We continue…

The voting in the USA was rigged. No doubt about it.'

And not only at the last election, it has most likely gone on for two or three elections before that.

There is only one cure. Paper votes, hand counting and representatives for all interested parties as observers.

And it would be nice if you had a working judicial system as well.

I cannot see how this is not going to end in bloodshed.

It is just a matter of time, before people revolt.

In a way I'm surprised it has not already happened.

Posted by: g wiltek | Aug 15 2023 16:07 utc | 4

When I was in training for my MAJ role at NAS China Lake, I had my first experiences with world-line travel. It wasn’t until later that I start to notice that my journeys would “stick”. I would find myself on a new world-line with new things, and old things that never existed.

One of the things that I miss is the breakfasts with beans. In this present world-line it is with potatoes. Of course, to youse guys, it’s always been that way.

One of the things that seem to be forever changed for me is the soft-drink Razzmatazz. It never existed on this world line. But back in the day, prior to me joining the Navy, it was THE soda that you all would drink. And while there were coke and Pepsi drinks, I always loved my icy-cold Razzmatazz.

My favorite was a malted cherry soda that they made. It had a kind of cherry-butterscotch like feel to it. There was also a birch beer & vanilla, and a malted root beer. Sigh. But none of it exists on this world-line.

All’s the pity.

Today… have some fun.

France Reportedly Thinks That The US Backstabbed It During Nuland’s Trip To Niger

By Andrew Korybko

AUG 15, 2023

France fears that the interim military-led government is willing to explore a deal whereby they’ll agree to keep Russia/Wagner at bay and retain the US’ bases in their country in exchange for Washington ensuring that ECOWAS doesn’t invade like it threatened to do. In that event, the full fury of the Nigerien people would be directed against France, which could either go it alone in trying to forcibly reverse last month’s coup in vain or chalk up the strategic loss and withdraw.

Le Figaro cited an unnamed diplomatic source over the weekend who alleged that the US backstabbed France during Acting Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland’s trip to Niger. The piece is paywalled but was summarized here

. France reportedly fears that the US might tacitly recognize Niger’s interim military-led government in exchange for being allowed to retain its bases. Should that happen, then the US would proactively replace France’s security role in the Sahel before Russia/Wagner has a chance to.

This concern is predicated on rational calculations. From the US’ strategic perspective, the anti-French sentiment that’s sweeping the Sahel will inevitably result in ousting that country’s military from this part of Africa, which could lead to a security void that would likely be filled by Russia/Wagner. Even if France resorts to force for clinging to its last regional bastion in Niger, whether directly and/or via Nigerian-led

ECOWAS, then it’ll only exacerbate the hatred that locals feel for their former colonizer.

A swift victory is doomed to be pyrrhic since another round of anti-French unrest would follow sooner or later to complete the decolonization process that the prior one couldn’t, while the outbreak of a larger regional war risks Russia accelerating its envisaged replacement of France’s security role in the Sahel. Both outcomes are contrary to America’s long-term interests, though some policymakers might find their potential short-term benefits to be alluring.

It’s in this context that Nuland visited the Nigerien capital last week to “push for a negotiated solution” according to what she informed the press during a special briefing after her meetings there. Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin reacted to this development by boasting that “the US has recognized a government that it did not recognize yesterday just to avoid meeting the Wagner PMC in the country.” While some might have dismissed his remarks as trolling, they actually convey a stark truth.

Nuland’s trip was likely driven by her government’s desire to determine post-coup Niger’s intended relations with Russia/Wagner. She made contradictory statements about this during her briefing that were analyzed here , but the point is that this was probably the real reason behind her visit. If she assessed that no clear commitment had yet been made to solicit that group’s services, then it would be possible to make progress on the vague “negotiated solution” that she claimed to have in mind.

Judging by Le Figaro’s report, France fears that the interim military-led government is willing to explore a deal whereby they’ll agree to keep Russia/Wagner at bay and retain the US’ bases in their country in exchange for Washington ensuring that ECOWAS doesn’t invade like it threatened to do. In that event, the full fury of the Nigerien people would be directed against France, which could either go it alone in trying to forcibly reverse last month’s coup in vain or chalk up the strategic loss and withdraw.

The US already backstabbed France a few years back by stealing its nuclear submarine deal with Australia via the surprise unveiling of AUKUS so the precedent exists for it to backstab that country again in the Sahel by stealing its “sphere of influence” there through these means. In this particular case, American policymakers might have concluded that France’s military ouster from the region is inevitable so it’s better to proactively replace it with their own forces than risk Russia/Wagner filling the void.

To that end, it makes sense to opportunistically exploit the latest events in pursuit of a pragmatic deal with Niger’s interim military-led government despite being at France’s expense. There’s no guarantee that it’ll succeed, but it’s strategicallysound from the perspective of the US’ New Cold War interests in Africa. America could present itself as a peacemaker that averted the wider war that France wanted to spark all while stopping the spread of Russian military-strategic influence on the EU’s Sahelian doorstep.

The aforesaid reframing of Nuland’s trip in light of Le Figaro’s report compellingly explains France’s alleged fears of her country’s real intentions in wanting to diplomatically resolve the West African Crisis. The ulterior motive behind its latest “push for a negotiated solution” is to proactively replace France’s security role in the Sahel before Russia/Wagner has a chance to. In this way, the US could mitigate the strategic damage from the Nigerien Coup and arguably benefit from it to an extent.

the GIRLS REACT to *Terminator (1984)* THIS IS TERRIFYING!! (First Time Watching) Sci-fi Movies

Is America a Second Rank Power?

Blame deindustrialization.

Godfree Roberts Aug 16

Since the Second World War most Britons have unquestioningly accepted the premise that Britain should continue to rank as a first order world Power while, on the other, insisting that living standards should continue rising and social services be protected from taxes to finance foreign policy commitments. The question is not whether Britain can continue to think and behave as a Great Power, but whether it can afford to. – F. S. Northedge, 1970.

The good news is that there will be no war.

The rather sad news is that America can’t afford one.

1980s neoconservative policies – downsize government and privatize everything – have left the US a second-tier power, uncompetitive economically, industrially, scientifically and even militarily, as this STEM ranking suggests:

Why we fail

There are at least seven reasons why the US failed in Ukraine. Says Correlli Barnett, “The power of a nation-state by no means consists only in its armed forces, but also in its economic and technological resources; in the dexterity, foresight and resolution with which its foreign policy is conducted; in the efficiency of its social and political organization. It consists most of all in the nation itself: the people; their skills, energy, ambition, discipline, initiative; their beliefs, myths and illusions. And it consists, further, in the way all these factors are related to one another. Moreover, national power has to be considered not only in itself, in its absolute extent, but relative to the state’s foreign or imperial obligations; it has to be considered relative to the power of other states”. Let’s break that down.

The Power of Other States

1. Armed forces. No serious military scholar imagines the US Army could challenge the Russian Army in Europe, nor the PLA in Asia – after being humiliated in Korea in 1951. Next year the PLAN will have 400 new warships armed with hypersonic missiles – which the US Navy’s 293 older boats neither possess nor can defend against.
2. Economic and technological resources. Russia’s economy is the world’s fourth largest, its military sector is 800% more productive than America’s, its military technology is a generation ahead, and its generalship is the world’s best. China’s productive economy is 300% bigger and leads the US in almost all sciences and technologies.
3. The dexterity, foresight and resolution with which its foreign policy is conducted. Ninety percent of the world’s people do business and sympathize with Russia or China, and their leaders are rock stars wherever they go. Ten percent of the world’s people support America, whose leader is pitied, even insulted to his face.
4. The efficiency of its social and political organization. 80% of Russians support their government’s policies and 96% of Chinese support theirs. Barely 34% of Americans trust their government or support its policies.
5. Skills, energy, ambition, discipline, initiative, beliefs, myths and illusions of the people. China’s and Russia’s recoveries reflect their people’s resilience, skills, energy, ambition, discipline, initiative and collective self-belief. The US has yet to recover from the GFC, struggles to staff a chip fab, and hasn’t given its workers a raise since 1974.
6. Foreign or imperial obligations. Ukraine, on the heels of the Afghanistan imbroglio, suggests that the US is incapable of sustaining its obligations towards its allies. Its withdrawal from the Iran nuclear pact suggests that it is incapable of making agreements.
7. National power relative to the power of other states. If America wants to match Russia or China militarily, Washington must double real defense spending through 2034 just to match the 2023 capabilities of either, not both, of them.

America is overextended abroad, overinflated at home and its State competence is deteriorating in almost every way – from governance to justice to military to infant mortality – while it ignores its decline.

Next Stop: Failed State?

A failed state’s institutions are feeble and flawed. Often, the executive barely functions while the legislature, judiciary, bureaucracy, and armed forces have lost their capacity and professional independence. A failed state suffers from crumbling infrastructure, faltering utility supplies, educational and health facilities, and deteriorating human-development indicators like infant mortality and literacy. Failed states create an environment of flourishing corruption and negative growth rates, where honest economic activity cannot flourish. Encyclopedia Britannica.

Even before Covid, there were more hungry children, drug addicts, suicides and executions, illiterate, incarcerated, poor, homeless people in America than in China. How long can post-Covid America, riven by factionalism and distrust, weakened by disease, and dying younger each year, compete with dozens of initiatives like this?

The only real barrier to China’s bid to capture Eurasia’s vast Middle Space was the US occupation of Afghanistan. The Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline, TAPI, joining Central Asia’s gas fields to South Asia, was announced in 2018 but progress through the critical Afghan sector was slowed by the war. Since then, the scheme has been revived, opening the way for Chinese investment that could complete its capture of Central Asia. Alfred McCoy

10 Reasons I LOVE China (in 10 minutes)…

Is it true that China’s economy is 60% smaller than it is actually reporting?

Wow!!!!

Did you know this was exactly the same stuff published in the Soviet papers and East German papers and Czech papers and Polish papers in the 1970s?

That the US Economy was exaggerated and 60% smaller that it really was

Man , this is bad

Back then in the 1960s to 1990s, Americans won by Competition, Ability and Achievement

Back then the Soviets claimed victories in paper by publishing lies, lies and more lies and used brute force and twisting of data to claim a superior system (US)was collapsing all the time

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Today the opposite is happening

US and the West are Soviet Russia and East Germany today

They hate competition, They hate tolerance in any area other than Transgenders and Homosexuals, They are losing ability by the millisecond

They claim victories by publishing lie after lie, most of which are bizzare and illogical and use the same brute force to claim a superior system is collapsing.

Meanwhile China is becoming exactly what the US was in the 1960s – 1990s

Critically truthful, Exploring Solutions openly, Admitting Problems openly, Keeping Victories as subtle as possible, Fostering Competition in every sphere, Tolerant of every race and religion provided they identify as Chinese first, Focus on Ability and Merit only.

Russia too is following the same road now

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The Democracies are collapsing due to their fatal flaws

The Meritocracies and carefully planned one party systems are flourishing

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So this Chinas Economy is 60% smaller is basically History going around in Propaganda and Lies

A Testament to the theory that eventually all Democracies decline into a Mediocracy

You Won’t Believe What China Have Done | American CEO’s Protest !

A tiny microchip smaller than a fingernail is at the heart of a high-stakes technology war between superpowers.

Advanced semiconductors form the brains powering everything from AI to hypersonic missiles.

Now a global battle is unfolding between the US and China over who controls the future of these foundational chips.

With national dominance at stake, the US has imposed sweeping sanctions to blockade China from cutting-edge semiconductor designs and manufacturing.

But China is marshaling its vast resources to achieve self-reliance and circumvent restrictions.

The race is on to shape mastery over the electronics underpinning 21st century innovation.

Join us as we uncover the events, technologies, companies, and strategies fueling this multifront semiconductor conflict.

The trajectory of global scientific progress and economic power hangs in the balance.

Are there any other countries taking action against China for their treatment of Uyghurs?

I’m from Indonesia, a country with the largest Muslim population in the world.

When the Uyghur topic arised a few years ago, it was also a trending topic here.

Many people started to curse China because of this issue.

But Indonesia is a neutral & non block country, which means we’re friends with many countries, including China, even North Korea.

Indonesia, as well as many other Muslim countries has been sending alot of Imams (priests), delegations, and even students to China, including Xinjiang regularly.

Guess what? None of Muslim countries condemn China on their acts, because later we realize that it’s only propaganda made by Western countries to weaken China & to create destabilization.

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As for me myself, I’ve visited Xinjiang 2 times before the Covid pandemic, I know that there were terrorist attacks in Xinjiang, which the members were mostly from Uyghur ethnic.

The terror movement is called the East Turkestan (Islamic) Movement. It’s backed up by Al Qaeda & Taliban.

The United Nations on their website also listed the Movements as a terrorist Movement, also they list most of the attacks on their website too.

The US already know this issue, and they also bombed Uyghurs, who ran to Afghanistan after Chinese Central Government took control of Anti-Terror acts (because the local government failed to control them and the situation became worse)

Note: This is an American news media, not Chinese media.

So the US also bombed Uyghurs, but later accusing China for their treatments against the Uyghur, don’t you think that it’s hypocrisy?

Nowadays Taliban is close to China, and they promised not to help Uyghur militants anymore, they even sending back the militants who ran and hide in Afghanistan.

I can read a little bit of Mandarin, I use some Chinese social media and make friends with Uyghurs, so I know what happened and what’s happening from the Uyghur themselves.

They said that those terrorists use Turkestan name because they want support from Turkic countries nearby, while those terrorists also killed their own Uyghurs who don’t wanna support them, as well as Uzbek, Kazakh & other Turkic people, also Tajik Muslim, Hui Muslim & Han people in China

And they use “Islamic” name, obviously for supports from Islamic countries.

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On the early morning of Wednesday, 30 July 2014, an Uyghur Imam, named Juma Tahir, the imam of China’s largest mosque, (Id Kah Mosque in Kashgar), was stabbed to death by three young male Uyghur terrorists because he was strongly against the terrorists.

Alot of Western Media covered this, but it seems that they forget it easily (or intentionally).

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These videos are the example of Muslim Scholars visiting Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region recently, there are Indonesian Scholars too in that event

Beside of those videos, there are still alot of informal visits from Islamic Scholars & imams to China.

In fact, tour to Xinjiang is available in Indonesia and it’s always fully booked, as I work at the one of the biggest Tour & Travel agency in Indonesia.

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Latest Xinjiang Muslim Festival in Indonesia, featuring tribes in Xinjiang especially the Uyghurs, and Indonesian ustadz (Islamic preacher), leaders, government, etc

From 19 July – 10 August 2023 to celebrate the Islamic New Year, this is the re-stream from 2 August:

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As for now, there are some people who are still condemning China in Indonesia, but most of them are either from extremist groups (we call them kadrun), or just ignorant & uneducated people. Which later we found to have links (directly or indirectly) to the US’ Anti Chinese founding

U.S Boeing Near Suspension in China as Tensions Between US China Escalate!

https://youtu.be/pZAhDLwkp9c

“Most Unsafe Site Ever” – Shocking Truths About TSMC Arizona Revealed!

The TSMC Arizona project is one of the biggest FDI deals in United States history with Taiwan investing over $40 billion. It’s all part of the $52 billion dollar CHIPS Act to bring Taiwan’s flagship company to the US, but there are a plethora of problems amounting the question the entire legitimacy of this project. In today’s video we examine the top 5 biggest problems TSMC is currently facing and if this project will be a success.

Beef Chili Cheese Fries

Yield: 6 to 8 servings

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 cups chopped yellow onions
• Salt and cayenne to taste
• 2 pounds ground beef
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• Crushed red pepper to taste
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano leaves
• 2 tablespoons chopped garlic
• 3 cups peeled, seeded, and chopped fresh or canned tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 3 cups beefsteak or beef broth
• 2 tablespoons Masa Harina
• Vegetable oil for deep frying
• 2 large Idaho potatoes, peeled and cut into shoestrings, rinsed in cool water and patted dry
• 1/2 pound grated Cheddar cheese
• 1/2 pound grated Monterey Jack cheese
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup sliced pickled jalapenos

Instructions

1. Heat the vegetable oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the onions, season with salt and cayenne, and cook, stirring, until they begin to wilt, about 2 minutes.
2. Add the beef, chili powder, cumin, crushed red pepper and oregano. Season with salt and cayenne, and cook until all the pink in the meat disappears, 5 to 6 minutes.
3. Add the garlic, tomatoes, tomato paste and 2 1/2 cups beef stock; bring to boil, and reduce the heat to medium-low. Simmer, uncovered, until the meat is tender, about 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Skim off any fat that rises to the surface.
4. Combine the Masa Harina with the remaining 1/2 cup stock and mix to blend. Slowly add to the pot, stirring to blend. The mixture will thicken. Cook for 30 minutes, then season again with salt and cayenne. It should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
5. In a heavy, deep pot or an electric fryer, heat 4 inches of vegetable oil to 360 degrees F. Fry the shoestring potatoes in batches until golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes per batch. Drain on paper towels, then season with salt and cayenne.
6. Heat the oven to 400 degrees F.
7. Cover the bottom of a large, glass rectangular baking pan with the shoestring potatoes.
8. Combine the Cheddar and jack cheeses. Sprinkle the cheese over the fries.
9. Bake just until the cheese melts, 3 to 4 minutes.
10. Remove the pan from the oven and spoon the chili over the top of the fries.
11. Garnish with the sour cream and jalapenos.
12. Serve immediately.

“U.S. bullying ends now!” – Putin issues stunning military plan

Yeah. Give nuclear weapons to Iran, Mexico, and a host of other nations that are sick and tired of the USA.

Ukraine’s Grifter Wars Through Gonzalo Lira’s Eyes

Former Glasgow MP George Galloway said it best about Gonzalo Lira, whose re-arrest by Zelensky’s Gestapo was announced by American transsexual grifter Sarah Ashton Cirillo, who is now a staff sergeant in Zelensky’s Wehrmacht even though, as we previously pointed out, Sgt Sarah has not yet completed basic military training.

In wishing Lira well, no matter what Lira’s motives were for staying in Zelensky’s Fourth Reich, Galloway spoke for most of us, who don’t take our marching orders from a transgender American who left his wife and children back in Yankee land to play act at being a girly spokesperson for the homophobic Ukrainian Wehrmacht.

In acknowledging Lira’s chequered history, Galloway said that was not a massive problem for him or for his listeners, who were more interested in Lira’s bird’s eye view on the conflict, rather than on tips on how to pick up hot Ukrainian chicks or, indeed, chicks with dicks like Sgt Sarah. Galloway, with his excellent command of the English language, also doubted that Lira “inflicted strategic damage on Zelensky’s regime”, thereby implicitly agreeing with my earlier analysis that Lira should have got a kick up the transom and be booted across the Hungarian border.

Leaving aside that Sergeant Sarah was a Federal informant, an agent provocateur, a gambler, a sexual deviant, a complete sociopath, and a terminal narcissist who pals around with terrorists, I, amongst others, have seen this D grade Hollywood plot play out a hundred times before.

Ukraine has an unhealthy sprinkling of such grifters on both sides of the lines. Former USMC officer Scott Ritter, who previously defended Lira, now believes Lira is a liar and SBU asset as does Eva Bartlett for the same reasons she objected to the family of Syrian President Assad bringing competition for her begging bowl to Damascus.

Brian Berletic, who posts informative videos under the New Atlas name, believes Lira is more fool than knave and, like Galloway, he admits he found Lira’s input helpful in his own analysis. To counter Berletic, there are a stream of twitter threads like these “exposing Lira” and all ‘kinds of “Putin shills,” some of whom, like Bartlett, Galloway was reduced to calling “flat earth fucks” because of their grifting, much of which, such as lying they were in Syria when they were not and stealing over $1 million of Iranian aid for Syria I have witnessed firsthand.

To get a feel for some of the whack jobs MI6 and the CIA support in Kiev, consider this MintPress article which reports on Cormac Smith, MI6’s hired Irish field hand who tells us that ““Russians are fucking animals” and that the Russkies have committed genocide by admitting that they forcibly transferred “700,000 Ukrainian children” to Russkie land, a figure Smith obviously plucked from Sgt Sarah’s more than ample ass.

MintPress goes on to discuss some of the usual suspects, such as MI6 asset Michael Weiss, the Henry Jackson Society, The Interpreter, the Atlantic Council, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Bellingcat, the 77th Brigade, MI6 contractors Torchlight, and NATO fixer Chris Donnelly, all of whom are grifting in Ukraine.

To me, all of those grifters are just noise. I go back to first principles, to the dreary steeples of Fermanagh and South Tyrone where the British fought a successful 40-year intelligence campaign against the Provisional IRA. As part of their war effort, MI5 bankrolled supposed former PIRA member Vincent McKenna’s Families Against Intimidation and Terror (FAIT),who gave the IRA a series of very black eyes until grifter McKenna was jailed for raping his own daughter.

When I asked two members of the IRA’s Army Council, their governing body, why did MI5 hire such a boomerang, they replied that MI5 were so hell bent on beating the IRA that they turned a blind eye to everything, child rape included. Using that and similar examples as my compass, it is, to me, beyond doubt that MI6 and the CIA have exotic and unhinged operatives working behind the lines in Syria, Ukraine and everywhere else; however, I doubt Lira is one of them. Rather, I believe he is one of those well-meaning fools I have come across who have paid either with their lives or by serving very long prison sentences for their folly in the killing fields of Ireland and Syria.

The problem is that it can be hard to differentiate the wheat from the chaff, the fool from the knave. Jamal Daoud, a Jordanian living in Australia, complains here about an alleged former Hindu extremist terrorist, planning to bump him off. But they, in turn, reported Daoud to Syrian Military Intelligence for bringing Jonathan Spyer, an Israeli spy, into Syria. Because of all that, I bought Spyer’s book, which is published by Routledge, which more or less specialises in academic vanity publishing. Chapter 14, Undercover in Damascus, the relevant chapter of the book, is as forgettable as bland bread and served no benefit to Israel or its allies.

And then we have the Sydney based Anglican priest, who is on an Israeli naughty list because of his long-standing friendship with nuclear missile whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu Barrett tried to manipulate for one of her $40,000 scams and whose face another “street artist” scammer plastered on murals all over Sydney when the priest was already in very hot water with his archbishop for bringing the church into disrepute with his activism. The end result of their “humanitarian intervention” was that the priest became homeless.

That is not to say Israel does not want their legions of little helpers in Syria. It does and I have blocked some of them and observed some others of them up close. But they, like Lira and his critics, are not the main game and they are hardly even a sideshow. As Syria’s best secret service agents joined the colours, it was often the dross that stayed behind to mop up the bribes, often in cahoots with the grifters.

When I told two former senior members of the IRA, whose brothers were murdered by the SAS that Assad had, despite Bartlett’s keening, invited Major General John Holmes, the former commanding officer of the SAS to Damascus, one of them thought it a good idea as, to him, bridges have to be built and the other thought it a bad idea as, to him, the only good SAS officer is a dead SAS officer.

Schooled by such experiences, my own prognosis is quite simple and to the point. The main vectors in the Ukrainian shemozzle are the Armed Forces of Russia and their military allies on the one hand, and NATO and their lemmings on the other. All else is tinsel.

Allied and perhaps even integral to the Russian Armed Forces are a number of spokespeople, the best known of whom are Russian President Putin, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov and Russian Foreign Affairs spokesperson Zakharova, all of whom tend to tell it as it is, not as Tinseltown’ transexuals would like it to be. Opposed to those spokespeople are Hollywood circus clowns like Zelensky and Sgt Sarah, as well as a bunch of supporting clowns in Washington, London, Paris and Brussels.

The Syrian situation is slightly different as Syrian civil society and, indeed, Syrian military intelligence, have left far too many holes for domestic and foreign grifters to exploit. I have met many of these grifters and, not to put too fine a point on it but far better people were found in the back roads of Fermanagh and South Tyrone with bin bags over their heads and bullets through their brains.

Lira, as my previous article described him, is simply a middle-aged Chilean Ukraine will try to trade at a premium, just like they have done with previous civilians they kidnapped. Though Lira is only an irrelevant sideshow, I wish him and his family the best.

That said, this Ukrainian war will end with a resounding Russian victory that is already resonating across Africa and throughout Asia, from Syria in its West to China in its East. Cold comfort for Lira if he gets an OBE (one behind the ear) but, whether he lives or dies, his torture at the hands of Zelensky and transexual nut job Sergeant Sarah is one more score that has to be settled, one more vendetta that must, if necessary, be avenged in blood by the Russian Armed Forces.

Tucker Carlson EXPOSES Ukraine Biolab SHOCKING Details

The United States does this…

https://youtu.be/ZMTznqsHmM0

How Will Trump’s Fourth Indictment – And RFK Jr. – Influence The Election Season?

Another month brings another indictment of Donald Trump:

ATLANTA — Former president Donald Trump and 18 others were criminally charged in Georgia in connection with efforts to overturn Joe Biden’s 2020 victory in the state, according to an indictment made public late Monday night.

Trump was charged with 13 counts, including violating the state’s racketeering act, soliciting a public officer to violate their oath, conspiring to impersonate a public officer, conspiring to commit forgery in the first degree and conspiring to file false documents.

With so much alleged conspiring should we call all these indictments a conspiracy theory?

This indictment is again too wide and borders on, like the others against Trump, criminalizing the retelling of rumors and free speech.

Just consider this part:

COUNT 29 of 41

And the Grand Jurors aforesaid, in the name and behalf of the citizens of Georgia, do charge and accuse DONALD JOHN TRUMP with the offense of FALSE STATEMENTS AND WRITINGS, O.C.G.A. § 16-10-20, for the said accused, in the County of Fulton and State of Georgia, on or about the 2nd day of January 2021, knowingly, willfully, and unlawfully made at least one of the following false statements and representations to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, Georgia Deputy Secretary of State Jordan Fuchs, and Georgia Secretary of State General Counsel Ryan Germany:

1. That anywhere from 250,000 to 300,000 ballots were dropped mysteriously into the rolls in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Georgia;
2. That thousands of people attempted to vote in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Georgia and were told they could not because a ballot had already been cast in their name;
3. That 4,502 people voted in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Georgia who were not on the voter registration list;
4. That 904 people voted in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Georgia who were registered at an address that was a post ofiice box;
5. That Ruby Freeman was a professional vote scammer and a known political operative;
6. That Ruby Freeman, her daughter, and others were responsible for fraudulently awarding at least 18,000 ballots to Joseph R. Biden at State Farm Arena in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Georgia;
7. That close to 5,000 dead people voted in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Georgia;
8. That 139% of people voted in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Detroit;
9. That 200,000 more votes were recorded than the number of people who voted in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Pennsylvania;
10. That thousands of dead people voted in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Michigan;
11. That Ruby Freeman stuffed the ballot boxes;
12. That hundreds of thousands of ballots had been “dumped” into Fulton County and another county adjacent to Fulton County in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Georgia;
13. That he won the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Georgia by 400,000 votes;

said statements being within the jurisdiction of the Office of the Georgia Secretary of State and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, departments and agencies of state government, contrary to the laws of said State, the good order, peace and dignity thereof;

Even the Washington Post write-up finds that a bit too excessive:

The indictment takes an expansive view of the behaviors it alleges were acts “in furtherance of the conspiracy” — including, as an example, at least a dozen instances of Trump’s tweets alleging fraud and other claims. Such details from the indictment quickly drew criticism as potential violations of the defendants’ free speech protections.

Trials over these indictments, if any, will likely start only next year and will take quite a long time. Any judgment in them will be appealed.

All this will mean little for voters who mostly have made up their minds:

Yet most Americans made up their minds about Mr. Trump long before prosecutors like Fani T. Willis or Jack Smith weighed in, polls have shown. He is, depending on the perspective, a serial lawbreaker finally being brought to justice or a victim of persecution by partisans intent on keeping him out of office. The Georgia indictment, powerful as it is in its language, has been priced into the market, as the Wall Street types would put it.

“The accumulated indictments are kind of a white noise for voters,” said Sarah Longwell, a Republican political consultant who has organized opposition to Mr. Trump and conducts weekly focus groups with voters. “They can’t tell the difference between Georgia and Jack Smith because it all blurs together in one long news cycle of Trump’s-in-trouble.”

I believe, like Trump, that the indictment will help him. First in the primary and then in the general election:

Speaking to supporters in Alabama a couple of days after his last arraignment, [Trump] claimed he was looking forward to the next one. “We need one more indictment to close out this election,” he boasted.

That is bravado — the sort of bring-it-on bluster that electrifies a Trump rally.

Contrast that with the case and against the Bidens which will be laid out by a special prosecutor to the same public. As I wrote when the last bits about the Bidens-Burisma saga came to light:

On the one side we have a case which shows the deep corruption of ‘the big guy’ and his family who are supported by the deep state they control.

On the other side we have the underdog who thought he was doing the right thing but is now indicted by the deep state for, at that time, saying so.

The media will shine the light on both cases. Each time they will mention Trump it will, independent of what they write about him, be positive for him by making the case of the lone guy who gets unfairly prosecuted by the deep state.

Each time the Biden case will be mentioned it will remind the public of Biden’s corrupt dealings.

Proceed through that for sixteen month and the outcome is assured.

Now add to that the possible quirks of the Democratic primary. RFK junior has entered that race:

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has raised eyebrows as the first right-sympathetic populist to run as a Democrat since William Jennings Bryan. Launching with twenty paid staff and functioning now with seventy, Kennedy’s campaign has latched on to several issues important to mainstream Republicans—Covid tyranny, censorship, government surveillance—as well as to the dissident right: public health threats posed by chemicals in food and water, ending forever wars. The difference is the right frames these issues as matters of social cohesion and public order, while Kennedy uses the language of democracy and freedom.

In the currant fashion RJK Jr. is not really a Democrat:

When discussing the issues that animate him most—the environment, censorship, state and corporate collusion—he brightens. His hopeless intellectual humility and his hesitation to emphasize the most divisive ideological commitments of his own party while regularly taking up the language of his partisan opponents are setting up a general election that could divide populist voters almost entirely on the basis of aesthetics.

During the primaries the Democratic Party mafia will do their best to eliminate him even when he is unlikely to be a real danger to Joe Biden’s candidacy.

Should Trump then consider to run for president with RFK Jr. as his future vice-president he could form a quasi bi-partisan populist ticket that might well attract a larger majority.

Posted by b on August 15, 2023 at 15:47 UTC | Permalink

Taiwan is in BIG TROUBLE as China Vows Retaliation for DPP Visit to US

China has rebuked the U.S. for its latest escalations on Taiwan, from a growing economic war to the DPP’s latest visit to the United States. Here’s what we know thus far about the potential consequences.

The Perpetual Wars You Aren’t Supposed to Notice

By William J. ASTORE

In his message to the troops prior to the July 4th weekend, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin offered high praise indeed. “We have the greatest fighting force in human history,” he tweeted, connecting that claim to the U.S. having patriots of all colors, creeds, and backgrounds “who bravely volunteer to defend our country and our values.”

As a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel from a working-class background who volunteered to serve more than four decades ago, who am I to argue with Austin? Shouldn’t I just bask in the glow of his praise for today’s troops, reflecting on my own honorable service near the end of what now must be thought of as the First Cold War?

Yet I confess to having doubts. I’ve heard it all before. The hype. The hyperbole. I still remember how, soon after the 9/11 attacks, President George W. Bush boasted that this country had “the greatest force for human liberation the world has ever known.” I also remember how, in a pep talk given to U.S. troops in Afghanistan in 2010, President Barack Obama declared them “the finest fighting force that the world has ever known.” And yet, 15 years ago at TomDispatch, I was already wondering when Americans had first become so proud of, and insistent upon, declaring our military the world’s absolute best, a force beyond compare, and what that meant for a republic that once had viewed large standing armies and constant warfare as anathemas to freedom.

In retrospect, the answer is all too straightforward: we need something to boast about, don’t we? In the once-upon-a-time “exceptional nation,” what else is there to praise to the skies or consider our pride and joy these days except our heroes? After all, this country can no longer boast of having anything like the world’s best educational outcomes, or healthcare system, or the most advanced and safest infrastructure, or the best democratic politics, so we better damn well be able to boast about having “the greatest fighting force” ever.

Leaving that boast aside, Americans could certainly brag about one thing this country has beyond compare: the most expensive military around and possibly ever. No country even comes close to our commitment of funds to wars, weapons (including nuclear ones at the Department of Energy), and global dominance. Indeed, the Pentagon’s budget for “defense” in 2023 exceeds that of the next 10 countries (mostly allies!) combined.

And from all of this, it seems to me, two questions arise: Are we truly getting what we pay so dearly for — the bestest, finest, most exceptional military ever? And even if we are, should a self-proclaimed democracy really want such a thing?

The answer to both those questions is, of course, no. After all, America hasn’t won a war in a convincing fashion since 1945. If this country keeps losing wars routinely and often enough catastrophically, as it has in places like Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq, how can we honestly say that we possess the world’s greatest fighting force? And if we nevertheless persist in such a boast, doesn’t that echo the rhetoric of militaristic empires of the past? (Remember when we used to think that only unhinged dictators like Adolf Hitler boasted of having peerless warriors in a megalomaniacal pursuit of global domination?)

Actually, I do believe the United States has the most exceptional military, just not in the way its boosters and cheerleaders like Austin, Bush, and Obama claimed. How is the U.S. military truly “exceptional”? Let me count the ways.

The Pentagon as a Budgetary Black Hole

In so many ways, the U.S. military is indeed exceptional. Let’s begin with its budget. At this very moment, Congress is debating a colossal “defense” budget of $886 billion for FY2024 (and all the debate is about issues that have little to do with the military). That defense spending bill, you may recall, was “only” $740 billion when President Joe Biden took office three years ago. In 2021, Biden withdrew U.S. forces from the disastrous war in Afghanistan, theoretically saving the taxpayer nearly $50 billion a year. Yet, in place of any sort of peace dividend, American taxpayers simply got an even higher bill as the Pentagon budget continued to soar.

Recall that, in his four years in office, Donald Trump increased military spending by 20%. Biden is now poised to achieve a similar 20% increase in just three years in office. And that increase largely doesn’t even include the cost of supporting Ukraine in its war with Russia — so far, somewhere between $120 billion and $200 billion and still rising.

Colossal budgets for weapons and war enjoy broad bipartisan support in Washington. It’s almost as if there were a military-industrial-congressional complex at work here! Where, in fact, did I ever hear a president warning us about that? Oh, perhaps I’m thinking of a certain farewell address by Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1961.

In all seriousness, there’s now a huge pentagonal-shaped black hole on the Potomac that’s devouring more than half of the federal discretionary budget annually. Even when Congress and the Pentagon allegedly try to enforce fiscal discipline, if not austerity elsewhere, the crushing gravitational pull of that hole just continues to suck in more money. Bet on that continuing as the Pentagon issues ever more warnings about a new cold war with China and Russia.

Given its money-sucking nature, perhaps you won’t be surprised to learn that the Pentagon is remarkably exceptional when it comes to failing fiscal audits — five of them in a row (the fifth failure being a “teachable moment,” according to its chief financial officer) — as its budget only continued to soar. Whether you’re talking about lost wars or failed audits, the Pentagon is eternally rewarded for its failures. Try running a “Mom and Pop” store on that basis and see how long you last.

Speaking of all those failed wars, perhaps you won’t be surprised to learn that they haven’t come cheaply. According to the Costs of War Project at Brown University, roughly 937,000 people have died since 9/11/2001 thanks to direct violence in this country’s “Global War on Terror” in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and elsewhere. (And the deaths of another 3.6 to 3.7 million people may be indirectly attributable to those same post-9/11 conflicts.) The financial cost to the American taxpayer has been roughly $8 trillion and rising even as the U.S. military continues its counterterror preparations and activities in 85 countries.

No other nation in the world sees its military as (to borrow from a short-lived Navy slogan) “a global force for good.” No other nation divides the whole world into military commands like AFRICOM for Africa and CENTCOM for the Middle East and parts of Central and South Asia, headed up by four-star generals and admirals. No other nation has a network of 750 foreign bases scattered across the globe. No other nation strives for full-spectrum dominance through “all-domain operations,” meaning not only the control of traditional “domains” of combat — the land, sea, and air — but also of space and cyberspace. While other countries are focused mainly on national defense (or regional aggressions of one sort or another), the U.S. military strives for total global and spatial dominance. Truly exceptional!

Strangely, in this never-ending, unbounded pursuit of dominance, results simply don’t matter. The Afghan War? Bungled, botched, and lost. The Iraq War? Built on lies and lost. Libya? We came, we saw, Libya’s leader (and so many innocents) died. Yet no one at the Pentagon was punished for any of those failures. In fact, to this day, it remains an accountability-free zone, exempt from meaningful oversight. If you’re a “modern major general,” why not pursue wars when you know you’ll never be punished for losing them?

Indeed, the few “exceptions” within the military-industrial-congressional complex who stood up for accountability, people of principle like Daniel Hale, Chelsea Manning, and Edward Snowden, were imprisoned or exiled. In fact, the U.S. government has even conspired to imprison a foreign publisher and transparency activist, Julian Assange, who published the truth about the American war on terror, by using a World War I-era espionage clause that only applies to American citizens.

And the record is even grimmer than that. In our post-9/11 years at war, as President Barack Obama admitted, “We tortured some folks” — and the only person punished for that was another whistleblower, John Kiriakou, who did his best to bring those war crimes to our attention.

And speaking of war crimes, isn’t it “exceptional” that the U.S. military plans to spend upwards of $2 trillion in the coming decades on a new generation of genocidal nuclear weapons? Those include new stealth bombers and new intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) for the Air Force, as well as new nuclear-missile-firing submarines for the Navy. Worse yet, the U.S. continues to reserve the right to use nuclear weapons first, presumably in the name of protecting life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And of course, despite the countries — nine! — that now possess nukes, the U.S. remains the only one to have used them in wartime, in the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Finally, it turns out that the military is even immune from Supreme Court decisions! When SCOTUS recently overturned affirmative action for college admission, it carved out an exception for the military academies. Schools like West Point and Annapolis can still consider the race of their applicants, presumably to promote unit cohesion through proportional representation of minorities within the officer ranks, but our society at large apparently does not require racial equity for its cohesion.

A Most Exceptional Military Makes Its Wars and Their Ugliness Disappear

Here’s one of my favorite lines from the movie The Usual Suspects: “The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he did not exist.” The greatest trick the U.S. military ever pulled was essentially convincing us that its wars never existed. As Norman Solomon notes in his revealing book, War Made Invisible, the military-industrial-congressional complex has excelled at camouflaging the atrocious realities of war, rendering them almost entirely invisible to the American people. Call it the new American isolationism, only this time we’re isolated from the harrowing and horrific costs of war itself.

America is a nation perpetually at war, yet most of us live our lives with little or no perception of this. There is no longer a military draft. There are no war bond drives. You aren’t asked to make direct and personal sacrifices. You aren’t even asked to pay attention, let alone pay (except for those nearly trillion-dollar-a-year budgets and interest payments on a ballooning national debt, of course). You certainly aren’t asked for your permission for this country to fight its wars, as the Constitution demands. As President George W. Bush suggested after the 9/11 attacks, go visit Disneyworld! Enjoy life! Let America’s “best and brightest” handle the brutality, the degradation, and the ugliness of war, bright minds like former Vice President Dick (“So?”) Cheney and former Secretary of Defense Donald (“I don’t do quagmires”) Rumsfeld.

Did you hear something about the U.S. military being in Syria? In Somalia? Did you hear about the U.S. military supporting the Saudis in a brutal war of repression in Yemen? Did you notice how this country’s military interventions around the world kill, wound, and displace so many people of color, so much so that observers speak of the systemic racism of America’s wars? Is it truly progress that a more diverse military in terms of “color, creed, and background,” to use Secretary of Defense Austin’s words, has killed and is killing so many non-white peoples around the globe?

Praising the all-female-crewed flyover at the last Super Bowl or painting rainbow flags of inclusivity (or even blue and yellow flags for Ukraine) on cluster munitions won’t soften the blows or quiet the screams. As one reader of my blog Bracing Views so aptly put it: “The diversity the war parties [Democrats and Republicans] will not tolerate is diversity of thought.”

Of course, the U.S. military isn’t solely to blame here. Senior officers will claim their duty is not to make policy at all but to salute smartly as the president and Congress order them about. The reality, however, is different. The military is, in fact, at the core of America’s shadow government with enormous influence over policymaking. It’s not merely an instrument of power; it is power — and exceptionally powerful at that. And that form of power simply isn’t conducive to liberty and freedom, whether inside America’s borders or beyond them.

Wait! What am I saying? Stop thinking about all that! America is, after all, the exceptional nation and its military, a band of freedom fighters. In Iraq, where war and sanctions killed untold numbers of Iraqi children in the 1990s, the sacrifice was “worth it,” as former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright once reassured Americans on 60 Minutes.

Even when government actions kill children, lots of children, it’s for the greater good. If this troubles you, go to Disney and take your kids with you. You don’t like Disney? Then, hark back to that old marching song of World War I and “pack up your troubles in your old kit-bag, and smile, smile, smile.” Remember, America’s troops are freedom-delivering heroes and your job is to smile and support them without question.

Have I made my point? I hope so. And yes, the U.S. military is indeed exceptional and being so, being #1 (or claiming you are anyway) means never having to say you’re sorry, no matter how many innocents you kill or maim, how many lives you disrupt and destroy, how many lies you tell.

I must admit, though, that, despite the endless celebration of our military’s exceptionalism and “greatness,” a fragment of scripture from my Catholic upbringing haunts me still: Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.

Why I’m Raising My Children in CHINA – NOT The UK.

What I Wish My Dad Taught Me When I Was Little, According To 11 Me

It’s impossible to teach everything. But it’s helpful to know what untaught lessons might be felt the most.

by Matt Christensen

Aug. 10, 2023

A father’s influence on their sons is profound. As young men, we look first to our fathers to help lay the foundation for our own future growth and development. In an ideal world, they show us what to do, and what not to do. They help us distinguish between right and wrong. They encourage our strengths and nurture our struggles to prepare us for the future.

But, as well all know, fathers aren’t perfect. Sometimes opportunities to teach life lessons, impart simple skills, or prepare for hard-to-swallow truths get lost in the chaos of life. It happens. And it’s easy to look back with longing and regret at those moments. No, the point here is to not dwell on mistakes. Rather, it is to learn about what you might want to prioritize. We asked a dozen men what they wish their dads taught them when they were still kids. Whether learning how to problem solve, develop confidence, or rock and roll, they all had something to say. Here’s what they told us.

1. How To Be Present

“I grew up in a relatively low-income family with my mother on disability and my father always working hard to put food on the table and clothes on our backs. At one time my family had to file for bankruptcy because of debt. But my father still managed a way to get us what we needed.

My dad was a hard worker and taught me the meaning of hard work and perseverance.

But the one thing I wish I had learned sooner from my father was the importance of experiencing life, moments, and relationships over working for the dollar. Make your living doing what you do, but be present and don’t live life stuck in the past or even the future. Learn from past mistakes, but be in the present and cherish experiences and family because time is the one thing you can’t get back.” – Adrian, 31, Missouri

2. How To Know My Worth

“My father never taught me to be confident in myself. Instead, he forced me, as a little boy, to be timid, weak, and feel inferior to others, especially my peers. He was abusive and manipulative, and as a result, I would doubt whether any actions or decisions I took were the right ones.

Later on, colleagues would insult, hurt, and bully me, and I didn’t have the strength to defend myself.

I did learn lessons from my upbringing, though. The one that stands out in my mind all the time is that I must cherish and value my own children. I should never mistreat them or allow anybody to make them feel inferior. I’m traumatized by what my father did, and I wish he would’ve taught me differently. But what I have learned are essential lessons that I will never forget for the rest of my life.” – Phillip, 37, Colorado

3. How To Play Guitar

“My father was a musician, and I thought that was the coolest thing ever. I begged him to teach me how to play the guitar like him, but I wasn’t very good, and he wasn’t very patient. He got frustrated easily and nudged me toward other interests.

As a father myself, I certainly understand frustration. But I also know how wonderful it feels when your kids finally learn how to do something new.

I did eventually learn to play guitar. I’m still not good, but I’m better than I was when I was younger. My dad passed away before I had any skills worthy of sharing, and I always wonder what it would’ve been like if he were my teacher and we actually got to rock out together at least once.” – Jim, 45, New York

I begged him to teach me how to play the guitar like him, but I wasn’t very good, and he wasn’t very patient. He got frustrated easily and nudged me toward other interests.

4. How To Fix Things

“My dad was one of those guys who was very mechanically inclined. He had a blue collar trade for a career, worked on cars in his spare time, and fixed anything and everything that needed fixing around the house.

I’m not wired the way he was, unfortunately. Fixing broken things and working on cars is not a skill of mine. If I could go back in time to being a kid again, I would have asked my dad to take time to bring me in on some of his repair jobs.

To give me a shot at turning the wrench, so to speak. Not only would it have given me much needed knowledge, but it also would have given me much needed confidence when working with my hands, which happens a lot as a dad.” – Scott, 36, North Carolina

5. How To Set Goals

“When I was younger, I wish my dad had taught me about setting realistic goals. It’s a really important skill that could have helped me grow and become better. It would have made me more disciplined, determined, and adaptable from a young age.

Breaking big goals into smaller tasks can make a big difference in how kids deal with challenges.

If I knew this earlier, I would have been more motivated and faced difficulties with more confidence. Also, understanding the importance of setting timelines would have made me feel more urgent to get things done and not procrastinate. If my dad had taught me to celebrate even the small achievements, I would’ve felt better about myself and been more encouraged.” – Erik, 40, Texas

6. How To Care

“I wish my dad had taught me how to develop emotional intelligence. My dad wasn’t very present during my childhood. He was a traveling jeweler and usually out for two to three weeks, then back home for one or two.

He didn’t show me how to play sports, read, or any of the ‘normal’ stuff.

But the biggest thing he never showed me was how to care for the people I love.

I didn’t need him to be constantly checking up on me, but to be involved in how I felt, what I thought, or even what actually interested me outside of buying me whatever game I wanted. I now know this was something that he just didn’t know how to do, which is why I’ve made it a priority.

My kids will know that I’m interested in what they like, how they think, and the people they are going to become. And my wife will know I support her in whatever she does. Ultimately, their happiness and emotional health are priorities for me as a husband and father.” – Joshua, 33, Arizona

7. How To Connect With People

“Being a dad to two cool boys, 9 and 11, often makes me think a lot about what my own dad taught me growing up. One big thing I wish he’d shown me is how to connect with people.

I’m an introvert and striking up a conversation with someone new feels like trying to solve a Rubik’s Cube blindfolded.

It’s tough, and I see the same thing in one of my boys. I realized a few years back that I had a small group of friends and didn’t stay in touch as much as I should. This hit me hard and got me thinking about the importance of connecting and building relationships.

I’m learning to get better at this, and I’m taking my boys on the journey with me. I want them to understand that making friends and keeping them close is just as important as acing a test or scoring a goal. It’s something I’m still figuring out, but hey, that’s part of being a dad, right? We learn, and we teach.” – John, 31, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

My dad was very much a ‘Let me do it’ kind of guy. He wanted to fix the problem, whether it was a broken appliance or hurt feelings, rather than explore it.

8. How To Let Certain Things Roll Off Me

“I wish my father had known about and been able to teach me about the mind, and not letting what others say and do get to me so much. Sometimes the things other people say and do make us change how we do something or what we think about something, which has interfered with my life quite a bit.

Had I have been taught how to manage those types of thoughts, I’m sure some of life’s worst moments wouldn’t have weighed upon me so heavily, for so long, and I would have been able to move on from them sooner.” – Michael, 40, Michigan

9. How To Problem Solve

“Getting older has made me learn to appreciate the ability to understand how and why things work. I’ve taught myself a lot by taking things apart and putting them back together, and I realize now that I’ve been conditioning my problem-solving abilities.

My dad was very much a ‘Let me do it’ kind of guy.

He wanted to fix the problem, whether it was a broken appliance or hurt feelings, rather than explore it. Or help us learn about it. I appreciate what he was trying to do, but I think it hindered my ability to think for myself and really figure things out while I was growing up.” – Trevor, 40, Pennsylvania

10. How To Nurture My Inner Child

“I wish my father had taught me that most adults, even parents, still feel like kids themselves deep down inside. That the feeling of not being ready for adulthood never really goes away, and most grown-ups are still trying to learn how to do stuff the right way.

Since becoming a dad myself, I’ve realized that the feelings I have, like not always knowing the right answers, or trying my best but still making mistakes with my kids, must have been there for my dad, too.

I’ve realized that they must have occasionally felt like a child with adult responsibilities sometimes, just like I do. I also think that lesson would have helped me be a bit more calm and understanding with other people throughout my life.

When I stop and think of other adults as basically kids on the inside, with the same insecurities and fears that I have, it’s a lot easier for me to have patience and compassion for them.” – Phil, 45, Ohio

11. How To Manage Money

“I wish my dad had taught me about stocks and investing when I was young. He rarely talked about money or his work as a director at a large financial institution. His passing in December 2001 left a void in my life and financial knowledge.

As I grew older, my interest in finance intensified, and I felt unprepared to manage money.

I took it upon myself to learn about investing through self-education and seeking advice from others. Now, as a father, I understand the importance of sharing knowledge with my boy. I aim to be open and communicative about finances, empowering him to make informed decisions.

Though my journey to financial knowledge was self-driven, I hope to create an environment for my son where he feels supported and encouraged to learn about finance and investing, just as I wish I had been in my youth.” – Patrick, 45, Korea

How China Space Program Is BIGGER, BETTER & ADVANCED Than NASA

Armed with aggressive timelines, strategic investments, and an insatiable appetite for innovation, China’s space endeavors have propelled it into the forefront of the race to space. The nations remarkable successes, like landing rovers on the hidden part of the moon and building a growing space station, have caught the world’s attention and clearly show that China wants to be a leader in space exploration, challenging the long reign of the US. In today’s episode, we will cover how China space program is better than NASA in several aspects.

What are some facts that a disturbingly large percentage of Americans are ignorant about?

Black Wall Street in Tulsa Oklahoma, was one of the richest black community in all of America. Then in 1921, a group of white supremacists attacked the community with the help from the National Guard.

Known today as the Black Wall Street massacre, where 35 square blocks were decimated. The community was home to 10,000 African American residents. It was a thriving community, with brick and wood frame houses, and a bustling place of commerce, with shops, night clubs and theatres. It was a vibrant place, and full of promise which is why it became known as Americas Black Wallstreet.

Thousands of homes and businesses were destroyed wiping out years of generational wealth. Hundreds had been killed and buried in mass graves as a heavily armed gang of looters and arsonists destroyed everything in there wake. One of the factors in the destruction of the community was resentment over the financial prosperity of the black community.

What are the world’s weirdest court cases?

In Charlotte, North Carolina, a Lawyer bought a really expensive box of Cigars and then insured them against fire. Within a month he had smoked all 24 of these rather fine Cigars, without even paying his first premium payment on the insurance policy.

The Lawyer then filed a claim against the insurance company. In the claim the Lawyer claimed the Cigars were lost in a series of small fires.

The insurance company out-right refused to pay, stating the obvious reasons for not paying out the insurance claim, and that the man has consumed the Cigars in the normal way. The Lawyer filed a lawsuit against the insurance company and won.

The Judge agreed with the insurance company that the claim was frivolous, but the judge stated that the lawyer had a policy from the insurance company, which it had warranted that the Cigars were insurable and guaranteed that they would insure them against fire, without defining what was considered to acceptable fire.

Instead of having to go through a lengthy legal battle and costly appeals process they accepted the Judges ruling and paid the lawyer 15,000 dollars for the smoked Cigars.

After the Lawyer cashed the check, the insurance company had him arrested on 24 counts of arson.

The Matrix (1999) | First Time Watching | Movie Reaction | Asia and BJ

Would a Russia and China alliance be an unstoppable force? With Russia’s oil and natural gas resources and China’s large economy and sheer population and both countries military power, arsenals and nukes

Absolutely

The Russo – Sino combination would produce an Economic Giant with :-

• Combined Real GDP of almost $ 25 Trillion
• Combined Food Per Capita of 575 Kg per Year (400 Kg per year being minimum desirable)
• Combined Gold Reserves of 5000 Tonnes officially and around 6500 Tonnes unofficially
• Around 4 Million Soldiers including Reservists
• Capable of outproducing NATO at 17:1 in Ammo, 9:1 in Missiles, 6:1 in Ships and 6:1 in Choppers and Tanks
• Oil and Gas Reserves

However this isn’t just adding numbers

China isn’t ready to split the world into camps

China wants a multipolar world and wants both the East and West

No matter what the West does, China is not burning bridges with the West because China still gets a lot of stuff from the West

My guess is China will wait and if Taiwan becomes a major issue then China may finally formally cut off the West and form a major alliance with Russia

Russia is ready even today

It’s tired and sick of the West

Putin and Shoigu are moderates but Medvedev, Lavrov, Surovikin, Prighozin are all extremists and tough hawks who want the West beaten and crushed

So it all depends on Taiwan

That would be the red line for China

If US supports Taiwanese Independence, China will formally get into a United Nuclear Alliance (If anyone nukes China, Russia nukes him back and vice versa) and a United Military Alliance (Anyone attacks Russia or it’s friends and China supplies everything including soldiers )

US politician Robert Kennedy Jr. has confirmed the existence of American biological laboratories in Ukraine which are used to produce banned biological weapons.

Tuesday, 15 August 2023 2:40 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 15 August 2023 9:37 PM ]  
 US politician Robert Kennedy Jr. (File photo by AFP)US politician Robert Kennedy Jr. has confirmed the existence of American biological laboratories in Ukraine which are used to produce banned biological weapons.
"We have bio-labs in Ukraine because we are developing bioweapons," the Democratic Party presidential candidate told former Fox News host Tucker Carlson in a video interview posted   on the X social network (formerly known as Twitter) on Tuesday. 

"Those bioweapons are using all kinds of new synthetic biology and CRISPR (an acronym for clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats in DNA) technology and genetic engineering techniques that were not available to a previous generation," the US politician, also known by his initials RFK Jr., said in the interview. 

"When the Patriot Act reopened the biolabs arms race in 2001, the Pentagon began putting a lot of money into bioweapons," Kennedy Jr. added. "But they were nervous at that time because if you violate the Geneva Convention, it’s a hanging offense," he explained. "So they were nervous about actually going full force into bioweapons development. 

So they transferred the authority for biosecurity to one agency in the HHS [the US Department of Health and Human Services]," the politician added. "But now, when you do bioweapons development, every bioweapon, it needs vaccine so you develop them side by side because in 100 percent of the cases when you deploy a bioweapon, there’s blowback. 

Your side also gets sick," he concluded. The Russian Defense Ministry revealed the existence of US military biolabs in Ukraine working on producing bioweapons as early as February 2022. 

In mid-April, a Russian parliamentary commission presented its final report on the investigations into the activities of the US-run bio-labs in Ukraine. 

The report concluded that the Pentagon’s military biological program had grown large in scale, being implemented under the guise of anti-terrorist projects and activities that were permitted by the Biological Weapons Convention. 

The parliamentary commission also pointed out that the activities of all the US-controlled laboratories involved Pentagon experts. 

However, the results of their work were confidential and government agencies in the host countries only had access to secondary research results. Russian Ambassador to the United Nations, Vassily Nebenzia, revealed that the secret US labs in Ukraine were producing biological warfare.   

As a result of the illegal activities that were being carried out at US bio-labs in Ukraine, Russia last year asked the United Nations Security Council to establish a commission to investigate the reports that Washington and Kiev were in violation of the Convention prohibiting the use of biological weapons. 

In the meantime, Moscow believes that the US bio-labs in Ukraine are only a fraction of a global network of 300 similar facilities. However, the US government has now denied the existence of such military bio-labs. 

Instead, the US government has admitted to what it calls US-funded biological research facilities. 

Earlier this year, Russia said it had obtained documents in Lisichansk, in the self-proclaimed Lugansk People's Republic (LPR), that revealed the US military-funded labs in Ukraine had been creating biological weapons components and testing them on the population of the country. 

"Russian troops have secured over 20,000 documents, reference and analytical materials, and interviewed eyewitnesses and participants in American military-biological programs" since the start of the war in February last year, said the commander of Russia's Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Defense Forces, Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov. 

The general said that the documents "confirm... the focus of the Pentagon on creating biological weapons components and testing them on the population of Ukraine and other states along [Russia's] borders."   

What are the lessons people most often learn too late in life?

I am 67 years old. These are among the best things I have ever learned:

1. You spend your first 20 years worrying what people think about you. You spend your next 20 years swearing that you don’t care what people think about you. You spend the next 20 years realizing that they aren’t thinking about you. A liberation!
2. Any day on this side of the dirt is a good day. Some people didn’t make the cut last night. I was hit by a speeding taxi as I was walking to a bus stop. I spent a month in rehab with two broken legs, a brain injury, multiple back injuries and other fractures. The night before I was hit, a young, married couple was also hit. They both died. Practice gratitude.
3. A woman I know spends most of her time thinking about how much she hates her thighs. She can give you a detailed report on what is wrong with them. She forgets all the places those legs have taken her, all the miles they have walked for her. It doesn’t occur to her that when she gets up in the middle of the night to pee, those very thighs walk her to the toilet. Spend more time appreciating what you’ve got— a heart that beats, a way to pick up your cup of coffee, the eyes that see that cup and know what color it is. Blessings abound.
4. There are two kinds of people in this world – those who believe there is enough to go around, and those who don’t. Here is an example: If Margo is leaning up against the car kissing her boyfriend, and I think how nice that must feel, do I try to steal Margo’s boyfriend or do I go out and get my own boyfriend? I go out and get myself a boyfriend. I don’t need to steal Margo’s. I know that there is enough to go around.
5. An old Native American woman was asked why she was always so happy. She said that she has two wolves in her heart and they are both hungry— one wolf is angry and evil, the other wolf is filled with love, and that’s the only one she feeds.

India Just BURIED The Dollar, Saudi Arabia Is Next

Yes. It is happening.

A truth

Diver Dan – Riddle of the Hermit Crab – Episode 20

Can you give some examples of revenge being served cold and sweet?

About 30 years ago, I lived in an apartment complex where the owner paid the heat, hot water and cooking gas. The owner was one of the cheapest people I knew and she refused to fix anything or hire a decent Super. Btw, she had paid off the complex 15 years prior so she was making good $$$ off the complex

The boiler breaks and she has an old, used one, that she found in the newspapers, installed during the summer. By state law she was required to provide heat by November 15th. By the 23rd, it is brutal cold and we still didn’t have heat. I called her up to find out what is going on. Her response was that she was out of $$$ and for me to buy some electric heaters. Btw, that meant my expenses would up, since tenants paid for their electricity.

I go to town hall, met with the appropriate officials, let them know what is going and file a complaint. I also let them know that there was a large elderly group of tenants in the complex.

The official calls her, tells her that she is in violation and that she needs to get the heat on ASAP. She tells him off and refuses saying that she knows people. (She didn’t) He tells her that he will fine her $1000/day for each unit or $48,000 a day starting with that day. She tells him that he can’t do that and called him some choice names. What she didn’t realize that the town’s lawyer heard the entire phone call.

The next day she was delivered a notarized invoice for $48,000 along with a legal document stating that this daily fine will continue until the heat goes on. Now she is in a panic since she now owes the town $48,000.

But the best part of the revenge is that this happened on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Do now she had to scramble to find someone who could get the system working which she eventually did. But he charged her double claiming that it was interfering with him going away for the holiday.

One last thing, the town official told her if she tried to harass me for reporting her, the town would go after her and would pay my legal bills if I had to sue her

Couldn’t Be Easier Brisket

Prep: 5 min | Bake: 2 to 3 hr | Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

• 3-4 pounds boneless beef brisket
• 1 bottle chili sauce
• 1 can Coca-Cola
• 1 envelope dry onion soup mix

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 300 degrees F.
2. Combine chili sauce, Coca-Cola and soup mix.
3. Place brisket in a foil-lined baking pan*. Pour sauce mixture over brisket and cover with another sheet of foil sealing edges.
4. Bake at 300 degrees F for 3 to 3 1/2 hours until tender.
5. Carve brisket against the grain and serve the pan juices as a sauce.

Notes

* or use a cooking bag for really easy clean-up.

Now CHINA Missile Force Can Destroy US Asia Pacific Command in Just 7 minutes

This audacious assertion unveils a stark reminder that in the realm of modern warfare, the boundaries of possibility are continually pushed, leaving the world to grapple with the implications of China’s missile might and its potential to reshape the geopolitical landscape in a matter of minutes. Today’s episode will cover China’s missile force power.

Which Chinese fashion is still not adopted in Western countries?

Hanfu.

During my years in Australia, the States, Germany, and Ireland, I have seen Western women wearing the occasional qipao.

But never hanfu.

I guess because hanfu can be cumbersome and is generally impractical for modern urban city life.

And maybe because most people in Western countries don’t even know it exists.

MUST WATCH: Oliver Anthony “Rich Men North Of Richmond” Review

The Cheyenne Social Club (1970)

Today’s treat. Full movie with James Stewart. Please enjoy!

Out of the blue, the grizzled farmhand, John O'Hanlan, receives an unexpected letter from an unknown solicitor in the far-off town of Cheyenne, Wyoming, informing him that he is the proud owner of the Cheyenne Social Club, now that his estranged brother, D.J., has passed away. Intrigued and eager to trade in the dusty landscapes of 1867 Texas for an easy life as a businessman, without delay, John sets out on a long trip with his best friend, Harley Sullivan, to create a better future for himself. But somehow, John's newest and only acquisition has both a good and a bad reputation. Either way, the establishment's inexperienced manager now holds the fates of its loyal staff in his hands: a beautiful sextet of dedicated, and above all, famous female employees. However, is John cut out to run this type of business?

https://youtu.be/aRjhZSGaWbE