside.
I was tickled by the absurd gap between the two, further reinforced by the dismantling of the China in my mind with the reality of modern China I had witnessed with my own eyes.
I have slowly come around to the conclusion that the free west love communist China for the same reason they hate her.
I kid you not.
You see, the west loves doing business with China because she is big and delivers.
But the west also hates competing with China because she is big and delivers.
The west used to dismiss and laugh off Chinese competition.
Today, they still dismiss Chinese efforts, but there is no laughter. The rhetoric is designed to stir up anger instead.
China delivers, but that is because the evil communists government has turned the poor Chinese people into a monolithic army of spying zombies.
Anyone who wakes up from the zombie apocalypse will be caught and delivered to Tiananmen square to die under passing tank tracks.
Evil must be opposed.
Cue heroic music and the entrance of the white hero with guns blazing to save the day.
On a more serious note, the CCP leadership over the past 70 years has led China from an agrarian, feudal, war-ravaged and exhausted society to a confident, peaceful and modern nation state that has landed on the far side of the moon and launched her own Beidou GPS system with global coverage.
China is behind because she squandered a century and three generations whilst the west industrialized.
She is closing the gap, because a stable China at peace is a formidable proposition.
My Favorite Martian S01E01 (1963) colorized
What was a loophole that you found and exploited the hell out of?
Back in 1982, when I was 16 years old, I was looking to buy my first car. In the newspaper I found a 1972 AMC Matador advertised with low miles at a price I could afford, so I bought that car, and it served me well for a few years., with no issues. When I turned 18, the Matador started having fuel pump problems, making it harder and harder to start. My dad, who was a fairly decent mechanic, said we could go to the local parts store and get a new one, then put it in ourselves and save some money on labor. Sounded like a great idea to me, I was always one to get my hands dirty, and with my dad helping, I was sure we would be able to slap that new fuel pump into the car in short order.
We went down to Chief Auto Parts, it was a chain type auto parts store that was local to us, and we requested a fuel pump for a 1972 AMC Matador. The store worker went and found the replacement part and brought it back up. Of course, the mark of a great shade tree mechanic is to check the new part with the old part to make sure it is the correct one, which we did … and it looked right, so we went ahead and paid for the fuel pump, got a core charge for the old one, and went off to put it in.
It only took a few minutes to actually put the new pump in, it was held in by two bolts with a paddle that pumped the fuel from the up and down motion made by the lobe of the cam shaft, a pretty slick design. Once it was in, the car started up no problem and ran like a dream, for a week … then the same sputtering and hard starting started again. We figured we got a bad fuel pump, so we pulled it out and took it back to Chief Auto. They didn’t ask any questions, just went to the back and gave us the new one, took the old one and told us to have a nice day. Being the curious type, my dad asked how long the warranty was on the new one, in case we run into another issue. the clerk said that Chief had a life time factory warranty on them, being that they were genuine Mopar parts. Visibly impressed, by dad mentioned that he would certainly be buying Mopar parts and buying only from Chief’ Auto in the future. Little did he know that he was going to be spending quite a bit of time at Chief.
We installed the new “Genuine Mopar” fuel pump, which was the exact same model as the last one we had gotten, and sure enough, the car started right up and ran great, FOR A WEEK. Yep, at the end of the week the car was sputtering and hard starting again, and eventually got to where it wouldn’t start at all, just like before. So we pulled the fuel pump, yet again, and back to Chief Auto. This time did not go quite the way the previous two time went …. the clerk saw in the records that we had already exchanged one of these fuel pumps before, and he started in on a 3rd degree to find out what kind of terrible environment we were running the car in that was causing these fuel pumps to go bad. Of course we explained how the original one had been fine for years, but these last two only lasted a week, but that we had our receipt and that it stated lifetime warranty on it, so the clerk was obligated to honor the Chief Auto warranty for the Mopar part.
After about 4 of these replacements, someone in Chief Auto called the Mopar parts rep, who did some digging, and they found out that the “Genuine Mopar” replacement fuel pump was actually an after market fuel pump that was being made in Malaysia, and that the original manufacturer of that model fuel pump had gone out of business. Worse yet, it was discovered that the paddle used to pump the fuel as it rode along the cam lobe was a half inch shorter than the original design, and the material used for the paddle was not the same hardness, so as it got hot and worn over the week of use, the paddle would deform and then stop engaging with the cam lobe, eventually deforming past the point of operation.
The Matador was a fine car when it ran, and even though I could not continue to drive it due to the potential unreliability of it, my dad traded me his Chrysler New Yorker for the Matador, and each week on a Saturday, he would go out to the driveway, loosen the two bolts to the fuel pump, pull it out and go to Chief Auto to swap the old one out for a new one. I stopped counting after 32, but he continued to use that car and change out that fuel pump for about two years. Finally he gave ithe car to the High School, they needed cars to work on in auto shop class, and it was a huge tax write off, so he made out like a bandit. Funny thing, at $20 buck a pop for those fuel pumps, he must have got a couple thousand dollars worth of free fuel pumps out of that auto store, but even years after we got rid of that car, every time we went into Chief Auto, the guys there would greet my dad like he was one of their crew when he entered the store.
I gotta give Chief Auto props for honoring that warranty for as long as they did, that was great customer service, you don’t see that anymore.
Mamas Family Mamas having a fling
What are the implications of recognizing Chinese sovereignty over Taiwan?
Taiwan is already recognized by the United Nations to be a part of China through the following resolution:
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There is no issue about recognition of China’s sovereignty over Taiwan.
The implication of this is that any attempt to separate Taiwan from China is a violation of the above UN resolution and an interference in the internal affairs of China.
Do you own a cat with a disability?
Yes. Meet “Tipsy”:
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This is a picture of her when I brought her home.
I adopted her from Humane Society when she was 2-years-old. She’s diagnosed with Cerebellar Hypoplasia.
Basically, her hips tip as she walks.
She’s grumpier than most cats. It’s lots of low growls (or something like that) from this girl, if another cat just walks past her the wrong way.
She has mood swings. “Yay! I love you!” or “Ew! Get away from me!” in seconds.
She always tries to beat me to a door. Don’t let her wobbly demeanor fool you, she’s a fast cat! If she hears the creak of a door, she’s at my feet.
She LOVES hugs! I swear, she could hug on me for hours. She puts her arms around me and presses her face against my shoulder. So sweet!
She needs a little extra help with going potty. She’s litter-trained, but accident-prone. I have to hold her hips still, to avoid any poos or pees out of the litter.
She loves to explore! Since she can’t jump too high, she’s safe in my backyard (under supervision, of course). I take her for short walks, to parks, even on road trips (although she’s only been on one).
She’s scared of loud noises. Fireworks, thunder, barking, car horn, ocean waves—she needs a hug to get past those sounds.
She’s completely healthy. While she may look different, walk different, meow different, and act different—she’s not all that different. She’s a normal kitty that will live a long, healthy life. She’s currently 9-years-old, going strong!
The Wild, Wild West s02e10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PeJVsRsKJM
Why do some Chinese call the US racist when in China, Black people couldnt even ENTER McDonald’s in Guangzhou in March 2020?! Do they realize how crazy & silly they look criticising the US when China is much more racist than even the racist US?
Anyone who doesn’t have their vaccine pass is denied entry.
So it’s pretty stupid to compare one incident of someone being denied entry because they didn’t have a vaccine pass 2 years ago to how many cop assassinations of black guys in the US since then?
Even if it wasn’t about a vaccine pass it’s kind of stretching things lol.
Nord Stream Explosion Removes the Chance of Seperate German-Russian Peace
Russian ability to restore gas to Germany alone lies in tatters
By supplying German industries with gas Russia held a tiny amount of leverage over Berlin since it could theoretically switch off the valve. It was a tiny amount of leverage since nobody had ever witnessed Russia actually do such a thing despite decades of financial, economic, diplomatic, political, propaganda, and moral war against her by Berlin and its Washington overlord.
When a month ago Russia actually went ahead and switched off Nord Stream gas it boosted its leverage. By carrying out the threat it demonstrated the credibility of said threat, while still retaining the ability to restore supplies. Its leverage proposition was “We can restore your gas the moment we reach a modicum of peace.”
By destroying Nord Stream the “mystery” explosions have removed Russian ability to make that offer, and have removed Russian leverage with Germany.
The explosion also removes popular pressure on Berlin from below. If there is no Nord Stream then there also can not be protest to open Nord Stream by freezing proles.
The explosion also removes a piece of infrastructure that the Imperial Capital has been obsessed with for years. Obsessions that led it to enact sanctions against entities of its own “ally” (vassal). Obsession that was out of all proportion to Nord Stream’s actual significance or prospects of German-Russian peace.
That is to say, I believe the chances of German-Russian rapprochement were always zero. But that did not stop Washington from traditionally hugely overreacting to the possibility and zeroing in on Nord Stream as the potential catalyst. Its final destruction will have caused a deluge of satisfaction and merriment in DC. (Never underestimate the drive of DC apparatchiks to create feel-good moments for themselves.)
And because the pipeline was inactive anyway the costs associated with blowing it up are minimal. Blow up an active pipe and you risk turning a vassal against you. But having succeeded in making the pipe into an object of shame that Berlin must apologize for ever having built, delivering the explosive coup de grace carries little risk.
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What has China done to the USA for the USA to be tough with it?
To be honest, I would also like to know what China has done! I’ve been racking my brain thinking, did China disrespect the US? Did it provoke the United States? Or did it collude with other countries to try to bring down the US? But I don’t see China doing anything like this at all. On the contrary, it is the US that has been actively provocative and offensive. So I reasonably believe that the United States is turning their jealousy of China’s rapid development into a containment policy that suppresses China in an all-round way.
I want to ask every fair and rational person, is there anything wrong with making his country strong and prosperous? In the past three decades, China has experienced unprecedented economic growth in modern history, with a GDP that rivals that of the United States.Some people see this as a threat to the United States, but in fact, China is doing so well because the Chinese government and the Chinese Communist Party are trying to make life better for the Chinese people. Moreover, China’s economic growth has directly benefited the United States, and the United States has always been dominant in bilateral trade. It is unfair to blame China for the US economic recession. This is entirely caused by the mistakes of the US’s own economic policies.
As we all know, China is the most peaceful major country in the world. It has always been moderate and does not interfere in other countries’ internal affairs like the US. It hopes to coexist peacefully with other countries for mutual benefit and win-win results. China will not compete with the United States for hegemony, but the real problem with China is that it does not want to dominate the world, but it may prevent the United States from doing so in a unipolar manner. Therefore, we are now seeing more and more of China’s counterattack against some of the sanctions imposed by the United States.
So do you know what the truth is? The United States has tried hard to make so many accusations against China, but what the United States is really angry about is China’s “crime of disobedience.” There are many countries that are not obedient, but only China is the “real threat” in the eyes of the United States. Because of its size and influence, it enjoys good popularity in the world.
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Finally, I would like to ask if a country relies on its own strength to be arrogant and domineering, requiring the whole world to act according to its will, interfere in other countries’ internal affairs under the banner of “human rights” and “justice” and even launch wars, will you stand up and resist? Maybe some people say yes, some say no, I understand. But if there is another powerful country to stand up bravely for you to fight back, help maintain world peace and multilateralism, help poor countries develop, would you support it? I hope there is no hesitation now.
American Roulette
By Batiushka for The Saker blog
Introduction: America’s Death-Wish
‘Russian roulette’ is a most peculiar expression. At least for any Russian. For the simple reason that he has never heard of it. In fact, it does not exist in Russian, neither the expression, nor the reality. It is something we learn about with astonishment when we learn English. The expression is an American invention and only an American with a death-wish could have thought up such a thing, in 1937, in fact (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_roulette). And so it is that only an American with a death-wish could have thought up the present situation. He has poked the bear so much and so often for over thirty years that the bear has had a lot of time to plan exactly what he would do. Now he is doing it. Why are you surprised? You loaded the gun and pointed it at your own head, now expect the bullet to come out.
Where We Came From
The Special Military Operation (SMO) in the Ukraine could have been over as early as April 2022, or at latest in August when most of the old Soviet weapons of the Kiev regime forces, augmented by supplies from ex-Warsaw Pact countries, had been destroyed. However, ignoring the Ukrainian people, since they are mere cannon fodder, the West intervened and escalated the conflict into a full-scale war by supplying its weaponry, technology and manpower at the bidding of the Westernised Ukrainian oligarchate. (Just as in February 1917, when the West created the ‘Russian Revolution’ at the bidding of the Westernised Russian oligarchate, also ignoring the people). Thus, the Ukraine has become merely the battleground for the real War, that between Russia and the USA.
The Russian response to Western escalation and aggression is partial mobilisation. The limited SMO will need more manpower to defeat the doomed NATO-supplied Nazis, whose numbers have been much increased by the arrival of NATO troops in Ukrainian uniform as well as by mercenaries. President Putin was accused by the Western ruling class through their State-controlled media mouthpieces of threatening them with nuclear attack. This was not the case. He had simply answered Truss, who had threatened Russia with nuclear attack, replying that any such aggression would be met by Russia with the same.
President Putin now awaits the winter in order to give the peoples of Western Europe opportunities to reflect and then force their spineless leaders to reject American tyranny. Since 2014 President Putin has become determined to remove the American threat to his Western borders and so to Western and Central Europe once and for all. Only then will the North-Western peninsula of the Eurasian continent at last become free. In order to do this, he has built up relationships with China, India and others in Asia, as well as with many countries in Africa and Latin America. Thus, in recent months he has rapidly gathered influence all over Eurasia.
Where We Are Now
As the Soviet Union between 1989 and 1991, so the European Union between 2022 and 2024. Now is not the time for top-down Unions –in the last two generations since 1989 they have been collapsing in favour of international co-operation between sovereign nations, as is needed by the grassroots. Demonstrations have taken place in the Czech Lands, Austria, Germany and the Netherlands, all calling on Kiev to start negotiating with Russia, and on the EU Commissars to stop behaving like vassals of the US feudal magnates. Germany is very nervous, it risks its industry shutting down. And German winters can be very cold. Now the two undersea Nordstream pipelines for Russian gas to Germany, have exploded. Of course, it is sabotage.
The USA has successfully cut off German industry, and much of Europe, from the Russian gas that could have powered it up again, had the EU wanted to be free of dependence on the US. The Hungarian government also wants Kiev to negotiate – it has Hungarian citizens across the border in Zakarpattia. And there are those in Romania who think the same about the province of Romanian Chernivtsi across the border, though those who think that are not allowed to be part of the present US-puppet government. Poland also wants its territory back, perhaps all five provinces of the far western Ukraine: Volyn, Rivne, Lviv, Ternopil, Ivano-Frankivsk. Meanwhile, Italy is about to get a new, anti-Brussels nationalist government, much to the dislike of the unelected EU elite.
The euro has already collapsed against the dollar. Now it is the turn of the pound sterling. The pound sterling has lost 20% of its value against the dollar since MissTrust came to power. The UK, stabbed in the back by the US for its anti-EU policy on Northern Ireland, has an economy which is not emerging from covid, but submerging after covid. The UK Establishment media trumpet that the UK State Health Service’s waiting lists are now down to only (sic) two years for most people (if you don’t die before that). Over 10% of UK citizens, 7 million people, are now waiting for treatment. Some are in great pain. In any other country in the world, there would be a revolution if waiting lists for health treatment were longer than two months. Some UK citizens are even going to the Ukraine to get proper health treatment.
The UK’s infrastructure, utilities, roads, railways, education and healthcare, has in many places reached what used to be called ‘Third World’ levels. The UK currency crisis has come about because of the UK government’s need to borrow huge amounts of money – this was MissTrust’s ‘bold plan’. After all, the UK Establishment follows to the letter US orders and has had to refuse Russia’s riches and subsidise the bankrupt Ukraine. The UK level of debt is now approaching that of the USA and catching up with that of Italy, whom it used to mock as a ‘basket case’. As they say: ‘What goes round, comes round’.
Where We Are Going
How will all this end? From the start I have believed that this will all end with the Russian victory. This means:
1. Another Ukraine
There will always be an East Slav-speaking country between south-eastern Poland and south-western Russia, whatever it will be called. However, in the future it will be a country within its natural borders, occupied only by those who voluntarily identify with the government and culture in their capital of Kiev. Moreover, deNazified, it will present no military, biological or nuclear threat to its neighbours and will be independent of geopoliticians in Washington and Brussels.
2. Another Russia
As a result of the War against NATO, Russia will be freed of the froth of Westernised sycophants formed in the 1990s, the liberal chattering classes, called in Russian ‘the creative class’. The 5% who are enserfed to the West and its overpriced consumer baubles are only repeating the treason of the Westernised ruling class and traitors from before 1917 who also wasted their fortunes on overpriced Western consumer baubles. Those who will continue to behave like chimpanzees with regard to their Western lords and masters should go and live in the West, if they have not already fled Russian justice for Finland, Georgia or elsewhere. Russia at war against NATO (= the US) is a land that needs patriots, not traitors.
3. Another Europe
At the present time Central and Western Europe risk ‘Donbassisation’ as a result of US demands for absolute obedience to their anti-Russian tyranny, known as ‘sanctions’. This means that NATO-ised Central and Western Europe will become deindustrialised, impoverished, cold, hungry and also left defenceless, as their arms will have been destroyed in the Ukraine. However, it is only at that low point that they will begin to understand that their future is not across the Atlantic, but next door, with Eastern Europe and Eurasia, the gateway to Asian growth and prosperity.
4. Another World
Seven billion of the eight billion people of the world, 87.5% of the planet, await the day of freedom from Western imperialism, exploitation and nuclear threats, aspiring to humanity, truth, justice and prosperity. Their only hope is the coming Russian victory over the US. Once that is here, much will fall back into its natural place. Asia with China and India, Africa, Latin America and all the Western peoples (basically, Western and Central Europe, North America and Oceania), so long oppressed by the gloomy darkness of the feudal Western elite, will be able to follow in Russian footsteps and walk, at first dazzled, into the bright daylight of freedom.
Conclusion
In 1939, quite infamously, Winston Churchill expressed his extraordinary ethnocentric ignorance by calling Russia ‘a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma’. Like many ignorant people, he was of course talking about himself. When you cannot be bothered to understand someone else’s viewpoint, just call it ‘a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma’. You will then have successfully defined yourself as a blinkered and selfish narcissist. The only thing is, when you depend on that someone else for vital gas, oil, fertiliser, wheat, paper, titanium etc, maybe you really should after all make an effort to understand their viewpoint. Otherwise, they will definitely consider your death-wish, the totally suicidal behaviour of your American Roulette as, ‘a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma’.
Eagles – Turn To Stone (1977)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzkKAyFpnjY
US politicians move to introduce radical bill over China’s Taiwan, in a ‘dangerous provocation’
In the latest round of increasingly frequent attempts by US politicians to “score points” by provoking China over the Taiwan question ahead of the midterm elections, Republicans introduced their own version of the highly provocative “Taiwan Policy Act 2022,” which is more radical and dangerous than the version approved by Senate Foreign Relations Committee two weeks ago.
Analysts said that as the current House minority, some Republican lawmakers have tried to use their version of the Taiwan Policy Act to put pressure on Democrats and speed up the progress of the legislation. But at the same time, it also shows that there are indeed some pragmatists among Democrats who are concerned over the damage the bill will do to China-US relations.
Along with 36 other House Republicans, Michael McCaul, Republican leader of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, introduced the House minority’s version of the Taiwan Policy Act of 2022 on Wednesday.
According to VOA, the Taiwan Policy Act introduced by GOP House representatives retained and restored some highly sensitive requirements in the original version, including a requirement that the US increase strategic clarity in “defending Taiwan” and designate Taiwan authorities as a major “non-NATO ally.”
The GOP’s bill calls for the renaming of the “Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office” as the “Taiwan Representative Office.” The legislation would also require the US to sell Taiwan island more weapons.
On September 14, the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved its own version of the bill initially introduced by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez and Senator Lindsey Graham in June.
Republicans, the minority party in the House of Representatives, came up with a new version of the bill to further hype the Taiwan question, and apparently to pressure Democrats in Congress and the White House to speed up the passing of the bill before the midterm elections, Diao Daming, an associate professor at the Renmin University of China in Beijing, told the Global Times on Thursday.
“I don’t think it means that the Democrats, who have a majority in the Congress, are interested in passing this bill quickly,” Diao said. “If the Democrats want the legislation to be achieved as soon as possible, it should be the Democrats that introduce a House version, which is different from the reality.”
But it does show that some members of the pragmatic wing of the Democratic Party are concerned about being so loud and provocative in damaging China-US ties, Diao noted.
Senior Colonel Tan Kefei, spokesperson for China’s Ministry of National Defense, expressed strong opposition to and condemnation of a series of recent US acts that infringe upon China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, including the Taiwan Policy Act and arms sales, at a press briefing on Thursday.
Some people in the US have violated the one-China principle, reneged on their political commitment to China on the Taiwan question, and strengthened military ties with Taiwan island’s DPP. These provocative actions are very dangerous and do great harm, Tang said.
We urge the US side to end military links with the DPP authorities, or bear the resulting serious consequences, Tan added.
Despite the belligerence of the US lawmakers in drafting the Taiwan Policy Act 2022, experts say that procedurally, there is limited time for the bill to complete its legislative process before the midterm elections.
If more Democrats join the Republicans, the bill is likely to be taken up in the House, followed by bipartisan, House-Senate negotiation. If there is no reaction from the Democratic majority, the bill will just sit there and the Senate version will go to the House Foreign Affairs Committee, where it will be reviewed and amended, and another long process of bipartisan, House-Senate negotiation will ensue, experts said.
In less than 40 days, Congress needs to pass a series of appropriations bills for fiscal year 2023, as well as some major authorization acts, such as the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2023.
However, experts warned of the risks that lawmakers defeated in the election may be more likely to be driven by “special interests” to do risky things for the sake of their legacy. As for the possible winners, they may also do something extreme in the next two months on the Taiwan question in order to meet their own interests.
Although November 8 is the date set for the midterm elections, lawmakers who lose will have to leave office by January 3. If the legislative process for the Taiwan Policy Act is not completed by this date, the next Congress will have to go through the whole process of proposal, review and approval all over again, Diao said.
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What is the cheapest dinner party meal you’ve ever cooked?
The “Indian chef” came to our house to fix a meal for our office staff and the neighborhood. The guy had creds. He was the chef at some of the G7 meetings, at various White House events, and carried with him clippings from various magazines that followed his career.
He came to us owing to the kindness of his son, who was training our technical staff on some specialized software. When he learned of my love of Indian cuisine, he said, “Great! I’ll bring my father next time, and he’ll cook for you!”
Which he did.
I collected father from his hotel in the early afternoon, when he handed me his clippings and I began to comprehend his skill and authenticity. He carried with him a black “doctor’s bag” which contained various spices and herbs and some utensils. Our agreement was that I would buy whatever food he wanted, and he would cook, gratis.
Off went we to a supermarket, where he trundled the cart up and down the aisles, tossing in this and that, eventually filling the cart. I was getting nervous about the cost of all that food. But I need not have been. Most everything was fresh — he would be cooking from scratch. We didn’t get coconut milk; we got the coconuts! And the only meat was chicken wings. The bill, I think, was around $60.00. To feed about 20 people.
Now back home, he took over the kitchen, directing the volunteer helpers and me to do this and that. And there was he, roasting red peppers directly on the stove burners! When they caught fire, he would hold them by their stems and gently rotate them for an even char. Pots of heaven knows what were bubbling, and the most alluring fragrances soon filled the home and wafted onto the street.
At roughly 6 p.m., he directed the assembled company to evacuate and await his call to dinner; he and his son would finish everything and set table.
And so we gathered on the deck, preparing ourselves with copious volumes of spirits, wine and beer, while struggling with churning stomachs which eagerly anticipated the feast to follow.
At last, we were called into the dining room, where his creations were arrayed down the center of the table. He explained what each item was, and from what region of India it originated. “I hope you enjoy,” he concluded, modestly. I then asked if people of Hindu faith had such a thing as “grace” before dinner. “We do,” he said. I replied, “Please, then, give us a traditional blessing for this food.”
Which he did.
Now as it turns out, a Hindu blessing is not like the short Christian prayer most of us knew. No, it was more in the nature of a little sermon, drawing parallels between food and nature and goodwill and music and I forget what else; but it all had to do with a kind of karmic harmony. All very nice, but at this point, we were ravenous and wondered when his hermeneutics might, at last, conclude.
Which they shortly did. I pulled out a chair of honor, for him, but he wasn’t having it. No, he preferred to keep the platters and serving bowls filled, to clean up scraps and otherwise wait on us. I didn’t argue.
So at last among the clatter and clinking of plates, bowls, and silverware, we circled the table, filling our plates and either sitting right there or drifting off to the porch, the deck or other rooms as space permitted. And every time we returned for seconds, or thirds, or more, the serving vessels were all filled, again.
By 10 p.m., we were all fully sated and immobile; belt buckles were loosened, bras discreetly removed; there we sat or we laid out like beached whales, groaning with contentment, emitting vapors from our pores or otherwise.
When at last I stumbled to the kitchen, I found it pristine. The left-overs had been neatly packaged and stowed in the refrigerator, and the Indian chef was quietly reading the newspaper. And he thanked ME for the privilege of serving us. He and his son took their leave.
Sixty dollars, over 20 people, a sumptuous feast, prepared by a famed chef. And there were leftovers.
Incredible.
The Guitar Man – Bread – HQ/HD
I was 13 years old…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPoJNdKNT40
Is there any reliable confirmation that the Xi JinPing President of China was replaced today?
I see you’ve been reading Western mainstream media. They publish anti-China garbage and you swallow it without discriminating it.
There is no coup in China. Xi Jinping is perfectly safe in his job. Nothing to see here, folks.
Manfred Mann – Blinded by the Light
Asia tech ‘godfathers’ to decide US chips fate
US ‘friendshoring’ and Chips 4 alliance may or may not lure region’s semiconductor heavies to Washington’s side
The importance of semiconductors to economic security adorned newspaper headlines in 2022.
As part of its technological competition with China, the United States has introduced a policy of “friendshoring” its semiconductor production to secure its supply of high-end chips that enable daily life and stock the inventory of major technology firms such as Apple.
The term friendshoring rose to prominence after a speech by US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in April 2022. Yellen proposed a shift towards “favoring the friendshoring of supply chains to trusted countries”, arguing that this would “lower the risks” to the US economy and its partners.
Washington’s efforts also include the Chip 4 alliance — an arrangement through which the US government aims to diversify supply chains among Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.
The not-so-subtle aim is to frustrate the ability of Chinese producers to upgrade their capacity. That will help US firms maintain an advantage over Chinese firms like Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), which recently reported the development of a 7-nm chip, among other new capabilities.
The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is preparing to mass produce 3-nm chips, while South Korea’s Samsung has just begun 3-nm production.
Much of the coverage of friendshoring has focussed on manufacturing and design capabilities, the market share of chip firms and political posturing. But friendshoring and the US Chip 4 policy are ultimately about the people, or “friends”, behind these technological innovations.
Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan have chipmaking “godfathers” — people acclaimed for their crucial roles in developing semiconductor capacity. Yet several of these “godfathers” have proven to be “frenemies” to their own companies after being poached by competitors — including Chinese market entrants.
Yukio Sakamoto, dubbed the “godfather of Japan’s DRAM”, was the president of the former semiconductor company and foundry, Elpida Memory. Sakamoto was disgruntled after his experience at the US-based Micron and joined China’s Tsinghua Group in 2019 to build DRAM products.
In June 2022, Sakamoto announced he was joining China’s SwaySure. Sakamoto worked for Texas Instruments in Japan earlier in his career before being recruited by Kobe Steel Electronic Information Group.
Kim Choong-Ki is often called the “godfather of South Korea’s Chip Industry.” Kim trained upcoming semiconductor engineers — called “Kim’s mafia”— who went on to lead semiconductor production at Samsung, LG and Hyundai.
Kim earned his PhD at Columbia University, after which he joined the then semiconductor industry giant, Fairchild, where he worked on R&D in Palo Alto.
Morris Chang founded Taiwan’s semiconductor powerhouse, TSMC, in 1987 and led the firm’s growth for decades. Chang obtained his PhD in electrical engineering at Stanford University, working for Texas Instruments for more than 25 years. The Taiwanese government soon after recruited him to lead the soon-to-be-established “dedicated silicon foundry.”
Chiang Shang-Yi headed R&D at TSMC until 2006. After military service, he completed his undergraduate studies at National Taiwan University and graduated with a PhD from Stanford University.
He made headlines for joining China’s SMIC as an independent non-executive director from December 2016 to June 2019, becoming vice-chairman from December 2020 until November 2021.
Liang Meng-song, another semiconductor doyen, was in the spotlight of a court case between TSMC and Samsung.
He was charged with leaking classified information to Samsung after joining the same year he left his long-time employer, TSMC. Liang, like Chang and Chiang, studied in the United States. He spent 23 years working at TSMC before leaving in 2009.
These “friends” gained crucial work experience with US firms and most completed postgraduate studies in the United States.
Sakamoto learned during his time at Texas Instruments while Kim and Chang, Chiang and Liang graduated from elite US schools and worked for leading US firms such as AMD, Hewlett-Packard, Fairchild and Texas Instruments. After returning home, they became the executive officers of semiconductor firms or holders of intellectual property rights.
The US-led Chip 4 alliance has come to life amid the interplay between the long-standing personal connections in the semiconductor industry and the risk of talent moving across firms and countries, as the trajectories of these godfathers exemplify.
The movement of semiconductor professionals ignites wars over employee talent and brings lawsuits relating to patents and trade secrets, intensifying industry rivalry and competition.
While Washington’s friendshoring policy aims to deepen supply chains with key producers in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, policymakers must remember that the people who comprise the leadership of those firms can move.
Friendships evolve over time, and friends learn from one another. In Granovetter’s terms, Washington’s “weak ties” might prove more beneficial than its strong ties to South Korea, Japan and Taiwan in advancing its semiconductor capabilities.
Robyn Klingler-Vidra is Reader in Entrepreneurship and Sustainability at King’s Business School. She is the author of The Venture Capital State: The Silicon Valley Model in East Asia (Cornell University Press, 2018) and Inclusive Innovation (Routledge, with Alex Glennie and Courtney Savie Lawrence).
Yu-Ching Kuo is an independent researcher based in Kaohsiung. She is the co-author of ‘Brexit, Supply Chains and the Contest for Supremacy: The Case of Taiwan and the Semiconductor Industry’ in A New Beginning or More of the Same? The European Union and East Asia After Brexit (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021, with Robyn Klingler-Vidra).
The Time Tunnel Ep 05 The Last Patrol
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Have you ever done something insignificant, but it turned out to lead to something phenomenal?
Followed a rabbit down a hole.
I own a cleaning chemical manufacturing business in Australia. My business makes all sorts of cleaning chemicals for retail, industry, commercial and end users. My niche, something the business does very well, is private labelling.
The vast majority of the products leaving my business has other company’s labels, not my own. This has it’s pros and cons but for me and my business it has been hugely successful.
Now here’s the thing. I receive an awful lot of enquiries from people who want their own brand cleaning chemicals and most are simply too small for me to deal with. I give them the time of day but know they are wasting my time.
So this one day, maybe 5 years ago or more, my business receives an email from a Chinese online seller wanting us to manufacture and private label, cleaning chemicals for him and ship them to China for him to sell online.
Of course I dismissed this as an absolute waste of my time. China manufactures for the world. Almost every western nation has outsourced their manufacturing sector to China, why would he want me to manufacture for him?
Fortunately I didn’t dismiss it entirely. What I did was tell my sales rep to “follow the rabbit down the hole and see how far the hole goes”.
From their it progressed. We sent samples, which I was sure would not only be a waste of my time but now my money too. We waited for the samples to get there, and then be tested by them, and to my surprise they wanted to move forward.
So we priced up the products they were interested in and sent through the quote. This would finally put a stop to this absurdity and I could get back to business as usual. Even though I priced it fairly, I was certain we would be too expensive.
But no. Too my surprise they in fact wanted to place an order for something like 20000 500ml bottles. Now I was certain it was a scam. I had been suspicious all along, after all China buying from an Australian manufacturer didn’t make any sense at all. A scam!
My response was I won’t do anything until 100% of the invoice is paid and only after the money has been sitting in my account for a week. They agreed and promptly paid. It turns out they are legitimate after all.
Not only are they legitimate but they are wonderful people and fantastic to deal with and now some several years later they buy a 40 foot container every month on average and it is growing. It is great business to have and fantastic to be supplying China instead of the other way around.
So why did they want to buy from us I hear you say? I asked them the very same question.
Because China has a lot of middle class and wealthy people that don’t necessarily trust products made in China. These people prefer products made in Australia, the UK and the USA. So my client invented his own brand that is manufactured in Australia. And it has been hugely successful for him and for my business.
An insignificant email I almost dismissed entirely as a waste of time has changed my life and my business considerably.
Before I leave you I will tell you what he said to me when I asked him why he chose my business.
“You were the only one that responded to my email.”
Phew! I nearly didn’t either.
Did your cat make your house a home?
Absolutely. My wife and I decided to remain childless – and we never really intended on adopting cats. But here we are. The kittens were born in our parlor and we have been a constant presence since they took their first sniffs and opened their eyes. We are as much their parents as mama Pumpkin and daddy Midnight. They let us do things to them that Pumpkin would never allow us to do to her. Dr Wifey has confessed on several occasions that she has never been around an animal that has loved, trusted, and needed her so much, and fulfills her natural maternal instinct that we rightly avoided with human children.
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If you aren’t familiar with out story, Midnight was also born in our house prior to our buying it – so the only ones who weren’t born here are us and Pumpkin, a minority! The dynamic is pretty incredible and interesting. I love that they are all comfortable here, especially Pumpkin. Her life, as was Midnight’s, was so hard outdoors. She hasn’t been outside for 18 months as of yesterday- and she displays no desire to leave. She enjoys lying on the screened porch watching nature – or just napping – but she loves her big house with her family – and I love that I could provide this for her.
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Why has China increased military activity around Taiwan?
China is sending a message to the world, loud and clear:
Stay out of China’s domestic matter. You cannot prevent Taiwan reunification.
China will reunify with Taiwan one way or the other. She prefers peaceful reunification but is not above using force.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova has asked who the EU intends to punish with the “strongest possible response” for damage to the Nord Stream gas pipelines.The diplomat said Poland’s former foreign minister has already identified the US as the party behind the apparent sabotage. Radoslaw Sikorski is well connected to Washington elites through his employment at various think tanks.The two Nord Stream pipelines were seriously damaged this week in what is suspected to have been a deliberate attack.European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday called the incident “sabotage action” and warned that “any deliberate disruption of active European energy infrastructure is unacceptable and will lead to the strongest possible response.”
On Wednesday, Zakharova asked who exactly the warning would apply to.“I don’t get it. MEP Sikorski thanked the US for what had happened, so whom is Ursula ‘threatening’ there?” she wrote on social media.Zakharova was referring to the reaction to the incident by Sikorski, now an EU lawmaker, who posted a photo of the site where the explosions occurred on Twitter with the words: “Thank you, USA.” He described the incident as a “special maintenance operation.”Sikorski added that “there’s no shortage of pipeline capacity for taking gas from Russia to Western Europe, including Germany,” referring to the Yamal-Europe land pipeline that goes through Belarus and Poland. After the damage to the Nord Stream strings, Russian President Vladimir Putin “will have to talk to countries controlling” the alternative route to resume supplies, he predicted.Zakharova earlier asked if Sikorski’s tweets amounted to an “official statement that this was a terrorist attack.” Meanwhile, Dmitry Polyanskiy, the Russian deputy ambassador to the UN, thanked Sikorski for “making it crystal clear who stands behind this terrorist-style targeting of civilian infrastructure!”
The Ukrainian Jews came out and blamed Russia for the pipeline attacks, which means the Ukraine probably did it themselves. The Ukraine has been obsessively pushing this “false flag” stuff whenever they do terrorism, so I think it’s safe to assume that whenever they blame Russia for something that benefits them, they did it.
Of course, bombing a pipeline is a pretty complicated sabotage operation – much easier than say, blowing up someone’s car – so it’s possible it was done by the US.
Have you ever stumbled across a valuable rare find at a garage/yard sale or a secondhand store and knew you were getting too good of a deal? If you bought it, did you feel guilty and tell the other party what you found was worth at some point?
I worked with an estate sale company for four years. We saw all sorts of things, and sometimes the first person to slap a price on items erred pretty spectacularly. So, we looked out for each other and often suggested bumping prices up or down (all before our first day of sales, during the prep week).
For example, there was a full canister of r-22 refrigerant someone had slapped $10 on (it was going for about $60 a pound at the time, and this held maybe 5 pounds). We bumped it up to $80 & it was still one of the first things to sell. Another time, there was a $10 box of lightbulbs that was $6 at the store – we bumped that down to $4. If a wildly underpriced item from your area came up to the register, you were going to catch heck from the boss later and you would also get chewed out (to a lesser degree) if few things sold in your zone of responsibility because they were all overpriced.
One thing though – if the boss had priced an item, you did *not* suggest changing that price. She took it as an insult to her pride (& really did have a good grasp on market pricing 99% of the time).
At one sale, I couldn’t work the prep week and came in just to help out during the sale days. Before the doors opened, I was doing a once over, looking for any items we had missed putting a price on. A big serving spoon caught my eye. It had a certain “bong” to it, that you may have read about in the Lovejoy novels. Simply lovely, well crafted, and heavy. I turned it over, and spotted English hallmarks (1815, London, if memory serves). It was about 3 ounces of silver… priced at $8.
Pure silver.
Not knowing who had priced it, I took it up to the boss and suggested we bump the price up because it was hallmarked. She got a bit haughty and told me never mind, she had priced that one and serving spoons never sell. I said, “Well, OK” & put it exactly back on the table where I’d found it.
At exactly the 1 hour mark into the sale (when employees are allowed to buy items), I carried that silver spoon up to the front and put it in a basket. She didn’t think much of it, but I certainly felt like I’d found a way to pay myself that day.
Someday I’ll sell it. But, for now I keep it as a memento from that job and a reminder that no matter how much I think I know, it never hurts to listen to someone else for a second opinion.
Mr. Ed | Ed The Lover
5 Major Events That Have Happened Within The Last 100 Hours
If you think that nothing is happening, then you have not been paying attention. Within the past 100 hours, there has been a mysterious attack on the Nord Stream gas pipeline system, two monster storms have threatened North America, NASA rammed a spacecraft into an asteroid in order to knock it off course, and our ongoing stock market crash reached a new level when the Dow Jones Industrial Average officially plunged into bear market territory on Monday. I would say that is a pretty active 100 hours, but of course this is just the beginning. I believe that global events will continue to accelerate during the months ahead, but meanwhile most of the general population is still assuming that things will eventually “return to normal” somehow.
We live during times when so many things are happening all at once that it is truly difficult to keep up with it all.
Personally, I fully expect things to get even more “interesting” now that summer is over, and we are certainly off to a flying start. The following are 5 major events that have happened within the last 100 hours…
#1 A series of explosions has caused “unprecedented” damage to the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines…
The Nord Stream gas pipeline system endured “unprecedented” damage to three offshore lines on the bed of the Baltic Sea in one day, Nord Stream AG, the network’s operator, said on Tuesday.The AG said it was impossible to estimate when the gas network system’s working capability would be restored.“The destruction that occurred on the same day simultaneously on three strings of the offshore gas pipelines of the Nord Stream system is unprecedented. It is not yet possible to estimate the timing of the restoration of the gas transport infrastructure,” the operator told reporters.
As I discussed in a previous article, these pipelines are very well constructed and are extremely thick. In order to damage them, very large explosions would be needed, and that is apparently exactly what happened. In fact, the explosions that damaged these pipelines were so large that they actually registered on the Richter scale. Many European officials are insisting that this could not have been an accident, and I agree with them.
But if this was not an accident, who was responsible?
#2 Fiona turned out to be a truly historic disaster for our neighbors to the north. It violently slammed into Nova Scotia on Saturday, and we are being told that it was one of the most powerful storms in the entire history of Canada…
Fiona, the most powerful storm of this year’s Atlantic hurricane season, roared ashore in eastern Nova Scotia early Saturday as one of the strongest systems ever to hit the region, knocking out power, toppling trees and forcing residents to flee.Across Nova Scotia, 414,000 households were without power, or about 80% of Nova Scotia Power’s customers. Thousands more were hit in neighboring areas as well.
This was definitely a “monster storm”, but it looks like an even bigger storm could be about to hit Florida…
#3 On Tuesday, Hurricane Ian strengthened into a “major Category 3 hurricane”, and forecasters are warning that it could actually turn into a Category 4 storm before it finally collides with the west coast of Florida on Wednesday…
The center of Ian could strengthen into a Category 4 hurricane as it continues to move over the Gulf, NBC News forecasters said.
Ian will continue to intensify today through Wednesday as it approaches the west coast of Florida on Wednesday “as an extremely dangerous major hurricane,” according to the National Hurricane Center.
Without a doubt, Ian is a very dangerous storm, and it has the potential to cause an immense amount of damage once it reaches shore.
#4 On Monday, NASA rammed a spacecraft into an asteroid for the first time in history in order to see if it could alter the trajectory of the giant space rock…
NASA’s DART mission slammed into Dimorphos, a smaller space rock circling a larger asteroid called Didymos, to see if it could throw off the orbit of a potential future asteroid that was threatening life on Earth. Scientists will be watching the Didymos system closely to see how much Dimorphos’ orbit actually changed – those results won’t come for at least another two months.
Confirmation of NASA’s successful planetary defense test came seconds after the 7:14 ET (00:14 BST) 14,000 mph collision, sparking applause among the ground team at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland. ‘Impact success!’ NASA tweeted after the DART spacecraft collided with the 560 foot asteroid, around 6.7 million miles away from Earth.
Is NASA conducting such a test for a specific reason?
If so, they would never actually admit it.
Personally, I have a feeling that this is a very important story that is far from over.
#5 U.S. stock prices continue to crash.
Unlike the crash of 2008, what we have witnessed so far in the fall of 2022 has been slow and steady.
But prices just keep going down.
On Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average officially entered bear market territory.
And then on Tuesday the Dow fell some more.
Overall, the Dow has now fallen 21.2 percent from the previous all-time high, the S&P 500 is down 24.3 percent from the record it set in January, and the Nasdaq has plummeted more than 33 percent from the peak that it hit last November.
The amount of wealth that has already been wiped out is absolutely staggering. In fact, Forbes is reporting that the wealthiest tech tycoons have collectively lost 315 billion dollars over the past year…
Stock prices have dropped and inflation surged, making the members of The Forbes 400 list of the richest people in the U.S. a collective $500 billion poorer than last year. The wealthiest tech tycoons have taken the brunt of the beating: They have lost a combined $315 billion in net worth since the fall of 2021—accounting for nearly two thirds of the total drop in The Forbes 400’s wealth.
How would you feel if you and your friends lost 315 billion dollars in just one year?
Unfortunately, it appears that much more turmoil will be coming to Wall Street in the months ahead.
Economic problems are erupting all over the globe, more war is on the horizon, and our planet just keeps getting hit by one disaster after another.
It is almost as if we have entered some sort of a “perfect storm”, but most people out there still do not understand what is happening.
The strange events of the last 100 hours are not an anomaly.
We live at a time when really weird things are happening on a regular basis, and I have a feeling that the remainder of 2023 will bring us a lot more surprises.
What was life like in China year by year when it was having double digit GDP growth? What rapid quality of life improvements did you witness?
As a foreigner who has lived in China for almost twenty years, I think I have a lot to say on this issue.More than ten years have passed have passed since I followed my wife, whom I met abroad, to Hangzhou, China in 2005 and started a family here. Over the years, I have been to many places in China and have felt the many changes that have taken place. I would like to share my true feelings.
My city, Hangzhou, is located in the eastern part of China’s Zhejiang Province, it is a city with a long history and beautiful scenery. When I first came here, there were not so many high-rise buildings and clean and spacious streets, but many muddy and potholed alleys, poor drainage and even lack of lighting, and the traffic was not so convenient, but soon after I came here, Hangzhou government started a “city improvement” project, from road leveling, demolition of illegal buildings, construction of highways and overpasses to landscaping and landscape lighting, and suddenly the place became a new look. The city has suddenly become a new place. Hangzhou has been developing faster and faster over the years, with all kinds of beautiful skyscrapers going up and infrastructure getting better and better, and there are many scenic spots here, so more and more domestic and foreign tourists come here every year. As a “half” Hangzhouer, I am proud to be a part of it.
In addition to the changes in the appearance of the city, there is a change is also very obvious, that is, more and more small cars on the street. When I first came here, there were not many people driving cars, so I didn’t have to worry about traffic jams, but slowly, people are getting richer and richer, and more people are buying cars, but every time there is a traffic jam I can’t help but complain: I wish people weren’t so rich!
I have met many friends in China who have gotten better and better over the years. Almost all of my friends live in bigger and more beautiful houses, some completely self-funded and some government subsidized. I used to think that my friends were always hustling for a better life, they rarely thought about how well they would eat or how stylishly they would dress, they were always waiting for that “better” moment. Then one day, they finally began to enjoy, no longer “life is forced” hanging on the lips, food and clothing are more sophisticated, we have more opportunities to meet and have fun, and sometimes travel together. From them, I feel the happiness that life is becoming better and better. Of course, our family is also getting better and better.
The most amazing thing to me is that one day, cell phone payment suddenly appeared everywhere. You don’t need to carry cash when you go out, a cell phone can realize all the payments. Whether it’s taking the bus, taking the subway, eating at a restaurant, or visiting a tourist attraction, you can easily pay as long as your phone is in your hand, which is convenient and time-saving without worrying about the hidden dangers of carrying cash. In addition, you can also pay the phone bill, gas, electricity and other daily living expenses through the cell phone, no longer need to run to the relevant department institutions to pay, not to mention how convenient!
And, you know, there’s no fees. NONE. ZERO. No ATM fees, nor banking fees, no late fees, no “processing” fees. You can do it anywhere you want… pay in the toilet, at the bus station, in the taxi, at lunch. Easy to do, simple, and no fees at all for anything.
In addition to living in Hangzhou, I love to travel around China, it’s just so big and interesting! Every time I go to a different city, I get to experience a different culture and people. That’s why I found out that not only Hangzhou is changing, but also other places in China are developing and progressing. I used to have to take a train for more than 20 hours to go to places that are far away and not accessible by plane, but then there are many places that can be reached in 10 hours at most by high speed rail (you have to know that China is so big, this speed is already very impressive.) Over the years China has seen more and more high-speed trains and airports, connecting many big cities and smaller ones, forming a convenient transportation network, so you don’t have to worry about transportation when you go out to travel.
What struck me was some of the rural areas of China. I like to travel a lot, and when I first arrived in China, I would occasionally visit some rural areas, because many special landscapes are located in rural areas of China. But I have to admit that many of the places I visited at that time were not so economically developed, as evidenced by the muddy roads, backward infrastructure and imperfect tourism services, where people lacked transportation to get around and not many people had cell phones and computers. But when I went to these places several years later, I was shocked by the spacious and flat concrete roads, the solar-powered streetlights standing by the roadside, the beautiful buildings, and the well-built mobile communication base stations. I was amazed by such a strong change.
All of the above are the most realistic things I have seen and felt in the more than ten years I have lived in China. I have to admit that I didn’t like it very much at the beginning, but my wife is here and I am going to have a family here, so I choose to accept it. But when I saw the changes in both the big cities and the small places, I felt a huge surprise and emotion. China is a big country with a huge population. It is not easy to make the lives of so many people better in a short time, but China has done it. Now, I have fallen in love with the city of Hangzhou and with China.
So back to your question: What is life like in China that achieves double-digit GDP growth year after year? My answer is: progressive and full of hope. Welcome to come and see China if you have the chance.
Three Legged kitty
I have two 3-legged cats, Bert and Prius, but despite this difference they seem to be able to do everything they want to! They both can jump up 4–5 feet, and they often start the day with 3-legged races (zoomies). Bert is a master eater and cuddler, and Prius keeps close track of the activities of the next-door neighbors and the pigeons in the roof. And they are both exceptionally talented shedders of fur.
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Russian Foreign Ministry’s statement on the referendums in the DPR, LPR, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions:
On September 23-27, the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions held referendums on their accession to the Russian Federation. The results of the voting have been tabulated, with the overwhelming majority of voters supporting unification with Russia – 99.23 percent in the DPR, 98.42 percent in the LPR, 93.11 percent in the Zaporozhye Region and 87.05 percent in the Kherson Region. The turnout was as follows: 97.5 percent in the DPR, 92.6 percent in the LPR, 85.4 in the Zaporozhye Region and 76.9 percent in the Kherson Region.
Despite the provocations of the Kiev regime that gave criminal orders to massively shell areas where civilians gather and civilian facilities, people were not afraid to come to the polls and express their will. The results of the plebiscite speak for themselves – the residents of Donbass, as well as the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions do not want to return to their former life. They have made a conscious and free choice in favour of Russia.
In fact, they had no alternative left. Far from all people in Ukraine acquiesced and accepted the coup in Kiev in February 2014 that brought to power radical nationalist forces that unleashed a bloody fight against those that would not accept it in the southeast of the country. The signing of the Minsk agreements approved by a UN Security Council resolution did not rescue the situation. As Ukrainian representatives are cynically saying now, Ukraine was never going to honour them from the very start and was preparing for war. For eight years, the population of Donbass was subjected to persistent and cynical attempts to destroy them. The decision of the residents of Donbass, the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions to seek protection from Russia was a natural result of the inhumane policy pursued by the Kiev regime.
The referendums took place in full conformity with the standards and principles of international law. The people of Donbass and the south of Ukraine exercised their lawful right to self-determination in accordance with the UN Charter, the 1966 international human rights covenants, the 1975 OCSE Helsinki Final Act, and the verdict of the UN International Court of Justice on Kosovo on July 22, 2010. The latter confirmed that the unilateral proclamation of independence by a part of a state does not violate any norms of international law.
International observers from Italy, Germany, Venezuela, Latvia and other countries (overall, 133 people) monitored the course of the referendums and recognised them as legitimate. We are grateful to foreign experts, bloggers, journalists and representatives of public organisations for their courage, integrity and objectivity.
In the near future, we will enter a critical stage in our joint efforts to translate into life the desire of the residents of the DPR, LPR, and the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions to be together with Russia.
Twelve O’Clock High S03E05 A Distant Cry
Germany and EU have been handed over a declaration of war
by Pepe Escobar, posted with the author’s permission and widely cross-posted
The sabotage of the Nord Stream (NS) and Nord Stream 2 (NS2) pipelines in the Baltic Sea has ominously propelled ‘Disaster Capitalism’ to a whole new, toxic level.
This episode of Hybrid Industrial/Commercial War, in the form of a terror attack against energy infrastructure in international waters signals the absolute collapse of international law, drowned by a “our way or the highway”, “rules-based”, order.
The attack on both pipelines consisted of multiple explosive charges detonated in separate branches close to the Danish island of Bornholm, but in international waters.
That was a sophisticated operation, carried out in stealth in the shallow depth of the Danish straits. That would in principle rule out submarines (ships entering the Baltic are limited to a draught of 15 meters). As for prospective “invisible” vessels, these could only loiter around with permission from Copenhagen – as the waters around Borholm are crammed with sensors, reflecting fear of incursion by Russian submarines.
Swedish seismologists registered two underwater explosions on Monday – one of them estimated at 100 kg of TNT. Yet as much as 700 kg may have been used to blow up three separate pipeline nodes. Such amount could not have possibly been delivered in just one trip by underwater drones currently available in neighboring nations.
The pressure on the pipelines dropped exponentially. The pipes are now filled with seawater.
The pipes on both NS and NS2 can be repaired, of course, but hardly before the arrival of General Winter. The question is whether Gazprom – already focused on several hefty Eurasian customers – would bother, especially considering that Gazprom vessels could be exposed to a possible NATO naval attack in the Baltic.
German officials are already spinning that NS and NS2 can “potentially” be out of commission “forever”. The EU economy and EU citizens badly needed that gas supply. Yet the EUrocracy in Brussels – which rules over nation-states – would not follow, because they have been dictated themselves by the Empire of Chaos, Lies and Plunder. A case can be made that this Euro-oligarchy should one day be tried for treason.
As it stands, a strategic irreversibility is already self-evident; the population of several EU nations will pay a tremendous price and suffer serious consequences derived from this attack, short, medium and long term.
Cui bono?
Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson admitted that was “a matter of sabotage”. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen admitted “it was not an accident”. Berlin agrees with the Scandinavians.
Now compare it with former Polish Defense Minister (2005-2007) Radek Sikorski, a Russophobe married to rabid US “analyst” Anne Applebaum, who merrily tweeted “Thank you, USA”.
It gets curiouser and curiouser when we know that simultaneously to the sabotage the Baltic Pipe from Norway to Poland was partially opened, a “new gas supply corridor” servicing “the Danish and Polish markets”: actually a minor affair, considering months ago their sponsors were in trouble finding gas, and now it will be even harder, with much higher costs.
NS2 had already been attacked – in the open – all along its construction. Back in February, Polish ships actively tried to prevent the Fortuna pipe-laying vessel from finishing NS2. The pipes were being laid south of – you guessed it – Bornholm.
NATO for its part has been very active on the underwater drones department. The Americans have access to long distance Norwegian underwater drones which can be modified with other designs. Alternatively, professional navy clearance divers could have been employed in the sabotage – even as tidal currents around Bornholm are a serious matter.
The Big Picture reveals the collective West in absolute panic, with Atlanticist “elites” willing to resort to anything – outrageous lies, assassinations, terrorism, sabotage, all out financial war, support to neo-Nazis – to prevent their descent into a geopolitical and geoeconomic abyss.
Disabling NS and NS2 represents the definitive closure of any possibility of a German-Russia deal on gas supplies, with the added benefit of relegating Germany to the lowly status of absolute US vassal.
So that brings us to the key question of which Western intel apparatus designed the sabotage. Prime candidates are of course CIA and MI6 – with Poland set up as the fall guy and Denmark playing a very dodgy part: it’s impossible that Copenhagen was not at least “briefed” on the intel.
Prescient as ever, as early as in April 2021 Russians were asking questions about the military security of Nord Stream.
The crucial vector is that we may be facing the case of a EU/NATO member involved in an act of sabotage against the number one EU/NATO economy. That’s a casus belli. Outside of the appalling mediocrity and cowardice of the current administration in Berlin, it’s clear that the BND – German intel – as well as the German Navy and informed industrialists sooner or later will do the math.
This was far from an isolated attack. On September 22 there was an attempt against Turkish Stream by Kiev saboteurs. The day before, naval drones with English language IDs were found in Crimea, suspected of being part of the plot. Add to it US helicopters overflying the future sabotage nodes weeks ago; a UK “research” vessel loitering in Danish waters since mid-September; and NATO tweeting about the testing of “new unmanned systems at sea” on the same day of the sabotage.
Show me the (gas) money
The Danish Minister of Defense met urgently with NATO’s Secretary General this Wednesday. After all the explosions happened very close to Denmark’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ). That may be qualified as crude kabuki at best; exactly on the same day, the European Commission (EC), NATO’s de facto political office, advanced its trademark obsession: more sanctions against Russia, including the certified-to-fail cap on oil prices.
Meanwhile, EU energy giants are bound to lose big time with the sabotage.
The roll call includes the German Wintershall Dea AG and PEG/ E.ON; the Dutch N.V. Nederlandse Gasunie; and the French ENGIE. Then there are those which financed NS2: Wintershall Dea again as well as Uniper; Austrian OMV; ENGIE again; and British-Dutch Shell. Wintershall Dea and ENGIE are both co-owners and creditors. Their fuming shareholders will want serious answers from a serious investigation.
It gets worse: there are no holds barred anymore on the Pipeline Terror front. Russia will be on red alert not only for Turk Stream but also Power of Siberia. Same for the Chinese and their maze of pipelines arriving in Xinjiang.
Whatever the methodology and the actors who were in the loop, this is payback – in advance – for the inevitable collective West defeat in Ukraine. And a crude warning to the Global South that they will do it again. Yet action always breeds reaction: from now on, “funny things” could also happen to US/UK pipelines in international waters.
The EU oligarchy is reaching an advanced process of disintegration at lightning speed. Their window of opportunity to at least attempt a role as a strategically autonomous geopolitical actor is now closed.
These EUROcrats now face a serious predicament. Once it’s clear who are the perpetrators of the sabotage in the Baltic, and once they understand all the life-changing socio-economic consequences for pan-EU citizens, the kabuki will have to stop. Including the already running, uber-ridiculous subplot that Russia blew up its own pipeline when Gazprom could simply have turned off the valves for good.
And once again, it gets worse: Gazprom is threatening to sue the Ukrainian energy company Naftofgaz for unpaid bills. That would lead to the end of Russian gas transiting Ukraine towards the EU.
As if all of that was not serious enough, Germany is contractually obligated to purchase at least 40 billion cubic meters of Russian gas a year until 2030.
Just say no? They can’t: Gazprom is legally entitled to get paid even without shipping gas. That’s the spirit of a long-term contract. And it’s already happening: because of sanctions, Berlin does not get all the gas it needs but still needs to pay.
All the devils are here
Now it’s painfully clear the imperial velvet gloves are off when it comes to the vassals. EU independence: verboten. Cooperation with China: verboten. Independent trade connectivity with Asia: verboten. The only place for the EU is to be economically subjugated to the US: a tawdry remix of 1945-1955. With a perverse neoliberal twist: we will own your industrial capacity, and you will have nothing.
The sabotage of NS and NS2 is inbuilt in the imperial wet dream of breaking up the Eurasian land mass into a thousand pieces to prevent a trans-Eurasia consolidation between Germany (representing the EU), Russia and China: $50 trillion in GDP, based on purchasing power parity (PPP) compared to the US’s $20 trillion.
We must go back to Mackinder: control of the Eurasian land mass constitutes control of the world. American elites and their Trojan Horses across Europe will do whatever it takes not to give up their control.
“American elites” in this context encompass the deranged, Straussian neo-con-infested “intel community” and the Big Energy, Big Pharma and Big Finance that pays them and who profits not only from the Deep State’s Forever War approach but also wants to make a killing out of the Davos-concocted Great Reset.
The Raging Twenties started with a murder – of Gen Soleimani. Blowing up pipelines is part of the sequel. There will be a highway to hell all the way to 2030. Yet to borrow from Shakespeare, hell is definitely empty, and all the (Atlanticist) devils are here.
Pepe Escobar is an independent geopolitical analyst and author. His latest book is Raging Twenties. He’s been politically canceled from Facebook and Twitter. Follow him on Telegram.
China is going to kill an Australian citizen who smuggles drug in China. Should the US and other allies help Australia to rescue him?
Two things I believe: One is a man should have the choice if he wishes to end his own life. Its nobody else’s business.
Two, is a soveriegn nation should have the ability to make whatever laws it chooses within its borders. It’s only the business of its citizens.
The Australian drug trafficker chose to end his life when he smuggled 7.5kg of methamphetamine through a Chinese airport. Whether I agree with the law or not is of no consequence. I am not a Chinese and it’s not my country. It’s their law and you must respect it if you go there. If you dont agree with their laws, or don’t trust their enforcement – don’t go there!
I am a western expat and live in Indonesia, another country with the death penalty for drug smuggling, and another country with a regular flow of Australians who wish to end their lives. There are signs at the airports just to remind you of the choice you are making:
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Should you proceed, and smuggling drugs you have chosen to end your life. Simple!
Dan Bongino: Biden could literally annihilate the planet
Peter Frampton – Baby, I Love Your Way – 7/2/1977
Senior year – High School. MM stories and tales.
Slow-Cooker Meatball Stone Soup
Simmer this hearty main-course meatball soup in the slow cooker, and make it a fuss-free, delicious dinner.
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Ingredients
1 bag (16 oz) frozen cooked Italian-style meatballs
1 carton (32 oz) Progresso™ beef flavored broth
2 cans (14.5 oz each) diced tomatoes with Italian herbs, undrained
1 medium potato, chopped (1 cup)
1 medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup)
1/4 teaspoon garlic-pepper blend
1 bag (1 lb) frozen mixed vegetables
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ELO – Mr Blue Sky, Turn to Stone & Shine a Little Love
The United States seems to think it has the right to interfere in the affairs of other countries if it serves its ends. Is this moral, and in the end will it backfire on us?
In my opinion, it is immoral. Countries have their sovereignty, which makes them independent of other nations like the United States. What right does the US have to stick their nose into other countries’ business?
Violating sovereignty is usually a basis for war. Is this what we support, unending warfare around the globe in the name of US exceptionalism?
It is already backfiring. The US reputation around the world is shit. Countries are trying to distance themselves from America like, for example, move away from US Dollar (or “Petro-dollar”) tyranny.
“The least-bad scenario is a hard landing, global recession worse than the 1930s. The worst-case borrows from the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: war, famine, pestilence, and death.”– Kenneth S. Deffeyes
I don’t pretend to be a biblical scholar or have any particular expertise in interpreting scriptures, and certainly not the Book of Revelation, supposedly written by John of Patmos during the reign of Roman emperor Domitian sometime between 81 AD and 96 AD. But I did suffer through twelve years of Catholic school, with plenty of time reading the bible for homework assignments. I know many people take everything in the bible literally. I do not adhere to that understanding. I believe most, if not all, of the bible is parables and symbolism written by men as a means to guide early Christians in how they should live their lives. The wisdom imparted by these writers is vast and deep. The Book of Revelation is the most apocalyptic, mysterious, and prophetic.
I would agree with scholars who say Revelation does not refer to actual people or events but is an allegory of the spiritual path and the ongoing struggle between good and evil. But, as our modern-day world seems to be coming apart at the seams, the battle between good and evil is reaching a zenith, only seen at crucial turning points in history.
The scale of propaganda designed to mislead the public, scope of deceit exhibited by our hand-picked leaders, level of wickedness in the purposeful destruction of economic systems based on climate crisis lies, purposeful infliction of pain and suffering upon the masses through destruction of conventional food and energy structures, implosion of the financial system due to incompetence and/or willfully malicious motivations, and incessant provocations of Russia and China designed to ignite a global conflagration, are all part of one demonic plan.
Knowing we are reaching the most violent phase of this Fourth Turning and this kind of horrendous whirlwind has occurred during the fall of previous empires, does not make it any easier to confront or endure.
As the stock market implodes, draining the retirement savings of working men and women once again, inflation rages out of control, pushing lower and middle class families to the brink, our senile Trojan horse president, implements a country destroying agenda at the behest of his globalist handlers designed to incite a civil war, and the Deep State/Military Industrial Complex attempts to monetize Ukraine and Taiwan to fill their coffers with billions in war profits, the world teeters on the brink of a collapse which will make the Great Depression/World War II era seem like a walk in the park.
And very few people see it coming or are prepared in any way for the consequences. They have spent too much time in government school indoctrination centers, soaked up too much propaganda spewed by the corporate legacy media doing the bidding of those in power, have been misinformed and misled by the left wing Silicon Valley social media conglomerates, and are too distracted by their gadgets, social media likes, fake reality TV, and modern day sports circuses.
I’m certainly not predicting the end times or second coming of Christ, but the parable of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse sure seems applicable in this modern-day Crisis – the latest times that try men’s souls. We are in a time of Crisis, just as we were in the 1780’s, 1860’s, and 1940’s, all 80 years apart. The 2020’s will also go down in history as a time of fateful decisions, great battles, heroes, villains, and ultimately a purging of the existing social order – to be replaced by something better or far worse.
It truly is a time where government tyranny at the behest of billionaire globalist elite will need to be overcome by true patriots who value freedom and liberty enough to sacrifice their lives in its pursuit. As evil engulfs the world from all sides, the stalwart few are all that stand between never ending tyranny and the possibility of re-instituting a semblance of the republic we were originally given. We can be heartened by the words of Thomas Paine.
“These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as Freedom should not be highly rated.”– Thomas Paine, The Crisis
The parallels between our current state of affairs and the prophecies foretold in Revelations 6: 1 – 8 certainly seem eerie and disconcerting. The four horsemen seem to symbolically portray four disastrous occurrences that will take place before the second coming of Jesus Christ. Since these books were written during the height of the Roman Empire many historians tie the passages to events taking place during that time. In John’s revelation, the first horseman rides on a white horse, carries a bow, and is given a crown – he rides forward as a figure of Conquest, perhaps invoking Pestilence, Christ, or the Antichrist.
The second carries a sword and rides a red horse and is the creator of Civil War, conflict, and strife. The third, a food-merchant riding upon a black horse, symbolizes Famine. He carries The Scales. The fourth and final horse is pale, and upon it rides Death, accompanied by Hades. The four horses certainly seem well represented today, as global conflict is on the verge of breaking out; our illegitimate president declares half the country as dangerous extremists, attempting to incite a civil war; purposely created food shortages and famine endanger the lives of millions; and death on a large-scale looms across the globe, as the malevolent purveyors of the satanic Great Reset seek to depopulate the planet.
White Horse – Conquest, War, Antichrist, Pestilence
“Then I saw when the Lamb broke one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying as with a voice of thunder, “Come.” I looked, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.”— Revelation 6:1–2
The White Horse of Conquest seems to be the most confusing of the four, as early Christians interpreted the rider to be Christ. Many centuries later the interpretation was redefined by evangelicals as the Antichrist. Considering the other three horses clearly represented negative events, the negative connotation of the rider on the White Horse makes more sense. Other historians thought the White Horse represented the prosperous times of the Roman Empire. Another interpretation focused the spreading of pestilence and disease, as stated at the end of the passage regarding the Pale Horse.
“The horseman on the white horse was clad in a showy and barbarous attire. While his horse continued galloping, he was bending his bow in order to spread pestilence abroad. At his back swung the brass quiver filled with poisoned arrows, containing the germs of all diseases.” – Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
As I step back and observe the sheer malevolence of our overlords, who control the world behind the scenes through useful idiots and empty vessels (Biden, Trudeau, Johnson, Macron, Ardern), I certainly lean towards the negative viewpoint of an Antichrist figure or figures bent on destruction of the world for their satanic purposes. I know the left and their neo-con brothers in arms bloviate that Trump and Putin are the Antichrist figures on the scene today. Neither fit the profile of leaders looking to conquer the world. Trump started no wars and sought to conquest no one. It has been the warmongers who stabbed him in the back.
The real Ukraine conflict commenced in 2014 with the U.S. initiated coup against the democratically elected president. For the last eight years, besides functioning as a Biden family money laundering operation, Ukraine has been slaughtering Russian speaking citizens in the Donbass region. Putin has shown tremendous restraint in limiting his special operation and has shown no inclination to conquer Ukraine. It has been Biden, NATO, and their globalist controllers who stopped Zelensky from negotiating a peace treaty and are pushing the world towards an apocalyptic outcome.
In my view, the triumvirate of Soros, Gates and Schwab represent the evil forces purposely attempting to destroy the world, so they can institute their Great Reset agenda of depopulation, digital currencies, forcing the plebs to eat bugs, instituting social credit scores in a techno-gulag world, and creating a modern-day dark age. These maniacal narcissists are nothing but a malignant cancerous tumor growing across the globe that must be eradicated by any means necessary. We are truly in a battle for the soul of this planet.
Whether you are religious or not, you cannot deny there is a clear delineation between good and evil in the interactions propagandized on a daily basis. Mutilating children in the name of transgender deviancy, promoting drag show freaks being touched by children, pushing porn in school libraries, unleashing a crimewave of lawlessness in our cities by releasing convicts and not prosecuting felons, weaponizing diseases as bio-weapons, killing millions by suppressing lifesaving treatments (ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine), and injecting a billion people with a poisonous concoction that will kill more people than died of the flu virus it didn’t stop, are all deliberately being thrust upon us by these diabolical satanic monsters in their thirst for power, wealth and unimpeded control of the planet.
They are truly representative of the Antichrist, posing as saviors of the world, but driven by evil motives. The battle has begun, but most have failed to come to this realization.
Red Horse – Civil War, Persecution of Christians
“When He broke the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, “Come.” And another, a red horse, went out; and to him who sat on it, it was granted to take peace from Earth, and that men would slay one another; and a great sword was given to him.”— Revelation 6:3–4
The rider on the fiery red horse with a raised sword is associated with war, and specifically civil war. The red color and the sword suggest blood to be spilled. The second Horseman represents civil war as opposed to the war of conquest that the first Horseman is said to bring. Others have suggested it might also represent the persecution of Christians. Edward Bishop Elliott’s interpretation of the Red Horse was a foretelling of the period of the Roman Empire after the death of Commodus, a turbulent period lasting 92 years, during which time 32 emperors and 27 pretenders to the Empire hurled each other from the throne by incessant civil warfare.
The first two horses portend war, and the world is clearly hurtling towards conflict on many fronts. We already know Biden is fronting the proxy war against Russia in Ukraine as the tens of billions in “aid” flow directly into the coffers of the U.S. military industrial complex. Thinking they could bankrupt Putin with sanctions and bleed him with weapons has completely backfired on the EU lackeys and Slow Joe. Frostbite and famine are on the horizon for Europe, while raging inflation and crashing financial markets shift control of Congress to the “extremist party” of insurrectionists.
Biden’s dark hateful speech on the steps of Independence Hall, where brave “insurrectionists” spit in the eye of a tyrant two hundred and forty-six years ago, cast the first stone in the inevitable civil war which will rage across the land when the so called MAGA extremists actually push back against the tyranny being inflicted on them by the FBI, DOJ, and their co-conspirator social media censorship police.
We are in the midst of both a physical war, where Biden and his apparatchiks are using the power of the state to inflict their totalitarian punishments, and a spiritual war where deviancy is celebrated, and Christians are persecuted. Innocent men and women who meandered around the Capitol on January 6, after being ushered in by undercover FBI agents, with incitement provided by Ray Epps and ANTIFA plants, continue to rot in DC dungeons, as real criminals who murder Trump supporters with their vehicles are back on the streets within hours.
Just this past week Biden’s goons at the criminal DOJ sent a SWAT team of 25 to 30 heavily armed FBI agent thugs to terrorize and arrest a Christian anti-abortion advocate in front of his seven young children based on bullshit trumped up charges from a minor incident over a year ago. Biden’s handlers have been using intimidation tactics since his installation as a Trojan horse president to provoke Christians and normal people into responding violently to their authoritarian atrocities.
So far, the only violence has been committed by left wing extremists, as Democrat run urban ghettos descend into lawless murder sanctuaries, with Soros bought DA’s inflaming the spiral of violent upheaval. The time will come when there will be pushback at a level not anticipated by these vile worms as they continue to promulgate their toxic slime, thinking they are untouchable. They aren’t.
Black Horse – Plagues & Famine
“When He broke the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, “Come.” I looked, and behold, a black horse; and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard something like a voice in the center of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; but do not damage the oil and the wine.”— Revelation 6:5–6
The rider on the Black Horse has been generally interpreted as representing famine and plagues which accompany them. Famine does go hand in hand with war, and today’s circumstances certainly confirm this linkage. The sanctions imposed on Russia by the U.S. and the EU have created famine and starvation, especially in the 3rd world countries. Ukraine and Russia account for the majority of wheat produced in the world. This NATO/U.S. proxy war has created shortages of wheat and produced a global energy crisis which fuels further famine and supply chain disruptions.
These actions have been purposeful, with disastrous consequences which have only just begun. Driving the price of diesel fuel and fertilizer to sky high levels has driven farmers into bankruptcy and the price of food to stratospheric levels. When Mr. Depopulation – Bill Gates – owns the most farmland in America, you should be worried. His agenda does not benefit you.
The reference to wheat and barley becoming too expensive, while oil and wine are spared shows how, once again, the poor suffer, while the rich continue to eat and drink lavishly. It was true during the Roman Empire, and it is still true today during the waning days of the American Empire. The statement suggests a continuing abundance of luxuries for the wealthy, while staples, such as bread, are scarce, though not totally depleted.
The selective scarcity of foodstuffs for the average family is the result of injustice inflicted upon the masses by our wealthy powerful overlords. I know the passage refers to olive oil, but in today’s context high oil prices benefit the powerful interests, while inflicting pain upon the masses. Never ending war benefits Biden’s controllers, while currently sentencing Ukrainian citizens to death. Young Americans will be offered next as cannon fodder for the Deep State.
Those pulling the strings of society (the invisible government per Edward Bernays) know civilization will crash when food and energy become scarce and too expensive for the plebs to afford. They control the modern-day mechanisms of mass food production and fossil fuel production. Whatever they have been doing with geo-engineering our weather through chemtrails to create droughts and floods, it is not being done to benefit you.
It isn’t a coincidence that hundreds of food processing plants have been burnt to the ground in the last year. The shutting down of nuclear power plants across Europe, with no replacement energy sources is madness, but is being done by globalist puppet leaders across the continent. Biden and his handlers have banned pipelines, fracking, drilling and anything designed to produce more fossil fuel energy. The green energy lies are spewed 24/7, based upon fantasy thinking. These evil acolytes of Satan want you to starve and freeze and then beg them to save you by surrendering your freedom, liberty, and lives to their totalitarian whims.
Pale Horse – Death
“When the Lamb broke the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, “Come.” I looked, and behold, a pale horse; and he who sat on it had the name Death; and Hades was following with him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth.”— Revelation 6:7–8
The rider on the Pale Horse was named Death, with Hades, the god of the dead and king of the underworld, following. In my view, the prophecy of the Pale Horse is not complicated. When food supplies dwindle, fuel is depleted and wars break out, death will naturally follow. The pale color connotates death, as human beings go pale as death approaches and their lifeblood is drained. I would also postulate the deadly pale appearance displays a hue symptomatic of approaching empire dissolution.
It is clear to me we are witnessing the fading glory of a dying empire, with the wailing and gnashing of teeth expected during such a phase. The rampant deviancy, corruption, greed, intimidation through dwindling military might, and threats of an aging bully against trumped up enemies, are all signs of an empire turning pale, but willing to create death on a grand scale during its own death throes.
Death is the last rider, because the previous three have sowed the seeds of death across the earth. If Death has authority over one-fourth of the earth, we may be in for a difficult final 5 to 10 years of this Fourth Turning. Strauss & Howe do contemplate the worst-case scenario as one of their four outcomes:
“This Fourth Turning could mark the end of man. It could be an omnicidal Armageddon, destroying everything, leaving nothing. If mankind ever extinguishes itself, this will probably happen when its dominant civilization triggers a Fourth Turning that ends horribly. For this Fourth Turning to put an end to all this would require an extremely unlikely blend of social disaster, human malevolence, technological perfection, and bad luck.” – The Fourth Turning, Strauss & Howe
When they wrote these words in 1997, this particular outcome seemed outrageous and unthinkable. If I step outside of my normalcy bubble and observe everything swirling around this demented world, I can visualize this scenario playing out due to the miscalculation of evil men trying to implement their evil designs. If Death engulfs a quarter of the planet, that will result in the deaths of 1 to 2 billion people. Hades would be a busy guy.
The Soros, Gates, Schwab Great Reset agenda is built upon a massive depopulation of the planet, centralized control of the world in the hands of a few billionaire global elites, a totalitarian technocracy enforced by police and military forces, and a population thankful to be eating bugs, owning nothing, and forever subservient to their overlords of darkness. This is not the future any freedom loving person should accept or tolerate.
Have we entered the End Times? Hell if I know. With the advances in technological warfare over the last eighty years, the possibility of Armageddon certainly exists. I prefer to concentrate on a way to avoid my own death for as long as possible and to make sure my sons and their children have a future worth living for, and not rotting in a gulag, because I didn’t fight back when I had the responsibility to do so. Two quotes from Solzhenitsyn’s The Gulag Archipelago resonate with me as I ponder the evil deeds of those in power today.
The first addresses the dilemma of parsing good versus evil. To me it shows how complicated it is to put faith in any leader as being good and trustworthy. Every human has good and evil in their hearts (except Hillary Clinton’s charcoal black soul), and we are capable of following either when put in certain circumstances. I believe most of those who have gone over to the evil side have been lured in that direction by the promise of extreme wealth and power. Satan (aka Soros) knows greed and avarice are the major weakness of human beings and employs them to the fullest.
“If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?” ― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago 1918–1956
“And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family? Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand?… The Organs would very quickly have suffered a shortage of officers and transport and, notwithstanding all of Stalin’s thirst, the cursed machine would have ground to a halt! If…if…We didn’t love freedom enough. And even more – we had no awareness of the real situation…. We purely and simply deserved everything that happened afterward.” ― Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago 1918–1956
As Pedo Pete (aka Dementia Joe) declared a couple weeks ago, he and his minions are already at war. They are already using their Stasi security forces in the DOJ and FBI to break down doors, imprison innocent people on false charges, intimidate political enemies by raiding their homes, not following due process for J6 defendants, declaring all opposition as nazis and extremists, and trashing the Constitution on a daily basis. Those in opposition to the existing establishment have already been declared enemies of the state.
Before long, just as they did under Stalin, security state goons will begin apprehending and intimidating good people for no reason other than their opposition to Biden. Will enough people have the courage and fortitude to fight back when the time comes? To passively submit and hope for justice in a court of law will be a fool’s errand. Expecting to vote ourselves out of this predicament is another fool’s errand. If the vast firepower of current day patriots is utilized properly, today’s Organ’s will be rapidly depleted of men and will pause before breaking doors down in the middle of the night. Our remaining choices are to burn in camps or fight for our dwindling freedom.
Peter Gabriel Solsbury Hill Best Quality in HD with Lyrics
I rolled down my window and offered to buy him coffee which he was hesitant but grateful to accept. As we drove to Dunkin Donuts I asked him where he was going to sleep he said he didn’t know so on the way I called the local and other homeless shelters within a 10 mile area…no spots. It was then I knew why I won the $200, God placed Glenn in my path for a reason, so I drove him to the Rosewood Inn in Wareham and paid for a 2 night stay.
I’ve never seen a grown man cry; he began praying and telling me I was an angel. So tonight I know my new friend Glenn is warm.”
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What’s it like living in Vietnam?
For an expat, I think living in Hanoi is a little like living in Paris in the early 20th century. Even though it is a communist country, I feel like Henry Miller here-I am free. Life is affordable and intellectuals and artists and students gather at cafes over rich, dark coffee in the ruins of old French colonial villas. Photographers get together for street photography outings. The art scene is booming , with many contemporary art galleries flourishing, set in atmospheric colonial buildings and spotlighting Vietnamese artists who were oppressed for decades but now freely expressing themselves. Here you have the great luxury of time. Vietnam is on the rise and is an incredibly hard working country, yet life still is lived at a human pace . People take time out one another,
The architecture is hauntingly beautiful, and the layers of history in this 2,000 year old city would take a lifetime to explore. The streets are lined with stately old trees shading broad French boulevards. But walk away a few steps and you find yourself lost in winding alleyways that likely haven’t changed much for centuries.
Like all of former indochina , Vietnam offers much of the beauty of French life, although perhaps more that of Paris circa 1890 or 1920 than today’s France. And you can see a French aesthetic in everything from the tall yellow villas with their green shuttered windows and winding staircases to the patisseries on every corner, the French cheeses in neighborhood stores, the baguette lady selling bread on the street, and the hot roasted chestnuts cooked fresh over an open fire on the sidewalk on a wintry day. The food is delicious and healthy. I realized after moving here how much of a food desert the US is. People bring each other fresh fruits as gifts, and even the most humble dishes are loaded with vegetables, many of which I was unfamiliar with, greens gathered by the roadside or grown in a vacant lot. People shop at the market every day for fresh produce and you can easily eat a healthy delicious meal at a street side restaurant for $1.50. The coffee culture is a world unto itself, with separate cafes that only serve coffee, including the famous egg coffee.
Vietnam is very safe. There is almost no violent crime and surprisingly little petty crime . Guns are outlawed, and the biggest danger is motorbike accidents. And of course, Vietnam is one of the safest countries in the world in terms of COVID, with only 33 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic. Children play outside after dark and walk to school alone. There is still a Confucian culture of respect and mutual obligation and a strong Buddhist belief in karma. So you will find that most people act honorably and with kindness, and want to help others.
I have found that in Vietnam I have had opportunities I never would have had elsewhere. Within six months of living here I had two books on learning English published by the national publishing company, which are now in widespread use at universities throughout the country. I was asked to host my own television news show on state TV. As well as teaching at a university, I started working for a government minister starting schools in apartment complexes throughout the city, so children don’t have to travel to school. I began assisting the vice minister of golf with plans to promote tourism in resorts centered around world class golf courses.. I have met fascinating authors and artists and musicians. Vietnam is a place that is rising, and it is easy to find many financial opportunities and the chance to try new things, whether it is a business business venture, a life drawing class or traditional Vietnamese martial arts
There are downsides of course. The first month I moved here I was absolutely overwhelmed, anxious and depressed.The pollution, the noise and chaos of millions of motorbikes seemed too much for me, and many foreigners leave because of the stress and find the culture too different to adjust to easily. But I soon found that despite Hanoi being a city of 8 million, life is actually gracious and gentle here, and the people are truly welcoming and care about others.
In terms of dealing with the more anxiety-producing aspects of Hanoi, I have done something I don’t usually do in a new country, which is remove myself to a more westernized environment. I lived in a very local area the first few months and it was too hard for me. But moving into a luxury high rise apartment complex provided a buffer. Although no westerners live in my building, it is populated with wealthy, well-traveled Vietnamese as well as Korean and Japanese expats who are less likely to want to touch my hair or comment on how fat and white and tall I am. I have a little more privacy, which is very hard to come by in this country, and an enormous outdoor swimming pool and a gorgeous indoor pool and spa. A Japanese bakery and Korean restaurant in the building, as well as a Vinmart and a Vietnamese restaurant. Manicured grounds free from motorbike traffic allow me to walk in peace and safety, without always dodging the appalling traffic. A live-in maid here only costs about $300 a month and having a driver, saves me from the excitement and danger of driving a motorbike in traffic except on rare occasions. Normally, I would want to live in the most local area possible and get to know the life of the average person. But in this instance, I found that having a quiet place to retreat with a few luxuries has made all the hard adjustments of living in such a very foreign place possible. I suppose it depends on your temperament.
Hanoi has about the same population as New York-8 million -and getting out of town every now and then helps too. The city is only about an hour from beautiful mountains with rivers winding through Ninh Binh province to the west and the breathtaking karst islands of Halong Bay heading East towards the Pacific. Hanoi does have four seasons, though the winter is mild and brief. But if you prefer hot weather all year round, Ho Chi Minh City may be better. And if you enjoy a smaller city or rural area , there are many breathtaking mountainous provinces where traditional hill tribes reside, and beaches and islands that can rival anywhere in Southeast Asia.
I think Vietnam is a good place to live as an expat regardless of your tastes, although I cannot speak to what it is like to live here as a Vietnamese. If you want to start a business and invest, work as an English teacher, explore ancient cultures, wildlife, contemporary art, or just lie on the beach, you can be happy here.
Why is the Chinese Communist Party so corrupt? Xi Jinping has already purged 1.5 million corrupt officials.
There’s an interesting difference between China, and say, US politics. I use the US as I am American and know more about my government than other Western countries.
In the US, it’s just a matter of course that our politicians accept large amounts of money for their campaign, that they have access to stock market trading information (I just read articles this week about Nancy Pelosi and her insider training), and they’re given money and perks by special interest groups and we call it lobbying. They have truckloads of money that their salary doesn’t explain (guess they got paid well for some appearances etc) and many if not most of them have mistresses or lovers outside of their marriage. They get special privileges if they’re ever pulled over by the police. Heck, Trump had advance notice that Mar-a-Lago was being raided. Must be nice!
We just accept all of that. We don’t like it but we know those with power will never vote to reduce their power. That’s why they never vote to set term limits even though it’s needed for both sides of the aisle. I’m fair about it; I hate both sides equally. We don’t like it but we know we can’t change it.
So we watch our country implode. Crumbling infrastructure, a homelessness epidemic, a drug crisis, kids being killed at school, systemic racism, urban inner city areas turned into turf wars and shoot-outs between gangs. Broken healthcare, broken education, broken justice system. We are broken.
In China? If their government officials are money hungry and ineffective they will pay for it. And depending on how bad the corruption they could receive the death penalty. People are people everywhere so of course some still try to fly under the radar but Xi’s reform and targeting of corruption has improved things a lot. Is he supposed to fix all of it in three terms when it’s a decades-old problem? He’s not God. He can’t work miracles. He’s doing what he can with what he has. He’s trying to return them to a meritocracy and for that I applaud him.
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Jazzy
This was my best friend, Jazzy. She died recently due to a heart and lung problem that came about very suddenly one morning. The night before she seemed fine. I found her beside the bed frothing from her mouth and having a very difficult time breathing. I dropped everything I was doing and in a total state of panic drove her immediately to the emergency pet hospital. Her prognosis was very grim with only a 2 percent chance of survival and she was suffering horribly. The vet said the kindest thing would be to put her down. Reluctantly I agreed and stood by her side until the end. I cried uncontrollably as she passed, trying to console her that it was ok for her to leave. I stroked her gently as she took her last breath. She was with me for 15 years of her life.
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I had her remains cremated and keep her next to my bed by her favorite spot by the window. This all happened about a month ago and I still cry at the loss of a friend who gave me unconditional love for all those years.
Daniel Craig once said: “If your kid is bullying my kid, and my kid has tried to tell your kid to stop, and your kid doesn’t, my kid has been instructed to punch your kid in the face.” What are your thoughts on this?
In preschool, when my daughter was bullied, she was instructed to inform a teacher, and the bully was immediately punished.
Upon entering kindergarten, she was struck by a boy in her class, and she informed her teacher. The teacher replied, “You’re tattling! Stop it!”
My daughter came home and related the story, and I taught her how to punch.
Hard.
The next time the boy hit her, she punched him in the face and he burst into tears.
Big surprise – I was called into the school for a conference with this teacher.
She barely got two words out when I broke in,
“So, if the boy hits her and she tells you, its tattling. If she hits him back, she's in trouble?
What, do you expect she should just get hit?
Nobody, but nobody, is teaching my child that she must be somebody's victim!
That's how abused women are made.
My daughter will either take the problem to you - you do have those anti bullying posters all over the hall - and you punish the child who is causing the problem, or if you won't stop him, SHE WILL.
It's called self defense.
She is nobody's victim including yours.
She will not be punished here or at home for defending herself.
If she lays hands first, she WILL answer TO ME and I assure you this will not happen.
Now are you going to take care of this boy problem or is she?”
The teacher just stared, open-mouthed, and never answered.
I said, “I guess she will then.”
No punishment was ever served on my daughter, and that boy didn’t bother her again – until once in the fourth grade.
He smacked her in her back and she turned around and punched him in the head.
Two teachers saw it, and laughed.
Never happened again.
MM Video
My video, if you haven’t seen it yet.
Companion article
This excellent article by Thierry Meyssan is the perfect companion to the keen answer our colleague Metallic Man gave in his 12 minutes long video published on Youtube today to the question " Who is actually running the United States ? "
Cheerio ! Quan
Things are advancing very rapidly. Very rapidly. I made up a video yesterday and the next two videos are explaining what is going on…
Check out these two videos. Both are important.
Putin’s historic speech finalizes referenda, infuriates Collective West
EMERGENCY! This is heading for ALL OUT WAR and Putin knows it.
How to get drunk
Ernest Hemingway, one of the 20th century’s most famous drinkers, once quipped, “I drink to make other people more interesting.” Perhaps you have found yourself thinking something similar when you’ve been stuck in an awkward conversation with a stranger at a bar, or when you’re out on a date which is filled with painfully long silences. Your immediate reaction might be to reach for the nearest bottle of wine until you can escape. But is there a better way to enjoy drinking? While alcohol should always be consumed in moderation, you can also get just the right amount of buzz so you can enjoy your evening, but won’t feel a sickening hangover in the morning.
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I suggest that everyone enjoy your moments this October with your family, pets and loved ones. Buy a good bash of food, and tie a good one one. Make this evening a notable one.
The United States is continuing to poke China. Sheech. Here’ let’s just forget about the idiocy in Washington DC.
Let’s discuss cats, and some food.
If you wanted to adopt a cat, would you adopt a really mean one to spare his life?
Yes.
There are no bad cats. Just cats who had bad experiences with humans.
My adult daughter brought Phoebe home. Phoebe had been living feral and hanging around an elementary school at the outskirts of town. People would dump unwanted animals here as it was off the highway. My daughter worked at an after school program at this school.
Phoebe was underweight, and turned out to be very aggressive. We learned she had been spayed when we took her in for the procedure and the vet found the scar. She couldn’t tolerate anyone touching her back, and would swipe any human who touched her there. She would also bite if she got the chance. We surmised she suffered physical abuse at her last home, possibly from overly handsy children.
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It took about three years, but eventually she learned no one would hurt her here. She became quite the cuddle cat.
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The Grand Budapest Hotel: Comedy, Tragedy & Style
If you were able to live for a thousand years, how would you hide it to not being suspicious?
I love this question. It leaves a lot of room for speculation.
Truthfully, it would be easier to conceal my age if I was 1000 years old today than 1000 years in the future. The system today is obsessed with knowing who everyone is and what they’re up to, and the omnipresence of cameras would make it difficult for me to go unnoticed for so many years.
It will much depend on whether technological advancement continues, stagnates, or regresses. The easier it is to tell who is who, the harder concealment will be.
So…what would one have to do to hide their unusually long life span?
You’ll have to excel at mediocrity or at least the appearance of it. No winning Noble Peace Prizes, or even going down as the dumbest in Bavaria.
Plastic surgery. I would say about once every 30 years, but not in a gradual MJ way. It would have to be a quicker transition like you’re changing genders.
Before plastic surgery, fake your death while “young”. Under your fake identity, you can’t live up to old age. They will burn you at the stake for looking gorgeous at 80.
Hiding from individuals is one thing, but the system will eventually become sus. Ultimately, you would have to ally yourself with a powerful government as some sort of agent or secret spy. It won’t violate the first bullet point, unless you actually become famous for it, which would be…bad.
This will, of course, be a painful existence, full of loss and tragedy. How many loved ones will you have to leave behind in death, while you become ever more impatient with your own mortality? I simply can’t imagine :’).
But just never get caught:
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What I just described is the HARD WAY.
The EASY WAY is this:
Don’t hide at all.
Study human behaviour and psychology.
Convince people that you’re a god or some mighty alien.
Start a movement and take over the world…for 1000 years.
People seem gullible enough.
Which is healthier: school lunches or McDonald’s?
Take a look…
School Lunch China 1: Eggs and tomato, mapo dofu, cauliflower and chilies, plenty of rice
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School Lunch China 2: Baby bok choy, pork and mushrooms, yuxiang pork, steamed bread, soup
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McDonald’s China offerings: processed, deep fried food and sugary cold beverage
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Which is healthier: school lunches or McDonald’s?
I would rather let my teenage son eat a school lunch, I might even join him. In China school lunch is much healthier without a doubt, the food is fresh cooked.
One of my husband’s friends complained to him that I had female hygiene products in plain view in the bathroom. Is that a big breach of etiquette in the UK?
When we moved in to our new house in 2020, my then 17-year-old son got his own bathroom. It wasn’t an en-suite, but it was right next to his bedroom and rather isolated from the rest of the house, so while others may use it, that was “his” bathroom.
One of the first things he did after moving in was get a nice-looking basket which he filled with a selection of high quality feminine hygiene products and placed on the back of the toilet.
He had read that a courteous host does that to make the women in their lives feel comfortable and welcome and to save them embarrassment if the need arises.
I think your husband’s friend needs to grow up at least as much as my teenager.
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Before you think he’s too awesome, realize if I didn’t clean his bathroom, no self-respecting woman would ever use it.
He’s great, but he’s still a teenage boy.
How do loyal Chinese citizens deal with anti-government sentiments overseas?
Loyal? You make out that we unquestioningly follow the Chinese government.
For loads of us the government doesn’t cross our minds. It doesn’t unless I come on Quora and a mega mind westerner accuses me of being a CCP shill.
So how do we deal with it?
We ignore it, why?
Mao himself stated that if you’re being criticised by the imperialists then you’re doing something right.
For those who go overseas? We play hot stove.
As children ALL children we likely had a hot stove moment. A hot stove moment is where as a child you’re in danger and your parent yanks you away from the danger OR allows you to burn yourself.
If you burn yourself? It’s a very harsh lesson and likely you’ll learn from it.
This person for example
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He was living a comfortable middle life in Hong Kong.
He is now homeless in the UK and 6 months ago when this video was published was wondering where his next meal was coming from.
He’s essentially touched the hot stove.
He’s learned a very harsh lesson, and the fun thing is? We had NO hand to play in him learning it. It was HIS choice to put his face on the hot stove.
My Uncle is 64 & he wants a cat.
Cats live long, and my uncle has health conditions & we don’t think its fair to the cat to get it as a kitten and for him to pass leaving it ownerless. So what age cat would be good for him to get to prevent that^^?
As I am 73, I am going to share my experience in response to your question.
Three 1/2 years ago my dog, Homie, crossed over the 🌈 Bridge. I missed him terribly, but decided not to get another dog as I have ambulatory issues and had fallen several times while walking him.
I have always had dogs and cats and love them equally, so I went to the local Animal Shelter and told the receptionist I wanted to meet the oldest cat they had, or the one hardest to adopt out.. They took me to meet a slender long-legged tuxedo cat who had been surrendered several months before.. her card said she was 15, declawed, spayed, her name was Spooky, and they didn’t want her anymore. I changed her name to Schatzi (German for Treasure or Darling) because she is a Diva!
About 3 weeks later, I was on the porch talking to my son when this little tabby tom cat climbed up in my lap and I heard, plain as day, I been ‘bandoned’ will you be my Mommy and I’m Hungry.. I found out later that this little skinny guy, covered in fleas, was about 3–4 months old and had been left in our little trailer park when the woman who owned him moved. I named him Mickey.
He is almost 4 and she is close to 19. I love them both very much and they sleep with me.. They give me a reason to get up every day and enrich this old lady’s life! 💜🐾🐾🐈🐆
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Hellbound Train
Her mistake was inviting me to lunch.
Little did I know I was quitting my new job right after dessert.
Three weeks earlier, the job appeared out of nowhere. I breezed through the interviews. My new would-be boss was awesome. The team was friendly and fun.
Great job with good people.
Destiny.
Offer sent. I accepted. Got my employee number. Signed up for benefits. Even got a hand-written greeting card, welcoming me to the team.
They were pumped. I was, too.
Then I got invited to lunch…
“Hey Matt. I know you don’t start until Monday, but we’re having an employee appreciation lunch. Wanna go?”
“Hell, yeah.”
I drove up to headquarters. Checked in. Picked up my badge. Toured the office again. Met a bunch of executives. Chatted with my awesome new boss. Downed the chicken and mashed potatoes. Split a fudge brownie with a new coworker.
Then I left…
“See you Monday!”
As I walked out of those double-doors, it hit me…
I was never going to see these wonderful people again.
You might be thinking, “Well…what happened?”
And that’s the thing. Nothing. Nothing happened.
But during the office tour, during introductions to the executive team, during visionary chats with my new boss, during lunch, something didn’t feel right. I couldn’t figure it out.
My brain said yes but my gut said no.
So I called my new boss and committed the ultimate hiring sin…
I told her I was resigning.
Confused. Hurt. She was devastated. She took it personally. Like she’d done something wrong. This door was forever closed.
A smoldering wreckage of a bridge burned to the ground.
Three months later, she called me.
“You dodged a bullet. Big shake-up and new management. Most of the executive team was replaced. They also let the whole department go. People are miserable. I’m leaving, too. You made a great decision.”
I felt bad for her. But I will say a wave of relief washed over me.
Although we’ve lost touch, I often wonder how she’s doing.
Today, it’s still a weird feeling to think I quit a job as an official employee before reading my first email.
Biden Says He’d Go To War Over Taiwan!
스텔라 (Stellar) – 떨려요 (Vibrato) MV
Sexy K-pop… OMG.
The hurt runs deep
My Mother hurt me deeply and each time I saw her, the pain resurfaced.
Empty promises. Empty love. Empty heart.
If you know my previous stories, you will understand our bio parents decided alcohol was more important than we three children. Lots of parties and lots of alcohol. I didn’t know what that smell was but I knew it changed people. I remember asking my mother if I could move my little table and chairs to her room and play. She always agreed but the next morning asked me why I moved it without permission. I would tell her she let me move it but of course, told me she would never do that and I was spanked. I hated alcohol.
They would leave us for hours alone at night. We were told not to call our grandmother and we could eat some candy they left for us. It was frightening being 5 years old and in charge.
It was evident we were in their way.
When I was 5 yrs old our parents decided to divorce one another. We all were in court for their divorce and the Judge was about to put we three children in foster care. I was 5 and my brothers were 4 and 1 yr old. My dear grandmother stood up and said she would take the three of us. The Judge asked her some questions and have us to her.
I must say, being the oldest at 5 yrs and the only the girl was very hard. I was torn for the love for a mother I felt I was supposed to feel and the pure love I felt for our grandmother. Our mother was willing to sign her rights away to us instantly putting us into foster care, whereas, our loving grandmother took three frightened grandchildren, under the age of 5, in order to save us from foster care, while being 73 years of age. She never once backed down or said we were too much. She wholeheartedly took us into the safety and peace of her home. It was later we realized her former friends that were her age stopped visiting. We were too loud, or so they thought. Little did they understand we three did all we could do to not be a problem for our grandmother. We never disobeyed knowingly because of our love for her.
Our mother wasn’t there for me and even less for my brothers. She only wanted girls and refused to have anything to do with my brothers.
My grandmother was there for everything important to us! Throughout school she never missed one event. All the extracurricular activities for all three of us she came and clapped the loudest. She was in her late 80’s but never missed a football game for my brother nor a band concert for my other brother, nor a piano recital for me.
She had bought me a piano and paid for lessons when I was 5. The best gift I’ve ever received which is still in my home today. I played with tears streaming down my face not knowing she noticed, or happily with smiles.
As an adult, she was at my wedding and the births of both my daughters. She called my mother each time and told her about it but she was drunk and never understood. Little did my grandma realize, I really didn’t care how she felt because it was she who I loved and respected.
More importantly, it was she who took us to church and taught us how much God loved us. I have her old Bible and cherish reading it daily.
My grandmother moved us from Texas to Arkansas seeking out land in the country. If you look at the other stories I shared, we loved being country kids and blossomed.
I forgave my mother after my grandmothers funeral. We three were sitting in the front pews with our spouses and could hear our mother laughing in the back. It was the saddest day of my life.
It’s been 30 years since my grandmother went to heaven. I didn’t have bio parents who cared but God had other plans with our dear grandmother. She lived to be 97 and we were so thankful. We had engraved on her stone, “Forever in our heart,” which is where she will be forever. ♥️
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This picture was our grandmother after we moved from the country into town in Arkansas. Peppy, our dog, loved her too. She taught her a trick and loved showing others. She was about 90 years old then.
I miss you, grandma. I hope you know how much I loved and appreciated all you did for us. We will be together again in Heaven. I’m so anxious to meet with you again as well as my grandfather who died at 50 from a heart attack. I also can’t wait to meet my uncle, your only son, who was killed in WW2. Until then…day by day. 💙
Blind Faith Can’t Find My Way Home 1969
Indian Style Basmati Rice
Police Story
“This is me at 21 years old. This is the day I graduated from the Detroit police academy at 4:00pm, went home and took a couple hour nap, woke up at 9:30 that night and reported to my first tour of duty at the 12th Precinct for midnight shift.
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Look at that smile on my face. I couldn’t have been more excited, more proud. Armed with my dad’s badge that he wore for 25 years on my chest, one of my mom’s sergeant stripe patches in my pocket, my lucky $2.00 bill tucked into my bulletproof vest, a gun I was barely old enough to purchase bullets for on my hip and enough naive courage for a small army, I headed out the door…my mom snapped this photo on my way.
The next 17 years would bring plenty of shed blood, black eyes, torn ligaments, stab wounds, stitches, funerals, a head injury, permanent and irreparable nerve damage, 5 ruptured discs, some charming PTSD and depression issues and a whole lot of heartache. They brought missed Christmases with my family, my absence from friends’ birthday get-togethers, pricey concert tickets that were forfeited at the last minute because of a late call and many sleepless nights.
I’ve laid in wet grass on the freeway for three hours watching a team of burglars andorchestrating their apprehension, I’ve dodged gunfire while running down a dark alley in the middle of the night chasing a shooting suspect, I’ve argued with women who were too scared to leave their abusive husbands until they realized they had to or they would end up dead. I’ve peeled a dead, burned baby from the front of my uniform shirt, I’ve felt the pride of putting handcuffs on a serial rapist and I’ve cried on the chest of and kissed the cheek of my dead friend, coworker and academy classmate even though it was covered in his own dried blood and didn’t even look like him from all the bullet holes. I know what a bullet sounds like when it’s whizzing past your ear, a few inches away, I know what the sound of a Mother’s shrilling scream is like when she finds out her son has been killed in the middle of the street and I know what it’s like to have to tell a wife and mother of 3 that her husband was killed in a car accident while on his way home from work.
Smells, pictures, sounds and sights are burned and engrained into our minds…things we can never forget, no matter how hard we try; things that haunt our sleep at night and our thoughts during the day; things that we volunteered to deal with so that you don’t have to. Things I don’t want my sister, little cousins or YOU to even have to KNOW about.
I never once went to work thinking, “I’m gonna beat someone tonight.”; “Hmmm…I think I’m gonna kill someone tonight.” I DID, however, go to work every night, knowing that I was going to do the best I could to keep good people safe, even if that meant that I died doing so.
We ALL need to start being more understanding and compassionate toward one another. Violence doesn’t cure violence and hate doesn’t cure hate. I’ve seen and experienced both sides of the spectrum since I left the PD and I get it. I truly do. But this all has to stop.
Are cops perfect? No. Are there bad cops? Yes. But please…understand that the vast majority of police are good, loving, well intentioned family people. They have husbands and wives and children and parents and pets and cousins and mortgages and electric bills and lawns that need cutting, just like you. They have hearts and consciences. They aren’t robots, they’re not machines and they just want to help keep the wolves away from the sheep. I KNOW there’s people who don’t deserve to wear the badge but they’re SO VERY few and far between. It breaks my heart to see all this hatred and anger flying around. All it’s doing is encouraging more of the same.
If you’ve read this far, thank you for listening. I’m not gonna sit here and tell you that if you hate or don’t support one side or the other, to unfriend me and never speak to me again…I hope those are the people who come straight TO me. Because I’ll be more than happy to hug you and pray or meditate with you. I’ll be more than happy to listen to your concerns and let you vent and empathize with your feelings. But then I’ll encourage you to help me find a solution to end all this nonsense because if we’re not part of the solution, we’re part of the problem. Love to all of you. ALL OF YOU. We’re all SO much better than this.”
Lancet Medical Journal released a major Covid-19 Commission report on 15-Sep-22 suggested the COVID-19 may have leaked from U.S labs (peer reviewed by scientists). Will the US be as transparent as China for WHO to Investigate the US biological labs?
Hey, all China haters here I invite you cordially to squirm and apologize for demonisation of the Chinese people and China with immediate effect. Let’s see if you can now say in front of all our Quora community that you lied and promote hate in the most despicable and dishonourable manner.
I will give you a like if you have the guts and honour to do so.
I am waiting and counting the minutes and hours for you to do the right thing.
Show me you calling on the US to be transparent or to be honest of their attrocitiesthat backfired on its own people.
Come on, we are all waiting.
The Meticulously Charming World of The Grand Budapest Hotel
If the US got into a war with China, do you think that NATO countries would also send troops to fight against China?
Oh, and where should NATO send their troops to to fight China?
If the West brings the war to the Chinese mainland, China will bring the war to the West’ homeland.
Listen up! If people start thinking any war with China can occur in their own home, in their cities, these warmongers may think twice before they start any more wars or even think of starting any more wars.
What do you think about China launching military drills very close to Taiwan this week?
A guy, who is known to be the toughest guy in the neighborhood, goes rummaging through a room in someone’s house despite warnings not to do it by the owner.
The owner comes out with an M-16 and started firing into the air.
Taken aback, the guy retreats back onto the street. With the whole neighborhood watching, he said to the owner: I will be back driving by your street next Monday. When I do, I will bring along my Glock.
Now, how do you think everyone would think about this guy who once was known as a toughest guy in the hood?
Hum?
Why do Asian Americans have the highest household income in America?
Its funny I don’t know how many times I have asked the question,
“Why are Asians so damn good at everything?!?”
I actually learned today that Asian-Americans have the highest rates of marriage of any “race” (God I hate that word).
Only 16% remain unmarried.
Being married is a huge financial advantage.
Besides the obvious benefit of dual incomes, being married often gives couples a chance to pursue more education and training where doing so as a single person may be financially more difficult.
In addition to that culturally many Asian cultures strongly believe in putting all their resources and expectations into their children.
The better the children do in life the more honor they receive.
Honestly this is totally anecdotal but in my experience Asian families seem to have a strong understanding that an education is an investment.
As an investment there is an expected return, a HIGH return.
When I was in college all my Asian peers were the in the STEM fields. Usually Engineers, medical school students, pharmacists, or computer programmers.
All fields that produce high incomes.
Where as my non-Asian friends seemed to be into this romanticized idea that they should “do what feels right” or “do whatever you’re passionate about”.
That belief isn’t inherently wrong.
However investing 100K+ to get a degree that can’t produce you an income is financial suicide.
Honestly I believe that is the biggest factor.
There is a focus on being able to support oneself financially first and foremost.
Before passions or what should be hobbies are pursued.
You have to understand when you are a first or second generation immigrant your family often immigrated because they couldn’t see a way to make a living in their own countries.
They left everything they ever knew behind just to attempt to make a living in a new country.
Imagine for a moment the kind of mindset someone has who was willing to abandon everything they have ever known or has ever brought them comfort just to have a chance at making a decent living.
That creates extreme focus on one thing.
Making money.
When you consider all those things its no surprise that they do so well financially.
When you look at the statistics of immigrants as a whole You will notice most immigrants out perform many multi-generation Americans in many job markets.
And this isn’t a case of “people stealing jobs” from anyone.
This is two different kinds of people coming from different circumstances resulting in different motivations.
Are people exaggerating about the American health care system or is it that bad if you don’t have insurance?
Hi, my husband didn’t have health insurance when he was 24 he had a seizure and went in an ambulance to the ER. He was there maybe three hours and sent home.
TO THIS DAY (6 years later) He is still paying this little trip to the ER off! A collections agency came after him and ruined his credit unless he would pay $700/month towards a $12k debt to the hospital!!!! Wtf did they do in 3 hours that equals $12,000.00 dollars. FUCK YOU USA HEALTHCARE YOU TAKE ADVANTAGE OF PEOPLE WHO DONT HAVE INSURANCE
He got his payments down to $350 using like a money management company who negotiated and got the monthly payment down and even that is very expensive it’s more than his truck payment. He regrets ever going to the hospital that day. It ruined his credit score like A LOt since he was 24 he is now 30 and just getting his life together. The $12k really held him back.
There’s this stray cat that keeps coming onto my porch. Usually I don’t mind cats but this one is riddled with fleas. What can I do to keep it away?
I suppose there are many things you could do to get rid of it, but there are other options. I’m not going to tell you what is right for you, but I am going to tell you my story, if you care to read. Take from it what you will.
I used to hate+fear cats (childhood trauma from cat attack) and I’m also very, very allergic.
About five years ago I was entering my car at night, in the rain, with my wife when I saw a messy, furry lump of hair reminiscent of the movie “the ring” streak around the corner of the car. I went out to look and there was this gnarly black feline looking back at me. I was like… eugh… and went back into the car. But the darned thing followed me and crawled up my lap, up along my arm up towards my shoulders all while I’m all but screaming “WHAT THE FUCK IS IT DOING??!?” to my wife, who I knew had a lot of experience with cats. The cat, that was obviously in a bad state, proceeded to lie down around my neck like a nasty, wet scarf and passed out with a huge sigh. Weirdest thing ever.
Despite my aversions against cats, especially one that had just punctured my leg, arm and neck in about a hundred spots with its nasty, infected claws – we decided to walk down to the vet, cat around my neck, to get advice on what to do with it (and also to have it safely removed from the vicinity of my carotid artery :D)
The lady who worked there was involved in a local animal support group and offered to do her best to find the owners and said the cat could live there for now – in a small cage, in a dark corner until the owner could be found or if not – be sent off to the shelter.
I suppose that was where love won out over hate, fear and allergies, so I asked if it wouldn’t be better for the cat if we took it home to try and care for it for the time being.
The cat was dirty, had ticks, fleas, skin infections, ear infections, worms and was in obvious psychological distress.
Long story short, the owners were found – but because they’d had kids and the kids were beating up the cat they decided to kick the cat out instead of teaching their kids manners. The cat was homeless and given the previous owners mentality, probably hadn’t gotten much love or attention.
So we decided to give him a fighting chance and spent a minor fortune (no insurance = expensive) getting him the help he needed, removing ticks, cleaning out fleas, daily skin care, minor ear surgery, vaccinations, anti-worm medication, intensive care diets, castration and whatever “love” I was able to muster. My allergies were terrible, but I pushed through. This was not a fun experience for any of us, but the cat never, ever tried to hurt us despite being put through weeks of painful and likely terrifying medicinal procedures as well as my constant, ear shattering sneezing.
In time (many months), my body started getting used to having “cat” in the air all of the time and my allergies started to slowly fade, in straight opposition to what doctors have always told me should happen. Not just my cat allergies, mind you. My dog and generic fur allergy, pollen allergies (hay fever) and contact allergies all improved significantly over the next two years!
Today, five years later, I could not imagine living without Sheldon. He is the perfect pet – with beautiful, soft and glistening black fur. He’s one of those cats who never do annoying “cat things” like topple things over, attack from behind a corner or walk all over the keyboard when you try to work, and when I lie down in the couch in the evenings he comes over with a slight meow, as if to ask if it’s okay to hang out, and when I move over he jumps up and snuggles up right next to me for hours on end. When I go for a walk he will follow me around wherever I go. He keeps the house and garden free of mice and rats. Warns us when something is awry. Hangs out with the pet rabbits my wife keeps in the yard or when we are outdoors he will run around the neighborhood playing and jumping up and down trees and fences. When we are away he spends most of the day comfortably resting in bed, only to come running to us like a dog when we get back. Every time we open a door for him, or give him food, he will first take the time to turn around and give us a gentle stroke against the leg, before proceeding about his business.
I can now go outdoors in the summer without being destroyed by allergies, the family has gained a wonderful friend and Sheldon gives us more than enough love to go around. These are the gifts we were given for deciding to love, when we could’ve just walked away – and certainly had our reasons to do just that.
x
Why are the Western countries working so hard to stop China to develop even if China never started conflicts spontaneously?
First of all, understand who these “Western countries” are: USA, UK, Australia, and Canada. The white Anglophone nations. They are trying to protect their global hegemony.
Second, this is not about militarism. This is about economic competition. China’s spectacular economic growth promises to completely eclipse the West. It threatens the supremacy of the US Dollar.
Third, you are correct. China is the most peaceful world power that has ever existed. China only became the world power it is today in the last four decades.
Since 1979, China has not fought a single war, whereas USA and NATO have variously fought in Afghanistan, Bosnia, El Salvador, Grenada, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Panama, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Yemen, Yugoslavia, etc.
Fourth, China is no threat to anybody. China respects all nations.
In fact, China is helping countries all around the world…
to build their infrastructure (through Belt and Road)
to build economic and security alliances like BRICS, RCEP and SCO in order to unify the world
to build their economies through trade and investment
China builds while USA bombs.
When have you experienced true joy?
“Dad, I need your help. Come here!” My 11-year-old girl dragged me towards the computer.
“Dad, please purchase everything I have in the Amazon shopping cart. Here, take this cash from my savings!”
The shopping cart showed ten items for a total of about 130 dollars.
“Wait!” I replied. “That’s too much money! Why do you need all these things?”
“Please, Dad! These items will get here before Christmas. I have a surprise for everyone … no peeking!” she insisted, and I never hesitated.
I purchased everything.
A couple of days later she got everything.
I saw her then wrapping all her gifts.
“Can I help you?”
“No, Dad. I told you these are special surprises. Absolutely no peeking!”
Her excitement was visible. She was proud. She was alive. She was glowing with happiness.
The day came. She couldn’t contain herself. She was all over her gifts, planning, protecting, arranging. Everything had to be perfect.
As soon as dinner was over, she jumped up from her chair and took her gifts. She went around, giving each one of us her piece of love. These were small value items, but it was the meaning of her giving heart that we were really feeling.
As she gave to each person, she paused. She watched the expression on our faces. Our smiles were her greatest reward.
Her last gift was for my back then 2-year-old boy: A rocking pony ride-on toy.
It’s hard to describe the explosion of delight that my little boy had on his face when he got this gift!
For several minutes, everyone was totally absorbed, our attention taken up watching him go all around the house making it a rodeo arena. Even though the pony is designed to be a static rocking horse — his excitement was so significant that the horse slid a few inches forward or backward with every thrust he exerted into the little toy.
x
My little girl watched, rewarded with a huge smile on her face.
Somehow, witnessing these acts of giving love from my 11-year-old helped me understand the power of giving. Giving from the heart. Giving from the inside out.
Later that day, my girl received some gifts, but she didn’t need them. She was focused on others, not on herself. It was evident that she was the one feeling true JOY. She was full.
What bothers you?
The fact that we’ve begun to look down on traditional women.
Recently, I read an article where two women spoke about their decisions to stay at home rather than enter the workforce, as well as their decision to take their husband’s last name. They explained why it was the right thing for them.
Yet these two women got utterly dismembered, bashed, mocked, and even threatened for speaking about their choice— all in the name of ‘women’s empowerment’.
x
Is it empowering to bash women for their personal choices?
Is it empowering to pressure women into doing things they don’t want to do?
Is it empowering to force women into a single, allocated path?
Admittedly, I’d despise every minute of being a housewife. I would, however consider taking my husband’s last name—and whose business is it? Those who bully women over their personal decisions, whatever they may be, have lost their grasp on what feminism is about.
Feminism is about choice.
So if staying at home is that choice, that’s empowering enough for me.
Being a housewife is just as valid as pursuing your career, and women should be supported wherever their interests lie, whether it be raising a family or a full-fledged career in law. Women should never be shamed for what they want to do in life.
Look, some women feel that marriage is constricting and prefer to pursue their own careers, and that’s fine. But shaming other women for wanting marriage and contenting themselves as housewives isn’t.
Their traditional choices don’t make them less ambitious, intelligent, or less of a feminist. It doesn’t mean they don’t want to smash the system or see more women in top jobs. It means they’ve made an independent choice as a strong, grown woman.
Rekindling Its Iraq WMD Fiasco The New York Times Is Back At Printing ‘Officials Said’
At first I wondered why the New York Times homepage editor would put a piece about Putin and his alleged involvement in war strategy under ‘U.S. Politics’.
President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has [...], American officials said, ...American officials briefed on highly sensitive intelligence said ...... his involvement has created tensions, American officials said.The officials said ......, Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in an interview on Friday.... is to both sides, American officials said.Some American officials said they saw trouble ahead ...A senior U.S. official said this week ......could eventually be threatened, American officials said.Senior Russian officers repeatedly questioned [...], American officials said, ...The Russian officers believed [...], American officials said.... focused on massive artillery barrages, American officials said.... hit by Ukrainian fire, Ukrainian officials said.... said Seth G. Jones, senior vice president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.... said Michael Kofman, director of Russia studies at CNA, a defense research institute in Arlington, Va...., U.S. officials say Mr. Putin believes ...... American officials have said that Mr. Putin has not been given accurate information ...Mr. Putin, an American official said, has opposed ......, American officials said Russian officers themselves are divided ...
named American semi-officials (Jones, Kofman): 2 times,
a named American official (Milley): 1 time,
anonymous Ukrainian officials: 1 time.
There are no other sources in the piece.
Would you believe that it took 4 (FOUR) NYT ‘reporters’, Julian E. Barnes, Helene Cooper, Eric Schmitt and Michael Schwirtz, to stenograph that nonsense?
A lot of anonymous American officials said that the U.S. was winning its wars in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan etc. Anonymous American officials said that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. The NYT printed all those false claims without providing evidence for their veracity.
There was some agonizing after the Iraq WMD claims turned out to be false. The NYT and other media promised to do better and to restrict the use of anonymous sources:
Under our guidelines, anonymous sources should be used only for information that we think is newsworthy and credible, and that we are not able to report any other way. ...We understand readers’ wariness, but many important stories in sensitive areas like politics, national security and business could never be reported if we banned anonymous sourcing. Sources often fear for their jobs or business relationships — sometimes even for their safety.
Those anonymous American officials quoted in the above NYT piece are distributing ‘newsworthy’ and ‘credible’ information? Even some they very obviously have no way to obtain (‘Mr. Putin believes …’)? They must be fearing for their jobs and safety when they reveal the secrets of Putin’s believes to those assiduous NYT ‘reporters’?
Or its all just another bunch of lies. Not only what the American officials say but also what the NYT claims to be. The above piece is not the result of journalism by independent media but the outcome of intense collaboration between a quasi state organ and the Biden administration. It is an information operation waged against its own people and propaganda for a real war waged against Russia.
Why do they expect anyone to pay for this dreck?
The Twilight Zone Season 1, Episode 31 It’s Still a Good Life
This Thanksgiving, Supplies Of Turkey, Eggs And Butter Will Be Extremely Tight In The United States
If you love to cook, this upcoming Thanksgiving may be a real challenge for you. Thanks to a resurgence of the bird flu, supplies of turkey are getting tighter and tighter. Sadly, the same thing is true for eggs. And as you will see below, reduced milk production is sending the price of butter into the stratosphere. Thanks to soaring prices, a traditional Thanksgiving dinner will be out of reach for millions of American families this year, and that is extremely unfortunate. Of course all of this is happening in the context of a horrific global food crisis that is getting worse with each passing day. Yes, things are bad now, but they will be significantly worse this time next year.
The bird flu pandemic that has killed tens of millions of our chickens and turkeys was supposed to go away during the hot summer months, but that didn’t happen. And now that the weather is starting to get colder again, there has been a resurgence of the bird flu and this is “devastating egg and turkey operations in the heartland of the country”…
Turkeys are selling for record high prices ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday as a resurgence of bird flu wipes out supplies across the US.Avian influenza is devastating egg and turkey operations in the heartland of the country. If just one bird gets it, the entire flock is culled in order to stop the spread. Millions of hens and turkeys have been killed in recent weeks. As a result, prices for turkey hens are nearly 30% higher than a year ago and 80% above pre-pandemic costs. Just as concerning are inventories of whole turkeys, which are the lowest going into the US winter holiday season since 2006. That means there will be little relief from inflation for Thanksgiving dinner.
In the months ahead, we could see tens of millions more chickens and turkeys get wiped out.
Egg prices have already tripled in 2022 and the price of turkey meat is up 60 percent. Unfortunately, this is likely just the beginning…
Turkey hens are $1.82 a pound this week, according to Urner Barry, compared to $1.42 last year and $1.01 before the pandemic. Meanwhile, wholesale egg prices are at $3.62 a dozen as of Wednesday, the highest ever, up from a previous record of $3.45 a dozen set earlier this year, said John Brunnquell, chief executive officer of Egg Innovations, one of the biggest US producers of free-range eggs. Consumers have seen prices for eggs at grocery stores triple this year, while turkey meat rose a record-setting 60%, according to a Cobank report.
Meanwhile, supplies of butter are steadily getting tighter as well…
Lower milk production on U.S. dairy farms and labor shortages for processing plants have weighed on butter output for months, leaving the amount of butter in U.S. cold storage facilities at the end of July the lowest since 2017, according to the Agriculture Department.Tight supplies have sent butter prices soaring at U.S. supermarkets, surpassing most other foods in the past year. U.S. grocery prices in August rose 13.5% during the past 12 months, the largest annual increase since 1979, according to the Labor Department. Butter outstripped those gains, rising 24.6% over the same period.
The trends that are driving up the price of butter aren’t going away any time soon, and so we are being warned to brace ourselves for “elevated” prices for the foreseeable future…
The forces at work in butter highlight the challenge of curtailing inflation. Economic pressures fueling high prices for livestock feed, labor shortages and other factors could persist, keeping prices for the kitchen staple elevated longer term.
To me, slathering a piece of warm bread with a huge chunk of butter is one of the best things about Thanksgiving.
And most of us will continue to buy butter no matter how high it goes.
But the truth is that rapidly rising food prices are forcing vast numbers of Americans to adjust their shopping habits. Here is one example…
For Carol Ehrman, cooking is a joyful experience.“I love to cook, it’s my favorite thing to do,” she said. She especially likes to cook Indian and Thai food, but stocking the spices and ingredients she needs for those dishes is no longer feasible. “When every ingredient has gone up, that adds up on the total bill,” she said.“What used to cost us $250 to $300 … is now $400.” Ehrman, 60, and her husband, 65, rely on his social security income, and the increase was stretching their budget. “We just couldn’t do that.”
The global food crisis is starting to hit home for many ordinary Americans, and we need to understand that this crisis is still only in the very early chapters.
David Beasley is the head of the UN World Food Program, and he is actually using the word “hell” to describe what is potentially coming in 2023…
“It’s a perfect storm on top of a perfect storm,” Beasley said. “And with the fertilizer crisis we’re facing right now, with droughts, we’re facing a food pricing problem in 2022. This created havoc around the world.”“If we don’t get on top of this quickly — and I don’t mean next year, I mean this year — you will have a food availability problem in 2023,” he said. “And that’s gonna be hell.”
The World Food Program keeps sounding the alarm, but very few of us in the western world seem to be taking those warnings very seriously.
People are literally dropping dead from starvation in some areas of the globe right now, and a new report that the WFP just released says that there are 19 “hotspots” where we could see a “huge loss of life” between October and January…
World Food Programme (WFP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) are out with a new report outlining countries that “are either already starving or on the brink of disaster.”WFP and FAO found 19 hunger hotspots worldwide, with most countries in Africa, the Middle East, and even some in Central America. They call for urgent humanitarian action between October 2022 and January 2023 to avoid “huge loss of life.”Afghanistan, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Somalia, Nigeria, Yemen, and Haiti are labeled “hotspots of highest concern,” facing catastrophic hunger levels.
The sort of famines that we were warned about are already starting to happen right in front of our eyes, but most people simply will not care as long as they are not going hungry themselves.
What those people do not realize is that this global food crisis is going to continue to spread.
As supplies of food get tighter and tighter, prices will continue to soar and shortages will become more common.
We truly are in unprecedented territory, and the pain that is ahead will greatly shock all of the lemmings that just kept assuming that everything would work out just fine somehow.
I’d Love to Change the World – Alvin Lee & Ten Years After
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What is an insane coincidence that you’ve experienced?
I know that NO ONE is going to believe this story. But it did happen, I promise!!
I was born and lived for the first twenty years of my life in Montreal. My parents had friends, the Rabinovitches, who were childless. They were lovely people, and although they had been through the Holocaust and lost their entire family, never complained about life. They were super nice to me. I moved abroad to Israel and one day my mother called me that Mr. Pesach Rabinovitch had passed away. She said that his wife Leah was travelling with the coffin to Israel as he had requested to be buried in Israel and had asked if I could wait for her at the airport as she had no one she really knew in Israel. Knowing that no other family would be waiting for them, of course I readily agreed and went to the Ben Gurion airport to wait.
Their flight was due from Montreal at 2 p.m. I came to the special place where the deceased are brought (obviously, they don’t bring out coffins together with all the passengers in the regular arrivals hall!!) Another man was waiting there, too. I asked him if he was also waiting for the coffin of Pesach Rabinovitch. He said yes. I was a bit surprised, as from Leah’s words, I had understood that no one else would be coming. I spoke sadly about what a harsh life Pesach went through, being a Holocaust survivor, and this new acquaintance agreed, and told me how Pesach had never been a complainer even after all the hardships he suffered. I spoke about Pesach’s generosity, what a charitable man he had been, and this strange man agreed and added stories to what I already knew about Pesach. Then I asked him, “How did you know him so well? Did you also live in Montreal?” And the guy looks at me as though I am a dope, and says, “What are you talking about? He was my brother!”
I cannot explain to you all the thoughts that ran crashing through my mind. “Pesach? A brother? I’ve known him all my life, and my parents have known him, he always said he had no family, how can it be that he had a brother whom I had never heard of?” Delicately I asked the man if Pesach had discovered perhaps just lately that he had a brother. The guy looked at me like I was REALLY dopey and said, “No, he came very often to visit me”.
Now I was TOTALLY stumped. I checked what time it was in Montreal. 7 hrs difference, too early to call my mother and tell her this incredulous, incredible news. Pesach has a brother!! I just could not believe it!
Then I said casually, “Flight is coming in at 2 from Montreal.” The guy says, “Nope, coming in at 2:30. And it’s not from Montreal, it’s from Detroit.” “Detroit???” I asked puzzledly, not understanding why Pesach would want to take a tour in a coffin from Montreal to Detroit and then to Israel instead of coming direct. Just didn’t make sense. Now listen to the next snippets of conversation.
“Why would he come from Detroit?”
“Because that’s where he lived.”
“No he didn’t, Pesach Rabinovitch lived in Montreal all his life.”
“No he didn’t, Pesach Rabinovitch lived in Detroit all his life.”
I was stumped. I just didn’t get it. And then, a strange, eery thought came to my head. I asked, “His wife is Leah, right?” And the guy looked at me strangely, and said, “No, his wife’s name is Doris.” AND THEN IT HIT ME!!
Two Jewish men, both Holocaust survivors, both by the name of PESACH RABINOVITCH, both charitable men, had passed away on the same day, and had asked to be buried in Israel, and were being brought to Israel on the same day, with half an hour between them. I got this eerie feeling of “The Angel of Death had been told to take the soul of Pesach Rabinovitch, and had picked up all the Pesach Rabinovitches on the way that he could find….”
As I said, I doubt if anyone is going to believe me or my story. I will add that the deceased from Detroit came out a few minutes before ‘my” Pesach, and his coffin was attended by many, many grieving family members. Afterwards, Leah came out, red-eyed from crying, and all alone, looking so fragile and lonely. All she had in the world was Pesach, and now he was gone. I ran to hug her.
One important p.s. – I was worried they might mix up the coffins, i.e. put the Pesach Rabinovitch from Detroit into the grave bought for the other Pesach (“my” Pesach) and I went to the two hearses and looked through the window. There was a small slip of paper attached to each coffin, with the deceased’s name plus his father’s name. I knew that Pesach’s father was Mordechai. Sure enough in the hearse reserved for Pesach from Montreal the paper read “Pesach ben Mordechai” which translated to English means “Pesach the son of Mordechai”. Luckily, the other Pesach’s father had a different name!! And so I was reassured that they would not mix up the coffins.
Thanks to anyone and everyone who had enough patience to read my whole post. If anyone is interested, one of my children has a middle name, Pesach, obviously named with love and nostalgia after said Pesach.
And one more tiny coincidence, as I was about to hit the “submit” button, my son Pesach called me from Toronto where he lives today with his wife and daughter!! OMG!!!
Abuelas Refried Beans | Tex-Mex Queen
Seeking hegemony with nuclear force
The US has spared no effort to promote its nuclear-weapons modernization programs, which directly reflects its Cold War mentality and hegemonic logic. Its radical approach like this is bound to bring harm to the other countries and itself alike.
On the one hand, the US has invested heavily in nuclear modernization programs, which is in turn sure to be a heavy burden on the already troubled US economy. According to US media, the capital investment required of the nuclear forces budget over the next 30 years will reach US$1.5 to US$2 trillion.
Given the serious inflation in the US and the sharp downward revision of the economic growth forecast in 2023, such huge capital investment will definitely affect the development of the US economy. Otherwise, these funds could have been used to alleviate domestic social conflicts and improve the quality of life of the people.
On the other hand, the US upgrading of nuclear weapons will also affect the world’s strategic situation and destroy the strategic balance. In particular, the US has attached great importance to low-yield nuclear weapons in the process of advancing its nuclear-weapons modernization programs. The nuclear explosive package (NEP) of the US-developed B61-12 can be adjusted in the range of 300 tons to 50,000 tons as required and can be carried and dropped by tactical aircraft such as F-15E fighter-bombers and F-35 stealth fighters. Analysts believed that the measure taken by the US will lower the threshold for the application of nuclear weapons and be prone to leading to nuclear misjudgments, thereby placing global security at major risks related to nuclear weapons.
AOA – Like a Cat -Dance ver.-
Do I need to throw away Chinese products?
Yes throw everything out today.
Please do not forget EVERYTHING.
AS ALMOST ALL PRODUCTS ARE MADE WITH AT LEAST A CHINESE COMPONENT.
So find a nice cave to live as chances is your house will have used a Chinese component to build.
Throw away your car as many components are Chinese made
Throw away all your house wares as they are Chinese made. Throw every electronic items as they have mostly all Chinese component. Throw yourself and your families away as chances is you have Mongol DNA!
If China invades Taiwan to unify it with the mainland, the United States will go to war to defend Taiwan and send U.S. troops to fight the invaders.
That is the commitment made last week by President Joe Biden.
Asked by CBS’s Scott Pelley on “60 Minutes” if the U.S. would fight in defense of Taiwan if China invaded, Biden replied, “Yes, if, in fact, there was an unprecedented attack.”
Pelley followed up: “So, unlike Ukraine, to be clear, sir, U.S. forces — U.S. men and women — would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion.”
“Yes,” Biden responded.
As Aaron Blake of The Washington Post reports, this is “a U.S. president firmly committing to go to war.” Moreover, it is only the “latest of increasingly hawkish comments” made by Biden on the China-Taiwan issue.
For the fourth time in his presidency, Biden has said the U.S. will fight for Taiwan, though that could mean all-out war with China, which claims Taiwan as its sovereign territory and which has a growing stockpile of strategic missiles and nuclear weapons to validate its claim.
In August 2021, as Blake relates, Biden declared, “We made a sacred commitment to Article 5 that if in fact anyone were to invade or take action against our NATO allies, we would respond. … Same with Japan, same with South Korea, same with — Taiwan.”
But Taiwan has no mutual security treaty with the United States, nor any Article 5 war guarantee that obligates us to defend the island. The U.S.-Taiwan security pact of the 1950s was abrogated in 1979, when Jimmy Carter recognized Beijing as the legitimate government of China.
In October 2021, Biden was again asked: “China just tested a hypersonic missile. What will you do to keep up with them militarily, and can you vow to protect Taiwan?”
Biden’s response: “Yes and yes.”
In a follow-up, Biden was asked again, “So are you saying that the United States would come to Taiwan’s defense if China attacked?”
Biden: “Yes, yes, we have a commitment to do that.”
Yet we have no such commitment, no such obligation, though Biden appeared to be establishing one as head of government, head of state and commander in chief.
In May, Biden was asked, “Are you willing to get involved militarily to defend Taiwan if it comes to that?”
Biden: “Yes.”
Q: “You are?”
Biden: “That’s the commitment we made.”
Thus, Biden has, four times in his 20-month presidency, declared the U.S. is obligated to come to the defense of Taiwan, if China attacks, blockades or invades; and that, as president, he will honor what he believes to be a national commitment and U.S. war guarantee.
Each of the times Biden has declared that we are obligated to fight for Taiwan and he will honor that obligation, White House staff have walked back his words. There is no change in U.S. policy, unnamed officials assure the press.
U.S. policy is still presumably “strategic ambiguity” as to what we will do should China attack.
Nor is Taiwan the only site in the seas off the China coast where Biden seems to have issued a unilateral U.S. war guarantee.
Biden has said that if the Philippines seeks to retrieve its islets in the South China Sea now occupied by China, America will fight on Manila’s side. He has indicated that the U.S. mutual security treaty with Japan covers the Senkaku Islands Japan occupies but China claims.
One wonders: If China invades and seizes Taiwanese-claimed and -occupied islands within sight of the Chinese coast, and Taiwan resists, what would Biden do?
In the Nixon-Kennedy campaign of 1960, JFK called it “unwise” to take a risk of being dragged into war, which could lead to a world war, over islands like Quemoy and Matsu that were not strategically defensible.
If Beijing invaded and occupied islands a few miles right off its coast, and Taiwan resisted, would Biden send the Seventh Fleet to war with China?
The basic question raised by these Biden commitments to go to war with a China with a huge army and fleet, and in its own home region, is — why?
No U.S. president after Richard Nixon has challenged China’s claim that there is but “one China” and Taiwan “is a part of China.”
How many battle deaths, how many war dead, are we willing to sacrifice to prevent Beijing taking political control of an island of 23 million Taiwanese 6,000 miles away from the United States?
We did not fight to prevent China from imposing its control on 7 million people of Hong Kong. Why then does the independence of 23 million Taiwanese justify a U.S. war with the world’s most populous nation?
And if we fought a war with China over Taiwan, what would be our long-term strategic goal?
Independence for Taiwan?
But did we not cede that in the 1970s with Nixon’s trip to China, his Shanghai Communique and Carter’s severing of relations with the Republic of China?
CHEESE ENCHILADAS / BEST HOMEADE SAUCE
Big Changes
BULLETIN 3:08 PM EDT, Sunday, 18 September, 2022 — My former colleagues in the Intelligence Community during my years with FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force have sent me images of Chinese Army Units entering Ukraine from Russia.
The images — and some video which is still being analyzed — show a small convoy . . . very small; of general military transport-type trucks, and some smaller vehicles akin to HUMVEES, traveling via public roads from Russia into Ukraine.
These are the images I am able to release so far:
The Red placard on the driver-side doors is the Flag of China.
This simple, small, act, changes the ENTIRE dynamic of the Russia-Ukraine situation. Ukraine, the USA, the UK, and all of NATO, have just found out that China is now an active participant, and came in on the side of Russia.
The stakes in this situation just went so high, they went completely off the charts.
It is no understatement to say this is an earth-shattering development.
More when I get it . . . . VIDEO IS COMING WITHIN MINUTES . . . Check back . . . . .
UPDATE 3:34 PM EDT —
VIDEO
With this single, small, almost insignificant action, China has just announced to the whole world that it is now militarily standing with Russia, inside Ukraine.
Super-powers #2 and #3, are now openly, physically, confronting Super Power #1.
It seems to me that we in the USA and our European vassal state “partners” ought to get the message, and get it quick: I personally perceive the message to be “Either this Ukraine nonsense stops now, or open warfare between all three nuclear-armed super-powers is now on the table.”
Congressman & Bankers Laugh About How Corrupt They Are ON CAMERA!
UPDATE 5:28 PM EDT — HAL TURNER COMMENTARY
When I reported this, it occurred to me that it was only 72 hours ago that I reported to all of you:
Serious New Development: China Publicly Supports Russia Actions in Ukraine
As part of that report I detailed to you (among other things) the following:
Li Zhanshu is the head of China’s legislature: the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress. He’s Number 3 in the rigid hierarchy of the CPC. A VERY big fish.
So where was Mr. Li last week?
Well, at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russia. He met and talked with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Li also had a key meeting with Russian State Duma (The Russia Legislature) Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin – and other Duma leaders.
This is what he told the Duma. Pay VERY close attention:
“We see that the United States and its NATO allies are expanding their presence near the Russian borders, seriously threatening national security and the lives of Russian citizens (…)
“We fully understand the necessity of all the measures taken by Russia aimed at protecting its key interests” (…)
“We are providing our assistance.”
How explicit is that?
Well, China’s President Xi Jinping and Russia’s President Putin will have a special meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Samarkand summit tomorrow.
They will discuss Russia’s Special Military Operation (SMO) in Ukraine IN DETAIL. Especially the next steps.
Then, afterwards, we may be able to ascertain what Li meant when he said, “We are providing our assistance.”
Here we are, just 72 hours later, and we are now beginning to see exactly what Mr. Li meant when he said “We are providing our assistance” to Russia.
Consider also, that China gave no hint at all about what they were about to do. No “warnings” no ultimatums to the US or to Europe. They simply showed up in Ukraine, entering through Russia.
THAT . . . said absolutely everything that needed to be said.
This is no longer the US/EU/NATO versus Russia. This is the collective West versus (now) two nuclear-armed superpowers.
What Russia lacks in naval resources, has just been made up by China. What China lacks in Hypersonic missile technology, is more than covered by Russia.
As for manpower . . . well . . . I don’t want to put too fine a point on it but,
we . . .
don’t . . .
stand . . .
a . . .
chance.
At all.
What are we going to Draft into the military, those blue-haired/Green-haired/purple-haired freaks with ear lobes stretched by rings? How about the ones with piercings through strange parts of their bodies?
Maybe the feminized soy-boys who lisp?
How about those “trans-sexuals” who can’t even figure out their own sex by looking down the front of their own underwear? Maybe they’ll twerk against the Russian and Chinese troops . . . . might cause them to laugh til they die?
How about those pronoun dingbats; maybe we can draft them to fight?
OK. OK, maybe I’m being a little too hard on the left.
Maybe we can gather up all those folks camping out on the big city streets because they’re now homeless. THEY know how to “rough it” and maybe they can enlist and fight. Except that the reason they’re on the streets homeless is because of the drugs they take to avoid reality. Heroin. Methamphetamine. Fentanyl. Oxycodone. All to avoid the reality shaped and created by . . . Liberals.
See what I mean? We’re so fucked it isn’t funny. All thanks to Liberals and Democrats.
We should tell Ukraine, “We’ve done all that we can do, there can be no further Aid from the US, the EU or NATO. Negotiate as best you can with Russia. Best of luck.”
Because if we do or say anything else, we are literally at Armageddon.
Full stop.
All it took to get us here was the stolen 2020 Presidential Election. Much thanks to the Democrat Party and to traitorous Republicans who were so fixated on Trump, they forgot what the rest of the world might do once we were weakened.
All they cared about was ousting Trump. They never – not even for one second – thought about what message it would send to the world that a U.S. president could be ousted by voter fraud, the U.S. Congress would rubber stamp that fraud with a wink and a nod, the U.S. federal Courts would reject all the law suits over the fraud, and the American people . . . armed to the teeth . . . would fail to step up and slaughter the people who did this.
Oh well, water under the bridge at this point.
Look what our stolen election and American’s failure to act has now gotten us. LOOK at what the Democrats and traitorous, selfish, self-centered Republicans – the frauds in Congress and in the courts, did.
As you read this, our nation is now literally staring down the barrel of two nuclear super-powers moving their military into direct military confrontation with the Ukraine thing, and telling us, our dominance is over.
It sure looks to me like either [1] we quit what we’re doing, or [2] it’s nuclear war.
Way to go Democrats.
You stole an election for a dementia-addled weakling, and surrounded him with book-worm, pencil-necked nitwits, who had no real world experience, and no idea what they were getting us into through their woke weakness. You empowered the very people who ordered our military men to wear red high heels to learn what it feels like to be a woman, and who forced experimental gene therapy on them, as a phony vaccine, which has sickened, weakened or killed a slew of them.
You tucked tail and ran out of Afghanistan, leaving behind $85 BILLION of our tax money, and a whole slew of high tech weapons for our enemies to sell to the highest bidder, so they could reverse engineer them, learn to jam them, or to duplicate them.
You pit one half the country against the other half by calling “MAGA Americans” a “force” that represents “an extreme threat to the country,” while you bring “Drag Queen Story Hour” to little kids, allow criminals out without bail, defund police, halt our oil and gas drilling, and our pipelines, then embargo Russia so that OUR oil and natural gas (which we now have to import) triples or more in price, wreck the economy, and then get us into a war over the smelly armpit of Europe: Ukraine.
Worst of all, our sissy-mary-infested government and the mental weaklings of the left, are taking us all into the abyss and these Democrat/Liberal/Progressives – all of whom are mental weaklings – can’t figure a way out.
So they are in “Denial” because they’re incapable of admitting they were wrong, and they laugh-off Russia (and now China) claiming those two countries are merely “posturing” because that’s what liberals do. They can only think as THEY THEMSELVES actually are. And one thing is certain: Democrats/Liberals/Progressives entire lives are only “posturing.” They’ve never done anything real. Everything they do is virtue signaling because they lead empty lives of zero accomplishments.
… Doesn’t rule out an involuntary sacrifice by an unknowing trucker, though
Posted by: Objective Observer | Oct 8 2022 10:24 utc | 70
Now, don’t have a cow
Spanky and Our Gang Like To Get To Know You
Why do people accept China’s statement that China does not mess with other countries’ sovereignty? What about China’s 1979 invasion of Vietnam, and the threats to nuke Okinawa, Australia and the UK?
That war lasted 1 month. China went in, went out, done. They did not occupy, suppress, overthrow, or anything.
I mean, OK, we can give you that. A single invasion lasting one month, whereby China then just left.
As for threats, please… everyone threatens everyone else. It is whether you are likely to do it. China has a no-first strike policy and their historical pattern says they aren’t generally aggressive.
When China threatens consequences, you all laugh out loud because you know they won’t do it.
When the West threatens, it may very well happen. Nordstream didn’t just blow up by itself. Biden threatened it, and it happened.
When people say “The US would go broke with universal healthcare,” who exactly are they saying would go broke?
Harvard Business College has done multiple studies comparing universal health care with the current for profit insurance in the U.S.
We pay four times what other countries who have universal health care pay in taxes, with less benefits.
The money goes into a pot, much like a social security fund. From that pot, bills are paid.
It sounds easy enough, right? The problem is that some people can’t conceive something as simple as tax money in a fund to pay for medical bills would actually work. The medical bills are paid; they aren’t fought. No preapproval crap. Get sick. Get treated…complain about the $15 for parking.
The argument I hear over and over is this: “I don’t want to pay for Wanda down the street because she is black/brown/gay/has pink hair and I want better insurance than she has.”
The simple fact is that you do pay for Wanda’s medical insurance. Insurance companies pool the money into a fund. Insurance companies do all they can to deny a claim because that’s how they make money. The ACA put an end to “pre-existing conditions” but it still happens. If it happens and you are seriously ill, you are f***ed.
They contract with providers (hospitals, doctors, and clinics) and then agree to pay “allowable charges.” The allowable charges are, for example: the x-ray charge is $35 but we will only pay $20 and you have to write off the rest. Sometimes the insured has to pay a co-pay.
One man on Quora stated in his post he pays about $148 a month for health insurance. I paid $225 a WEEK for health insurance.
Legislators who are opposed to universal health care are bought and paid for by the insurance industry. You can call them lobbyists, but I call it bribery.
Why is Quora full of Westerners who praise China?
It’s very simple. These Westerners:
In other words, they know the real China and they appreciate the wonderful qualities of that nation.
They recognize and admire China’s amazing achievements over the past several decades.
One Toke Over The Line – Lawrence Welk – WTF! (1971)
What’s trending on MM right now…
Dear British people who’ve lived in the US and have experienced the wonder that is the American donut: why aren’t there more donut shops in the UK?
A few years ago, there was a court case in Ireland involving American sandwich chain Subway. It was over a question of sales tax law. The substance of the judgement was that the sugar content of Subway bread was so high that it legally qualified as cake under Irish law, and was therefore subject to a higher rate of tax.
I mention this to illustrate just how pervasive in the US the practise of adding sugar to processed food is. A lot of sugar. Americans have become accustomed to this, over the course of decades. While this does happen in the UK as well, it is nowhere near as pervasive, so British people have not built up as high a tolerance for sugar, despite the fact that we are regarded as having a sweet tooth by European standards.
US donuts are, in my opinion, unpleasantly sweet and stodgy. I do not find them particularly wonderful. Also, we have our own array of unhealthy baked goods, largely ripped off from the French. Give me a chocolate eclair over a US donut any day of the week.
How the US is unleashing a recession on the world
From HERE
When elephants fight, the grass gets trampled. The African proverb seems particularly apposite right now as three global elephants drive the world towards recession.
China continues to fight Covid-19 outbreaks by sporadically locking down millions of its people, thereby cutting the output of the world’s factories, exacerbating supply chain issues and fuelling inflation, long after other governments have told their populations to get vaccinated and get back to work.
Russia continues to fight Ukraine, and by extension Europe and the rest of world, using oil, gas and grain as weapons, thereby causing global energy and food crises, and also fuelling inflation.
And the biggest elephant of all, the United States of America, by aggressively lifting interest rates in the hope of squashing its domestic inflation problem has instead succeeded in exporting it to the world.
That is a big problem, particularly for those of lesser economic means, including many Australians. They are the grass that gets trampled.
Sharp rises in interest rates, intended as a cure for inflation, could prove to be the wrong medicine and worse than the disease, as the World Bank warned in the middle of last month. Central banks around the world, it said, were “raising interest rates this year with a degree of synchronicity not seen over the past five decades – a trend that is likely to continue well into next year”.
World Bank Group president David Malpass warned that rate hikes of sufficient magnitude to rein in inflation could themselves push the world into recession.
“To achieve low inflation rates, currency stability and faster growth, policymakers could shift their focus from reducing consumption to boosting production,” he said. “Global growth is slowing sharply, with further slowing likely as more countries fall into recession. My deep concern is that these trends will persist, with long-lasting consequences that are devastating for people in emerging market and developing economies.”
A week later, on September 22, the US central bank, the Federal Reserve, or Fed, raised its benchmark interest rate by a whopping 0.75 percentage points, for the third time in a row.
From a strictly American viewpoint there are good reasons why the Fed has been jacking up interest rates.
As recently as May 2020, at the height of the Covid pandemic, US inflation was just 0.1 per cent, well below the Fed’s target of 2 per cent a year. The fear then was that the economy was stalling. Like many others, the US government was desperately trying to stimulate the economy. The Fed was holding interest rates effectively at zero.
But as the pandemic subsided, the US economy roared back. As in Australia, unemployment fell to very low levels, about 3.5 per cent. But unlike Australia, wages growth shot up as a result – to nearly 7 per cent by June. That added fuel to inflation, which reached 9.1 per cent that month.
Inflation has since slowed to just above 8 per cent, but wage pressures continue. And the Fed chair, Jerome Powell, insists he will not stop raising rates “until the job is done” to curb inflation.
What makes this a global problem is that the US dollar is essentially the world currency – the “reserve currency”. International trade is overwhelmingly conducted in American dollars; financial institutions and corporations transact their business in them, contracts for goods and services are denominated in them.
And when the US hikes its interest rates, the value of the dollar increases relative to that of other currencies. Right now, the greenback is stronger than it has been in decades.
This, in turn, has put pressure on other central banks to raise their rates, lest their currencies fall, which in turn makes imports more expensive and fuels their inflation rates. It’s a vicious, global cycle.
As journalist for The New York Times Patricia Cohen put it last Friday, the Fed’s dramatic rate hikes have caused “economic turmoil in both rich and poor nations”.
Among the consequences she ticked off:
“In Nigeria and Somalia, where the risk of starvation already lurks, the strong dollar is pushing up the price of imported food, fuel and medicine. The strong dollar is nudging debt-ridden Argentina, Egypt and Kenya closer to default and threatening to discourage foreign investment in emerging markets like India and South Korea.
“Last week, Argentina, the Philippines, Brazil, Indonesia, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, Sweden, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, Britain and Norway raised interest rates.”
Meanwhile, the cost of imports to US consumers has fallen sharply. Cohen cited a couple of quirky examples of how the stronger dollar was calming US inflation: “Last year, a £12 tin of tea from Britain cost $16.44, and today it costs $13.03. A €50 box of Belgian chocolates has gone from $58.50 to $48.32.”
But it’s not just tea and chockies. The strong dollar makes all sorts of things cheaper for Americans. There have even been suggestions that the falling price of petrol in America has been a major factor in the rebounding political popularity of President Joe Biden and Democratic congressional candidates ahead of next month’s mid-term elections.
It’s probably no comfort to Australians – who are paying through the nose for rental accommodation if they can even find any, or new homeowners whose mortgages have lately become less affordable and whose biggest asset is now worth less than they paid – but their suffering is at least helping the US Democratic Party get re-elected.
Almost all of us are suffering financially to some extent. Even before the spike in inflation, average wages were barely keeping up with prices for a decade. Now they are going rapidly backwards. And the putative cure for high inflation – higher interest rates – has seen the price of houses fall, for those of us lucky enough to own one.
The RBA has been hiking strenuously to keep up with its global counterparts. It’s already raised interest rates 2.5 percentage points since May, taking the cash rate from an all-time low to 2.6 per cent. The pace appears to have slowed, with a quarter-point increase this week following four consecutive half-point moves, but governor Philip Lowe said further rate increases were “likely”. The smaller than expected increase this month allowed time to assess “the outlook for inflation and economic growth in Australia”.
We are faring better than many other countries – the Australian dollar has fallen only about 11 per cent against the US currency in the past year, far less than some. Inflation has been much lower, the economy still is growing solidly and unemployment is near a 50-year low.
But the suffering from inflation and interest rate rises has been very unevenly distributed.
Moreover, as a result of the long period of low rates up until March, and the money handed out by the government during the Covid period, many households have built up what Lowe called “large financial buffers”.
Not all people are in the same cashed-up boat, however.
“For new borrowers, it’s going to be really tight, because people have borrowed four, five, six times their annual income. A lot of them are going to really feel the squeeze,” says Brendan Coates, economic policy program director with the Grattan Institute.
It will be felt more intensely, too, by those who bought a property to live in, compared with those who bought one as an investment, because the latter can take advantage of negative gearing.
“Those that have mortgage deductibility … depending on what their marginal tax rate is, could wipe off 30 to 47 per cent of the cost of the rate rises by claiming them as deductions against their income,” says Coates.
The other thing property investors can do, of course, is whack up rents.
And they have.
“Capital city average level rents are up 20 per cent, just over the last 12 months,” says Louis Christopher, managing director of property market analysis firm SQM Research, which surveys advertised rent prices every week.
In 2021, he says, housing prices were rising faster than rents, but even since the housing market downturn, rents – and yields to landlords – have continued to rise, interest rate increases notwithstanding.
The standard tenancy agreement, he notes, runs for 12 months, and then month-to-month after that.
“So if you’re on a 12-month lease, and then you’re looking to go back into the market, you can expect to pay essentially 20 per cent more on a like-for-like property,” he says.
That’s if you can find one. The current vacancy rate is at a record low of 0.9 per cent nationally, he says, and worse in some areas.
The tightening of supply might seem counterintuitive, given Australia’s closed borders during Covid. A partial explanation lies in the fact that people working from home wanted more space. The result was fewer people per home.
Another factor is the rapid growth of short-term accommodation, provided by the likes of Airbnb.
“That’s a biggie,” says Christopher. “The market share of short-term leasing has rapidly expanded compared to the long-term leasing market, even though the absolute numbers are broadly the same.
“There are actually more Airbnb properties on the market in Melbourne and Brisbane now than long-term leases.”
The major driver, he says, “is landlords feel more in control of their property in the short-term leasing market”. For renters, he says, times are “grim, absolutely”.
We can’t blame “big business” for this predatory behaviour – at least not directly. According to Grattan figures, about 85 per cent of rental properties in Australia are owned by landlords who have three or fewer properties.
What we can point to is a chain of causation: the pandemic that caused global supply chain chaos, the Ukraine war that caused the energy crisis, the energy companies that profiteered, the central banks that jacked up interest rates, on down to the mum and dad investors who seek to offset their declining real wages and increased borrowing costs by exploiting those in need of a place to live.
Some blame, too, can be attached to government. Before the 2019 election, Labor promised to reform negative gearing and capital gains taxes. Had it won, the rental crisis might not be so dire.
Instead, Australia elected the Morrison government, whose answer to the growing housing crisis was, in the words of Kate Colvin, to give would-be homeowners “a bit of extra money to compete against everyone else”, which only served to drive up prices.
“It was policy vandalism,” says Colvin, who is the spokesperson for Everybody’s Home, a coalition of housing, homelessness and welfare organisations set up in 2018 to push for change to make housing more affordable.
Australia’s housing market is “pretty fundamentally broken”, she says.
“Twenty years ago, the private market basically worked to deliver housing product to low-income renters, particularly in regional areas. Twenty years ago, 50 per cent of even one-bedroom places were affordable to someone on [the equivalent of a] JobSeeker payment. Now no rentals are affordable to someone on JobSeeker,” she says.
And the recent decline in housing prices has done nothing to make things easier for either renters or new buyers.
“So the cost of houses and units has decreased, but only because interest rates have increased, meaning housing was actually no more affordable.”
What is desperately needed is more public and affordable housing.
There are some positive signs, but only small ones, Colvin says. The new Albanese government has committed to building 30,000 social and affordable properties over five years. A number of the states also have made commitments to increase supply, most notably Victoria, with $5.3 billion over four years to build 12,000 social and affordable rentals.
“But it is still the lowest proportion of social housing of any state, and they really need to keep investing beyond that or investment will sort of run out in 2024.”
And the commitments to increased supply “following decades of underinvestment” are nowhere close to meeting demand.
“The current shortfall is more than 430,000 properties for social housing, and if you add in affordable, it’s more than 600,000. So it’s huge.”
One encouraging development, says Colvin, is that after five years in which the previous government did not even bother to sit down with the states to discuss the crisis, the new government has had “federal and state housing ministers sitting around the table together, discussing these challenges”.
It is a social crisis for those involved, of course, but also an economic crisis for the nation, Colvin says.
“It’s a social crisis because you can’t get on with the daily business of ordinary life and going to work and stuff when you’re living in a tent. But it’s also an economic crisis, because every community needs low-paid workers to function.
“You need supermarket workers, you need disability support workers, aged-care workers, childcare workers, all of those human services, and communities can’t recruit those kinds of workers because they can’t afford to live locally.”
The human costs of unsustainable housing costs are many and varied, says Kasy Chambers, executive director of Anglicare Australia.
“Rent is not elastic,” she says. “You can’t just pay half the rent. You have to cut other things that are.”
So people don’t go to the dentist or doctor, or don’t fill prescriptions for medicines.
“Those are some of the first [expenditures that] tend to go. Car insurance, that kind of stuff. We’re talking to people who are doing things like turning off [their] hot water to save money, going to bed very, very early. Cold is a big issue.”
And that’s for people who have somewhere to live – Chambers says Anglicare is seeing “more and more people who just can’t afford rent, couch surfing with friends, moving into tents, cars, that kind of thing. And it’s a very difficult road to come back from.”
Increasingly, these people also go hungry or rely on food banks for meals.
Anglicare has just completed a survey of its national network of emergency care providers, which help out with things such as food hampers or vouchers, transport or medical costs, utility payments, rent and, in some cases, employment subsidies. Demand was sharply up everywhere since the beginning of this year, in some cases by 50 per cent or more.
The new cohort of people needing help includes home owners and the “working poor” who are struggling to pay for food and utilities, as well as more single parents and people on disability support and aged pensions.
These are not the sort of people with whom central bankers, or other world leaders, or the heads of multinational corporations, or even mum and dad property investors, usually consort. They are the grass that gets trampled as the globe’s biggest battles – to contain a virus, to crush an independent country, to save a US president – rage on.
This article was first published in the print edition of The Saturday Paper on October 8, 2022 as “How the US is unleashing a recession on the world”.
Blues Brothers – Mall Car Chase
China’s factory activity unexpectedly expanded in September.
An official survey showed on Friday, even as authorities imposed strict COVID-19 curbs in big cities and export growth softened.
BEIJING, Sept 30 (Reuters) – China’s factory activity unexpectedly expanded in September, an official survey showed on Friday, even as authorities imposed strict COVID-19 curbs in big cities and export growth softened.
It returned to growth after contracting for two consecutive months.
The official manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) edged up to 50.1 in September, from 49.4 in August, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Friday.
The 50-point mark separates contraction from growth on a monthly basis.
Economists in a Reuters poll had expected the PMI to come in at 49.6.
From HERE
The Hangover Part II (2011) – Wake Up Scene
Cow puns
Think you’ve herd them all? Cows are pretty funny and it would be a total shame if we didn’t milk them for all they’re worth. There are just too many play-on-words not to have a bunch of cow puns at your disposal at the next event—hopefully on a farm. At the least, you’ll have a new-found appreciation for these incredible animals.
1. Watch out, you don’t want to butcher any of these jokes.
2. The steaks are high.
3. I have some real beef with that guy.
4. I got the mooves like Jagger.
5. Make sure you show up on time, otherwise Bessie will have a cow.
6. Milk it for all it’s worth.
7. I am not amoosed.
8. And then I told my therapist that I feel seen, but not herd…
9. I am udderly in love with you!
10. Not as mooch as I love you.
11. I always found cowculus to be the most interesting subject.
12. The cow was so excited for the day ahead that he was over the moon.
13. An udder day, an udder dollar.
14. Seize the moo-ment!
15. Holy cow!
16. Steer clear! Cows coming through!
17. Move! Get out of the hay!
18. If you feel like you’ve herd all these cow puns before, you probably have deja-moo.
19. Cow bells make such beautiful moosic.
20. A cow in an earthquake is called a milkshake.
Tony Kills Matt Bevilaqua – The Sopranos HD
Cow jokes for kids
Cows are pretty legen-dairy so of course, there’s an abundance of clever jokes that will make your child giggle about how funny these farm animals really are. You may even find yourself suppressing a laugh at these cow jokes for kids. Get your children to appreciate where their ice cream really comes from by making them love cows just as much as we do.
21. What did the mama cow say to the baby cow?
It’s pasture bedtime!
22. Why did the two cows not like each other?
They had beef.
23. How do you count cows?
With a cowculator!
24. What happens when you try talking to a cow?
Everything just goes in one ear and out the udder.
25. Where do cows eat lunch?
In the calfeteria.
26. What did one dairy cow say to the other?
Got milk?
27. What do you call a sad cow?
Moo-dy.
28. What do you call a cow that can’t make milk?
A milk dud.
29. How do you make a cow be quiet?
Press the moo-te button.
30. What do cows read in the morning?
The moos-paper!
31. How did the farmer find the missing cow?
He tractor down.
32. How do you know which cow is the best dancer?
See which one has the best moo-ves.
33. What does the cow band play?
Moo-sic!
34. Why did the cow cross the road?
To get to the udder side!
35. What does the farmer talk about while milking a cow?
Udder nonsense.
36. What do you call a cow jumping on a trampoline?
A milkshake.
37. Where do cows get all their medicine?
The farmacy!
38. How did the cow get to the moon?
It went to udder space.
39. Why did the cow jump over the moon?
To get to the Milky Way.
40. What do you call it when one cow spies on another cow?
A steak-out.
41. Why do cows have hooves instead of feet?
Because they lactose.
42. What do you get if you cross a cow and rooster?
Roost beef.
43. What kind of shows do cows like best?
Moosicals.
44. What happens when a cow laughs?
Milk comes out of its nose.
45. What has the lone cow been up to lately?
Nobody’s herd…
46. How do dairy farmers do their taxes?
They go to an accountant.
LUCY Clip – “Crossing the Spacetime Continuum” (2014)
https://youtu.be/iJeOv5BVVPs
Cow knock knock jokes
Get ready to be amoosed. Everyone loves a playful knock-knock joke, but these cow knock-knock jokes are udderly hysterical. Who knows, they may even inspire some of your own to get everybody laughing. But we promise if you start with these, you’ll definitely get a few chuckles.
47. Knock knock.
Who’s there?
Cows go.
Cows go who?
No, silly, cows go moo!
48. Knock knock.
Who’s there?
Cow.
Cow who?
Cow-a-bunga, dude!
49. Knock knock.
Who’s there?
Cow.
Cow who?
Cow much longer will you put up with all this knocking?
50. Knock knock.
Who’s there?
Interrupting cow.
Interrupting cow wh-
Pee-wee’s Breakfast (1985) HD
The Best Chili You Will Ever Taste
“This is the best chili recipe I have ever tried. I’m not sure where the recipe originated, but it is amazing! Sometimes, I don’t bother adding all four cans of the kidney beans and it still turns out wonderful. Once anyone tastes this chili, they will be begging for the recipe!! Enjoy!”
Ingredients
Directions
Why do some mainland Chinese see the Western democratic system as a joke these days?
Yes, even though I am in Hong Kong (though I am now hiding in mainland China due to the epidemic).
Before the epidemic came, I still had a degree of trust in the European and American governments, for example, when the epidemic first hit, many Chinese people ran to the US. I even had the same thought. People thought that the US was technologically advanced in terms of medical care and that, as a modern government, it would handle the situation better than China.
As a result, we all saw what happened afterwards. The US was a mess.
This made me start to reflect on whether the American system was really that good.
It was a good hand, but it turned out to be a bad one.
And look at all the other situations in the United States, from the simplest problem of law and order to the more complex problem of the poor. The situation in the US makes me think that this government never does anything practical.
China’s various resources, the problems it faces, are actually far more difficult than the US. But China has still managed to control the epidemic and ensure high economic growth. The World Bank expects China’s economy to grow by 8.5% this year, a rate that in a normal year would be equivalent to almost 10%-13% growth, which is incredible for an economy that already has a total economy of US$16 trillion, and no such achievement in the history of human development.
Before the epidemic, the Kennedy School of Politics at Harvard University reported that the Chinese government’s approval rate was already 95%. After two years of dealing with the epidemic, I personally estimate that the Chinese government’s approval rate may have reached 99%, which is also an incredible high in human history.
I am not a member of the CCP, but comparing the current situation in China and the West, I definitely support the Chinese system.
Would I rather experience being held down by the police by the neck?
Or lying in hospital, dying in agony while waiting for a ventilator?
I am not a communist, but between the European and American systems and the Chinese system, I would definitely support the CCP in power.
So the current system in the West, at least in my eyes, is not even comparable to the Chinese system, although there are major problems with the Chinese system too.
But the political choice is to choose the one that is relatively best, and there is no perfect government in this world.
Gravy-Smothered Salisbury Steak
Ingredients